Stock Investment Guide Before You Start Trading

Although the decade began with a substantially down market, the leading stock market indexes have risen significantly. For investors, this is a good time to take stock of where we are and where we want to be, and plan how best to get there. What follows are a list of practical steps that can help all of us get our fiscal act together.

1. Assess

Periodically, it is a good idea to sit down and really figure out where you are with your finances. Pull out your banking and brokerage account statements, check your balances, and gather in one place all your fiscal information. Then take a good, hard look at what you see. If you have questions about the information presented on your brokerage or mutual fund statements, don’t ignore those questions. Speak up, ask questions, and get answers.

After learning where you are, figure out where you want to be. What are your savings goals? Are they long-term (retirement, college education for your babies) or short-term (down payment on a house, college education for your high-school age kids)? Your goals determine your own personal tolerance for risk. If you’ll need your money in the short term, more conservative investments are appropriate. If you’re saving for the long haul, you might decide to take more risks. Just remember – your risk tolerance is a very personal matter, based on your age and your personal savings goals. Your neighbor or your Uncle Fred may be much more conservative or aggressive than you are. But that doesn’t mean their investing strategy is right for you!

2. Invest for the long term

Before you invest, make sure you have enough money to eat and put a roof over your head. Pay yourself first – get rid of high-cost credit card debt. But the earlier you get a start on your savings goals, the less you’ll have to put away monthly to reach them. Historically, the investment that has provided the highest average rate of return over the long term has been stocks. But there are no guarantees of profits when you buy stock. Markets go up and markets go down in the short-term. That’s why it is best to think long-term when considering stock market investments.

3. Diversify.

There is no better way — over the long term — to distribute risk than to diversify your investments. It is true that in some years, single stocks or individual sectors will outperform a diversified investment strategy, at least in the short term. But don’t forget that investors who hope to gain fantastic returns by investing in a single stock or one sector have also assumed the higher risks of a more narrow investing strategy. While diversifying your investments won’t bring you sky-high returns in boom times, it also means that you won’t lose everything when the boom times bust.

One way to diversify is to consider growth stocks . And here is where a little work can pay off handsomely – be sure to pay attention to the company’s income and expenses. Over time, expenses and fees can really make a difference. On an investment held for 20 years, a 1 percent annual fee will reduce the ending account balance by 18 percent.

Another way to diversify is to make sure that your retirement funds aren’t all invested in your employer’s stock. Even if that stock is a good long-term prospect, it is risky to have your retirement security depend in whole or in large part upon the fate of any one company.

4. Know yourself

Be honest. Do you really have the time and energy to adequately research individual stock investments? Most of us don’t have the experience and expertise of Wall Street traders who read financial statements for a living. It is important to be realistic about your own time commitments. Talking to co-workers and watching TV is not good investment research! That’s why many Americans begin investing not with individual stock picks, but with a broad based, low cost index fund. That way you’re broadly diversified from the beginning. As you find more time and gain confidence, you’ll know whether you’ve got the desire or interest to select individual stocks.

5. Do your homework

You owe it to yourself to check out any investment and investment professional with whom you do business. A few simple steps can save a great deal of heartache.

Before doing business with any investment professional, take full advantage of the power of the internet to check computerized databases for disciplinary information. Then contact your state securities regulator to find out if they have any additional information.

Before buying any stock, check out the company’s financial statements on the SEC’s website. All but the smallest public companies have to file financial statements with us. If the company doesn’t file with us, you’ll have to do a great deal of work on your own to make sure the company is legitimate and the investment appropriate for you. That’s because the lack of reliable, readily available information about company finances can open the door to fraud.

Before purchasing any investment, make sure you read and understand all the disclosures you’re given. The federal securities laws require that you be given lots of helpful information, such as a prospectus for a mutual fund, but you’ll have to take the initiative to understand what you’re given.

It’s up to you to educate yourself to make sure that all of your investments match your goals and tolerance for risk. Don’t be afraid to ask questions – it is your money!

