3 Key Strategies To Use When Trading Stock Options

By Dale K Poyser

 One of the most critical, and I mean critical things to be aware of when trading options is choosing the right underlying stock for that particular option strategy. In a previous article I covered selling naked puts and covered calls. Now I'm going to talk about three strategies to use to help choose the right underlying stock.

Selling puts and calls is a waiting game. This strategy works best with stocks that do not move a lot. In other words, stocks that are somewhat non-volatile.

1 Stock must have an Options Chain

 There must be options available for that stock. Not all stocks have options, so options strategies cannot be applied to all stocks. The first step in selecting an underlying stock is to choose a stock that has an options chain. This can be verified easily enough by looking at the quote detail on any stock and selecting "chain" or "options chain." By selecting this for a particular stock, you can see a list of put options and call options by month and in some cases years (LEAPs) for expiration dates. You will also be able to view the different strike prices available for a particular stock. You can get this information on any stock site such as MSN, NASDAQ or similar sites. Once you have a list of stocks with options move on to the next step.

2 Technical Analysis

Most stock prices follow a certain pattern over time. People that are proficient in technical analysis can study these chart patterns and try to predict or anticipate the price movement of a stock. Past performance does not guarantee future success and stop losses are in place to address this. That being said, this tool is extremely powerful in predicting the future price patterns of a stock when applied properly and with discipline. Use technical analysis to identify stocks that are moving in tight ranges (not choppy) and ideally flat or slightly trending upward. Looking for rising trendlines and channels will be particularly useful. This should significantly narrow down your list from step 1. Lastly, apply technical analysis to the major indices such as the DOW Jones, NASDAQ, and S&P. Stocks tend to follow the direction of the market. Your chances of success will be much higher if you apply your strategy in line with the market direction. Technical analysis alone will greatly increase your chances of picking the right underlying stock for your options strategy.

3. Fundamental analysis.

This type of analysis involves looking at the financials of a particular stock. This involves things such as sales, income, debt to earnings, price to earnings, market cap, etc. Once you have narrowed down your list from methods one and two, further narrow down your list by choosing stocks with a strong balance sheet. Look for strong earnings, low debt, low price to earnings (P/E) and positive news about the company such as new products, etc. There is not much more to say on this strategy other than that you need to choose the right healthy underlying stocks for your options strategy.
In summary, options trading involves choosing the right underlying stock. This process can be made simple by first finding stocks that have an options chain, then applying technical analysis to find the right price pattern. Lastly, use fundamental analysis to narrow down this list to your master stocklist. Look for proper entry points and choose your option strike price based on these points.

Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/retirement-planning/3-key-strategies-to-use-when-trading-stock-options

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2 Quick And Easy Options Trading Strategies For Beginners

By Dale K Poyser

 Ever wanted to get into options investing but did not know how? Well, I’m going to give you a quick overview of options and then two options investing strategies that are quick and easy to implement.

Overview on options

The first thing to understand is that Options trading can be very speculative or very conservative, how much is entirely up to you. In other words, you can do everything from protecting a position from a decline to outright speculating on the movement of a stock, commodity, or index, this is the conservative approach. The high risk associated with options applies to the speculative approach. You can buy and sell options like you buy and sell stocks. Statistics show that 80% of Options “sellers” make money and 80% of options “buyers” lose money. So, which side do you think you should be on? That’s right, the sellers!

An option is a binding contract (between a buyer and a seller) that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a fixed amount of shares of an underlying asset at a specific price on or before the expiration date. For stock options the expiration date is usually the third Friday of every month, although there are some stocks that have options that expire weekly, Microsoft and Google are examples of stocks with weekly expiring options.

A call option gives the holder the "option" to buy the underlying stock at a specific price (strike price) before expiration. Calls are like being in a long position on a stock. Call buyers profit if the stock will increase significantly above the strike price before the option expiration date, otherwise the option expires worthless.

A put option gives the holder the "option" to sell the underlying stock at a specific price (strike price) before expiration. Puts are like being in a short position on a stock. Put buyers profit if the price of the stock falls significantly below the strike price before the option expires, otherwise the option expires worthless.

2 Quick and Easy Options Trading Strategies you can Implement today!!

The two options strategies I recommend for beginners are

1. Selling naked puts on stocks you would not mind owning, or
2. Selling covered calls on stocks you already own.

By selling naked puts you are basically being paid a premium upfront to buy a stock at a price YOU determine. If at expiration the stock never hits the price (strike price) of the option, you keep the premium free of any further obligation. At this point you are free to sell the put option for the next month out. You can do this strategy over and over again until you are forced to take ownership of the stock. At which point (you now own the stock) you can sell covered calls until someone buys the stock from you.

