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Saturday, April 12, 2008

Investment Insecurities

by L. Massimo

Worried about risk vs. opportunity? Doesn't everyone need financial planning? Of course, otherwise it would be difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle and money management would be hard to keep on track.

Planning the Life of Your Money
Doesn’t everyone need financial planning? Of course, otherwise it would be difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle and money management would be hard to keep on track. Let’s say you’re making good money, but you don’t know how to save or invest it. You see many investment options, but are confused about which one is right for you. Not choosing the best option for yourself and your future could result in little to no return, profit, and earnings. In order to avoid this dilemma, various financial planning services can be utilized.
Ordinarily, financial planning is the process of money management, tax planning, budgeting, retirement/estate planning, insurance, and investment strategies. These services assist individuals and companies in changing their financial future during different transitions in their lives. Financial planning institutions suggest that you research various types of bonds, equities, funds etc., however, can provide better recommendations regarding banking solutions for savings and financial management.

Understanding Risks of Investing
Without an understanding of what risks are, investment planning is sort of "impractical." With an investment, a return/risk tradeoff always exists, meaning, the more you can accept the risk, greater potential return is compensation for your commitment to an unknown outcome. In general, with the increase in the level of risks, the return rate also needs to rise, and visa versa. Prior to discussing risks in detail, it is essential for new investors to know how to perceive, handle, and define risks in several ways.

The greatest way to handle risk is by avoiding the activity associated with the risk. Typical instance is the risk of injury while flying on an airplane. An individual can altogether avoid the risk by choosing not to fly. In the investment world, avoiding some risks are possible by investing in "risk free" investments. Normally, short term maturity U.S. government bonds equal risk free rates of returns, which is the best option for investors looking for quick and smart gains.

By taking risks, we don’t mean carelessness. There is a thin line between taking risks and being reckless. Risk taking involves comparing possible rewards with the measurable risk, then deciding if the odds of winning are more than the odds of losing. Being reckless simply means jumping in headfirst and wishing for the impossible that has the absolute potential to fail. In short, risk taking encompasses a sound assessment of the connection between risk/reward against the odds of winning, while being reckless is similar to jumping off a mountain, day dreaming about the fortune and fame you will get should you instantly be able to fly.

Remarkably, it is actually the risk takers who ultimately take lesser risk than risk-fearing individuals. Risk fearing individuals who buy stocks that have moved too often and too frequently end up losing money while risk takers who buy stocks at its bottom frequently end up with millions in their portfolios.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Equity Based Money Arrangement Measures

10th April 2008
Author: Amenda

Summary:
Secured loans are sanctioned by the lenders taking the value of your home as the main basis. Such loans are also available for people having bad credit rating. Borrowers who frequently take loans must be aware of equity based options available in the market. In financial parlance, the word Equity refers to the unencumbered value of the borrower's home. It is the difference between the value of your home in the open market and the loans taken against it. This concept of borrowing is very important as people usually resort to this type of loan whenever they have large requirements. A homeowner can raise a loan amount of upto 80 percent of the value of his home. Many lenders provide additional borrowing benefits like 10 percent extra loan that is usually unsecured and attracts a higher rate of interest. Even an average home in the UK costs anything above 200,000 pounds. It means that homeowners can easily get upto 160,000 pounds as a loan amount that is repayable over a period of 5-25 years. A loan secured against your home also takes into account your credit score and repayment capability. If you are standing on a strong financial footing then the rate of interest offered may be very close to the base rate of interest prevailing in the market. Since a good credit score is an indicator of your past satisfactory conduct in the financial market, you stand at higher footing than those who have a low credit score.

This is true in all cases of loans whether they are equity based or salary based arrangements. Once a lender sanctions the loan, it is not his concern that what you are doing with the loan amount, though for record purposes you may be asked to provide information on the use of the loan. A secured loan taken on the basis of equity in home is also sometimes called any purpose loan. There are various advantages associated with a secured loan. The value of your home increases with the passage of time, and therefore, the loan eligibility also keep on increasing as it is directly related with the value of your home in the open market. Consumers who take secured loans can use them for any purpose. The rate of interest is low, the repayment period is long and monthly installments are small enough to easily afford every month. These loans are available with a number of lenders – both online and offline. Online lenders and financial services firms provide quick solutions to all kinds of your financial needs.

Author Bio:
For more tips on Loans for you and your family. Amenda Dorothy works as a business writer for Ask4loan. To find small personal loan, fast secured loans, cheap rate loans visit our blog fly high with low rate loans.

How to Stay Away From Information Overload in Trading

10th April 2008
Author: Leroy Rushing

The problem in modern day trading is not lack of information – but rather, a complete overload of data. There are many sources that all have different strategies on how to improve your trading and meet your trading goals. Each program will have different steps to building a perfect strategy; following one plan is a great way to succeed, but trying to use them all will lead to failure. Even proven strategies are only as good as the people behind them.