6. Protect yourself

Always remember that people who sell investment products make money by doing so. Which doesn’t mean that they’ll give you bad advice, but it does mean that you’ve got to take responsibility for evaluating any recommendations you get. We advise people to never rely solely on an analyst’s recommendation when deciding whether to buy, hold, or sell a stock. Instead, do your own research-such as reading the prospectus for new companies or for public companies, the quarterly and annual reports filed with the SEC-to confirm whether a particular investment is appropriate for you in light of your individual financial circumstances. Don’t buy any investment product you don’t understand. And remember, any investment promising high returns necessarily carries a high risk that you’ll lose your money.

Mom always told us there aren’t any quick and easy ways to get rich. But it is hard to remember Mom’s advice when your neighbor, cousin or friend passes along a great tip, especially when it involves a hot new company. So from all of us, just to you, here is a link to our best investment tip on an up-and-coming company. If you click to invest, we just know you’ll be enriched.

Make a Financial Plan Towards Financial Freedom

Sit down and take an honest look at your entire financial situation. You can never take a journey without knowing where you’re starting from, and a journey to financial security is no different.

You’ll need to figure out on paper your current situation— what you own and what you owe. You’ll be creating a “net worth statement.” On one side of the page, list what you own. These are your “assets.” And on the other side list what you owe other people, your “liabilities” or debts.

Subtract your liabilities from your assets. If your assets are larger than your liabilities, you have a “positive” net worth. If your liabilities are greater than your assets, you have a “negative” net worth. You’ll want to update your “net worth statement” every year to keep track of how you are doing. Don’t be discouraged if you have a negative net worth. If you follow a plan to get into a positive position, you’re doing the right thing.

KNOW YOUR INCOME AND EXPENSES

The next step is to keep track of your income and your expenses for every month. Write down what you and others in your family earn, and then your monthly expenses. Include a category for savings and investing. What are you paying yourself every month? Many people get into the habit of saving and investing by following this advice: always pay yourself or your family first. Many people find it easier to pay themselves first if they allow their bank to automatically remove money from their paycheck and deposit it into a savings or investment account. Likely even better, for tax purposes, is to participate in an employer sponsored retirement plan such as a 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b). These plans will typically not only automatically deduct money from your paycheck, but will immediately reduce the taxes you are paying. Additionally, in many plans the employer matches some or all of your contribution. When your employer does that, it’s offering “free money.” Any time you have automatic deductions made from your paycheck or bank account, you’ll increase the chances of being able to stick to your plan and to realize your goals.

“But I Spend Everything I Make.”

If you are spending all your income, and never have money to save or invest, you’ll need to look for ways to cut back on your expenses. When you watch where you spend your money, you will be surprised how small everyday expenses that you can do without add up over a year.

Small Savings Add Up to Big Money

How much does a cup of coffee cost you?

Would you believe $465.84? Or more?

If you buy a cup of coffee every day for $1.00 (an awfully good price for a decent cup of coffee, nowadays), that adds up to $365.00 a year. If you saved that $365.00 for just one year, and put it into a savings account or investment that earns 5% a year, it would grow to $465.84 by the end of 5 years, and by the end of 30 years, to $1,577.50.

That’s the power of “compounding.” With compound interest, you earn interest on the money you save and on the interest that money earns. Over time, even a small amount saved can add up to big money.

If you are willing to watch what you spend and look for little ways to save on a regular schedule, you can make money grow. You just did it with one cup of coffee.

If a small cup of coffee can make such a huge difference, start looking at how you could make your money grow if you decided to spend less on other things and save those extra dollars.

If you buy on impulse, make a rule that you’ll always wait 24 hours to buy anything. You may lose your desire to buy it after a day. And try emptying your pockets and wallet of spare change at the end of each day. You’ll be surprised how quickly those nickels and dimes add up!

Pay Off Credit Card or Other High Interest Debt

Speaking of things adding up, there is no investment strategy anywhere that pays off as well as, or with less risk than, merely paying off all high interest debt you may have. Many people have wallets filled with credit cards, some of which they’ve “maxed out” (meaning they’ve spent up to their credit limit). Credit cards can make it seem easy to buy expensive things when you don’t have the cash in your pocket—or in the bank. But credit cards aren’t free money.

