Investment Basic: What does successful investing require?

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Successful investing requires knowledge, time and commitment, discipline and patience, and the ability to develop an investment strategy that is compatible with your personality.

Knowledge

Each individual must consider what he knows when planning an investment strategy. Recognizing your current level of knowledge, and how you will acquire the additional wisdom you need, are all-important factors.

Time and commitment

How much time are you willing to spend monitoring your portfolio? This is a critical question. An individual’s investment plan should be based on his level of interest in ensuring personal financial success. The more diversified a portfolio is, and the more complex your strategy, the more time you will need. To be successful, an investor mush map out a strategy that carefully matches his own personality and level of commitment.

Discipline

Although many investors start with an approach that will work for them, the ability to maintain discipline eludes far too many people. This is caused by a variety of psychological issues, led by fear and greed, that tend to dominate predetermined financial strategies. During various stages of a stock market, different investment styles will work better than others. Sometimes a value approach will be in favor. Other times a growth or momentum style to accommodate the market.

Patience

The last trait for successful investing is patience. Without it, your returns will be more limited. Warren Buffett reminds us that it takes nine months for a woman to deliver a baby. Investments usually take more time to work out than most people consider. Once you plan an investment strategy that complements your personality, managing a portfolio should be simple. The challenge will be to follow the game plan and to remain disciplined.

An investor who establishes varying time frames for holding different types of securities will be much less inclined to lose patience in well researched ideas. This type of analysis will also assist the investor from "holding too long," while watching his momentum idea fall out of favor and create large losses.

1031 Exchange and Tenancy-in-Common: Seeking the Right Advisor to Achieve TIC Investment Objectives

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A long-established section in the federal tax code, section 1031, allows real estate investors to sell property that has been held for investment purposes and defer capital gains and depreciation recapture taxes if they acquire "like-kind" exchange property of equal or greater value and reinvest all of their equity. Since the mid-1990s, many investors have experienced the benefit of reinvesting their equity into investment property interests structured as Tenancy-in-Common (TIC). TIC owners hold an undivided fractional ownership interest in investment property evidenced by a deed of trust.

TIC, also known as Co-ownership of Real Estate (CORE), enables an investor to participate in the ownership of institutional-grade, professionally managed investment properties. The investor’s equity can be diversified amongst several different properties, geographic markets and real estate companies, potentially increasing both the value and safety of the real estate investment. TIC/CORE investments are designed to offer preservation of capital, predictable cash flow and long-term appreciation in institutional-quality investment property assets that benefit from greater economies of scale.

With its features and benefits, TIC/CORE is an increasingly popular 1031 exchange option for many real estate investors. However, 1031 exchanges and TIC/CORE transactions are very complicated, with both tax and legal issues topping the list of potential pitfalls. It is therefore essential that investors be knowledgeable about what to look for in a quality advisor. Financial advisors are required by securities law to be properly licensed in order to consult clients regarding TIC/CORE transactions and other investment interests in real estate. Financial advisors should hold both Series 7 and Series 63 securities licenses to qualify them as knowledgeable, well-rounded consultants in the investment process. It is essential that they have experience in the commercial real estate business, in addition to an understanding of personal investment objectives and client suitability issues.

But perhaps the most important component to look for in a TIC financial advisor is their intimate, trusted and deeply rooted relationships with key real estate companies. This attribute is critical to their ability to provide the best opportunities for their clients. There are almost 80 real estate companies across the United

States that are either already involved or considering involvement in the TIC/CORE industry as a real estate provider. As with any industry, these 80 companies represent varying degrees of acumen, experience and quality. To achieve the greatest potential for a client, a financial advisor should have consistent access to the top ten percent of these companies in order to provide their client access to the best properties available. Obviously, a new financial advisor with little or no experience or industry knowledge may not have access to the top real estate providers, as these providers
prefer to work with experienced consultants that specialize in this unique segment of the market.

Investors should also be aware of how their financial advisor stacks up, looking for a history of successfully completed transactions. A long and proven track record indicates that a financial advisor is an experienced professional. An investor wants such an advisor in their corner asking all the right questions, making appropriate and suitable recommendations, understanding the nuances of successfully completing TIC/CORE transactions and providing answers to any and all tax and legal questions.

