My Personal Finance Blog » Personal investing

Tips For Smart Investing Made Easy

admin — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:55:08 +0000

Smart Investing made easy begins with doing your background research, building your personal investment strategies and diversifying your investments. Your financial future depends on your smart investing or you could lose a tremendous amount of money quickly. With proper research, a good thought out investment strategy and some help from a personal financial planner and you should be able to see your investment returns increase.

Research Your Investments and Options for Smart Investing Made Easy

Smart investing requires a lot of thought on your part, before you can develop a strategy for your investments with a personal financial planner. What investment strategies make the most sense for you and your family? What are your investment goals, what do you want to accomplish? Are you investing to put kids through college? Maybe you want to buy a new house or you are trying to set yourself up for a comfortable retirement. You need to know the risks involved and what expenses that may occur with that particular investment. Someone who is about to retire is going to be much more conservative in their investing style than a young person who is just starting out and does not yet have a spouse and kids. Taking a look at personal needs and then taking the time to find the answers can make decision making with a financial planner much less overwhelming.

Your Personal Investment Strategy for Smart Investing

The next step is to make a plan and build a strategy to work your plan. This is where a good financial planner with his in depth knowledge can really be a big help. The financial planner can guide you to make the best decisions as to how best to invest following your criteria for risk and meeting your personal goals. It is very important that you remain up front and honest about your risk tolerance, everyone is different.

Your personal investment strategy is a road map for a life time of smart investing made easy. Through good research, knowing what you want to accomplish, setting goals and working with your personal financial planner to make those investment goals attainable, you will be well on your way to financial freedom.

Sample Investment Strategy

admin — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:02:51 +0000

In every game, you need to have a good strategy to win. The same also applies in stock investing. A good strategy when well implemented always assures a win or profit in the investment. If you are planning to make an investment you must at least have a strong strategy to use. If you do not have yet you can start making it now before you delve into a risky investment. You can ask for advise from other investors or you can search the net for a sample investment strategy that you can use or at least analyze. You can review this sample and learn how it works and how it was made so you can also make your own based from the sample.

There are several websites in the Internet where you can get a sample investment strategy. Most of these sites offer different types of strategies that were proven effective in some types of investments. You can search for the one that is fitted to work on the type of investment that you will make. Almost all of the strategies that were used by successful investors are available on the net. You just have to patiently search for the right strategy for you and your business. You can check the reviews about those strategies to know the possible results or problems that you may encounter when using that strategy. It is wise to listen from the ones who have used it.

Making you own strategy is a tricky task. You have to think of several things such as the type of your investment, the duration of your plan, the advantages of your strategy, the risk of your investment and how you are going to treat it, etc. This work can be simplified if you are going to use a sample investment strategy that will serve as your guide. You don’t have to go deep into thinking of what your strategy will do for you. You don’t have to do a series of trial and error experiments to get the best out of your prepared strategy. The Internet has it all and all you have to do is use it in the actual investment as if you are not new to the stock market.

When getting into an investment you must not rely to only one strategy. You might use at least two strategies. You should have a backup strategy if ever your first strategy fails or won’t give you the result that you wanted. Drafting out two strategies means you have to use another sample aside from the first sample investment strategy that you have used. Once you have them all you can face the challenges and the risks that your investment might have. Just be confident and use your strategy according to your plan.

Property Auctions – Why They Should Be Part of Your Property Investment Plans During 2011

admin — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:59:19 +0000

Whilst 2010 has been a challenging year for auctions, in two key respects, the number of lots offered and amount raised, September saw increases of 15% and 5.4% respectively (EIG group) over September 2009.

Investors are obviously recognising and seizing the opportunities available now, especially with private treaty sales slowing. In certain areas of the UK, transaction rates are dropping by as much as 45%, over the same period last year, whilst auction transactions (lots sold) have remained far stronger.

Prospects for the 2011 are therefore positive, especially as funding for investors has a greater degree of robustness in a perceived tightening market.

Auctions provide a fast and certain sale; they present opportunities to not only rationalise portfolios by selling surplus properties, or under used company assets such as, offices, storage or warehousing. They can also be used to turn a quick profit by buying discounted property locally and selling on a national platform, such as offered by Network auctions, where investors from across the UK look to buy.