Most credit cards charge high interest rates—as much as 18 percent or more—if you don’t pay off your balance in full each month. If you owe money on your credit cards, the wisest thing you can do is pay off the balance in full as quickly as possible. Virtually no investment will give you the high returns you’ll need to keep pace with an 18 percent interest charge. That’s why you’re better off eliminating all credit card debt before investing savings. Once you’ve paid off your credit cards, you can budget your money and begin to save and invest. Here are some tips for avoiding credit card debt:

• Put Away the Plastic

Don’t use a credit card unless your debt is at a manageable level and you know you’ll have the money to pay the bill when it arrives.

• Know What You Owe

It’s easy to forget how much you’ve charged on your credit card. Every time you use a credit card, write down how much you have spent and figure out how much you’ll have to pay that month. If you know you won’t be able to pay your balance in full, try to figure out how much you can pay each month and how long it’ll take to pay the balance in full.

• Pay Off the Card with the Highest Rate

If you’ve got unpaid balances on several credit cards, you should first pay down the card that charges the highest rate. Pay as much as you can toward that debt each month until your balance is once again zero, while still paying the minimum on your other cards.

The same advice goes for any other high interest debt (about 8% or above) which does not offer the tax advantages of, for example, a mortgage.

Once you have paid off those credit cards and begun to set aside some money to save and invest, you’re in the savings habit! Now that you are freeing up some money to save and invest, it’s time to move ahead to the next stop in your journey.

Tips for proper investment

The concept of investment actually constitutes loads of common sense along with an attentive focus on the established primary factors which drive stock growth.

The two main reasons for the unsuccessful identification of good stocks are: Lack of knowledge and beating ourselves. Lack of knowledge springs up when the investors don’t know in proper consequence neither what they own nor the reason for their owning them. Beating ourselves entails being drowned in too many emotions; it can be either excessive fear or excessive greed.

There are basically four factors which can be used to identify the traits of great companies with great growth stocks. They are:

The Business model – it refers to the structural plan on how the company is planning to grow and develop, come out profitable and at the same time protect itself from its competitors. A good company usually describes their business models with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the moment they go public with their stock offerings and produce their annul reports. The elements of a business model are: a description on how they are make good profits. Then how they plan growth and retain the enhanced profit margins. Next, their strategies to prevent their competitors from getting a piece of their markets or profits.

The Assumptions – check out the key assumptions made by the company with regard to the stock market where they plan to develop their business model. It is a projection for the company and its product. It is based on anticipated competition and product demand. Standards are set and plans made to achieve early denominations according to the company core strategy.

The Strategy – this refers to the plan which the company has structured in order to implement their business model. This involves company –specific concepts like, operational differentiation and excellence.

The Management – they constitute the all important set of important people who actually gave birth to those business models, assumption, execution and everything else. A great management is a pre-requisite for the company to alter and regulate its business models for competitive circumstances. A great future is envisioned with the articulation of a unified and logical strategy for reaching the desired goal. The strategy needs to be based on the human, financial and technological resources that invariably are within the clutch of the company.

When you want to make a great investment, thoughtful focus is the key factor. A lot of investors are found to waste their time and energy chasing all the wrong set of information.  

Investment in Growth Stocks

Before a potential investment there are several points which the growth investor must take into account. Does the company which he has zeroed on in, possess a stable management and whether its finance credibility is positioned for sustained growth. Then he must check whether the present economic environment will benefit the particular industry of which the company is a part? And above all, the value of the stock is very important.

To determine a sound entry price for a strong growth stock can be a difficult task. But to determine the success of an investment, it is the most important factor. An investor would ideally be inclined to buy into a growth company very early, because he would naturally like to garner enough profit from its persistent growth. But at the same time it is very important for the investor not to place a huge chunk of his premium on his apprehension of the company’s growth potential. For, doing so might limit his future profits from another possible sector.

At the starting point the investor needs to decide about his own investment preference. He can either be a ‘value’ or a ‘growth’ investor or he can be both. But it is always advisable to choose a primary focus. It’s important to note that growth and value investment are not contradictory options but are rather two different approaches to an identical situation.

