Our Guide to Investing Information

Just to give you give you a feel for how popular online investing is today - it's estimated that over 200 securities firms now offer clients the ability to invest online.  Times are changing and investing over the Internet represents a dramatic change in the relationship between the broker and their clients.

In case you haven't noticed, Money-Zine is really an Investing Newsletter.  In case you've never really looked around, we have taken the website and broken it down into three distinct areas or sections - Investing, Career Development, and Financial Planning.  Each of these sections is further broken down into categories.

If you're one of those folks that dread the thought of working until their 70 years old, then welcome to the club.  If given the choice between working and retiring early, many of us would pick this second choice.  But what options do we really have?  Planning to invest for an early retirement is certainly one option.

This is going to be a first in a series of investor articles aimed at helping you get ready for retirement.  This particular article will address how the beginner should be investing for retirement.  What do we mean by beginner?  We're talking about those that are just starting their careers and have time on their side.

At one time everyone is a beginner, even the most skilled investors started out that way.  So if you're one of those persons that have decided that they now have an opportunity to put some money away in terms of a real investment portfolio, here is one of those lessons dedicated to investing for beginners that can help you with the basics.

Investing for Kids is a pretty popular topic for two reasons.  First, there are lots of parents trying to teach their kids about the value of money.  Second, the kids themselves are looking for the investing information.  That's good new because teaching kids how to invest is a lesson that will last them a lifetime.

Investing for Dummies is just another way of admitting that we really want things simplified.  That is probably what made the book series so popular.  Someone gave me a copy of Windows 95 for Dummies.  At the time I was already an "expert" on personal computers but I read through it anyway.  It was a long book that explained things in simple terms.

If you're a computer geek that thinks a big dollar salary means you're rich, we might have some bad news for you.  You need to recode your brain because that particular if / then statement has some serious flaws in its logic.

All serious investors do their homework before buying a stock.  After all, it's your hard earned money and you want to make sure it's working as hard as possible for you.  Here we're starting a journey that is going to help you read through online stock reports and snapshots.  By the time we're all done, you'll be a more confident investor.

While stock quotes might seem like a pretty straightforward topic, there is a lot of information that usually accompanies the current price of a stock.  Many novice investors might overlook some of that information, but guess what?  It's there for a reason.

If you're new to investing in stocks, then earnings per share is perhaps the single most important topic you should understand before investing money in the market.  Earnings per share are where the financial "rubber" meets the road.  In fact, because of the importance of earnings to shareholders, a great deal of time is spent developing and evaluating earnings per share estimates.

If you've ever been around someone that is actively investing in the stock market, then you've probably heard them throw around terms like P/E ratio and Leverage.  These terms are financial ratios and understanding what these financial ratios are telling you about a company can make a difference between picking a winning stock or a dog.

It's unfortunate, but the publicity around the Martha Stewart insider trading scandal has resulted in a real misunderstanding of insider trading.  In fact, not all insider trading information is bad and it can be useful to look at when researching stocks.

One of the important facts you should understand when researching stocks is the reporting of stock ownership figures.  Stock ownership provides us not only with a glimpse into who are the major shareholders in a company, but also what have been the recent changes in shares held by those same institutions or individuals over time.

There are lots of ways in which the average investor can participate in the real estate market ranging from the purchase of commercial office space to participation in real estate investment trusts (REITs).  In this article we're going to discuss three specific ways to invest in real estate and later on we're going to provide some tips for those that are new to this area.

So you like the idea of investing in real estate, but you're not sure of your options when it comes to financing your real estate purchases.  Here we're going to talk about commercial real estate investment loans so you have a better idea of the choices available to you.

Current estimates indicate there are between 150 and 200 real estate investment clubs across the United States representing somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 individual investors.  Needless to say it's a thriving environment where the new and the old come together to share ideas and discuss real estate opportunities.

A real estate investment trust or REIT is a company or entity that invests in different kinds of real estate including shopping malls, commercial office buildings, and hotels.  This kind of trust can also invest in real estate related assets such as mortgages. 

With the miserly returns the stock market has offered us over the past five years, many individuals are looking for attractive alternatives such as investing in real estate.  We can think of at least three ways investors can get into the real estate market - purchasing a home or apartment as a primary residence, owning investment properties, and buying into a real estate mutual fund or investment trust.

There are many ways to invest in real estate, but one of the more interesting ways is through tax lien certificates.  To be more accurate, you're not really investing in real estate - but you might wind up with a new home if the homeowner never pays their taxes.  If you think this is an interesting concept, then keep on reading.

