Investment Articles

Everybody today is talking about safe investments. Safety is the key word now, after the rapid economic downturn cost so many people so much money. The problem there was basically that everybody threw caution to the wind, and started to think about nothing but returns. The result was that when something bad happened, it was really bad, and nobody was protected. Learn about the different safe investments that are available to you and you’ll be able to hedge against this kind of economic disaster in the future.

First of all, anytime you make something that is considered a safe investment you are also making a tradeoff. The tradeoff is in the potential yield that you will see as a result of your investment. More safety means a lower yield, and therefore investors and individuals have to come up with a strategy that satisfies their needs for a good, high return while also providing safety as well.

The list of safe investments starts with options such as CDs and high interest bank accounts. These are backed up by the FDIC and are therefore guaranteed against any losses, so you’re completely safe. Of course, the type of return you will see will be substantially lower than what you could make with a good run in the stock market or with other options.

Other safe levels of investments in the market itself include options such as money market funds and treasury bonds. Treasury bonds are backed up by the federal government, and money market funds operate with short term debts, keeping a focus on liquidity and flexibility. Not all bonds however are safe, as junk bonds can provide huge potential returns but also come with a very large amount of risk.

Can buying individual stocks in the market be considered a safe investment? Well, by definition no, although some are more stable than others. If you’re looking for stock investments that are safe you should seek out mutual funds, and find ones that provide the right scale of safety and return that you’re looking for. Some mutual funds deal solely with stocks or bonds, or even other investments such as commodities.

Other mutual funds offer mixes of several different investment options, and all will be graded in terms of their returns and their level of risk. Therefore you can search and really find something that offers the best fit for you, whether that’s complete safety with lower returns, or moderate to strong safety with a potential for large yields. Of course you could also opt for index funds, which many people feel win out over managed funds in most situations anyway.

So is there one group of safe investments that’s going to be perfect for everybody? Probably not, because everybody has their own needs, desires and interests. It’s important that you diversify what you own and buy into, so that you have different levels of safety and reward. This ensures that if something goes south, you still have your money in a safe place, but you can also take advantage of strong return investments with great yields if you do so in small amounts.

Lee Andersons was born in New York, New York where he was raised in the corporate business environment where both his parents were involved. After inheriting a substantial part of the business, Lee decided to expand the business horizons by traveling to Europe and the Far East. Privileged with enough time to spend with his family, Lee spends the rest between over-viewing his business interests and his other passion, writing.

For more on Lee’s views please visit: http://www.401k-investment.net/

One of the most profitable investment solutions for an accredited investor is the almighty Pre IPO, seed capital opportunity. Though extremely profitable this transaction is not for the non accredited or amateur investor. The risks are numerous such as how long it will take the company to achieve it’s symbol, post public market creation and investor relations, corporate publicity, SEC audit and the ‘C’ level executives’ professional pedigree just to name a few.

But when one takes all of this into consideration it is ideal to team up with a brokerage or consulting firm who specializes in the task of corporate strategies and IPOs. When a motivated and seasoned investor aligns himself/herself with a solid firm with who has access to IPO’s it can be an extremely profitable venture and one of the few win/win situations in the investment industry.

Having access to a steady stream of Pre IPOs allows an investor to diversify in highly sought after and deeply discounted seed stock and also creates a rewarding solution for the IPO facilitators as they are raising capital and qualifying the company for it’s offering.

There are a few things that an investor should consider when seeking a strategic alliance with an IPO facilitator: how long on average does it take the firm to complete a transaction from S1 to Symbol? What does the post public Investor Relations strategy look like to create the market? Do they have a market maker or broker dealer ready to sponsor the stock? What does the client company’s executive staff, business model, board of directors and strategic partnerships look like? And who is doing the pre IPO audit on the client company?

These are just a few things to consider when finding stepping out to get involved with the much sought after pre IPO investment market.

The author of this article is not a broker dealer or licensed securities agent and one should always seek the consultation of a licensed agent before getting involved with an investment of any kind. This article is for information purposes only.

Call us for our FREE IPO investment Referral service or Do you want a legitimate, quick and easy way of taking your start-up or small business public? Do you want to talk to a consultant that will help you decide which path is best for your company? Call Princeton Corporate Solutions today at 267-233-0183 or visit our website at http://www.princetoncorporatesolutions.com there are many ways to take your company public in an affordable manner that will achieve your goals and begin raising capital quickly.

