Investment

Plan For Stock Market Success

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:09:00 +0000

To be a successful investor or trader, a written investment plan is a must! In fact, most broking firms will not allow its professional traders to trade money without a trading plan!

Each and every trader must submit their plan and have it approved to be able to start trading money on behalf of clients. The trader is then judged and compensated for how well he follows his own plan and how well he does financially. If he violates his own plan, he may be subject to immediate dismisssal!

So it’s crazy for us non-professionals traders to start trading without a plan, especially when things don’t go our way, and they won‘t always go our way, you can be assured of it!

Now, before we begin to write our plan, take just a moment to think about your true investment objective. What do you want to accomplish with this trading account? Simply saying “ I want to make money” is not an investment objective. You have to have a specific objective, like, “To outperform the All Ords by at least 10% annually”. That’s an objective.

Then you must decide what type of industry and sector of shares you are going to invest in. The energy sector, the housing sector or the retail sector are unlikely to outperform the All Ords. That means you might have to look at the more volatile, but more rewarding sectors, like the computer sector, telecommunications, etc. This will likely give you lots of volatility in your portfolio and you’ll have to accept it or don’t get involved in that sector in the first place.

There are 7 necessary ingredients in your investment plan:

Reasonable investment objective

What growth factor do I want to achieve? Be realistic. Are you actively trading or long-term investing?

Risk tolerance statement

What industries, sectors and types of shares will I invest in?

Diversification plan

How many different types of companies do we buy on average? Between 10 –20 should be a maximum.

Price range of the shares we buy
Do we buy $30 shares, or only the sub $10 shares? Do we invest only in Australia, or overseas too?

A defense strategy

How much price decline are we willing to accept? Be sure to use a Stop-Loss!

Contingency / Repair plan

What do we do in a potential large market correction? How do we prevent and/or repair large market losses?

Timeframe

How often do we, or will we, re-assess our investment strategy? It should be reviewed every 3-6 months and updated if and when the market conditions change.

To help tailor your investment strategy, try asking yourself these questions:

Do I usually average down in price, or do I take a small loss?
How many shares do I buy and sell everyday and do I diversify well?
What is the usual size of my trades? 500 shares, 1000 shares, or even more?
When do I take my profits? When I’m up 10%, 20% 50% or more?
If I have a profit in a stock, do I hold it overnight?

When you have considered all the above aspects, you will be well underway to finalising a very valuable and effective investment plan.

Whats 2 trillion dollars anyway ???

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:54:00 +0000

As if we did not have enough negative news regarding the current housing debacle and the accompanying mortgage crisis, Goldman Sachs analysts came out with a report stating that 2 trillion dollars of loan reductions could be possible and could initiate an ensuing credit crunch. The implications are obvious ,obtaining a loan would become more arduous which would put us closer to a Recession. Being dependant on almost $100 dollar a barrel oil and foreign investment is only adding fuel to the fire. It is very interesting how just several short months ago the US mortgage system was the envy of the world. Now unfortunately it seems the US mortgage system is imploding.

In the early 1980's we were going through another financial crisis. Then as in now, times were becoming very difficult. However one major difference was the fact the Government did not come in and bail out the financial institutions. They were allowed to fail. There was a proverbial wringing of excess. Possibly due to this wringing of excess we enjoyed one of the longest running bull markets. Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues have taken a different approach. They have lowered interest rates.

In life, as different as things seem to be,many times they are similar.What I am referring to was in the late 1980's Japan's stock market was at a parabolic high. Japanese investors were buying up US real estate assets as well as companies. Easy credit and cheap money was flowing like water ( sound familiar to the situation in the US up until recently).

In 1989 the Japanese stock market which hit a high of approx 39,000 started to implode. The financial strength of Japan started to unravel. The Japanese government thought it was prudent to lower interest rates to bail out the lenders. In retrospect it is very clear that this did not work. For the last 15 years Japan has been experiencing virtually an economic disaster. The Japanese stock market has been down for now almost 18 years and sits at less than half of it's former value at 15,154.61.

Zero rates did not lead to economic growth!

What I have learned from all my years of investing is that anything can happen and PRUDENCE is Paramount to Return. I have had this discussion regarding Japan with clients and not one thinks this can happen in America. In 1929 it took 25 years for the Dow to get back to 1929 levels. Regardless of your beliefs and bias on the markets. Have a plan, it is obvious when your investments and trades work but more importantly when they do not work out ,know when to exit according to your plan.

Investment Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 06:34:00 +0000

Investment Tips give you all you need to know about High Yield Investment Programs (HYIP). Online Investing tips review of the most reliable proven and profitable online investment programs based on online investment info and online investment articles.

Most HYIP disclose little or no detail about real identity and location of their underlying management. They are sometimes presented with some form of an emotional appeal and promises that they will help investors achieve financial freedom. HYIP is a dangerous business for those who are interested in investing in High Yield investments with high returns.

It is common knowledge for anyone that has spent any time on the internet, that the vast majority of online investment programs are outright scams and those that aren't are often run with very poor professional and investment standards.

Investment programs here can merely be define as Foreign Exchange (Forex) Trading, Online Digital Currency Exchanger, Stocks, Option, Index, Betfair or Sport Arbitrage, commodities and other high profit markets.

As many investors may know, Online Investment Programs offered via the internet are mostly end up with losses or scam. Extensive due diligence in credible and worthwhile offshore investment programs is substantially needed prior to invest your monies in. It should be noted that there are major difference between real investment programs and HYIP.

The main characteristics of HYIP are define as follow:
1. High daily rates
2. Compounding system is allowed
3. Low minimum initial deposit (principal as minimum as 1 usd)
4. Long holding periods of principal (usually takes 6 months or 1 year)
5. Referral commission is available

If you willing to play your monies with fun, HYIP can be a money game you are looking for. You should know when to get in and when to get out of the game, since HYIP adopt a ponzi/pyramid scheme which means the new comers pay the old members.

It just a matter of time when this program will collapse (short period in fact, when the number of new comers is less than or even the same as the old members). Hence the chance to get win as an old members is higher than the new comers.

But if you really are a genuine investor you should be wise enough not to have a look at that one. Here are several indications of real investment:
1. Reasonable monthly rate (less than 5%), more than that can be categorized as a high risk investments
2. No compounding
3. High minimum initial deposit (minimum principal is 50, 100, 1000 or sometimes 5000 usd)
4. Short holding periods of your principal (usually takes 1 month to 6 months)
5. No referral commission

Now the question is, if you successfully find an online investment programs that fulfilled all criteria above, are you assured that your monies will be working for you as a clock work without any delay? I would like to point out the difference between an ordinary investor and a smart investor below.

Following my previous statement, here some Investment Tips I would like to share with you in order not to become an ordinary investor but a smart investor. Some good online investment programs indicated by:
1. They give you ID of traders + fund manager, office location and respective phone number.
2. They give you proof of their trading.
3. Due Diligence by third party will be an added value.
4. Usually they become hot topics on many investment blogs and forums.

Few things need to be highlighted once you willing to get in or already inside the investment program in regards to rules changing (terms and conditions) of each investment.
1. Adding minimum deposit
2. Going private
3. Profit rate or principal withdrawal takes a longer time than it should be.

If you aware, these might be a red flag or a true sign that the investment program you are referring to is experienced problems. Get out quickly because you do not know on the next day they will gone with your monies. Several excuses will be provided by them such as:
1. Trading loss
2. Site and payment processor being hacked
3. fraudulently deceived by a single individual who has full control of assets

At my last Investment Tips, I would like to emphasize NEVER ever double you money in one investment program. Takes your monies once their reach 20 – 30% in profit. Put the maximum 50% in profit if you confidence enough with your investment program and move to another venture. Its better to play safe though and hope stay on the right track making money to fully possible extent.

Currently only one online investment program is worth investing in at the moment.
Life Holdings

Have a look at and see what you think. I do not want to encourage or discourage anyone from joining. That is a personal decision that one should make after checking all the facts. Don’t put all of your money in one single investment program. Please invest responsibly at your own risk within your limits. Profits are expected, but there is not explicit guarantee. I will not be liable for any losses since high returns imply inherent high risks. Only invest what you can afford to lose.

Business Insurance

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 06:26:00 +0000

When you started your business, you probably dreamed of the freedom you would have doing something every day that you love. However, you may find that running a business doing something you love also brought with it other responsibilities, like finding business insurance. When you find the right business insurance for your organization, though, you will see that it brings you more peace of mind than the burden of responsibility.

When it comes to running your business and obtaining business insurance, you have a number of options. Knowing that one type of business insurance does not fit all will enable you to open your mind to finding the right business insurance for your company. Your first step in finding business insurance is to do a quick assessment of your type of business, your financial situation, and the laws in your area. These three things will help you determine what you need your business insurance policy to accomplish.

