Bryan Hoo's Blog, page 5

October 15, 2020

Eight Practical Reasons To Own Gold Today

Complete Lesson Notes From Our "Golden Topic"! Enjoy~

Gold is respected throughout the world for its value and rich history, which has been interwoven into cultures for thousands of years. Coins containing gold appeared around 800 B.C., and the first pure gold coins were struck during the rein of King Croesus of Lydia about 300 years later.

Throughout the centuries, people have continued to hold gold for various reasons. Societies, and now economies, have placed value on gold, thus perpetuating its worth. It is the metal we fall back on when other forms of currency don't work, which means it always has some value as insurance against tough times. Below are eight practical reasons to think about owning some gold today.

Reason#1: A History of Holding Its Value
Unlike paper currency, coins or other assets, gold has maintained its value throughout the ages. People see gold as a way to pass on and preserve their wealth from one generation to the next. Since ancient times, people have valued the unique properties of the precious metal. Gold doesn't corrode and can be melted over a common flame, making it easy to work with and stamp as a coin. Moreover, gold has a unique and beautiful color, unlike other elements. The atoms in gold are heavier and the electrons move faster, creating absorption of some light; a process which took Einstein's theory of relativity to figure out.

Reason#2: Weakness of the U.S. Dollar
Although the U.S. dollar is one of the world's most important reserve currencies, when the value of the dollar falls against other currencies as it did between 1998 and 2008, this often prompts people to flock to the security of gold, which raises gold prices. The price of gold nearly tripled between 1998 and 2008, reaching the $1,000-an-ounce milestone in early 2008 and nearly doubling between 2008 and 2012, hitting around the $1800-$1900 mark. The decline in the U.S. dollar occurred for a number of reasons, including the country's large budget and trade deficits and a large increase in the money supply.

Reason#3: Inflation Hedge
Gold has historically been an excellent hedge against inflation, because its price tends to rise when the cost of living increases. Over the past 50 years investors have seen gold prices soar and the stock market plunge during high-inflation years. This is because when fiat currency loses its purchasing power to inflation, gold tends to be priced in those currency units and thus tends to arise along with everything else. Moreover, gold is seen as a good store of value so people may be encouraged to buy gold when they believe that their local currency is losing value.

Reason#4: Deflation Protection
Deflation is defined as a period in which prices decrease, when business activity slows and the economy is burdened by excessive debt, which has not been seen globally since the Great Depression of the 1930s (although a small degree of deflation occurred following the 2008 financial crisis in some parts of the world).. During the Depression, the relative purchasing power of gold soared while other prices dropped sharply. This is because people chose to hoard cash, and the safest place to hold cash was in gold and gold coin at the time.

Reason#5: Geopolitical Uncertainty
Gold retains its value not only in times of financial uncertainty, but in times of geopolitical uncertainty. It is often called the "crisis commodity," because people flee to its relative safety when world tensions rise; during such times, it often outperforms other investments. For example, gold prices experienced some major price movements this year in response to the crisis occurring in the European Union. Its price often rises the most when confidence in governments is low.

Reason#6: Supply Constraints
Much of the supply of gold in the market since the 1990s has come from sales of gold bullion from the vaults of global central banks. This selling by global central banks slowed greatly in 2008. At the same time, production of new gold from mines had been declining since 2000. According to BullionVault.com, annual gold-mining output fell from 2,573 metric tons in 2000 to 2,444 metric tons in 2007 (however, according to Goldsheetlinks.com, gold saw a rebound in production with output hitting nearly 2,700 metric tons in 2011.) It can take from five to 10 years to bring a new mine into production. As a general rule, reduction in the supply of gold increases gold prices.

Reason#7: Increasing Demand
In previous years, increased wealth of emerging market economies boosted demand for gold. In many of these countries, gold is intertwined into the culture. India is one of the largest gold-consuming nations in the world; it has many uses there, including jewelry. As such, the Indian wedding season in October is traditionally the time of the year that sees the highest global demand for gold (though it has taken a tumble in 2012.) In China, where gold bars are a traditional form of saving, the demand for gold has been steadfast.

Demand for gold has also grown among investors. Many are beginning to see commodities, particularly gold, as an investment class into which funds should be allocated. In fact, SPDR Gold Trust, became one of the largest ETFs in the U.S., as well as one of the world's largest holders of gold bullion in 2008, only four years after its inception.

Reason#8: Portfolio Diversification
The key to diversification is finding investments that are not closely correlated to one another; gold has historically had a negative correlation to stocks and other financial instruments. Recent history bears this out:
-The 1970s was great for gold, but terrible for stocks.
-The 1980s and 1990s were wonderful for stocks, but horrible for gold.
-2008 saw stocks drop substantially as consumers migrated to gold.
Properly diversified investors combine gold with stocks and bonds in a portfolio to reduce the overall volatility and risk.

Conclusion

Gold should be an important part of a diversified investment portfolio because its price increases in response to events that cause the value of paper investments, such as stocks and bonds, to decline. Although the price of gold can be volatile in the short term, it has always maintained its value over the long term. Through the years, it has served as a hedge against inflation and the erosion of major currencies, and thus is an investment well worth considering.