Who wouldn’t want to get trading secrets to profit from the investment markets? Most people would jump on the chance to learn the keys to generating outstanding profits from trading. The real question is whether or not experts really have well guarded methods, strategies and systems.

Many traders do have access to certain techniques that have given them tremendous gains. The truth though is that there really is no silver bullet or holy grail that will instantly and easily generate a steady trading cash flow. Moreover, there is no perfect entry indicator that can help you detect winning deals. In other words, there is absolutely no chance that you will find a trading secret that can make money for you with very little time and effort. If there was one, then you can be sure that someone would have already heard about it and made it public.

It is therefore safe to say that you need to work hard if you want to see great results. This doesn’t mean though that you can’t use tools to help reduce your stress levels. You don’t need to break your back trying to learn trading and attempting to profit from it. With that said, it will be worth your time to take a glimpse of the true keys to trading success.

The genuine trading secret that successful traders use is a trading system. Every successful investor has one. In most cases, this, plus a logical, disciplined trading psychology, is all you really need to earn boatloads from the investment market of your choice.

So what is a trading system and how can you get one? In simple terms it is a plan that will guide you as you make crucial trading decisions. It isn’t similar to regular business plans but the purpose is the same. It is what can give structure, logic and meaning to every choice you make. Hence, good plans help you trade in a disciplined and confident manner. Of all the so-called trading secrets it is only a trading system that eliminates the danger of trading with emotions.

You can easily come across a variety of systems these days. Many come from experts who have truly made thousands or even millions with them. Because these materials are very accessible, a lot of folks are tempted to just use them straight out of the box. This may or may not work for you. Always consider that every existing system was made based on the maker’s specific personality, trading style and risk tolerance level. Since these personal elements remain the foundation of all great systems, it’s possible that some plans are simply not applicable to you.

A related trading secret that you need to remember is that many of the top earners use custom systems. You will therefore most likely stand to gain more if you channel some of your resources into developing and testing a system that fits you to a tee. This involves asking yourself who you are as a trader, what your goals are and what kind of losses you can endure.

Learn How The Best Traders Make Trade Profits.
Visit Us At http://www.tripletradingprofits.com.

Not long ago investing was easy. There were few places you could invest and if you had money you wanted to invest, you left it to the professional stock brokers. However, deregulation of the financial markets has changed all this. In the past 20 years new investment products have been launched, changes have been made to the tax systems and retirement plans which have altered the attractiveness of many investment products.

Up to about 20 years ago, share investing was purely in the domain of the wealthy. For most people it was difficult to trade in overseas stock exchanges, there were no such thing as cash management trusts, installment warrants, exchange traded options, dividend imputation, reset preference shares and endowment warrants – to name a few. Now about 50% of investors are “mums and dads” investors who either own shares directly or in managed funds. Unfortunately, in recent years many investors have been “burnt” because they did not understand the risks of investing in financial markets.

Governments around the world have made it clear that it is important for people to take control of their own financial futures. The sustainability of government funded pensions is under pressure. If you do not save and invest, you will suffer a significant decline in your retirement living standard. The average life expectancy is about 80 years, so if you retire at 60 years of age, the savings you have accumulated in the 40 years of your working life will need to fund your retirement of 20 years or more.

Deregulation of financial markets, interest rates and currencies means that the market determines the value of investments and not government decree. This provides opportunities for educated investors to build wealth and for unwary investors to lose wealth. You must understand the opportunities and risks.

The ground rule is that if you want to be a successful investor in financial markets, you must educate yourself about investing. Even if you put your faith in a licensed investment advisor, not all are competent. It is essential that you understand how the financial markets work so that you do not put your hard earned money in the hands of an incompetent advisor who is only interested in the commissions available. How can you tell whether a particular investment is right for you? The only sure way is to become familiar with the language used in the financial industry and to have a sound investment strategy. Does this mean that you should keep you money safe by putting it under the bed or keeping it in the bank? No – but you do need to understand the risks involved and set ground rules for successful investing.