The first type of business insurance that you may want to consider is business owner coverage. This is an all-encompassing type of business insurance coverage that allows you protection in the case of fire and other accidents. This type of business coverage also offers a minimal amount of liability coverage, too. Also, you have another option in property insurance. This type of business insurance coverage will enhance the property coverage included in your business owner insurance.

An important type of business insurance that you may want to consider is liability insurance. We are in a society where people sue one another on whims, so liability insurance covers any damage to property or injuries to another person for which you may be responsible. Product liability insurance is another type of liability business insurance that protects you if your product causes harm to a person.

If you run a service-based organization, product liability may not be an issue, but errors and liability insurance is an important type of business insurance for your organization. This type of business insurance protects you if you make an error or forget to do something that causes harm to one of your clients. Also, you may want to consider business income insurance, which provides a source of income to you should something happen that causes your business to cease or limit operations. Finally, if any employee operates a vehicle for your business, you will want to purchase business insurance for your automobiles.

Warrent Buffett Passes Gates as the World's Richest Man ???

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:52:00 +0000

Move over, Bill Gates. With a whopping $62 billion in net worth, Warren Buffett is now the world's richest man, according to Forbes magazine. Buffett's wealth increased $10 billion over the past year through February 11, Forbes notes, mostly thanks to gains in shares of his company, Berkshire Hathaway.

Meanwhile, Gates—who had topped the magazine's annual list of global billionaires for the past 13 years—grew his net worth by $2 billion, to $58 billion. The Microsoft chairman fell to third on the list behind Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim Helú, who has an estimated net worth of $60 billion.

Buffett's is a self-made fortune. As a graduate student at Columbia University in the early 1950s, he studied economics under legendary value investor Benjamin Graham and later went to work for Graham's company. When Graham retired, Buffett went home to Omaha and started his own investment company. He was 25. Seven years later, in 1962, Buffett began buying shares of a textile firm, Berkshire Hathaway. He purchased a controlling stake in 1965. Today, Berkshire's A shares fetch about $137,000 each.

The United States had 469 of the world's 1,125 billionaires, according to Forbes, followed by Russia, which overtook Germany as the No. 2 country with 87 billionaires. (Germany, which held that spot for the past six years, has 59.) Although half the world's top 20 billionaires came from the United States in 2006, only four made the list in 2007: Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands, and Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle, along with Buffett and Gates. India also had four billionaires in the top 10.

Warrent Buffet - Investment approach ....

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:50:00 +0000

Buffett's philosophy on business investing is a modification of the value investing approach of his mentor Benjamin Graham. Graham bought companies because they were cheap compared to their intrinsic value.

He was of the belief that as long as the market undervalued them relative to their intrinsic value he was making a solid investment. He reasoned that the market will eventually realize it has undervalued the company and will correct its course regardless of what type of business the company was in.

In addition he believed that the business has to have solid economics behind it. Buffett's investment style is also heavily influenced by Phil Fisher.

The following are some questions to determine what business to buy, based on the book Buffettology by Mary Buffett:

Is the company in an industry with good economics, i.e., not an industry competing on price. Does the company have a consumer monopoly or brand name that commands loyalty? Can any company with an abundance of resources compete successfully with the company?
Are the Owner Earnings on an upward trend with good and consistent margins?
Is the debt-to-equity ratio low or is the earnings-to-debt ratio high, i.e. can the company repay debt even in years when earnings are lower than average?
Does the company have high and consistent Returns on Invested Capital?
Does the company retain earnings for growth?
The business should not have high maintenance cost of operations, high capital expenditure or investment cash outflow. This is not the same as investing to expand capacity.
Does the company reinvest earnings in good business opportunities? Does management have a good track record of profiting from these investments?
Is the company free to adjust prices for inflation?

Buffett also concentrates when to buy. He does not want to invest in businesses with indiscernible value. He will wait for market corrections or downturns to buy solid businesses at reasonable prices, since stock market downturns present buying opportunities.

He is known for being conservative when speculation is rampant in the market and being aggressive when others are fearing for their capital. This contrarian strategy is what led Buffett's company through the Internet boom and bust without significant damage, although critics have also noted that it may have led Berkshire to miss out on potential opportunities during the same period.

He also asks at what price is the business a bargain, and his answer typically is when it provides a higher rate of compounded return relative to other available investment opportunities.

Warren Buffett's letters to shareholders are a valuable source in understanding his investment style and outlook.

Warren Buffett - Who is ???

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:17:00 +0000

Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American investor, businessman and philanthropist.

Often called the "Oracle of Omaha"^[1], Buffett is often regarded as one of the worlds greatest stock market investors^[2], and is the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. With an estimated net worth of around US$62 billion,^[3] he was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world as of March 5, 2008.^[4]

Buffett is known for his unconventional style and frugality despite his immense wealth.^[5] His 2006 annual salary of about $100,000 is tiny by the standards of senior executive remuneration in other comparable companies,^[6] and when he spent $9.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a business jet in 1989, he jokingly named it "The Indefensible" because of his past criticisms of such purchases by other CEOs.^[7] He continues to live in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500, today valued at around $700,000.^[8]

Buffett is also a noted philanthropist. In 2006, he announced a plan to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2007, Buffett was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in The World. ^[9]He also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Grinnell College, where his advice on asset management has led to Grinnell College having the second largest endowment of any liberal arts college in the United States.

Celebrity Endorsements- Are They Worth the Investment?

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:11:00 +0000

Whether it’s Monte Carlo, London or Vegas, a trip to the casino is one of the most glamorous evenings out you can enjoy. Even if you aren’t a serious player looking to employ some well-researched basic strategy at the Blackjack table, or have an astute system for beating the House at the Roulette table, the casino offers great entertainment in the shape of real atmosphere, excitement and pizzazz.

Playing your favourite online casino from home or work is extremely convenient, but there is no doubt that some of the classic casino glamour is lacking. How do operators instil some of the excitement to their virtual casinos? Of course you have rich graphics and games that look and feel identical to their offline counterparts, and many online casinos have an ambient buzz embedded in the background sound files. However it’s difficult to reproduce the same feeling of sophisticated, adult entertainment of a bricks and mortar casino whilst you sit in the comfort of your armchair with your laptop and a cup of coffee.

We’ve always had a British feel to 32Red, and in a field full of so many US-focused Internet casinos we like to think we stand out for it. We are always on the look out for ways to demonstrate to our players that we are different, and from the UK, and the use of a British voice for our casino was one of our prime objectives. Regional accents are often a central decision to the location of a call centre and we share the same sentiments.

The celebrity endorsement meets the need for blending the right “flavour” voice for our audience, along with our desire to add some of the style back to a visit to the casino, even if it happens to be on the Internet superhighway and not in Mayfair. We chose Patsy Kensit first and foremost because of her incredible voice. The feedback we get from players at 32Red is always great as Patsy has just the right mix of Englishness, sexiness and glamour. She is an established celebrity and her background and experience in film and TV – along with her looks – make her absolutely ideal for a casino that many players see as the discerning gamers online destination.

Of course a celebrity can help to validate a business or product and I am sure that Patsy Kensit does that to some extent for 32Red. As we are dealing with personalities when looking at endorsements, there is always going to be a degree of subjectivity. However, if you have the right brand, with its particular reference points and differentiators, we would contend that it is possible to match the profile of a celebrity to the needs, and character, of a business.

One cautionary note however: the gaming business is different from just about all other retail businesses. If you employ the same marketing activities to gambling as you may do to shoe sales then you will end up without a business. Therefore, the celebrity endorsing a gaming product needs to fit from a number of perspectives. Whilst Anthony Hopkins is a fine and respected British actor, it is entirely possible that your players may not feel comfortable with Hannibal Lector as their celebrity dealer!

Fraud pair found guilty over celebrity investment scheme

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:02:00 +0000

The two accountants who used the names of celebrities to entice investors into a $200m (£102m) Ponzi scheme have been found guilty of investor fraud.

A jury at Birmingham Crown Court last week found the pair guilty of perpetrating the transatlantic fraud, which involved luring investors by saying Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir David Frost had invested in the scheme, when neither had.

Alan White, 49, and Shinder Gangar (pictured), 46, were both partners in Dobb White & Co.

Instead of receiving generous returns, investors were paid out only ‘interest’ payments generated from new clients, while the pair used the ‘investments’ to provide unsecured loans to acquaintances as well as for the purchase of properties.

The pair were also found guilty of trying to bribe the US Attorney General to release funds which had been frozen following an investigation into their US accomplice, Terry Dowdell.

Gangar a former member of the ICAEW, whose membership lapsed in 2003 due to bankruptcy was described as the ‘frontman’ of the operation.

White, a former member of ACCA, was the ‘administrator’ who would give investing clients the ‘co-ordinates’ of where they should direct their cash.