When considering a 1031 exchange or TIC/CORE investment, investors should ask the following specific questions of the financial advisor:

* What percentage of your business is 1031 exchange and/or TIC/CORE related?
* How many investors have you consulted that invested in TIC/CORE structured properties this year? How many last year?
* How long have 1031 exchanges and TIC/CORE been a focus of your investment recommendations?
* Do you have the appropriate licenses to complete this transaction (Series 7, Series 63 securities licenses)?
* With which real estate providers do you work most closely?

As customer demand continues to drive this segment of the real estate market, the emphasis on quality – quality consulting, quality property, and quality transactions – will be increasingly important. Part of the qualitative process is ensuring that financial advisors representing a client make appropriate recommendations for that client based on the client’s best interest and not based on any "bias." A final issue that needs to be addressed is that it is not unusual for "referral" compensation to be paid between referring parties. This practice is illegal and a complete breach of ethics,. Therefore, if any form of compensation changes hands – disclosed or undisclosed – between financial advisors and Qualified Intermediaries, real estate companies or other unlicensed individuals derived from an exchange transaction, a felony may have occurred.

In short, investors should take the time to identify a reputable advisor who not only can provide acceptable answers to the above questions, but who will also have the relationships necessary to guide their clients into the appropriate investment. It is important to remember, firms or individuals involved in recommending, offering or selling 1031 TIC/CORE investments must be licensed with a broker-dealer, the SEC, the NASD and the state securities regulators in every state in which the firm or individual operates and in which the client resides. Any "unlicensed" firm or individual involved in recommending, offering or selling these investments is in direct violation of federal and state securities laws.

Co-ownership is the fastest growing option for 1031 exchange investors seeking suitable replacement property. Properly structured and presented, such investments can also generate new listing opportunities for real estate agents while satisfying both the IRS "like-kind" investment property requirements and the SEC and NASD securities regulations. The advantages of co-ownership of institutional-grade real estate are clear and compelling. When exploring co-ownership, smart investors need to seek out industry experts to guide them through the replacement property process. It is indeed the wise investor who is aware of his or her long-term goals that seeks experienced guidance to chart their course, thereby turning TIC/CORE investment opportunities into realities.

(c) 2005, 1031 Exchange Options. Reprint rights granted so long as the article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links made live. This article is neither an offer to sell nor an offer to buy real estate or securities. There are material risks associated with the ownership of real estate. You must be an
accredited investor. Securities offered through Sigma Financial Corporation, Member NASD/SIPC.

Real Estate Investing: Tips In Marketing Properties And Deals

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Real estate investing is a job that requires a significant amount of work and commitment to succeed in it. The earning potential in this business is truly big. However, it all depends upon how you manage it and make it work.

For an investor, finding the most phenomenal real estate deal is the key to make a great deal of money in the real estate investing business. That is why as a real estate agent, you should be able to come up with the best marketing strategies so that you will get to attract a lot of investors to make use of your services.

Common Mistakes Of Real Estate Agents

The common mistake of many agents in real estate investing is that they simply do what every other agent does. As an agent, you should be able to set yourself apart from the rest. The business of real estate investing belongs to a very competitive marketplace so if you are more innovative in your marketing strategies and other services, chances are you will be the choice to do business with.

Another mistake that most real estate agents make is that they do not clearly express the benefits that the buyers will get out of transacting business with them. Potential clients want to immediately know the benefits that they will be getting out of this venture. A great deal of real estate marketing nowadays revolves around the promotion of the agent instead of the properties and the benefits that one will get out of using the services of the agent. By making a simple distinction, you will see a great difference in the results that you will get.

Marketing Techniques

Newspaper ads, billboard advertising and leaflets are a great way to promote deals and properties. Although they cost quite a considerable amount of money, getting at least one deal for the period of the ad will make you more money than what you actually paid for that advertisement.

Many agents do not consider these options because of the amount that they will be spending for using these marketing techniques, but what they do not really know is that these are effective marketing strategies for most businesses and the real estate investing business is no different.

If you think newspaper ads and the like are not that effective, you might want to consider promoting your properties and deals online. Majority of buyers look out for properties and great deals over the Internet so where else would be the best way to advertise but online. However, when posting properties online keep the photos of your listings and other contents of the post as good as possible. Who would want to buy homes that are cluttered in the first place?

