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Think Smart with Penny Stocks

Are you considering investing in penny stocks with the hope of making lots of money? If you are you’re certainly not alone. But you should be aware that penny stocks – while being extremely cheap ...

How To Invest in Commodities

Investing in commodities like oil or gold has been popular for the last several years, because these assets have been rising in price. Also, commodities are traditionally seen as a hedge against inflation (which many ...

Investing for your child

Investing for your children while they are young is one for the best ways you can insure they will have a firm head start in the financial game of life. You do not have to ...

Good Budgeting Habits Mean Better Investment Success

How good are you at budgeting? Do you even have a budget? If the answers are ‘not very good’ and ‘no’, don’t be too surprised if you haven’t had much success at investing either. While ...

The Golden Rule of Smart Investing: Pay Yourself First

It is incredible how many people live from paycheck to paycheck. It might be the way of millions of people, but it isn’t the smart way. It certainly doesn’t make life easy when it comes ...

Does Age Have a Bearing on Investing?

June 17, 2013 Tushar Mathur No comments

This is an interesting question, and yet it may not be one that has ever occurred to you before. However when you look at it more closely, you’ll come to the conclusion that the investment goals of a 57 year old person will be very different from the goals set by an 18 year old. Indeed you could say the teenager may not have any goals at all because they’ve got plenty of time to think about stuff like that. Conversely the person who is nearing retirement has to think about their investment goals now, and whether it is too late to set up any new ones.

So yes, age certainly does have a bearing on how you invest, why you invest and what you hope to get out of it. It also stands to reason that you should review your investment goals from time to time. You might start out at the age of 20 with a firm investment goal in your mind. But if you let that goal stand and you reach the age of 30 before you review it, you may find it no longer serves your needs as it did originally.

This means it is well worth thinking about whether you should get different investments at different times of your life. In reality an investment that is ideal at the age of 18 isn’t as likely to suit someone aged 57. However there are conditions to that assumption. For example, if the investment was a short term deal it may be suitable for both age groups. However if it is a long term investment, perhaps over ten years or more, it may not be ideal for the person who is nearing retirement.

This is why it makes sense to think of your age and circumstances whenever you consider starting a new investment. It also makes sense to bear these factors in mind when you are thinking about changing an existing investment or bringing it to a close. Life changes and sends us curve balls from time to time, and what may have worked once may not work anymore once you get to a certain age.

Of course, every investment must be carefully considered before you jump into it with both feet. However some investments will make more sense to people of certain age groups than they will to others. For instance, someone aged 18 is in the perfect position to set up a pension for their retirement, even though this is several decades into the future. Someone aged 57 won’t consider this type of investment because they may only have a few short years until they retire. As you can see, age has a bearing here, and this isn’t the only situation it is relevant to.

So the next time you consider changing an investment plan or starting a new one, make sure you are able to bring your age into the equation. It may make your decision easier to make.

3 Good Reasons to Review Your Investments on a Regular Basis

June 10, 2013 Tushar Mathur 1 Comment

Whatever investments you have – from simple savings accounts to complex stocks, shares and property investments – it is important to review them regularly. As most people are aware, life has a habit of changing on a dime. This means that even if you previously spent time organizing your finances, they may not be perfectly organized now.

With this in mind, let’s delve into some reasons why you should always review your investments from time to time.

1. Life changes – and so do your goals
It’s a good thing to set goals to see if you can achieve them. However, goals change, and if you set a financial goal some time ago it may not suit you today. Furthermore as we mentioned above, life changes too. You may have set a financial goal to save a certain sum of money to help fund a move to another location. However if something happens in your working life this may no longer be a viable move.

2. A financially sound investment may not always stay that way
It’s good to base our investments on carefully researched information that points to the best investment for our needs. However, we all know things change. Even though one particular investment may have seemed ideal a while back, it could be anything but today. If you don’t keep an eye on your investments on a regular basis, you won’t realize if they suddenly become less appealing.

3. You should keep abreast of any investments that are going to come to an end soon
This is another aspect of investing that needs to be monitored. While some investments can be kept long term, others are designed to last for a specific length of time. In this case it makes perfect sense to consider the options you have to transfer those monies to another account or investment opportunity. If you don’t keep track of where your money is or when an investment ends, you will find yourself with a sum of money and no idea of where to put it next.

