Archive for September, 2009

Finance Help: Investment Tips for Beginners

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
Sam Williams asked:


 

Investment in the financial markets, if done in a knowledgeable manner, can yield lucrative levels of return. Such informed investment-making decisions, are not, however, very easy to take. Financial planners, with their professional expertise can help beginners in choosing proper investment policies. Some of the most important tips that financial advisors provide to newbies regarding investment are:

a) At the outset, one needs to realize that there are no set patterns or rules for investment. Investment decisions depend on the circumstances, market conditions and can also change with the risk-tolerance levels of investors,

 

b) The exact working procedure of investment procedures needs to be properly understood before an individual can take investing decisions. All details of investment transactions should be well-understood too,

 

c) Investment targets and desired rates of return need to be laid down at the start itself. This facilitates easy formulation of investment policies, including the amount of money to be invested.

Once the above tips are followed properly, a new investor needs to follow the following broad principles (as advised by most financial planners):

a) Stock Values are more important than Stock Prices à While low-priced stocks are attractive, one needs to examine the cause of the low price levels of any stock. Indeed, in a bullish market, the perpetual low prices of a stock might indicate that the company that is making financial losses,

 

b) Consider the Return On Net Worth à Return on net worth is obtained by dividing after-tax profits by the net worth. Rising levels of return on net worth of a stock make it a suitable channel of investment,

 

c) Risk-diversification à In order to avoid huge losses at any time, one needs to hold a mix of low, medium and high-risk stocks. This diversification of risk helps in protecting the invested amounts,

 

d) Stock-price Analysis à one needs to understand the mechanism via which stock prices are determined. Future market expectations and projections regarding market conditions play a large part in determining stock prices,

 

e) Tax-paying companies à an investor has to understand the financial health of a company before (s) he invests in its stocks. A company that pays high tax levels generally has high levels of profit, and is of sound financial health, compared to those that pay little, or no, taxes. Hence, one should invest in stocks of high tax-paying companies,

 

f) Analysis of the Free Cash Flow à The reported profits of any company can be divided in two parts: Cash actually flowing in the company and alterations in the profit and loss account of a company (via an increase in the number of debtors). While investing, investors should prefer stocks of companies that have greater portions of profits going back in its own reserves,

 

g) Optimization à Often, beginners make the mistake of trying to maximize returns by investing in excessively high-risk stocks. This is uncalled for, and one needs to try to optimize one’s return, by holding a mix of different types of stocks,

 

h) Future prospects of a company à While past performance of a company is extremely important in determining the value of its stocks, what is even more important is its future prospects. The prices of stocks are, more often than not, determined by the future prospects of the company. Such prospects, hence, should be considered more important than past records,

 

i) Investing in equities over time à In order to obtain the best return from equities, one should avoid investing the whole amount at one time. Investments in equities should be done at different suitable times and market conditions.

These tips regarding investment, as suggested by professional financial planners and advisors, should help beginners understand the basics of investment and then, to optimize their expected rates of return.

 

 



GLEN

10 Surefire Ways To Make An Investment Fortune, Part I

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
J.S. Kim asked:


People have often asked me how I always pick stocks that end up with 20% gains in a couple of months or triple-digit gains in a year. They ask me is it luck? Maybe with a couple of stocks it may have been luck, but luck doesn’t play a role in buying ten or more stocks in the same year that earn more than 80% returns. The key is not to follow the herd, stop listening to the investment talking heads, and to learn an investment system and then be unwaveringly courageous in applying your system. There have been times family and friends have asked me for advice, and I have told them, “Buy this stock. I guarantee you, you will not lose money.”

Now I know that there are no guarantees in the stock market, but if you follow certain strategies, you can be 90% sure that the stock will appreciate. With this particular agricultural stock, it was almost the perfect stock, and I was 99.9% sure that the stock would produce monumental gains. Sure enough, the stock exploded almost 130% higher in about a year. And this stock was not some risky penny stock trading at less than a dollar a share. This stock was trading at about $70 a share at the time I advised my friends to buy it. So below are the 10 surefire rules I employ to build enormous gains in investment portfolios.