There are a number of ground rules in investing that haves stood the test of time. With time, patience and effort you can become a successful investor in all the areas that are open to you. This will not come overnight and you will have to be prepared for that fact there will be times you lose money. However,perseverance is a virtue above all others. The road is not always easy, but nothing worthwhile is.

Here are the ground rules for successful investing:

1. Be your own investment manager. No advisor or stockbroker should do it for you. Only you know what your real needs are, what your temperament is – and only you are motivated by your own best interests, not sales commissions. It is also more fun to do it yourself.

2. Confront risk and then reduce it through spreading your investments.

3. Take a contrarians view to investment markets. That is, look for opportunities and do the opposite of what everyone else is doing.

4. Do not be put off by investment jargon. Master it instead.

5. NOW is the best time to start investing. Do not wait for the markets to improve. If the share market is filled with gloom, that is the time to buy.

6. Make good quality shares the core of your investment strategy. Then you can rest easy when you invest in more speculative areas.

7. Always consider tax implications of making investments but never let tax minimization be the main objective. The fundamental rule is to think in terms of after-tax returns.

8. Keep up to date through reading the financial papers and searching independent investment research websites.

9. Discussing investments is stimulating. Condition your mind to talk to others about investing, especially people who are more experienced and knowledgeable than you are.

10. Do not be greedy. Discipline yourself to cut your losses with bad investments and cash in when you have made a reasonable profit.

11. Be patient. Rome was not built in a day. Similarly, you may not become wealthy overnight, but you will over time.

12. Never invest in anything you do not understand. If a particular investment sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

13. Pay yourself first. Most people invest money they have left over after paying the bills. Allocate yourself the first 10% of your monthly income to build up your investment capital. By doing this you will force yourself to become an investor and the long term benefits will be enormous.

If you master these 13 ground rules, you will be a successful investor. You will rival so-called professionals and will sleep easily at night knowing that money is the least of your worries.

Probably the best investment management tool that I use, this tool makes successful investment management a lot easier when investment markets are challenging. With this management tool you can lower your risk and also profit while others pay the price and lose money. Now it’s time to share.

Successful investment management has eluded all but the most experienced investors for the past ten years. Using the best investment tools out there you could have been one of the few to make money investing without breaking a sweat. Here’s an investment tool that would have worked for you, and should continue to do so in the future. It’s called dollar cost averaging, and the best investment vehicle to use here is a diversified stock fund. So, let’s say you want to set aside $5000 a year to earn higher returns, get growth and accumulate money, perhaps in an IRA retirement account. Here’s how it works.

At the same time each year you send $5000 to a diversified stock fund (no-load variety), no matter what the economy or investment markets are doing. Let’s look at an example somewhat similar to the turbulent times we’ve experienced lately in the USA. You’ve made four yearly investments, and are reviewing the results just before laying down your $5000 for year five. The share price of your stock fund when you bought in over the past four years, in order: $10, $8, $5, $8. As you ponder sending in another $5000, your stock fund sits at $10 a share, right where it was when you got started. You can’t make money investing in a market like this you think… until you look at the value of your $20,000 investment.

Using the investment management tool called dollar cost averaging, you bought the following number of shares from year 1 through year 4: 500, 625, 1000, 625. That gives you a total of 2750 fund shares worth $10 each, for a total investment value of $27,500. The value of your stock fund went no where and you are still $7500 ahead. Very simply, our investment management tool forced you to buy more shares when stock prices were lower; and you bought fewer shares when prices were up. The more volatile and uncertain the markets, the better dollar cost averaging works.

Please pay attention to the following. I mentioned earlier that the best investment vehicle to use here to get growth and make money investing is a stock fund of the diversified variety. Do not use this management tool with an individual stock, or do so at your own risk. Why? Because any stock can go down the tubes and leave you holding a bunch of shares worth absolutely nothing. For this to happen to the average diversified stock fund, the good old USA would need to virtually cease to exist as we know it.

No investment management tool provides you with a complete investment strategy. But if you combine proper asset allocation & diversification, plus balance & rebalance to this one, you’ll be hitting on all cylinders. With good investment management in your pocket the sky’s the limit. Please note that our above example does not even consider the added value that reinvested dividends would have added.

