Trading Fact: a "buy Low Sell High" Investment Strategy Will Lose Money Longer Term!

by Sacha Tarkovsky

The investment strategy followed by the majority of investors "buy low sell high" will lose money for those investors who follow it. Let's look at the facts and you will see why it fails over the longer term and discover a better way to trade.

Buying low you can't do it! Why? Quite simply, it involves predicting the market and not reacting to price strength. In hindsight charts prove it simply does not work. Traders like to buy low on a dip to support, but how often does support fail? The answer is most of the time.

Most traders are so keen to buy low they keep buying into support and then get stopped out. They then lose their equity after a number of trades, as the odds simply are not in their favor when they try this and loses eventually see them wipe out their account equity.

Buy low sell high, is only a good strategy if you have hindsight and can see what happened on the charts and you don't have the benefit of this when you enter the trade.

We have all heard of the predictive theories of Gann and Elliot, but if they worked and we all knew where prices were going in advance, there would be no market.

The price would simply be known to all traders and their would be no market. Leave the above theories to the far out investment crowd and the dreamers and base your strategy on the reality of how and why markets really move.

Back to basics

So what should a trader do?

The answer is revealed in the well known phrase "a trend in motion is more likely to continue than reverse".

When do the odds most favour this?

The answer is when prices break to new highs and a trend in motion accelerates at a rapid rate from a new price high. Look at any currency chart and you will see the biggest price moves normally take place from important market highs with NO pullback.

FACT: A "buy low sell high" strategy will see traders miss the majority of major moves.

Traders who wait to buy low never get in to the trade and miss the trend, as the price accelerates away from them and never looks back. These traders therefore never get a chance to enter the trade.

The secret to buying a market and catching the big profitable moves is "buy high and sell higher", accept the wisdom of this phrase and you will be in on all the major trends.

It's hard to buy a trend in motion.

The reality is the odds favour that a trend in motion will continue and when a market has broken out to new highs, the odds of a continuation of the trend are at there highest.

Know one likes to miss the start of the move but if we trade this way we can get in on all the major moves.

Which method is best?

Use important breaks of resistance, time entry with momentum indicators such as the stochastic indicator, and be selective with your trades to catch the big moves.

Or:

Try a strategy that involves "buying low and selling high", get stopped out frequently and watch all the major moves take off from new market highs.

About the Author:
MORE FREE INFO On finance including investments and becoming a succesful trader succesful trading visit our website for articles features and downloads at:http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

Real Estate Investment Strategies to Accumulate Cash

Plenty of fancy words have been written about real estate investment strategies. But I want to cut to the chase in this article. No matter how fancy the language is, investment strategies boil down to two objectives:

Buying real estate to accumulate cash.

Buying real estate to build equity and wealth.

Which strategy to choose depends entirely on you?your needs, your personality, and so forth. Frankly, either choice is fine as long as you choose one early in your career, commit to it over the long term and do everything you legally can to make it successful.

In this article, I'll look at the cash accumulation strategies and the pros and cons of each. I'll treat the build equity and wealth strategy in another article.

The Cash Accumulation Strategy - Let's assume you're relatively new to the real estate market and need methods for pursuing a cash accumulation strategy. Below are several methods you can try:

Bird Dogging - In simple terms, you find good properties for investors and charge them a finder's fee for doing so. This is strictly a cash strategy.

Advantages: It doesn't require any cash on your part or previous knowledge. It's also the fastest way to earn cash. In addition, it's a great way to "learn the ropes" of the local real estate market.

Disadvantages: The money you earn per transaction is the least in the market. It also takes considerable time and effort to locate suitable properties.

Flipping - Flipping is the art of buying a property, waiting for the right moment, and then selling it for a quick profit. In basic terms, you're get control of the property with a binding purchase contract. Essentially, it's a speculative strategy; that is, you're gambling that the market value will rise to the point where you can make a fast profit before you close on the deal. This strategy is most effective in areas where the demand for housing is so high that there's a limited supply, causing prices to rapidly rise.

Advantages: With this method, you'll get negotiation leverage and good profit potential. You can put little money down and get great gains. Also, it can be a good life if you enjoy an entrepreneurial life style and a lot of freedom.

Disadvantages: Volume can be low, depending on market conditions so your income can fluctuate. Although flipping is entirely legal, it received bad press due to con artists making a quick buck by duping customers. So, you may need a very thick skin in terms of other people's opinions of you. A second disadvantage occurs when too many speculators get into the market. When that happens, prices drop quickly, and you end up stuck with the property and no immediate profit. A third possible downside is that interest rates can rise, thus dampening the demand for housing. A final disadvantage is hidden property problems. If you don't pursue careful due diligence, you can end up with expensive repair costs that eat up your profits or even cause a loss.

Buy and Sell As-Is - This method is simple: buy a property, leave it as-is, and then put it back on the market but at a higher price.

Advantage: When done right, you'll find that the profit margin is even higher than with the flipping method.

Disadvantages: This method takes time and, due to that fact, volume may be low.

Buy, Improve, Sell - With this method, you purchase a property, make cost-effective improvements, and then sell it at a higher price.

Advantage: Margins are even better with this "rehabbing" method than with the previous methods.

Disadvantages: With this method, you have a much bigger investment of time and money than the previous methods.

Key Point: Choose the strategy that best suits your situation and your personalit

About the Author:
Jack Sternberg is a nationally recognized expert on real estate investment and the creator of the renowned "Buyers First Program" who's been in the business for more than 30 years. Sternberg's deals have totaled over $750 million and he's been to the closing table more than 1,500 times. For more, visit http://www.askjacksternberg.com/

Real Estate Investment Strategies

Real estate would be a profitable investment, when the investor makes an efficient and judicious decision in their investments. Real estate investment strategies help investors to decide which strategy can work for them, under their existing situation. These strategies improve the negotiation skills of the investor and make good business decisions about investment in real estate.

Strategies for Real Estate Investment

Adopting an appropriate strategy in real estate investment is, matching the real estate problem with the right solution. There are various strategies in real estate investments, but it is likely to adopt either of the following strategy.

• Buy and Hold: It is a common strategy where the investors purchase a property and rent it, with the intension of earning the income on their investments. It is also called as rental properties.

• Flipping: It is a fast investment strategy of real estate, where the investor will not undertake the ownership. In Flipping strategy the investor will assign a contract where the property is purchased, to sell it again and gets commission for their services. For flipping a property, investor needs to be capable of two things, first need to find a good property and secondly, find a buyer in a short time.

• Lease options: Under this strategy, the investor enables the tenant to take the property on lease or rent with an option to purchase it on a future date, and value of the property is decided at the time of lease option is signed. Here buyer/tenant pays the money for acquiring the right for the later purchase. This strategy is adopted when the real estate market is slow.

• Commercial Real Estate Investment: In this strategy the value of the property is determined by the rents incurred by them. This strategy is not preferable for the new investors. Experienced investors can adopt this strategy, as an additional benefit for their investment.

• Wraps (Vendor Financing): Under Wraps strategy the investor will purchase a property and sell it under Vendor Financing. Instead of receiving the whole amount, the investor will receive regular payments under installment basis.

• New Construction: Adopting this strategy is the simple and affordable way to invest in the real estate. Here the investor starts construction of a home and sells it before it is completed. In case of good market for sellers, keeping two or more homes constantly under construction will earn some good profits.

• Renovation: Investing on the old house and getting it repaired into a good condition is the strategy of Renovation. It is adopted to earn more profits by adding the value of the property through improvements. It requires several inspections while purchasing a property, to sell after its renovation.

The above stated some strategies of real estate investments helps the investors to make good investment decisions.

About the Author:
Rod Khleif is Florida's Real Estate businessman. Rod khleif has helped hundreds of homeowners escape foreclosure through the services provided by his organization. Rod khleifwill train you about how to be a success full investor in real estate. Learn it from a person who has done it more than 6500 times. Rod Khleif has the huge experience in real estate investment to train.

Do Retirees Need a New Investment Strategy?

Do Retirees Need a New Investment Strategy?

By David N. Chazin
In conjunction with Sagemark Consulting, a division of Lincoln Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor. Mr. Chazin is a regular contributor to PlannerConnect.

First growth, then income. If you’re like most investors, you want to achieve growth while you’re working and income after you retire. But that doesn’t necessarily make it smart to change your investment strategy when you retire by shifting your portfolio completely out of stocks into less volatile, “income” investments like bonds and cash equivalents.