These easy options investing strategies are a great and very simple residual strategy that can easily make you 10% or more on your money every month. A key to these strategies are choosing the right underlying stocks and strike price of the options. This works best with non-volatile stocks.


Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/retirement-planning/2-quick-and-easy-options-trading-strategies-for-beginners

How To Make Money Buying And Selling Antiques and Collectibles!

How Much Do I Need To Save For Retirement

By C. Hughes

 I know that I have been wondering how much do I need to save for retirement. So I started looking around to see how bad my retirement situation really is. I won’t go into my details but the bottom line is that I’m way behind in my planning for retirement. I need a serious infusion of funding to make it through my “Golden Years”.

There are many places to identify how much you need to comfortably retire. What I was able to find indicates that I should have 1.2 million dollars saved in my retirement account to have a comfortable retirement and to live off the annuity from this.

One of the ways to capitalize on your funds if you haven’t saved enough is to postpone your retirement. Waiting just 5 years will make a big difference in the amount that is in your retirement account. Assuming that your account has $50,000 when you reach age 65, waiting until you reach age 70 before you retire and taking the last 5 years to maximize your 401K fund and assuming an 8% return on your investments, you will retire with $772,000 and be able to withdraw an annual salary of $72,000/year for the next 20 years.

While these calculations are fine and dandy if you have a nice nest egg, many of us were hurt by the financial meltdown over the last few years. It makes sense to keep working on your retirement funds but putting all of your eggs into that basket may not be the smartest way to fund your retirement.
I’ve found that an additional income stream that can allow you to save more toward your retirement and even fund it if you work at it. The nice thing about this self-employment opportunity is that it generates residual income once you have a few sites built and ranking, this can run unattended once you have set it up.

I’m referring to affiliate marketing on the internet. This is a business model that is very cheap to start. If you aren’t technologically saavy? There is a community of folks at Wealthy Affiliate that are more than willing to help you get started and learn everything you need to know in a safe environment. Will you need to dip into your retirement fund to learn? Fortunately there is no charge to get started and see what this training facility is all about. For the first 7 days, you will even get Premium level support features with the free membership.

After your first week, some of the high level features are suspended but all of the training for the Starter membership is still available. When you have exhausted the Starter Membership and covered all of the tutorials and certification courses, I suspect you too will have the bug and want to upgrade to the Premium level. If you choose not to upgrade to the very affordable paid membership, there will never be pressure for you to upgrade. I think you will see the value in it though.

If your retirement is looking bleak, and your funds are lacking, I highly recommend that you take a look at your earning power and find out if affiliate marketing is a way that you might close the gap. I know that I have chosen this method and am finding it to be a very helpful addition to my portfolio.

Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/retirement-planning/how-much-do-i-need-to-save-for-retirement

Index Funds vs Mutual Funds vs ETF (WHICH ONE IS THE BEST?!)

Retirement Tips For Baby Boomers

By Dave Swanson

 Before you or anyone chooses take that final step out of the workplace one needs to plan, plan and plan some more. I would start my final planning about 1 year before retirement. I’m going to list a few retirement tips for Baby Boomers, because as we get older we tend to overlook some important financial advantages we may have. Believe me when I say”take advantage of every retirement program that will better your income and life after retirement”.

1.The first thing I would do is to talk with a professional retirement planner. He or she will be able to break down all of you assets and future earnings and plug these numbers in to a program that will tell you who much money you’ll receive for retirement. After looking at your budget the planner can figure out how much money you’ll need for retirement. Put all this together and you will be able to see how many years your retirement money will last. This is only if you have IRAs and 401 Ks. If you are lucky enough to have a union or government pension your monthly stipend should not change, only for COLA.

2.There is another area in your planning that will need a professional to help you out with is, your investment portfolio. When you are retired you’ll want to get the most money each month. So you’ll have to look over your stocks and bonds. Diversify where you can. You never want to have all your eggs in one basket. Also, while you’re still working and you have income property, it would be a good idea to have a look at the property values and what it would take to get a second mortgage on some of the property. This would be another way to increase monthly income. But you must do this before you retire because the banks will want to see that you have sound employment before granting a loan.

3. Another good tip is try to have liquid assets available if you need them, you should have a cash reserve built up, 3 to 6 months worth should do. This fund is a “just in case” fund.

4.Health, sometimes even the smartest people overlook their health. If you need anything done like dental work, new glasses, cosmetic work or any costly medical work, get them done before you retire. Because Med a Care will not cover dental or vision. So get as much done before retirement when you still have good medical coverage.

5.Social Security, if you want your Social Security benefits to start on your 65th birthday you must fill out an application for retirement. You should apply for benefits no more than four months before the date you want your benefits to start. To get the application go on line to the Social Security web site, print out the application and fill it out. Then make an appointment with your local Social Security office. You will need you to bring the following with the filled out application, your Social Security card, your original birth certificate or other proof of birth, a copy of your U.S. military service discharge paper DD 214, and a copy of your W-2 form.