Of course, you have to evaluate the results that you are getting out of these marketing techniques. If you think that you are not getting actual business out of a particular advertising strategy then its time to move on to a more effective one. Above all, see to it that when you employ these marketing techniques, they must focus on the services that you offer and the needs of your prospective clients.

Real Estate Investing Courses

It pays to get educated. A lot of agents who are attending educational courses in real estate investing tend to earn higher amounts of income. By attending these courses, you get to learn more about the business of real estate investing as well as all of the fundamentals in terms of promoting properties and deals to your potential customers. You will be able to improve your skills as an agent and eventually turn out to be a high earner in the field of real estate investing.

Real estate investing as a business is a risk. However, if you dedicate a really good amount of commitment in it coupled with hard work, it would not be a difficult task to close deals and earn high
profits in this type of business. The bottom line is that it still depends on how you work things out that makes this venture successful.

Five Forex Trading Tips You MUST Know

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Jumping into Forex trading with both feet? Here are five must-know tips on forex trading and mini forex to help you stay afloat in the Foreign Exchange currency market.

Know your forex trading market.
Educate yourself about the currencies that you trade. The more you know about the country whose currency you’re trading in the forex market, the more accurately you’ll be able to predict which way the money will move.

Pick a forex trading system – and stick with it.
Savvy forex traders will tell you that system is everything. Forex trading by system lets you automate your trades based on history, following the traditional peaks and valleys. Set up a system and live with it to make the most of your forex trading.

Practice makes perfect – but it’s not the real world.
Practice forex trading accounts are great for learning how a particular trading account works – but they’re not the real world. Many experienced traders recommend starting off with a mini forex account to minimize your losses while you get acclimated.

Keep your eye on the margin.
Margin trading is a great way to lose a lot of money quickly. Stay away from forex margin trading until you’re sure you know what you’re doing.

The only win that counts in forex trading is the bottom line.
In forex trading, the bottom line is how much money you made at the end of the day. Don’t count won or lost trades – only dollars and cents.

How Investment Options Works The For Buyer

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A call investment option is a financial contract involving two parties, the buyer and the seller of this type of investment option. Often it is simply labeled a "call". The buyer of the option has the right but not the obligation to buy an settled quantity of a particular commodity or financial instrument from the seller of the option at a certain time for a certain price. The seller is obligated to sell the commodity or financial instrument if the buyer should decide to buy. For getting this right the buyer pays a premium.

As the buyer of a call investment option wants the price of the underlying instrument to rise in the future; the seller either expects that it will not, or is willing to give up some of the upside profit from a price rise in return for the premium plus retaining the opportunity to make a gain up to the strike price.

Call investment options are most profitable for the buyer when the underlying instrument is going up, making the price of the underlying instrument nearer to the strike price. When the prices of the underlying instrument surpass the strike price, the option is said to be in the money.

The initial transaction in this situation – buying/selling a call option – is not the supplying of a physical or financial asset – the underlying instrument. Instead it is the granting of the right to buy the underlying asset, in exchange for the investment option price or premium.

Precise specifications may differ depending on option style. A European call investment option allows the holder to exercise, to buy, the option only on the delivery date. An American call option allows exercise at any time during the life of the option.

Call investment options can be purchased on many financial instruments other than stock in a corporation. Investment Options can be purchased on interest rates as well as on physical assets such as gold or crude oil. A call option should not be confused with a stock option. A stock option is the option to buy stock in a particular company. And it is a right issued by a corporation to a particular person, normally an employee, to purchase treasury stock. When a stock option is exercised, new shares are issued. When a call option is exercised, if it involves shares, the shares are merely being transferred from one owner to another. Nor is stock investment options traded on the open market

How To Communicate Value Proposition And Return On Investment

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As part of my continuing series on Value and Pricing, the following article shows you how to position your company’s value contribution to support the highest value-for-value exchange.

Too many business owners, when asked about the value or ROI of their product or service, shrug their shoulders and say, "I can’t really put a value on it." If you can’t put a value on it, think how hard it is for your prospects and customers! And if they can’t put a value on it, how likely is it for them to buy it?

We’re going to give you a simple way to identify all the value elements of your product or service and articulate it in such a way that your customers will absolutely know in quantifiable terms what your value is to them. They will see so much ROI they’ll be foolish not to want to buy from you.