A retired financial planner, James Leitz has an MBA (finance) and 35 years of investing experience. For 20 years he advised individual investors, working directly with them helping them to reach their financial goals.

Jim is the author of a complete investor guide, Invest Informed, designed for average investors or would-be investors of all levels of financial background and experience. To learn more about investments and investing and his new financial guide go to http://www.investinformed.com.

The pharmaceutical companies seem to be immune to the economic ups and downs that countries across the world go through. Illness and disease are an ongoing thing in life and it is due to this reason that the pharmaceutical companies have always been in business and were least affected by the economic ups and downs that have been experienced by different countries in the recent past. The global economies have been affected by recession, and most of the industries have been affected by the impact of recession. Banks have declared bankruptcy, automobile industry has got affected and even the service sector has laid-off so many people and this has all been a result of the recent recession.

However, the pharmaceutical industry has been able to sustain itself very well during all this time and continues to do so. Although e have seen mergers and acquisitions happening even in the pharmaceutical industry, yet the effect of recession on this industry has been much less when compared with the other industries.

For people thinking about investing in the pharmaceutical companies, there are a few pointers they might wish to know:

· Investing in this companies is not fool proof however if you compare it with any other industry, it would surely be rated as one of the most secure investments.

· Recession has not spared any segment or industry in the market today, each and every industry has felt the impact of the economic slowdown however all the different industries have felt the impact in varying degrees. The pharmaceutical industry has been affected the least but it too has not been able to totally escape the impact of recession.

· Illness and diseases are surely not affected by recession and that is one reason why the pharmaceutical companies have been able to comfortably sustain themselves during the economic slowdown. We have seen pharmaceutical companies merging and have also seen many people being laid off in this industry. Despite of these facts the pharmaceutical industry has shown less fluctuations in comparison to the banking and automobile industries.

· Investing in the pharmaceutical companies is still considered to be a very safe option in comparison to the automobile or banking sector. The reason for this is that the automobile industry has seen the shut down and merging of certain companies and the banking sector has seen the acquisition of many banks and also the filing of bankruptcy by some eminent banks in the past few years. While the pharmaceutical companies have also shown signs of being affected by the economic slowdown the magnitude of impact on pharmaceutical companies has been very low.

Keeping these few pointers in mind the general feeling in the investment market is that the pharmaceutical companies are a decent investment with safe return, especially in today’s economically slow pace. Therefore most people are now skeptical about investing in other industries and choose to invest in the pharmaceutical companies so that they can experience the safety of their investment and not be bothered about a sudden shut down.

To find out more about investing in pharma companies you can go to http://www.medisan.com/. They also provide with many information and tips investing.

If you are considering stock market investment you’ll definitely want to take a closer look at Fundamental Analysis. As a stock investor there are many tools available to help you decide which stock you’re going to buy, in today’s computer age technical analysis has become more popular but it will pay you not to overlook the more well-established system known as Fundamental Analysis. Fundamental analysis, that is to say examining what are known as the key ratios of the stock provide a method of quickly showing how much the stock is worth and how well the company is performing compared to other companies in the same sector.

The objective of fundamental analysis is to help you understand how much money the company you are considering investing in is making and how those earnings are expected to change in the future. Like all things company earnings are always subject to speculation, if the company has a good earnings record this will help to give investors confidence in the stock because they will expect the stock price and the companies dividends to rise as the earnings rise.

All listed companies must report their earnings on a regular basis, these reports are subject to detailed analysis and if the figures do not meet the market’s expectations there are bound to be a downturn in the company’s stock price.

Fundamental analysis relies on a detailed examination of the companies financial statements. Every company that is traded on the stock market must publish these financial statements regularly, in the past it was normal to produce these as just printed reports but today they are also readily available on the Internet via the company’s website and as such are easily accessible to anybody who is considering investment in the company’s stock. All financial statements include a least the following items, an income statement, the company balance sheet, the external auditors report, cash flow statement, a description of the company’s business activities and the expectation of earnings for the next financial year.

Before we cover the actual key ratios lets consider the individual parts of a typical company financial statement.