The Tax Bite
As a rule, stocks are more risky and volatile than other types of investments. Therefore, you might decide, as some retirees do, to sell your stocks and reinvest in less risky securities in order to protect the gains you’ve achieved. But, unless the stocks you sell are in an individual retirement account or other tax-deferred retirement account, that move won’t preserve all of your accumulated gains. When you sell your stock, you’ll lose part of those gains to capital gains tax.

The Inflation Bug
You may also create another, potentially more serious, risk. Without stocks in your portfolio, you increase the risk that future inflation will seriously erode the real value of your investments and reduce your spending power.

Let’s look at some numbers. Social Security’s normal retirement age is gradually increasing. For someone born between 1943 and 1954, it’s 66. If you retired today at age 66, your additional life expectancy would be 20.2 years according to IRS tables. No one knows what the rate of inflation will be in the future. But, over the past 20 years, the Consumer Price Index (commonly used to measure inflation) has, on average, risen about 3% a year. If inflation continues at the same average rate for the next 20 years, you’d need over $90,000 of income in 2025 to match the buying power of $50,000 today.

The best way to fight inflation is to have the potential to earn investment returns that will keep you ahead of the erosion in your purchasing power. The problem is there’s no guarantee about the future returns of any variable investment.

A Better Way?
Instead of moving your entire portfolio out of stocks when you retire, you might consider other strategies. You could maintain your current portfolio mix until you retire. Then, gradually sell some of your stocks each year.

This strategy would slowly reduce your exposure to the risk of owning stocks and also generate income to supplement any cash dividends and interest income you receive. You’d spread out your capital gains taxes and be able to keep a large part of your portfolio invested in stocks for a considerable number of years. Note that through 2008, the federal tax rate on long-term capital gains is generally 15% for those in regular tax brackets higher than 15%. After that, the capital gains rate is scheduled to revert to the rate in effect before 2003, generally 20%.

Another strategy would be to simply reduce the portion of your portfolio that is invested in stocks as retirement approaches. For example, if 75% of your portfolio is in stocks before retirement, you might lower that percentage to 30% or another percentage that you’re comfortable with. That way, you’d still retain some opportunity to gain from any future stock market advances, but you’d also reduce your portfolio’s overall volatility.

When you say goodbye to your job, sticking with stocks may be a better strategy for a potentially very long retirement than moving to an all-income portfolio. If you want to know more about investment strategies during retirement, consult with your financial planner.

David N. Chazin is part of a network of qualified financial planners affiliated with PlannerConnect. You can reach him at David.Chazin@LFG.com, or to connect with a financial planner in your area please call (800) 318-7848, or visit the PlannerConnect website.

David N. Chazin, is a registered representative of Lincoln Financial Advisors, a broker/dealer, and offers investment advisory service through Sagemark Consulting, a division of Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp., a registered investment advisor,3000 Executive Parkway, Suite 400, San Ramon, CA 94583, (925) 275-0300. Insurance offered through Lincoln affiliates and other fine companies. This information should not be construed as legal or tax advice. You may want to consult a tax advisor regarding this information as it relates to your personal circumstances.

About the Author:
David Chazin is a fee-based financial planner with Sagemark Consulting. His practice focuses on providing his clients with a comprehensive solution to their financial needs. He delivers objective, strategic, and prudent advice designed to help his clients accumulate, retain and transfer wealth. This typically involves developing a customized, fully comprehensive financial plan identifying issues that need to be addressed and outlining steps that need to be taken. David then helps his clients implement the recommended strategies to best reach their financial goals, giving them a great deal of personal attention and adapting their plan to fit their ever-changing lives.

The Number One Biggest Mistake is not Having a Clear Property Investment Strategy

Whenever I get asked by anyone how to invest in property, I respond with a series of questions:

• What are your financial aims? In other words what are you after? Are you seeking an income, capital or both?

There is a big difference between wanting to retire in 2 years so you can live off your investment income and wanting to help your children with tuition expenses in 12 years.

• Will you need to borrow money and how much risk are you willing to take?

• Will you consider investing overseas, and if so, where will you invest – Europe, the Far East or the Middle East.

• What level of risk are you willing to take?

• What happens if you need your money back quickly?

Remember, liquidity is a major problem in property investment. If you invest in the stocks and share market, you can pick up the phone and sell in minutes. That’s liquity. Just try doing that with property and you’ll see that it’s a completely different story.

• What about your tax liability and what would happen if it all went wrong?

• Do you want to invest in commercial or residential? Do you even know the difference?

These are the type of questions you should be asking yourself before you dive in and invest in property. It’s very helpful to write down your reasons for wanting to invest in property. You can always revise your list if you change your mind about your investment motives. But I guarantee you won’t be sorry for spending a little time up front making the list. On the other hand, if you’re unable to come up with any motivating factors for investing, you’re also setting yourself up for failure.

This may seem like a lot of work, but it’s a crucial part of the process if you want to succeed. Remember: buying property BEGINS with a well thought out plan for your exit strategy!

You should also be aware of the intense marketing hype of many online estate agent sites; they often prey on gullible, uninformed individuals. Be careful not to fall for the hype regarding the off plan deals marketed in nearly every country. Media such as glossy overseas magazines that advertise second homes for sale as investments are often very misleading.

Another word of caution – don’t be fooled or conned by the promises of “get rich quick” property schemes. Property is a long-term investment. It’s easy to lose sight of this as you hear any number of different, new and possibly more exciting property investment strategies that appear to be making money NOW. Years ago you could purchase reasonably-priced property, rent it out and make good money in a relatively short period of time. However, times have changed and this is no longer the case.

Not all real estate agents will be upfront about this fact. Like many others, you may mistakenly assume that your real estate agent is determined to help you obtain the best possible return for your money. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. The main goal of real estate agents is to sell property – period. Do you think it is in their best interest to convince you to make long-term property investments? Definitely not!

Media resources can also hamper your property investment opportunities by writing bad or good reports about property investments that simply aren’t true. Property-related journalists are being paid to write, not to conduct research about the real estate market or lucrative investment opportunities.

Advertising is big business and journalists may be paid to write a scathing or glowing report about various overseas or local investments that is completely false. Hence, it’s best to ignore the majority of what you read in the magazines and conduct some solid market research on your own. After all, it’s your money so you want to invest it wisely!

Fortunately, there are some reliable resources available to help you learn about current trends in the property market. Start by consulting one of the following websites before you invest in any of your hard-earned cash:

Collierscre – One of the leading worldwide real estate consultancies

Knight Frank – Residential and commerical property professionals

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors – Leading source of information relating to construction, the environment, property and land

Estates Gazette – Magazine offering detailed information about commercial property trends

Also be sure to talk to local real estate agents as well as some reliable rental management companies. They can discuss some of the more successful local invesment property strategies. Don’t forget about members of your local business community and shop owners in your community. They can prove to be invaluable sources of information when it comes to local property invesmtent.

If you establish clear investment targets, you can focus only on the relevant types of property. I don’t recommend choosing more than two property types if you’re an inexperienced property investor. Given the vast amount of possible investment properties, this small step can save you a lot of wasted hours.

You should also limit the cities you’re considering to one or two. You can then determine the best and worst investment areas of a specific city by analyzing various factors such as crime and employment statistics.

The bottom line is don’t rely on only the latest investment fads to determine where to invest your money. This can prove to be a very costly mistake, especially if you are new to property investment. Spend some time determining your motivating factors for investing, ask yourself several important questions and narrow your target area to one or two cities. These steps will greatly improve your chance of success. With a little planning and advice, you can develop a clear investment strategy and avoid the most common property investment mistake.

About the Author:
Surrinder Ahitan offers free property investment advice and tips on how to invest in residential and commercial property for maximum returns. Visit http://www.best-investment-property-tips.com where he reveals more valuable insider tips and property secrets.

Beginning Investors Top Investment Strategy

Young investors take notice of this simple investment strategy that can give you long-term gains with less risk. 'Dollar cost averaging' may sound complicated but it actually is one of the easiest, safest plans that you can have set up in about 60 minutes.

Long-term gains using a dollar cost averaging plan.

Dollar cost averaging allows young investors to purchase stock investments consistently over a longer period of time. This stock market strategy works especially well with broad-based market index investments like the mutual funds and ETF's that mirror the return of the S&P 500. This is an effortless yet powerful investment technique that will lower your risk and potentially increase your returns.

For young investors looking for consistent gains over time, establishing a dollar cost averaging plan could be a perfect solution. Young investors are able to purchase more shares when the stock market experiences short-term corrections. That way when the index turns around and starts heading up in value young investors are able to profit more because they own more shares.

