The following video has some very good tips on investing money, especially tip #2 – never invest money which you cannot afford to lose.

Learn to Invest Money: Investing Made Fun for Teenagers
 by: John Kim

If you’re a teenager interested in making money, then this article is for you. I’ll tell you how to multiply the money you earn from your after school job with something just as fun as gambling in Las Vegas but a lot safer – the stock market.

Most people think that teenagers would be bored by the subject of investing and the stock market, especially when there are much more exciting things for teenagers to talk about such as dating, going to the movies, and hanging out with their friends. Well if you’re reading this article, then you’re one of the many teenagers that break the ‘teenager stereotype.’

Ok, to make sure that this article wouldn’t bore you, I sat down and discussed some rules about investing with a group of teenagers. They helped me come up with similarities between investing and dating, so I’ve decided to tell you ten ways investing in stocks is like dating. I know you’re thinking ‘whatever’. But keep reading and you’ll see it’s true. Learn how to invest in stocks and you’ll also learn how to win at dating. Let’s start out by defining what exactly a stock is.

Stock – A way to own part of a company. Company stock, or shares, can be bought online through internet trading companies such as E-Trade or through an investment company. You can make money by buying shares of a company that you think will sell a lot of its product. Stocks can be as cheap as $1 a share or as expensive as $3000 for a single share. For example if you bought Apple around the time it started selling ipods, you could have bought 100 shares for about $800. At its high price this year, those same 100 shares would have been worth about $8,500, not too shabby a profit, right?

OK. Now for the Ten Ways Investing is Like Dating.

Rule One: It’s possible to get ahead sometimes by doing close to nothing.

Investing in stocks is all about getting ahead by doing close to nothing. That’s not to say you can be lazy and earn money because, from the moment you start learning, it will take you at least a couple of years before you develop enough knowledge before you will feel confident enough about putting that hard earned money from your job into the stock market. And that’s a couple of years of consistent learning. But once you develop confidence in your ability to invest and make money, your money will start making money for you even while you’re sleeping. And that’s getting ahead by doing close to nothing.

So how does this concept apply to dating? Every teenager knows that if you’re trying to get ‘in’ with somebody that you really like, that the best thing that you can do is to get that person’s best friend to like you. Because if you do, you can count on that best friend to tell the person you like a lot of good things about you. There is nothing more valuable than that. And you’re getting ahead by doing close to nothing.

Rule Two: The more experience you have, the better you’ll become at it.

Becoming good at making money doesn’t come easy. You’ll find that in the beginning, when you buy stocks that you’ll want to take small risks as you develop your style and gain more confidence in your skill.

This is good advice when it comes to dating as well. The more experience you have with dating, the more confident you will become, and confidence is an aphrodisiac to members of the opposite sex. Not arrogance. But confidence. So in the beginning of your dating history, when asking someone out, take small risks until you build up your confidence that you have the right approach. After that, confidence is all you’ll ever need.

Rule Three: If you ain’t Cassanova, don’t ever try to be. Develop your own style. It’s much more attractive.

In investing, people try to copy the styles of the best investors out there. They buy the same stocks as the people that are known to have earned millions and sometimes billions in the stock market. The problem is this often doesn’t work for the average Dick and Jane because the experts that they copy have so much money that they make tons of money if stock price goes up just a few pennies. Not so for the average Dick and Jane.

It’s never that easy just to copy other people’s success. The same applies if you try to copy someone else that is popular with the opposite sex. Most times, when you try to copy someone’s style, it means your not using what you’re naturally good at. If you were, you wouldn’t have to copy someone else. So just be yourself and don’t try hard to copy a popular boy’s or girl’s style. Because nobody likes a poser or a fake.

Rule Four: Dig below the surface and you’ll discover what’s real.

Just like with boys and girls, in investing, all that glitters is not gold. In deciding what stocks to buy, you don’t want to invest in a rapidly rising ‘hot’stock before really doing your homework. If you do, the chances are that you will get burned. The price of many ‘hot’ stocks fall just as quickly as they rise unless there is substance backing that hot streak.

Girls and guys are the same. You want to see if the ‘hot’ guys and girls have anything more than just the genetics that their parents gave them. Is there anything beyond that beautiful face or body that gives them substance?. If you find out they have strong character, loyalty, and honor, then you’ve dug enough and you’ve got a winner. But if you dig and find nothing, then keep looking for something that’s real.