By the way, we are giving free E-book as gifts for people that sign up for our community. We will share resourceful information and helpful tips about investing in different asset classes. We need more people that really eager to learn more about investing in different assets classes to join our community. Join Us Today!

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#gold #goldmining #goldinvesting #preciousmetals
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Published on October 15, 2020 02:04

October 3, 2020

Fantastic Ways To Make Money Online At Home

Making some extra side hustle cash doesn't actually have to be that complicated. As someone who's been immersed in the field of online income generation for nearly two decades now, I can tell you that it takes some work. However, there are several clear paths forward. At the end of the day, it all boils down to what your goals are and just how much you're looking to automate your income.

Could you make an extra $200 per month? Sure. How about an extra $1000 per month? How would that change your life? To most, it would make a monumental difference. But what if we were talking thousands more per month or even tens of thousands more? How would that alter the trajectory of your life? Clearly, you can make money on the internet. You just have to decide how much of your time it's worth.

While we all have some extra time, it often doesn't feel like it. But it also doesn't take too much effort to make some extra dough on the side. We're not talking about millions upon millions here -- we're mostly talking about doing small, bite-sized projects to generate some fast cash. And depending on your skill set, you could easily make a few hundred dollars or even a few extra thousand per month. Lets look at some interesting ways you may like to make money online at home:

1. Become a virtual assistant.

One simple way to make money from home is to help others complete tasks as a virtual assistant. If you're highly organized and can properly manage your time, then becoming a virtual assistant presents a low-friction entry point into the digital services industry. You can easily perform these functions as a remote worker no matter where you live.

Finding work as a virtual assistant can be easily done through sites like Upwork, Indeed.com and Remote.co. Search the existing posted jobs and create bids. You'll need effective communication skills and fluency in English and popular web and business software applications.

2. Sell stuff on eBay or Craigslist.

A large subset of our society is earning a full-time income by selling items on Craigslist and eBay. You can do this by selling your own items, or you can help sell items for other people and take a small commission. Selling on eBay offers more friction than Craigslist and you'll need to establish solid reviews before you can begin to move high-ticket items.

However, eBay does provide resources for sellers to help you get acclimated to selling on the platform. Take the time to do your due diligence and research the platform. If you have some solid online marketing skills, you'll find this much easier than if you're a complete newbie to the world of digital marketing.

3. Trade cryptocurrency.

As the digital world evolves, so does our currency. What seemed like a novelty yesterday will ultimately become the preferred medium for money. A Gallop poll found that 10 percent of people claimed to use cash as their preferred payment method in 2016 (down from 19 percent in 2011).

While cryptocurrency is still relatively new, it will ultimately become the standard. Bitcoin and Ethereum might be the primary cryptocurrency platforms today, but the US Dollar will eventually become the Digital Dollar by leveraging the blockchain. You can take advantage of the current boom in cryptocurrency by trading it through platforms like eToro and Kraken, amongst many others.

4. Online tutoring

Websites like Skooli, Tutor Me and Tutor.com provide resources for entering into the online tutoring space. While you don't need to use a platform like these, they provide a lower friction entry point into the market. You could also search for online tutoring gigs on a variety of other sites like Upwork, Freelancer and many more.

What types of things can you tutor online? You could easily tutor a subject like math or science, while also teaching a language if you're bilingual. You could also tutor musical instruments like the guitar or piano, along with a slew of other subject matters.

5. Sell services on Fiverr

Fiverr has grown significantly since its inception. Today, it's a vast marketplace where you can sell just about any service under the sun. This is great if you're looking to make money online as a digital nomad or even while sitting at home on your laptop while in your pajamas.

What, specifically, can you sell on Fiverr? Anything from graphics and design services, to digital marketing, writing and translation services, video and animation services, music and audio, programming and application development, business services and lifestyle services that includes anything from celebrity impressions to gaming.

6. Build sales funnels.

Every successful business has an automated sales funnel. Yet, so many businesses are completely unaware of the power of an effective funnel. Sales funnels provide automation in the sales process. They help you build a relationship with your audience and develop a bond with the consumer. There are plenty of tools you can use to build a sales funnel, but the world's most successful businesses often create custom-coded funnels.

Expert sales funnels often start with a free offer, also called the lead magnet. By delivering value in the lead magnet, you're creating trust with the consumer. In the next step, you'd usually find what's called a self-liquidating offer or a trip wire. These are deals that are hard to pass up, often for $7 to $47. The front-end offer is usually found beyond that along with one-time offers to help boost the lifetime value of the customer and the average cart value.

While there are considerable technique details when it comes to sales funnels, understanding them today, right now, could set you up for a higher degree of online marketing prowess. It'll also help you scale your business by optimizing a conversion rate, then simply expanding your ad spend.

7. Rent out your home.

Another way you can make money at home is to actually rent out your home. AirBnB has carved a sizable industry out of vacation rentals. While the market did exist prior to AirBnB's arrival, it's certainly grown by leaps and bounds since its arrival on the scene.