When the market is rising young investors are able to capitalize on the market trend because they are following a consistent investment plan. As they purchase more and more shares in a bull market that money is going to work for them right away.

Dollar cost averaging spreads the prices that you purchase stock market investments (cost basis) over a longer period. Investors are protected from stock market corrections and benefit from long-term gains in the market.

Steps to creating an effective dollar cost averaging plan.

For young investors creating a successful dollar cost averaging plan is simple. There are two basic steps that will get your money working for you:

1. Decide on the exact amount of money you will invest each and every month. The key to a successful dollar cost averaging plan is consistency. You can increase your investment over time but avoid investing different amounts each month.

2. Set up the exact times you invest. If you decide to invest once per month do so on the same day. For instance, the fifth of every month invest $150. This is made simple with help from an automatic investment plan. Set this up one time and your investments are made automatically for you each and every month. All you have to do is check your statements to see how your investments are doing.

Improve your dollar cost averaging plan through diversification.

Diversification is a simple spreading out the risk of owning a stock investment by owning many different stocks in a variety of sectors. Owning a group of stocks, instead of an individual stock, could further reduce your risk. This will reduce the risk of owning any single investment. The investment of choice for many young and beginning investors is broad based indexes.

An example of a broad based market index is the S&P 500. By investing in the S&P 500 index you own a piece of every stock that makes up the S&P 500. Stocks like American Express, Google, Ford, Nordstrom, Home Depot, Staples and Yahoo are a few of the stocks that make up that index. That way you're protected in case one of the stocks in the S&P 500 drops 70% of its value, you're only invested 1/500th, and you won't experience too much loss from that. In comparison, if you just owned that stock by itself you would have lost 70% immediately.

For young investors, keeping your investments diversified and using a dollar cost averaging investing technique - you have effectively reduced risk and are in an excellent position to achieve long-term profits.

About the Author:
Vince Shorb provides Free video investment education for young investors at http://www.FreeBy30.com . His course 'Financially Free by 30' guides young investors, with the use of audio, video and interactive tools, to gain the practical financial education that young investors need to succeed in the real world.

Investment Strategy - Why You Should Consider Investing In Hedge Funds

If you aren't familiar with a hedge fund this is a fund that can have either long or short positions, will buy and sell undervalued securities, as well as trade options, and bonds. There are plenty of reasons why you should consider investing in hedge funds as part of your investment strategy.

A hedge fund will invest anywhere where it sees gains that are impressive immerging with a reduced risk which is the main reason why you should consider investing in hedge funds as part of your investment strategy.

There are about 14 investment strategies for hedge funds and although we'll only touch on a couple of them these are funds that you should consider having in your portfolio. They are not all created equally so do your research so you know why you should consider investing in hedge funds as part of your investment strategy.

Volatility, investment returns, and risk vary enormously among the different hedge funds with many offering low risk and high profits another reason why you should consider investing in hedge funds as part of your investment strategy.

Most hedge funds reduce risk, volatility, preserve capital and deliver positive returns under any market condition which is why you should consider investing in hedge funds as part of your investment strategy.

You should be familiar with these characteristics:

1. Hedge funds use many different financial instruments to help reduce risk and increase return including the bond and equity market.
2. They vary a lot in terms of return, volatility, and risk.
3. Hedge funs can deliver non market correlated returns.
4. The majority of hedge funs will be managed by disciplined investment professionals.
5. Insurance companies, banks, pension funds and individuals as use hedge funds to minimize the volatility of their portfolio.

One reason why you should consider investing in hedge funds as part of your investment strategy is the many benefits producing positive returns in both falling and rising markets. Combined that with the ability to balance a portfolio reducing overall risk and you can see why you should consider investing in hedge funds as part of your investment strategy that allows for a variety of options.

Aggressive growth, emerging markets, distressed securities, income, macro, neutral market, or income are all reasons why you should consider investing in hedge funds as part of your investment strategy. A diversified portfolio with good returns is what you want!

Copyright © 2007 Joel Teo. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author's information with live links only.)

About the Author:Joel Teo invites you to submit your best articles to http://www.GlobalProsperity.info/ the best free article directory.

Investment Strategy - How To Profit By Investing In Mutual Funds

Mutual funds are an interesting investment strategy. Here is a pool of money that is supplied by the investors which is then invested in a variety of stocks, bonds, and other money markets. Check out how to profit by investing in mutual funds.

To buy mutual funds you can purchase directly, use a regular broker, an online broker, buy through a financial agent, or buy from your bank. Each fund has a professional investment manager who is responsible for ensuring that the best investments go into the fund. How to profit by investing in mutual funds starts by buying some and learning as you go.

So how to profit by investing in mutual funds let's have a look. We'll look at three ways although there are many. This will give you a start.

1. Capital Appreciation - This occurs when you sell your shares for a higher price than you originally paid for them. It's how to profit by investing in mutual funds quickly and easily.

2. Dividends - Not all mutual funds pay dividends but some mutual fund plans do seek out stocks that pay dividends as well as income producing bonds. Dividends are your portion of the company's earnings which are paid to all of the stockholders.

3. Capital Gain Distributions - When the mutual fund manager sells one of the stocks in the portfolio for a gain the profit is passed on to the shareholders as a capital gain distribution. You will either receive this as a cash payment or in the form of more stock called reinvesting and it's how to profit by investing in mutual funds.

There are many reasons why to learn how to profit by investing in mutual funds. You are able to invest in a diverse mix of bonds, stocks, and other money markets at a lot less risk. You have professional funds managers so you don't have to worry and all your eggs aren't in one basket so your risk is much lower and growth potential is higher.

Of course no investment is perfect and that goes for mutual funds too. No fund is risk free but mutual funds do have a very low risk and once you know how to profit by investing in mutual funds you reduce your risks even more.

Now that you know how to profit by investing in mutual funds you should have a solid investment strategy in place.

Copyright © 2007 Joel Teo. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author's information with live links only.)

About the Author:Joel Teo invites you to submit your best articles to http://www.GlobalProsperity.info/ the best free article directory.

Buy and Hold Investment Strategy

The most well-known investment strategy in the world is the buy-and-hold strategy. The thought is that if you buy stock in a fundamentally sound company, then overtime that stock should be worth more than what you paid for it to begin with. One of the advantages of the buy-and-hold strategy is that the investor does not have to constantly watch his or her stocks. Investors who bought into companies such as IBM and GE in the early days saw their investments rise dramatically year after year without much effort. Another benefit of this strategy is that you will not be paying a lot in commission cost, because you are not constantly buying and selling stocks. This strategy works very well as long as there are more bull markets than bear markets.

Buy-and-hold investors try to hang on to a stock as long as a company remains fundamentally sound. They do not tend to chase stock charts or news. They simply look at the bottom line of the company itself. One of the most successful buy-and-hold investors in the world is Warren Buffett. If you look at many of his investments they tend to be in boring companies as opposed to high-flying technology stocks.

The main problem with the buy-and-hold strategy is it fails miserably in bear markets. Individual investors who hold onto stocks no matter what may find themselves losing everything they have gained if they can not recognize the signs of a bear market. This is brought on by the belief that eventually all stocks they own will have to return back to their original price. The truth is though that many stocks may never return to their past glory thus leaving the buy-and-hold investors hanging onto a huge loss year after year.

I personally have never been a big fan of this strategy, and feel it holds back potential huge gains that can be made with a little more hands on involvement with your portfolio. If you are someone that prefers the hands off buy-and-hold strategy, I still believe it is a must to use stop-loss orders to protect your investments when bear markets occur.

About the Author:
Chad Surges has a Bachelor's Degree in Business. He invites you to visit his website for free information about different investing techniques and strategies: http://www.lucky-dog-investing.com/

Foreign Currency Investment Strategies

by Tyler Ziggler

I wanted to take the time to talk to you about foreign currency investment strategies. There is a huge potential in this market to make some good money if you're willing to learn. Most people hear that this market has three trillion dollars moving around each day and they jump right in without doing any real research. There is a huge problem with this because most of these people end up losing all their money. If you get down to the statistics, only a small 5% are making all the money. This means the majority of traders are just throwing their money away. You don't want to be one of those people. I'm going to share with you a little of what I've learned over my time trading.

You can get a lot of foreign currency investment information for regular news. This news isn't directed forex traders, but it still talks about the things that affect currency. The main thing to pay attention to is the economy and anything that will affect the economy. The most popular topics are scheduled and usually have to do with reports like GDP, unemployment, etc. If the news is good for the economy, than it is good for the currency. If it is bad for the economy it is bad for the currency. If you have the ability of anticipating the news, than you are ahead of the market and can make real money.