Celebrities were called to court after witness accounts of how Gangar dropped names of influential people, whom he said were investing in his scheme. Sir David Frost and Lord Lloyd Webber both made appearances at court. Sir Andrew said he had agreed to meet Gangar, who had invested £1.2m in his company, the Really Useful Group.

‘He [Gangar] suggested to me that because I was a member of the House of Lords and with my other connections there might be people who I could also introduce to the scheme, for which I might receive some introductory commission. I decided that this was not something I would do,’ said Lord Lloyd Webber.

Sir David told of how he was introduced to Gangar as a investor for a film which was never made.

One of the Serious Fraud Office’s witnesses Elizabeth Watson, whose family were also caught up in the scheme told the jury that Gangar had ‘impressed’ her when she first met him in 2001.

‘He seemed to be dealing with well-known celebrities and was doing well. He gave me the impression he was a globetrotter… Gangar showed me a contract signed by Andrew Lloyd Webber… I understood Lloyd Webber had invested in his scheme,’ said Watson.

Watson invested £400,000 in the scheme, while other members of her family put in a further £300,000.

The pair are yet to be sentenced.

Learn to Invest Money in Small Cap Stocks (Part Three)

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:28:00 +0000

In Part Two of this article, I reviewed the importance of having strict buying rules to minimize your risk when investing your money in small and micro cap stocks.

Here, in Part Three, I’m going to further expand and modify rule number two.

Rule Number Three: Don’t try to buy at “perfect” prices.

In buying small and cap stocks, know that you will almost never buy in at the “perfect” price. If you’ve researched a company thoroughly and are confident that its price will move upward over the short or long term, then do not wait for a “perfect” price. Chances are you will almost never buy in at a perfect price. Small cap stocks almost always have greater volatility than large cap stocks and inevitably will have days of rapid price spikes upward and downward. And it’s impossible to be right all the time about when these spikes will happen.

The law of averages should even out for you over time when buying into small cap stocks. Sometimes the price will dip after you buy into a stock and you may experience immediate regret. Other times the stock’s price will rise upward from the moment you buy in and you would have never been able to buy the stock at a lower price.

But if you’ve applied rule number one, even scenario in which the stock dips immediately after you buy in shouldn’t cause you to lose faith in your stock pick, because it does take a strong stomach to invest like this. I’ve had scenarios where a stock lost 10% on the same day I had purchased it, only to rebound by 60% in the next month.

So instead of using a specific price point to buy a stock that seriously interests you, use a price range instead. Using hypothetical company XXX as an example, if you absolutely love the future prospects of company XXX, determine a price range that you would be okay with after studying its historical price charts. If you decide that you would be happy buying this stock at a range of $2.90 to $3.10, and the stock is sitting at $3, then go ahead and buy.

Technical indicators are never right 100% of the time, often giving “false” positives and “false” negatives. Furthermore, they are even less accurate with volatile small cap stocks because their inherent volatility makes their technical charts harder to evaluate for optimal buy-in prices.

If an “unknown” stock’s story eventually passes through media filters to reach the public masses, its price could spike very rapidly without any technical indications. If you’re solely using technical analysis to decide the optimal buy-in price, you’d be left behind in the dust when this happens.

Rule Number Four: Invest a smaller portion of your portfolio in riskier small and micro cap stocks.

I recommend devoting no more than a maximum of 50% of the total value of your portfolio to small and micro cap stocks. Using a combination of micro and small-cap stock picks and safer large cap stocks can help you easily outperform the S&P 500.

But when your small and micro-cap stocks really start to outperform the large cap portion of your portfolio, it is inevitable that the following question will invade your mind:

If my small/micro cap stocks are up 75% and my large cap stocks are only up 15%, why not just shoot for 75% gains in my entire portfolio?

From part I of this article, you gained a sense of how research and time intensive the process is of uncovering great small cap stocks.

If you build an entire portfolio with stocks like these, unless you have LOADS of time to constantly monitor every one, it’s a much better strategy to just boost your portfolio’s performance every year with great small/micro opportunity stocks while also investing in some less volatile ones that will give you a smoother ride.

Learn to Invest Money in Small Cap Stocks (Part Two)

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:21:00 +0000

In part one of this series, I told you what factors you must consider when buying a small or micro-cap stock.

In part two, I’ll review intelligent buying strategies when it comes to buying small caps.

Rule Number Two: Remove emotions from your buying decisions with a disciplined strategy.

Let’s take a look at hypothetical stock AAA. Company AAA is the industry’s leading innovator in a huge growth industry that has seen the biggest growth spurts in history for the last three trailing quarters, yet the general public still does not know about them.

In addition, they have patented technology that lets them protect their first mover advantage and high entry costs into the industry gives them nice barriers to entry. On top of all of this, Company AAA is trading at a ridiculously low P/E and a ridiculously low price of $3. In fact, its price would have to appreciate 200% just to equal the P/Es of the giants in the field.

You study AAA’s historical price chart and see some volatility, so you decide you will wait until the price drops to $2.80 to get in. But in the two days you wait for company AAA’s stock to drop in price, it unexpectedly shoots up to $5.50. Or perhaps it plummets way below your $2.80 buy in price to $2.00.

If you throw your buying strategy in the trash and decide to get in at $5.50, you’re letting emotions drive your decisions instead of logic. If you were only willing to pay $3, why would you possibly be willing to pay 83% more for the same stock just 48 hours later? And if we consider the second scenario where the stock plummets to $2 a share, don’t you think that this merits more caution instead of haste?

Remember, in both hypothetical situations, we are assuming there is “no new significant news” surrounding stock AAA to justify these huge price movements. Under these assumptions, the volatility of the stock is probably occurring because of jumpy day traders taking profits off the board or dumping shares.

But let’s take a closer look at why letting emotions creep into your decisions is a bad idea. Let’s look at the situation again where stock AAA blew through your designated buy in price of $2.80 and went to $5.00 in two days. Let’s assume you stick to your guns, wait two weeks, and buy-in
when AAA stock finally dips to $2.80.

Now employing a stop loss of 15% against your buy-in price, your sell-out price of the stock is $2.38 versus $4.68 if you had bought the stock when it spiked up to $5.50. This huge gap in stop-loss price points may very well be the difference between holding on to the stock and earning 80% gains versus selling out 48 hours later and feeling confused as to whether or not you should buy back in.

Never throw out a pre-designated buying price for a risky stock due to unexpected price spikes. If this happens, stick to your original buying strategy if you still believe in the stock and wait until volatility decreases before you buy at your pre-designated buy-in price.

Remember, there are literally hundreds of stocks every year that make rapid double or triple digit gains. If it turns out that you missed out on one opportunity because the stock soared right through your buy in price and kept soaring higher or the stock’s price took a sudden plunge, know that there are hundreds of other opportunities waiting to be discovered. If the stock you loved so much never returns to your buy-in price, move on. You’ll find a better stock to buy soon enough.

Learn to Invest Money in Small Cap Stocks (Part One)

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:07:00 +0000

Everyday, there is a new company that files for an IPO and that will make the early buyers of its stock very wealthy in several years. The trick is how to find them and invest in them safely. Sure a General Electric could possibly have a bump up in share price in one year of 30% or 40% with the release of a phenomenal product or service, but the chances of earning 70%, 100%, or even 300% in one year with large cap companies is quite slim. But it’s not so with small cap stocks. In fact every month, there will be another small cap stock that nobody has heard of that will make loads of savvy investors rich.

So the key is how do you play riskier stocks like this? There are five rules you should always follow. In Part I of this series, I’ll review rule number one.

Rule One: Do your homework.

When you find a small cap stock that excites you, make sure you do your homework before making the decision to buy in. Always research the float of a small stock.

Let’s consider this scenario. You research a small stock XYZ that you really like. You discover that XYZ only has $10MM of outstanding shares, a float of $5MM because insiders hold the other $5MM, and average daily volume for the past three months of $3.7MM. Well you could be in for a very bumpy ride given the fact that daily volume is averaging 75% of the float . This discovery alone may make you reconsider buying the stock.

Furthermore, if stock XYZ has recently had its initial public offering, then you must absolutely find out when its lock-up period expires. Usually, insiders are restricted from selling off their shares for six months after an IPO. Let’s look at our hypothetical stock XYZ again, assuming it is now four months after the IPO.

Many times, share prices of companies start falling about two months before a lock-up period expires in anticipation of insiders selling off their shares and flooding the market with volume once they legally can do so. If stock XYZ is trading relatively flat and there is no added demand right before insiders unload their stock, an overnight doubling of the stock’s float is bound to dilute the stock price, and possibly do it very rapidly. There is now twice the supply of stock on the market without any increased demand.

However, let’s look at the flip side. Let’s consider a company ABC that has $20MM of outstanding shares and a float of $17MM. Positive news surrounding company ABC has steadily driven its stock price higher, right up until the point the lock-up period for insiders expires. Even though prices have been climbing steadily, that the insiders still decide to cash out and sell off $2.5MM of their shares immediately.