Tax lien investing is the practice of paying delinquent property taxes for another party.  When an investor purchases a tax lien certificate, they become a lien holder on the property itself.  This gives the investor a legal right to foreclose on the property under certain conditions.  In fact, the property cannot even be sold or refinanced until the lien is satisfied.

Investing in bonds is something that you may not be quite as comfortable with as you are with investing in stocks.  In fact, many investors can easily make the transition from a mutual fund to individual stock picks much faster than from mutual funds to bond holdings.

In our first article in this series on investing in bonds, we described how companies used bonds to fund their growth.  We also described the four basic types of bonds that are issued by companies or government agencies to the public.  In this part of the series we will describe some bond terminology, and the process for calculating bond yields.

This is the final article in this series outlining concepts dealing with investing in bonds.  To date we've discussed why companies or government agencies issue bonds and the different types of bonds issued.    We've also covered some of the more common bond terms you might encounter and how to calculate bond yields.  Here we are going to finish up by discussing bond redemption features and bond quality ratings.

Many investors mistakenly believe that all bonds are the same.  That is simply not true and bond ratings were specifically developed to help investors understand the relative risk involved with the purchase of various bonds.  Except for federally issued bonds, all bonds carry a potential risk of default.  Bond ratings enable the investor to evaluate and balance the risk of default with the interest payments paid on the bond.

There are basically two ways that individuals can invest in fixed-income securities - bond funds or individual bonds.  The vast majority of bonds are held by large institutions such a banks, pension plans and insurance companies.  Roughly 10% of all bonds are held directly by individuals.

First authorized in 1997, Treasury-Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS, are securities issued by the U.S. Treasury whose principal is linked to the Consumer Price Index.  TIPS offer investors the opportunity to buy bonds, while at the same time protect themselves against inflation.

One of the more interesting developments in the world of credit derivatives is the credit default swap, or CDS.  First used by bond investors as protection against default by the issuer of a bond; today these instruments are used by investors to fine tune their overall exposure to corporate credit, as well as for speculation.

If you're trying to compare a bond's yield to other investment options you've got, then you really only need four pieces of information - the bond's par value, its market price, its maturity date, and the bond's coupon rate.  That's all the information you need to calculate your return from a bond.  But as we'll discuss later on, really understanding bond yields is little more complex than just calculating a yield to maturity.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, international investing continues to be a popular and expanding area for American investors.  As early as 1985, the total capitalization, or market value, of foreign stocks surpassed the value of U.S. stocks for the first time.  Add to this the tripling of the number of foreign companies that have registered with the SEC over the last 15 years and we see an interesting trend emerging

With the decline in the dollar's value relative to other currencies, there has been a surge of interest in investing in euros.  Now before we lose all credibility in the financial community, we want to make it perfectly clear that we understand that the title should be Investing in Euro.

If you've been thinking about investment opportunities that involve other countries such as offshore investing, you need to make sure you've got all the information you need to make the right decision.  Most countries do not offer investors the same protections as those available in the United States through agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If you live in the United States, then an offshore bank account would be defined as any account held outside of the United States.  Opening an offshore account has some immediate advantages to the investor in terms of finance, privacy, and taxes.

If you've ever traded stocks, then it's only natural to wonder what commodity trading is all about.  Here we're going to give you a little introduction to the commodities market - just enough to whet your appetite.  We'll run through the background of the market and the types of contracts you can buy.  Later in this series we'll and talk about futures contracts in more detail and some of the hedging strategies used by those trading commodities.

When you buy a stock, you're taking an equity stake in the company and usually plan to hold that investment for a relatively long time.  Trading in futures contracts is a little bit different than trading in stocks.  That's because with futures, you are buying a contract that has a finite lifespan.

Every day the world is becoming a little bit smaller and because of the realities of a global marketplace, the need for currency trading is growing.  In fact, even as consumers travel to other countries they need to have a fundamental understanding of foreign currency exchange or forex rates.

There are some hobbyists that collect gold coins and there's a five dollar word for that a person with that habit - numismatist.  Now while some of these numismatists might realize that gold coins can be a pretty good investment, they're not really investing in gold coins - they are collectors.

Ever since its discovery, people have been investing in gold due to its beauty and scarcity.  In fact, according to the US Mint, gold is so rare on Earth that all of the gold ever mined could fit into a cube that is just 60 feet on each side.  These are just some of reasons that gold continues to enjoy widespread interest as an investment opportunity.

Once in a while those marketing folks come up with a great name and Drip Investing is certainly one of those situations.  The term Drip is really an abbreviation for dividend reinvestment plans, which offer investors the opportunity to reinvest all or a portion of their dividend payments right back into the company's stock.