The key idea here is that you communicate Return on Investment by looking at your value proposition through your customers’ eyes. In other words, why should they spend their scarce money with you, versus using the funds in some other way?

Your customers want to know how long it will take them to get back their investment or make a profit. Many will want to see a recurring return.

There’s an old marketing saying: "Make your product free". People will pay more when they think that "it doesn’t cost them anything." You do this by building so much intrinsic value into your offering that it far exceeds the cost to the customer; do this correctly and in their perception, it’s free.

Creating Value with Your Product or Service:

First, list all the ways that you create value for your customers.

Does your product or service…

–Help client’s increase their revenues? Does your product/service increase their sales? Create more leads? Increase their competitiveness in their market? Shorten the sales cycle? Get more repeat and referral business?

–Allow them to raise prices, or at least hold prices level? Does the value you create allow your customer to charge higher prices for their offering?

–Reduce expenses? Does it reduce initial or ongoing cost? Does it reduce overhead such as utilities and rent or carrying charges? Does it save money on materials, equipment, staff, and outside services? Does it provide a more economical installation or a longer life span? Does it reduce error rate?

–Allow them to replace some existing expense at a lower cost?

–Enable staff headcount reductions? Does it allow your customer to make headcount reductions in staff or support personnel?

–Avoid impending or predicable expenses? Does it help avoid expenses altogether?

–Increase their products’ and services’ perceived value. Does it increase the perceived value of your customer’s offering?

–Increase productivity? Does it increase your customer’s productivity or the productivity of his staff? Does it increase manufacturing production or throughput?

–Give them greater control? Does it offer some way for your customer to track results, lead generation, sales, profitability, productivity, or any other key success factor?

Next, review the list and for each of the ways you create value,
figure what each is worth. This could be in terms of absolute amounts of money, some percentage of revenues, or some percentage of expense reduction.

Create proof for each of your value assertions. Proof can be in the form of worksheets, testimonials, case studies, success stories, printed statements, even survey results.

Add up each of the value elements to come up with a total value, combining earnings and savings into one number. Again, the total value can be an absolute money number, such as $645,000, or it can be a percentage of sales.

Lastly, calculate your return on investment by comparing the total value to the cost of your product. You may come up with either an ROI (return on investment) or a "payback period." Either way, you’ve quantified your product’s value in concrete terms, justified your price, and made it far, far easier for your prospects to make a buying decision.

Success Story

One of our clients sells enterprise software in the $150,000 to $250,000 zone. After 9/11, their sales cycle began to get longer and longer and stretched out as much as eighteen months, with most prospective deals ending in "no decision." Prospects knew they needed to replace their old software, but they simply couldn’t justify the expense in a no-growth economic climate.

To accelerate the sales process we implemented a return on investment analysis using the exact steps described above.

First we itemized each of the ways the software saved or earned the client money, including replacing old software with a high maintenance cost, reducing the cost of computer leases, reducing materials waste, decreasing the number of customer service staff required, shortening their salesman’s phone time, increasing the accuracy of sales quotes, thereby increasing the prospect’s sales AND increasing overall sales profitability.

By assigning a dollar value to each value element, and offering proof for each one, our client was able to demonstrate a payback period of around 9 months, and a significant positive return on investment thereafter.

The first two prospects who heard this value presentation said the same thing: "We’d be fools not to buy this," resulting in the two shortest sales cycles, and coincidentally, the two largest individual sales in the company’s history.

Trading Psychology – Consecutive Loses AND The Trading Psychology Spiral

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You go long and the market immediately goes down – you go short and the market immediately goes up. That’s 2 consecutive losses, and you are getting a little ‘anxious’ so you don’t take the ‘next’ trade. Of course, this trade is a winner. Now to make the situation worse, you then ‘chase’ the move, and as soon as you enter the trade it immediately reverses, thus giving you another loss – this is now 3 in a row. Ok one more ‘try’ – this can’t happen on every trade can it?

This time though, you will be real clever. You have noticed that the market is in a range, and it’s the bounce from the low/retrace from the high that is causing all the problems. So this time, the next trade you take will be a range extreme fade AND the hell with your trading method. The market is at the range low, and per your new ‘on the fly’ trading plan, you go long. Instead of bouncing again, the range immediately breaks out to the downside. Not only does this give you consecutive loser 4, but the loss occurred from trading against one of your ‘best’ method trade setups, and becomes a trade which is giving enough profit to pay for the previous 3 losers, and make you net ahead.