(1)Buy When Fear is Rampant, Sell When Mania is the Greatest

Every investing course should be accompanied by a psychology course as well. The most difficult thing to do in investing is to buy more when fear and panic is rampant and to sell when mania is the highest. Stock markets and asset classes cycle in peaks and troughs. Most people will not buy stocks until after stocks are plastered all over the news and after they have just risen by 30%, 40%, 50% or more, believing that they will rise higher forever. Buying at the troughs when nobody is talking about a stock or during steep corrections provides a low-risk, \high-reward setup for your portfolio.

(2)Learn What Your Neighbor is Doing, Watch Investment Shows on MSNBC and Bloomberg on TV, Listen to the Recommendations of Your Financial Consultant - Then Make Sure that You Don’t Have a Single Thing in Common With Their Strategies

If you are one of the thundering sheep herd and perpetually follow the mindless actions of others, you are virtually guaranteed to lose money or forever relegate your portfolio to average to below-average returns. The surest way to build an investment fortune is to buy asset classes and stocks when nobody is discussing them and to sell them when everyone is talking about them. This requires a nose for market timing. Is market timing impossible as all the global investment firms always tell you? Hardly. Learning what asset classes and individual stocks are poised to skyrocket every year just takes a little bit of time, but is really not that difficult. Since time is a commodity that Private Wealth Mangers and Financial Consultants employed by large commercial investment houses lack, they tell you that market timing is impossible merely because they don’t have the time to perform the necessary research.

However, purchasing stocks that are likely close to cyclical bottoms instead of believing that market timing is impossible and indiscriminately buying stocks will easily add another 10% in returns to your portfolio per year. Do you really believe that you can make a fortune by buying any stock that is advertised on a TV program watched by millions of investors worldwide? Ultimately, if you own the same stocks as your neighbor to the right, your neighbor to the left, the talking head on TV, and the talking head at your commercial investment firm, then are doing something the proper things to build an investment fortune.

If you don’t seek out stocks and asset classes at times when nobody is considering them, you will never make serious money in investing. You may make 10% a year or maybe even 15% a year but if you want to enter the world of the big boys and earn 25% or more in annual returns, you have to dig a lot deeper than your investment peers. Just a couple of months ago (June 25, 2007) this email landed in my inbox from a big investment newsletter publisher. “Over the past week, I’ve crisscrossed northwestern Canada looking for the next great investment. I’m up here to find out what everyone’s invested in. And after attending an investment conference in Vancouver last week, I can tell you absolutely that no one is interested in gold…Base and minor metals will continue to be the best place to have your money over the next few years. Gold, as a virtually useless metal that has few industrial uses, appears to have hit its peak and could be running sideways for years like it has many times in the past.”

Then, in August, when the HUI (the major AMEX gold index) took a sharp hit in response to global market corrections, everyone proclaimed that gold was no longer a safe haven and that gold was “done”. Now, just a one-month later, on September 26, 2007, a lot of people are talking about gold’s strong rapid surge. So was the newsletter that ended up in my mailbox that proclaimed gold as dead in June right in June but terribly wrong in September? The answer is neither. The only person that is wrong is you if you blindly listen to talking heads that end up in your inbox or that you watch on TV. The fact is that little-discussed asset classes and stocks are ignored because perhaps 1 out of 1000 investors truly understand them, and even the ones that parade as experts on TV have been more terribly wrong about their calls than right. So it’s up to you to get off your proverbial bum and learn how to invest for yourself. Chasing stocks higher and buying when everyone else is speaking about them is a sure way to lose money. And so is listening to talking heads. Learn a system that teaches you to buy assets when everyone is ignoring them and you’ll outperform everyone else.

