Senin, 24 Desember 2007

Stock Market Risks

Stock market risks: Is my money really worth it?


So, finally, you have your money you can call your own. Naturally, you want to see your money grow. Saving your money in a bank doesn’t entice you, seeing it offer too little growth potential. You want something that gives a little more risk, with the hopes of having a much larger financial return. You turn to the stock market.


But wait! Are the risks involved in investing in the stock market worth my money? Investing is a good tool to increase you money, but you have to keep an open mind and know what to look for.


Needless to say, investing in stocks is a risky business. There are some risks that fortunately, you can control.


For example, you must guard against investing in "hot" stocks. True, some get wealthy in investing in "hot" stocks such as the "dot-com" bubble in the 1990s, but when the initial buzz around these stocks begin to slide, so does your investment. Once they fall, they really fall hard in a short period of time. This includes your money and others like you who invested in these stocks. If you really need to invest in these stocks, you have to keep a constant eye on them and try to sell them when they start to level off or drop.


To avoid such risks, you must diversify your portfolio. Basically, it means buying a little bit of a lot of different types of stocks and bonds. In that way, if one stock gets down, another one of your stock might be up and will help you recover some of your losses. It is a good idea to have some stocks in the technology sector, telecommunications, biomedical, and consumer corporations. In time, you could add your portfolio with precious metal and diamond indexes, and some general investment funds.


There are also companies that offer "safety stocks". It will be a sound decision to have several shares of companies such as this in your portfolio. This is because such stocks rarely fluctuate and most often offer a slow and steady growth, thus giving you an assurance in your investments.


Do not rely on tips saying that this stock is "going to be big" and the like. These tips are often unfounded, and these stocks are almost worthless. Investing in these stocks might give you a higher return but in the long run, these stocks will just give you worries. Read the Wall Street Journal or watch the stock reports on news networks to know more about your stocks. Also check relevant websites to see how your stocks have been performing in recent weeks.


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Jumat, 16 November 2007

Building Self Esteem

Self esteem is your own personal view of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally.Everyone has a different view of themselves, but keeping a positive outlook will benefit you more than a negative one.Many individuals suffer from low self esteem for a variety of reasons and need to build their self esteem in order to succeed in life.


Remember, the only one who can make you excel is you and no one else.The same goes for self esteem.The only person who can build up—or consequentially tear down—your self esteem is you.Although other individuals may aide the process, the end decision is yours.


People have low esteem for a variety of reasons.Some individuals suffer from poor body image and focus on all the negative traits of their physical appearance.Others have emotional issues that have caused their self esteem to drop or feel themselves unworthy of any praise.


For whatever reasons your self esteem may falter, the key to building it up again is to find the root of the problem.Think of self esteem like a house, if you build a stunning house on a poor foundation, the entire structure will crumble.However, if you take steps to ensure the foundation is strong and capable of holding anything, the process may be slow, but your self esteem will be built soundly.


Many individuals look for help for their low self esteem in books or seminars.The number of available options on the market is phenomenal, and you are sure to find one on a topic that deals with your specific issues.


Check out your local library or book store and explore their “self help” section for a book that you may find helpful.It is quite unlikely you will find the answers to all your problems in a book, but you may find it helpful to know others are in your same boat and you are certainly not alone.Additionally, you may wish to seek professional help in your quest to boost your self esteem.


Often, speaking with a qualified individual can help you determine the root of your problem and the necessary path you should take for the rebuilding process.Perhaps your problems dates back to childhood, or maybe it has recently developed.Whatever the case, a professional will be able to best determine your next step.


A main factor in self esteem is negativity.Negative thoughts can pervade your confidence and crumble your self esteem.If you find yourself surrounded by negative people or in a negative situation, try to best remedy the problem.


Often, individuals in a abusive relationship have their self esteem shattered when a supposed loved one constantly berates them and questions their worth.Similarly, a negative workplace environment can lower your self esteem with colleagues or bosses finding fault with your work.


Maybe you have a friend who is consistently negative with all surrounding him or her.Whatever the source, distancing yourself from the negativity will help you regain your self esteem.Strive to surround yourself with positive people.If you are going through a rough time in your personal life, you may wish to join a support group.


Similarly, there are support groups available for individuals with self image issues.These groups will allow you to meet other individuals like yourself and provide a forum for you to sound your hopes and achievements.


However you choose to begin building your self esteem, do so today!Be thorough and consistent with the process and be aware it may take a while.You should not become impatient or despondent if you find your self esteem slipping.Remember, you are an important and worthy person and should treat yourself as such.