In 2017, AirBnB purchased luxury vacation rental provider, Luxury Retreats, and other consolidations in the marketplace have happened with leading sites like InvitedHome's acquisition of PPG rentals and Seasoned Dreams' platforms, and Expedia's $3.9 billion acquisition of another vacation rental giant, HomeAway. The market is booming and the time is ripe for entry, no matter how big or small your home or condo might be.

8. Launch an ecommerce site.

Ecommerce is booming. While Amazon takes the lion's share, consumers are buying by the droves when they can scoop up great offers. In fact, some of the leading online marketers like Neil Patel, Frank Kern, Dean Graziosi, David Sharpe, John Reese and many others, are using free-plus-shipping ecommerce and book funnels to make small fortunes. This comes back to the implementation of sales funnels within an ecommerce environment. In fact, much of what people think about traditional ecommerce stores taking months or even years to build and costing a small fortune simply isn't true.

9. Start a blog.

Blogs are quite possibly one of the best ways to earn a passive income, even while traveling the world. While starting a blog might be simple you will need to put in the work and the effort in order to reap the benefits. Plant the seeds now to enjoy the harvest later.

However, once that blog gets going, generating an income and scaling out your business is straightforward. Simply produce more content and line up more offers. As your blog grows in popularity, you'll also be able to attract top talent willing to write for you simply in exchange for one very powerful link back to their own websites.

10. Build a side hustle business.

There are plenty of ideas for lucrative side hustle businesses that you could easily start from the comfort of your own home. While starting them is easy, actually putting in the work to market and grow those businesses is a bit more challenging. The hard part is seeing them through.

While you could launch a regular business selling someone else's products, you could also invent your own product. While businesses based on inventions might seem more complex to create, they do present attractive investment opportunities as depicted on popular shows like Shark Tank.

11. Create webinars

I've become obsessed with the webinar medium for selling. Building out automated webinars is one of the most useful skills you could possibly have, like entrepreneur Jason Fladlien, who's done of $100 million in sales through webinars by only selling other people's products and not his own.

Webinars follow a specific template and format. They're formulaic. If you can master that formula, you can quite literally dominate in this space. Find a great business idea or opportunity that you can sell that delivers massive amounts of value.

12. Social media management.

Social media management is a great way to generate an income from home. Considering the expansion of social media, businesses are clamoring to find their way in front of prospects. However, most businesses haven't got a clue about how they can increase their exposure. That’s where you come in.

Building a social media management business might take some effort and time, but it's well worth it. You could charge a sizable monthly fee for each business to help manage their social media, allowing you to earn a full-time income doing this gig.

Liz Benny, the founder of Jinga Social, not only built one of the largest and most well-known social media management businesses out there, but also created multiple seven-figure webinars teaching people, you guessed it, how to launch your own social media management company.

13. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing presents a very low friction entry into selling products online. While you do need some type of audience to sell these products or services to, you could make a significant amount of money from home while doing it. Some products or services have very high earnings per click. That means, if you play your cards right, you could easily make a large profit on conversions by driving traffic to specific offers as long as you target the right interests.

You can find affiliate marketing offers on sites like ClickBank, CJ.com and Rakuten LinkShare, amongst many others. Search for the right offer and ensure that you present it to the right audience and don't spam people about it. Do your marketing ethically.

14. Create online courses.

One of my absolute favorite ways to make extra money from home is to create online courses. Now, this does take an upfront investment of time. But, as any other passive income generating activity, you do the work once and get paid repeatedly for it.

Take whatever skill you have and find a way to build a course around it. Use sites like Udemy, Ankur Nagpal's, Teachable or Jonathan Cronstedt's Kajabi to build those courses then begin marketing.
Conclusion

Make money online from home business ideas are pretty cool. We already covered many ideas from our previous lessons. Which one will you take?🤔

Bryan Hoo is an active investor in the stock market and co-founder of Bryan&Robert Publishing. Bryan believes that investing can bring people wealth and happiness by growing the money continuously. Subscribe to our channel right now with the link below to get a free copy of E-book “Three Best Stock Investments That Will Make You Richer, TWICE” right away! Link below: https://mailchi.mp/9f48ef4e141f/bryan...
Three Best Stock Investments That Will Make You Richer, TWICE Gains From The Greatest Investments Opportunities In The Century! (1) by Bryan Hoo

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Published on October 03, 2020 04:48

September 6, 2020

Best investments in 2020

To enjoy a comfortable future, investing is absolutely essential for most people.

Why invest? Investing can provide you with another source of income, help fund your retirement or even get you out of a financial jam in the future. Above all, investing helps you grow your wealth — allowing your financial goals to be met and increasing your purchasing power over time. Or maybe you’ve recently sold your home or come into some money, then it’s a wise decision to let that money work for you and grow over time.

While investing can build wealth, you’ll also want to balance potential gains with the risk involved. As the start of 2020 showed with the coronavirus crisis, markets can become volatile very quickly. An investment might be good for the long term, but its price can bounce around significantly during some periods. Recessions can hurt investment prices for even longer, meaning you might not have the cash that you put into the investment soon, or ever.