The recent spending review by the Government will also affect the property market and this is where investors could have even more opportunities during 2011.

The proposed cuts in the public sector will encourage local and national government to sell off more redundant properties in order to divert expenditure to other key areas and services.

Predictions of large numbers of people from the public sector likely to lose their jobs, will also increase the possible number of repossessions, many of these will find their way to auction. Equally, the reluctance of banks, especially, to loosen private lending constraints will also add to the number of potential lots.

Asking prices are continuing to fall as vendors become more realistic about the value of their property. If a house move becomes imperative, then auction will become a more favoured method of sale, as speed may be essential.

Investors, especially in the buy-to-let sector, will see an increased demand for rental property and opportunities to buy and sell suitable properties to create profits from auction sales will become a major driver in 2011.

Auctions next year will remain buoyant and are likely to be viewed by vendors more as a prime solution to their personal or corporate circumstances. The range of properties offered is likely to become more varied, both residential and commercial.

The opportunities for investors will favour those who have a more creative and entrepreneurial approach to buying and selling property in which auctions should play an important role.

Make Leadership Development and Training Your Priority for 2011

admin — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 13:15:38 +0000

Is leadership training and development a priority for your organisation in 2011?

Investing in a manager’s development is a win – win for the organisation, as it will not only equip them with new skills, but it will also motivate managers. This in turn will enable them to motivate their staff better which will have a positive effect on their morale, work satisfaction, effectiveness and personal performance, and ultimately it will feed through to the financial performance of the organisation.

However there are other factors to consider too before launching a new leadership training and development programme, some of which are as follows:

Firstly it is important to consider the content and focus of any leadership development or training – what is the business or organisational need that must be addressed? Is the business trying to grow, restructure, or diversify? What are the skills and behaviours that are needed by all levels of leader across the business?

The organisation’s executives will need to model the required behaviours from the top. Do they currently do this or do they need development support too?

Is it to be a themed team programme which will include all managers from across the organisation, or is it more of a modular programme that leaders can ‘buy into’ where they have an identified need?

Do some of the organisations managers have specific development needs where an individual 1 to 1 coaching approach would be more appropriate?

The timing of any development programme is key too. If the organisation tries to push it into a manager’s schedule at a particularly busy time of year then it is likely to be resisted at best or rejected at worst.

Finally it is important to ensure that all development interventions are followed through and that the organisation evaluates the benefits and value of them.

Being a leader requires many skills but one of the key elements is an individual’s personal motivation – they must have the will and desire to want to lead people.

So if you are wish to invest in your leaders in 2011, and would like some advice about where best to start then please contact us at Developing People Ltd – please telephone 0845 409 2346, or send an email to enquiries@developingpeople.co.uk

Where to Invest Money in 2010 – 2011

admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:59:45 +0000

The recession is no excuse not to seek answers regarding where to invest money. Since the economy is down, it has nowhere else to go but up, hopefully sooner than later. But while waiting for the economy to go up, you should start looking at the places and ways to invest your money.

Yes, even if it is just $20 stashed in a tin cookie jar. You never know if your $20 today will grow to become $20,000 in a few years’ time unless and until you try. With that being said, here are the places to invest your money in depending on its amount.

Don’t underestimate the power of your $20 to start an impressive investment portfolio. You can start by looking into Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRP) and Direct Stock Purchase Plans (DSP), both of which allow for direct purchase of shares of stocks from the issuing company and/or their authorized agents. This way, you avoid the commissions of stockbrokers.

You might be wondering where to invest money in these DRP and DSP vehicles. Well, you have literally more than a thousand companies to look into. Most of these companies allow for investments for as little as $20 deducted from your salary or through direct payments. Think of it as building your investment portfolio on an installment basis but without the additional charges.

Now, if you have a few hundred bucks squirreled away, you can set your sights on an index fund. Basically, you will have the same results as when you invested in the stock market although with one convenient difference – you will not go through the hassles of choosing individual stocks.

Go for the stock market index of the three most reliable stock exchanges just to be on the safe side, which means that you can gain a 10 percent return on investment on a yearly basis. These stock indexes are the Dow Jones Industrial Index, the NASDAQ Composite Index and the S&P 500.

