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Posts Tagged ‘Investing’

Saving Time and Money Via the Video Business Production

June 29th, 2009

The IPO presentation is a fact of life. Companies need it to raise capital when private placement capital may not be enough. It can be either live, face to face or live, over the Internet. While there are many good reasons for giving a live demo, there are also many disadvantages. These disadvantages can be eliminated through the business video production.

Lets discuss the varieties of presentations given today, starting with the live demo. Its obvious advantage is personal interaction and goodwill. This is a big advantage, but the drawbacks are just as important. The biggest disadvantage is the cost and bother of travel. And the cost of plane tickets, hotels, and rental cars is only increasing. In addition, the modern father or mother is less willing to be away from the family for extended periods. For these reasons, staying in town is growing in popularity.

Which leads us to the webinar. A webinar is a presentation over the Internet. In a webinar, the audience can see the computer of the presenter, and they can speak to each other over the phone or VOIP (voice over Internet protocol). A web cam improves the process by making the presenter visible to the audience and, with a second camera, can even make the audience visible to the presenter. Under this optimal setup, the presenter has all of the advantages of the personal visit (the interpersonal interaction) without the disadvantages (cost and time away from home).

Which brings up the webinar. A webinar is a presentation over the Internet. In a webinar, the viewer can see the computer of the presenter, and they can speak to each other over the phone or VOIP (voice over Internet protocol). A video camera improves the process by making the presenter visible to the audience and, with a second camera, can even make the audience visible to the presenter. Under this optimal setup, the presenter has all of the advantages of the personal visit (the interpersonal interaction) without the disadvantages (cost and time away from home).

The second disadvantage of the live presentation is the foibles and imperfections of all humans that emerge as stumbles and fumbles. regardless of how much we practice, we cant escape our imperfections, and the level of our professional mien is determined by the number of our “ers” and “ums” and slips of the tongue.

Once again, its developing technology to the rescue in the form of the high-definition video presentation. While this variety of presentation has the disadvantage of the absence of direct human interaction, it overcomes the disadvantages of the live presentation and the webinar. Most obviously, it eliminates the need for the presenter to travel to the viewers location. Second, it saves the presenters valuable time. Once the video presentation is perfected, it can be viewed an uncountable number of times by an uncountable number of people. Third, the step of coordinating two or more schedules is gone. The video presentation can be viewed by each individual at whatever time is convenient, and the viewing can even be split into shorter segments that fit into the busy schedule. Finally, the perfected video has none of the slips of the tongue that are inevitable in any live presentation.

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Investing

A Guide To Investing Capital

June 7th, 2009

The initial step in investing capital is always very hard. And every individual investor taking his 1st step in some investment plan should also deal with an ocean of the stock market ambiguity. Some people rush head first into a market with all the funds they have, this is a bad way of investing capital. Some others narrowly get their feet wet even before bearing back to secure costs of the capital market finances. The difficulty lies with the risk of going in to a market at a high spot in this market cycle.

The only safest and best way that one can benefit from the stock market is through investing capital in smaller amounts initially. Investing smaller amounts initially lets you know of the behavior of the stock market at various points of time-you’ll develop a deep confidence in addition to knowing the exact strategies of how to make god returns for the investments you make. ‘Fundamentals of investing’ is very essential as the whole stock market encompass them in some part of its operation.

Everyone loves to invest in some of the top companies of the world like Microsoft, for instance. These giant companies haven’t grown big just because that they are giants in the market. Though how giant they are in the market, they can generate their own funds in order to run the company. They generate the major part of their funds by issuing shares to the shareholders. Since these are the giants in the market, the value of these shares tends to reach a higher price.

Few companies may not have an appropriate plan nor may have sufficient investing capital in order to implement their strategies. Investing in companies such as these may or may not draw you higher returns. Check for the financial rigidness of the company before you opt for making investments in the shares of the company.