6.Now, for the last tip I have for you. If you’re in good health and don’t want to retire when your 65, then don’t. Keep on working; as a matter of fact you can keep working until your 70. Now if you choose to retire at age 70 you’ll receive $9804.00 more a year than if you retired at age 65. Think of this way, that’s another $817.00 per month that you would have never gotten if you retired at age 65.
In this article I have tried point out a few things that may help when you retire.

Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/retirement-planning/retirement-tips-for-baby-boomers

Investing Basics: Bonds

The Opportunities In The Student Housing Investment

By D Iqbal

 The European region and exclusively the British region have maintained a position that is much higher than any other countries in world for providing the students with the right kind of student facilities and the finest updated academic environment. This is the reason that more and more students have started taking admission in the universities in the country.

The trend has changed a lot in the past few years when the foreign students have arrived in the country to get the higher education as well. The Student Housing Investment UK has become one of the most reputed and profitable business since the number of students has increased.

The heads at the Knight Frank have suggested that there are considerable opportunities for the ones who are waiting to plunge in this pool of opportunity. The researches have also shown that the students prefer to have better environment for the student accommodation and are willing to pay more in the sector too. The students so forth go for the places that are more comfortable and have better facilities for them even if they are not in the university campus. This calls for a greater chance for the Student Housing Investment UK offers for the students.

The investment returns have also shown positive recommendations for the people who are searching for opportunity of growth in the sector. The sector thus explains a lot of significance for the future yields for the investors. The analysis of September 2013 showed that the returns were around 7.8 percent, which are expected to get better by time. This gives another greater opportunity for the Student Housing Investment UK.

The rental growth that has charged in a great way is expected to go over 3.0 percent that is anticipated to go at least until 2.7 percent. This gives many chances to invest in the part of property that is used by the students. The student accommodation has become a great kind of return in this area. The unavailability of the students has shown a great response in the area as well. The growth in the sector has increased a lot in comparison to the year 2011. The rise in the student market was seen by 13 percent in the recent years that accounts for major investments in the area as well.

The Student Housing Investment UK thus has proven itself a great manifestation as well. The recent growth shows that the yields in the student population will keep on increasing many folds in the sector by a great percentage. The investors have believe in the fact the lack of purposeful buildings for the students and the increased number of students in the hare will also lead to many fantastic opportunities for the students. This is in turn a great revenue and yield building possibility for the investors. This confidence is evidently seen through the construction that is done on the broader level by the biggest construction companies in town and the ones funded by the foreign investors as well.

Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/investing/the-opportunities-in-the-student-housing-investment

Options Trading: Understanding Option Prices

Options are priced based on three elements of the underlying stock.

1. Time
2. Price
3. Volatility 

Watch this video to fully understand each of these three elements that make up option prices. 

Binary Options - Getting Comfortable With Derivatives

By orcun

 Every day we see and easily understand real-life derivative relationships all around us. Once you get the hang of it you will see that most financial derivatives are not so difficult to grasp. While the mathematics might be daunting at first, merely getting an intuitive feel for the purpose and function of an individual derivative isn’t tough at all.

Let’s talk about the derivative relationship between parents and their children for a bit. We often see a child that looks like a dead ringer for one of its parents. We might be slightly taken aback at the amazing likeness, but this is, nonetheless, a familiar situation for us. Sometimes members of a large family look like differently scaled versions of each other. And we have all see the schoolmaster who projects past experiences for the new arrival: ‘‘Young Smith, I pray you don’t give me as much grief as your brother did!’’ Likewise, we are familiar with the fundamental adage that children are derivatives of their parents: ‘‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’’ Derivatives in financial markets also follow paths and values similar to those taken by their parents.

Financial derivatives such as options, futures, forwards, and swaps inherit their value directly from their parents. In fact, a financial derivative would not have a price at all if the parent ceased to exist (stopped trading). The parents are the three basic financial groups that we are already quite familiar with: stocks, bonds, and commodities.

Every day more and more derivative products are being churned out by inventive marketing departments. These ‘‘innovations,’’ however, are merely variations on the theme of the most important fundamental derivatives: binary options, forwards, and futures. These three derivatives are the three basic building blocks of all complex derivatives, such as swaps.

In a sense we will become financial investigators, delving into the whys and wherefores of the basic three derivatives. As such there is a lot of math involved, but it need not be painful. We will assume the reader has little background in math. We will follow the most intuitive paths possible and avoid as much complexity as we can. Binary options are far more complex in comparison to forwards and futures, both in the math needed to analyze them and in their implications. As such we will spend almost all our time discussing and analyzing options.

Binary options will definitely help you. In order to understand binary options better, read this article once more.

Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/day-trading/binary-options-getting-comfortable-with-derivatives

How The Stock Exchange Works (For Dummies)

Extremely Safe Investment Decisions

By Dale K Poyser

In order to make your hundreds of millions, you will find two fundamental matters you would need to consider in order to keep a greater portion of money. There's a simple reason veteran baseball players in addition to the sweepstakes champions lose ALL of their financial wealth after a few years. These folks neglect to have an understanding of a pair of simple ideas.

I prefer to tutor all my students that it can be easy to earn cash without any extra money, however many individuals you are aware of (we won't say names) more than likely told you otherwise. I am sure each time you called somebody with questions in regards to investment fundamentals, you were instructed to place cash in the stock exchange, and merely let it rest unless you will be ready to give up work and retire. That advice is the out of date process. and never ever the way I do things. Making an investment is extremely important, moreover making passive residual income is generally a great deal more imperative.

Having said that, some things which are somewhat more critical over passive income have proven to be these safe opportunities.

Investment option #1 - Debts Deletion

Almost what you envisioned ? This is probably among the easiest ways to build some funds on your purse. Tell me why would you be extremely pleased about creating 2% every single year within a Certificate of deposit while you are completing the bare minimum installment payments upon a bank card which often contains a yearly interest up to 19%?

That amount of money a person is forking out (in credit card interest payments) toward lending institutions is much more than your banker is now going to pay you to keep your income secured in a Certificate of deposit for 2-3 years or more.

Try to make cutting out credit balances an increasing priority and most importantly clear out all of those substantial interest rate store cards or perhaps move each of your accounts over to a master card with less costly monthly interest.

With what you should keep from every-month payments relating to a high interest credit card, it is possible to make use of for the purpose of passive income and also reducing your existing living costs.

Financial investment #2 - Try Advancing Your Personal Knowledge

A second vital investment decision which happens to be low risk is generally educating yourself. I'm certain you're conscious the far more trained people obtain the most dollars. Take into account Entrepreneurs, Legal Counsels, Doctors, Jet pilots, for example.

Not all people can be the next Peyton Manning, Joe Montanna, Michael Vick, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, or perhaps Jay-Z. You may need knowledge about "something" in case you actually want to be financially victorious in your life.

Across the country now a days, it is easy to do well devoid of attending a 2yr or simply 4yr university. You can possibly get educated on lots of things merely by figuring them out in your own schedule and time frame, and even benefiting from accreditation.

A few years in the past, I did a fantastic internship while I was a student in college. While there, I first met a university dropout who was doing greater than $150,000 per year as he had trained on his own and also got a certain amount of IT qualifications.

If you consider things with an open mind, you would be surprised at the possibilities.
I am sure you are in all likelihood seeking the top ideas to make residual income, all right, that is within the additional page I penned. This article is dealing with just two erogenous yet , VERY substantial investment decisions. You'll need a great building block on your behalf if you are serious about building wealth from scratch.

Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/retirement-planning/extremely-safe-investment-decisions

House Prices After Brexit

How To Choose The Best Investment Strategy

By Don Meyer

 The income that we have all been receiving from our savings has been dwindling dramatically over recent years, so if we are to be able to make any sort of return on our money then choosing the best investment strategy is absolutely vital to achieving our financial goals. Inflation is one of the key drivers in needing to plan this strategy, as most savings accounts at the moment are paying interest below the rate of inflation, which leads to the capital effectively decreasing in value.

There are many reasons why you need to be considering your strategy to investing as a whole, because by looking at your investments individually could leave you vulnerable if you are over-committed to one sector or one type of investment. You also need to be certain of how long you are planning to keep your money in the investments, so that you can tailor the risks you take so as to remain able to achieve your goals. There really are very many things to be considered choosing the best investment strategy.

One of the common investment strategies if you are looking to earn a regular income from your investments is to stick mainly to those stocks which have a proven track record of paying out reasonable dividend payments from their profits year after year, and focus on that income, rather than in the temporary fluctuations of the market. If you think that this is the best investment strategy for you, but don’t require the regular income, then many funds will allow you to re-invest any dividends into the same shares to grow your capital invested.

If, however, you are looking to make swifter and more dramatic gains in the value of your investment, then you may need to look at taking more risk. The key with looking for these is that there is greater possibility of actually losing your capital. Investing in the stocks directly can be particularly risky, but there are also funds which you can use to invest and spread the risk for you. The fields most likely to achieve result if you think this is the best investment strategy are the smaller companies and emerging markets.

You can also consider looking at investing in the bond market, with many large companies having issued bonds in the aftermath of the credit crisis, but it is generally considered that most of these bonds are close to the top of their value at the moment, so now may not be the right time for this.
Ultimately, getting the best out of your investments will depend on what you are looking to achieve, and choosing an investment strategy to match.

Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/stocks/how-to-choose-the-best-investment-strategy

Your pension fund is worth almost nothing? Find out why. | Dr. Christopher Sier | TEDxOxBridge

Why Buy Gold?

By Jeff Sneeringer

 Why buy gold? Why not marbles, sports cards or antiques? The answer is simple. There is nothing else, with the exception of other precious metals, that has a guaranteed value. With gold you can basically sell it at spot price anywhere in the world. There is no waiting for someone to buy, you can sell it on demand.

Guaranteed Value

If I offered a 1 ounce gold coin to a dealer or investor in Ney York, London or Moscow I would receive the same price from any one of them. They would all pay the current spot value, no questions ask. If I had any other product I'd have to advertise it for sale and wait until someone buys it. And it may never even sell. So thats the common sense reason to invest in gold.

Preserves Wealth

Another good answer to the question why buy gold is that throughout history gold has always held a constant value. This qualifies it as a preserver of wealth. It has never became worthless like paper currencies. In fact, every paper currency in history has eventually collapsed. There is much talk that the U.S. Dollar will soon follow the same tradition. Other countries who invest in the dollar are already running scared. None of them are buying Treasury Bonds like they had in the past. And guess where they are all moving their reserve currencies, into gold!

Independent Asset

One important characteristic about gold is that it's an asset class of its own. It can not be affected by economic conditions of any particular country, which means it can't be inflated or deflated. Paper currencies are the exact opposite. They are constantly being inflated and deflated. Governments can not control gold and that is why we no longer have the gold standard. With paper money the government can crank up the printing presses and completely manipulate the economy. But as we may soon see, they can only do it for so long!

Investment Hedge

The reason investors include gold in their portfolio is for a safety net. It's a great hedge to help protect against the decline of their other investments. One thing about gold is when the stock market declines, gold shines. That inverse affect on the price of gold gives it the credibility to be the one investment to rely on when others lose value.

It's Rare

Probably the biggest reason gold remains so consistent in value is because it can not be produced. Even other commodities such as wheat or sugar can be created. Paper currencies can be printed. But there is no way to create gold out of thin air. And there is only so much gold that has every been mined, 165,000 metric tonnes to be exact. In its pure state it could all fit in a cube the size of a football field. This makes it the rarest of all commodities.

So, you no longer have to wonder, why buy gold. And when you invest a pile of your, "soon to be", worthless dollars into the shinny metal, you can be confident you haven't lost your marbles!

Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/futures-and-commodities/why-buy-gold

How Much Income Do You Need In Retirement?

Your Transition To Retirement

By John T Jones, Ph.D.

 Have you thought about your transition to retirement? Young or old you need to think about it. Young people need to plan for retirement and old people need to preserve their assets during retirement. I am not a financial advisor or retirement planner. I do want to tell you what I've learned over the years and how it has affected my retirement.

When you are young you think about buying a home, raising children, and going to Disney World. When you are middle-age you think about getting your children through college and taking a trip to France. When you are near retirement age you think about planning for retirement. When you retire, you feel that you should have planned sooner.

When there was job stability in this country we could expect our employer to do our retirement planning with pension plans and RIAs. Now that has gone to the dogs there being little stability in business. Our retirement left for China last year.

At some time during our life we learn that we should be saving for retirement. Few do it. Some times you will read a sign on the back of an RV saying, I'm Spending My Children's Inheritance. That means that the driver doesn't realize that the "children's inheritance" will be spent during his retirement years just to survive.

Following are some things that can help you as you plan for retirement. The younger you are the better. Don't wait until you are sixty years old to start planning.

1. Save 10 Percent of Your Income: That means to "pay yourself first." This "nest egg" will help you in those times when economic situations would plunge you into debt. It also can be used to take advantage of opportunities that will better your retirement.

2. Carry life and medical insurance to protect your family and to reduce financial risk. You can learn about insurance on the Internet before you purchase insurance.

3. Keep your eye on your financial advisor. He is looking to earning a living and he may recommend funds, annuities, and other instruments which pay him a large commission but are not really in your interest.

4. Avoid risk in the stock and bond markets. You are gambling with your retirement money. You may want to put some percentage of your investments in stocks because the stock market is known to improve yield. However, it can also destroy your retirement in one swell swoop. Never buy and sell options from your retirement funds.

5. Think about investments that preserve your capital. Annuities may be of interest. I got out of the stock market and bought some annuities some years back. They have had a good return and the death benefit is guaranteed. Mine our in IRAs so I must remove a certain percentage every year to avoid excessive tax.

6. Think about investing in assets having intrinsic value. Land, art, diamonds, and other such instruments of investment can be profitable. But you must know what you are doing.