You may also look into a discount brokerage account if you want to try your hands in the stock market in a more direct way. Just make sure that you have acquired the self-education necessary to make it in stocks investing lest your $500 goes down the drain.

If you have more spare money than $500, diversify into your retirement fund. Just continue to add to your IRA until such time that it is sufficient for your retirement. Plus, you still have your shares of stocks and index funds waiting for you.

The answers to your question of where to invest money vary from savings accounts to shares of stocks to retirement funds. So start saving every dime that comes your way until you save $20 to start your investment portfolio.

System Tool 2011 Infection Removal – How To Get Rid Of System Tool 2011 From Your PC

admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:06:51 +0000

System Tool 2011 is a newly released fraudulent antivirus program which has been created by hackers to try and steal your personal information, as well as to get you to buy the fake upgrade to the virus. Despite this tool looking like it could be legitimate, it’s a thinly-disguised scam, which is currently installing itself onto an estimated 10,000 computers a day around the World. If you have this virus, you need to get rid of it in the most effective and complete way – which can be done by using the tutorial in this article.

This virus has been designed by the same hackers who created the notorious “Security Tool” virus, and is actually much worse than its predecessor. It’s what is known as as “malware” (malicious software) infection which will automatically install itself onto its victims computers from the likes of a rogue download, fake email attachment or malicious website; and will then perform a large number of fake scans on your system. Some of the “features” (if you can call them that) of this program are that it will block your other programs from loading, as well as preventing you from being able to correctly load up a number of Windows features (such as the Task Manager). The way to get rid of this infection is to remove all the files / settings which it uses to run.

The way to get rid of this virus is to first stop the program from running, and then remove all of its program files. Because it’s basically just a piece of software, you will not be able to use an “anti-virus” program to get rid of it, as it will have too many files for these tools to remove. Instead, you should either manually delete the files the program uses to run, or remove the virus with an automated program. It’s important to note that when you want to remove this infection, you have to be able to get rid of the entire application first time, as it will install a large number of backup files onto your hard drive which it will use to try and reload itself if not correctly removed.

This virus stores the bulk of its files in these folders:

%AppData%48541024 %UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\

The best method to completely remove the System Tool 2011 virus is to use a piece of software called an “anti-malware” program. These are tools created by professional software firms to scan through your PC and remove all the infected files that the likes of System Tool have placed onto your PC – allowing your computer to run smoother again. We’ve found that a tool called XoftSpy is the most effective at removing System Tool 2011, as it’s the most up to date and able to fix the largest number of problems that are on your PC. To use it, you can download it, let it scan your computer and then fix any of the problems inside.

Where to Invest Money and How to Invest $200 in 2011 or Anytime

admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:56:21 +0000

If you don’t know how to invest money or where to invest for 2011 and beyond and you’re on a tight budget, this article is written for you. Some of the biggest and best fund companies in the world got that way by working with small investors directly. That’s not likely to change in 2011 and going into the future. Today the internet makes it easier to invest money than ever before.

Later I’ll name names and tell you exactly where to invest money for 2011 and going forward. When you’re done reading this article I suggest you go to your favorite search engine and enter keyword phrases like: “how to invest 2011, or where to invest 2011, or best funds 2011, or no-load funds”. Look at the companies who pay for top billing, the sponsor sites. They want you to invest with them and some of these are the best mutual fund companies in existence.

Now, here’s how to invest $200 or more once you’ve checked the best fund companies out on the internet. Call their toll free number and tell them you want to invest money each month in an automatic investment plan and would like a starter kit and other info sent to you. There will be no charge (with the best fund companies) and you’ll be able to talk with a representative any time you need help in the future. Here’s how to pick funds to invest in based on your objectives.

HOW TO INVEST FOR SAFETY: Money market funds are safe and pay interest in the form of dividends. In 2011 interest rates in general will likely still be low in these funds and at your local bank as well. The advantage with money funds is that when rates go up in the future the interest you earn will automatically follow current trends. Invest money in these funds for safety and flexibility. You can always move some of this money to other funds at no charge if you’re with one of the best fund companies, to be named later.