Generally speaking, for an individual to have a high scope of returns, one should have necessary amount of share volume in his exposure. One should always make a feasible number of trades everyday. Also, ‘Liquidity’ must be another important aspect that one has to always keep his eyes on. This is the factor that shows a great impact on your investing capital.

Although it is not strange to observe a established company move at a loss, it is significant to observe at the reason why they are losing up money or funds. Is it something that one can manage? Should they be additionally investing capital (that might result in diluting of the value of one’s shares) or they will have to look for a combined partnership that will favour some other company?

If ones company really knows how to build a turnover, then the company can utilize that wealth to develop their production or business that adds to the shareholder’s value. One has to do some investigation to locate such companies, but when one really does that, he surely will lower the danger of a great loss in the investment capital, and boost the chances of higher return to a great extent.

Also, be careful in dealing with the penny stocks while placing the investment capital in the market. It is highly difficult to predict the nature of the penny stock as they easily go up and tumble down without notice.

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Investing

Tactical Asset Allocation For The Global Macro Investor

February 3rd, 2009

Macro trading and the art of tactical asset allocation can be lumped into the same category. This is because they both share so many similarities. They are both trying to find the best values on the globe and in several different asset classes. The difference is that most global macro traders are aiming for absolute returns whereas tactical asset allocation is typically only looking for market beating returns and less then market risk.

Regular asset allocation will decide upon a fixed percentage of asset in each category and then rebalance once a year in order to keep the allocation the same. Global tactical asset allocators will instead look at the prospects for each asset class and then allocate. As things change they will then change the allocations. Essentially a tactical asset allocator is like a global macro trader because they will look for the best opportunities and then sale up or down as the case may be.

Tactical asset allocation and global macro investing have a lot in common. Where the asset allocator will have X% in stocks and X% in bonds and then adjust as opportunities arise, the global macro investor will only invest where there are good risk to reward opportunities.

One of the primary differences between global macro and tactical asset allocation is that most asset allocators will always be at least partially invested in each of their pre-selected asset classes. That differs from the global macro investor who will only go where they see a great opportunity now, and not 5 years later.

Essentially tactical asset allocation brings together global macro as well as traditional asset allocation in order to try and achieve market like or better returns with below market volatility. In fact over time one of the number one things that tactical asset allocation has done is to reduce risk. And as traders the world over know, reduction of risk can do wonders for your long term results.

All global macro traders can benefit from the models, ideas, and research done by tactical asset allocators. By looking at their methods global macro traders can find more and sometimes better ways to find profitable long term investing opportunities.

It only makes sense to combine the global macro with tactical asset allocation. If you stretch out your time horizon a bit you can find a lot more opportunity that other traders aren’t able to uncover.

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Investing

Six Ways to Assess a Potential Oil and Gas Investment

February 2nd, 2009

When you look at oil and gas investing there are many ways you can look at the market and the potential investment. You should do plenty of research so you know you are making a good decision with your money. Here are 6 things you can look at to be sure you are about to make a good decision or you should back out.

1. The company. If you are looking into investing in a particular company you must look at everything about them. Check out the history of the company, the executives and board members, and the description of the business. It is also important when researching a business for oil investments to check out the locations and subsidiaries.

2. If recent mergers and acquisitions have occurred you need to research both of the businesses that have combined. Find out about all equity, ventures, and everything about the businesses involved.

3. Research the debt. Debt is a really big deal when it comes to gas investments. How much money does the company owe to other investors, banks, and others. The debt should be less than half of the revenues. This should include liabilities for the company also.

4. Competitors. When you are assessing oil and gas investing it is important to find out about the key competitors. Does the business have a foot forward in front of the other competitors?

5. The market placement. When you look at oil investments it is important to look at the entire market. You cannot just research the investment you are looking at but you need to be able to look at the overall prospect of the market. Where does the company you want to invest in sit with the entire market? You should compare numbers and feel the company is doing very well before you get started with your investment. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the company of choice versus the competitors and see where they all stand.

