Smarter Finances - Credit Cards, Loans, Mortgages, Investments » Investing

Savings via direct deposit

drew — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:35:33 +0000

Do you have a difficult time saving money each month? There is a good chance that you have enough money leftover after bills to save, but blow through this cash for one reason or the next. If this is the case, you may want to look into the benefits of direct deposit. There are many ways that you can make this work to your advantage, and you should definitely consider all of them.

Direct deposit is exactly what it sounds like. This is when money from your paycheck is deposited into a particular account. For instance, you could have the entire sum put into one account. But on the other hand, you may be better off taking some of your check and putting it into an account that is used for savings only. This way you have the ability to keep your money for bills separate from the funds that you want to save.

If you are interested in getting started with direct deposit, you will have to speak with your employer’s human resources department. They will be able to supply you with all of the paperwork that you need in order to get started. Although you will have to fill out some forms, they are not nearly as extensive as many people think. As long as you have your personal and bank account information on hand, you should be able to breeze through the process within a matter of minutes.

Before you finalize all of the details, make sure that you have your money going to the right places. You may have to study your expenses and budget to ensure that you are allocating your funds to the proper accounts.

Overall, direct deposit is one of the best ways to help you save. With this option, you never have to worry about going through money that you wanted to keep safe.

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Online savings accounts

drew — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:33:39 +0000

Are you looking for a way to save money while making a little bit as well? If so, you will want to check out one of the many online savings accounts that are available. These accounts are usually much better than any that you could get at a local bank. The main reason for this is the interest rate that you will be able to receive. In most cases, you should be able to double your rate by using an online savings account. And as you can imagine, this can mean a lot of money in the long run; especially if you keep a good amount of money in your account.

The question is: how do you get started with an online savings account? Believe it or not, this is easy to do. The first thing on the agenda is to find which financial institution you want to deal with. There are several that are well known for their online savings account programs such as HSBC. Once you choose a bank, you will then have the ability to move forward with the application process. This is when you will supply basic information. At this time, you may also want to add an account. By doing this, you will be able to transfer money from an account at your local bank into your online account. This is the quickest and most efficient way of transferring funds.

>Many people are afraid to open an online savings account because they think that there money will get lost. Keep in mind that this is nothing more than a myth. The majority of banks that offer these accounts are FDIC insured. For this reason, you do not have anything to worry about.

Overall, using an online savings account is a great way to save money. If you regularly contribute to one of these accounts, you will see your savings sky rocket while also earning a bit extra in interest.

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Retirement investment tips

drew — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:23:57 +0000

With the talk of an impending recession, lack of funds for social security and an overall lull in the economy, saving for your retirement is more important than ever. American’s confidence in having enough saved to be able to retire comfortably is dwindling; here are some tips that will have your nest egg ready to hatch your retirement

1. Know yourself and your needs

Everyone wants to live “comfortably” and everyone has a different comfort level, you need to figure out yours, and how much you will need to save to attain that. You will hear experts talk bout taking your salary upon being ready to retire and multiplying it by ten. So if you are making $55k a year, you will want to have $550k in your various retirement funds.

At first thought, it may seem like a big chunk of change to have to save, but remember to account for what you already have saved, the rate your saving, and all the costs involved with retirement.

There are plenty of calculators available online to help you calculate at what rate you should be saving, or where you will end up by saving at your current rate. If you are using a 401(k) you can ask your sponsor to help you figure out a rate of savings that will work for you.

2. Don’t drive yourself crazy

There is no need to change your 401(k) allocations in order to obtain more conservative investments. The market experiences short term moves and downswings all the time, these are completely normal. You do want to however check up on your investments, see what you have and how those investments are doing. You do not want to outlast your money, for this reason, you will always want to have some of your portfolio in the stock market, even as you near retirement, just because you are retired doesn’t mean your investments cant make money.

3. Know about fees you may face

One thing that can kill your ROI is any kind of fee or fees you may encounter. A factor you will want to consider is your expense ratio. This is how much a fund will take out every year to cover fees and expenses. According to experts, the average ratio is about 9/10 of a percent. If you have $100k invested, you’re looking at about 9k in fees.