So to summarize rule number one, always do your homework and know everything you possibly can about the stock you are buying. As I’ve demonstrated, in one situation a small float may hurt a stock’s price while in another situation, a small float may tremendously help the stock price.

Virtual Realty Can be a Good Investment

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:05:00 +0000

What is Virtual Realty? Virtual Realty is simply an IP Address .The Domain name is then a familiar, easy to remember name for a web site on the Internet. When you register a domain name you are in essence purchasing Virtual Realty on the Net.

Virtual Realty is similar to REAL estate, because they're not "making any more of it" and generally speaking REAL estate appreciates in value over time and with improvements. Since there are only a finite number of dot.coms available, we are likely running out of all the good dot.com names. With Virtual Realty the name represents the value – think of it as the “location, location, location” with Real Estate –its all about having a good address.

The two advantages of buying dotnets are: if someone types your URL by mistake intending to go to the dotcom you could get some traffic and, if the owner of the dotcom decided they really need to own both, they may make you an offer to purchase your dotnet. This has happened to me on two occasions – one we sold, the other we did not.

You could of course, buy the dotnet or dotbiz in the hopes that one day the dotcom becomes available. One of the things I do is look for URL’s that are owned by others but do not yet have a webpresence, have a short term renewal and perhaps have not been owned by the registrar for very long.

I bookmark these URLS and watch to see if they are indeed renewed. Oftentimes people will buy URL’s with the intention to either develop a website or to sell the URL. IF they bought with the intention of selling the URL, you may have to pay BIG money to get the address you really want.

And conversely, if you own it and someone wants it, you could be sitting on a Goldmine of opportunity. However, if they decide not to renew, you might get lucky enough to buy the dotcom you have been watching without paying through the Mouse J.

Other ways to acquire unavailable domain names - If the domain you want has already been registered by someone else, you may still have an opportunity to purchase the domain through the secondary market for “used” domain names. You might find these domains listed through several services such as afternic.com and URL Merchant (see resources below).

In some cases you can type the name in the search box of your favorite search engine and see if it takes you to a “this domain is for sale” page. A domain broker can also help you acquire a domain name from researching the owner to negotiating the sale and transferring the domain once the sale has been completed. You can contact the owner directly.

That is if the information is publicly available. You can find this information in the WHOIS database. There is of course, the chance that the domain owner is not interested in selling at any price or at this time.

One word of caution when purchasing virtual realty; Make sure the domain name you are registering is not trademarked by another company. There have been cases where someone purchased a domain name in the hopes of getting HUGE fees for it and the owner of the trademark was able to sue them for trademark infringement thereby preventing them from using the domain or to extort money from the company.

I suggest that if you do purchase a great domain name and all other factors have been taken into consideration, park it or hold onto it for a couple of years. Your $20+ investment could bring you hundreds and maybe even thousands of dollars down the road, making Virtual Realty a REALLY good investment.

Tips On How To Buy Vacation Homes As Real Estate Investment Property

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:01:00 +0000

You would like to buy a vacation home but you are not sure where to begin. You have heard all the chatter about condo hotels, but you are not sure if they are the ideal vacation home or just timeshares in disguise. So you have heard that the Orlando Florida holiday home and vacation home market is no longer a smart investment but you have not heard it from a creditable source?

If you use the suggestions given above to help identify the most popular vacation home locations, you can usually buy a vacation home that will turn out to be an excellent real estate investment. You may already have a favourite destination in mind and be visualising your life lazing by a swimming pool overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on the other hand you may be interested in shopping around to find the best countries in which to buy a vacation home and make an investment into property.

Even those that could afford to purchase a million dollar vacation home may only be able to use the property for a total of a month or two during the year and might feel that it is not a wise investment. This is an ideal situation for those who enjoy staying at quality lodging when on vacation and prefer to put money toward their own investment, rather than putting that money into the pockets of a hotel chain or resort management firm.

Consider enlisting the help of a reputable real estate agent, an independent lawyer and if you want to make money from your vacation home a property management service. Once you make the transition from house seeker to vacation home owner you will want to keep your real estate assets well looked after.

In fact with large developers starting to enter the Orlando Florida real estate arena both holiday homes and vacation homes are losing their cookie cutter appearances and turning into unique upscale properties that anyone would be proud to call their own. Most condo hotel properties are located on prime real estate in popular vacation destinations like Miami, Orlando, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach and the Caribbean. It is best if they can work with a real estate broker who specializes in condo hotels and can make them aware of all products on the market.

If you appreciate luxury accommodations when you vacation if you want hassle-free ownership of a second home and if you like the idea of investing in a property with appreciation potential a condo hotel could be the perfect answer. Browse around the Internet and vacation rental web sites and you would see that most of the properties have pictures with them. If the property does not have a picture with it, look and see how long it is been listed do you want to wait that long to have renters?

Unfortunately vacations are not free; it can sometimes be all that a person can do to scrape together the money to go on their vacation and the person generally comes back to face their various financial problems without the money that they need to repay them. Remember that it is a vacation however, and do not sacrifice a good time for the sake of saving just a little bit of money.

As you can see when you list your vacation rental, it is a straightforward process that will require just a bit of your time. The first thing you would want to do in the process to advertise your vacation property is to write a very descriptive ad of your vacation rental. After you write your ad you will want to advertise vacation rentals in every possible outlet.

About the Author

Bheki Mathe is the writer for more information visit us at http://www.worldplanetinformation.com/Vacations_information_online.html

Buying Investment Properties

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 07:06:00 +0000

Investment may be counted on the gross or the net basis. Net investment is gross investment minus depreciation. Investment may be ex-ante or planned or anticipated or intended investment; or it may be ex-post, i.e., actually realized investment, or when investment is not merely planned or intended, but which has actually been invested or implemented. This is so true when Buying Investment Properties.

Another classification of investment may be private investment or public investment. Private investment is on private account, i.e., by private individuals, and public investment is by the government. Private investment is influenced by marginal efficiency of capital i.e., profit expectations and the rate of interest. It is profit-elastic. Public investment is by the state or local authorities, such as building of roads, public parks etc. In public investment, profit motive does not enter into consideration. It is undertaken for social good and not for private gain.

Investment which is independent of the level of income, is called autonomous investment. Such investment does not vary with the level of income. In other words, it is income-inelastic. Autonomous investment depends more on population growth and technical progress than on anything else. The influence of change in income is not altogether ruled out, because higher income would probably result in more investment. But the influence of income is negligible as compared with the influence of population growth and progress of technical knowledge.

Examples of autonomous investment are long-range investments in houses, roads, public buildings and other forms of public investment. Most of the investment is undertaken to promote planned economic development. It also includes long-range investment to bring about technical progress or innovations. Public investment means investment which occurs in direct response to invention, and much of the long-range investment, which is only expected to pay for itself over a long period, can be regarded as autonomous investments.

Investment Properties provides detailed information about investment properties, investment property loans, investment property mortgages, buying investment properties and more. Investment Properties is the sister site of Loan Factoring.

Learn to Invest Money: Why Information Technology has Revolutionized Successful Investment Strategies

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:34:00 +0000

Do you want to know how to consistently earn double digit and triple digit returns from stocks? The answer lies in information technology. Yes. Information technology.

Most of the stocks I’ve owned that have earned more than 50% returns in less than a year are not even on the radar screens of the analysts of major investment firms. How do I know? Because I’ve worked at two Fortune 500 financial services firms as a Private Banker and Private Wealth Manager and never was able to find any research at these firms on the stocks that interested me the most. Why?

Because the way to make money in investing has changed dramatically and the big investment firms have not kept up. One of the reasons big investment firms have not kept up is because most have ulterior motives as pure marketing machines. Almost every manager at every large investment firm is compensated on how much fee income and profit their office makes for the firm, not how well their financial consultants have performed for their clients. There is a huge difference between these two goals. It’s the reason why former Merrill Lynch star internet analyst Henry Blodgett once stated in a comment that he never believed would be made public, that the stocks other Merrill analysts were praising on TV as top picks were “crap" and "junk” (Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram, May 26, 2002).

Even honest financial consultants at big investment firms find it difficult to find you great opportunities among the pool of stocks that their firm tracks. Why? Because many firms mandate older age and lots of experience as prerequisites for their star analysts. They believe that a head industry analyst with a couple of grey hairs is far more credible when appearing in front of their top clients and in front of the American public on television. Personally, if I ran an investment firm, every one of my analysts would probably be under 30 years of age. Why?

Well, information technology has revolutionized the ability of analysts to find stocks with spectacular growth prospects before the general public becomes aware of these stocks. Leads can be found through internet search engines by searching the right keywords, and also through other creative methods, including the utilization of blogs. Many times, the best stock opportunities can be uncovered through non-traditional sources of information, meaning NOT Reuters, NOT Bloomberg, and NOT any of the other financial information clearinghouses that big wall street firms pay thousands of dollars for every month. Many times, the best information is free and online, but the key is knowing how to uncover it.