Group Mentoring
Group mentoring is a great way to learn about trading with a number of people in the same situation. Group mentoring allows a group of people to learn by trading information or looking at each other’s Tradestation examples and workspaces. Many group sessions offer an interactive classroom with a live trading room and virtual library full of trading education and resource materials. Many groups benefit from custom indicators that have been created by the members of the group. Information is freely shared for the benefit of everyone. Profitable traders often meet in these sessions to talk about trading goals and how to generate profits. The virtual libraries online make for great reference material whenever you need a second opinion on an investment. The group mentoring sessions allow you to learn with peers who have a similar education as you do.

Don’t Overload Yourself
Staying away from information overload is made easy when learning with a group of your peers. Knowledge is spread quickly through a small group of informed traders. It is much easier to learn from the mistakes and good fortune of others than to listen to financial advice from someone who probably isn’t in your situation. A group session will allow you to feel comfortable with your trading and investing.

Information overload occurs when you try to make your strategy perfect. The holy grail of trading has not yet been found and likely will never be. There is no 100% winning system. The best profits come from strategies that also have losses. When is the last time you saw a CD yielding 30% per year?

Avoiding information overload is as simple as learning with your peers. A virtual library of trading education and resource information is available around the clock with most group mentoring programs. Learn about the markets piece by piece rather than attempting to take it on all in one weekend.

About the Author:Leroy Rushing is an active, professional day trader; trading coach; and author. He is the Founder and CEO of Trading EveryDay, a distinguished provider of educational trading products and services that are available worldwide. Trading EveryDay also has many articles with unique perspectives on day trading.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Different Types of Investment

(Mon Feb 11th, 2008, by Gerry Legister)

I want to make it simple for Individuals wishing to invest their savings in selected corporation tailored to meet their requirement, to let you know how to find high quality products, and real source of income streams that can produce fruitful financial revenues. We all agree first of all that everybody wants to make a better standard of living, we do this by the best means possible, scraping and saving up a small part of our disposable income, or we may be fortunate enough to inherit a small legacy, but not everybody is fortunate to find themselves in a position of untold wealth, most people have to work for a living and they are just looking for a way out of the poverty trap, while still others, by deceitful knowledge risk their lives, and the lives of other people to get where they want to be in life, offering large sums of financial rewards for dangerous pursuit, individuals will even borrow with no intention of honoring repayments using delaying tactics with hope of a lucky draw on the lottery or a win on a horse galloping to victory.

Accountability
-Is vital where money is concern; so making an investment for your future requires your full attention because the decisions that you will be making are very important, certain risk will hinge upon those decisions that you will make, so teach yourself simple arithmetic, with plenty of thoughtful consideration for how you spend what you do not earn, living above your means is the easiest way to fall behind in disrepute with your credit card payments, car loan and household repayments, tithing and giving to charitable causes, but by careful budgeting you will see at a glance your income and expenditure, and how to make it even more simpler, your expenditure must not be greater than your income, else you will be negative equity.

Risk
Investing in common stock is riskier than putting your money in a savings account where you can pay in and withdraw cash on demand, where the befits receive will be poor value, and interest paid yearly is added to your account, ordinary paid up share account is not an applicable way to invest. However, The greater returns on investment are related to the stock market's risk, and the stock market is constantly in motion where you expect stock to provide a return on your investment, this includes market timing of buying high and selling low, pushing other potential investors further away from the market. Always keep on eye on the stock market so that you know when to buy a stock that's going up in price, and to sell if stock is going down. The aim for new buyers is to find the cheapest broker over the life of the transaction, to look after the total transaction cost for buying, holding and selling your shares. And not to loose money foolishly, fortunately there are a couple of steps an investor can take to minimize that risk, by creating Stock Portfolios to Reduce Risk, and by owning shares of stock in more than one company.

By reducing the risk element to trading retreat, you have a better peace of mind, and minimize the definition of financial risk surrounding the fluctuation of your investment over a long period of time, however, some people are more cautious than others measuring time bases on the amount of cash flow, the higher the duration, or the longer your investment is left to grow the further into the future you will have to look. Diversification refers to reducing risk by spreading an investment across a number of characteristics. A simple example is "not putting all your eggs into one basket". Stocks and shares has an element of risk if you don't know what you are doing, The value of investment and the income derived from them may fluctuate and the investor may not receive back the amount originally invested, and the sad thing is that past performance is not an indication that in the future the fund will performed better, so the value of the share prices may go down as well as up.

Managed Fund
May be a safe net for nervous investor where the risk element is low and the fund perform at a stable rate of growth. Pooling Money from many investors to reinvest in stocks, bond and short term markets. the portfolio manager, will trade the fund's underlying securities, addressing capital gains and losses, then collects the dividends, The investment proceeds are then passed along to all the other individual investors.