7. Learn to stay out of debt when you are young. Grow fruits and vegetables and preserve them for consumption later. Keep your home in good repair. It is one of your main assets. Be frugal and don't blow money on things you don't really need. You can always make do, repair, or go without.

8. Teach your children to be independent, to work hard, and to contribute to the welfare of the family.

9. Think about long-term care for the eventuality that you or your spouse will have to be placed in a care center. This will protect your assets and reduce your cost if that occurs. Check out your long-term company carefully. Mine is in trouble and I may have to go to the State of Arizona where I bought the policy to receive help (most states guarantee long-term policies).

I hope your have a secure and happy retirement. Plan for it.

Fly Old Glory!

Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/retirement-planning/your-transition-to-retirement

Warren Buffett's Top 10 Rules For Success

7 Amazing Tips on Dividend Growth Investing for Beginners

If you’re approaching or are in retirement already, then you’re probably considering buying dividend stocks. These can grow and throw some cash your way regularly.

However, dividend growth is not something only the older folk should think about. Even if you are on the younger side, while the conventional advice often handed out is to bet on high-growth stocks that might not payout any dividends, dividend stocks investment is still a fantastic way to diversify.

With a constant and growing cash flow stream, dividend stocks can allow an investor to use the cash to meet their day-to-day needs or reinvest the cash with the goal of compounding their interests.

Like most investing principles, investing in dividend stocks is really not that difficult. Once you get over the learning curve, you’ll find it’s easier to navigate than you may have thought.
Looking to get started? Read on for seven amazing tips on how you can grow your dividend investments as a beginner.

Assess Growth Potential

Good investors assess their dividends growth potential. To analyze this growth potential, not only will you have to know how much free cashflow per/share of the company can grow over time but you’ll also have to analyze the payout ratios of the company.

All this will come down to the growth prospects analysis of the underlying business, which will then need you to review management’s capital allocation policies, margin expansion potential, total addressable market and the competitive advantages of the company.

Basically, all you’d usually need to assess when reviewing any dividend, stock payer.

Know The Rules

Different stocks have different rules as far as dividend payouts are concerned. For example, aside from the regular common stocks which everyone usually knows about, you can also get
your hands on special-classed dividend-producing equities the likes of Business Development Corporations, Real Estate Investment Trusts and Master Limited Partnerships.

All the above mentioned high-yield investment classes have different rules for how they are taxed and how many dividends they’re required to payout.

Invest In Things You Understand

A stock screener will help you apply the quantitative filters you’ll need when making such investments. Once you’ve screened all the possibilities out there, make a list of all the dividend stocks that have the potential to grow.

Carefully evaluate and scrutinize this list of companies you’ve jotted down and then only try to pick the businesses that you can say you truly understand.

It’s key in financial planning you ask yourself some of these very important questions:

• Do I know their product?
• Do I fully understand the business model they’re using?
• Do I know how the business makes money?
• Is That Particular Stock Reasonably Valued?

This is arguably among the most vital factors of any good dividend growth investment strategy. You’ll want to look at dividend stocks that have outstanding upside potential even though they may possess limited downsides.

If you want to find these types of stocks, look for the ones that are well-known for being shareholder-friendly. Next, run what you’ve picked through a thorough quantitative analysis, that should include the below list of criteria for finding dividend stock that that has been undervalued:

• EBITDA/Enterprise Value ratio of below 10x
• Price/Earning Per Share ratios of below 20x
• Stocks that have been increasing dividend by at least five percent per year for a long while

Know The Dividend Growth Investment Coverage Ratio

Once you’ve identified the dividend stock, you’re interested in buying, look at how safe that dividend is. For that, you must look at such things like cash dividend payout ratios and payout ratio.

Traditional payout ratios will tell you what the percentage of the net income the company has earned is given out as dividends. For example, a twenty-five percent payout ratio will mean that the business is basically handing out dividends that equal twenty-five percent of the net income earned.

The remaining seventy-five percent is left available for paying down debt, stock buybacks, or reinvestment in growth. Well, at least in theory that is. However, you can also look at the payout
ratio related to the free cashflow of the company as a measurement to analyze how safe the dividend is.

Safety First

All these measures listed above can be used to judge both the growth and health of a dividend stock, as well as help assess its risks. For example, yes you might find a company that sports a high-yield, but you might find out later that it may be forced to decrease dividend payout for growth investment or in order to reduce debt if it’s a shrinking or stalling business.

A lot of people out there have been burned chasing those large dividend yields, only to end up losing a large chunk of principal when the business starts cutting down the dividend payouts. This tip is arguably one of the most important tips of them all, even though it’s way down here. It should be in the mind of every budding investor and that includes you if you’re a beginner that is.

Don’t Overthink Your Stock Portfolio

If you’re just starting out, choose simple investing platforms that don’t push you to overthink or overtrade your investments. Remember, you ideally want to be whatever you’re in for the long haul. And, if that’s the case, then there’s no need to be checking your account daily, is there?