Typically, when you have a problem you wish to solve related to the internet, whether it is a web design problem, a problem with obtaining better search engine rankings for your website, setting up a blog, being able to understand how to search online databases, and so on, would you turn to a fresh faced kid or someone with grey hair for help? A fresh faced kid, right? Because typically the younger generation is much more up-to-date on newer technology, including knowing how to manipulate and find data. See where I’m going with all this now?

The reason you’ll never hear about the companies that in five years will be the new Microsofts and the new Dells from the portfolio managers and financial consultants at large financial services firms is because huge financial institutions have yet to realize that understanding how to source information utilizing information technology is what has enabled the best stock pickers to be right so many times about stocks nobody else has ever heard of. And don’t be impressed if your financial consultant recommended IPO plays like Google that skyrocketed because the whole world knew about Google. Your financial consultant should be uncovering the tens and tens of other Googles out there that nobody else has ever heard of.

Frankly, I could care less about how many times the top portfolio managers of big investment houses visit the companies of stocks they recommend. I could care less if these top portfolio managers have “access” to the CEOs and CFOs of these companies because of their “reputation”. I could care less about the “global reach” of these investment firms that enables them to research overseas companies. None of this impresses me as a client.

I could care less because the majority of time, the big financial services firms are not researching the right companies. By this, I mean the small and micro cap stocks that nobody has ever heard of. The big firms will spend tens of thousands of dollars to set up these conferences at fancy hotels for their biggest clients and parade their impressive access to big time company CEOs, but still, I’d rather spend almost nothing continuing to discover stocks that will give me 50% returns in less than a year versus wasting my time listening to excessive information about a huge company that will never grow more than 8% a year. But then again, that’s just my opinion.

About The Author

J. Shin Kim is the founder of Global Market Opportunities. He has over thirteen years of experience in finance and financial services, and has earned a BA in Neurobiology from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MBA with a concentration in finance from the McCombs Business School, University of Texas at Austin. To learn more about how to use information technology to consistently uncover stocks that produce double and triple digit returns, click the following link, www.globalmarket-opps.org

Choosing Your Investment Training Curriculum

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:33:00 +0000

The information and resources available to us today via the internet have completely altered the process and amount of personal control that we as individuals have with our personal financial investment structure and goals. A portfolio structure in which you have almost full control that is sound and consists of a platform that is based around your personal financial characteristics is very feasible and much simpler than ever before.

The problem many individual investors have when first starting to construct a portfolio base on their personal structure is where to begin and how to develop a structure that they are confident in and comfortable with. Although it may seem like a very daunting task and one that is extremely complicated the opposite is really the case.

To begin developing a sound financial portfolio there are two very important education criteria that an individual must acquire to form a solid foundation to build upon. First an education and basic knowledge of the fundamentals, terminology, analysis strategies, theories and tools must be acquired. Second an understanding of the process involved in research, where to find the research data and how to interpret it is of the highest necessity. A quality understanding and knowledge of these two factors are without question a must if one is to be successful. Now by an education this in no way implies that we must obtain a formal education such as a degree in finance or an MBA. If we want to manage a business or pursue a banking career then this type of formal education would most likely be appropriate. But we are only looking to control our financial future with confidence and success and this does not require the formal education previously mentioned. This education can be very easily gained through a quality home study course or a series of seminars. There are several quality individual investment related curriculum available in both the structure of seminars or home e-learning format.

Now the key is to ensure that you choose the right curriculum in which your investment education needs are based. It should be structured upon sound - realistic content not claims of overnight success and huge fortunes with small print disclaimers of "these are not typical results". Now I would recommend "Successful Online Portfolio Management", as it does deliver a very quality and full content scope curriculum, however it is important you choose an investment curriculum that meets your specific characteristics providing a learning environment that you feel confident and comfortable with. Nobody knows what your personal financial situation and goals are better then you. Therefore while I would most definitely look at any recommendations that you have by all means though you should be the one who makes the final decision.

Now the content of the educational investment curriculum must not only contain quality but also the full spectrum. By this I mean that the curriculum should cover stocks, bonds, mutual funds, as well as cash investments (i.e. savings - CD's - money market accounts, etc.). Ensure that it covers both Fundamental and Technical analysis. An educational curriculum must also contain a variety of financial analysis tools, resources and the purpose for them. If the educational curriculum does not instruct you about principles of proper investment research it is not worth a single penny. If you do not know what to look for, where to find it and what to do with it once you have it there is no possible way that you can develop a portfolio that produces a return on your investment. You should just pay someone else to do it for you. I can not stress this enough, quality research is not very difficult given the screening software and other financial tools available for free on the internet therefore your curriculum must provide the locations of where, their purpose and when to use these tools. Sound research is probably the most important key to structuring your portfolio and there are so many free resources available. There is no excuse for any curriculum that does not provide this information. An effective and good curriculum will also provide other educational resources available that may offer greater detail or maybe tools that can be very useful. Such as it may cover the topic of risk management and the importance of its use, but it would also provide the URL location of a web site that is free, deals with this subject only and provides several analysis tools to properly evaluate your personal risk factors.

Any quality curriculum will offer an unconditional guarantee therefore you can actually experience it hands-on to ensure that it meets your learning needs. Take advantage of this as it places all risk on the publisher so if it is not of sound content you can simply return it and get your money back with nothing lost. One thing to remember though when doing this, make sure that the company you are purchasing your curriculum from is of high caliber as this will be a reflection of the caliber of their product. Look at their marketing tools for professionalism and clean presentation. Be careful not to get caught up in real fancy and flashy techniques. Web sites that have fancy animation and video can be easily constructed but really have nothing to do with quality of the products offered. Look at the structure and the content of the site for a feel of their professionalism; this will be a reflection of their product. If they have taken the time to develop a professional and quality web site then they most likely have developed a professional and quality product as well.

In summary let’s go over what you will want to be looking for with your educational curriculum:

• Check out the publishers marketing content for quality, sound content and professionalism.

• Verify that the content covers the full spectrum including all the entities and available analysis strategies.

• Demand that the where's and how's of research resources are included in the documentation.

• Ensure that the curriculum provides information of other resources in which to further you education and knowledge.

• Utilize the return policy to ensure that the product is specifically what you need.

When shopping for the educational curriculum you are going to use to build your understanding of the content, knowledge of principles and guidance in the analytical processes remember that your understanding will only be as good as the information you are provided. So, if you will follow these five things listed above you will know that what you have purchased will be well worth the money you have invested.

If you found this article to be informative and would like to know more about the fundamentals and strategies of portfolio management please click on this link: www.OnlineInvestmentGuide.com.

About The Author

Scott G. Henderson has written many articles about the subject of financial portfolio management. After years of personal experience, education and research he spent over 18 months writing and developing the educational curriculum "Successful Online Portfolio Management"

Know Your Tolerance for Investment Risk Before Designing an Investing Program

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:32:00 +0000

What is risk tolerance and how does it influence your investment decisions? Understanding what you can and cannot emotionally tolerate losing will help you make better investment decisions and ultimately gain higher returns.

What is risk tolerance? It’s your ability to deal with investment losses … usually in the short-run … to have the chance of earning higher long-term returns than you would get in a bank account.

 On the one hand it’s about how much you can afford to lose.

 On the other hand, it’s also about how much money you can emotionally tolerate losing.

It’s extremely important to your success as a long-term investor to know your tolerance for risk. It’s a key part of designing an investment program that is appropriate for you and for picking individual investments.

What You Can Afford to Lose: An examination of your individual circumstances is required to figure out how much of your nest egg you can afford to lose in the short-run on investments that promise to deliver attractive growth in the long-term. But there are some general guidelines:

 Generally speaking, the more years you have until retirement, the higher your risk tolerance should be.

 Conversely, the more likely you are to tap into your nest egg early, the lower your risk tolerance should be.

The Emotional Aspect of Dealing with Risk: Studies of investor behavior show that emotions are a significant contributor to poor, long-term investment performance. Investors tend to get stuck on an emotional roller coaster that leads to poor investment decisions. Here is what the roller coaster ride often looks like:

 Investors get excited about investments that have already gone up and buy near the peak in value. When prices drop, investors find it emotionally difficult to accept and will rationalize holding on until prices improve. Then the bottom drops out and investors sell near the bottom, no longer able to cope with the anguish. Emotionally battered, they find it difficult to reinvest near the bottom and end up missing the next move up … only to reinvest later on after values have risen above where they had sold (buy high … sell low?) Then values peak once again, prices drop and the cycle continues.

Sound like anyone you know? This is why sticking with a disciplined investment plan is so important to successful investing. Overcoming your natural emotional reactions driven by fear and greed is the key. But that is hard to do.