4. Understand your fund

The government has recently been very critical of 401(k) fees. Last year, meetings were held to discuss whether the fees were to high, or in same case completely hidden. There is currently a bill that calls for more clarity and full disclosure of all fees. Experts say you should not be paying more than a total of 1.5 percent in fees on your retirement investments, keep in mind however; fees are going to be lower on a 401(k) plan than other investments. If you are unsure of what fees you are paying, or why you are paying them, ask your 401(k) sponsor or your HR department to clarify for you.

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Investing mistakes to avoid

drew — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:12:34 +0000

Don’t invest without a plan! First and foremost, every investor must have investment plan and goals set firmly.

Don’t hold on to stocks that are making losses. People do this in the hope that there will be a turn around in the price and then they can exit at the buying price.
Not diversifying sufficiently. Diversification is the basic rule to observe if you desire success, at least desire to minimize risks associated with the stock market investment.
Investing without studying the stock. You must study every aspect of the company that you wish to “buy” on the stock market. Details of the company’s financial aspects are available everywhere, but still it is found that people just rush in to buying a stock without proper investigation.
Don’t get attached to the stock. Often people have “favorite” stocks and they hold that stock forever even when it is either not moving, or is going down! Review your portfolio regularly and take actions, even sell it, if a stock is showing negative trends or losses. Emotional investment is not a part of the successful stock market investor.
Ignoring risks. Don’t ignore the risk factors in the investment.
Using tips from friends and other sources without doing appropriate research and analysis. Investing and finding the right stock is never an easy job. To become successful investor, you must do research and analysis of every stock that interests you. Even if you trust the friend, you must still do further analysis before buying the stock.
Following the crowd. You should avoid crowd mentality in stock market investing. To quote Warren Buffet,” You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right.” He echoed the same thoughts while warning the investors against following the crowds. “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful,” he said.

Frequent trading.
Not listing your mistakes and failures. Even the great Warren Buffett, one of the richest man in the world who made his billions on the stock market, lists his mistakes and failures. He then vows not to repeat them. So, knowing your mistakes will make you cautious and will force you to take the right actions the next time a similar situation occurs.
Focusing on earnings per share and not on return on equity. Earnings per share is a smokescreen, because usually the company retains earnings to increase their equity base.
Buying a stock and not the business! Warren Buffett has advised investors to buy the business and not just its stock! He has good reasons to say so.

To quote Warren Buffett:
“An investor should only buy shares in a company which he would be willing to purchase outright if he had sufficient capital. From this perspective, an investor should look for a company with business operations that are understood, has favorable long-term prospects, is operated by honest and competent people and is available at an attractive price.

The decision to buy a business is based on:

Business tennets
Management tennets
Financial tennets
Market tenets.”

‘‘The market, like the Lord, helps those who help themselves. But unlike the Lord, the market does not forgive those who know not what they do.’’
– Warren Buffett

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How stock market charts can help

drew — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:05:10 +0000

Stock chart evaluation has become the most significant tool in successful stock investment. You can easily master the stock charts! A stock chart is a collection of many factors that go into constituting an investment decision. The thorough knowledge that is required to earn handsome money on the stock market can only be made possible by mastering the stock chart. The professional stock investor carefully analyses the charts before committing his money in the stock market.

A stock chart can answer the following questions:
• Is the stock at the beginning, mid, or end of a trend?
• If there is a trend, then how strong or weak is that trend?
• What stage is the stock in?
• Is there an upward trend or a downward trend?
• What are the moving averages?
• Can there be a breakout in the near future?
• Does the chart show any definite pattern?
• Does the chart show any gaps in the direction of the trend?
• Are there any support or resistant levels?
• Is the stock facing any selling strength or buying weakness?

Too much knowledge is concealed inside the chart. When you analyze a chart, all the above questions – and many more – needs to be answered to arrive at a skillful decision. The knowledge and the answers will disclose a final picture about any chart without involving emotions.