It’s obvious the best path to take is to check the condition of your investments on a regular basis. If you make it a habit you’ll be far less likely to end up with investments that aren’t serving your interests properly.

As a rule of thumb, you should check your financial position every time something major happens in your life – something like marriage, a new job with a higher salary or even an inheritance. As you can see from the above suggestions, it’s good to make a list of the deadline dates for any investments that are coming to an end.

In the end, if you don’t already review your investments on a regular basis, you should definitely start doing so from now on. Your financial position could markedly improve if you do this, and that is never a bad position to be in. Once you’re in the habit of doing this you’ll never look back.

Could You Invest More Cash if You Were Self Employed?

June 03, 2013 Tushar Mathur No comments

It’s an interesting question isn’t it? Plenty of Americans are employed with businesses of all sizes, but in recent years there have been an increasing number of self employed people carving out their own businesses as well. This is partly due to the economic crisis, as more and more people have been made redundant. Armed with a redundancy package (if they’re lucky) and no prospect of an employed position in sight, many people are looking to create their own opportunities instead.

The picture of self employment is often painted as a challenging one. You’ve no guarantee where the next job is coming from and you might end up with a very uncertain cash flow. However, many self employed people are doing well, and when you compare this to the uncertainty of being employed, you can see there may not be such a big gulf between the two after all.

All of which brings us to the question posed in the title: could you invest more cash if you were self employed as opposed to employed? Would it really be possible to do this?

Every situation is different

No two people are ever the same, whether they are self employed or not. An employed person on a low wage might save more than a self employed person on a high income, simply because they have better savings habits. But let’s consider a level playing field here for a moment in terms of income and the working situation you might be in.

Let’s suppose there are two people each earning $40,000 a year. One is employed and the other is self employed. By the nature of self employment, this person is able to earn money from a number of sources (clients). The employed person relies on their company to pay them their wage. If the employer lets them go, they’re out of a job and have no more cash coming in.

In contrast, if the self employed person loses a client, they still have other clients to fall back on. Their income might dip, but they can go out and look for other clients to make up the shortfall. Indeed, they can also look for new clients to earn still more money.

Which is best?

This is where the difference becomes clear and you see why there is a greater chance of saving more if you are self employed. Clearly the real difference comes when discipline and good savings habits come into the fray. However, there is more potential here to earn more money as a self employed person. Since you are in control, you can create all manner of schemes and ideas to bring in more money and more benefits to you and your business.

Of course not everyone is cut out for self employment. Whatever position you are in and however promising your future looks, make sure you set good financial habits in motion now. They will help you achieve the level of savings you want to have in the future.

What Should You Do if You Simply Cannot Save for the Future?

May 27, 2013 Tushar Mathur No comments

The focus of this blog is to start investing money: sinking it into one or more investments so you have a nest egg to fall back on in the future.

However, all this relies on the fact you have at least some surplus cash to play with. What do you do if this isn’t the case yet you still want to invest for the future – or at least save something in case you need some cash in an emergency?

Paring things down to the basics

This is step one, if you will. We all have a lifestyle we are used to. Sometimes we may need to strip this back so we can free up more cash for one reason or another. You can do this here if you haven’t already done so. Many of us could strip back our outgoings to the absolute basics if we needed to – and in some instances it is possible to strip things back a little further. You only need to read some of the inspiring blogs and articles that focus on providing tips and hints on eating on a dollar a day and other subjects to see how true this is.

Have you pared things back to the basics yet or do you still have more work to do? Re-evaluate your life in every area and see whether you can free up some cash so you are able to set some savings aside, even if you cannot invest anything else.

Things change

Many people go through periods in their lives when saving money is not an option. If, even after going through the stage above, you find you can’t free up any spare cash, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean you can’t still read and learn about saving for the future. You may just come across a way of doing it that would work for you. Indeed, you may discover a new method for making a little extra cash to help you along the way.