 It becomes harder the more risk you accept in your investment plan.

What Percentage of Your Nest Egg Can You Lose? Before designing an investment plan, it is helpful to think about your risk tolerance in terms of a percentage. For example, you might say “I am willing to see my portfolio decline as much as 12% for a period of time if it gives me the opportunity to realize better growth over the long-term compared with leaving the money in a risk-free bank account or CD.”

 Perhaps you could tolerate losing as much as 30% of your nest egg temporarily investing in something you thought could earn you a long-term growth rate as high as 10% to 15% per year.

Build a Disciplined Plan Around Your Risk Tolerance: No matter whether you’re a big gambler or a scared chicken, knowing your risk tolerance expressed as a percentage should make it easier for you and/or a financial professional to design an investment program that isn’t likely to push your emotional hot buttons.

 If the inevitable volatility of your investments remains within your emotional limits, you will be miles ahead in the long run simply from having been able to stick with a disciplined strategy.

You and/or a financial advisor can compare your percentage risk tolerance to the historical volatility (annual standard deviation) of different types of investments and design portfolio allocations that will more likely meet your long term investment objectives while staying within your risk limits.

Calibrate a Mechanical Investment Strategy to Your Risk Limits: With the use of computers and mathematically-based investment strategies, it is now possible to calibrate a mechanical investment strategy to your maximum risk tolerance.

This is what we have done at ConfidentStrategies.com. We have Model Portfolio strategies calibrated for a maximum risk tolerance of 5%, 7%, 12% and 30%. Fortunately, you don’t need any financial or mathematical background to take advantage of these sophisticated models as the work is all done for you and presented in the easy-to-understand form of Model Portfolios.

Benefit From Higher Risk-Adjusted Returns: Our Model Portfolios have not only successfully managed volatility risk but increased longer term rates of return. The result has been very attractive “risk-adjusted returns” compared with more traditional investment strategies. “Getting well paid” for the risk you’re taking may seem like an obvious approach, but few other methods of investing allow you as much control over the relationship between risk and return as mechanical strategies such as ours. To learn more about our investment models for stock market and mutual fund investing subscribe to our free strategic investment newsletter at http://www.confidentstrategies.com.

About The Author

Mark Kramer

ConfidentStrategies.com founder Mark Kramer has over 24 years of experience in the Financial Services industry. He was most recently a licensed Registered Representative with a predecessor firm of JP Morgan Chase. Mark intends to share his investment knowledge and model portfolios for index funds and exchange traded funds to help investors make smarter investment choices in the stock market and mutual funds. If you would like to learn more about investing in the stock market and mutual funds visit http://www.confidentstrategies.com to sign up for our free investment newsletter.

support@confidentstrategies.com

What are High Yield Investment Programs?

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:32:00 +0000

HYIPs are programs which pool together the funds of their members to take advantage of investment opportunities, like stock trading and foreign exchange (FOREX) trading among others. These HYIPs attract funds from members (known as "deposits" or "principal") by promising high rates of interest payments, which explain why they are termed "High Yield Investment Programs". Naturally, the higher the promised interest rate, the higher the risk borne by the members. This is due to the fact that HYIPs pay off their members from the returns on their own investments. Therefore, it is possible for the payouts to exceed the HYIP’s own returns, especially when the rate of interest payment is high. If such a situation persists, the closure of the program would be inevitable and members will stand to lose their principals.

Scams

A scam is a fraudulent business scheme and this is rampant among HYIPs. Some HYIP owners abuse the trust of their members by misrepresenting to them about their investment strategy, when they have NONE. Consequently, they will eventually run out of money to pay their members and most of them just disappear into cyberspace, along with members’ hard earned money. Therefore, we hope to educate readers by offering our humble advices on minimizing the possibility of being cheated.

Ponzi Schemes

This is named after Charles Ponzi, an Italian who migrated to the United States and became one of the greatest swindlers in American history. His aliases include Charles Ponei, Charles P. Bianchi, and Carlo. By paying off initial investors with money obtained from the later investors, Charles Ponzi managed to swindle $15 million from 40,000 investors from 1919 to 1920. This is how the term “Ponzi Scheme” was coined. You should be aware of the fact that some HYIPs are actually pure Ponzi Schemes.

My Advice

1. Never join any HYIP that pays more than 3% interest daily as it is next to impossible to afford such a high payout on a regular basis.

2. Always do a Due Diligence check on the program.

3. Listen to what fellow investors have to say about the program in the various hyip forums. Check if it has been paying its members.

4. Diversify your funds by making deposits in several reliable programs. This reduces the risk of loss you are bearing. Even if one program shuts down, you still have other programs as back-ups for you to recoup your losses from.

5. Determine the coherency of the program’s investment strategy. See if the owners know what they are talking about and if they have a sound business plan.

6. It is not advisable to join a program that uses poor language on its website. If the program has thousands of dollars of deposits, they should be able to afford to spend a few hundred to hire a professional publicist, or at least someone with a decent command of English to instill confidence among investors.

7. Just because the program is paying does not mean they will continue to. Decide for yourself how long more the program can sustain and whether it is likely for you to make a profit.

8. Always read the FAQs and the terms of payment carefully. You may discover some terms which may put you in a very unfavourable position.

9. Invest only what you are prepared to lose. Expect the worst but hope for the best. Be conservative when calculating your profits. Do a scenario analysis. This will put you in the correct frame of mind when deciding the amount to deposit with a program.

10. Do not compound your interest until you have earned your deposit back. This reduces the likelihood of you losing money as some programs do not survive for long, especially those without sound business plans.

For searching new HYIPs always use any good HYIP monitor like http://www.thehyips.info/. This information prevents you from SCAM.

About The Author

Kolontay Sergey

HYIP investment expert Sergey Kolontay, he teaches how to right to investment in HYIP. To learn more about HYIP programs subscribe to his weekly newsletter on http://www.thehyips.info/

7 Reasons To Use Pay Option ARMs To Finance Your Investment Property

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:28:00 +0000

Have you heard about all the bad press about Cash Flow ARMs, Pay Option ARM, Smart Loans and all the other variations of loans with negative amortization? A lot of it is warranted! This loan is a tool and just like any tool, there is a right way to use it and a wrong way!

Most people that get Pay Option ARMs do it simply to get a lower payment on the house that they live in. They couldn’t afford it any other way. They finance the house to the hilt and suddenly they get upside down when that balance starts to increase!

Pay option ARMs are a good choice when your home is seeing good appreciation (5% or more) because this type of loan has the ability for negative amortization (the loan balance can actually increase over time). In this case the amount of appreciation will easily out pace any increase in the loan balance.

Pay option arms are good for property that you are financing under 90% of the value. In fast appreciating markets you can get away with a higher amount but leaving 10% equity in the house is bare minimum. Why? Well, If you sell the house through traditional means, your selling cost could be anywhere from 9-15% of the sales price! No one likes the idea of having to come out of pocket to get rid of a house! You want to make money!

Real estate investors can find some of the biggest benefits in using pay option arms. When you take a property that fits some of the criteria mentioned previously, using pay options will afford you the following:

1. Payment Flexibility – Just like the name of the loan states, you have different payment options. One, you have the payment based on the start rate of the loan (which could be as low as 1%!). Two, you have the interest only payment. Three, there is an option to make a payment based on a 30 year term. Lastly, the fourth pay option is based on a 15 term. The last 2 pay options allow you to pay down on principle if you choose.

2. Maximize cash flow – Cash flow is the name of the game when dealing with rental property and pay option arms are one of the best ways to maximize it. Used correctly, pay options arms can over DOUBLE the cash flow on your property!

3. Minimize affects of vacancy - Everyone who owns rental property has had vacancies. If you haven’t yet, just wait you will! One month vacancy, depending on the property, can just about destroy the profit for an entire year! Don’t believe me? Go ahead and add up the holding cost for carrying the mortgage, utilites, cleaning, and a little touch up paint and see what you get. If you had a way to reduce the largest expense, the mortgage, by a third, wouldn’t that soften the blow? Again pay option arms are the way to go!

4. No more worrying about unexpected repairs – In the same regard as the vacancy example, you will be better able to shrug off the effects of an unexpected repair because your cash flow has over doubled.

5. Give incentives to tenants for good behavior – You can be very creative here. Credit for paying before the first of the month (for example payment by the 25th). Discounts on longer term leases such as an 18-24 month lease, etc. The extra cash flow from using a pay option arm can stabilize you turn over and give you tools to help you with tenant retention, especially in competitive markets!

6. Leverage the property to payoff personal bills – If you cash flow from switching to a pay option arm goes from $250 to $500 a month, you can use that extra money to pay off your car, credit cards, student loans, whatever.

7. Save the extra income to buy more property! – Better yet, start saving that extra cash flow to buy more property! You will use pay option arms, collect more cash flow and use that to buy even more property! Then your business feeds off of itself without you having to use your salary for your 9 to 5 to fund it!