(3)Concentrate, Don’t Diversify

If you’ve read the paragraph above, you already realize that Private Wealth Managers and Financial Consultants are in short supply of time as they partake in the race to gather as many assets as possible for their respective firms. Thus, this is the reason they employ the rule of diversification for your portfolio. U.S. Navy SEALs will tell you that during an operation exfil exercise, the easiest way out is rarely the safest way out. The same holds true in investing, yet diversification is by far and away, the easiest investment strategy that anyone could possibly teach to tens of thousands of financial consultants. Certainly, diversification cannot be a complex strategy if tens of thousand consultants from varied backgrounds and industries can all efficiently apply this concept to their clients’ portfolios with very little training. Diversification is the biggest cop-out investment strategy of all time. It screams of incompetence and lack of skill - “I have no idea what asset classes are going to perform well this year so I’m going to invest you in everything under the sun.”

Assume everyday, a NBA coach looked at his active roster of 12 players and said, “I have no idea who are the best players. Because I don’t know, and don’t care to take the time to figure it out, I’m going to ensure that all 12 players share equal time every game.” This coach is unlikely to win many games versus the coach that takes the time in training camp to assess who his best 5 players are and then consequently plays these 5 players the majority of minutes during every game. This is the difference between diversification and concentration. The coach that diversifies may win some games based upon pure luck because maybe he has a couple great players that can make up for the deficiencies of the poor players he puts on the court every night. Still, most nights, the deficiencies of the poor players will drag down the performance of the excellent players.

However, the coach that concentrates and puts his best players on the court every night will be able to field a team every night that has an excellent chance of winning. This is why we concentrate in investing. To give us the best possible chance of winning. Diversification will never achieve this.Study the best investors in the world. The best investors in the world always manage their own money and they concentrate their portfolios in the best asset classes every year. Don’t believe the hype about diversification - diversification stinks, it doesn’t protect your portfolio, and it certainly will never make you wealthy.

(4)Learn Everything You Can About the Relationship Between Politics and Stocks

On September 18, 2007, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut the Federal Funds Rate (the rates banks borrow from each other and the rates the rates banks loan to customers) by 50 basis points. The U.S. stock markets soared that day, followed by strong surges in Asian markets the following morning. The interest rate cut undoubtedly was not just motivated by a desire to manufacture stability and confidence in the U.S. economy, but also motivated by politics. If you don’t \understand what I mean by this, then you have homework to do.

Governments and corporations in every major global economy in the world have formed relationships that have since been coined as “corporatocracies”. Politics has a major hand in all of the following: interest rate cuts, interest rate increases, the price of oil, the price of gold, the valuation of the Euro, the valuation of the dollar, the valuation of the Pound Sterling, permits to mine uranium in Australia, defense spending for national security, decisions to go to war, and contracts awarded to corporations. If you don’t understand politics, you cannot possibly understand global macro-economic trends and what asset classes and stocks offer the best low-risk, high-reward opportunities year after year. The lack of understanding of politics is what causes Chief Investment Officers of major commercial investment houses to make poor calls in the direction of commodity prices and the direction of global economies. Understand politics and your investment returns should increase tremendously.

(5)Learn Everything You Can About Gold as an Investment.

Gold, as an investment, is perhaps the most misunderstood and poorest understood asset class in the world. Some people believe that the physical commodity is the only way to invest in this asset, and as such, only put money into the paper gold ETFs. Other people that invest in gold stocks don’t understand the differences in price behavior between the juniors and majors; explorers, developers, and producers; hedged and unhedged companies; and the political risk of operating in different countries. Therefore, they never understand the risk-reward quotient of their gold portfolio, sell out during steep corrections, always lose money, and think that gold investments are speculative and stink. Furthermore, they don’t understand that short-term manipulation of prices of the underlying commodity and stocks can’t change the long-term outlook and performance. However, learn how to buy and sell this asset class properly and you will be rewarded as no other asset class can reward you

Article continued under same title, part II. To read the rest of the article, merely perform a search for “10 Surefire Ways to Make an Investment Fortune, Part II) or visit us at http://www.theundergroundinvestor.com



TY

How do I protect my investments from a Market Crash like what happened in 1929?