6. Potential profits. If you invest in the company of choice what is the potential of profit you stand to make? You will need to look at the history of the gas investments and how much money other people made on the profits. Be sure a profit is what is being made and people are not just breaking even.

When it comes to oil and gas investing there are many ways to assess the investment. You need to look at the company as a whole. However, you also need to look at the entire industry, including the competitors, the products, profit, and more.

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Investing

What are the Tax Benefits of Oil and Gas Investing?

February 2nd, 2009

Oil and gas investing is a promising investment. There are many benefits when you file taxes with this type of an investment. The benefits include tax deductions. These tax deductions mean for a bigger return or that you will owe less money when you file your taxes.

Intangible drilling costs are allowable deductions. Drilling is expensive and can cost a lot of money. The only requirement is that this deduction can only be claimed during the same year the well is drilled. If you miss this expense you will not be able to claim it again. This means that the labor costs of the drilling contractor or any professional services you will report to your investor.

Your tangible drilling costs are allowed to be expensed over a seven year period. This is one of the big reasons oil investing is such a good investment. This is because gas investments are deductible for individuals. Drilling for oil is an attempt to produce an asset. You are also allowed 15% annual depletion. The IRS also considers the leasehold costs to depreciate over the lifetime of the well. The Accelerated Cost Recovery System is used to depreciate tangible drilling costs. These tangible items include things like piping, storage tanks, and other equipment that can be capitalized or depreciated.

As an individual who is practicing oil and gas investing you will benefit. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 takes the tax burden from you as a personal investor and places it on the companies. You as a taxpayer now have the ability to shelter your income.

Depletion is a tax benefit of oil investments also. Independent producers may have a depletion. This depletion of gas investments is considered to be a tax write off also. However, the write off allows for a larger deduction of cost depletion and percentage of oil depletion.

If your gas investments turn out to be a nonproducing well or a dry hole you are allowed to write off 100% of all of the money you spent. This write off is against your normal day to day income in the first year of this particular hole.

Oil and gas investing has many tax benefits. There are not many investments you can put your money into that will give you benefits back every year such as these. You can write off many more deductions with this type of an investment than you can with your own home.

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Investing

Determining a Proper Investment Strategy

January 30th, 2009

These days with the market in chaos, there are many questions over what the best way to invest money is. Depending on your personal situation you may have a few options, this article will take you through a few of your options and help you decide which is the best course of action for you.

How old are you? The reason I ask is that where you stand in life can make a big difference in deciding what the proper investments are for you. Younger investors can afford to be more risky with their investments simply because they aren’t likely relying on that income for retirement. If you fall between the ages of 20-35, any moderate losses you sustain in the market can be made up over the next 30 or so years.

If you are an older investor you need to take your current retirement situation in to consideration. If you are planning on retiring in the near future you need to be sure to invest in something much less risky than stocks, preferably secure bonds, treasury bills or bonds, money market investments or something that virtually guarantees you income, even if it only a small percentage return.

Something else you should think about is the amount of your paycheck against how much you need for your expenses like housing, car payments, food, utilities, etc. If you don’t have much extra each month but can afford to save a little money, that’s great, but you want to be smart about what you invest in. Richer investors can make back big losses much more easily than the typical middle class investor and can therefore be more risky in them.

Lastly, take a look in your wallet and tell me how many credit cards you have. Do they have large balances? Before you invest a single dime in investments, pay off your credit cards completely. The reason for this is that normally credit card interest rates are much higher than your return on investment, and it would therefore make very little sense to spend the money anywhere but paying off your debt.

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Investing

How To Effectively Choose The Best Home Mortgage

January 29th, 2009

Selecting the right mortgage package as a first time home buyer can be a confusing process, and working with a mortgage loan officer isn’t always the best way to get the mortgage loan that you can afford. One of the biggest mistakes that first time is to sign on the loan that they qualify for, instead of taking a smaller loan that they can actually afford.