HOW TO INVEST TO EARN MORE INTEREST: Bond funds offer higher interest income or dividends at a moderate level of risk, GENERALLY. Today’s low interest rates make the risk here greater than usual. Unlike money funds where the share price is always pegged at $1, the price or value of bond fund shares WILL FLUCUATE. When interest rates go up, their price will fall. There are two ways to deal with this risk in 2011 and beyond.

First, make sure you continue to invest the same dollar amount each month. This way when you invest money each month you will automatically buy more shares when the share price gets cheaper and fewer at high prices. This is called “dollar cost averaging”, which is a powerful tool for long-term investors. Second, pick intermediate-term bond funds or short-term funds vs. long-term ones. The shorter the term (average maturity) of a bond fund the lower the risk.

HOW TO INVEST FOR MORE PROFIT POTENTIAL: Equity funds invest in stocks and offer the prospect of higher returns over the long term as well as more risk. Expect the fund share price to fluctuate as the stock market does when you invest money here. There are two ways to reign in risk here as well. Go with DIVERSIFIED EQUITY-INCOME funds that invest in major corporations that pay dividends consistently. They are less volatile (risky) than growth funds that pay very little in dividends. Second, use dollar cost averaging to lower your average cost per share, just like you’re doing in your bond fund(s).

HOW TO INVEST IN ALL THREE OF THE ABOVE: Make sure that all of your dividends and other income earned (and capital gains) are automatically reinvested to buy more shares in the funds, and not sent to you. This is normal procedure in mutual funds for long term investors, and puts dollar cost averaging to work for you every time you earn income in a fund. With the best fund companies you can invest in an individual account if single or married, a joint account with your spouse, and/or an IRA if you want tax advantages and qualify.

Now, back to where to invest money in 2011 and beyond… the best fund companies. You could also call this list “where to invest money to save big money in sales charges and fund expenses”, because these fund companies offer funds with NO sales charges and with some of the lowest expenses in the business (especially the first one named). My long-time favorite fund companies are (and I have no affiliation with any of them): Vanguard, Fidelity, T Rowe Price, and American Century.

Go to your search engine and enter “no-load funds, or top fund companies, or best funds 2011″. You’ll likely see the above names; and you’re headed in the right direction for where to invest money in 2011 and beyond. You may also find another of my hundreds of articles if you search “best funds 2011″. Read on, and invest with the best.

Best Bond Fund For 2011 & Beyond

admin — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 22:47:11 +0000

The best bond fund for 2011 and beyond might be labeled as an INCOME fund, and finding this fund can be compared to a balancing act on a high wire. Lean toward the safest bond funds and you earn 1% a year in interest income. Lean the other way and make 7% or more without a safety net. Let’s sort these and other income funds out in search of the best.

For most people, neither of the two examples above will likely be the best bond fund for 2011 or in the near future. The first is a short-term fund that invests in the world’s safest income securities, U.S. Treasuries that mature in about 3 years. That’s why it only yields or pays 1% a year in interest income in the form of dividends, for a dividend yield of 1%. Our second example is a high-yield income fund that invests your money in bonds of lower quality with higher credit risk. The risk here is that some of the “junk” bonds in the portfolio could default on interest payments and/or even principal. That’s why it yields 7% or more, because it’s risky. Some of the securities held might not pay interest as promised, and some could become worthless.

There are two basic ways to earn higher interest income in bond funds. Accept lower quality in the bond portfolio or buy funds that hold securities with longer-term maturities. Both increase your risk. Long-term income funds have higher interest rate risk, and lower quality funds have a higher risk of default. On the other hand, the safest bond funds with little risk of default and short-term average maturities (of like 3 years) are hardly worth buying if they only pay 1%. Welcome to the balancing act in bond investing today.

When looking for the best bond fund in terms of risk vs. reward, remember that TOTAL RETURN is what really matters: interest income (dividends) plus the change in value of fund shares equals total return. If you earn 7% in dividends and your fund shares drop 20% in the same year, you’ve lost money. So, you’ll need to balance bond quality with a number called AVERAGE MATURITY (explained shortly) to limit your risk and still get a good return. The real risk in bond investing today focuses on the interest rate risk associated with longer-term bonds and funds that invest in them, so let’s take a look.

