Archive for May, 2007

by Christopher Smith
Most people think of the major stock exchanges when trading stocks comes to mind. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), and the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) are among those that first come to mind. A penny stock is a low ticket security for companies that are valued at under five hundred million dollars and often trade in low volumes. These stocks also trade on ‘Over the Counter’ exchanges such as the OTCBB or Pink Sheets.

The very fact that penny stocks trade at such low volumes increases the risks involved in investing in them. The Securities and Exchange Commission urges potential investors in penny stocks to be aware of the fact that the low trading volume of these stocks make it likely that in times of needs buyers will be rare if not impossible to find. Finding accurate quotes for pries is also difficult which increases the possibility of the investor losing his entire investment.

Despite the risks involved, penny stocks are often attractive investments to investors for various reasons. If you are new to investing and looking for the chance to return a high yield for a relatively low investment you are likely to come across some penny stocks. The attraction often lies in the fact that at such low prices any changes are often measured by the hundreds of percent this means that your investment can literally double in one or two days time.

On the other hand, the price of penny stocks can drop just as drastically and equally fast. Those who are inexperienced investors would do well to avoid penny stocks until they have a better understanding of how things work. It is also important to note that because of the relatively low ‘worth’ of the companies that are often listed on the OCTBB or Pink Sheets they are often considered questionable investments. Some of these companies have such a limited financial history that no accurate determination of their actual value can be made. Many of these companies are either very new or dangerously close to bankruptcy.

There is also a strong potential for fraud with some buyers artificially ‘enhancing’ or driving the costs by buying large amounts of stocks and raising the perceived value of essentially worthless stocks. Most investors who fall for this loose many when it comes time to sell.

It is important to remember that not all of these companies are frauds and many of them have a great deal of potential. Some are new businesses that are working hard towards their goal of earning a spot on the larger exchanges.

Do your research in order to decrease your risks of landing with a declining or dishonest company. Investors are often convinced that one good investment can make them a nice tidy profit. While this is true it is better to invest in a company that is showing slow and steady growth than one you are hoping will sky rocket over night. Take the time and do your research rather than gambling with your investment.

Smarter Investing Means Better Returns: Learn more about the Alberta Oil Sands, online penny stocks broker and investing for beginners in the stock market at 1source4stocks

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by Joe Lloyd
The first stock exchange in late 1700’s Philadelphia in United States Of America created a new way in the market of finance and economy which further led to the discovery of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Now with the discovery of latest technology, a turning point has come in the method of stock trade through a network of computers.

This new method has given rise to a new level of convenient and liberty to trade stock at your own comfort. Trading stock online has been becoming popular tremendously as a large percentage of population is having an access to the computers.

How To Trade Stock Online

The method of trading stock online starts by building a business relation with an online trading brokerage firm but it is always recommended that you should build up a bond with a highly reputable and renowned company. You should always gain the knowledge about the company by making researches via internet before getting into a business relation with it.

After finding an apt and appropriate brokerage firm, an online account is created in order to trade through it. This online account plays a significant role in trading stock online as it keeps on giving the updates regarding the financial portfolio so that the investor can proceed accordingly to hit the financial targets.

Benefits Of Online Stock Trading

The online trading of stock has brought a twist in the methods of trading in the market of finance and economy. There are numerous advantages of trading stock online.

1 - It has given a level of convenience to the investors as they can easily buy and sell the financial products from the comfort of their home.

2 - There are many stock trading companies that offer low charges of membership, trading, and commission because of the great competition in the finance market. There are so many companies which do not take any cent to start trading through them.

3 - It proffers the level of freedom to the investors where they can make investments in the finance market according to their interest.

4 - The online stock trading companies help in providing the information like NASDAQ quotes, real-time charts, latest news and information of the market without charging a single penny.

There is also a facility of downloading your investment’s performance on regular basis to have a proper track of your investment. Also there is a facility offered by many online companies to listen to the audio and video conferences of the topmost professionals of the finance market, and to go through the latest market editorials.

5 - There are many alluring proposals, which are proffered by different online stock trading companies. For example, many companies provide minimum $25 free for just signing in, if you create an account with them and deposit certain amount then you will be given a commission free trade worth $100, and if you are maintaining specific amount in your account then there is no need to pay for IRA money market fund trades.