You have many ways to invest — from very safe choices such as CDs and money market accounts to medium-risk options such as corporate bonds, and even higher-risk picks such as stock index funds. That’s great news, because it means you can find investments that offer a variety of returns and fit your risk profile. It also means that you can combine investments to create a well-rounded and diverse – that is, safer – portfolio.
What to consider

Risk tolerance and time horizon each play a big role in deciding how to allocate your investments. The value of each can become more obvious during periods of volatility.

Conservative investors or those nearing retirement may be more comfortable allocating a larger percentage of their portfolios to less-risky investments. These are also great for people saving for both short- and intermediate-term goals. If the market becomes volatile, investments in CDs and other FDIC-protected accounts won’t lose value and will be there when you need them.

Those with stronger stomachs and workers still accumulating a retirement nest egg are likely to fare better with riskier portfolios, as long as they diversify. A longer time horizon allows you to ride out the volatility and take advantage of the potentially higher return of stocks, for example. Be prepared to do your homework and shop around for the types of accounts and investments that fit both your short- and long-term goals.

If you’re looking to grow your wealth, you can opt for lower-risk investments that pay a modest return or you can take on more risk and aim for a higher return. Or you can do both and take a balanced approach, having absolutely safe money now while still giving yourself the opportunity for growth over the long term. Below are a range of investments with varying levels of risk and potential return.
Here are the best investments in 2020:

-High-yield savings accounts
-Certificates of deposit
-Money market accounts
-Treasury securities
-Government bond funds
-Short-term corporate bond funds
-S&P 500 index funds
-Dividend stock funds
-Nasdaq 100 index funds
-Rental housing
-Municipal bond funds

1. High-yield savings accounts

Just like a savings account earning pennies at your brick-and-mortar bank, high-yield online savings accounts are accessible vehicles for your cash.

With fewer overhead costs, you can earn much higher interest rates at online banks. As of May 2020, you can find accounts paying above 1.5 percent.

A savings account is a good vehicle for those who need to access cash in the near future.

Risk: The banks that offer these accounts are FDIC-insured, so you don’t have to worry about losing your deposit. While high-yield savings accounts are considered safe investments, like CDs, you do run the risk of earning less upon reinvestment due to inflation.

Liquidity: Savings accounts are about as liquid as your money gets. You can add or remove the funds at any time.

2. Certificates of deposit

Certificates of deposit, or CDs, are issued by banks and generally offer a higher interest rate than savings accounts.

These federally insured time deposits have specific maturity dates that can range from several weeks to several years. Because these are “time deposits,” you cannot withdraw the money for a specified period of time without penalty.

With a CD, the financial institution pays you interest at regular intervals. Once it matures, you get your original principal back plus any accrued interest. You may be able to earn up to around 1.8 percent APY on these types of investments, as of May 2020.

Because of their safety and higher payouts, CDs can be a good choice for retirees who don’t need immediate income and are able to lock up their money for a little bit. But there are many kinds of CDs to fit your needs, and so you can still take advantage of the higher rates on CDs.

Risk: CDs are considered safe investments. However, they do carry reinvestment risk — the risk that when interest rates fall, investors will earn less when they reinvest principal and interest in new CDs with lower rates. The opposite risk is that rates will rise and investors won’t be able to take advantage because they’ve already locked their money into a CD.

Consider laddering CDs — investing money in CDs of varying terms — so that all your money isn’t tied up in one instrument for a long time. It’s important to note that inflation and taxes could significantly erode the purchasing power of your investment.

Liquidity: CDs aren’t as liquid as savings accounts or money market accounts because you tie up your money until the CD reaches maturity — often for months or years. It’s possible to get at your money sooner, but you’ll often pay a penalty to do so.

3. Money market accounts

A money market account is an FDIC-insured, interest-bearing deposit account.

Money market accounts typically earn higher interest than savings accounts and require higher minimum balances. Because they’re relatively liquid and earn higher yields, money market accounts are a great option for your emergency savings.

In exchange for better interest earnings, consumers usually have to accept more restrictions on withdrawals, such as limits on how often you can access your money.

These are a great option for beginning investors who need to build up a little cash flow and set up an emergency fund.

Risk: Inflation is the main threat. If inflation rates exceed the interest rate earned on the account, your purchasing power could be diminished. In addition, you could lose some or all of your principal if your account is not FDIC-insured (though the vast majority are) or if you have more than the $250,000 FDIC-insured maximum in any one account.

Liquidity: Money market accounts are considered liquid, especially because they come with the option to write checks from the account. However, federal regulations limit withdrawals to six per month (or statement cycle), of which no more than three can be check transactions.

4. Treasury securities

The U.S. government issues various types of securities to raise money to pay for projects and pay its debts. These are some of the safest investments to guarantee against loss of your principal.

Treasury bills, or T-bills have a maturity of one year or less and are not technically interest-bearing. They are sold at a discount from their face value, but when they mature, the government pays you full face value. For example, if you buy a $1,000 T-bill for $980, you would earn $20 on your investment.