Monday, September 28th, 2009
WPM asked:


How do I protect my investments from a Market Crash like what happened in 1929? I would also appreciate a recommended book that speaks on this subject.

RANDAL

What are the best investments during an economic depression?

Sunday, September 27th, 2009
MoMo asked:


Not to be all doom and gloom, but in my opinion, the writing is on the wall regarding the economy, the real estate and financial markets, and I am extremely worried about the future. So what are the best investments during serious recessions or even depressions or hyperinflation? I’m not simply talking about securing/holding onto current value, but to take advantage of the situation.

I.e., what were the best investments during the Great Depression? Gold? Other precious metals/natural resources?

DAVID

Should You Invest in Mutual Funds?

Saturday, September 26th, 2009
James Leitz asked:


Bill Gates probably doesn’t invest in mutual funds (funds), maybe because most of his money is tied up in Microsoft stock.  Warren Buffet made his billions by managing investments, so he does not need their help, either.  But, if you have money to invest and don’t really know how to invest and manage an investment portfolio, you should consider investing in mutual funds.  Millions of average investors do.

Keep in mind that mutual funds are designed for folks who want professional investment management at a moderate cost.  These are not short-term investments, but rather are for people with longer-term investment horizons.  Once you have cash reserves in the bank for short term needs like emergencies, you are ready to invest.

 Should you invest in mutual funds?  If one or more of the following apply to you, you probably should.

If you want to accumulate a nest egg for retirement, give these investment packages consideration.  For example, if you have a typical 401k plan at work, most of the investment options available to you are mutual funds.

If you decide to open a traditional IRA or Roth IRA, consider going with a major mutual fund family.  This will give you a wide array of investment options, from safe and conservative to aggressive and growth oriented.

If you want to start slow and learn how to invest as you go, you should invest in mutual funds.  For example, you can set things up so that $100 a month automatically flows from your checking account to a couple of mutual funds within a fund family.

If you want to invest in stocks and/or bonds, but don’t know how to invest in them, join the crowd and do it the sensible and easy way with funds.

If you have a lump sum of money to invest from a retirement plan, a CD that matured or from an inheritance, look no further.  For example, if you leave your job where you had money in a 401k, you can move it and avoid taxes and penalties with a direct rollover to a mutual fund family.

If you are retired and want to earn a higher return with relative safety, try bond funds in addition to money market funds.  When you want to receive a monthly income, they will send you the amount you specify.

If you want an investment in real estate, oil & gas, or gold the easy way, invest in mutual funds and let them deal with the details.

It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, rich or of modest means, conservative or aggressive as an investor.  You need an investment portfolio that contains a variety of investment types.  Unless you really know how to invest and can manage your own stocks, bonds, and money market securities…you should invest in mutual funds.

Finally, if you don’t know much about investing…you’re probably a red-blooded American.  As a financial planner I worked with folks from all walks of life.  Few knew how to invest on their own, so I often recommended mutual funds.



CLEO

Invest Smarter! Get Returns Bigger!

Saturday, September 26th, 2009
myinvestorsplace asked:


Investment is the choice by the individual to risk savings with the hope of gain.

Investment is not just a blandly apolitical process by which money is mysteriously made to grow, but a process in which governments and companies define, redistribute access to assets, determining who accumulates wealth and at whose expense. To influence this process, the public needs to know how investment works, who are the main players and what their trends.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is not clear route to economic growth, but, for various reasons and in many cases, FDI leads to an outflow of capital rather, than an inflow in some countries. A transnational corporation engages in several types of foreign investments. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment by a firm in a foreign country to acquire real assets such as equipment, plant, and land or real estate with the aim of maintaining control over the management.