With practice, reading a chart can become habitual and easy. You can make masterful financial decisions within seconds!

What are stages?

Stage one is consolidation. Stage two is an uptrend. Stage three is another consolidation. Stage four is a downtrend. Stage determination will be a major factor for stock related decision making.
What is an Elliott Wave theory?

A stock goes through 5 waves in an uptrend. Reading a chart becomes easier if a correct Elliott Wave determination is made.

A chart analysis is never complete without the price, indicated by the candles. You then need to see if there are gaps in the chart. Check to see if there was any recent gap in the chart. Stocks have the habit of moving in the direction of the gaps!

There is another important consideration to observe. It is the presence of a “shadow” or a “tail” at the bottom of the candle. It indicates that the professionals are buying out the weakened stock for supporting the stock from moving downwards. The volume indicates that there is public interest in the stock.

The trend lines are important too. They are one of the simplest and most effective charting tools. Uptrend lines are drawn along two successive lows. The downtrend lines are drawn along two successive peaks. Price of the stock usually is pulled back to the trend lines and then they resume the trend. If you encounter a break in the trend lines then it is a strong indication of a change in the trend of the stock.

There are many more indicators to follow and the chart can display all those indicators to a trained eye! It becomes an art once you can master those details concealed inside a chart. With the mastery of the chart-reading will come the mastery over the decision-making in the stock market investment!
The great stock analyst, John J. Murphy, has once said:

“Technical analysis is a skill that improves with experience and study. Always be a student and keep learning.”

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Start Squirreling Away Funds For Your Retirement

drew — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:23:41 +0000

Investing for retirement is not something everyone does ahead of time. Many people do not get started because they feel that their retirement is several decades away and they can get to it in good time. Almost everyone under estimates the resources, mainly cash, that are required to retire with a certain quality of life. With better health management and medical technology, many people are beginning to live beyond the previous general estimates for human life spans. The result is that many people run the risk of running out of money before their time is up. Since few people are motivated in investing for retirement early enough, it has become a serious issue for governments in many developed countries. In some of these countries their welfare systems are straining from the demands put on them by the growing numbers of elderly living beyond the estimates of previous human longevity models. In these countries governments have warned their citizens that their social security systems may not have enough funds to go around. In order to face our retirements more confidently, it has become necessary for us to not rely on state-sponsored programs; but increasingly on self-managed initiatives. Key Issues Regarding Investing For Retirement Investing for retirement requires us to prepare a retirement plan early – the earlier the better. Unfortunately, when you are young it is very difficult to imagine life as a retiree. What can we do? Perhaps we should initially discuss it with our parents. Many of them would have experienced the positive and negative elements of investing for retirement. Next you may wish to a financial planner. Do not commit to any investments until you feel that you have done enough research, clarified your doubts, identified your key goals and estimated what portion of your salary you are prepared to save for the long-term. During your discussions with your financial planner regarding investing for retirement, you are likely to be surprised how much you will need to set aside for the golden years when you would have stopped working. Many people tend to extrapolate their planned savings linearly and find that achieving their investment goals are near impossible. Your financial planner should be able to enlighten you regarding some essential concepts of investing like the time value of money, the effect of compounding interest, the benefits of a portfolio with a spread among asset classes with varying risk and return profiles and pre-tax investment made possible by your employer or government. When you have done sufficient research, understood key investment concepts and got sound advice from your financial planner, you will realize that if you start early enough and do the right things, you should be able to retire rather comfortably with sufficient funds to last your lifetime. Investing for retirement is not difficult if you start sufficiently early and act on sound financial planning advice. The Advantages Of 401k Retirement Plans A 401k retirement plan allows a worker to save for retirement while deferring income taxes on the saved money and earnings until withdrawal. Many people today are relying on 401k retirement plans to support their needs during their retirement. The funds from this retirement plan can be used to pay regular bills and in some cases if the funds are substantial, help us retire in style and luxury. In these uncertain times fraught with economic and political uncertainty and health scares, it pays to plan ahead for our future when we may not be economically very productive by saving with a 401k retirement plan. The 401k retirement plan is a flexible program that has substantial benefits for retirees. Of all the advantages of a 401k retirement plan, they key advantage are the tax benefits. Companies you work for are responsible for creating and designing the plan. Some companies may restrict the amount set aside to match what the employer sets aside.