The moral of this story is to make sure you are always open to the idea of saving money. Even if you can only save a dollar or two every now and then, it instills in you a mindset that will help you through the hardest financial times. It will also lead you towards a brighter financial future, and this alone can be a positive experience when you are trying to save money for some reason.

The only way you will never save money for the future is if you decide it cannot be done. Even if this is true at present, it’s not a good idea to succumb to this mindset – it may just follow you around for longer than you’d like. As you can see, if you take the right stance you might just change your fortunes for the better. If you can do that, you could start saving money for the future sooner than you might at first think was possible.

The Importance of Saving for Short Term Goals

May 20, 2013 Tushar Mathur No comments

We hear a lot about investing for the long term: for events such as our retirement in several decades from now, for example. However, we don’t tend to hear as much about short term investments and yet these can be just as important in many circumstances.

These investments are ideal when you have a short term goal you want to hit. This could be a goal that requires you to have a specific sum of money to achieve it, or it could simply be a savings goal.

Understanding short term goals

Here are some examples of short term goals you could go for, and how they factor in when we’re thinking about money.

A 6 month goal to pay off an outstanding credit card debt
A 3 month goal to save up for an online course to provide you with an additional qualification to help further your career
A 6 month goal to save $500

As you can see, it is enough simply to want to save a particular sum of money for a particular length of time. You don’t have to have something in mind to spend it on, or even a bill or debt you want to clear. Simply wanting to save is enough of a goal for anyone to aim for – and if you are successful in saving and investing that money for the short term, you’ll find it easier to do so for the long term as well.

Why are short term savings goals important?

We’ve already discovered one reason – namely that they can get you in the mood for saving for the long term as well. But there are other good reasons. For example they can help you achieve long term goals as well.

Take the above example focusing on the ideal of saving up for 3 months to invest in an online course to achieve another qualification. If you were to achieve this goal, you could complete your online course. You’d then stand a better chance of getting a better paid job which would allow you to save more money in the future as well. This is one of the best examples you could consider in this situation, as it represents how easy it is to scale up a small goal into a much larger one.

So if you don’t already have any short term savings goals in place, why not think of one or two to achieve now? It could be as simple as not spending frivolously for the next week, to see how much you can save in the process. It could be a three month goal to help you save up to pay off a credit card debt. Whatever it is, it should be something you can achieve with a little hard work, and something that will give you a good payoff.

You might be surprised how much more positive you’ll feel about saving when you can achieve short term goals such as these.

3 Things to Remember if You Want to Invest in an Online Business

May 13, 2013 Tushar Mathur 1 Comment

Every day sees many new online businesses cropping up all over the internet. It’s probably true to say many of them will disappear in time, just as many other businesses do. Only a very small percentage of them will stand the test of time and fewer still will achieve a heady level of success.

However, this shouldn’t put you off investing in such a business. There are two ways to do this – you can set up your own business and sink money into that, or you can invest in someone else’s business. For the purposes of this article we’re going to focus on the idea of investing in a business someone else has or is going to set up.

With that in mind, here are the 3 things you need to remember if you want to go down this route.

1: remember the risks

As is the case with any investment, you need to remember there are risks. You have the choice to invest in a business that is just starting up or to invest in one that is already established. The second option is slightly safer since you will already have a small track record to look at. If you invest in a true start up you will have to rely on the information provided by the creators.

In either case, remember you are investing your money in something that could fail. Are you ready for this?

2: look at the different options

Crowdsourcing is one of the more modern ways of investing money in a new business or venture. Fortunately you can find lots of information about this online without too much bother. You could also look into shares and also the idea of private funding. It all depends on whether you know of any opportunities you could find out about directly.

3: know how much you are prepared to invest

There is always the potential to make a lot of money back on your investment. Similarly, there is the potential to lose a lot of money. Hence you must know what you are prepared to lose, in case the worst happens. Sometimes you may lose a certain degree of your investment but not the entire amount. At other times you may choose the right business to invest in and see a good return on your money. You never know for sure – and this is the fact you must be prepared for.

As you can see, it becomes easier to know what to expect when you are realistic about the idea of investing in an online business. Yes it can be a risky proposition, but it can bring good rewards as well. The trick is to do some research and to work out what you are prepared to risk in order to get the rewards.