There are so many Specific views, plans or ideas to invest money effectively. Investment ideas involve advice of an investment advisor and the expertise who recommends different investment tools based on individual circumstances. There are so many social networks which are available for investors that discuss interesting and informative ideas in all the aspects of the investment world. Investment idea for a particular investor will depends on that person’s stage of life; this is one of the main factor investor has to make a note. Young investor can take more risks, so advisor will like to recommend stocks or mutual funds to younger investors. Investors who are approaching retirement, however, will most likely find it more beneficial to take on lower-risk, short-term investments such as bonds and T-bills. Another factor that affects investment ideas is the risk-return tradeoff. Each investor has their own sensitivity to risk, which will influence investment decisions. It’s interesting how people associate time with money - they talk about it in monetary terms: they can spend it, waste it, or invest it.

The fundamental decision of business management is the investment decision. Managers determine the investment value of the assets that a business enterprise has within its control or possession. These assets may be physical such as buildings or machinery, intangible such as software, , goodwill, or financial. Assets are used to produce streams of revenue that often are associated with particular outflows or costs. The manager must determine whether the of the investment to the Organization is positive using the marginalthat is associated with the particular area of business.

In terms of financial assets, these are often marketable  such as a company stock such as an equity investment or bonds such as debt investment. The goal of the investment is for producing future cash flows, while at others it may be for purposes of gaining access to more assets by establishing control or influence over the operation of a second company. The investment tools and ideas are provided by some social networking sites.



COREY

swing trading, investing tips, and investing journal

Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Bruce Jack asked:


Swing trading is a popular method of capitalizing on the short-term price variations of the stock market. It has earned a reputation of being a powerful method of maximizing profits at lower risks. The best swing trading strategy involves choosing the right stock and the right market. Swing traders usually choose the stocks that fluctuate at extreme ends. Swing trading strategy is employed in a stable market, because here the prices tend to have minor variations on which the swing trader can capitalize. In a rapidly rising or crashing market, swing trading strategy cannot be employed.

Investing Journal Let me begin with some of the eye – catching metrics that might lead an investor to consider purchasing shares. Investing Journal - this newspaper company has a price – to – earnings ratio of 11.3, a price – to – sales ratio of 0.93, a 5 year average return on capital of 17.6%, and a five year average pre-tax profit margin of 27.4%. Investing Journal - the Journal Register Company has an enterprise value – to – EBITDA ratio of 9.07 and an enterprise value – to – revenue ratio of 2.24. Obviously, this company is carrying a lot of debt. So, perhaps the multiples on the common stock price are deceptive.

Investing Tips - Given the risky nature of playing the stock market, investing tip sheets have become a mainstay of online financial advice. Investing Tips serious investors will want to subscribe to e-mail newsletters sponsored by the sites or to reputable newspapers and journals, but for beginners, the Web offers the easiest way to get acquainted with the market.

Investing the stock market - Some Stock Market References:

Stock: Stock refers to a share in the profit. Stock trading involves ‘buying into ownership’ of a company. Stock is also referred to as equity or shares.

Investor: An investor is the owner of a particular company’s stock. He has ‘claim’, in however small a proportion, to all company assets. The investor shares the company’s earnings.

Stock certificate: The stock certificate represents the stock purchased and defines the return on investment. Offline, the certificate is a fancy document, while online it is a display available at a click on the mouse.

Dividend: This is a distribution of the owned portion of a company’s earnings. It is commonly quoted in terms of a currency amount per share.

Common stock: Common stock represents ownership in a company and claim on a portion of profits. It yields higher returns in the long run.

Preferred stock: It guarantees a fixed dividend forever. In event of liquidation, preferred stock continues to be paid off. Stock is a share in the ownership of a company. When a private company decides to divide its business and allows the public to be a part of the firm, then it sells shares of ownership through stock offerings. For example, if a company sells one million stocks and you buy one share, then you own one-millionth of that company and vice versa.