Treasury notes, or T-notes, are issued in terms of two, three, five, seven and 10 years. Holders earn fixed interest every six months and then face value upon maturity. The price of a T-note may be greater than, less than or equal to the face value of the note, depending on demand. If demand by investors is high, the notes will trade at a premium, which reduces investor return.

Treasury bonds, or T-bonds are issued with 20-year and 30-year maturities, pay interest every six months and face value upon maturity. They are sold at auction throughout the year. The price and yield are determined at auction.

All three types of Treasury securities are offered in increments of $100. Treasury securities are a better option for more advanced investors looking to reduce their risk.

Risk: Treasury securities are considered virtually risk-free because they are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. You can count on getting interest and your principal back at maturity. However, the value of the securities fluctuates, depending on whether interest rates are up or down. In a rising rate environment, existing bonds lose their allure because investors can get a higher return from newly issued bonds. If you try to sell your bond before maturity, you may experience a capital loss.

Treasuries are also subject to inflation pressures. If the interest rate of the security is not as high as inflation, investors lose purchasing power.

Because they mature quickly, T-bills may be the safest treasury security investment, as the risk of holding them is not as great as with longer-term T-notes or T-bonds. Just remember, the shorter your investment, the less your securities will generally return.

Liquidity: All Treasury securities are very liquid, but if you sell prior to maturity you may experience gains or losses, depending on the interest rate environment. A T-bill is automatically redeemed at maturity, as is a T-note. When a bond matures, you can redeem it directly with the U.S. Treasury (if the bond is held there) or with a financial institution, such as a bank or broker.

5. Government bond funds

Government bond funds are mutual funds that invest in debt securities issued by the U.S. government and its agencies.

The funds invest in debt instruments such as T-bills, T-notes, T-bonds and mortgage-backed securities issued by government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These government bond funds are well-suited for the low-risk investor.

These funds can also be a good choice for beginning investors and those looking for cash flow.

Risk: Funds that invest in government debt instruments are considered to be among the safest investments because the securities are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

However, like other mutual funds, the fund itself is not government-backed and is subject to risks like interest rate fluctuations and inflation. If inflation rises, purchasing power can decline. If interest rates rise, prices of existing bonds drop; and if interest rates decline, prices of existing bonds rise. Interest rate risk is greater for long-term bonds.

Liquidity: Bond fund shares are highly liquid, but their values fluctuate depending on the interest rate environment.

6. Short-term corporate bond funds

Corporations sometimes raise money by issuing bonds to investors.

Small investors can get exposure by buying shares of short-term corporate bond funds. Short-term bonds have an average maturity of one-to-five years, which makes them less susceptible to interest rate fluctuations than intermediate- or long-term.

Corporate bond funds can be an excellent choice for investors looking for cash flow, such as retirees, or those who want to reduce their overall portfolio risk but still earn a return.

Risk: As is the case with other bond funds, short-term corporate bond funds are not FDIC-insured. Investment-grade short-term bond funds often reward investors with higher returns than government and municipal bond funds.

But the greater rewards come with added risk. There is always the chance that companies will have their credit rating downgraded or run into financial trouble and default on the bonds. Make sure your fund is made up of high-quality corporate bonds.

Liquidity: You can buy or sell your fund shares every business day. In addition, you can usually reinvest income dividends or make additional investments at any time. Just keep in mind that capital losses are a possibility.

7. S&P 500 index funds

If you want to achieve higher returns than more traditional banking products, a good alternative is an S&P 500 index fund.

The fund is based on the 500 largest American companies, meaning it comprises many of the most successful companies in the world. For example, Berkshire Hathaway and Walmart are two of the most prominent member companies in the index.

Like nearly any fund, an S&P 500 index fund offers immediate diversification, allowing you to own a piece of all of those companies. The fund includes companies from every industry, making it more resilient than many investments. Over time, the index has returned about 10 percent annually. These funds can be purchased with very low expense ratios (how much the management company charges to run the fund) and they’re some of the best index funds to buy.

An S&P 500 index fund is an excellent choice for beginning investors, because it provides broad, diversified exposure to the stock market.

Risk: An S&P 500 fund is one of the least-risky ways to invest in stocks, because it’s made up of the market’s top companies. Of course, it still includes stocks, so it’s going to be more volatile than bonds or any bank products. It’s also not insured by the government, so you can lose money based upon fluctuations in value. However, the index has done quite well over time.

Liquidity: An S&P 500 index fund is highly liquid, and investors will be able to buy or sell them on any day the market is open.

8. Dividend stock funds

Even your stock market investments can become a little safer with stocks that pay dividends.

Dividends are portions of a company’s profit that can be paid out to shareholders, usually on a quarterly basis. With a dividend stock, not only can you earn on your investment through long-term market appreciation, you’ll also earn cash in the short term.

Buying individual stocks, whether they pay dividends or not, is better-suited for intermediate and advanced investors.