If you can do this and get it right, you will end up (hopefully) with a good investment result instead of a failure.

Should You Invest in Your Own Online Business?

May 06, 2013 Tushar Mathur No comments

The internet has changed our lives in an incredible number of ways. Perhaps most notably, it has given many people the opportunity to set up businesses from home. New business opportunities have been created that many people can have a go at.

However, does this mean you should invest in a business of your own on the internet?

If you are thinking of doing just this, with the hope of generating a new line of income in the process, here are some points you should be aware of.

1: you can start with very little money

This is good to know if you are on a tight budget. There are enough free services online to make it possible for people to get started making a small amount of money without investing anything up front.

There are also other opportunities for you to make money while investing just a small amount upfront. For example, you can easily set up your own website by purchasing a domain name and hosting for just a few dollars a year. Most people could afford this and create a blog that recommended products from free to join affiliate programs. This alone has the potential to generate anything from a few to a significant number of dollars per year.

2: you can build a business in your spare time

This is one of the main points that attract people to earning money online. Regardless of what job(s) you do now, you can find spare time in which to build a business of your own. Plenty of other people have done so before you – could you be next?

3: there are plenty of scams out there – make sure you’re not a victim of one of them

Never part with any cash to get a job opportunity; you’re often better off setting off on your own path. By all means research different opportunities and find reviews of what other people think. But make sure you don’t fall for any smooth selling.

4: it really is possible to build your own business

Who knows, you might even earn more from doing so than you’d ever earn working for someone else. You do need to work for it though – don’t assume it will come easily or without making any mistakes.

Since there are several opportunities you can go for online, you might also want to consider which one will suit you best. The worst mistake you can make is to do something simply because someone else is doing it and achieving success with it. It doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be successful too. The trick is to find your passion – that’s what will earn you the money you need to succeed.

In the end, there are ways to invest in your own business on the internet. But you need to be diligent and do your research to find the best opportunity around for you today. Make sure you make the most of your opportunities and seize the moment to make your business work.

Are You Ready for Risky Investments?

April 29, 2013 Tushar Mathur 1 Comment

Most of us are aware that risky investments come with the potential to bring us bigger rewards. The higher the risk the bigger the potential reward can be. However, it is all too easy to get caught up in the idea of significant rewards. If you are considering sinking some money into this kind of investment, you should remember the all important word in the sentence above:

POTENTIAL

When we are talking about potential rewards for a risky investment proposition, we should really think about chances. How big is the chance you’ll receive the reward advertised for the investment you are looking at? This is one thing you need to bear in mind if you are seriously considering this type of investment. And just as there is a chance of getting good rewards in this situation, there is also a chance you could lose out on them. Not just that, you could also lose the money you originally set aside for that investment.

Are you ready?

The basic piece of advice to remember with regard to risky investments is only to put money into them that you aren’t relying on for some other reason. For example, let’s say you have $5,000 set aside for your daughter’s college fund. You might be tempted to put that $5,000 into a risky investment so you have the potential to make a much bigger sum out of it. However, there is also the potential to lose the lot. In this situation you’d be best advised to go for something much safer.

Now let’s look at a second example. Let’s suppose you have your finances organized and you have $5,000 left over that is basically ‘free money’. In other words, while you don’t really want to lose that money, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if you did. You’d still be able to cover every other financial need and requirement you have (including that college fund). In this case you’d be more amenable to making the most out of that excess cash, and you might be more willing to try a riskier investment than you would otherwise.

You can probably see how your financial situation has a major bearing on whether you should go for risky investments or not. Your own demeanor also plays a part, since some people are automatically more willing to try riskier investments. Others wouldn’t go anywhere near them, instead preferring to make sure they could rely on safer propositions. These two elements combine to provide the answer to whether you are ready to consider this type of investment or not. It’s not a failure if you don’t like the idea and never want to risk your money in this way – indeed, some would say it’s a smart move. It just depends on which group you happen to fall into.

Providing you make the best decision for your own financial situation, you can always be sure of doing the right thing with your money.