Now what are you supposed to do – QUIT? AND to be sure that there is no more temptation – your throw your computer out the window, and dive out right behind it. You are in a trading psychology spiral.

WHAT is a Trading Psychology Spiral?

I think of a trading psychology spiral as the transition from trading losses that you have accepted both as a part of your trading method, and as something that is inevitable in trading, into a surge of emotions that continually builds to a point where you can no longer accept anything. As this eventually ‘spirals’ out of control – trading method becomes completely ignored, and is then replaced by emotional responses and decisions for everything that is done. Even if quitting was really the only viable thing to do at the time, the trading psychology spiral can cause an emotional response where this isn’t even considered, until the situation becomes so desperate, that the trader can’t take it any longer AND does have to quit.

This isn’t a discussion about emotions and trading, and the various fears and issues that keeps a trader from trading to begin with; as we know, emotions are an inherent part of trading – you learn to control them OR you can’t trade. This is a discussion about emotions that are typically controlled well enough so that you ‘can’ trade, but then something happens where the trader loses that control, and their emotions spiral. A series of consecutive losing trades, especially those caused by deviating from the trading plan, are a root cause for this happening.

This also isn’t about something that happens only to inexperienced and unprofitable traders. There are going to be those times where nothing a trader does will work, and that result is going to be a series of consecutive losers. So the situation is the same, it’s the reaction that may be different. For instance, traderA may go into a panic causing them to spiral out of control, losing all self-confidence and self-trust, and ultimately more money
than was intended. On the other hand, traderB may go into a period of revenge trading, coupled with an increase of their trading size, as they are ‘sure’ that each next trade is going to bring them back to even. Also, a spiral out of control, and the losses continue – AND also a loss of more money than was intended. WHAT does traderC do?

Controlling The Trading Psychology Spiral

Consider: each time a tpsych spiral occurs AND you go out of control – the quicker the next spiral is going to occur, and the faster you will go out of control when it happens. This is going to continue, until trading becomes too painful, and you will not be willing to trade any longer.

Consider: it is better to work through the emotions instead of quitting. Quitting is too easy, and this provides no solution or aid in preventing this from coming back and intensifying each time you have a rough period. As well, you have lost the ability to ‘count’ on yourself when you need to do so the most. To control a tpsych spiral, before you go out of control, is a tremendous win in and of itself. Do this, and get your trading back on track, and you will have made gains the value of which you can’t imagine, as you will know that you may have losing periods BUT you can trust yourself to remain in control, and not magnify the damage.

In light of this, take what you believe to be your key trading issues, write them on an index card, and stick them on to your monitor. The objective is realization and awareness, thus making these issues available to your conscious as a reminder, instead of only available to your subconscious as a problem. As you make your notes BE SURE that you are writing short non-judgmental notes – DON’T let the ‘solution’ make the ‘problem’ worse.

For instance, consider the combination of a build of emotions coming from consecutive losses which are also occurring during congestion – write notes similar to these on your card:

a build in emotions may come from a series of quick consecutive losses
quick consecutive losses often come from trading inside of congestion
are your losses ‘base’ congestion method trades OR are you overtrading
there is nothing wrong with ‘base’ method trade loses
your trading results are fine when you ‘base’ method trade

Now consider the same situation BUT different notes:

don’t be a stupid idiot and overtrade congestion like you always do
you are going to lose your ass and end up with another losing day like usual
you do this same crap every day and the same thing happens
you have no reason to even trade if this is all that you are going to do

Remain Neutral

Remain neutral – another note for your index cards.

Another approach may be to write notes that include the things you can remember yourself doing or feeling as you transition from acceptable emotion to tpsych spiraling, for instance: shortness of breath – sweating – squirming in your chair – unable to sit down. AND as the spiraling becomes more intense: cussing – screaming – throwing things – breaking things. UNTIL the spiraling is out of control: panic – desperation. Clearly, there is a whole list of physical responses to uncomfortable emotional situations; realizing them as they occur may be a step in controlling them before they ‘take-over’ and lead to spiraling.