When a company sells stocks to the public for the first time, then it is called initial public offering (IPO) or new issue. One of the major reasons of selling stocks is to meet the financial needs of the company for its growth and expansion. If a company plans for expansion and if the bankers of the company feel that borrowing money would be a heavy burden, they look to investors and/or shareholders to finance the growth of the company.

investing commodities - Beginner investing information, stock investment advice and help for investors on investment planning, management and strategies, venture capital investment and resources on investment services and firms. The investing commodities - modern era, so frequently referred to as the “information age,” has brought about a new breed of investor who is both savvy and equipped with the necessary technology to make informed decisions. This, coupled with the creation of many new investment vehicles, has transformed investing from owning a few stocks and having a passbook savings account to a more detailed and advanced activity. investing commodities - now, brokerage firms offer a variety of investments, including equities, bonds, CDs, REITs, mutual funds, money market funds, government treasuries, real estate, options, futures, and other derivatives. The Internet, so crucial in relaying information, is an important source of data for today’s investors. The links herein relate specifically to investments and ventures.

Charts candlesticks give you much more information than the simple line chart. They tell you the open and closing price along with the high and low of the day. Even though they both give off the same information I prefer the charts candlesticks because it is much easier to read. If you get use to the bar charts candlesticks it will probably be just as easy. But for new traders the charts candlestick is much easier to read.

Oil ETF will move in tandem with oil price. If oil rises by 20%, then its corresponding OIL ETF will move by the same amount. Thus, this makes it easier on investor. They do not have to figure out both oil price and the company specific issues such as production, cost of extracting oil or even labor unions.

Most energy ETF is futures. This means that they watch the future prices and resources of the energies. For example, oil and gasoline are futures. This energy ETF depends on the future prices of a barrel of oil as well as how much oil is being made and stored. In other words, will there be enough supply to meet the demand. If the prediction is that there won’t be enough, then the obvious follow up is that gas prices will continue to rise. Therefore, anybody owning this energy exchange traded funds are likely to make money on them.

10000 dollars - Some of the simplest strategies work the best but having 10000 dollars today to invest can be a daunting thing to do. Most investors start at the risk profile of any potential investment and doing this is the first step in making sure your investment not only pays off, but that your seed capital stays intact and is returned to you.

Invest 10000 get 10000 bucks in a year? Can you imagine the high risk venture that would offer you a return on your money? In this article we investigate the possibility of returns and if they exist, how can they be achieved. To invest 10000 you must have $10 grand, so you are not stupid. So I am going to speak to you on an advanced level.

Investing 10000 - If each share costs ten cents then you can buy 10,000 shares with $1000. And if a share rises to $12 then you can easily earn $2000 by selling those 10,000 shares. You can sell the shares for $12,000 immediately after investing $10,000. That means you have not made 20% profit but its 100% gain.

http://www.my10000dollars.com/



ALLAN

What happens to a persons assets and investments if he gets deported?

Thursday, September 24th, 2009
trustburton asked:


He lived in the US as a permentant resident since he was a child. He got convicted with a crime when he was in his adolencent years. Ever since that one conviction he has been a hardworking resident for 13 years and have no problems with the law. Now he has grown up and matured and successful tax paying business man. Should he get deported and separated from his family? Also what happens to the persons assets and investments?

DWIGHT

Give Me Ten Minutes and I’ll Make You Better at Real Estate Investing

Thursday, September 24th, 2009
James Kobzeff asked:


Okay, ten minutes is a guess. You might absorb what I have to say and thereby become better at real estate investing in less time if you’re a fast reader.

Shall we get stared?

Acknowledge the Basics

Real estate investing involves acquisition, holding, and sale of rights in real property with the expectation of using cash inflows for potential future cash outflows and thereby generating a favorable rate of return on that investment.