There is also an offer of getting 20 free days for trading online every month if you are a resident of US and are into online stock trading since last two years.

The above-mentioned points have proved to be very much beneficial to the investors to grab large amount of profits in the thrilling market of finance.

For more online stocks information please visit http://www.aboutonlinestocks.com - a popular online stocks website that provides tips and online stock resources. Don’t forget to check out our page on stocks online.

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by Alex Sash
Property investments in Spain

It’s not just the low mortgage rates (the second lowest in the EU) and the favourable terms offered by the banks that make Spain such an attractive country to invest in. Who can compete with Spain for its combination of accessibility, climate, beautiful scenery, sport, lifestyle and culture? As Europe becomes more prosperous, more and more northerners are looking south for a retreat of their own or even a permanent home. So there is no sign of demand slowing up. Environmental considerations may slow the pace of development in the most desirable spots along the coast, but that will only serve to boost the re-sale value of existing property.

Lifestyle and property investment in Murcia

Murcia’s charms are endless, from its spotless beaches and fishing villages to its leisure facilities, rich cultural heritage, national parks and unspoilt countryside. From an investor’s perspective one of its chief attractions is the fact that property prices are still well below those of the rest of Spain. In the opinion of experts that is likely to change — and fairly rapidly. Prices and rental incomes have been rising faster than the national average, with buyers from outside Spain accounting for some 25% of total demand for property.

The region is currently served by flights to Alicante and San Javier. And a growing realisation of all that Murcia has to offer will be boosted by the opening of a third international airport at Corvera in 2009, bringing an expected 1.5 million passengers in the first year.

Investing in property at La Manga Beach Club

La Manga Beach Club development is ideally placed at the southern end of the long spit of land that runs between the Mediterranean proper and the sheltered lagoon, the Mar Menor. It has its own beach and is close to La Manga Club, well-known to visiting Brits for its golf and tennis. Our own facilities include pools, spa complex, gym and café. One to three-bedroom luxury apartments, with views over the Mar Menor, start from just 155,000 euros with very favourable payment terms.

For more information on property investments in Murcia and apartments to buy in La Manga, Costa del Sol, please visit www.lamangabeachclub.com.

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by Luke Anderson
Options are purchasing the “option” to buy or sell a security if it reaches a goal price at a certain time. For example, say I want to buy (and this would never happen, it’s just easier to think about when you aren’t talking securities and are talking objects we buy daily) tomatoes. I want 40 tomatoes, but not at $1.50 each. I want them in 30 days, so if in 30 days, those tomatoes go below $1.20 each, I will buy 40 tomatoes. If not, well then I don’t have to buy. I only purchased an option to buy those. If the price goes up or not down far enough, I can walk away and only pay for the option and not the 40 tomatoes.
This works for selling too. Options are like buying insurance. They are good to have in a bad (or rare) situation, but not that great to have in a normal market situation. It is like predicting what will happen.

This is the biggest reason why someone would want to buy or sell an option. Say I want to purchase a straddle. I am predicting that this stock will move a lot, however I’m not sure if the price will go up a lot or down a lot. So I basically buy 2 options (a call and a put) so that there is the strike price of $50 (that is the price I’ll buy the stock at, no matter how it moves). I will then place my call and put around that, so a buy will happen if the stock goes way up, and the sell happens if the stock goes way down. Now if a large jump happens, I can now go back and say to myself “Looky there….I have an option to buy at this low price of $50 and now the stock is up to $90!” and therefore I make a profit. However, I’m also paying A Lot to have an option, so that comes out of my earnings.

Now if the stock price doesn’t move at all, then I am stuck paying for that expensive option and I never got to use it. It is a way to make money, or to hedge (protect) yourself against a problem. It however, costs a lot to do.

Businesses might use the “hedge” option (like the straddle I mentioned earlier) if they are going to be buying or selling a lot from a foreign country and are worried that the exchange rate will become more expensive for them. We personally wouldn’t want to do that; however, a company who buys and sells millions of dollars worth of stuff, would want this protection.

