Women's Personal Finance.net

You own international real estate - If you're selling a luxury home, why not sell it globally?

2008-06-26T14:17:09-07:00

As the housing market in the US continues to plummet, many homeowners who are looking to sell are resorting to increasingly desparate measures to sell their abodes at any cost. But just as many are coming up with ingenius ideas to ensure their investment sells for maximum value, even in a down market.

One of the strongest trends in this vein is the idea that you should market a luxury property to a global audience. Many homeowners in Florida are selling their homes to rich Brazilians, entrepreneurial Russians, and professional Indian immigrants--and why not? A weak dollar means that overseas homebuyers are going to find your luxury property relatively cheap (at least, compared to what it cost in their local currency several years ago).

The only trouble is, marketing international real estate has historically been prohibitively expense.

Enter the Internet.

In the past decade, several Web sites have popped up helping local homeowners promote their luxury real estate to an international audience. Viviun.com and EscapeArtist.com both look to have decent reach.

Another popular international real estate service is International Listings . They may have a leg up on competing services by virtue of their slick, aesthetic design, and also their ability to syndicate a listing to multiple other classified real estate Web sites (in other words, when you list with them, you get not only their Web site's reach, but your property is also promoted on several other large real estate Web portals).

I am considering listing my own house there, just to see how many enquiries I get -- you may want to do the same, if you're currently trying to sell your home!

Advertise your international real estate to a worldwide audience - $299 until it's sold!

The Pros and Cons of Online Trading

2007-03-20T18:14:59-07:00

I really can’t think of one thing that you aren’t able to buy over the Internet. Every geographical barrier that once stood in the way of purchasing what you want, when you want it (including at 3 a.m., if the need arose) has been blown to bits by the World Wide Web.

When you think about it, just because this side of the planet is sleeping, there are other markets across the globe open for business as usual…so why should we let a little thing like sleep deter us from making a few trades in the stock market? The Internet Revolution has changed the world, and brought Wall Street and the rest of the world right into your home.

But what is this online trading frenzy? Is it a few housewives dabbling a bit with the family nest egg? Or maybe a few of the ladies are meeting for lunch, complete with their laptops and making a few dollars before returning back to the office? Maybe people are really beginning to see so much negative press over these big companies that they just don’t know who to believe anymore. So they sit down a few nights a week, watch Bloomberg TV and spend their weekends reading about the latest penny stocks that will cover the kids’ college educations.

First, the Pros-

It’s fast, and you can’t say otherwise. Faster than picking up a telephone; Speedier than pushing the #6 on your speed-dial, you can click your way into an online trade.

The Cons-

About 80% of new investors lose money almost immediately. This number reflects the simple fact that the necessary research hasn’t been conducted. It doesn’t say that folks are “jumping in” face first without a clue, but to be one of the 20%, you really need to do your homework.

The Internet has taken the middleman out of a lot of different businesses, including the stock market. Unfortunately, that middleman did have to know quite a bit of information to do his job successfully, and now you’ve just taken I all on. You’re probably feeling a bit overwhelmed, to say the least.

Online brokerages charge an average fee of $10 per trade. Some of these services offer a cheaper rate, but as with anything else you buy, you get what you pay for. If you just plan on trading a few shares every 6-months or so, there’s not much to consider. But if you have any interest in other services that the brokerage.com provides, a dollar or two here and there could add up to some big savings for your bank account.

The 411 on Asset Allocation

2007-03-20T18:13:59-07:00

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket!”? That’s basically what Asset Allocation is. If you put all of your savings (eggs) in just one basket (all in the same place, like all in stocks), and the basket falls, all of your eggs (savings) will be destroyed.

To put it into more technical terms, an investor’s portfolio should be divided into different categories like stocks, bonds, real estate, mutual/index funds, cash or other liquid assets (CD’s, traditional savings accounts and money market accounts), and private equity (like in a home or business). The theory of asset allocation is to protect an investor in the long term, for history has shown us that when stocks are up, bonds may be down. When interest rates are up (CD’s and savings accounts), real estate is down. Diversifying your eggs into more than one proverbial basket will help to keep your personal finances in check for the long haul.

How Much Should Go Where

Asset allocation is different for everyone looking to invest, all depending on the financial goals of the individual. For example, a 22-year old bachelorette will probably have a different view of finances than a 65-year-old grandmother who wants to retire in just 2 years. These individual goals are plugged into an Asset Allocation Model to help the diversification process.