Perhaps the most important part of the financial statement is the external auditors report. The company’s auditor is always an independent certified public accountancy firm which is required to examine the company’s financial reports to establish if the information provided in the financial statement is a true and accurate description of the company’s earnings. The Independent auditors report expresses the auditors opinion of the accuracy of the information in the financial statement, any financial statement that does not have an independent auditor’s report is worthless because obviously it could contain misleading information which could result in a bad investment decision. It must be remembered that an independent auditor’s report is not an absolute guarantee of the accuracy of that report but without it the financial statement has no credibility at all.

The company balance sheet is also an important source of information for fundamental analysis, the balance sheet is actually a snapshot of the company’s financial affairs at a given point in time. The balance sheet will allow you to see the interrelationship between the company’s assets that is to say property and equipment inventory and cash against its liabilities and the retained equity in the company.

The company’s income statement will show information about income generated by the company’s activities and the costs which were incurred in generating that income this will allow you to establish the earnings per share on both the gross and net basis.

And finally we come to the statement of cash flow this is rather like the income statement but it gives a more detailed picture of how the money flows into or out of the company over the financial year. The income statement shows money coming in from sales, investments in the company, or borrowing and how the company handles its expenses. It is a very valuable indication of how the company is managed on a day-to-day basis.

In part two of this article I will go into greater detail about key financial ratios that are use in fundamental analysis and how they can help you in arriving at stock investment decisions.

For more vital information about Fundamental Analysis visit http://www.stockinvestingforbeginner.com/

The ultimate stock market tip is very simple make sure you buy your stock before the price goes up and even more important be sure to sell it before the price goes down, I know this seems to be stating the obvious but it’s amazing how many stock market investors forget this simple rule.

For nearly all stock market investors both newcomers and also very experienced traders the main consideration seems to be deciding on which stock they are going to buy. In reality this is a mistake the stock you are considering is definitely not the most vital part of stock market investing.

Anybody who has any reasonable experience of the stock market will know that the majority of shares always move in the direction of the market, “A rising tide raises all ships and falling tide lowers them”. This means if the whole market is moving up the stocks that you buy will also move up, unless you are very unlucky, in a falling market your shares will go down, unless you’ve been very lucky. The most important factor in whether or not you make money on a particular share trade is how you handle that trade after you’ve bought the stock.

Stock market investors are always on the lookout for a good tip, for inside information and its probable that that is what you thought this article was about, but the truth of the matter is individual stock tips are less important to your overall success than the way you handle your trades.

The most important stock market tip I can give you is that it doesn’t matter how high your stock rises in price, you have not made any profit until you sell the stock and put the money in the bank, if your stock falls in price you will keep on losing money until such time as you cut your losses and get out of the position. What I mean is, it is important to take a profit when it’s available to you, but it’s even more important to cut your losses.

Two of the best ways of keeping your losses under control are first never fall in love with any of your stockholdings they are only a means of making money and secondly always remember your stock will not go against the general direction of the market. We all forget these two basic rules from time to time and end up losing money.

To maximise your gains it is important to remember not to be too greedy, before you buy a stock decide on your profit target and once you’ve achieved it realise a profit by selling the stock, it is almost impossible to exactly catch the top of the market. If your stock goes up in price but then starts to fall back be prepared to reduce your profit target and take the money that is available to you now.

If you’re new to stock market investing it is worth paying the extra charges and using a full-service stockbroker, but make sure you ask them lots of questions, why are they recommending a particular stock, how did they reach that decision, you’re paying extra charges make sure you get an education for your money. Once you feel confident, start making your own decisions, when they work out and you have several successful stock investments under your belt it will be time to move on to a low-cost online stock dealing service.

For more vital tips about Stock Market Investing visit http://www.stockinvestingforbeginner.com/

At first glance the best investment strategy in late 2007 was to sell every stock investment you held; and the best strategy in early 2009 was to put 100% of your investment portfolio into stocks. The result would have been no investment losses in 2008 and big profits in 2009 and early 2010. Your odds of doing this without a crystal ball were about zero. But with a simple and sound investment strategy you can make the best of any market situation.

The best investment strategy is not a formula that tells you when to dump one investment asset and when to buy and hold another on a short term basis. Trying to time the markets is speculation and beyond the scope of sensible investing for the average investor. What you need is a longer-term sound plan that only requires minor adjustments over time. Let’s look at the key elements to putting together your best investment strategy for long term profits with less risk.