Investors have the ability to hedge against foreign currency risk by purchasing a currency option put or call. For example, assume that an investor believes that the USD/EUR rate is going to increase from 0.60 to 0.95 (meaning that it will become more expensive for a European investor to buy U.S dollars). In this case, the investor would want to buy a call option on USD/EUR so that he or she could stand to gain from an increase in the exchange rate.

Look at Options Trading for a good source of information about options trading and how options trading works.

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by Scott James
There is no doubt about it as far as international property investment is concerned; Bulgaria at the moment is hot.

For a whole number of reasons, foreign investment capital at the moment is streaming into Bulgaria with a vengeance and one of the prime reasons for this influx of Western capital are the huge gains to be made in the Bulgarian property market.

At present in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, in the residential sector remains the most dynamic segment in the real estate market. Currently demand is outstripping supply of about course is driving the market.

It would appear that to 2-3 bedroom apartments’ account for most of the current inventory and at the moment sales prices have stabilized since the rapid growth in early 2006. The increase in 2600 funnily enough was only marginal compared to the rises of previous years.

The middle segment of the market is the most active with two bedroom apartments in highest demand whilst in the upper end of the market for affluent buyers the demand is for houses or three bedroom apartments.

Rental levels remained stable in the first six months of 2006 but are expected to see this increase also.

In the last 12 months the industrial real estate segment has actually become one of the most attractive areas in Bulgaria and considerable investment has take place in Sofia, the capital and other key areas as well.

The one thing to note possibly is that the majority of major projects are for more large industrial warehouse units. This would indicate that developers are increasingly turning their attention to the industrial and logistics end of the market. However the other thing to note is that the majority of the new supply is taken up by owner occupiers.

One of the areas of real estate that has taken quite a few people by surprise has actually been in the holiday rental market. The supply of holiday homes in the mountain region of Bulgaria has seen an amazing 152% increase in 2006 over 2005. The total number of holiday homes in this area has grown to in excess of 12,000 units by the end of June 2006 compared to just under 5000 units in June 2005.

The coastal region is also booming in Bulgaria and increases in supply of over 6000 units reflects a 37% growth from June 2005 to June 2006. Currently more than 22,500 units are in various stages of preparation and development.

It would appear as in other areas that multiple factors are influencing the price levels including location, quality of the resort and scope of the available amenities.

There is no doubt that the economic growth in Bulgaria is a deciding factor in all of this and Bulgaria has reported quite considerable growth since it was admitted to the European Union in January 2007. Tourism has always been a massive industry in Bulgaria and is still booming and government has pledged major investment to ensure that the expansion of tourism industry continues.

Certainly Bulgaria is hot at the moment and for the foreseeable future is likely to remain so.

Scott James writes about a number of Internet based issues such as Real Estate Investment and Real Estate. A keen proponent of all aspects of free and independent services available, he advises clients to look at the whole mix of online services available.

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by Debbie Dragon -
It would be hard to develop a strategy to pay off your debt if you had no idea how much debt you had. It’s just as difficult to develop an appropriate investing strategy if you don’t have a reason for investing. Without a purpose, it’s impossible to make decisions about the type of investments you should invest in, and without a goal- how do you measure your level of success?

People invest for a wide variety of reasons. The most common reason people invest is to save for their retirement. Most people want to stop working at a certain age, in order to enjoy the last years of their life without the stress of going to work every day. The only way it’s possible for people who are not independently wealthy (by an inheritance or a business that will operate without the owner’s input, for example) is to have money saved that can be used to pay expenses and entertainment costs once a person retires.

The other common reason why people invest their money is to reach a certain short-term financial goal.

Investing for Short Term Goals

While most people first think of retirement and long term investing when they think of investing, there are many instances when investing also includes short term goals. Buying a new vehicle, going on your dream vacation or purchasing a new home are all examples of short term investment opportunities.

Short term investing requires different strategies than long term investing, which makes understanding your investing purpose all that much more important!

If your idea is to have another income stream to supplement your salary, or to help you purchase items you don’t have the cash saved to buy, your investment portfolio should contain a mix of short and long term investments that pay dividends. It should contain low risk, high yield bonds.