An investor can decide his own inclination regarding which strategy appears the most appealing. Given below are the basic characteristics of growth stock investment : 

• The average growth rates in revenue and earning of these companies are higher in comparison to the other companies.
• These companies cater to such industrial sectors which are continuously expanding. They are smoothly sailing through the current demographic and economic cycle.
• These companies do not pay dividends.
• These companies are characterized by such high growths that they often end up beyond the earning estimates.
• The continued growth of the company determines the holding period.  

Growth investment is all about estimating and predicting the future. It is constantly in the investor’s thought that whether the respective company would maintain the same steady pace in the stock market . He must be extremely concerned about the company plans and policies like revenue, earnings, and sales and so on. He needs to keep an eye on the industry and the level of participation of the company in that growth. Some attentive reading done online and the financial press can immensely help the growth stock investor. Another notable feature of the growth stock is that it belongs to growth industries. A growth industry is usually related to some kind of technology. Next, the growth stocks belong to companies that are small to mid-sized. In fact a wide range of factors keep the large companies away from maintaining a steady growth rate.

Five Things You Need In A Stock Trading Software

Stock trading software is one of the more common ways for investors to make trades.  If you did a search on any of the search engines, you would find hundreds of options to choose from.  Stock trading software helps an investor to make investment analysis decisions without having manually to do the technical analysis.  Nearly all data is provided to you, as well as analysis of it, so you can make decisions faster and easier.  It is especially helpful to those that are looking to make more decisions on investments themselves.  It works well for just about all traders including short and long-term investors, day traders or those who are just starting out.

How to do you select the right type of software? There are several things to keep in mind when doing so, including:

1.    Choosing stock software that you are comfortable with using.  Some programs give you free trials while others provide you with ample training tutorials.  Gather this information and use the software program.  Being comfortable in using the software means, you will be more confident in your decisions.

2.    Looking for more established software trading software companies instead of going with the newest product launched.  Those that have stuck around long term have had to keep up with the trends, and at the same time, they are often more proven machines.

3.    Avoiding the hype.  Any software program that promises to make you rich overnight or to do all the work for you is one that you really cannot trust in.  Rather, you want to find a company that can provide you with quality and respectable use.  If a program’s promises like this were true, wouldn’t all programs be offering it?

4.    Multifunctional software programs which are better equipped to provide you with more use.  Look for these programs instead of using those that are one dimensional.  For example, many offer real time stock quotes. That is fine, but others will provide you with a more all in one package.

5.    Do not be afraid to move.  If you simply do not like what you have, move to another program.  You are not tied down.

Stock trading software is an excellent tool to have, but remember that you are still responsible for every facet of your trading skill and strategy.  These will not make the decisions for you, but they will give you the investment tools to make those decisions.

Cash Flow Statements

Cash flow statements report a company’s inflows and outflows of cash. This is important because a company needs to have enough cash on hand to pay its expenses and purchase assets. While an income statement can tell you whether a company made a profit, a cash flow statement can tell you whether the company generated cash.

A cash flow statement shows changes over time rather than absolute dollar amounts at a point in time. It uses and reorders the information from a company’s balance sheet and income statement.

The bottom line of the cash flow statement shows the net increase or decrease in cash for the period. Generally, cash flow statements are divided into three main parts. Each part reviews the cash flow from one of three types of activities: (1) operating activities; (2) investing activities; and (3) financing activities.

Operating Activities

The first part of a cash flow statement analyzes a company’s cash flow from net income or losses. For most companies, this section of the cash flow statement reconciles the net income (as shown on the income statement) to the actual cash the company received from or used in its operating activities. To do this, it adjusts net income for any non-cash items (such as adding back depreciation expenses) and adjusts for any cash that was used or provided by other operating assets and liabilities.

Investing Activities

The second part of a cash flow statement shows the cash flow from all investing activities, which generally include purchases or sales of long-term assets, such as property, plant and equipment, as well as investment securities. If a company buys a piece of machinery, the cash flow statement would reflect this activity as a cash outflow from investing activities because it used cash. If the company decided to sell off some investments from an investment portfolio, the proceeds from the sales would show up as a cash inflow from investing activities because it provided cash.

Financing Activities

The third part of a cash flow statement shows the cash flow from all financing activities. Typical sources of cash flow include cash raised by selling growth stocks and bonds or borrowing from banks. Likewise, paying back a bank loan would show up as a use of cash flow.