Investment Club Strategies For 2012

April 29, 2013 Tushar Mathur No comments

Ever heard of an investment club? If you’re not in the know, an investment club is simply a modestly sized group of private investors, and it’s generally made up of a set of friends, church members, a few family members, or neighbors. The group meets at regular intervals for one reason: They pool their money and invest in a portfolio for the “club”.

Over the last few years, the number of small-time investment clubs has doubled in size in the United States. This statistic was furnished by the National Association of Investors Corporation, which is a nonprofit that provides tools, resources, and encouragement for investment clubs from coast to coast.

With the rise of economic instability, however, investment clubs are risky business. That’s why choosing the right investment club strategies for 2012 is a crucial move to maximize earnings that you’ll receive if you decide to join or start a club of your own.

Real Estate Investing

Investment clubs offer the ability for individuals to purchase real estate for the purpose of renting, selling for a profit, or rehabilitating. They can buy in when they otherwise could not due to credit or income limitations. A group of people makes this process affordable.

Why is investing in real estate such a shrewd move in 2012? Simply because the housing market has taken a massive hit, and interest rates are at an all-time low. An added bonus is that housing prices are bottom-barrel, too. Investment clubs allow individuals to take advantage of an unparalleled advantageous buyer’s market and make the housing lull in the U.S. work for them.

Forex Trading

Trading in the Forex Market is incredibly hot right now. Even the smallest interest in investing can tell you that if you run a quick Internet search on the topic.

Forex trading is essentially the act of exchanging foreign currencies online. Investors buy and sell currencies for a potential profit. Fun fact: Currently, Forex trading accounts for nearly $3 Trillion worth of investing around the world on a daily basis. The potential for profits is huge – but so is the potential for losses. If you employ this investment club strategy, make sure that you have someone in the club that knows the ins and outs of Forex trading so your club will stand a better chance of scoring positive results.

Stocks and Bonds

If you want to go a more traditional route, join an investment club that focuses on stocks and bonds. In 2012, the best investment club strategy for stocks is to stick with the biggest brands – think Wal-Mart, Google, and other global companies that are “too big to fail”. During a massive global recession, it’s best to play it safe by sticking to these big companies because they’ll continue to see positive growth even in the worst of times. Although the returns will not be as high as they would be for more risky investments, you’ll enjoy a solid, stable increase in your money and it will continue for the long haul. As conditions improve, diversifying the investment club portfolio is a good move to make as well.

Why Stock Market Investing Isn’t Gambling?

April 28, 2013 Tushar Mathur No comments

If you are looking to be entertained, gambling online will probably be better than stock investing. You can click here to experience an online casino site, and get the chance to win, or lose, big money.

Investing however is aimed for the pure gain of money; therefore it is much different than gambling.

On the one hand, there is a lot of similarity in terms of investment in the stock market and gambling as you can both acquire a lot of money and also lose a lot as well, in a very short time period. This is a general outlook of these two. On the other side, there are many differences that make investments in stock markets different from gambling.

As per definitions, both investing and gambling differ too. While gambling is betting, an amount at a risk of whether you would profit out of it or not, investment on the other hand is committing an amount of money for financial gain only. Investing in stock market would be a process where you would have to be on a look out for the rising and falling market trends that would help you gain money or lose it. While in gambling, it is going to be pure luck when the odds will work in your favour making it easy for you to win, but you would also have to face losses just the same.

Investing in stock market would not give you results that are not random but work with the rise and fall in the market trends, while gambling is again by chance that you would win or lose. Investing in stock market and choosing a right company can guarantee you a good business that you would mint money from. Of course, there will be downfalls, where your investment can bring you some loss, but that is a part of investing in stock market. Investing in a stock market is a continuous process where you would be making investments for a long period of time, and gambling you would limit yourself to the cash in hand that you would have.

When you lose money in gambling, you lose further, as you would again bet a lot of money in order to gain back the money you have lost. But investing in stocks would mean that you own the stock, and as the price rises and falls in the market, you would still benefit with your investment.

Investment in stock marketing would become equal to gambling only if you randomly select one stock or the other making it a very risky business. The uncertainty rises with multiple jumps of stock market, making it equal to gambling. So make sure that you invest wisely, now that you know that stock market investing is not equal to gambling.