Breaking it down even further, there are four basic asset allocation models that vary depending on what you have and what you want out of it. First, there’s Preservation of Capital , which has nearly no risk whatsoever, for these folks have money and plan on spending it within the next 12 months. This includes those who plan on paying for college and/or buying a home or business.

Second, the Income model is designed for those who need a source of income to live on without losing the principle. Growth would be nice, but living now is the main purpose.

Thirdly, a Balanced model is in the middle of the above two, created with young families in mind (to pay for college and retirement). And lastly, the Growth model is designed for our 22 year old bachelorette to sock away some money for her future plans.

As with all financial issues that might make you nervous, be sure to contact an financial advisor. If possible, find one that is paid at a flat fee rather than on a commission basis to keep them on the “unbiased” side.

Investing in Stocks for Beginners

2007-03-20T18:13:41-07:00

One of the many different slices that make up the pie of finance is investing. But no matter what your friends tell you, what you hear on the radio or what your favorite television drama series star tells you on commercials, investing is not something that should be done by everybody. For this major reason, we’ve compiled a few tips for beginners who feel compelled to invest in the wide world of stocks.

First things first, don’t just “pick and choose” stocks. In other words, do your homework before buying into anything. The “so-called” expert authors are telling first-timers to read at least three different books on stocks and investing before placing a dime into a brokerage. They are also saying that the best resources available are those under the heading of “personal finance” at your local library, bookstore, or even as e-books, as these offer a wide range of options for your finances including proper insurance coverage on your personal property and how to get the most out of your 401K- two vital items in your personal financial pie. Beginning investment strategies for the stock market is usually a small part of the big picture. “How to Retire this Year with the Market” or something similar is not worth the paper it’s printed on, for a strong financial portfolio requires so much more than one perspective.

If you’re bound and determined to invest in stocks, do yourself a favor and find a financial advisor or stockbroker that is paid a flat fee for services provided and is not on commission. We’re not implying that all employees who work on commission are out to rob you of your hard-earned cash, but it’s just safe to say that those who work on a fee have absolutely no temptations to sell you one product over another.

As far as the online traders go, the vast majority of them charge on a per-trade basis, usually around the $10 mark. But you are in total command of all trades, so you’ll need to treat such an endeavor as a part-time job that you work at every day. The stock market is tricky, and even the top experts don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at record-breaking levels today, but absolutely no one knows for sure what will happen tomorrow.

But if you’re like the majority of us who just doesn’t have the time nor the energy to invest tons of time conducting the necessary research to start out on the right foot, you might want to take your cash and invest it in index funds (a type of mutual fund that reflects the performance of an entire index, like the S & P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average), certificates of deposit, an IRA, or a good old-fashioned savings account until you have a well mapped out plan for investing on Wall Street.

Index Funds vs. Stocks: The Bottom Line

2007-03-20T18:13:30-07:00

There are lots of articles out there comparing index funds to mutual funds, mutual funds to stocks, and the return rate of CD’s and traditional savings accounts versus the entire stock market. But there aren’t too many publications out there laying out the bottom line between index funds and stocks, so that’s what I’m going to do…in plain English.

If you have no idea about the market, don’t bother investing into individual stocks, for the “pick and choose” mentality hasn’t worked very well for the majority of wealth seekers. If you’ve been dabbling a bit here and there, a few in your portfolio and watch Bloomberg TV every night, then you might just find some success in your venture.

For the rest of us, index funds are the way to go. Here’s why:

An index fund is a type of mutual fund. A mutual fund is a collection of similar stocks bought (like technology or medical, just to name a few) by a group on investors who might not have enough money (or knowledge) to invest in individual stocks. It’s sort of like someone wanting to live in New York City, but knows they can’t afford it alone. So they get a few roommates to slash the expenses. To keep it clean (too many chefs ruin the pot mentality), there’s one member of the homestead who keeps the house in order (we’ll refer to that one person as the “mom”). A mutual fund also has a manager. And just as the “mom” of the home might be “paid” by paying a bit cheaper rent, or not paying a portion of the utilities, a mutual fund manager gets paid on a fee basis.

An index fund follows the entire market index, like the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P 500. The fund buys into all of it, enabling the fund owners to make money as the entire market grows on an average basis.

Now here’s something to think about-

If you invested your money into any one stock in the 1950’s, you’d either be ridiculously wealthy now or broke. If you had invested in an index fund in the 50’s, well, think about how much the market has grown in spite of every up and down throughout history. Do you think you’d be the princess or the pauper?