Automation is the key to success with any business, that is why I use the Forex Loophole. It works very simply. It follows the market to see if there are profitable trades and make the most profitable decision it can. This is very good for the ordinary Joe because this is a market that is open 24hrs a day. This means you can't watch over your trades all the time. This makes your trading experience much more safe.

About the Author:
Learn more about the Forex Loophole.

Smart Investment Strategies For Online Trading

The financial services that an investor chooses to use will help them create smart investment strategies for online trading. They might choose to trade with an investment management company or they might choose to go it alone and trade on Wall Street with the help of an investment broker. Every decision that they make on their investments will have a direct impact on their financial future.

The smart investment strategies will begin with a definite plan. The planning phase of the investment process can be aided by the help of a financial professional who is thoroughly involved with the online trading world and knows which routes an investor can take to get the most out of the money that they are willing to invest. The investment strategies that are open to an investor can have a short-term or long-term effect on their financial future.

The smart investments will be ones that are diverse. An investor has a better chance of success if they choose to create an investment portfolio that contains well rounded numbers of stocks, bond, annuities, certificate of deposit accounts, and accounts for personal and business use. How aggressive the investor wants to be in his approach to building wealth will determine which smart investment strategies to take.

Some investors prefer to take the route of online trading because it is so quick and simple to do. The investor will be able to see all investment assets in every account that is created and be able to see in real-time the current prices of the stocks and bonds that make up a portion of their portfolio. The online trading investor has access to investment professional's 24-hours a day through the online forums and blogs that are on the online trading website.

The investor can determine what the smart investment strategies will pay off through the use of handy calculators posted on the online trading website. The investor can also use these calculators to determine if they have a solid investment platform to work with before they begin transacting trades online. These calculators can help the investor plan out a monthly budget or a budget strictly for business use.

The smartest investment strategies that an online trader can use are the ones that allow them to make sound business decisions that are strictly in line with an investment plan that has a prescribed goal attached to it. Most investors make decisions based on merit and feel that the smartest investment strategy that they can use is one that does not have emotion attached to it.

About the Author:
James Brown writes about DiscountedNewspapers.com coupon, Forbes Magazine coupons and MagazinesQuick.com coupon codes

Do You Need Information on Market Investing?

I completed that assignment, got paid, and then won another bid, a series of articles on stock market investing. Stock market investing isn't something to be done on a whim, but if you're careful and follow a set plan it can be a good way to grow your money. The exact same concept holds true for stock market investing.

Because fixed income investing simply isn't regarded as being as exciting as other stock market investing, it has often been relegated to the 'ho-hum' category by writers and not as much ink has been devoted to its ins and outs as has been expended on other types of investing. Through entertaining anecdotes and practical pearls of wisdom, the book explores the basic principles of successful stock market investing and then reveals a "magic formula" that makes buying good companies at bargain prices automatic. Real estate investing can carry more significant consequences than stock market investing if you guess wrong, since there's generally a great deal more money involved.

Stock market investing is the only profession where the amateurs think they know as much as the professionals because they might have picked a winner at one time. People think that share market investing is specialised and complicated, that financial advisers and experts have done a lot of study and know a lot more than you. Selling is the key to successful stock market investing.

A person who opens a trading account in any investing market has a responsibility of knowing what is happening with his/her money. Don't let Wall Street fool you into thinking that the path to stock market investing riches is through laborious financial analysis because it is a fool's journey. Some people think that fundamental information about the nature of a business, its balance sheet, the state of the economy and other such factors are the key to making money through share market investing.

Just like any other market investing, you must be disciplined to be successful in foreign currency trading if you intend to be successful at it. It was the mainstay of stock market investing for decades and decades. But here's one I got out of a book, Straight Talk about Stock Market Investing, I think it was called that.

This mentality often takes over with stock market investing. If stock market investing is something you'd like to get into, you need to plan wisely and don't invest more money than you can afford to lose. The problem is, when we fall in love, we overlook some of the things that would normally make us avoid either that person, or, in the case of stock market investing, a company.

Basically there are two main types of stock market investing1. Forex trading strategy is also quite different from futures market investing and desired results - other than making money of course - are different. All investing markets are driven primarily by the emotions of fear and greed.

But without the usual risks of stock market investing, the best way to go about your search is to find specific information on particular aspects of share market investing. The internet is full of them running the gamut from do-it-yourself real estate ventures to stock market investing to internet marketing.

As you should be able to see this is a logical and practical approach to share market investing. Hurst's price-motion model also maintains the integrity of fundamental analysis as a worthwhile exercise of stock market investing. For some, their capital would have been wiped off if they had just got on the bandwagon of stock market investing or trading the week before.

About the Author:
Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an internet marketing advisor and co founder of Free Affiliate Programs For more information and resource links on investing online visit: Investing Online Trading

Marketing Strategies: The Life Blood of Your Real Estate Career

In fact, marketing is the lifeblood of the real estate industry. You are in a serious business and if you want to ensure success, you must know what to do and what not to do while preparing and implementing your marketing strategies.

No Imitations Please
Real estate investing is serious business, and it demands your vigilance and prudence to build a career. Therefore, never ever blindly imitate the other investors. Many investors make this mistake when they just follow another successful investor without applying any self-logic. In fact if all the investors are going to follow the same strategy to target a particular area and sellers, how can you expect to have an edge over your competitors? You will get the same result as they are getting. And, if in the process, you are able to have motivated sellers for your deals, it is certainly your sheer luck.

But, your real estate investing career needs your vigilance to grow. Luck does not last for long. That is the reason why you should always come up with a different and a more effective approach that could attract motivated sellers to you. Successful investors always follow unique approaches. For example, some of them have a personal bias towards attorneys and using free publicity as the competitive edge. What is yours? If you do not have one, develop one. Again, you must be persistent in your efforts. It means, if you have tried everything to ensure success, try again. Your overall effort and strategy must count 10% more than your competitors. Only this will pave the way of success for you.

Stay Within A Budget
Whatever marketing strategies you follow for real estate investing, never ever go beyond your budget. It will eventually lead you to a huge loss and you may even catch yourself in an extremely unpleasant situation. After all, you have other necessities in your life, which you cannot ignore. Keeping in view your various expenses and sources of income, fix a budget for yourself and stick with it. Many investors are so involved in making and implementing marketing strategies that they forget other important things. Telling you how it happens might help.

Suppose, your monthly income allows you to spend only $100 on the marketing for the real estate investing, but you go much beyond your budget risking everything and spend $500 for the same. What will happen now? This is simple mathematics. You have put yourself in a direct loss of $400 ($500-$100). Now, you can decide for yourself if it will be prudent. Many investors do not understand this in the beginning. It is only when they start facing a cash crunch, they become wiser in introspect, but it is sometimes too late by then.

Always remember, right marketing strategies for real estate investing can earn you huge profits, while one wrong strategy can demolish all your hopes of growth in the industry.

Source: Free Articles
About the AuthorJames Klobasa, once broke with no job and $20,000 in debt made a choice that changed his life forever. That choice was investing in Real Estate. You too, can make that choice. Learn and be kept up to date with the latest information at http://www.Real-RealEstateInvesting.com

Easy Stock Market Strategy for Young Investors

For young investors the thought of investing in a mutual fund or stock can be overwhelming. The good news is that there's a simple investment strategy for beginners to get their money working for them now.

Importance of Investing Young. It is essential that you start investing young; if you don't your actually loosing money and missing out on the most important thing young investors have in their favor 'compounding interest'.

Each year that you have money and are not investing you're loosing about 3% of its value due to inflation. So after 10 year of sitting on $100 cash it could be worth less than $75. What's more, by investing young you benefit because the money you made from your investments - make you more money. Making money from money you've already earned from your investments is known as 'compounding interest'. This powerful force can make you a millionaire well before retirement age with saving as little as $70 per month.

Now that you know you need to invest; how do you start? The stock market offers a great place for young investors to get their money working for them; the best part is you do not need a lot of money to get involved. Plus, with the investment vehicle discussed in this article, you don't need to be a stock market expert to begin.

What's the solution? An ideal investment for young and inexperienced investors is to get on the road to financial independence are low-cost broad market index investments. Warren Buffet states, "A very low-cost index is going to beat a majority of the amateur-managed money or professionally-managed money." Reduced risk, solid returns and it one of the simplest investments you could make. An added bonus is that it takes only minimal knowledge and about 60 minutes to start getting your money working for you.

