Posted by: admin in Money Investing on December 12th, 2010



You can make money stock investing without a lot of investment knowledge or finance experience. You can have a professional money management team on your side by investing with an investment company, often referred to as simply a mutual fund company. Investment costs can be low and your investment options aplenty, if you invest money with a major no-load funds company. Here’s how to start investing in stocks the easy way with stock funds.

First, open a mutual fund account with a major no-load fund company. Fidelity and Vanguard are the two largest investment companies in America, and both offer stock funds with no sales charges (loads). Both offer a broad spectrum of stock investment options (funds) to choose from as well. Find them on the internet and/or call them toll- free for information and an application. When the info arrives you’re ready to start picking stock funds to invest money in.

If you want to keep your money management as simple as possible, your best investment option is to just go with one stock fund, at least to get started. Make this a fund that tracks the stock market in general. This will be described as a general diversified large-cap stock fund. Ideally it will be an index fund that tracks a major stock index. Example: an S&P 500 Index Fund. If the market goes up, you make money. If stocks in general fall in price, you lose money. Consider this to be your “core” or primary stock fund if you decide to invest in additional funds.

If you want to diversify further, consider growth funds and value funds. Other stock investment options include mid-cap and small-cap funds; and foreign or international stock funds. For investors who want to hold two different stock (equity) funds, I suggest making an international fund your second pick.

For a third or fourth pick, aggressive investors will want to add a growth fund and/or a mid-cap or small-cap stock fund. Those a bit more conservative should consider adding a value fund to their investment portfolio.

Suggestion: Start investing by putting 75% of your stock investment money in a general diversified core fund, with 25% in an international stock fund. When these percentages get off track rebalance. Example: You look at your latest mutual fund statement and see that your international fund represents 30% of your total investment value. Move money to your core fund to get back to 75% – 25%.

Posted by: admin in Personal Finance Software on September 21st, 2010



The Roth IRA is a newer retirement investment account designed to help individuals to build their retirement nest egg.

In contrast to a Traditional IRA, the contributions made to the Roth IRA are not tax deductible. Also, the funds when withdrawn from the after the age of 59 ½ are tax-free, unlike the Traditional IRA which is taxable when the funds are withdrawn.

There are restrictions to the Roth IRA that need to be considered, primarily income and contribution amount limits for the individual investor.

There are annual income limits limiting individuals who earn over a specified amount yearly. These limits can exclude certain investors from being able to take advantage of this investment vehicle.

Advantages

Some advantages to the Roth IRA include:

• Traditional IRA’s can be converted into Roth IRA’s with restrictions. This can be a tremendous advantage to individuals who are eligible, as they can pay taxes on the Traditional IRA funds today and then allow those dollars to grow on a tax deferred basis and then eventually to withdrawal them tax-free after the age of 59 ½.

• The withdrawals on the funds invested into the Roth are tax-free when they are taken out after 5 years or the age of 59 ½.

• Individuals who are eligible can save into the Roth IRA plan as well as other qualified plans, allowing them to diversify their portfolio in terms of tax treatment.

• The tax-free benefits offer individuals in retirement relief when they are receiving their retirement funds as income.

• There are not age requirements for distribution with a Roth IRA as they are with Traditional IRA’s. This can save investors a large amount of money and taxes, as forced distributions that occur after the age of 70 ½ can push an investor into a higher tax bracket than desired.

• Investors can build their own preferred portfolio within a Roth IRA, including mutual funds, individual securities, real estate and other investment options. With this flexibility, an investor can build an ideal portfolio based on their personal asset allocation.

Disadvantages

As well as the many benefits, there are also some disadvantages. Some of these disadvantages include:

• The contributions to a Roth IRA are not tax deductible. In contrast to the Traditional IRA which offers the ability to deduct contributions for some individuals, the tax benefits of today need to be weighed against the perceived and possible tax-free benefits of the future.

• The ability to contribute to a Roth IRA is based on income, with phase out restrictions. These limits can exclude certain individuals from being able to leverage this investment choice.

• There is an annual limit to the amount eligible to contribute annually per investor. This amount is adjusted yearly and should be fully understood before any investment decisions being made. Also, for investors who are eligible to contribute, it is advised to maximize the contribution limit, as there is not a make up contribution for most investors.

Everyone’s circumstances are different. Before you make a final decision about your investments, you should get the advice of a certified financial planner to evaluate your specific situation.

Posted by: admin in Money Investing on September 7th, 2010

Money can be saved in different forms, such as Gold, Land and many other forms. Among them gold accumulation in the form of money is the best option for you. Investing on gold coins and gold bullion can be a fun and intensely interesting activity while you think about accumulation of gold. Wars have been fought over it, love has been won by the use of it and merchants have been made wealthy because of it. It has been said that accumulation of gold attracts people to it almost with a life of its own!