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Retirement Planning: Plan your Retirement for Income Through Mutual Fund Investment

drew — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:14:46 +0000

Most of the people I have met have not planned for their retirement as they say ‘future is unpredictable and we need to live in present’ but my dear friend’s future is the outcome of present, our present will decide our future. When we think of retirement we generally think of old age, a period when you have to give up the job and sit at home doing nothing. Contrary to the fact, most of the retiree lives a very active life. We need to seriously consider out planning towards retirement because once we retiree our income stops coming but our expenses remain as it is and in some cases it rises with the rising inflation.
In this regard mutual fund has turned out to be the right answer for making retirement planning easier and safer. Mutual fund being managed by professionals is a key to effective retirement planning.

Some people like it. Some people don’t but the fact is that retirement is a reality for every working person. Most young people today think cannot think of retirement as reality as they believe in ‘living at present’. However, it is important to plan for your post-retirement life if you wish to retain your financial independence and maintain a comfortable standard of living even when you are no longer earning. This is extremely important, because, unlike developed nations, India does not have a social security net. In India people still depend upon bank savings and fixed deposits for retirement purpose, which is unfortunately inadequate.

Retirement Planning acquires added importance because of the fact that though longevity has increased the number of working years haven’t, so you end up spending the last phase of your life without earning.
In simple words, retirement planning means making sure you will have enough money to live on after retiring from work. Retirement should be the best period of your life, when you can literally sit back and relax or enjoy your life by reaping benefits of what you earn in so many years of hard work. But it is easier said than done. To achieve a hassle-free retired life, you need to make prudent investment decisions during your working life, thus putting your hard-earned money to work for you in future.
With the special features of mutual funds like Systematic Investment Plan, Systematic withdrawal plan, systematic transfer plan in addition to other unique features of different funds, the investor can easily plan for its post retirement requirements and ways to achieve it.

Unlike many other countries of west, in India we do not have state-sponsored social security for the retired people. While you may be entitled to a pension or income during retirement, but will it be sufficient post retirement.
Although the compulsory savings in provident fund through both employee and employer contributions should offer some cushion, it may not be enough to support you throughout your retirement. That is why retirement planning is extremely important for every one. More over with mutual funds the investors can actually plan for themselves and also achieve their planned objectives. As compared to direct equities this option of mutual fund is much safer for planning your retirement corpus.

There are many reasons for the working individuals to secure their future emergence of separate families and its attendant insecurity, increasing uncertainties in personal and professional life, the growing trends of seeking early retirement and rising health risks are among few important risks. Besides falling interest rates, also the sustained increase in the cost of living make it a compelling case for individuals to plan their finances to fund their retired life.

Planning for retirement is as important as planning your career and marriage. We need to take conscious and careful decisions to prepare for our retirement. Life takes its own course and from the poorest to the wealthiest, every one gets older with time. We get older every day, without realizing. With our coming old age we tend to become more understanding to the facts of life and realize the importance and impact of retirement. The future depends to a great extent on the choices you make today. Right decisions with the help of proper planning, taken at the right time will assure smile and success at the time of retirement.

In my words, retirement planning means making sure you will have enough money to live on after leaving your work. Retirement should be that period of your life, when you can sit back and relax. Retirement should bring more of enjoyment in your life by reaping benefits of what you earn in so many years of hard work. But it is easier said than done. Most of the people live their worst life during retirement. To achieve a hassle-free retired life, you need to make right investment decisions during your working life, thus putting your hard-earned money to work for you in future. If you are not very aware of the investment that you need to undertake then you can easily take help of online advisers to help you with your retirement plan through mutual funds. The earlier you start the better it is for you.

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