There are more than seven good things to mention about pay option arms but I thought it would be a good start. We won’t even get it to the tax benefits! For more information about Pay Option ARMS, go to www.mountaintopmtg.net/investor-pay-option-arms.

About The Author

Fred Hopkins is a 7 year mortgage veteran and real estate investor. For more information about how to use the right mortgages for your investment property, go to www.mountaintopmtg.net/investorloans and sign up for his free newsletter!

Keep Your Investment Safe With Vehicle Tracking

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:50:00 +0000

A vehicle is one of the larger investments that you will ever make. With all of the work that you do to get the vehicle, you may want to consider getting a vehicle tracking device. You want to be able to get the vehicle you want with out having to worry about it being stolen.

A vehicle purchase should not be made based on the reported statistics of whether it will get stolen from you. With all of the vehicles being stolen these days it is nice to know that GPS is one of the newest crazes on the market today and will keep your expensive asset secure. GPS is now available in almost everything from cell phones to cars.

The most common use of GPS is to get directions to an address or find your way back when you are lost. Vehicle tracking can also help track your vehicles exact location even if the occupant has no idea. You can use GPS tracking to track some ones location while they are unaware the vehicle is linked to a GPS System. The #1 Vehicle Tracker is the Spy Matrix GPS device. This can be used as a theft deterrent system to help companies or people recover their stolen vehicles.

GPS tracking is also a new tool used to track vehicles when someone is just driving their own car. Vehicle tracking devices are available in different price levels to get the job done. Several kinds of vehicle tracking products are available at www.spyassociates.com. This website also offers many different products that will meet all of your spy and surveillance needs such as cameras, listening devices. There is a wide variety of products to help get the job done right and prove the case.

About The Author

Billy Bert writes for http://www.surevehicletracking.info where you can find out more about cheap hotels and other topics.

How Can Inspections Save You Money in Real Estate Investment

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 02:25:00 +0000

Think about this: any property you come across is likely to be a used good. Real estate investment is like a garage sale; only instead of exchanging old t-shirts and record players, you’re buying and selling the actual garage, the High Victorian, the Colonial. Investment yg betul

You will never find the perfect house, but you may certainly find the perfect house for you. For these reasons, it is absolutely essential that your investments are inspected thoroughly by a licensed professional. The sale of property is always negotiable, and a proper third-party inspection is a tenant of the deal that you’ll want to remain always firm upon. Put it in writing, and get it signed. Leave nothing to chance. buat investment banyak-banyak.

Here are a few things to consider: buat investment strategy, investment statistic

If there is wood in or on the property, you may need a separate termite and pest inspection of the premises. General home inspections focus primarily on structural and mechanical features; they don’t typically check for bugs. Here again is an opportunity to get to know your inspector. Termites, carpenter ants, mice and other bugs can severely weaken walls, floors, attics and shelving. They can chew through wiring and cause electrical problems. investment yang baik dapat menjamin masa depan. investment la woii.

Professional inspectors will likely begin at the foundation, searching for major cracks, level ground, and/or evidence of water damage (i.e. water stains, mold, mildew, and mineral deposits). Some inspectors will also check for the presence of radon gas concentrations.
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The house is examined as a structural whole; angles and joints and frames must meet at proper locations to ensure a solid foundation. Plumbing and electrical systems are inspected for damage, wear, and to be certain they conform to industry specifications. Pipes are checked for leaks, rust, lead, and other chemicals. In addition, some inspectors measure flow-rate and water pressure. kenapa anada belum buat investment ni. Investment ni baguih bro.

It is important to have properly functioning electrical systems. Be weary of faulty wiring, uncovered switches or receptacles, incorrect grounds, inadequate or malfunctioning circuit breakers, or poor-quality GFCI trips (those tiny red buttons in the middle of your outlets, which act as miniature circuit breakers). nak investing, kene ader investment strategy.

Air conditioning and heating systems will be checked for duct leaks, the condition of filters, and adequate capacity and flow. It is also important to ensure that the thermostat is in proper working order. macam-macam cara nak investment.

Attics are checked for proper framing and strength, noting any water leaks or obvious damage. The roof is inspected for tears or holes, loose tiles, weaknesses, and to be certain that vent pipes are sealed properly. estate financial investment.investor, financial thinker.

Appliances (i.e. stove and water heater) must comply with standards. If there is a propane or wood-burning stove, these must be checked for physical integrity and proper function.
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Carpets should not show signs of inappropriate wear or water damage. All faucets must be tested for leaks.

In addition to these major aspects, your inspector may check a variety of other systems. You’ll receive a detailed report of his or her findings, and as the buyer you may use these defective items as bargaining chips during the negotiation phase. As a seller, this professional inspection may be done before listing, so that problem areas can be given attention before the property reaches the market.
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Home inspection can be costly, but a few hundred dollars may well save thousands in the long-run, and there’s something to be said about peace-of-mind.
investment mind.

About The Author

Paulie Sabol, often called the ‘legal bank robber’ for his real estate financing and bank owned foreclosure investing, is a nationally recognizedreal estate investor trainerand financial thinker. Sabol, has personally completed 100’s of real estate investments, and helps real estate investors learn to make more money with creative investing. Visit his site at http://www.reiunion.com/rei.html

How Can Inspections Save You Money in Real Estate Investment

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:16:00 +0000

Think about this: any property you come across is likely to be a used good. Real estate investment is like a garage sale; only instead of exchanging old t-shirts and record players, you’re buying and selling the actual garage, the High Victorian, the Colonial.

You will never find the perfect house, but you may certainly find the perfect house for you. For these reasons, it is absolutely essential that your investments are inspected thoroughly by a licensed professional. The sale of property is always negotiable, and a proper third-party inspection is a tenant of the deal that you’ll want to remain always firm upon. Put it in writing, and get it signed. Leave nothing to chance.

Here are a few things to consider:

If there is wood in or on the property, you may need a separate termite and pest inspection of the premises. General home inspections focus primarily on structural and mechanical features; they don’t typically check for bugs. Here again is an opportunity to get to know your inspector. Termites, carpenter ants, mice and other bugs can severely weaken walls, floors, attics and shelving. They can chew through wiring and cause electrical problems.

Professional inspectors will likely begin at the foundation, searching for major cracks, level ground, and/or evidence of water damage (i.e. water stains, mold, mildew, and mineral deposits). Some inspectors will also check for the presence of radon gas concentrations.

The house is examined as a structural whole; angles and joints and frames must meet at proper locations to ensure a solid foundation. Plumbing and electrical systems are inspected for damage, wear, and to be certain they conform to industry specifications. Pipes are checked for leaks, rust, lead, and other chemicals. In addition, some inspectors measure flow-rate and water pressure.

It is important to have properly functioning electrical systems. Be weary of faulty wiring, uncovered switches or receptacles, incorrect grounds, inadequate or malfunctioning circuit breakers, or poor-quality GFCI trips (those tiny red buttons in the middle of your outlets, which act as miniature circuit breakers).

Air conditioning and heating systems will be checked for duct leaks, the condition of filters, and adequate capacity and flow. It is also important to ensure that the thermostat is in proper working order.

Attics are checked for proper framing and strength, noting any water leaks or obvious damage. The roof is inspected for tears or holes, loose tiles, weaknesses, and to be certain that vent pipes are sealed properly.

Appliances (i.e. stove and water heater) must comply with standards. If there is a propane or wood-burning stove, these must be checked for physical integrity and proper function.

Carpets should not show signs of inappropriate wear or water damage. All faucets must be tested for leaks.

In addition to these major aspects, your inspector may check a variety of other systems. You’ll receive a detailed report of his or her findings, and as the buyer you may use these defective items as bargaining chips during the negotiation phase. As a seller, this professional inspection may be done before listing, so that problem areas can be given attention before the property reaches the market.

Home inspection can be costly, but a few hundred dollars may well save thousands in the long-run, and there’s something to be said about peace-of-mind.

About The Author
Paulie Sabol, often called the ‘legal bank robber’ for his real estate financing and bank owned foreclosure investing, is a nationally recognizedreal estate investor trainerand financial thinker. Sabol, has personally completed 100’s of real estate investments, and helps real estate investors learn to make more money with creative investing. Visit his site at http://www.reiunion.com/rei.html

Learning to Make Money from Raw Land Investments

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:26:00 +0000

Conventional wisdom says that land investment is usually a long-term investment that requires patience and many years of waiting before one can reap substantial profits. The Land Institute, Inc has dispelled this long held notion and is demonstrating to the average investor that raw land investment can reap substantial rewards in the short term…..if you know how to.