Fixed Assets
Are things of value that you own, which could be swap sell or loan out, realistically only tangible assets, are referred to as fixed? Anything that can be uniquely identified can be tracked and accounted for. Fixed assets normally include items such as property, land and other surplus buildings it can also be motor vehicles furniture, office equipment, lap tops and tower computers, fixtures and fittings, and goes further to owning plant and machinery, These can often receive favorable tax incentives, this too is another source of income investment. The Types of Investment solution you should be looking at to combat poverty is investment that will offer you real value for your money. Giving benefits and advantages, you will also want your investment to be anchor in a safe harbor in stormy times, not throwing a pardoner, where each person gets a hand each week, and it goes around in a circle until everybody has had a pay out, this can be a quick way of raising money without acquiring any interest, it is rather risky because where there is no legal accountability ofr those collecting the pardonership money can become unscrupulous in their behavior. If you are doing this type of savings, you are setting yourself up as a lamb to the slaughter. Sooner or later there is going to be let down and your money will find itself in another person’s hand. My best advise to you would be to get onto the property ladder sooner rather than later, there is no such thing as waiting for the right time in this instance, opportunity is relative to your situation, if you have the knowledge, and there is a proposed acquisition amidst the turmoil of recent days, you can create a passive income stream, out performing ordinary share account, and will yield higher percentage in the long run, money will always be flowing towards you, by learning the correct way to handle credit uses and its available facilities. You will be the one standing shortly on top of your finances, having full control of your spending, and not giving dept management the opportunity to charge you so much interest, by you understanding the careful orchestrated purpose of business ethics, your credit cards can be another source of investment solution, not to be use inadvisable for laundry shopping, holidays, and restaurants.

Credit cards, are remarkable simple acquisition of liquid asset readily available when you want, so use them correctly, and your inability to make repayments will be a thing of the past, your credit worthiness is a record of payments made on time, held largely by several companies who will give a report on the strength of your credit worthiness, bad creditors can always repair their file, credit cards is a widespread knowledge of a persons credibility which in modern terms, is just another available income stream. If you are credit worthy then you have the opportunity to make lots more money.

Real Estate
-Is an increasingly popular way to diversify an investment portfolio? There are typically two ways to invest in the property market. The first is by making a direct investment in a property, such as the home you live in. that is a positive investment that will yield financial benefits in real terms, and with each successful acquisition you can reinvest back some of the profits that you have gain. Home ownership is on the increase, and offers a number of potential advantages, the value of house price in many inner cities area have more than trebled in recent years, reflecting the type of financial security that you can gain by owning your own house, its not throwing away dead money in rent, houses are security for the future, home ownership can give you a higher credit rating, it defines purpose and commitment, it reinforces caution and lend strength to accountability, its perhaps the largest investment that you will own during your life time, it comes with a degree of problems that will be dissolved over a period of time, including potential tax deductions for a portion of your mortgage payments and a source of equity should you need to borrow money for different financial needs. Second is buying to let, where the property brings in passive income from the rent or lease. Passive income is an income stream derive from rental property or royalties from selling a book, where money is receive on a regular basis, best example would be network marketing, interest paid from bank, and dividends paid from share holding.

Understanding how money works Liquid asset may be classified in many ways of accountability, including securities bought and held for sale in the near future to generate more combine income, an asset is a resource controlled by the enterprise as a result of past performance and becomes a reflection from which the future economic benefits are expected to flow to the enterprise account. Assets have some essential characteristics which in the process of time becomes the embodiment of future benefit that involves a capacity from which financial resources flow into long term investment. Usually Assets characteristics are directly and indirectly referring to cash, which will provide services for essential liabilities. Cash in turn controls access to other benefits; cash is the most reliable liquid asset, which includes currency, and deposit bank accounts, and negotiable cheques, bank drafts and money order. This converted cash are assets which are continuing turning over in the course of business.

Multiplying Owner’s Equity
Assets bring liabilities accounting equation to the economics of the Owners Equity balance sheet, from which we get the sum total of the owner’s wealth. But there can be hidden assets which do not appear on the balance sheet, like in divorce cases where asset are hidden from one spouse to another. Long-term investments - Investments in securities, such as bonds, and common stock, and takes into account Investments in subsidiaries and spread diversely into affiliated companies. Which may mature into pension funds? Fixed assets are also called capital assets they are property and buildings held for sale.

The Index
The financial share index is a widely recognized combination of stocks that is representative of a particular market; the index reflects the market that it represents, not the market in general, the number is not important. The most important thing is the percent change over time. This movement up or down gives you an idea of how the index is performing. When you hear that the market went up or down, you're actually hearing about an index, which is a general indicator of price trends in groups of stocks or bonds. An "index" is a group of stocks or bonds that experts believe collectively represent a larger group of stocks.

The Dow Jones
The Dow tracks the daily gains and losses of stocks from the New York Stock Exchange that the editors consider to be key players in the market and the economy. Income streams investment solution. Purchase a home and add property portfolio Use credit cards as another stream of income Diversify business investment into multiple companies Make good on your credit and mortgage repayments Fill out your tax returns with a percentage to charity Budget your income and expenditure Have an audit trail of all your transaction. Different types of investments to consider in building your financial portfolio.

A Novel, New Way to Improve Your Trading Today!