There are a number of ways to invest in gold and make money when its price rises. Some are more suitable to the average investor than others. You need not own the stuff physically to make money in accumulation of gold. If you are interested in investing in gold, here are some investment options for you. The least attractive of the investment options, in my opinion, is to buy gold in a physical form. This can be used to present gifts for retired fellows, Birthday gift packages and marriage gifts. While providing business gifts to your company owner or to business partner you can use gold coins as a perfect wealth.

If you save money of 1000 per month, you can have a gold coin at least one in a year. You pay a premium when you buy gold in this way, plus you get clipped when you do accumulation of gold and sell. If you want to liquidate quickly and easily and get what your investment is really worth this is not your best alternative. Gold accumulation stocks are an attractive way for average investor to invest in gold. Gold funds are a sensible way for most people to invest money to make money in gold. But having a small portion of your investment assets in accumulation of gold funds makes sense for most investors. The tradition and beauty of gold can be realized with Accumulation of Gold and Money.

Gold has always been regarded as a precious metal and the first recorded use of it is in Varna, Bulgaria around 5000 B.C. Melting point: 1063

Posted by: admin in Money Investing on July 24th, 2010



The sensible way to make money by investing money is to use a moderate to conservative investment strategy. Why did millions of Americans lose a large part of their life savings in 2008? They had an overly aggressive investment strategy. They had a large portion of their investment assets at risk in the stock market and many of them didn’t even know it.

I don’t care how old you are; keeping 80%, 90% or more of your investment assets in the U.S. stock market is too aggressive and too risky. Plus, it diminishes your flexibility and ability to take advantage of investment opportunities.

By early March of 2009, stocks had lost half their value in a little over a year. Had you been heavily invested in equities (stocks) throughout this period, what investment options did you have in the first half of 2009? You had two investment options, and both were negative.

First, you could sell stocks at a loss. Second, you could hold on and hope that the stock market came roaring back. Either way, you were in a losing position.

The stock market came back with a vengeance, up 50% in six months. Those who sold earlier and took big losses were not happy investors. Others who held on were still behind. If you had $10,000 in stocks and lost half you were left with $5000. Then when you gained 50%, you were only up to $7500.

Many investment companies and advisers recommend that younger people should be 80% to 90% invested in stocks (like in their 401k plan). I suggest investing money more conservatively, now matter what age you are.

For example, let’s say you want to be more conservative and make money investing with a lower-risk investment strategy. Keep about half of your investment assets in stocks and the other half in safer investment options like savings, money market securities and intermediate-term bonds.

Now, here’s the important (and somewhat scary) part. When the stock market takes a big hit (say 20%) … you move some safe money to stocks. The market goes even lower … you take advantage of the investment opportunities out there and move more money into stocks.

Now, the question is: as the stock market approaches a 50% drop from its high, what percent of your total investment assets are you willing to bet that the market (and the economy) will recover? If your answer is 80%, for example, make that your limit.

The simple truth of the matter is that when you invest in the U.S. stock market, you are betting that the USA will survive and prosper … no matter how bad things get. If you want more security than that as an investor looking for investment opportunities, invest in foreign stocks as well. That way you are betting on both the USA and modern civilization in general.

If the whole economic system we live in collapses … it won’t matter if you tried to make money by investing or not. When chaos rules (if it ever does again), it’s all over anyway.

Getting back to a positive note, if you have a more conservative investment strategy a bad stock market can spell INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES for you. You will have the flexibility to take advantage of the situation; and avoid the heavy loses no investor can afford to take.

Posted by: admin in Money Investing on July 1st, 2010



You don’t have to be made of money to be an investor. There are many investments ideas for small investors that you probably aren’t aware of. And these investments can be a lot closer and simpler than you think.

One investment idea for small investors is stocks. Now this may come as a surprise since most people think you need to have scads of money to get involved with the stock market.

Many stocks, however, do not cost an arm and leg to buy. They can be quite affordable and you can start with a few shares and work up to larger investments.

Shares in start up companies in a hot industry are one example of a good investment idea for small investors. A few shares of a blue chip stock is another.

Just be sure to do some research first and be willing to hang on to your stock through ups and downs, as stocks tend to be more profitable in the long term and will definitely see some ups and downs.

Government bonds and securities are other investment options for small investors.

Many government bonds can be bought at a low to moderate price, and they will give an investor the advantage of interest payments.

These interest payments can be used for another investment idea. In fact, the interest payments on government bonds and shares can make it possible to diversify investments for small investors.

Investment ideas for small investors can be in more tangible types of items as well. Items such as coins, cars and collectibles are often a good place for small investors to begin.

These types of investments often make an investor feel more secure than when they’re dealing with what is often referred to as “paper ” money. They like being able to keep their investments close to them.

The advantage this can have is that if a coin or collectible has a sudden spike in value it can be easily gotten to and sold for a profit. And, after all, the best investment idea for small investors is the one they feel the most secure and comfortable making.

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