Be Aware

I want to know the potential for the spiraling situation. It is VERY important to acknowledge that you have emotions, and not try to ignore them or hide from them as a solution to the problem OR because you perceive them to be a sign of weakness. This actually will just make the situation worse. You are human – humans have emotions – emotions become more intense in more difficult situations. So, I don’t need to know how I am going to have responded as I go
out of control. I do need to know, and have something to remember, and/or think about, that can keep this from happening – that can keep me as neutral as possible, in what would be the more difficult trading periods – something that will ‘push’ me back to tmethod AND ‘away’ from tpsych.

WHAT does traderC do?

traderC is the trader who remains the most neutral in winning and losing; the most neutral in all situations. It’s this neutrality that becomes essential in keeping the emotions from becoming a trading psychology spiral, as the trader can ‘accurately’ evaluate their losses in terms of method. This trader will only trade their most ‘base’ method setups after any difficult period AND IF these lose, so be it, that possibility has already been accepted. Go on to the next method trade – it probably will be a winner.

Taking Control of your Finances.

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To find money to invest for your future, you need to make sure that your outgoing expenses are less than the income that you are receiving. You need to develop an excess that you can have free to invest.

Now before you start to think….”well I don’t have any excess left…if I was earning more money….then I would have some free”. Let me dispel this myth…and tell you that it is a known and excepted fact that the amount of money that people earn has little if any bearing on whether or not they have an excess left to invest. The only way to create an excess it to spend less than you earn, instead of spending all that you earn.

Even doctors and lawyers, who earn well over $100,000.00 per year, often end up at retirement with little more Net Worth than factory or office workers.

Net Worth is calculated by deducting the value of all the liabilities or loans you have from the income-producing assets owned to give you the net value of your income-producing assets.

Why aren’t high-income earners retiring wealthy? Why don’t they end up with a greater Net Worth than someone on a low income? It is quite simple. Human nature seems to dictate that whatever anyone earns….they spend….some even spend more than they earn and charge it on their credit card.

The higher your income grows…the more you spend and the only way to get out of this cycle is to realise that it is happening, and make a concerted effort to reverse this habit….and to begin reducing your expenditures so that you can free up money to invest.

The best way to do this, is to try the 10/90 plan. This plan simply means that as soon as you receive your pay….you put aside 10% of it for investment….and then use the other 90% to live off of. Put aside the 10%, and then pay all the bills and do the grocery shopping….and then after that whatever is left over you can spend.

Most people do it the wrong way around…they pay the bills, do the shopping and spend what is left over, never leaving any left to save or invest. By taking the investment money out first you will alleviate the temptation to spend it.

The road to wealth is not determined by how much you earn, but by how you utilise the income you have and how much you save and invest.

You need to take control of your finances. One of the best ways to start having more control over your money is to find out where it has all been going, and then amend your spending habits to allow you to live within the 10/90 plan.

If you write down a list of your monthly net income, then in another column write down a list of the essential items that you have to spend money on. You should be able to work out an average for telephone, gas, electricity, insurances and rates, from your previous bills. Work out an average of how much is spent on grocery shopping and petrol. If there are any other necessary utilities include them as well. Then deduct the second column from the first – and this will give you the maximum potential savings for each month.

It can be quite startling how high this figure can be and make you wonder where all the extra money went.

Another good learning experience is to simply write down for a fortnight every dollar spent and write next to it what it was for. You will soon find that there are a lot of unnecessary expenses, often caused by impulse buying, where you have spent money on items that you neither needed or really wanted, and could easily have gone without.

When you can begin to recognise these areas, and start to consider whether or not you are spending your money wisely, before you hand it over,
then you will be beginning to take control over your money and are well on the way to embarking on your investment journey, which will enable you to have a financially secure future for you and your children.

Take Control of Your Retirement Investing

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Copyright 2006 Damon Clifford

Ah, remember the good old days? You would get up, go to work for 30 years, and then retire. The company funded your pension and you had enough in savings to cover you for the rest of your life. That was fine, because you would typically die 5 or 7 years after retirement. But that isn’t the case any more. Many people are living 20 or 30 years after their retirement, companies are no longer offering pensions, and many people are spending more money than they make.

Because of this, it is up to you to take control of your retirement and IRA funds.