Submitted by lerhing

The process of learning is an individual thing. Some of us prefer to figure things out alone, while others need the support and interactivity of others to learn. The way you learn becomes a factor in your progress as well. Some of us learn best visually, others by hearing or auditory means, still others through doing and repetition. Me? I pretty much have to do all three. I learn best what I can see, hear, AND do whatever it is I’m supposed to be learning. How does your learning affect how your trading is improving?If you’ve been learning to trade on your own and can’t seem to improve at the rate you would like, you probably already know that getting a trading coach or mentor could really give you the boost and attention you need. The right one can help you assess your trading to the smallest details, and amazingly, make the smallest suggestions that could make the biggest impact. The mentor can show you things, explain things, and probably even give you homework and trading materials to study.Also, another alternative for learning to improve your trading would be to join a group of traders who want to do the same thing.

Invariably, there will be traders of all levels in the group, hopefully some with more experience than you. All I know is that when I was learning to play tennis when I was in middle school, everyone always told me to play with people better than myself if I wanted to improve faster. I still tell my nieces and nephews that today. I also remember taking private tennis lessons, but I always enjoyed the group lessons more. They were so much more fun, and cheaper. Finding the right group of traders could work this way for you as well.Searching for and gathering tons of trading information would be yet another way to improve your trading. But how tedious and time consuming is that? Very. What you may want to consider is leveraging websites that have already done a lot of that searching for you. These websites contain trading libraries, downloadable files, chat rooms, courses, and external links to relevant sites and articles.

By using these websites, you can get much, if not all, of the trading information you need, reducing your searching time to a fraction of what you would have spent surfing the internet to find it on your own.The Novel IdeaWhat if you could combine having a mentor in a group setting and access to centralized trading resources? What a novel idea, yes?! The trade off to sharing the mentor would be that it would be more affordable (e.g., CHEAPER!) but still valuable and maybe even more fun (like in my tennis lessons). Group learning has a lot of benefits – including, but not limited to, learning from others, helping others, support for when you’re not doing so well, and people to celebrate with when you are doing well! AND, having a centralized trading resource could free up tons of your time.

This type of environment could be a godsend for lots of traders.So once you figure out what type of learner you are (alone vs. group), how you learn (visual, doer, audio), and what you would like to learn (centralized trading depository), you can narrow down and define the learning environment best suited for you. Once you do this, your trading should improve immensely.

About the Author:
Leroy Rushing is an active, professional day trader; trading coach; and eBook author. He is the Founder and CEO of Trading EveryDay, a distinguished provider of educational trading products and services that are available worldwide.

Invest in Quality Businesses

Submitted by anthonygreen123

Invest in quality businesses, not stock symbols. For most people investing in a stock is little more than watching the trail left by the stock symbol as its price wanders along some drunken path. They know that the symbol is associated with a company while not being too sure what is expected of this company to ensure that its share price will rise. It is a case of let's sit back and hope for the best. Then there are others who deliberately do not want to know anything about the activities of the company. They want to study the pure movement of the stock price with the belief that they can use this information to make forecasts about the future movements of the price. This is like trying to play bridge without looking at the cards. It just makes no sense to ignore the fact that the stock symbol is attached to a company. And it makes no sense not to apply sound business principles to analyze these companies. The more we know about the company, then the more confident we can be about the price of the stock, not on a day to day basis, but over time, so before buying a stock, think of it in terms of buying a whole company, just as if you were buying a store down the street.

If you were buying a store you would want to know all about it. What were its products? How consistent are the sales? Do they keep trying new products or do their products stay fairly constant? What competitors does the store have and what distinguishes it from them? What would be the most worrying thing about owning such a store?

This leads to the idea of looking for companies that have a strong and durable economic moat. Just as castles have moats to protect them from invaders, so companies can have economic moats to protect them from challenges of competitors and changes in consumer preferences. The moat can be made up of attributes such as brand name, geographical position or patents and licenses.All these principles about purchasing businesses are equally applicable to purchasing shares. It becomes one of the most enjoyable parts of investing to look into the business aspects of any company that you are considering adding to your portfolio. Don't invest for ten minutes if you're not prepared to invest for ten years.

When we look at the share price of a company we usually see a wildly fluctuating graph with mighty hills and plunging chasms. For example, on the right is the graph of the daily closing prices of a company over ten years. It would be a brave person who could look at this graph and say what was going to happen in the next 24 hours, let alone the next 5 to 10 years. Yet this is a typical graph of the prices of a listed company. In other words, as investors we focus on the medium to long term business characteristics of companies. It is these that drive the share price. Focusing on the short-term aspects of a company including both business and price fluctuations is foolish. Even though we focus on the long-term, the investment is even more profitable if we purchase the stock during one of its drops.

About the Author:
Articles on stock market trading, finance, investing tips and many more stock trading related. Check the stock market strategy on http://www.2stocktrading.com.

When Stock Makes New Highs or Lows

Submitted by anthonygreen123

When a stock advances or declines into new territory or to prices which it has not reached for months or years, it shows that the force or driving power is working in that direction. It is the same principle as any other force which has been restrained and breaks out. Water may be held back by a dam, but if it breaks through the dam, you would know that it would continue downward until it reached another dam, or some obstruction or resistance which would stop it. Therefore, it is very important to watch old levels of stocks.