The land investment experts at The Land Institute(TLI) have demonstrated through its courses that they can buy and sell a piece of raw land within 60 days for a profit. They do this through a 5-step process, which are as follows:

1. Locate the land
2. Evaluate the land’s market value
3. Take control of the land
4. Subdivide the land into smaller parcels
5. Sell it quickly for a profit

Raw land investment is an excellent investment vehicle because 70% of the country is covered with vacant land. With so much land available, there is abundant opportunity for everyone to make some money.

Some of the best land investment opportunities are not advertised in the media and can be found by simply driving along the countryside, outside the city and looking for a ‘land for sale’ sign.

According to the land investment experts at TLI, one of the ways to look for a motivated seller is to look for landowners who are not locals. Very often, people who are not local do not have the time to manage and maintain their land. They also often become frustrated when dealing with the local county. An easy way to look for a non-local landowner is to visit the courthouse and check the records there. Once the landowners have been identified, the next step is to contact them by phone or mail to check if they are interested to sell their land.

To succeed in raw land investment, it is important to network and build a team of support associates over time. It is important not to do everything yourself. This is where delegation and outsourcing becomes an essential part of managing the deal. As an investor, one will need people who can support us in diverse areas such as finance, law, sales, marketing, etc.

Many sellers face difficulty selling their land quickly as they do not know how to package their land in such a way that it is useful to potential buyers. At TLI, students are taught how to purchase land at a bargain and add value to the land before selling it for a huge profit. They are also taught how to look for motivated sellers and deal with potential problems related to zoning, bad contractors and county approvals. For more info about these courses, visit http://www.landbuyerpro.com.

About The Author
Shanu Srivastava has been investing in real estate for over 5 years, and has been involved in over 200 properties. He has completed all kinds of transactions ranging from a Subject To purchase to a pre-foreclosure short sale to raw land quick turns. He is currently teaching students from around the country to find land deals with virtually no competition.

Where Should I Put My Savings? Different Types of Investment Accounts

noreply@blogger.com (Blukor) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:28:00 +0000

In the world of investing, it seems we hear a lot about what securities to invest in, but not as much about what types of accounts to invest in. There are so many different types of investment accounts, each covering a different purpose, and new types of accounts seem to be created weekly. What are the basic types of investment accounts and what can they do for you?

Retirement Accounts

IRA stands for Individual Retirement Account. An IRA is meant for those who do not have access to employer sponsored retirement plans such as 401(k) plans or those who would like to contribute more than the maximum allowed by their employer plans.

Tax-deferred growth is the answer. With a standard savings account, you have to pay taxes on the interest or earnings that the account makes each year. An IRA, on the other hand, doesn't require you to pay taxes until the money is taken out in retirement, thus leaving more money in the account to grow each year. In many instances you can also deduct your IRA contributions on your taxes. It seems like a small thing especially when the account balance is still small, but over time it makes a big difference.

Investing $10,000 for 30 years in a regular savings account with a 28% tax bracket and a 6% average growth rate will give you $35,565 whereas that same amount put into a tax-deferred account will give you $57,435. However, you do have to pay taxes on the earnings in your IRA, but you're still left with $44,153 after taxes are paid. Your net gain for tax-deferred growth is just over $8500.

Another individual plan is a Roth IRA. It is similar to a traditional IRA but the difference is that you cannot deduct the contributions and the earnings grow tax-free instead of tax-deferred. This type of plan is good for someone with a longer timeframe to invest or those whose tax bracket in retirement will be close to or higher than their current tax rate. Tax-free growth means that you don't have to pay taxes on any of the earnings in the account.

If we start with $10,000 and invest it for 30 years at 6% growth like our example above, you would be left with $57,435. None of that money has to have taxes paid on it since the initial $10,000 already had taxes taken out and the earnings grew tax-free.

Before you wonder why anyone would not automatically use a Roth IRA, consider the fact that the initial $10,000 investment wasn't tax deductible like it was for the traditional IRA above. With a 28% tax bracket, the Roth paid $2,800 on its initial $10,000 investment. If we look at the growth potential of $2,800 for 30 years in a tax-deferred account, it grows to $16,082.

So, in this person's situation where their tax bracket is the same in retirement as it is while working with a 6% rate of growth, a Roth wouldn't be the best option. The Roth would only grow to $57,435 - $16,082 = $41,353 when all taxes are taken into consideration while the traditional IRA would grow to $44,153. There are several online calculators that can estimate which type of IRA would be to your advantage. Search under Roth vs. Traditional IRA for more information and calculators to determine the best account for you.

In addition to individual plans there are also employer-sponsored plans. SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA and Keogh plans are in between Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts and the standard employer sponsored plans such as 401(k)'s. SEP's, SIMPLE's and Keogh's are for self employed individuals or small companies that need to put aside more money than a standard IRA allows but aren't large enough to warrant the expense of a 401(k) plan.

Each plan allows both employee and employer contributions. Each has set maximums between $6,000 and $30,000, depending on the plan and the contributor, and each has tax incentives for both the employer and the employee. These plans are great for small businesses to be able to set aside money for themselves and their employees and not have to go through the time and expense of larger employer sponsored plans.

The last type of retirement plans are employer sponsored plans. When it comes to retirement, it seems everyone knows the term 401(k). This is because a 401(k) is the retirement plan of choice for medium and large companies. In 2006, the maximum contribution to a 401(k) is $15,000. If you are over fifty and your employer offers the 401(k) "catch-up" contribution, you can contribute up to $5,000 more, so $20,000 total. Your employer may also contribute to your 401(k) plan which generally doesn't decrease your contribution allowance.

Originally, 401(k) plans were only offered to for-profit companies. For Those who worked for non-profit companies such as charities, schools, universities and hospitals weren't able to contribute to 401(k) plans but were able to open 403(b) plans which allowed most of the same contribution limits as a 401(k).

Public employees often used 457(b) plans for their contributions and for highly compensated employees there are 457(f) plans. This eventually changed to where 401(k) plans are now available to non-profit companies so more and more of the non-profit sector are opening 401(k) plans for their employees. Taxes on these types of plan can vary from one plan to another, so it is best to consult your plan director or talk with the investment company that manages your employers plan.

Education Savings Plans

Education plans have become available in the past decade allowing parents to better save for their children's education. Instead of trying to set money aside in taxable savings accounts, parents can now setup an education savings account that has various tax advantages depending upon the type of account used. Choosing an education savings account depends upon what your long-term goals are for the money. There are three basic types of education savings accounts, IRC section 529 plans, the Coverdell Education Savings Account (CESA) and the Uniform Gift to Minors Account (UGMA). Each plan is tailored a little differently when it comes to its tax advantages and who gets the money from each plan, but each has the same general purpose, to save for your children or grandchildren's future.

Medical Savings Accounts

There are three different types of accounts to help you save for healthcare costs, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Firstly, Flexible Spending Accounts are also called section 125 plans or "cafeteria plans." This plan allows participants to put pre-tax money into the account each year to cover health insurance deductibles, co-payments, dental care and other medical expenses. Cafeteria plan money cannot accumulate from year to year, however, so it needs to be used up in one year or it will be gone. The second type of medical savings account is a Health Reimbursement Arrangement. It is similar to an FSA but the employer contributes to the account instead of the employee.

The employer can make contributions contingent on an employee participating in designated health and wellness programs. In June 2002 it was updated to allow funds to rollover from year to year, but it cannot be rolled over from employer to employer so if you change employers, you loose the accrued benefit. The last and most recently created plan is a Health Savings Account. This plan enables employees with high-deductible health insurance plans to set aside and invest money to use to pay the deductibles or other healthcare costs in the future.

These plans are designed to put healthcare decisions more into the hands of the employees. These plans are also portable so they move with you when you change employers and they can be rolled over from year to year.

Other Accounts

For those who are just looking to invest, a brokerage account is the medium to use. Brokerage accounts are setup through investment companies to allow you to purchase securities such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds and etc. Generally the money sits in a "core" account such as a money market until you are ready to invest it in other securities. There are fees for purchasing many securities which vary depending on the company that the account is setup with. Brokerage accounts can also offer check writing, debit and ATM cards for easier access to money in the account. Since there are no tax-advantages of a brokerage account, money can be withdrawn at any time from the core account. These accounts are perfect for additional savings that you want to invest in the stock market.

The standard savings account is probably what everyone is most familiar with. Offered by any bank, a savings account allows you to set money aside and receive a variable or fixed interest rate depending upon the account. Savings accounts are very liquid and can be withdrawn at any time, but they don't allow check writing capabilities. Most savings accounts now days do offer ATM cards. Certificates of Deposit or CD's are types of savings accounts that require money to be left in for a certain period of time in exchange for a slightly higher interest rate, these accounts are less liquid and there is generally a fee to take the money out before the predetermined period of time.

Whatever the reason or account used to set aside money, it is always a good thing. Savings in any form creates a more secure financial future and allows for problems or emergencies to be taken care of without having to obtain loans or dip into less liquid savings such as a home or other physical assets. Opening up any of the above types of accounts gets you started on the right track towards savings.