3 Things You Absolutely Must Do if an Investment Fails

April 22, 2013 Tushar Mathur No comments

However good you are at picking investments, you will have one that fails every now and then. It is impossible to go through life picking all the right investments and never tripping up. If you could do that, you’d make a fortune making recommendations for everyone else!

If you’re relatively new to investing, it makes sense to be realistic in what you can achieve. To this end, here are three things you should do if you trip up with an investment and end up losing money.

1: don’t panic
Yes, it might be the first thing you think of doing, but it’s worth hanging fire before you do. Firstly, as we’ve touched on above, it pays to be realistic. However many investments you have, it’s logical one or two of them won’t turn out the way you’d hoped. This is part of the reason why we don’t put all our eggs into the one proverbial basket.

Take a fresh look at the situation once you’ve calmed down – it may not be as bad as you think. You might be able to minimize the damage or at least decide whether to exit the investment or whether to wait it out to see if it improves.

2: look at why it has failed
If your investment really has turned up its toes and died on you, find out why. In terms of stocks and shares, it could be you’ve bought and/or sold at the wrong time. The only way your failed investment will be a total failure is if you don’t learn from it to prevent the same thing happening again in the future.

For example, let’s say you have lost $1,000 on some shares. By looking at them more closely, you can see you sold at the wrong time. If you had paid attention to the latest news reports and guidance and hung onto them for another week, you’d have minimized your losses, even if you hadn’t made a profit.

3: consider the implications for the future
This really follows on from the point I made above. Let’s look at the failed shares example again. You have two thoughts to consider here. Will you chalk it up to experience and not worry about buying shares again, or will you learn from the experience and use that knowledge to assist you in future purchases?

The decision is yours of course, and it is a very personal one. Some people will be put off by the experience, whereas others will resolve to do better next time so they can choose more appropriate investments with more knowledge.

Whatever path you decide to travel down, you can see how following these three steps will be useful in every case. The more you know and understand about your investments and your approach to them, the easier it will be to minimize the failures you have. These three steps could even make it easier to achieve bigger and better successes in the future.

Knowledge is Power: How Much Financial Knowledge Do You Have?

April 15, 2013 Tushar Mathur 2 Comments

If you want to solve a financial problem in your life, you need to seek out the right knowledge to achieve that aim. Oftentimes this is where people go wrong when they are faced with the challenge of choosing the right savings plan or investing in the right stocks. Indeed this applies to any financial situation you might find yourself in during your life.

The typical approach to a financial issue is this: people go on the knowledge they already have in order to find a solution. For example, they may know of two types of savings vehicles they can use to save for the future. So they base their decision on those two vehicles and never think to see what else is out there.

Broadening your horizons

In truth, it is easier to solve any financial problem if you have more information to use to help you make your choice. This means taking the time to find that information instead of assuming you know everything there is to know already.

Your first task whenever you have a problem of this type is to find as much information as you can. Don’t make a kneejerk decision based on too little information or data. Let’s say for example you have $5,000 to invest for the future. Maybe you’ve been given a bonus or come into a lump sum for some reason. You might immediately think of investing it in shares or putting it in a basic savings account. However, if you take the time to find out what else you could do with it, you’ll realize you can generate lots of other possibilities.

This is why knowledge is power – it’s not just something people say. However it is up to you to decide how much power you want to have over your finances and your financial future. In truth the sooner you start educating yourself and amassing this knowledge, the sooner you will be able to improve your financial future.

Starting today

It can be all too easy to look back on your life and see decisions you made that you don’t approve of now. You can see mistakes very easily indeed when you have 20/20 vision – commonly called hindsight in this situation.

However, you should be aware you can choose today to change things. Whatever you may have done financially in the past, you can change things today and head in a new direction. This is possible when you amass fresh knowledge and use it to enhance your financial position.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you have to have lots of money for this to work either. It doesn’t matter how financially well off you are, and in fact, you can use newfound knowledge to help you cement a more positive financial position in the future.

So remember the phrase ‘knowledge is power’ and consider how much (or how little) financial power you currently have. If you don’t have much, you know what to do about it.