Minggu, 09 September 2007

Pros And Cons Of A Stock Market

Understanding the nature of the stock market, including its pros and cons, doesn't have to be confusing one. Many people fear that in order for them to know the nature of the stock market, they have to understand a gamut of stock and marketing terms and all that jazz.

On the other hand, some people saw behind the veneer of all these economic gibberish, and saw the potentials of what they could get from investing in the stock market.

In a nutshell

Simply put, the stock market is the market to buy and sell stocks and shares. This is where company stock gets traded. The term is also used to describe the totality of all stocks in one country. That is why we hear reporters talking that "the stock market was up today" or that "the stock market went down after the dollar fell to the euro."

What are the pros and cons of the stock market?

One of the reasons why we need the stock market is because it is an important factor for the US economic system to operate. Through the stock market, US companies improve their financial viability and expand their operations by raising funds from selling stocks. Without the stock market, our companies become slower in their growth and might falter in the increasing competition in the US as well as against international companies.

Another reason for the existence of the stock market is that it also has role in personal financial planning. This is because many individuals buy stock shares as part of their personal financial strategies. More importantly, most Americans have a stake in the stock market because retirement programs invest in stocks. It has shown that retirement programs earn a lot more by investing in common stocks than other options such as saving the funds in banks.

Of course, the stock market also has its downsides. Remember that the stock market is not a tool for instant success. True, there are cases of one getting wealthy by investing in the market, but this involves having shares in various company stocks, which means a lot of research, time, and money. One also gets rich when some stocks become "hotter" such as the "dot-com" bubble in the nineties, but when the initial buzz around these stocks falter, the value of these stocks tend to crash.

Problems With The Stock Market

"Investors often cause stock market problems"

With the advent of online banking and online trading, the stock market has opened its doors to virtually every person willing enough to grow their money.

And yet, despite this, not everyone has joined the bandwagon. The biggest factor being the potential risk involved in trading stocks.

The stock market is among the most volatile financial institutions in business. And it’s this volatility that tends to be the biggest problem with the stock market.

Almost any reason, real or imagined can cause these extreme fluctuations that often affect the stock market’s credibility.

Real factors such as the weather, political instability, political decisions, war, terrorist threats, boycotts and strikes, economic trends and international trade or even company scandals also become factors to the stock market problems.

Bad weather such as hurricanes affects certain industries such as oil production. This then drives the cost of petroleum products higher as production gets limited. This causes a cascading effect that drives stocks of oil companies higher.

Political instability in a country can affect investor confidence thus lesser investing is done. This causes the shares of local companies to slide downwards.

Boycotts, strikers and terrorist threats have also proven to be the bane of the airline industry. Shares of airliners have tumbled throughout the years with every terrorist attacks all over the world.

But aside from uncontrollable factors such as natural disaster (or war), the common underlying link that allows these other reasons to affect the stock market so significantly is investor psychology.

Humans are prone to herd mentality. Often, people confirm with the actions and directions of other people.

This is a common mistake in investing.

An example of this is during the early 90s when dozens of dot com companies sold their stocks in the stock market. It created an artificial demand for stocks of companies that did not even provide real and concrete services.

These stocks soared in value as more and more enthusiastic investors bought them. This happened up until the time it was realized that these companies did not actually post any considerable profit to sustain the value of the shares.

The stocks then tumbled and virtually lost value as investors frantically sold their shares.

This tendency to panic and depend on the direction of others is among the real causes of problems with the stock market.

There are two actions arising from this mentality:

a.) panic buying
b.) panic selling

Of the two, panic selling causes the most harm since it causes a steep and quick drop in the value of shares.

The best way to avoid causing these problems is to practice due diligence and to keep a level head while investing.

Online Stock Market Trading

How to avoid the dangers of online stock market trading

Online stock market trading has made it possible for millions of individuals, especially those who are not keen on investing in stocks the traditional way, to play the stock market game. Almost anyone, from novice investors to expert day traders, can participate in online stock market trading.

But online stock market trading has many dangers and if you are nit careful you could end up losing instead of earning lost of money.

Online stock markets trading allow individuals to participate in the stock markets at greater speed. But because of this, it has also become easier to make investment mistakes. Therefore, the fundamentals of smart should still be applied in online stock market trading to avoid falling into traps.

One of the most common problems with first-timers in online stock market trading is they think they can make a lot of money online even without any investment skills and knowledge. This is probably brought about by stories of overnight successes. They must keep in mind that for every ten investors that makes lots of money from online stock market trading there are at least ten who lose money.