Rule Five: Sometimes you gotta find a way to discover what nobody else knows to get ahead.

The way to make money in investing is to find out about companies doing stuff that is really cool before anyone knows about it. If you had found out that Apple was coming out with the ipod several months before they started selling them and bought their stock, you could have made a lot of money.

Likewise, in dating, try to make these same types of discoveries. Discover what a girl or guy really likes before he or she tells you, and do something special for him or her based upon what you discover. If you do, you’ll definitely have one up on your competition.

Read about rules 6-10 in Part Two of Investing Made Fun for Teenagers: Ten Ways Investing is Like Dating.

About The Author
John Kim is the founder of Global Market Opportunities. One of his goals is to get teenagers to learn about stocks now so they’ll be set later in life. In writing his Investing Made Fun for Teens guides, many teenagers provided input. To learn how to set up a practice investment account, click here, http://www.globalmarket-opps.org.
© 2006 Global Market Opportunities, Inc.
This article was posted on April 11, 2006

Investing Tips For The Beginning Stock Picker
Investing Tips For The Beginning Stock Picker. by Guest Blogger on February 20, 2009. I remember when I decided that my normal savings account wasn’t good enough any more.

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When you deposit your money in a bank, it bears interests in a given period of time.

Technorati Tags: investing, money, tips on investing

Learn about investing in your IRA

Advice for self-directed IRAs

Each person is different and so is each person’s investing style. If you are planning to have a self directed IRA, you should be aware of some of the solutions that are available to you. As of 2005, less than half of eligible households had or were maintaining an IRA. If this number comes as no surprise to you, it should, given the number of baby boomers who are approaching retirement age each year.

Some statistics suggest that if you cannot maintain at least 70% of the income you generate before retirement, your retirement will begin with a strain and possibly find you returning to work just to make ends meet.

The best time to start considering a self directed IRA is now, not just before you’re getting ready to retire. There are many solutions available, some of which are very simple and easy to get started when it comes to your IRA. Sometimes the first step may be the hardest. This can be true for you in terms of getting a self directed IRA started. U.S. banks have approximately three million dollars in IRAs that are controlled by financial investment institutions and banks.

When you have an IRA controlled by a bank or other institution, chances are you may be comfortable with how your money is being handled. The thing is, however, with a self-directed IRA you take control of your finances and you eliminate the amount of money that you are giving away to others. Not only does it make perfect sense to keep as much money in your IRA as possible, it can keep your money in your IRA where it belongs.

If you’ve been thinking about investing in your IRA, there are some things you should know about having a truly self directed IRA. For starters, contrary to what you may have heard, there are certain investments you can make to your IRA that the government will allow. One such investment is real estate.

Whether you are aware of it or not, real estate is one of the investment opportunities that is said to be ‘under the radar’. This is because in many respects are various options when it comes to owning real estate. This means if you are considering making investment additions to your IRA, the following are some real estate options that the government has no problem with you adding.

They include:

Raw land
Single family homes
Mobile homes
Commercial property
Apartments
Tax liens
Real estate notes
Mortgages

Now you may be wondering how you get started with real estate since it’s such a great way to invest, right? First you need to know about the type of property that you want to invest in. For example, if you want to deal with raw land, you need to know what’s associated with owning raw land. One of the simplest ways to get started investing in real estate through the purchase of single family homes. There are many different agencies that offer single family homes for sale.

It is important to understand that there is some risk associated with any investment choice you make for your IRA, even when it is self directed. Real estate is no exception. Some of the most inherent risk with real estate involves dealing with people you chose to make financial arrangements with.

For example, when you decide on rental property for your investment choice, there is an entire proverbial laundry list of expectations that go hand in hand with renting your home or apartment or even commercial property. It is a good idea to have a lawyer review all of the contracts you plan to use. It is also a very good idea to have any potential tenants go through a screening process.

One of the best ways to invest for retirement without directing funds to an IRA is with after tax dollars. When you invest this way you aren’t investing hard earned money neither are you taking a huge risk. Self directed IRA’s are often seen as risky and many are skeptical to try something new. When you invest some of your retirement into a self directed IRA your setting up for a successful, comfortable and promising future. In many cases the government often suggests retirement investing.

Although you may have a lot of questions in your mind…Like is this right for me? Will this cost a lot… there are a lot of frequently asked questions. Even though self directed IRA’s are an advertised thing in main stream… it’s still a very successful way to make a living while being retired. Many find that this is an easy way to make their retirement go smoothly and not worry about their finances or even where money comes from.