The longer the time that elapses between the breaking into new territory, the greater the move you can expect, because the accumulative energy Page 11 of 24 Purna Kiran over a long period naturally will produce a larger movement than if it only accumulated during a short period of time.

BUYING OR SELLING AFTER A STOCK SHOWS CHANGE IN TREND
After accumulation or distribution takes place, a stock moves into new territory, either high or low, showing that the stock has been absorbed or distributed and that a new move is starting. The big profits are made in the runs between accumulation and distribution. Therefore, you make more money by waiting until a stock plainly declares its trend than by getting in before it starts. It is just like a race. It often takes fifteen or twenty minutes to get the horses away from the post, but once �they�re off� the race is over in two minutes. It is the getting ready that takes the time, the run is soon made, once the firing line is crossed. What difference does it make whether you buy a stock 10, 20 or 30 points above the bottom so long as you make profits? The same with selling short. It makes no difference how much the price is down from the top. Wen it breaks out of the distributing zone, it is a safe short sale and you will make quick profits. Get the idea of prices out of your head. Forget about the bottoms and tops; trade to make profits, not to try and catch the bottom or top eighth. The insiders do not do it, and you can not hope to do better than the man who makes the market.

HOW TO WATCH INVESTMENTS
A lot of people handle their investments the same as they do their health. They never consult a doctor until they are seriously ill; then it may be too late, or the expense will be ten times greater than if they had consulted a doctor and protected themselves against future ailments. No matter if you hold gilt-edge bonds or preferred stocks as an investment, they should be looked over by an expert at least once a year to see if there are any symptoms of weakness developing in the list. Investments should be sold out on the first sign of a change in conditions, and you should not wait until everybody is selling and you are forced to sell on a liquidating market. Very few people are willing to pay even $25 a year to have their investments looked over, and receive real expert scientific advice, but after they have losses of thousands of dollars, and it is too late for expert advice to help them much, then they are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for helpful information. It is the old, old story of locking the stable door after the horse is stolen.

About the Author:
Get the best stock market trading and turn $1000 InTo $1,00,000 with latest investing tips. For more stock trading related articles and information visit http://www.2stocktrading.com.

The Stock Market Umbrella

Submitted by MarkeD

Most people, even if they have never invested in shares, have heard of the stock market. Most will know this is the place where shares are bought and sold. But what they might not realise is that the stock market is actually an umbrella term for a number of different markets run by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) where shares in different types of companies can be traded. These firms might be big blue chip household names, foreign businesses or small unquoted companies.There are more than 2,700 companies, worth over £1.4bn, quoted on the London Stock Exchange’s markets! If you are planning to buy shares it is worth knowing which type of company is quoted on each of the markets run by the London Stock Exchange as it will help you make the best decisions about your investments. It could even introduce you to a world of investing you never knew existed. There are also other markets you may wish to consider.

London Stock Exchange markets:
The Main Market Alternative Investment Market (AIM)Overseas marketsOFEXThe Main MarketUndoubtedly the market most people would identify as ‘the UK stock market’ is the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market. This is the world’s most active international equity market with companies from all areas of the business world, including retailing, technology, finance and manufacturing. More than 2,000 companies, including more than 500 overseas companies, have securities which are quoted on this market.Some international companies prefer to list Depository Receipts, which represent ownership of the underlying securities and can be listed and traded independently. These shares are usually denominated in US Dollars (ADRs) or Euros (EDRs)Under the Main Market’s umbrella there are special groupings for certain sectors. One of the most well-known is techMARKTM, the international market for cutting edge technology companies that was launched in 1999. There is also techMARK mediscienceTM, a market for healthcare companies.Professional and private investors alike track the performance of securities admitted to trading on the Main Market using a variety of indices.

The index that covers all securities listed on the Main Market is the FTSETM All Share but there are other indices covering various sectors, e.g. the FTSE 100, which tracks the performance of the biggest 100 companies listed on the market. These firms, often known as blue chips, are often household names, including Marks & Spencer, HSBC, BP and Glaxo Smithkline. Read more about Indices.A two-stage admission process applies to companies who want to have their securities admitted to the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market. The securities need to be admitted to the Official List by the UK Listing Authority (UKLA), a division of the Financial Services Authority, and also admitted to trading by the London Stock Exchange.