The exchange traded note, or ETN, was introduced to the investment community back in mid-2006 by Barclays Bank - the largest provider of exchanged traded funds, or ETFs.  These two fund types have a lot in common and if you want to understand the difference between an ETN and an EFT just keep on reading.

Socially responsible investing is a catch phrase used to describe several types of investment strategies - Ethical Investing, Green Investing and even Faith-Based Investing.  For the most part, this type of investment strategy is limited to individual stocks or mutual funds.

Cash flow is an important concept to understand when evaluating a company's overall financial health or when trying to understand the impact of a new investment or project on a company's finances.  The reason so many investors are interested in cash flow is that it removes all of the accounting allocations and delivers a clearer picture of the inflows and outflows of money.

We've already explained how to put a business case together based on a cash flow analysis.  In this article we're going to be focusing on how to interpret the results of a business case by examining some of the more common financial measures associated with cash flow results / analysis.

This is the last and final publication in our series dealing with cash flow concepts.  This article is going to explain how to go about building a cash flow statement.  And while you might never be asked to create a cash flow statement, understanding the concepts behind cash flow will give you a much greater appreciation for its value in evaluating the financial health of a company.

Net Income is arguably the single most important measure of a company's profitability.  And in the end, generating profits is perhaps the most important responsibility that for-profit companies have to their shareholders.  In fact, it's the very reason that many companies exist.

The income statement is the financial statement that allows a business as well as investors to understand if a company is operating successfully.  The income statement is often used to help value a company's stock and it's also used by credit rating agencies to determine the creditworthiness of a company.

This is the final publication in our series dealing with income statements.  This article is going to explain how to go about building an income statement.  And while you might never be asked to create an income statement, understanding the concepts behind net income, profitability, or corporate earnings will help you to better understand the financial health of a company.

Worried about rising interest rates? As consumers wrestle with what the numbers mean, personal finance experts point out that rising rates may have very different effects on your day-to-day budget, depending on what your expenses are, and whether your debt is in credit cards, mortgages or other consumer loans.

For many investors, and even some tax professionals, sorting through the complex IRS rules on investment taxes can be a nightmare. Pitfalls abound, and the penalties for even simple mistakes can be severe. As April 15 rolls around, keep the following five common tax mistakes in mind - and help keep a little more money in your own pocket.

It seemed a crazy question.  But there it was... staring at me from the page. 'Would you work for or invest in a company that was insolvent?' 'Not unless I had more money than sense I thought', and even then, I'd be hard pushed!

I first learned the phrase 'pay yourself first' from Robert Kiyosaki, the author of "Rich Dad Poor Dad",  (link below). And then I beleive I also read it in another book called "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clason.

In 67 years, the SEC hasn't found a way to protect investors from their own stupidity. I'm not sure that you can outlaw stupidity. I'm certain that it can't be done by 20,000 Government lawyers.

Every stock and mutual fund investment should come equipped with a feature called a 'Stop Loss'. Unfortunately, most brokers only have that feature available on some stocks listed on some stock exchanges. Stocks listed on other exchanges, or those that do not have that feature at all, do not have the capability of monitoring price fluctuations on behalf of the consumer.

There are 7 common factors to those who build net fortunes of one million dollars or more. In America, there has never been more personal wealth than there is today; yet most American's are not wealthy. Amazingly, a mere 3.5% of our households own almost one-half of the wealth in the United States! Although we may be hard working, educated, moderate to high-income earners, why are so few of us affluent?

When it comes to health, you go for a medical checkup to see if you're physically fit. The medical report will tell everything about your health.  But when it comes to wealth, it's as important that you do a regular checkup for your financial health. You need to know where you are financially before you decide what you want to achieve financially.

In this article, we'll be looking at the income statement, which is the most deceptively simple of the major financial statements. I say simple because it's just a list of all the revenue, minus all the expenses, to calculate what's left over in profit. It's no more difficult than putting your family budget together, right?

You have insurance on your life, your home and your car, but do you have insurance on the one possession that may have the greatest long-term effect on you and your family's wellbeing -- your investment portfolio?  Prudent investors use precious metals such as gold to balance their investment portfolio against inflation, the continuing devaluation of the U.S. dollar or even worse, a major national crisis in which hard currency such as gold coins become a powerful medium for exchange.

Downsizing, rightsizing, forced retirement, layoffs, firings, outsourcing, and being made redundant.  All could mean the same thing to you: financial catastrophe.  No, you may not have to declare bankruptcy or move back in with your parents, but losing your job could put a big dent in your financial goals and even set you back several years. You may need to live on your savings or liquidate some of your investments.