With that said, being able to receive a notification here and there is still quite helpful, especially when there’s something big that’s going on. You can consider getting all your stock related data getting pushed to you instantly.

Why Does All This Help?

For starters, we know that dividend stocks reduce by fractions every day. However, that doesn’t mean some of them don’t have brighter futures in the long term. You need to know how to reinvest income back into the portfolio to help ensure dividend growth for yourself.

Stick to it. Before you know it you’ll be enjoying the peace of mind that your retirement is covered and then some. Check out our blog for more information and inspiration to help you manage your finances.

Originally Posted On: https://ventsmagazine.com/2020/02/03/7-amazing-tips-on-dividend-growth-investing-for-beginners/

Stock Option Explained

Correction: At 4:20, the graph in the top left-hand corner is slightly off; for total return, the curve should not intercept at (30,0), but rather should be shifted slightly to the left so that the bend in the line occurs at (30,-2). Sorry for the blunder.

4 Reasons, Many Consider Real Estate, A Good Investment

By Richard Brody 

There are many alternatives, when it comes to, making our decisions, about how, and where, to invest our funds/ monies! Options include: the stock market; bond market; commodities; United States Treasury vehicles; and real estate. Since, historically, many consider, real estate, one of the most secure, long - term strategies, and owning a home, of one's own, is often, considered, a major component of the so - called, American Dream, this article will attempt to discuss 4 reasons, many feel this way, and use their funds, to purchase family homes, as well as investment properties. With that in mind, this article will attempt to, briefly, consider, examine, review, and discuss, how, and why, this matters.

1. Historically, keeps up with, and/ or, exceeds inflation, and the rate - of - return, many other options, provide: In addition to many other reasons, historically, the appreciation in value of real estate, has kept - up. with, and/ or, exceeded the rate of inflation. It also has been, in the longer - run, one of the safest, most secure, vehicles, available! Many analyses show, also, the overall rate, for real estate, to be better, than most of the other options!

2. Several purposes, including living expenses, and asset appreciation/ value: When one purchases a home, of his own, he satisfies several purposes, including, his living expenses, and pride of ownership! However, it is especially, satisfying, while doing so, the value of houses, over the longer - run, generally increases, by, at least, the rate of inflation. Many also purchase real estate, for investment purposes, such as buying multi - family properties, etc. When doing so, they also receive tax benefits, including being able to depreciate the property, on a schedule, for tax purposes. Also, remember, if you don't own your house, you are still paying rent, which has no rate of return!

3. Better than average returns, over - time: Statistically, on an historic - basis, real estate values have increased, over - time, not only, at a rate, greater than inflation, but, also, better returns than many other investment vehicles.

4. Paying yourself, instead of your landlord: Your personal home, can either be owned, by you, or by your landlord! When you rent your residence, it provides your housing, but you receive no other financial benefits! Who would you rather pay, monthly, yourself, or your landlord?

It is wise to fully consider your personal situation, comfort zone, and priorities, and perceptions, before making any investments. After this process, remember to include housing, and real estate, in your overall analysis!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10221635

Pensions UK explained - Pension Basics

Money Investment Tips for Beginners: A Few Things You Need to Learn Before Getting Started

By George Botwin

If you're new to investing, it might all seem overwhelming. There are so many different types of investments in every market imaginable. Some people are more comfortable investing in mutual funds while others prefer to purchase individual stocks. It's essential that you research all of your options carefully and then get started with a small initial investment. Your broker or consultant should be able to give you money investment tips based on your risk factor, current financial situation, and amount of money you will be able to afford to put into an account each month. Never, ever invest with money that you cannot afford to lose, even if market conditions and statistics seem to be in your favor.

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

• "Mock investing simulators" are available and free. It's really recommended that you practice using one of these before investing any real money. Using this kind of tool will really help you give you an understanding of your risk factor level and how you can diversify your portfolio in a way that is most favorable to you. You can also learn from your mistakes when using fake money in a mock account so that you won't make those same mistakes when investing real money.

More Money Investment Tips to Grow Your Wealth

• Don't overlook the IRA option. Putting money into an IRA account can be very rewarding - especially if you pick the right account. There are essentially two options: Roth and Traditional. With the traditional option, the contributions are deductible on your taxes. On the other hand, Roth contributions are not deductible, but the withdrawals you make in retirement WILL be tax free.

• Consider how much of your portfolio should actually be in stocks. Due to the potential long-term fluctuations, it makes sense that younger investors could ultimately profit, as they literally have decades to wait for the conditions of those stocks to be very beneficial to them. Likewise, as people get older, they tend to reduce exposure to stocks in order to preserve their capital. However, these are not rules that are set in stone. Each individual is different.