Alternative Investment Market (AIM)More commonly known as AIM, the Alternative Investment Market was launched in 1995 and is more lightly regulated than the Main Market.More than 1,500 companies are traded on AIM and represent a variety of industries, including information technology, leisure and hotels, healthcare and biotechnology stocks.While there are no specific suitability requirements for companies seeking to admit securities on the AIM market, there are some controls. The company must produce an admission document that gives potential investors information on, for example, directors, business activities and the company’s financial position.The company must also get the support of a nominated adviser approved by the Stock Exchange. This adviser is responsible, amongst other duties, for ensuring the company is suitable for an AIM quotation. Introducing a market such as AIM has enabled these companies to raise money from investors who, in turn, have the ability to invest in a wider range of companies. But investors must also recognise that the lighter regulation afforded these companies does make AIM a potentially riskier place to invest than the Main Market.Overseas marketsAs well as investing in UK registered securities you may also wish to consider investing in foreign securities. Buying foreign securities diversifies your portfolio, which is an important way of reducing risk while maximising returns. For more on diversification, read Allocating your Assets.Buying shares in foreign companies has not, historically, been practical for the vast majority of investors because of cost, lack of information and the extra risk of currency fluctuations. But in recent years overseas trading has become easier, particularly as so much information is available on the Internet. Since the introduction of CREST Depository Interests (CDIs), which you can buy on the London Stock Exchange’s International Retail Service, it has also become cheaper.

There are a tremendous number of international markets but it is harder to buy shares on any but the larger exchanges. Among the most popular are DAXTM 40 index, the French CAC TM -30, the American S&P TM 500 and Japanese Nikkei TM 225. For more on buying foreign shares, click here. (link to Buying shares article)OFEXThe ‘Off Exchange’ or OFEX market established in 1995 is another market for more adventurous investors to buy shares. It is not a regulated market and securities traded on it are unlisted and unquoted, although most members, as UK companies, are subject to the same company legislation as the biggest blue chip firms.OFEX has existed for 35 years but has only been known under its present name since 1995. It is seen by some firms as a springboard to listing on AIM and the Main Market but others decide to remain with OFEX. stay with the Exchange permanently.While the requirements required for trading shares on OFEX are not as stringent as for AIM and the Main Market companies must follow official rules. Shares can be suspended if they breach any of these regulations.

About the Author:
Whether you are interested in shares trading for an investment or simply want to check out stock market news, visit the London Stock Exchange website to find out this and more.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Real Estate Investing 101

A recent television show about investing featured a panel of expert investors from different fields. The ones that caught my attention were from the fields of real estate and stock market investing. And they were sharing information with the studio audience about their secrets to making money. However, there were a few items that needed further clarification about the true potential of real estate investing, since they were seemingly swept aside on the program. And these lessons are helpful for anyone making a decision about getting into the real estate market with financial gain in mind.Before the stock market guru enthusiastically persuaded the audience to put their money into individual stocks, he stated that the Real Estate Market was in disarray and that even in good years Real Estate would only appreciate at single digit percentages. While the latter is often true, I was surprised at how blatantly this gentleman overlooked the other key aspects of a Real Estate investment and wondered if the general public saw the benefits as narrowly as this man. There are at least four key issues worth mentioning in regards to that perspective. And while there are several ways to invest in Real Estate, this particular rebuttal will list some of the advantages of owning rental property.1. “The Buy”- As is the case with any investment, the goal is to buy low and sell high. Today’s Real Estate market offers plenty of opportunities for a savvy consumer to
purchase a home for 80 to 85 cents on the dollar. My mentor agent of The Williams Home Team in Rochester MN always says, “You don’t make money when you sell a house, you make money when you buy it!”2. Cash Flow – If the rental income on your property is greater than your mortgage, which is often the goal, than you are making additional income. It is important to note that this income has not yet been taxed.3. Principal Reduction – Allowing someone else to make the payments on your house is a beautiful thing. Just like the mortgage on your personal residence your investment mortgage is going to be amortized with most of the interest on the front end of the loan. Time is very powerful in this regard. And you can keep your money in other investments, earning you interest over the long run.4. Tax Savings – Your mortgage interest as well as all operating expenses and improvements to your property are tax deductible. This is also a great savings over time.When investing in stocks, the industry goal is to beat the benchmark of the market as a whole, which appreciates at an average rate of 10-12%. While the aforementioned gentleman was accurate in saying that typical Real Estate markets only appreciate at single digit percentages, when taking into consideration these overlooked aspects one can often times see far greater returns. Talking with a financial advisor or real estate agent may also prove beneficial in your endeavor to secure a financially viable real estate investment property.Copyright © Tim Williams