If your investment purpose is to save for a specific purchase- perhaps your dream home or to take a vacation, it helps to know how much the purchase will cost and when you need the money. Armed with that information you can develop a strategy for investing.

Short term investments are known to be more challenging than long term investments, particularly if you’re not starting out with large amounts of money. Short term investments tend to carry higher levels of risk; but they also have the greatest possibilities for high returns.

Investing for Long Term Goals

The earlier you begin investing for retirement, the higher the amount of money you can create. Young investors can take advantage of compound interest, and even choose riskier investments that could result in higher returns because they have so much longer to recover from a loss than a person who is closer to their retirement age.

As you get closer to your retirement years, your long term investing strategy should contain much less risky investments- including bonds and securities, to help minimize your risks for losing your investment. The lower risk investments have lower rates of return, but should steadily increase.

Retirement investment portfolios typically contain a mix of various stocks, bonds, debt securities, index funds and money markets. Company sponsored retirement plans are great, particular those that match your contributions. It helps you build your nest egg a little faster and stretch your own investment dollars further.

As you age and get closer and closer to retirement, you should move your investments into guaranteed investments (like high interest savings accounts that are insured by the FDIC) to preserve your money so you know it’s there when you need it!

This article has been provided courtesy of DestroyDebt.com, your source for debt help online.

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by Debbie Dragon -
Is your list of things you wish you could do, but can’t afford to do, growing longer? Many people understand the value of investing, and the importance of investing in order to secure their futures, but they don’t have much available money that can be used for investing. These people might believe that they are not able to start investing and instead, continue to struggle with the daily living expenses and no plan for their financial future.

There are actually numerous ways that people who don’t necessarily have a lot of cash available can begin investing, and every penny saved can help over the longer term. The only proven way to improve your financial situation is to reduce your expenses and increase your income, while saving for the future.

7 Ways to Invest Even if You’re Broke

1. Save all of your change. Use cash to make as many purchases as possible, rather than writing a check or swiping your debit card, and put the change into a bucket at home each day. At the end of every month or two, deposit the change into a high interest savings account and watch it grow! If you’ve never actually saved your change before, you will be quite surprised at how fast change can accumulate. If you saved $25 in change each month, you’d have $300 at the end of the year- and more if you save it in a high interest savings account!

2. Enroll in a direct stock purchase plan that allows you to start investing with as little as $25. Direct stock purchase plans allow investors to purchase fractions of stocks based on the dollar amount you invest.

3. Reinvest your dividends to increase the number of shares of stock you own. This can help result in higher income levels in later years, and while you would probably enjoy receiving those mini-dividend checks now, it’s better to reinvest them so they can grow into larger checks in a few years!

4. Enroll in your company’s 401K plan, if offered. Some companies even provide a matching contribution- where they match a percentage or all of your deposits. If you have this available to you and you aren’t taking advantage of it, you’re throwing away free money. You may miss the $15 you have automatically deducted from your pay and put into your 401K each week at first, but after a few weeks you won’t even notice it’s gone and it will be going to a far greater cause than using it to buy lunch at your favorite fast food joint!

5. Join an investment club, and pool your money with the members of the club to help build a more comprehensive portfolio for small investments. When you invest on your own with small amounts of money, it can be difficult to build a diverse portfolio. By pooling your money with a group of like-minded people, you can build a diverse and comprehensive portfolio that will perform much better financially.

6. Take advantage of compound interest and start investing as early as possible. If you invest $2,000 at the age of 25, you will actually end up with more at retirement than a 30 year old who invests $5,000 on the same date!

7. If you receive money from an unexpected source, or you get a tax refund, you should consider it money you didn’t get and immediately invest it instead of spending it. When you invest the money, you get a deduction on your taxes, also.

This article has been provided courtesy of DestroyDebt.com, your source for debt help online.

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by Steve Gillman
If you are in the right areas, there are big profits to be made with modular homes. The downside? You may need a lot of cash for these deals.

Modular homes are not just a step up from mobile homes. The new ones are usually built to higher standards than many regular stick-built houses. They have six-inch walls and lots of insulation. Once they are on a foundation, they often qualify for regular home financing, as opposed to mobiles, which you’ll always pay a higher interest rate on.