What's a broad market index? A broad market index is a group of stocks that you can purchase as one. It allows young investors to buy a collection of top performing stocks that mimic the performance of the entire stock market. Since these index funds allow you to earn returns similar to the overall performance of the market it greatly reduces the risk. This is an advantage to the beginning investor since it is safer than investing in a single stock or some mutual funds; plus there is a history of double digit returns.

Although the term 'broad based index investing' may sound unfamiliar you already know many of these investments. -The Dow Jones Industrial Average index contains 30 top industrial stocks. -The Standard & Poor's 500 contains 500 of a variety of different stocks. -The NASDAQ 100 contains 100 stocks that are mostly in the financial and technology sector.

When you invest in a broad based market index you actually own a small piece of each individual stock. For instance, when you invest in the S&P 500 broad market index, you're buying a piece of all 500 stocks in that index. So for each S&P index share that you own your actually own 1/500th of companies like: American Express, Google, Ford, Nordstrom, Home Depot, Staples and Yahoo to name a few.

For those young investors that don't want to stay glued to their computer all day broad based market indexes are great solution. Since this investment matches the overall return of the market if you believe over the long-term the stock market will continue to rise in value this could be a good investment. Over time this investment could generate solid long-term returns. The key benefits associated with broad market index investing are:

1) Higher Returns - According to Standard & Poor's, less than 30% of managed funds in 2006 beat broad market index investing. What's more over the last ten years the average person that invested in broad based index funds has beaten the returns most mutual fund investors.

2) Added Diversification - Diversification lowers risk. If you invest in one individual stock and bad news comes out on the company you could loose a lot of money fast. Now, for instance, if you're invested in an S&P 500 index fund and one stock has bad news you really don't care. That will only affect your investment one five hundredth.

3) Lower fees - Index funds fees are typically lower and are often around .5%. While the average mutual funds fees are around 2%. Over time this will make a big difference in your overall return.

4) Passive investment - When investing in individual stocks or mutual funds it is important to keep your eye on the market and up-to-date with current trends. Investing in broad based market indexes takes less stock market knowledge and requires less time to track.

The earlier you start investing the sooner you can reach financial freedom. invest with broad-based index funds that have similar returns to the overall market, because then we are receiving similar returns while hedging our portfolio - again, investing for young and beginning investors is all about diversifying to improve your chances for financial success.

How do I invest? There are two ways for young investors to begin investing in broad market indexes. Both are similar in their returns; but they are different in how the index is bought and have different fee structures.

* An Index Fund is a mutual fund that purchases the stocks that make up an index in order to match the returns of the overall market. For example, if investing in an S&P index fund, that mutual fund would own all the 500 stocks that make up that particular index. Index mutual funds may require a minimum investment, but some can be waived with a direct deposit investment plan that automatically invests money every month from your account. Typically, fees on index funds are higher and there are minor restrictions on when you can sell.

* An Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is similar to an index fund, with the benefit that ETF's can be bought and sold similar to an individual stock. An illustration of an ETF is the "Spiders" (American Stock Exchange: SPY symbol). Each share of a spider contains one-tenth of the S&P 500 index, and so trades at roughly one-tenth of the S&P price. The management fees on ETFs are low. In addition, there are fewer restrictions on the purchase and sale of ETF in comparison to index mutual funds.

Whether investing in ETF's or broad based index mutual funds you receive similar benefits however with ETF's you may have lower fees.

The earlier you start investing the bigger advantage you will have. Because there is only a minimal amount of money necessary to start and a low level of knowledge needed to invest - broad based market indexes will allow you to start investing young. So quit working for every dollar and get your money working for you.

About the Author:
Vince Shorb, young America's success coach and leading financial literacy advocate shows young adults how to invest young so they can retire young. For more information on his latest course 'Financially Free by 30' and a free 5 step video course visit http://www.FreeBy30.com now.

Tips and Techniques to Successful Investing

The main objective of any investment is to make money and gain from a profit. Experienced investors usually study market trends before investing. However, inexperienced investors depend on the advice from financial advisors and brokers to guide their investments. Money always grows with time in the stock markets. A successful and profitable investment involves a lot of patience and constant monitoring of market fluctuations. In order for an investment to be profitable, it is important to adopt flexibility and diversification of funds. Listed below are some important points-to-remember:

Flexibility: Investors need to be flexible with their investments. Investment strategies involve regular analysis and reviews of the financial market. Amateur investors should seek help from financial advisors on their investment portfolio. Long-term planning and asset allocation are very important to an investment portfolio. Mutual funds, variable annuities and variable universal life insurance or VUL products provide good ground for investment flexibility. Another type of investment is Survivorship Variable Universal Life Insurance or SVUL. SVUL covers two people in one life insurance policy. The benefit is payable after the death of the last surviving insured person. The investment portfolio should be designed to help diversify the investments.

Diversification: Diversification involves making different investments to gain from higher returns. This risk-management technique of investing helps to diversify the investments in stocks, bonds and cash. It does not waive off the risk of loss totally, but it definitely creates more avenues for profit. The investor can invest in a number of different companies, foreign securities and mutual funds. Even if one company declares a loss, the investor still has the other investments to fall back on. Diversification is a good method to counter the risk involved in the total loss of an investment.

Simple Approach: It is safe for amateur investors to follow simple guidelines for investing money. Immature investors should not invest in companies that they are not very sure about and haven't researched. A simple approach to investment is to stake money in recognized companies that offer high returns and show a consistent growth pattern. It pays to conduct a research on the company before making an investment.

Be Disciplined: Market trends fluctuate due to several reasons. An investor's judgment should not be based on momentary instability. It is not advisable to make a change in the adopted strategy mid way. However, regular analysis and timely reviews help to keep abreast with important information of the stock market.

Invest Smartly: Investors need to be well informed and alert all the time. Cautious long-term planning is as important as being patient. Investors ought to be methodical when following an investment strategy. It is equally important to understand and monitor the economics and trend of a company. The investor should be updated regularly on business, political and stock related news to learn the political implications that may affect the company in future.

Investments carry the element of risk and therefore investors are advised to investigate before investing. It helps to follow the general guidelines of investment and invest smartly.

About the Author:
Joe Kenny writes for Card Guide, offering the latest information on credit cards in the UK, apply for a 0% balance transfer credit card and start clearing credit card debt today.Visit today: http://www.cardguide.co.uk/

Run Your Investments Like a Business

I have found that people who have made money consistently through their investments are able to do so because they treat it with same seriousness as they would in building a business or a second career.

If you treat investing as just a "by-the-way" activity that you spend time on now and then, you will never be able to succeed. So, how can you run your investing activity professionally like a home business?

Just as an entrepreneur has to decide on the mix of products that his business will sell, you have to decide on the type of investment strategies you will use to generate the profits that you aim for. You also have to decide how you are going to allocate your investment funds between them.

There are whole ranges of investing strategies to make money. Some of them are short-term and some of them are long-term. Some of them require daily monitoring while others require monthly monitoring.

The kind of strategies you should employ depends on your targeted rate of return as well as the amount of time you have to spend. For example, being a full time trader who is able to monitor the markets for 5-6 hours a day.

My fellow investor Conrad focuses 100% of his money into very short-term momentum trades that make him quick gains within a few days. Because of his smaller investment capital (which he first started with), he solely uses Call & Put Options that give him the highest possible return of 100%-200% on his money. His strength in Technical analysis gives him an advantage in picking the best momentum trades.

As a person who has full time businesses to run and relatively less time to trade on a daily basis, I allocate 80% of my money into medium-term value stocks as well as buying ETFs that track the overall market and its sectors. My strength in fundamental analysis and business strategy also gives me an advantage as a value investor. I would only focus the remaining 20% of my funds into short-term momentum trades to give my returns an added boost.

Whatever investment you decide to use, always remember that you need to diversify your money adequately into at least 8-10 different stocks or options at any one time. No matter how much research you do and no matter how good a company's stock can look, things can turn against you with a single piece of negative financial news. Be prepared to make losses on a few trades, it is only natural.

However, if you stick to the rules and cut your losses, the profits you make on your winning trades would be enough to build a small fortune.

About the Author:
Adam Khoo is an entrepreneur, best-selling author and a self-made millionaire by the age of 26. Discover his millionaire investing secrets and claim your FREE bonus chapter of his latest bestselling book 'Secrets Of Millionaire Investors' at Secrets Of Millionaire Investors.