The Principles Of Investing Education

Defining Investing EducationPrincipled investing is a misnomer these days. As facts say, most investors today wish that they want to learn more about investing. Therefore, common financial literacy is not so common after all. The need for people to be educated in a dynamic system should be taken into account. Thankfully more and more people are finding online education advantageous in improving their investing education.Investing education is an abstract idea for most people. This is because that they value investment as a way to save money with the expectation that their finances should advance. Yet what they don’t see is that there are methods where investing can become an instinctive exercise to achieve financial freedom. This entails developing the perspective to find investing opportunities where most people find nothing. A quick refresher on investing education will teach students to change the way they look at different investment opportunities, risks, and rewards.Investing education is also important in having a better read of today’s financial situation. As an analogy, anyone can enjoy a delicious cheese cake. But only informed people can dissect what is the real value of the cheesecake according to its taste and other characteristics that the uninformed eye cannot see. Therefore this education is a form of shaping and training that makes a student notice what he does not see in his first look.Importance of Online EducationOnline learning is in the center of the purposeful information marketplace today. Students of distance learning are seen to be highly motivated individuals who are able to adjust to the dynamics of different training materials and mediums that will allow them have a unique view of what education and training is all about. This dwells more on the practical and quantitative goals. This is evident in continuing
internet based learning where the student is updated with the latest trends according to his field.With the latest trends brought by the internet, online investing education is a practical side track to one’s personal development. Just imagine any full-time worker seeking to increase his finances to ultimate financial freedom. While he is severely tied to his career, he can scotch over some time to invest in his personal training. Web based learning then becomes an efficient method to acquire such knowledge because of its flexible and mobile advantages. Time saving and personal management is in itself a practical application of the objectives of online education and 21st century education.Mindset Development through Investment EducationA positive impact that is not readily observable is the relationship of investing education and developing a millionaire’s mindset. Smart investors are able to find ways to generate income without much work. The thought that runs through a millionaire’s head invokes an encouraging level of attraction that will allow money to come to an individual. Investments should not be a methodical tool but a rational decision led by an instinctive millionaire’s mindset.Everyone can become a smart investor through constant investing education. As you will learn smart investors completely do the opposite things and would rather be out leading. Leaders in the investment game are usually the risk takes that leave the average investor guessing. Planning ahead and thinking three steps ahead is one of the leading principles of investor education.Investing education through online learning will teach you not only the methods of becoming a smart investor, but the mindset shift that will give you the instinct to be a smart investor and a wealth creator. The bottom of it all is that it should not be about the rules of the game. Instead, smart investors look at these rules smile at it and go the other direction; such a nugget of knowledge from 21st century educators.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

How To Start Investment In The Stock Market

It is the prime aim of any one trying to invest in an online stock market to make easy money online. They will be trying to choose all the necessary steps needed to make money through a proper investment in the stock market. In fact, people blindly believe that stock market is the best method to make fast money. However, nowadays it is seen that investors fear to trade stock. This fear might be arising due to the experiences of a few investors who tasted a failure in the stock market. Hence, it is always better to go for the proper steps involved on how to invest in a stock market.

1. Before going to make an investment in stock market, the investor should understand the basic concepts involved in trading stocks. They can depend on suitable guides available online to know the stock market better. Once you understand the stock market, they can make a decision on how to make the investment and for how much money they should invest initially.

2. There are different methods in which an investment can be made. There are stock trading companies and internet stock trading. The investor should understand the risk elements involved in these two aspects. They can seek the help of experienced people before initiating an investment. There can be many false conceptions and instructions that can mislead those who are going to invest in stock market. In such cases, the investor should never blindly follow the ideas. They have to make a detailed research on investment.

3. There are different options in online day trading and are easy to choose and to be processed. This is a best method that will assist even novice investors easily. The methods followed can be finalized with the advices of financial experts.

4. Investors can seek the help of a stock broker. They will act as middle men in the stock investment between the investor and the stock market. Hence it is always important to make sure that the online stock broker is trust worthy. They can be misleading. So choose the one who is highly recommended by others. Make sure that they are not charging too high for the service they are offering. The commission must be reasonable and justifiable. The track record of the broker must be appreciable.

5. Now the investor can start the investment in the stock market. They must observe the market closely. This will help them to know what step to be taken at the right time. They can take steps like drawing their investment or making more investment as per the changes in the stock market. All these can be done with the help of a financial expert.

If the investor is careful about the investment he is making in a stock market, he can easily make money from online. They can act according to the changes that are happening in stock market. A timely response can help them in winning in the stock market. Just as any other business, investing in stock market is also highly risky. But this never means that stock market is flexible and dangerous. The step-by-step instructions with a careful eye can help the investors for a fast success.

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The New York Stock Exchange Is Accessible To All Investors

When it was founded in 1792 by the Buttonwood agreement, the 24 stockbrokers who formed the New York Stock Exchange had no way of knowing that it would become the largest exchange in the world. From its humble beginnings in a $200.00 a month office on Wall Street, the exchange has grown to trade the highest dollar volume and has the second most securities listed of all stock exchanges in the world.

The New York Stock Exchange has always been the focus of trading activity around the world. The biggest companies and investors trade billions of shares on the NYSE every day, which make the New York Stock exchange the barometer that most investors use to decide whether to buy or sell in an increasingly global market.

The New York Stock exchange has 1,366 members, who do all of the trading on behalf of their clients. These members are actually some of the largest brokerages and companies in the world, and have a net worth of their own that totals about 4 trillion dollars combined. Only members are allowed to trade directly at the exchange, so each member handles stock orders for millions of clients. This means that members are buying and selling billions of shares every day.

The New York Stock Exchange is the largest equities marketplace in the world, and represents a total global market value of $25 trillion. This makes it the most viable place for listed companies to raise capital for their business operations and expansions by selling shares to the general public. A total of 2,764 domestic and international companies are listed on the exchange, so anyone who is interested in purchasing stock from companies like Fuji or Xerox can contact a correspondent broker of a member who can place a stock order electronically or route it to the floor on their behalf.