How does this happen? Loan officers will qualify you for a loan based on your income ratio and not necessarily how much you’re prepaid to pay in housing payments each month. If you borrow the entire loan amount that you “qualify” for, it’s likely that your monthly payment will be pushing your monthly budget to the max.

Being specific about the amount to be borrowed can spare you the possibility of having trouble with the payment terms offered by the loan officer. This can also help you adjust your housing expenditures based on your income. These are several ways to help you choose the best mortgage for your new home:

1. Be informed about the tax benefits. ‘Interest only’ loans are those that allow deducting the entire payment from your taxes on a particular year. There are also other loans with negative amortization that won’t permit deduction of interest from the monthly payment.

2. Plan intelligently. A fixed interest rate loan is a good choice especially if you intend to stay in your home for 30 years and more. Compared to ARM loans and other loan products, FIR loan can help you withstand changing market conditions, although it may be a higher in interest. A fixed interest loan can also have its disadvantages. The author of ‘Smart Consumer’s Guide to Home Buying’, Barron, suggests that fixed interest loan may increase your loans because of the demands of ecrow account associated with it.

3. Know the payment options. With a flexible payment option, you can maximize your funds and avoid yourself of possible debts in the future. There are mortgage loans wherein you can make extra payments towards your principal loan without a penalty. This is good because as soon as you have some extra funds in your hands, you can begin to easily pay your mortgage.

4. Find ways to keep your payments manageable. Keep your payments affordable by setting a limit on your loan amount even if you have been offered a huge amount by the lender. As much as possible, find a low interest rate, long loan term, and the ability to make interest-only payments.

5. Avail yourself of mortgage insurance. Not all first time homebuyers have available funds to serve as down payment, though it can create a difference to your monthly payments and loan amount. When you have mortgage insurance, you can have funds for your down payment. In some instances, mortgage insurance can help you apply for an attractive product minus any down payment.

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Investing

How Much Should You Invest Every Month

January 29th, 2009

All of us want to make money when we invest, but it’s important you understand your current financial situation before making a decision to invest in the market. This is true whether your investment is penny stocks or long-term blue chips. In order to determine this, you’ll need to calculate your income and expenses, adjust the following to meet your personal requirements.

Mortgage Taxes Loans and credit cards Day to day living expense Emergency fund (make certain to put this in place) Transportation expenses Leisure activities Student Loans Other commitments to family and/or friends

When we begin thinking about investing, we need to first look at our own financial situation to determine what amount we can safely invest each month. It’s always wise (that should read crucial) to invest with your surplus, and not your rent (by rent we mean any monthly expense you know will be spent).

If you do not have the money to invest today, begin to save a little bit from every paycheck or lump sum you receive. Experts suggest putting 10% aside as an emergency fund, then taking out an additional 10% for investing. While you’ll need to make your own decision concerning this, be certain to consult your budget to be certain all areas are completely covered.

Depending upon whether or not, you have children, or a spouse, always consider the needs of your family before making an investment. While we strongly suggest investing, we do not want you to put your family in jeopardy, because no matter the best intentions, sometimes things do go wrong. Be certain that your needs, and the needs of your family, including insurance, shelter, utilities, and debts are paid, then consider your investments.

All of us are unique individuals, and look at, and deal with life differently; what is a risky investment to some, might be perfectly fine for another. Take the time, and now, before investing, to determine the type of investing you are comfortable with. Penny stocks have been very good to me, and I’ve built my career around them, they are not the only part of my investing portfolio. While I recommend that you give them a close look, they should only be one spoke on your investment wheel.

The time tested piece of investment advice is this, diversify. While penny stocks have allowed this author to obtain wealth, that doesn’t mean they are my only investment, I’m well diversified and so should you be. The market will always fluctuate, it has done so for years and I can see no reason it will change in the near future.

Is crucial before buying a stock, that either you do proper research, or be a line with an expert, or pennystock newsletter that understands the market. Over time, you will find that many of your most fruitful investments, or the ones not recommended by most brokers. Stockbrokers, just like investors, are either risktakers or conservative investors. We believe a blend of the two is why can help increase your nest egg the quickest.