Risk: As with any stock investments, dividend stocks come with risk. They’re generally considered safer than growth stocks or other non-dividend stocks, but you should choose your portfolio carefully. Make sure you invest in companies with a solid history of dividend increases rather than selecting those with the highest current yield. That could be a sign of upcoming trouble. However, even well-regarded companies can be hit by a crisis, so a good reputation is finally not a protection against the company slashing its dividend or eliminating it entirely.

Liquidity: You can buy and sell your fund on any day the market is open, and quarterly payouts, especially if the dividends are paid in cash, are liquid. Still, in order to see the highest performance on your dividend stock investment, a long-term investment is key. You should look to reinvest your dividends for the best possible returns.

9. Nasdaq 100 index funds

An index fund based on the Nasdaq 100 is a great choice for investors who want to have exposure to some of the biggest and best tech companies without having to pick the winners and losers or having to analyze specific companies.

The fund is based on the Nasdaq’s 100 largest companies, meaning they’re among the most successful and stable. Such companies include Apple and Amazon, each of which comprises a large portion of the total index. Microsoft is another prominent member company.

A Nasdaq 100 index fund offers you immediate diversification, so that your portfolio is not exposed to the failure of any single company. The best Nasdaq index funds charge a very low expense ratio, and they’re a cheap way to own all of the companies in the index.

Risk: Like any publicly traded stock, this collection of stocks can move down, too. While the Nasdaq 100 has some of the strongest tech companies, these companies also are usually some of the most highly valued. That high valuation means that they’re likely prone to falling quickly in a downturn, though they may rise again during an economic recovery.

Liquidity: Like other publicly traded index funds, a Nasdaq index fund is readily convertible to cash on any day the market is open.

10. Rental housing

Rental housing can be a great investment if you have the willingness to manage your own properties.

To pursue this route, you’ll have to select the right property, finance it or buy it outright, maintain it and deal with tenants. You can do very well if you make smart purchases.

However, you won’t enjoy the ease of buying and selling your assets with a click of the mouse. Worse, you might have to endure the occasional 3:00 a.m. call about a broken pipe.

But if you hold your assets over time, gradually pay down debt, and grow your rents, you’ll have a powerful cash flow when it comes time to retire.

Risk: As with any asset, you can overpay for housing, as investors in the mid-2000s quickly found out. Also, the lack of liquidity might be a problem if you ever needed to access cash quickly.

Liquidity: Housing is among the least liquid investments around, so if you need cash in a hurry, investing in rental properties may not be for you. On top of this, a broker may take as much as a 6 percent cut off the top of the sales price as a commission.

11. Municipal bond funds

Municipal bond funds invest in a number of different municipal bonds, or munis, issued by state and local governments.

Earned interest is generally free of federal income taxes and may also be exempt from state and local taxes.

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), muni bonds may be bought individually, through a mutual fund or an exchange-traded fund (ETF). You can consult with a financial adviser to find the right investment type for you, but you may want to stick with those in your state or locality for additional tax advantages.

Municipal bond funds are great for beginning investors because they provide diversified exposure without the investor having to analyze individual bonds. They’re also good for investors looking for cash flow.

Risk: Individual bonds carry default risk, meaning the issuer becomes unable to make further income or principal payments. Cities and states don’t go bankrupt often, but it can happen. Bonds may also be callable, meaning the issuer returns principal and retires the bond before the bond’s maturity date. This results in a loss of future interest payments to the investor.

Choosing a bond fund allows you to spread out potential default and prepayment risks by owning a large number of bonds, thus cushioning the blow of negative surprises from a small part of the portfolio.

Liquidity: You can buy or sell your fund shares every business day. In addition, you can typically reinvest income dividends or make additional investments at any time.

Bottom line

Investing can be a great way to build your wealth over time, and investors have a range of investment options – from safe lower-return assets to riskier, higher-return ones. So that range means you’ll need to understand the pros and cons of each investment option to make an informed decision. While it seems daunting at first, many investors manage their own assets.

But the first step to investing is actually easy – opening a brokerage account. Investing can be surprisingly affordable even if you don’t have a lot of money.
Stocks To Invest After Election Trump Wins? Biden Wins? Protect your Investments and Make Profits from both election results by Bryan Hoo Stocks To Invest After Election: Trump Wins? Biden Wins? Protect your Investments and Make Profits from both election resultsBryan Hoo
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Published on September 06, 2020 19:41

August 30, 2020

How to Pick Stocks

So you want to pick stocks. Well, that’s a broad topic! No worries. We’ll tackle the topic step by step. One thing to be absolutely cognizant of before digging into the various ways you might pick stocks: regardless of the method you use to pick stocks, there is inherent risk in investing in the market. While your investments could increase in value, they could also drop significantly. Just be careful out there.

1. Decide to pick one stock or many stocks

The first thing you need to decide is exactly what stock or stocks you plan to buy. Money burning a hole in your pocket for a slice or two of Apple? Or hoping to invest more broadly in the stock market by picking up a whole basket of stocks for one price? Indulge us in a little straight talk. Historically, picking individual stocks has been a lot like playing the lottery with your life savings. Some perspective: the top performing 4% of stocks accounted for the entire wealth creation of the US stock market since 1926.