Many potential investors get intimidated by the New York Stock Exchange because they only have a moderate amount to invest. They may think that because they only hold a few shares in a global company like Coca Cola, that they don't matter. However, the exchange protects any size investor by requiring that every listed company distribute the same financial information to every stock holder, regardless of the amount of stocks purchased.

The New York Stock Exchange also protects investors by screening and monitoring the activities of its members and brokers. Practices like insider trading and artificially inflating the price of stock are not tolerated and punishable by law.

The New York Stock exchange is unique in the fact that is a hybrid market. While some exchanges operate completely by electronic trading, the NYSE still trades in a continuous auction format on the trading floor in addition to electronic trading. The human interaction and improvised expert judgment combined with the technology of electronic trading make the NYSE truly the most exciting place to trade.

Make sure that when you decide to invest money in a listed company on the New York Stock exchange that you go through a licensed and regulated correspondent broker. They will be able to give you advice on purchasing stock and help you start an investment portfolio.

Before you start to invest, buy or trade shares in a company, check out how to trade stock and learn about the financial market at arbitrage trading

Stock Trading - 7 Secrets for Surefire Profits!

I love stock trading. I've actively traded in the stock, bond, options and futures markets almost every day for over 30 years, and I've learned some secrets to significantly improve my success. I will share them with you.

The cardinal rule it's this: "Don't get your ego involved!"

Always remember you're in this game to make money, not to impress your friends. You don't need to be right all the time... it's virtually impossible. So learn to take losses when a trade isn't working - and take them quickly and move on.

W.D. Gann had a great trading rule: "Cut your losses short, let your profits run".

I am a swing trader and I live by that rule. If a trade is working I hold it. If it violates my stop price I exit. Usually I like to hold trading positions for two weeks to three months, rarely longer.
These days with the proliferation of ETF's and options it's just as easy to be short as long. So we no longer need to worry about the direction of the market, or whether we're in a recession, going into a recession or in the middle of a boom... every day is a good day in the market. There's always an opportunity out there... we just have to find it.

I'm not going to teach you how to invest - I'm a stock trader - I'll teach you how to trade. If you want to invest... buy a bond! Your capital is your weapon... guard it well. Don't trade with a full service broker - the fees will kill you until you have enough money to demand a big discount.

Here are some rules to help you:
1. The market is made up of stocks in a variety of industry groups that are all in different stages of rally or pullback. Your first job is to define these groups, follow them daily and get to know how they trade. The main groups I like to follow are financial services, technology, energy and metals and mining.

2. Trade in the larger stocks that trade lots of volume every day. Choose a handful of stocks in each group and follow them daily on your charts. I know a lot of you want the big killing on the junior market and I have a suggestion about that later, but that's another game entirely. If you find a $50 stock that makes $10 swings every 3 months and you can clip $5 out of each swing, that's $20 a year on a $50 stock - 40% - not bad. If you want more action than that then use deep in the money options that have virtually no premium built in to the price and get your leverage that way.

3. Try not to have an opinion about the broad market direction... it's totally unimportant to your trading future. Instead, follow your groups and form a loose opinion of the direction of each group. If gold is going up then likely financials are going down so be long a gold stock and buy the Bear ETF on the financials. If the general trend of your group is down then focus on taking the short trades in that group because the down moves will be bigger and vice versa.

4. Find some stocks that follow the 3 month cycle rhythm. Preferably stocks that tend to stay in trading ranges for quite a while and watch their charts every day, learn their patterns; lay in wait for them to come to you and then take your position either long or short. Don't feel you have to take any old trade that comes along... wait for all of your indicators to flash you the go signal.

5. I find it's critical to use some sort of momentum indicator like Slow Stochastics or MACD or RSI to give me the overbought/oversold readings as my first signal that a trade may be on. When the oscillator readings get to the 20 or 80 levels I get ready. Now I start to watch for a trendline break in the price or a breakout from a small consolidation pattern and I take a position. I place a mental stop below the last low or above the last high or for a maximum dollar amount I am willing to lose and I execute on that stop and get out.

6. Whatever money you have available, divide it into 10 and look to take 10 different positions, long or short it doesn't matter, usually it's a mix of both.

7. Be patient. You don't need to have all of your money deployed all of the time. Wait for the trades to come to you. If you get a sudden windfall move in a stock triggered by some news event and it takes the price into an area of support or resistance... grab your profit. These moves are reversed a big percentage of times and it hurts to watch that windfall disappear.

I am in process of writing a book that will give you a hands-on method for consistently making trading profits. But it isn't ready yet so in the meantime here is a resource you might want to look into.

This software works with low priced stocks and it can give you an unfair advantage. It can monitor hundreds of stocks at one time developing what professional traders call a "sixth sense"... a sort of "feel" for how the stock will behave in any given situation.

It's called "The Stock Trading Robot" and here's where you can find out about it:
Click Here!