Are You Investing?
For most people, living paycheck to paycheck is the norm. I know, I've been there and done it myself. The problem with linear pay is pretty clear when you think about it. You rarely save anything because there is always a bill that comes up, some new gadget to buy, clothes that wear out. Even if you do manage to save, you're likely to get a very low percentage rate so your money grows extremely slowly. In fact, most of the interest you get from saving money if you make any at all is lost because of inflation. Add to that the fact that wages are taxed up front, and you just don't stand much of a chance to get ahead. I started breaking this cycle by paying myself first. I figured out exactly what my expenses were, then opted to start taking the little bit of surplus out of each paycheck and stashing it. Once that accumulated, I started looking for an investment that gave me a decent return. You have to buy investments that pay you for the use of your money. There are basically three routes to go with this, real estate, stocks/commodities or by building a business.
One of the best things you can do is invest a small amount of money getting yourself educated about investment vehicles. You want to be prepared to put your savings into an investment that will net you the highest gain as soon as possible so that you can resist the temptation to spend it.One of the biggest problems you'll face with real estate investing is coming up with a down payment. I was concerned with credit checks and down payment money from the start and that kept me from looking at real estate for a long time. Too long! Then I stumbled upon TC & Vickie Bradley. They gave some clearly written, straightforward information on how to buy houses with no money down and without a credit check so that I could start thinking about turning them for profit. I am currently pursuiing this and will write more about my experiences as I have more to tell. I can tell you this, their book, "Buy With No Credit" is really simple to read and gets you motivated and ready to act right away.
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Because I'm compulsive about anything I'm interested in I have to read as much about any topic of interest I can. If you really want to learn a lot about real estate investing you should check this site out, http://www.creonline.com
There are tons of free articles on that site that will give you an overall feel for what's possible in the real estate investment arena.
Another resource I've referred to specifically for buying foreclosures is "How to Buy Foreclosures." It's pretty cheap in price but gives you a good chunk of information to work with.
I Don't Believe in Putting All of My Eggs in One Basket!
Because of that, I've studied a lot of different strategies for investing. As I've added to my asset column I've also been interested in things that are a bit more risky. I never gamble all of my savings away, and only play with money I'm not concerned with losing, but I have had a lot of fun and some success trying different markets and strategies. I tend toward swing trading when it comes to this, because I don't like cashing in my gains or losses in one trading day. I did, however, find a terrific source of information on day trading that holds its weight. It's called Master Trader. One thing that sold me on this was that Jens Clever gives so many bonuses that gave me insights into other things like trading the Forex market. I found it to be a really good bargain. You have to look at all of the markets to get a good idea of what's possible. Most people think only of the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. There are a lot of other markets including the Futures market. An excellent resource on the futures market is appropriately titled, "How to Trade the Futures Market." I'm really into information that I can start applying right away, and this book delivers in that respect.
Buy and Hold is Great When the Market is Moving Up, but That Isn't a Great Strategy in a Down Market!
I watched my parents lose a huge portion of the retirement nest egg buying high and riding stocks down. As a result they live a much more conservative lifestyle than they deserve. I knew from their experience that I didn't want to get caught in the buy and hold trap. That led me to look at other ways of investing in the stock markets. There are plenty of ways to trade without using "Buy and Hold." This guy from the 13th century named Fibonacci came up with a mathematical concept that works extremely well in timing the markets if you know how to use it. Oddly enough, I stumbled on to this strategy researching something entirely different. I bought an ebook on web marketing from a guy that came highly recommended. After applying what I learned in the ebook and seeing how honest the guy who wrote it was, I decided to see what else he had written and found out he was very active in the stock market. His name is Stephen Pierce, and I have to say he is one of the straightest shooters in business I've run across. His Course on Fibonacci Trading is pretty incredible!
Part of My Investing Strategy is to Protect the Gains I Make, You Might Want to do the Same!
When it comes to investing, I always try to take half of my gains and reinvest with it, then take the other half and convert it to a solid, safer investment or just plain savings so I am always inching forward. If you don't know, our currency is what they call "fiat" money. What that means is that it has value based on the government's promise to honor it. Money wasn't always this way. It used to be secured by gold or silver. That being the case, Gold is something I've looked at as a way to insure I have some of my assets available in even the worst case scenarios. I learned a lot about buying and selling gold from," Investing in Gold Can Make You Rich." I think of Gold as a way to insulate myself from the erosion of the American Dollar.Life is all about options isn't it? In the Stock Market, options help you make money in up or down markets!
To be sure options are one of the least understood aspects of the stock market. It doesn't have to be that way. Options basically are the right but not the obligation to buy a certain number of shares of stock within a specific time period for a specific price. If the price goes up or down in that time you can potentially make profit on the rise or fall of the underlying stock price.
This is an advanced subject without a doubt, however the power of leverage is so strong in the use of options that at times you can literally make life changing profits from single trades.
My friend Brett Fogle has a great site on options with both a terrific program to learn how to trade options and free articles on options. Click the blue hyperlink to learn about Options!
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