• Learn about the red flags you should be watching out for. For instance, if there is a particular stock that keeps dropping and dropping over the past 3 - 5 years, you should probably stay away from it. Just look at the charts. Also, it's pretty obvious that you'll not want to purchase any stock from a company that is currently under any type of investigation.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10170967

A look inside hedge funds

Metals Used in Modern British Coins

By Les Kendall

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

We handle coins on virtually a daily basis. We talk about their worth, and collectors like us discuss their designs in great detail. But unless the coin is some precious metal we rarely investigate what metals make up the coin and why they were used. So I thought I would.

Can we use any metal?
Actually, no. We have to remember that coins are the physical and practical manifestation of money. We handle them, store them and exchange them on a very regular basis. So coins must have some fundamental properties

Coins must be safe to touch.
We can't have radioactive coins or made from material that would be toxic to humans.
Coins need to be durable.
We would like coins to have a long life of 30 years of more. The metal used must be fairly hard wearing and not decompose due to the constant handling of humans or from the weather. Coins that would rust quickly are no use to us. So the metal needs to have high wear resistance and anti-corrosive properties.
Coins need to be easy to manufacture.
We need to have tens of millions (or more) of coins in circulation. We must be able to used efficient processes to manufacture this number. We use stamping and pressing so the metal need to be soft enough for use to use dies to do this.
The value of the metal must be less than the face value of the coin.
If we made pennies using gold they would disappear to the smelters as fast as they were minted and the country would be bankrupt!
It's not always obvious as you may think, as conditions change with time. Pre-1992 British pennies were 97% copper with 2.5% Zinc plus 0.5% tin, an alloy known as Bronze. Twenty years later this meant there was 1.5 pence of copper in each penny.
So the range of metals suitable is limited and in most cases alloys of one or more metals are used.
Coin metals have changed over the years
To prevent the penny problem described above, from 1992 the British penny is actually copper-plated steel, consisting of 94% steel and only 6% copper.
America had a similar problem. Cents were made from copper (except during the War years when copper became scarce) but nowadays cents are copper plated zinc.
Silver was a popular material for circulating coins from very early days. In Britain before 1921 silver coins (like shillings, florins, halfcrowns) were 92.5% pure silver (sterling silver, the rest usually copper). This became 50% silver and by 1947 there was no actual silver in "silver" coins.
Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) became the popular choice to replace silver. Cupronickel is shiny like silver and highly resistant to corrosion in seawater. However, by 2011 the copper price was sufficient to move the lower denomination silver coins (5p, 10p) to use nickel-plated steel (94% steel, 6% nickel).
50 pence pieces are still Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel), as are £5 coins (which replaced the 25p crown in 1990). For some reason, 20 pence coins are called Cupronickel but have a different ratio of 84% copper, 16% nickel.
As coins last much longer than banknotes, the One-Pound note was replaced with a one-pound circular coin introduced in 1984. To give it a gold-like colour the alloy was 70% copper, 24.5% zinc and 5.5% nickel.
Bi-metallic Coins
Bi-metallic Coins have been around for some time but not in the UK. There was a tin farthing with a copper plug in 1692 but for most purposes the £2 coin was a first.
The Two Pound (£2) coin is a bimetallic coin introduced in 1998 (although the first are dated 1997). The outer circle is Nickel-Brass (76% Copper, 20% Zinc, 4% Nickel) and the inner ring is Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel).
Having different materials for outer and inner circle means that the outer circle can be harder then the inner circle, giving protection to the coin. It also makes the coin more difficult to duplicate as counterfeiting is an eternal problem with circulating coinage.
Unfortunately, coins are much easier to forge than banknotes. By 2014 it was estimated that 3% of the round pound coins were counterfeit and the Royal Mint redesigned the one-pound into a 12-sided bi-metallic coin with many built-in security features.
The new one-pound coin was launched in 2017. The outer ring is gold coloured nickel-brass (76% Copper, 20% Zinc, and 4% Nickel) and the inner ring is a silver coloured nickel-plated alloy. The Royal Mint struck 300 million of them!
Precious Metal Bullion and Proof Coins
UK gold coins are basically the gold Sovereign and the gold Britannia and their families.
Years ago the sovereign was a working coin that was often handled and as gold is a very soft metal copper was added to make the coin harder and more resistant to wear. The gold sovereign is 22 carat, which is 91.67% gold as in the traditional ratio of 11/12ths gold, 1/12th copper.
These days bullion coins are only lightly handled and proof versions are almost never touched, so the UK has gone with the trend and the gold Britannia is minted in 999.9 gold (99.99%).
Silver Britannia's are 999 silver. The Royal Mint also uses Platinum for some coins at 0.9995 standard.
Some Silver coins are gold plated. The Alloy of gold and silver is called Electrum.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Les_Kendall/700422