However, they are cheaper than a regular wood-framed home. This makes them a good choice for many home buyers, but what about investors? It depends how you use them. If they are already attached to a lot, you can just treat them like any residential property - as long as they are truly modular homes, and not classified as double-wide mobile homes. The latter are harder to finance, and you’ll pay higher interest.

Perhaps the most profitable strategy, though, is to start with land and put a modular on it. In many areas, a modular home on an acre of land might sell for $140,000, and yet the cost of the land and the necessary improvements plus the modular may be under $100,000. There is a great opportunity in those areas where this is true.

Modular Home Investing - An Example

Suppose you have been watching sales of homes around the edge of the city where you live. Every now and then you see a modular sell, usually on an acre or two of land, because many subdivisions won’t allow them. They seem to be consistently selling for around $135,000 or so if they have at least three bedrooms and two baths.

There are several suitable pieces of property in the area selling for $29,000 to $35,000. You can buy a 3-bedroom, 2-bath modular new for $64,000. The modular salesman tells you what you need to do to prepare a lot. Now you need to investigate the other costs.

The well drilling company that has been most active in the area says the wells are shallow in the area where two of the properties are. They can put in a well and pump for $3,800. The soils is sandy, so you can get a septic system installed for just $4,700. A power pole will cost $1,500, an asphalt driveway $2,800, and the foundation $3,200. Setting up the home and making the hook-ups is included in the purchase price. Closing costs and two months of holding costs will run about $3,000.

You decide that you are interested in the most expensive lot, the one that is $35,000. It has the nicest location, and it is in the area where it is cheaper to have a well put it.

Adding up all the costs, you arrive at a figure of $118,000. You think you can get more for the property, but you make a safe projection of $132,000. You realize that after $8,000 in commission and other closing costs, you would be left with a profit of only $6,000. That is not very motivating.

However, you have other plans. You have enough cash to start the project, and a home equity line of credit to finish it without getting a a new mortgage. You make an offer on the property of $32,000 which is accepted. Then you arrange for the well, septic system, and power pole to be installed. While this is going on, you start shopping for a repossessed modular.

You’ve seen them advertised in the paper for as little as $30,000. You let some dealers know you are interested in a “repo,” and a month later you get a call. A dealer has an almost new 3-bedroom, 2-bath modular that he will sell for $49,000. You agree.

You are spending $15,000 less on the home as originally projected, and you bought the lot for $3,000 less as well. You do $2,000 in landscaping that you didn’t include in your original figures. You have an extra $1,000 in holding costs because it took longer than originally projected to complete the project, and the other costs are $2,000 higher than anticipated.

The good news is that because you did the landscaping and paid for the better lot, the home sells for $138,000. Your total costs were just $113,000. Your total profit is $25,000. That is enough to make investing in modular homes interesting.

Copyright Steve Gillman. For a Free Real Estate Investing Course, and to see a photo of the home we bought for $17,500, visit: http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

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by Ohad Livne
Benjamin Graham is often referred to as ‘the father of value investing’, and wrote the book The Intelligent Investor, in 1949. Its basic principles are still in use today. Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham’s protégé, is often called the world’s most successful investor, and abides by the ideals laid out in Graham’s works.

A main concepts touted by Graham is that of the passive investor and the active investor. The passive investor, often referred to as a defensive investor, invests cautiously, looks for value stocks, and buys for the long term. The active investor, on the other hand, is one who has more time, interest, and possibly more specialized knowledge to seek out exceptional buys in the market.

There were two additional theories he gave investors. First, if an investment does not offer both some safety of principal and a promise of a decent return, which is to be discovered through analysis of the stock, the purchase is not an investment; it is speculation. His second rule was that the investor should make decisions independently of what the ‘market’ thinks. The reasons to choose a stock should be based on nothing more than sound research and analysis.

Because Graham understood that the great majority of individuals have other things to do besides research investments, he said most people fall into the passive category. He posited that the goal of the passive investor is to gain returns on a diversified portfolio that are on par with, or slightly above the average market returns for a given period.