More advantageous then stock investments (which usually require more investor equity) real estate investments offer the advantage to leverage a real estate property heavily. In other words, with an investment in real estate, you can use other people’s money to magnify your rate of return and control a much larger investment than would be possible otherwise. Moreover, with rental property, you can virtually use other people’s money to pay off your loan.

But aside from leverage, real estate investing provides other benefits to investors such as yields from annual after-tax cash flows, equity buildup through appreciation of the asset, and cash flow after tax upon sale. Plus, non-monetary returns such as pride of ownership, the security that you control ownership, and portfolio diversification.

You’ll need capital, investing in real estate does have risks, and investment real estate can be management-intensive. Nonetheless, real estate investing is a source of wealth, and that should be enough motivation for us to want to get better at it.

Understand the Elements of Return

Real estate is not purchased, held, or sold on emotion. Real estate is not about love; it’s about a return on investment. As such, prudent real estate investors always consider these four basic elements of return to determine the potential benefits of purchasing, holding on to, or selling an income property investment.

1. Cash Flow - This is determined by the amount of money collected from rents and other income less operating expenses and loan payment. Furthermore, real estate investing is all about the investment property’s cash flow. You’re buying income stream, therefore be certain that the numbers you use to calculate cash flow are truthful.

2. Appreciation - This is the growth in value of a property over time, or future selling price minus original purchase price. The fundamental truth to understand about appreciation, however, is that real estate investors buy the income stream of investment property. It stands to reason, therefore, that the more income you can sell, the more you can expect your property to be worth. In other words, make a determination about the likelihood of an increase in income and throw it into your decision-making.

3. Loan Amortization - This means a periodic reduction of the loan over time leading to increased equity. Because lenders evaluate rental property based on income stream, when buying multifamily property, present lenders with clear and concise cash flow reports. Properties with income and expenses represented accurately to the lender increase the chances the investor will obtain a favorable financing.

4. Tax Shelter - This signifies a legal way to use real estate investment property to reduce annual or ultimate income taxes. No one-size-fits-all, though, and the prudent real estate investor should check with a tax expert to be sure what the current tax laws are for the investor in any particular year.

Do Your Homework

1. Form the correct attitude. Dispel the thought that investing in rental properties is like buying a home and develop the attitude that real estate investing is business. Look beyond curb appeal, exciting amenities, and desirable floor plans unless they contribute to the income. Focus on the numbers. “Only women are beautiful,” an investor once told me. “What are the numbers?”

2. Develop a real estate investment goal with meaningful objectives. Have a plan with stated goals that best frames your investment strategy; it’s one of the most important elements of successful investing. What do you want to achieve? By when do you want to achieve it? How much cash are you willing to invest comfortably, and what rate of return are you hoping to generate?

3. Research your market. Understanding as much as possible about the conditions of the real estate market surrounding the rental property you want to purchase is a necessary and prudent approach to real estate investing. Learn about property values, rents, and occupancy rates in your local area. You can turn to a qualified real estate professional or speak with the county tax assessor.

4. Learn the terms and returns and how to compute them. Get familiar with the nuances of real estate investing and learn the terms, formulas, and calculations. There are sites online that provide free information.

5. Consider investing in real estate investment software. Having the ability to create your own rental property analysis gives you more control about how the cash flow numbers are presented and a better understanding about a property’s profitability. There are numerous software solutions to choose from online.

6. Create a relationship with a real estate professional that knows the local real estate market and understands rental property. It won’t advance your investment objectives to spend time with an agent unless that person knows about investment property and is adequately prepared to help you correctly procure it. Work with a real estate investment specialist.

There you have it. As concise an insight into real estate investing as I could provide without boring you to death. Just take them to heart and you should be fine. Here’s to your investing success.



BEAU

What would be your recommendation for investments in the following industries?

Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Cifru asked:


Suppose you believe that the FED/Central Bank is going to dramatically loosen monetary policy. What would be your recommendation for investments in the following industries:

a) Gold Mining
b) Construction

ANTONIO