Marketing Strategies For Real Estate Investors

by bizavings

People are oping for investing in real estate over the uncertainties of the stock market. Many real estate investors are new to this market and often make mistakes leading to losses. They need to plan strategies for investing in real estate. People invest in real estate to sell at a later stage for a handsome profit. For this they need to have a marketing strategy in place.

Buy At Bargain Prices
Many real estate investors have entered the business because they saw someone else do the same, and make a lot of money. This is a big mistake, as it may not always work out for you. Since you will be selling your property later, you need to make bargain purchases, where you pay only around 80% of the current market value. This is not easy, but it is possible.

Buy foreclosure properties
Buy properties that are off the beaten path, properties that people avoid due to some adverse aspect they have.

Foreclosed properties are always bargain buys, and you may even get them cheaper than 80% of the current market value.

Upgrade The Properties
By upgrading the properties, you add market value to them. A property condemned by the board of health due to a massive roof leak, with a market value of $300,000 could be bought for, say, $200,000. You can upgrade the property by making roof repairs, which could cost about $40,000. You can make a good profit, just by making little repairs, and then selling for about $280,000, which would be below the current market value.

Upgrading does not mean cosmetic changes. Cosmetic changes will not fetch you a high price, though you may have spent a bundle on them.

Flipping
This is a very common strategy, but it is risky at times. Some real estate investors, as a form of marketing strategy, buy and hold real estate properties for a short period and then sell them at a profit. This is based on the assumption that the real estate prices will rise.

Flipping is not an easy way to make money, and you need to have enough cash flow, if you are not able to sell your property fast, or hold on to it because of adverse real estate prices. Real estate investors, who are real flippers, combine the strategies of bargain buying and upgrading the properties to make decent profits.

Real estate investors must develop a marketing strategy for their properties. Depending alone on the tenet that all property prices always go up and never come down, may not be safe, as there are times of slumps in the markets.

Source: Free Articles

About the AuthorDavid Gass is President of Business Credit Services, Inc. His company publishes a free weekly e-newsletter on Small Business Consulting at their web site http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com

What Exactly Does an Investment Company Do?

by Mika Hamilton

An investment company is a company that has a number of specialized share investments that you can participate in. The advantages of this are that you are using the expertise of professionals who are in the market everyday and rely on getting the best results for their company.

Technical Terms

The companies that do specialized investing on your behalf are called LIC; Listed Investment Companies. The name implies that they are listed on the ASX and that they invest and their structure is as a company. The manager of the company may be internal or part of a organization that offers expertise to several such companies. I prefer internal managers as they perform a much more hands-on approach to managing.

Investors in an LIC, invest through the share market and invest by selling and buying shares in the company to each other. They are traded as all shares are traded. There is another way to invest in these companies and that is to buy units in the company. Buying the units means that you have exposure to the companies' performance. Unit trusts are offered by the company and investors may choose to buy units in the trust offered. There may be taxation benefits that should be looked into before you decide to buy units or to purchase the shares.

Investing with an LIC will be a consideration to investors for the following reasons

1) A diversified portfolio through a single investment.

Investors get access to and exposure to a wide ranging group of shares without having to pay entry and exit fees on all the shares. Only one set of fees apply on the shares and that is for buying into the LIC and selling out of the LIC. However, the overall fees for internal managed investments can be a significant factor in your choice of which LIC to invest with. These should be calculated into your decisions.

2) Returns from both capital appreciation and income.

As the company becomes more valuable in its capital base and its assets appreciate, its value goes up. Then as the values of the shares they have purchased in their investment strategy go up, your investment goes up. You actually get two increases in value, an effective "double-whammy" approach.

3) A tax managed investment with relative consistency in returns.

Associated tax requirements within the investment holding period are handled and payed by the LIC. As such, there is a consistent return to the investor, as tax is both paid and claimed throughout the life of the investment, by the LIC.

4) Concentrated exposure to a specific investment sector.

As certain sectors outperform others, the investor will find the LIC concentrating its efforts on the better performing sectors and be able to secure higher returns than the average.

Find the right LIC that suits your risk profile and investment needs. Do your research and collect information on the products that best suit your needs. All LIC's will offer documentation with detailed information on their product and will gladly mail it to you. Understand what you are paying for, what fees are involved and possible taxation strategies that may reduce your overall costs.

About the Author:
For more information about Investment Companies and Online Stock Brokers, visit: http://www.online-stock-broker.net

The Best Way To Do Stock Market Investment

by Nicky Pilkington

In a volatile market such as stock trading, there is no sure fire way of continually posting growths in profits for any investor year after year, stock after stock. It is statistically impossible.

This is true simply because of the unpredictability of the market. The lack of an accurate prediction tool and the lack of a consistent trend for any stock only compounds the problem.

The greatest myth about being successful in trading is the need for the investor to be able to predict the stock market's movements. People incorrectly assume that stocks bounce around the range forever and therefore they must be able to predict a trend in the movement in order buy stocks during their lowest value and sell them at their highest peaks.

This is grossly incorrect.

The best way to make money in the stock market is to avoid approaches that rely on stock market predictions.

If you look at it, a conscious action of predicting the market is no better than buying a stock and holding on to it for a long period.

The reason behind this is because there is simply no way to predict stock performance. There is no person who can accurately predict stock movement consistently, all of the time.

An analyst may be able to predict a stock's performance in the immediate future but rarely in the long term. The analyst may predict next quarter's performance, or even for the entire year. But it is statistically impossible to predict stock movement correctly quarter after quarter, year after year.

A good way to do trading is to formulate your own strategy. Consider the following:

* Take time to do a careful evaluation of the history of a stock's performance. * Keep up with the latest news and stock market reports * Study the structure of successful mutual funds to see how their investment strategy is done. You can choose these funds to choose the best they are composed of and build your own portfolio from them. * It is best to invest in a stock that has good dividend and growth. * Invest in stocks that have a history of progressive gain. * Evaluate the type of sector your company deals with.

Again, there is no specific and proven strategy that consistently reaps profit for any investor. Stocks are volatile and any strategy that proves reliable today may prove entirely worthless tomorrow.

The best way is to study several stocks and consider them as long-term investments. These may take you longer before you post any profit, but it beats putting all of your eggs in one basket.

About the Author:

Find out more http://stocksandshares.us

What Is Value Investing?

Different sources define value investing differently. Some say value investing is the investment philosophy that favors the purchase of stocks that are currently selling at low price-to-book ratios and have high dividend yields. Others say value investing is all about buying stocks with low P/E ratios. You will even sometimes hear that value investing has more to do with the balance sheet than the income statement.

In his 1992 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffet wrote:

"We think the very term ‘value investing' is redundant. What is ‘investing' if it is not the act of seeking value at least sufficient to justify the amount paid? Consciously paying more for a stock than its calculated value - in the hope that it can soon be sold for a still-higher price - should be labeled speculation (which is neither illegal, immoral nor - in our view - financially fattening)."

"Whether appropriate or not, the term ‘value investing' is widely used. Typically, it connotes the purchase of stocks having attributes such as a low ratio of price to book value, a low price-earnings ratio, or a high dividend yield. Unfortunately, such characteristics, even if they appear in combination, are far from determinative as to whether an investor is indeed buying something for what it is worth and is therefore truly operating on the principle of obtaining value in his investments. Correspondingly, opposite characteristics - a high ratio of price to book value, a high price-earnings ratio, and a low dividend yield - are in no way inconsistent with a ‘value' purchase." Buffett's definition of "investing" is the best definition of value investing there is. Value investing is purchasing a stock for less than its calculated value.

Tenets of Value Investing

1) Each share of stock is an ownership interest in the underlying business. A stock is not simply a piece of paper that can be sold at a higher price on some future date. Stocks represent more than just the right to receive future cash distributions from the business. Economically, each share is an undivided interest in all corporate assets (both tangible and intangible) - and ought to be valued as such.

2) A stock has an intrinsic value. A stock's intrinsic value is derived from the economic value of the underlying business.

3) The stock market is inefficient. Value investors do not subscribe to the Efficient Market Hypothesis. They believe shares frequently trade hands at prices above or below their intrinsic values. Occasionally, the difference between the market price of a share and the intrinsic value of that share is wide enough to permit profitable investments. Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, explained the stock market's inefficiency by employing a metaphor. His Mr. Market metaphor is still referenced by value investors today:

"Imagine that in some private business you own a small share that cost you $1,000. One of your partners, named Mr. Market, is very obliging indeed. Every day he tells you what he thinks your interest is worth and furthermore offers either to buy you out or sell you an additional interest on that basis. Sometimes his idea of value appears plausible and justified by business developments and prospects as you know them. Often, on the other hand, Mr. Market lets his enthusiasm or his fears run away with him, and the value he proposes seems to you a little short of silly."