For every big stock market winner like Amazon, there have been many, many more loser stocks. Why would that be? Think about it: when you’re buying a stock, you’re buying it from someone who’s selling it. The seller has decided the stock is worth selling at say, $10 dollars a share because she's sure it's definitely going to go down, but you're sure it's definitely going to go up. Who’s right? What makes you so sure you’re so much smarter than that seller?

On the other hand, the overall stock market, powered by these handful of winners, has over time risen steadily; in the 1880’s, when it was first created, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 62.76, and despite cataclysmic events like the Great Depression and the recent Global Financial Crisis, it now sits well over 20,000. In other words, the smart money’s probably on investing broadly in the market and letting the rising tide lift your investment boat. But, naturally, there will always be gamblers energized by a “go big or go home” mentality. These two methods need not be mutually exclusive however; there’s the much-cited 5% rule that states that a properly diversified portfolio will not contain more than 5% of one stock or sector, so a mostly cautious investor with a wild streak might choose to mostly diversify but also gamble with a little.
The many stocks route

If you choose to buy many stocks at once, you may either choose to follow a passive, or active investment strategy. Passive simply means that no human is involved in managing your investment. The most common way to follow a passive strategy is to purchase ETFs which are bundles of different equities that trade on exchanges just like stocks, and often mirror stock indexes like the S&P 500. The major advantage of ETFs is the low expense. Management expense ratios (MERs) are the percentage of a fund that's shaved off every year to cover a fund's expenses. ETFs' MERs are generally a fraction of those of actively managed investments.

ETFs provide a particularly good method for creating a diversified portfolio. Harry Markowitz, a Nobel Prize winning economist, championed an investment strategy called Modern Portfolio Theory that posits that the key to effective investing is diversification. By investing widely, the theory goes, you’ll enjoy robust stock market results while protecting yourself from crushing downside when a specific stock or sector falls precipitously. The portfolio of a truly diversified investor will include a mix of stocks and bonds, both domestic and foreign, and investments in companies of all sizes in various sectors. If the idea of creating your own well diversified passive portfolio is a big daunting, consider using an automated investing service that will automatically diversify your portfolio based upon your personal goals.

Most mutual funds are actively managed, meaning that there are living, breathing human fund managers who are constantly making decisions about buying and selling the fund’s holdings. Mutual funds come with higher MERs; fund managers need to get paid, after all, and mutual fund holders are expected to cover their salaries and the funds' expenses. The average MER on American mutual funds is about 1%, in Canada it's closer to 2%, and the UK's right in between those two. Ostensibly, the big brained humans running the mutual funds would help them outperform passive funds justifying their considerable MERs. The reality, however, is that tons of studies show that over the long term, the vast majority of professionals paid to pick stocks fail to outperform the market as a whole. The growing public realization of this fact has lead to a massive rush to the exits from active to passive investments. Both mutual funds and ETFs can be purchased in a variety of ways, but the cheapest, easiest way is either through the ETF or fund issuer itself, or one of the big-name discount online trading platforms.
The individual stocks route

If you decide that you’d like to be in the driver’s seat of your stock market investments rather than investing more broadly with an active or passive stock market investment, prepare to work a bit harder to educate yourself on the complexities of how to pick stocks that will rise in value.

“Valuation” is the term used to describe how much stocks are worth (a figure that will likely be different than the price at which a stock is trading.)

Understand that there are two basic ways stocks valuations are determined: a ratio-based approach and an intrinsic value approach. A ratio based approach is concerned with valuing a company by measuring its current share price relative to its earnings per-shared, something that can be accomplished through simple division of the market value per share by a company’s earnings per share. Intrinsic value is a whole lot more complicated, and involves predicting a company’s future cash flows and other factors. Graduate degrees can be earned on topics as big as these.

2. Pick a strategy for choosing stocks

Maybe you love a product like Nike or Netflix or Amazon and you might choose to buy a little bit like your grandparents might have done with a stock like Standard Oil. Choosing a name brand stock this way is probably no worse a strategy than buying shares of a company you’ve never heard of based on the pronouncements of some gin-breathed lout at the bar broadcasting his “can’t lose” stock picks.

You might decide to invest according to your values and only choose stocks that are kind to the earth or invest in a Halal portfolio of stocks that abides by principles of Islamic investing. You could go down the route of value investing and aim to find investments that might be undervalued with the hope that at some point, the market will see their higher value.

There’s no sure way to make money in stocks, short of inheriting a magic pig that sniffs out tomorrow’s Amazon. Generally, investors with very short investment horizons—like five years or under—should be incredibly cautious about their exposure to stocks if they need to access their funds and instead keep their money in a savings investment account.

3. Seek out value

Naturally, if you’re picking a stock, you’ll want to find one that will sell for more in the future than it’s selling for now. But as valuable as income statements and understanding what a company’s dept situation is like, it’s still a super iffy way to predict where a stock’s price will go.

Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to find underpriced stocks in the same way you might stroll into a department store and find a fly $6,000 Brioni suit in your size marked down to $300 dollars. By the time you decide to buy any stock, the law of supply and demand will have done a pretty thorough job of pricing the stock based on all available information, like revenue growth, earns per share, historical price, etc.

4. Take analysts predications with a big grain of salt

So to pick a good stock, you may choose to listen to the loudest voices on cable news, though history shows that guys like Mad Money’s Jim Cramer are better shouters than stock prognosticators. Analysts sometimes get it right and sometimes get it very wrong.

5. Decide how long you want to hold the stock

With stocks, there's a lot to be said for holding onto them for a long time. Various studies have shown that those that had the patience to hold stocks for 10 or more years were rewarded with positive returns that offset short-term risks. It’s a pretty simple lesson on how averages will eventually wash out the stock price outliers (which might be either good or bad). In other words, the more time you hold a stock, the less variable its price will be on average. Stocks are never “safe”, and any investment in stocks comes with the real risk you could lose some, or all of your investment.

If you're not in for the long haul you could hold stocks for a short term or even day trade. Various guides will help arm you with the information you need to day trade, such as the kind of hardware and software required to get started and tips such as start small, trade only a couple stocks per day and consider practicing with imaginary funds first before actually risking any real money.

Bone up on the tax code, as well, which will require you to learn a lot about the Superficial Loss Rule, which, though it might sound like some something that might happen if you de-friend a phony person on Facebook, will actually have great tax implications for you. If you're changing careers to become a day trader, it will be worthwhile to spend a few bucks and consult a quality accountant before making the leap. Just be aware that day trading is one of the riskiest investment strategies ever. One study showed that in South Korea, 8 of 10 day traders lost money over a six month period. A handful, however, did manage to do quite well.

6. Choose a broker and make the trade

If you’re to buy an individual stock, whatever you choose to buy, in most cases, you’ll need to buy the stock not from the company itself, but instead from a licensed middleman because regular folks can’t just show up at on the floor of a stock exchange to buy a share or two of Apple. They have to employ the services of an investment platform — to buy stocks. You'll find trading platforms that will execute a trade on the cheap, or even, as a few platform now offer, totally commission-free. Most online services do offer humans to execute trades, but at a price that would probably make it financially unwise for many.

7. Determine the kind of trade you plan to execute

When you’re trading on your own, you’ll have the option of a few different types of trades. The two biggies are market and limit orders. A market order’s the most common; it simply means you're buying a stock at its current trading price if the market is open, or at whatever price it’s at during the first moments of the next trading session. If the stock’s trading a lot--how much a stock is traded on a particular day is referred to as its “share volume”--there’s a good chance that by the time your order goes through the stock may have deviated from the price you saw. If this concerns you, you might consider a limit order, which means that you will agree to buy a stock, but only when it falls at or below a certain price threshold you set.

8. Execute the trade

Executing a trade is pretty much like the experience you’ve certainly had purchasing a bare-chested Nicholas Cage pillowcase at Amazon. You’ll hit a button, and in all likelihood within a short period of time, the online brokerage will email you a confirmation. If the confirmation comes, you may check to make sure you didn’t somehow miss clicking the button required to pull the trigger on the trade. Pay attention. Just as difficult as it might be not having Nick Cage’s hairy chest to lie your head upon, thinking you own a stock that you don’t is no fun. So always double check!

Think you might like a little help investing in the stock market? Bryan&Robert Publishing got your back! Every subscribers of our channel will have a FREE COPY of our state-of-the-art E-book.

Subscribe to our channel right now with the link below to get a free copy of E-book "Three Best Stock Investments That Will Make You Richer, TWICE” right away! Three Best Stock Investments That Will Make You Richer, TWICE: Gains From The Greatest Investments Opportunities In The Century!Three Best Stock Investments That Will Make You Richer, TWICE Gains From The Greatest Investments Opportunities In The Century! (1) by Bryan HooBryan Hoo

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Published on August 30, 2020 07:56

July 23, 2020

Bryan&Robert Motivation Engine

IN FRONT OF YOU

Life is in front of you. Look up at it, see it, live it, love it, give the best of yourself to it.

Treasure all you’ve experienced and all you’ve been, and carry it forward. Give new life to your best memories by making even better ones today.

In front of you, possibility shimmers all the way to the horizon and beyond. Richness and wonder stretch far past anything you have yet seen or imagined.

Go see it, go do it, go give life a more complete experience of itself. Listen, learn, explore, investigate, and with each moment know more fully how it feels to be alive.

With kindness and generosity, share that feeling as you continue to expand on it. With gratitude and humility, sieze upon the opportunity that every moment offers.

Your life is more than a flat concept, more than a collection of carefully posed selfies. Life is rich beyond anything you could ever conceive, and it’s here, now, in front of you, imploring you to live it.

-Bryan Hoo (Co-founder of Bryan&Robert Publishing)
passive income ideas: Three Passive Income generating Cryptocurrency Investments you can INVEST NOW! passive income ideas Three Passive Income generating Cryptocurrency Investments you can INVEST NOW! by Bryan Hoo
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Published on July 23, 2020 01:41