With all investing there will be pros and cons. Of course with everything investing has its risk too. Although we know that the government won’t allow you to invest in everything there are a lot of things that you can invest in such as self directed IRA’s more and more we see people involved in it…So why can’t it be you.

When you are ready to start exploring your options for a self directed IRA, there are plenty of ways to diversify your IRA portfolio. Take on an entrepreneurial attitude towards investing and don’t be afraid to take a change. Remember, your retirement is supposed to be the time of your life where your money works to take care of you, not the other way around. Real estate and other non-traditional investments can open up an entirely new world of opportunities to diversify and increase your self directed IRA holdings beyond belief.

Free Self Directed IRA | ANX News Online
ANX in an effort to encourage more Americans to switch to a Self Directed IRA will pay you to establish a new Self Directed IRA

Self-Directed IRAs: Little Known Retirement Savings Option
There are strict guidelines for operating an IRA, as well as who can serve as a custodian of an IRA which are governed by Sec. 408.

Technorati Tags: investinging in IRA, self-directed IRA

 This article from Roy compares investing your money in the bank vs investing in the stock market.

Best Ways To Invest Money

Investments and Savings are an integral part of financial lives today. There have been cases when even the richest person had died a pauper. Here are some ways which are regarded as the best for investments and money management.

‘Anybody can earn money, it’s the savings and investments that count’, is an adage that has become more fitting in the modern world. In today’s fast volatile world, investments have become a catchword in the financial world. Once the necessary expenses are taken care of, one has to decide which is the best way and place for them to invest their hard earned money.

One should make investments in a safe and sane manner. Before deciding to invest money, one should set aside their daily and monthly expenditure. One should also set aside the necessary amount to pay for any bills at the end of the month. Only a percentage of the monthly income should go in investments. Simply put, the amount put out for long or short term investments should not affect your daily lifestyle or liquidity.

A safe, cut and dry method of saving money is the bank. Banks offer you a set interest for the amount of money you deposit with them per month. The interest rate can be anything from 2 percent to 2.5 percent. Bank accounts are known to be the safest and most flexible, if not the best way to invest money.

Another type of investments that banks offer are bonds. Some private institutions like companies also offer bonds. There is little difference between bonds and certificate of deposits. A bond also pays out around seven percent as interest for the period of four years. Bonds should be invested in only when there is no immediate need of the money for a set period of time.

Other than bank accounts, banks also offer ‘Certificate of Deposits’. Under this scheme, the banks offer a set interest for the amount of money you deposit with them for a set amount of time. The timespan varies from case to case, but the general span is six months to two years.

The banks offer six to seven percent compounded interest on your deposits. ‘Certificate of Deposits’ are a time honored and time tested way of investing money. It is also one of the safest ways of investing money. Sometimes banks offer a higher percentage like eight to nine percent.

Such accounts, certificate of deposits and bonds are normal and safe ways of investing money. Though the returns on such returns are less, they are preferred more because depending on the bank or company you deal with, the returns are guaranteed and also depended upon.

Another way of investing money is the stock market. One can buy stocks in a company as an investment in the company. Stocks are shares in companies which can be bought by individuals or other companies. The stock market has always given robust returns of investments. For example, a person can buy stocks in a company for $5 and the next day, the cost of the shares could be as high as $8 per share. This is a perfect example of ‘making a killing at the share market’. The stock market returns as much as ten to twelve percent annually.

Though there have been many stock market crashes throughout the world, the stock market has always come back with a vengeance. Therefore, in hindsight, the best way of going with money to the stock market is by investing a small amount and keeping it in the market for a while.

However, one has to be very careful while investing in the share market. There is no other institution concerning finance that is as volatile as the stock market. While the above example quotes a rise of $ 3 in a day, chances are that the share prices may fall to a minuscule $1.

Therefore, it is suggested that one should make a proper study of the company one is investing in and also the share market before investing anything in the share market.

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There are several ways that credit card companies can calculate the finance charges that they apply to consumer credit.

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You must be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to invest in the options markets.

The following video shows some of the best ways to invest your money when you are in debt, i.e. how to get out of debt…

Technorati Tags: bank, best ways to invest money, Stock Market

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Please contact me at  web (at) waystoinvestmoney.net

I will reply to all messages as soon as possible.
Richard Igoe

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