New online stock market traders think that they could survive in online stock market trading without any investment skills and knowledge is because markets have been bullish recently. For the past six or seven years, common investors made significant profits from any buy and hold strategy. Investors only start to realize the importance of being financially savvy when markets show bearish signals. That’s the only time they employ smart financial planning through diversification.

What potential online stock market investors need to realize is that online stock market trading is really no different from traditional stock market treading. The web hasn't changed the fundamentals of smart investing it has only made it easier to invest. Individuals – like most professional day traders - should still have a set of rules and guidelines to help them avoid the dangers of online stock market trading.

Like in traditional stock market trading, the first thing you have to do is to arm yourself with basic information about the company you’re investing into so as to avoid “gambling.”

Perform some fundamental analysis to determine if the stock is worth the price. You can do this by researching. Good source are websites of major brokerage houses, finance publications and mutual-fund companies.

Because online stock market trading is easier, it becomes tempting to trade often. But it's tough to beat the market on a consistent basis. For the long term, a buy-and-hold strategy is the best way to invest even in online stock markets.

Online Stock Investment Strategy

Wanna Trade? Do It Online!

The first continuous trading on a stock exchange was done in the 17th century in Amsterdam. Prior to this, in 13th century France, product traders used to meet in a house which they later called “Bruges Bourse”. Nowadays, stock markets can be found in most countries but the biggest markets can be found in the United States, Japan, China, and the United Kingdom.

Long before the advent of online stock market investments, trading was done by individual buyers and sellers. These are business persons who do their own trading activities. Later on, as market participants in the stock market increased, stock brokers began to represent individuals and other big firms who are interested to buy stocks.

A wealthy businessman has his own set of stock brokers representing his business interest in the world’s big stock markets. Brokerage houses were then established to cater to the increasing demands of the trend. These big firms are called brokerage houses and examples include Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Charles Schwab.

Due to the Internet’s capacity to connect many people from different places at the same time, the process of buying and selling stocks has become faster, easier and less expensive. Online stock market investments have been availed by many investors because of its unique features compared to the traditional stocks trading.

Online stock market investments are easier to do because if a buyer or seller decides to do online trading, he does not have to pay a stock broker anymore. Stock brokers can charge up to as much as $100 per trade, while online stock market brokers can charge as low as $10 per trade.

Online stock market trading allows investors to do all transactions in front of the computer. An online stock market investor can also check and manage with his stock portfolio in real time using a computer. Several online stock trading companies have opened their websites to cater to the demands of their increasing clientele.

Online stock market investing has made the business of trading easier, faster, and cheaper. An investor who does online trading will not need to call his broker to conduct business. All he has to do is go the stock broker’s website and indicate the stocks he wants to buy or sell and these orders will be processed in real time.

These online stock market brokers or stock market websites, as they are called, also contains a lot of additional services in their websites. They can provide online stock market traders with stock market information, and other relevant insights.

More Stock Market Investment Tools

A newsletter is defined as a publication which is distributed on a regular basis and which discusses one main topic for the benefit of its readers. Newsletters are published by clubs and business companies to provide their clients with company relevant information.

A stock market investment market newsletter is published to provide stock market investors with insights on the current trends in the market. These types of newsletters are distributed by trading companies to their subscribers and clients. A stock market investment newsletter provides news, analysis, interpretations, and commentaries that are related to the market developments and which are relevant to a trading company’s subscribers and potential clients. It is meant to help the stock market investor to choose the right investment opportunities and how to invest sensibly.

An investment market newsletter is very similar to other popular newsletters. It is usually written for stock market investors and usually contains the following:

* Company profiles – this information includes the company’s description, trading history, and its recent stock charts;

* News articles – these articles inform the stock market investors on the current trends in the market and the company’s recent developments and milestones in the stock market;

* Stock portfolio – a stock portfolio is the compilation of the company’s stocks, bonds, and other investment related resources.

* Features articles – these articles may include features about the trading company, tips and other helpful hints about the stock market.

* Monthly top gainers and losers – this part of the newsletter is very helpful because it shows and compares the price movements of stocks over the previous month. It could also be done on a quarterly or annual basis.

* Stock performance tables – the investment newsletter can feature and compare all the stocks which are related in type and provide financial and other useful information.

Stock market investment newsletters are printed and are usually published online through the trading company’s websites. Subscribers can get a free copy for their own personal use, and potential clients can always view and download from the company websites. These websites also provide archives, or past copies of their stock market investment newsletters which subscribers can easily access and read from their personal computers.

Others say that stock market newsletters provide subscribers and investors with investment tips and present them with all possible styles and methods. Investors can now easily see which stocks to buy, which companies to buy stocks from, and what particular techniques work for him – all with the help of a stock market investment newsletter.