4) Investing is most intelligent when it is most businesslike. This is a quote from Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor". Warren Buffett believes it is the single most important investing lesson he was ever taught. Investors ought to treat investing with the seriousness and studiousness they treat their chosen profession. An investor should treat the shares he buys and sells as a shopkeeper would treat the merchandise he deals in. He must not make commitments where his knowledge of the "merchandise" is inadequate. Furthermore, he must not engage in any investment operation unless "a reliable calculation shows that it has a fair chance to yield a reasonable profit".

5) A true investment requires a margin of safety. A margin of safety may be provided by a firm's working capital position, past earnings performance, land assets, economic goodwill, or (most commonly) a combination of some or all of the above. The margin of safety is manifested in the difference between the quoted price and the intrinsic value of the business. It absorbs all the damage caused by the investor's inevitable miscalculations. For this reason, the margin of safety must be as wide as we humans are stupid (which is to say it ought to be a veritable chasm). Buying dollar bills for ninety-five cents only works if you know what you're doing; buying dollar bills for forty-five cents is likely to prove profitable even for mere mortals like us.

What Value Investing Is Not

Value investing is purchasing a stock for less than its calculated value. Surprisingly, this fact alone separates value investing from most other investment philosophies.

True (long-term) growth investors such as Phil Fisher focus solely on the value of the business. They do not concern themselves with the price paid, because they only wish to buy shares in businesses that are truly extraordinary. They believe that the phenomenal growth such businesses will experience over a great many years will allow them to benefit from the wonders of compounding. If the business' value compounds fast enough, and the stock is held long enough, even a seemingly lofty price will eventually be justified.

Some so-called value investors do consider relative prices. They make decisions based on how the market is valuing other public companies in the same industry and how the market is valuing each dollar of earnings present in all businesses. In other words, they may choose to purchase a stock simply because it appears cheap relative to its peers, or because it is trading at a lower P/E ratio than the general market, even though the P/E ratio may not appear particularly low in absolute or historical terms. Should such an approach be called value investing? I don't think so. It may be a perfectly valid investment philosophy, but it is a different investment philosophy.

Value investing requires the calculation of an intrinsic value that is independent of the market price. Techniques that are supported solely (or primarily) on an empirical basis are not part of value investing. The tenets set out by Graham and expanded by others (such as Warren Buffett) form the foundation of a logical edifice.

Although there may be empirical support for techniques within value investing, Graham founded a school of thought that is highly logical. Correct reasoning is stressed over verifiable hypotheses; and causal relationships are stressed over correlative relationships. Value investing may be quantitative; but, it is arithmetically quantitative.

There is a clear (and pervasive) distinction between quantitative fields of study that employ calculus and quantitative fields of study that remain purely arithmetical. Value investing treats security analysis as a purely arithmetical field of study. Graham and Buffett were both known for having stronger natural mathematical abilities than most security analysts, and yet both men stated that the use of higher math in security analysis was a mistake. True value investing requires no more than basic math skills.

Contrarian investing is sometimes thought of as a value investing sect. In practice, those who call themselves value investors and those who call themselves contrarian investors tend to buy very similar stocks.

Let's consider the case of David Dreman, author of "The Contrarian Investor". David Dreman is known as a contrarian investor. In his case, it is an appropriate label, because of his keen interest in behavioral finance. However, in most cases, the line separating the value investor from the contrarian investor is fuzzy at best. Dreman's contrarian investing strategies are derived from three measures: price to earnings, price to cash flow, and price to book value. These same measures are closely associated with value investing and especially so-called Graham and Dodd investing (a form of value investing named for Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, the co-authors of "Security Analysis").

Conclusions

Ultimately, value investing can only be defined as paying less for a stock than its calculated value, where the method used to calculate the value of the stock is truly independent of the stock market. Where the intrinsic value is calculated using an analysis of discounted future cash flows or of asset values, the resulting intrinsic value estimate is independent of the stock market. But, a strategy that is based on simply buying stocks that trade at low price-to-earnings, price-to-book, and price-to-cash flow multiples relative to other stocks is not value investing. Of course, these very strategies have proven quite effective in the past, and will likely continue to work well in the future.

The magic formula devised by Joel Greenblatt is an example of one such effective technique that will often result in portfolios that resemble those constructed by true value investors. However, Joel Greenblatt's magic formula does not attempt to calculate the value of the stocks purchased.

So, while the magic formula may be effective, it isn't true value investing. Joel Greenblatt is himself a value investor, because he does calculate the intrinsic value of the stocks he buys. Greenblatt wrote "The Little Book That Beats The Market" for an audience of investors that lacked either the ability or the inclination to value businesses.

You can not be a value investor unless you are willing to calculate business values. To be a value investor, you don't have to value the business precisely - but, you do have to value the business.

About the Author:
Geoff Gannon writes a daily value investing blog and produces a twice weekly (half hour) value investing podcast at Gannon on Investing

Stock Market Volatility = Investment Opportunity

Most people never forget their first love. I'll never forget my first trading profit! But the $600 (1970 dollars) I pocketed on Royal Dutch Petroleum was not nearly as significant as the conceptual realization it signaled! I was amazed that someone would pay me that much more for my stock than the newspaper said it was worth just a few weeks earlier! What had changed? What had happened to make the stock go up, and why had it been down in the first place? Without ever needing to know the answers, I've been trading RD for thirty-six years!

Looking at scores of similarly profitable, high quality companies in this manner, you would find that: (1) most move up and down regularly (if not predictably) with an upward long-term bias, and (2) that there is little if any similarity in the timing of the movements between the stocks themselves. This is the "Volatility" that most people fear and that Wall Street loves them to fear. It can be narrowly confined to certain sectors, or much broader, encompassing practically everything. The broader it becomes, the more likely it is to be categorized as either a rally or a correction. Most years will feature one or two of each. This is the natural condition of things in the stock market, Mother Nature, Inc. if you will. Don't take her for granted when she gets high, and never ignore her when she feels low. Embrace her volatile moods, work with them in whatever direction they travel, and she will become your love as well!

Ironically, it is this natural volatility (caused by hundreds of variables human, economic, political, natural, etc.) that is the only real "certainty" existent in the financial markets. And, as absurd as this may sound until you experience the reality of it all, it is this one and only certainty that makes Mutual Funds in general (and Index Funds in particular) totally unsuitable as investment vehicles for anyone within seven to ten years of retirement! How many Mutual Fund investors have retired recently with more liquid financial assets than they had seven years ago, way back in 1999? There will always be rallies and corrections. In fact, it is worthwhile to "go back to the future" to establish a realistic Investment Strategy. In the last forty years, there have been no less than ten 20% or greater corrections followed by rallies that brought the market to significantly higher levels. The DJIA peaked at 2700 before its record 40% crash in 1987. But at 1700, it was still 70% above the 1000 barrier that it danced around with for decades before... always a higher high, rarely a lower low. The '87 debacle was followed by several slightly less exciting corrections, but the case was being made for a more flexible, and realistic, Investment Strategy. Mutual Funds were spawned by a Buy and Hold Mentality; Mother Nature, Inc is a much more complicated enterprise.

Call it foresight, or hindsight if you want to be argumentative, but a long-term view of the Investment Process eliminates the guesswork and points pretty clearly toward a trading mentality that keys on the natural volatility of hundreds of Investment Grade Equities. During corrections, consider these simple truths: 1) although there are more sellers than buyers, the buyers intend to make money on their purchases, 2) so long as everything is down, don't worry so much about the price of individual holdings, 3) fast and steep corrections are better than the slow attrition variety, 4) always accept even half your normal profit target while buying opportunities are plentiful, 5) don't be in a rush to fill your portfolio, but if cash dries up before it's over, you are doing it "correctly".

Most of the problems with Mutual Funds and much of the increased opportunity in Individual Stock trading are functions of growing non-professional Equity ownership. Everyone is in the stock market these days whether they like it or not, and when the media fans the emotions of the masses, the masses create volatility that rarely under-reacts to market conditions! Rarely will unit owners take profits, particularly if they have to pay withdrawal penalties or taxes. Even more unusual are expert advisors who encourage investors to move into the markets when prices are falling.