He also set forth several rules for these investors. Large companies are best suited for these investors, and should meet the following criteria:
· A strong financial condition
· Stable earnings
· A history of strong dividends
· A growth rate of 3% or better
· Both P/E and book-to-value ratios should be moderate

Under these rules today, many blue chip stocks would fit into a defensive, or passive investor’s portfolio. However, for the active investor, there are additional items. The active investor is one who is both willing and able to devote the necessary time to uncover bargains in the market, in terms of value of the company versus market price, through thorough research and analysis.

For these investors, he recommended searching for secondary companies, which are solid firms in an important field, but not necessarily the leader in the field. Also fitting this definition are those companies that are industry leaders in less important industries.

Other areas of searching are for bargain stocks- those that are valued at less than half of the indicated value. He suggested several screeners, among them, stocks that fall into the lowest 10% of P/E ratios. He also recommended a portfolio of at least 10-30 stocks for proper diversification.

Benjamin Graham felt for both passive and active investors, with proper care in selecting investments, that money could be made in the market through sound business judgment and analysis.

http://www.Value-Investing-Center.com

In Value-Investing-Center we believe in sharing responsible investing education to people who wants to learn.

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by Martyn Witt
“I assure your highnesses that these lands are the most fertile, temperate, level and beautiful countries in the world”- Christopher Columbus. The Dominican Republic is one of the most beautiful Caribbean destinations and is also one of the most exciting emerging property markets in the world. Government incentives to attract high quality sustainable tourism continue to successfully revitalise the countries economy and industry and there has never been a better timeto buy a property in The Dominican Republic.

The market continues to grow at unprecedented rates resulting in steadily increasing real estate prices and solid rental returns. Guaranteed rental has become a buzzword within the property industry but few schemes could compare with the structure or yields offered by guaranteed rental schemes. Furthermore the government incentives offer 10 years of tax incentives, no tax on rental income, no capital gains tax and no property purchase tax (Normally 4.6%).

The most reecent development is widely recognised as the largest dedicated leisure resort development in the world and perhaps the last great investment opportunity. It is continually courted by premier international leisure resorts and understandable when 8% guaranteed rental yield (net of management fees) is available for the first 5 years. The Dominican Republic is approximately 600 miles South East from from Florida, United States and approximately 4000 miles from the UK, With flying times of approximately 3 hours and 7 hours respectively and Punta Perla is fifteen minutes from Punta Cana International Airport. For leisure, opportunity and benefits The Dominican Republic is the off plan capital.

2700 acres of sculptured tropical paradise along with 3 signature Golf Courses plus academy. The Punta Perla Golf Clubis the synthesis of spectacular location with grand vision and it is destined to become one of the most prestigious international championship standard Golf retreats in the World.

The Dominican Republic enjoys a year round tropical maritime climate, a latitude of 17’36 - 19’58, places the Dominican Republic at the border of the tropical zone. Sea breezes refresh the insular territory, evening out temperature to average 23’C in the early mornings to 32’C at mid-day. There is little difference between winter and summer temperature with July averaging at 82’F (28’C) and January at 76’F (23’C).

The lowest temperatures occur in the mountain areas near Constanza, where temperatures have dropped to 0’C , and record highs have been registered at the frontier with Haiti , 39’C in the summer. The months of May to November are regarded as the rainy season and most rain falls in the northern and eastern regions. The Dominican Republic is similar in size to Scotland or the U.S. state of Maryland and is the second largest island in the Greater Antilles.

Named by its Spanish settlers “Hispaniola”, the island became the hub for the expansion of the Spanish empire into the new world. The city of Santo Domingo (originally named “La Isabela”) was founded in 1496, and soon became the seat of the first cathedral, hospital and university of America.

A year after gaining independence from Spain in 1821, the eastern part of the island was occupied by Haiti. This occupation ended on February 27, 1844 with the proclamation of the National Independence. Since 1966, ten democratic elections have been held, alternating the power between the three main political parties.

The Dominican Republic’s Latin style is a sharp contrast to the character of the many nearby islands, especially the British and French-influenced ones, and is reflected in both the local music and cuisine.

Mortgage-Loan-UK is a premier resource for personal finance information along with an extensive collection of mortgage related calculators. For more information on luxury Caribbean property and especially Dominican Republic off plan property visit us now.

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