You must take risk into consideration when judging the results of, or putting together any investment strategy. Our crystal ball scenario went from an asset allocation of zero for stock investment to 100%. Not only is this strategy very risky, it is also short-sighted. It begs the question: what do you do in 2010 and beyond? When do you cut your stock investment and run, and where do you go next? Overstay your welcome and your stock investment profits could evaporate in a few months, because the truth of the matter is that you have no long term investment strategy at all.

As an average investor, taking risk without a plan is not the way to play the investment game. It’s your money and it’s important to you. View putting together your best investment strategy like this: you want to earn in the neighborhood of 10% a year over the long term taking only a moderate amount of risk. This means that you will likely never make 50% or more in a year because you have no crystal ball. It also means that you have a real good chance of avoiding big losses that can upset your future financial plans (like a secure retirement) as well.

Every good investment strategy focuses on asset allocation. This means that you allocate your money by diversifying and spreading it across all four, or at least three of the asset classes. Starting with the safest these are: cash equivalents, bonds, stocks, and perhaps other investments called alternative investments (like real estate, foreign or international securities, and gold). The simplest and best way for you to do this is through mutual funds that invest in each of these areas: money market, bond, stock, and specialty funds, respectively.

For example, if you want relatively low risk and simplicity you might allocate 1/3 each to a money market fund, a bond fund, and a stock fund. At the beginning of each year you review your investment portfolio to make sure your asset allocation is on track. If, for example, your stock investment has grown from 33% to 40% of your to total investment value, move money from your stock fund to the other two to make them all equal again. By doing this you are taking money off the table from your riskier stock investment when the market gets pricey, and adding money to stocks when prices are lower. In this way you have lower risk, no need for a crystal ball, and you know exactly what you are going to do each and every new year.

If you feel the need to keep it simple, do so as in our example above. If you want to take the best investment strategy to the next level include international stock funds and specialty equity funds like real estate and gold funds. The added advantage here is that in the past these alternative investments have proven to have the potential to offset losses when stock prices in general are falling. In short, they offer even more diversification to your asset allocation.

A retired financial planner, James Leitz has an MBA (finance) and 35 years of investing experience. For 20 years he advised individual investors, working directly with them helping them to reach their financial goals.

Jim is the author of a complete investor guide, Invest Informed, designed for average investors or would-be investors of all levels of financial background and experience. To learn more about investments and investing and his new financial guide go to http://www.investinformed.com.

While the macroeconomic links between Russia and oil are well known, I believe that it is useful to review how they work. Because Russia produces so much oil and gas, it is the oil price that determines export and government revenues. The ruble is used as a safety valve to control the impact of these factors on the economy, and that, in turn, determines the absolute level of dollar GDP.

THE IMPORTANCE OF HYDROCARBONS

Russia produces just under 10 mln bpd of oil, as Ill as 550 bln m3 of gas (also around 10 mln boepd) and large amounts of other commodities, which in recent years have broadly followed oil prices up and then down. The percentage of Russian GDP made up of oil and gas is a moot point, as much of the hydrocarbon production is sold cheaply on the domestic market, enabling other sectors to reap the benefits. One way around this is to look at the total value at world market prices of the oil and gas sold. In 2008, this was $590 bln, or 36% of 2008 GDP; this year, I forecast it to be $340 bln, or 27% of 2009 GDP.

EXPORTS

Russia exports around 5 mln bpd of oil, 2.5 mln bpd of oil products and 200 bln m³ of gas, generating export revenues of $280 bln from hydrocarbons in 2008, or 63% of total export revenues. Overall, commodities account for more than 90% of exports. As a result, it is the oil price that acts as the key determinant of the trade and current account balances.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

ˆ Oil determines the reference RTS Index level. For much of its existence, a pretty good rule of thumb for the level of the RTS Index has been 22 times the oil price minus 200. This framework explains not only the 2,000 point fall in the index in 2008

Jeffrey F. Combs, 53, MBA, a veteran of Wall Street (Morgan, Stanley; Lehman Brothers) has been living and investing in Russia since 1995. He is a frequent speaker at Investment Conferences, and considered to be an authority on the Russian and CIS investment markets.