The stock market has historically gone up. But when it’s going down, or even sideways are you expected just to “take it”? Many would have you believe that yes; you just have to “go with the flow”. Or they will tell you that it’s the “entire” market, everyone is getting hammered. Just stick with it and everything will be fine (have they already forgotten what happened in 2000?).

Brokers will tell you that your mutual fund is safe or secure because it’s spread across many different companies and many different industries. With all things relative, it is true that it is "diverse". So why does the market value go down in your mutual fund or perform lower than the market itself? They will tell you that the fund is diverse, but guess what…it’s only one asset, stocks!

It’s not okay to just accept it, you do have a choice.

Did you know that you can invest your IRA funds in other assets beside stocks, bonds, and mutual funds?

Investing in alternative assets can be a very beneficial strategy to compliment your retirement portfolio. Alternative assets include anything from real estate, oil and gas, tax liens, private notes, trust deeds, and many more. I’m not saying to sell all your stocks and mutual funds. Those are required as well to have a diverse portfolio and there are many good brokers and mutual funds out there. Some of them are truly worth their weight in gold and I would recommend them to my friends and family.

However, I talk to people everyday that are just fed up with the stock market and their broker. Just like anyone else, they hate losing money. I reassure them that the market has historically gone up, and it will again go up. I don’t know how, why, or where it will go up, but history has proven itself. Even though they know that the stock market will go up, they still want to look for alternative ways to making money outside the stock market and to keep their portfolio truly diversified.

So now is the time to take control of your future! Don’t let someone else dictate what you need, want, or should do.

The Self Direct IRA LLC is a tool that allows you to invest your IRA funds in these non-traditional assets. You can buy and sell real estate, energy, and tax liens in which all the profits will flow back into your IRA. Many people already do this, but not in the IRA. The IRA has tax favorable treatments which can be great in accumulating wealth.

The Self Directed IRA LLC is not for the passive investor, it is for the active investor that truly wants to take control of their IRA funds and their retirement. As we live longer lives, we will not be able to afford the drops in the stock market. As you get older, it becomes more and more important that your portfolio doesn’t decrease in value. Don’t rely on others to make sure you retire comfortably.
Take control and truly diversify your retirement portfolio with non traditional assets for a more secure and rewarding retirement.

As always, do your research and keep your portfolio diversified.

Day Trading or Investing for the Long Haul?

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Among those who buy and sell stocks there is an ongoing debate about whether the most profitable approach to stock market trading is short or long term investment. And the two sides rarely reach agreement, because one side is rather conservative in its approach, whereas the other has a more radical and freewheeling attitude. Day traders are usually considered the mavericks of the trading world, and they are known for taking gambler’s risks and making huge profits in short amounts of time – sometimes buying and selling the same stock several times in a single day. Those who prefer to buy and hold their stocks follow a more risk-averse path, and cite historical trends to back up their claim that their method is actually more reliable and is the real shortcut to wealth.

Most investors can enjoy the best of both worlds, by setting aside some of their money for day trades, and the balance of it for longer-term investment. Because day trading tends to be more volatile, and can result in quick profits or fast losses, most of us would be advised to put only as much of our investment capital as we can comfortably afford to lose, into this kind of trading strategy. That way, even if you encounter a worse case scenario, it will not adversely impact your overall financial situation.

There are pros and cons to both styles of investing. Those who do day trades enjoy the fact that they can get in and out of the market quickly, and make money without waiting for the results. But any kind of stock market investment strategy requires research into the companies you decide to invest in, and research can take time to do. If you are buying and selling so fast that you don’t have time to do adequate background analysis, day trading may not be a prudent approach.

Investing in companies that provide slow but steady returns is a time-tested approach to the stock market. In fact, most historical evidence supports the idea that if you buy quality stocks and hold them for long periods of time – at least five years or more – you will do very well in the stock market. For that reason, those who are young enough to have time on their side would probably be wise to buy some stocks and sock them away for retirement.

With most investments, it is usually best to diversify to minimize risk and maximize potential gains. One way to accomplish this in the stock market is to employ both strategies, and use a portion of your investment capital for short-term trades, while leaving another portion in long term investments. If one basket of investments doesn’t do well, the other probably will. And if both do well, you will enjoy twice as much success.