A volatile market creates opportunities with every gyration, but you have to be willing to transact to reap the benefits. A necessary first step is to recognize that both "up" and "down" markets are forces of nature with abundant potential. The proper attitude toward the latter, will make you much more appreciative of the former. Most investment strategies require answers to unanswerable questions, in an effort to be in the right place at the right time. Indecisiveness doesn't cut it with Mamma... in or out too soon is not an issue with her. But wasting the opportunities she provides really ticks her off! Successful investment strategies require an understanding of the forces of nature, and disciplined rules of portfolio management. If you can transition back to individual securities, you will do better at moving toward your goals, most of the time, because the opportunities are out there... all of the time.

So let's adopt some new rules for this investment game and learn to live with them for a few cycles: Let's buy good stocks new and old at lower prices during corrections. Let's take reasonable profits on those that go up in price, whenever they are kind enough to do so. Let's examine our performance based on the results of these trading transactions alone and at market cycle examination points for a smiley faced change of pace. And one other thing...

Let's drink a toast to Mother Nature, her uncertainty, her volatility, and, of course, to our first loves.

About the Author:
Steve Selenguthttp://www.sancoservices.com/http://www.valuestockbuylistprogram.com/Professional Portfolio Management since 1979Author of: "The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read", and "A Millionaire's Secret Investment Strategy"

Joint Ventures– a Safe Way to Start Investing

by Richard Jones

Real estate investing has long been a viable way to invest money and make a decent profit. Many people consider investing a “do-it-yourself” route to invest their money. Countless well-known millionaires and billionaires became wealthy by successfully investing their money into real estate ventures.

Sadly, investing in real estate can be a gamble for many people. A lack of fundamental knowledge in the market you are investing in can seriously hinder your odds of coming out on top. Too many folks invest relying on hunches and emotion without proper help, knowledge or a real goal in mind.

A risk free investment is hard to find, but there is a way to invest easily into real estate with little or no market knowledge. Joint Venture Investments are a safer way to invest your money if you have a sound partner. Working with an experienced investor where you both share an interest in the profits as well as the losses, minimizes risks.

It’s important to remember that no matter how great the ‘expert’ sounds, you need to conduct your own due diligence to make certain that they know what they are doing, have a proven track record and are in fact there to create a win-win for the both of you. You can do this by speaking to past partners and having your lawyer look over all legal documents for a second opinion.

Typical Joint Venture Partnerships, commonly known as JVs, are set up between someone who lacks the time or expertise to invest, often referred to as the ‘money partner’, and the expert, often referred to as the ‘finder’, who is looking to leverage his experience by providing the knowledge, skill and work needed to create a profitable investment.

A joint venture partnership is an entity formed between two or more people to invest in a specific business or property opportunity. A money partner may be ‘silent’ and simply provide the capital needed to get started whereas the real estate expert conducts all the research, tenanting, market timing and day-to-day management of the property. This is a desirable way for less experienced investors to undertake their first few real estate investments. The risks are reduced and beginners can grow their money while learning how to invest, and make a decent profit in the process.

How joint venture partnership investments benefit you:

Joint venture investments help you realize more value for your money and time because you can leverage your capital further with the knowledge and expertise that an expert brings to the table.

Experts are guides as well as efficient advisors that take your real estate investments to a new level of profitability.

Joint ventures provide a sense of security: if the joint investor is an expert with a solid, reputable background of real estate deals and a good investment portfolio, this reduces your risk.

Real Estate experts can define a location and strategy for your investments and analyze the market to suit your future needs.

Real Estate experts can help plan your investments by working with and leveraging the capital you have available. JV pros will have an assortment of techniques and systems to get more bang for your buck.

Although joint venture investments are not to be considered risk free they are a convenient and valuable way to pour your capital into a secure investment. Using the services of a real estate investment expert is a good option when you are not sure about which investment scenario to use or how to make the most lucrative investment in terms of profitability and reliability. Investing in real estate remains the most viable investment for leveraging your money, reducing taxes and potential returns far exceed most other assets available.

Why Investing in Mutual Funds May be Worse Than Investing in the Lottery

by Tom Wheelwright

I AM NOT an investment advisor and never hold myself out as one, however my clients continue to ask me how to better prepare for retirement. Should I do an IRA? Should I max out my 401(k) contribution? Should I put more in my profit sharing plan or pension plan? What do I tell them? You may as well invest in the Lottery!

Contrary to popular belief, none of these are wise investments. Why? Among other reasons, they all involve putting money into an investment vehicle over which they have little control as to investment and timing and most people end up choosing Mutual Funds as their investment within these plans. In fact, putting your money into the Lottery would be a better investment.

Really? The Lottery as an investment vehicle? Sound crazy? Gamble my retirement funds away in a government-sponsored game of chance where I have little chance of winning? Where millions of other people are putting in money in hopes of winning the big one? Where most of the money goes to someone else and the chances are strong that I will lose part or all of my money?

Wait a minute - are we talking now about the Lottery or about Mutual Funds? Hmm, a government sponsored program where I have little chance of winning. Sounds like a lot like Mutual Fund investment in a 401(k) or IRA. After all, what are my chances of retiring on Mutual Fund investments? Not very high, actually.

A couple of years ago, I was listening to a financial program on the radio on my way into work. The interviewer was asking the representative of a large Mutual Fund about the performance of the Fund. The Rep responded that the Mutual Fund had risen in value by an average of 20% per year for the prior two years. But when the interviewer asked about the average return to the average investor in the Fund, the Rep responded that the average investor had actually lost 2% per year. Why? Because of the timing of going in and out of the market. Compare this to the Lottery, where everyone knows the exact chances of winning and the exact amount that could be won!

But what about the great tax advantages of putting my money into a 401(k) or an IRA? Yeah, right! Get a tax deduction when you are young and in a relatively low tax bracket so you can pay taxes on the money you take out when you are retired and in a higher tax bracket? Yeah, that's a good deal. Or, consider the difference in tax rates on capital gains and dividends if you are not in a 401(k) or IRA versus the ordinary income tax rates on the earnings when you pull them out of your 401(k) or IRA.

So now you are thinking that you should just invest in Mutual Funds outside your 401(k) or IRA? Wrong again. Mutual Funds result in capital gains taxes when the Fund Managers trade them even though you don't see the money! You have to pay taxes even though the Fund may actually have gone down in value! And what about the lost opportunity cost of that money that you are now paying in taxes that you could have put into other investments? At least with the Lottery, you know the exact amount of taxes you can expect to pay if you win and you only have to pay taxes if you do win.

Yes, you say, but the Lottery is gambling and I have no control over whether I win or lose. You are right. The Lottery is gambling. But so is a Mutual Fund. You have no control over the stock market and neither does the Fund Manager. The market goes down, so does your Fund. At least you recognize that you are gambling when you play the Lottery. You dont have your employer, financial instututions, and even the government telling you that that Lottery is a good investment. And your employer doesn't go so far as to match the amount you put into the Lottery like it might with your 401(k). Nobody is lying to you about the Lottery being gambling, but those in positions of authority are lying to you about the chances of success in a Mutual Fund!

But surely, you say, there is a better chance of making money in a Mutual Fund than there is in the Lottery? Hardly. There may be less of a chance of losing all of the money you put into a Mutual Fund than there is losing all of the money you put into the Lottery. But you are never going to win big in a Mutual Fund. In fact, Mutual Funds are designed to minimize your returns by creating a "balanced portfolio." If they could minimize your risk of the market itself, this might be okay. But the problem is that nobody can minimize the risk of the market without sophisticated hedge strategies that are not typically used in Mutual Funds. At least with the Lottery, you have a chance of winning big. And you can sleep at night, because you aren't wondering if the chances of winning are going down overnight because of something that happens in Tokyo.

You say you don't like the idea that most of your Lottery gamblings are going to support government programs? Where do you think most of the earnings from your Mutual Fund are going? No, not to support government programs, but rather to support your investment advisor's and the Mutual Fund manager's retirement? You take all of the risk, you put in all of the capital, but most of the earnings from the Mutual Fund go to the Fund manager and your investment advisor. At least with the Lottery, the funds are going to worthy causes, such as the Arts.

Of course, I would never advise a client to rely on the Lottery for their retirement. But neither would I advise them to rely on Mutual Fund investments. For my dollar, the Lottery is a lot more fun and at least I know I'm gambling. But if you want to retire, look at other investments and work with someone who is willing to put in the time to help you retire soon and retire rich. Financial freedom is available to those who are willing to work and learn about it, but not likely for those who want to rely on such risky investment strategies as Mutual Funds.

Warmest Regards,

Tom

About the Author:

http://www.provisionwealth.com