You can get a yield of over 3% today in a long-term fund that holds bonds of the highest quality. Average maturity of the fund is 25 YEARS, which means that it holds bonds (with fixed interest rates) that are long-term in nature that on average mature in 25 years. Interest rate risk is high. If interest rates go up the value of the bonds held in the portfolio will fall significantly in the bond market, because the interest income they pay becomes less attractive to investors compared to the new higher rates. And the rates are fixed, on average, for 25 years.

Hence, investors in a long-term bond or income fund will have a negative total return (lose money) when interest rates go up significantly. Now, you can increase your yield to 5% in a long-term fund today if you downgrade from highest quality to medium-to-high quality bonds in the portfolio. But this isn’t the best bond fund for most people because interest rate risk is still high. So, let’s play the balancing act by focusing on bond funds with shorter average maturities and relatively high (but not the highest) bond quality.

Intermediate-term income funds have average maturities of 5 to 10 years, which greatly reduces interest rate risk. If you want the highest quality in your bond portfolio (Treasury securities) you can get a 2% yield. Settle for a high quality corporate bond fund with an average maturity of about 7 years and you can get 3% to 4%. In my opinion, that’s the best bond fund for 2011 and beyond for most people. The problem is that no investment salesperson can sell you such a fund. I’ll explain.

When you buy an income fund from a registered representative (financial planner, stock broker, etc.) there will likely be a sales charge or commission up front of about 3% and/or yearly expenses of 1% or more. If you pay 3% up front you’ve just given up your first year’s interest income. Then you give back 1% or more a year in the form of yearly expenses, which reduces your return. But if you know where to look, you can cut the cost of investing and increase your total return by investing on your own with one of the largest fund companies in America.

Vanguard and Fidelity are the two largest fund companies and both offer NO-Load funds with no sales charges or commissions. Yearly expenses for some funds offered amount to less than ¼% or .25%. Look for a TOTAL EXPENSE RATIO of about.25% for an intermediate-term high quality bond fund with an average maturity of about 7 years. That’s your best bond fund for 2011 and beyond, and the best deal you will find for your money in this author’s opinion.

What is an Investment Plan?

admin — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:55:52 +0000

Basically, an investment plan is your plan to achieve a certain financial goal. That is quite obvious, but people tend to forget about goal setting. They say “Who needs planning? I just want to be rich.” This is a straight road to financial hell. If you don’t know what do you want, then you won’t have any guidelines for your actions, and you’ll probably be under emotional stress. Fear and greed are very powerful emotions and they can drive you to the undesired outcomes.

In order to help you, the first thing you will need to know is how much money you can invest. This could be an amount for a week, month, year or some other period of time. If you are in debt, your first step is paying it out. You should, also, consider future investments amount. For example, if you are going to be married and you are the only one that works, it is likely that your investment capability will be lower in the future.

The next step is to resolve how much do you need and when. Using these parameters, you can calculate the return rate of your investments. For example, let’s say that you are going to invest 600$ per year (that’s 50$ per month) and that you want to withdraw 20,000$ after 20 years. This means that your average return rate should be about 4.6% per year, which is not very high rate. In the previous 20 years average return rate of Dow Jones was 10% per year.

You can calculate the resulting amount of money for any yearly addition. Let’s say that you could invest 3000$ per year and that after 20 years and that you would like to have 200,000$. That means that you should have return rate between 10% and 11%. 5 times 600 is equal to the 3000$, 5 times 37801 is equal to the 189005$ and 5 times 42759$ is equal to the 113795$.

This way you can determine required return rate and the types of investment. Also, it can happen that your desire doesn’t match reality. For example, if you wish to invest 600$ per year and you want 100,000$ after 20 years that would mean that you need return rate of around 18% and that is very unlikely to achieve. Therefore, you should lower your expectations or you should increase your yearly addition. With these parameters, you can find asset allocation that should give you required result with the lowest possible risk. There is a theory that helps you to do this. We will elaborate this in details some other time. Let’s just say that with this you can select assets that should be in your portfolio.

To sum it up, investment plan takes into account your desire and as a result it finds out what kind of assets you should have.

Investment Ideas for Small Investors

admin — Sun, 29 May 2011 21:02:55 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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