While we believe the majority of the big moves are predictable ( with penny stocks), there will certainly be the time you’re on board a loser. When this happens never chase the stock, take your licks, liquidate your position, and lived to invest another day. while the feeling is wonderful when you’re onboard a winner, do not let your emotions rule, take your profits, celebrate, then reinvest.

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Investing

The Forex Market: How Foreign Currency Exchange can Profit You

January 28th, 2009

The Forex is an exchange market for the world’s money. This is where traders speculate on the exchange rates of currency, hoping to buy currency that is increasing in value and selling currency that is decreasing in value.

Profits in the Forex trading market result from the fluctuation in the differing prices of the currencies being traded. These currencies are sold in pairs and compete against each other.

Currencies are constantly fluctuating throughout the market as international currencies are no longer held to the gold standard. Even a small change in value of currency can create a profit or loss.

More than $1.5 trillion dollars are traded each day in the Forex market. That is more than one hundred million times that of the New York Stock Exchange, which is one of the biggest in the world. The Forex is truly the mother of all speculation markets. Only five percent of the trades are done to change currency for travel or business.

There are no brick and mortar buildings housing the Forex market. Nor are there any pesky brokers stalking you to make a deal. The Forex market is a virtual one where you can happily conduct your business online from the comfort and privacy of your own home if you so desire.

The Forex trading day lasts for six days straight. It begins in Sydney, moves to Tokyo and on to Frankfurt, London and then New York before going back to Sydney. It closes in New York on Friday night. During the week, at any time of the day or night, someone is trading on the Forex market.

Long trading hours give investors plenty of time in which to speculate on what is going on in different currencies in other nations. When a country announces any economic growth or decline, this reflects in the trading in the market.

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Investing

Global Macro Trading Styles

January 28th, 2009

For the global macro trader there are essentially two different kinds of trades: relative value and directional. Relative value is essentially when you are looking at two different instruments that have reliable historical relationships and trading off that relationship. Directional trading, as the name implies, is when you place a bet saying that you think oil, gold, etc is going up or down.

Some traders do their fundamental work and then buy or short based solely upon what they think the asset will do. Others trade purely on gut feel. Some are technically oriented and deemed technicians and look at charts and other price action based studies.

Those traders that trade based solely off of fundamentals typically will have good long term results but have what some would deem excessive short term volatility due to their lack of respect of the actual price. Typically id they think something is undervalued they will keep buying more and more which makes a lot when you are right but can really hurt when you are wrong.

Traders who use pure gut feel tend to also have very volatile results. While they will enjoy the occasional big gain they will also be wrong on a regular basis. The main factor that will separate the winning gut traders from the losing ones is how fast they are at admitting when they are wrong. If you can’t take a loss then you will lose when trading off of pure gut feel.

Chart reading, also known as technical analysis is the study of price action. Coupled with a solid risk management process many traders are successful at using this approach. Looking at charts enables traders to gauge the sentiment of the market and which way the market may move. Like all forms of trading good risk management is crucial.

Then we come to the so called macro traders. We say so called because in actuality they are just an automatic version of the technicians. CTA or commodity trading advisers typically program automatic long term trend following models with built in risk management systems. A typical system might buy an asset when it hits a new 40 day high and then places a protective stop it it falls 3 ATR’s below it. While the systems vary the underlying results are good. Historically CTA trend following systems have been quite profitable.

Finally we get to the trader who tries to incorporate all the different methods into one. It makes sense that if you combine fundamental analysis, what the asset is worth and where it is likely to go, along with technicals, what the asset is actually doing and where it has been, you should get a better end result. Yes, occasionally you will be wrong but over time your hit rate should be higher and your drawdowns should be smaller. Over time a trader that really learns what drives the particular market should do better then any of the other traders over the long haul.

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Investing