A carpenter uses a set of house plans to build a house. If he didn’t the something important, like a bathroom or closet may get overlooked.
Engineers would never begin construction on a jet or plane without a detailed set of design specifications. Yet most of us go out into the world without any idea about or understanding of finances and without any plan at all.
Not very smart of us, is it?
A money plan is called a budget and it is crucial to get us to our desired financial goals.
Without a plan we will drift without direction and end up lost without a clue and digging ourselves into hole after hole.
If you have a spouse or a significant other, you should make this budget together. Sit down and figure out what your joint financial goals are…long term and short term.
Then plan your route to get to those goals. Every journey begins with one step and the first step to attaining your goals is to make a realistic budget that both of you can live with.
A budget should never be a financial starvation diet. That won’t work for the long haul. Make reasonable allocations for food, clothing, shelter, utilities and insurance and set aside a reasonable amount for entertainment and the occasional luxury item. Savings should always come first before any spending.
Even a small amount saved will help you reach your long term and short term financial goals. You can find many budget forms on the internet. Simply google “free budget forms”.
You’ll get lots of hits. Print one out and work on it with your spouse or significant other. Both of you will need to be happy with the final result and feel like it’s something you can stick to.
Showing posts with label Financial Well-Being. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Financial Well-Being. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Active vs. Passive Investing: Which is best for me?
When it comes to comparing active vs. passive investing and determining which investment method is best, the answer isn’t as clearly cut as you might imagine.
Everyone has very different risk tolerance levels, so it’s important to understand your own preferences and investing goals before you choose between active and passive investing strategies.
Active vs. Passive Investing Definitions
Actively managed investments, such as mutual funds, try to beat the market performance of a benchmark index, like the S&P 500, by choosing the best 100 or so performing stocks. The best performing stocks are chosen based on the likelihood of receiving a good return.
A passively managed investment will simply accept that market performance is what it is and invest in all 500 stocks on the index.
Which is Better – Active or Passive?
Many investors wonder what the better option is for their own investing goals. Once again, it does come down to the individual investor’s personal levels of risk tolerance.
The level of risk you’re willing to take with your hard-earned money can often determine how you’re willing to spend and invest. After all, higher risks can often yield higher returns. Unfortunately higher risks can also compound losses too.
Low risk might equate to lower returns, but it’s commonly believed that a low guaranteed gain is far better than a risky bet on a higher risk return that you may never cash out on.
Active Investing
An active investor understands that not all stock prices move at the same rate or even in the same direction as the entire market as a whole. They will actively try to single out individual stocks that have the likelihood of out-performing the index.
In most cases, actively managed mutual funds carry higher costs. This is partly associated with the higher trading costs, time costs involved with researching likely stock picks and management costs. Simply put, more work is put in, the costs increase as the effort increases.
For those investors who wish to take on their active investing activities themselves rather than trust their money to a fund manager, then day trading on the stock market is a very similar tactic. You spend the time researching stocks that are likely to outperform the index and you manage your portfolio personally, buying and selling as you try to capture profits and minimize losses. Don't allow this approach to intimidate you, as nobody should or will care about your money more than you do.
Passive Investing
A passive investor will understand that as the market index moves up or down, then having a passively managed fund that is broadly diversified across almost all the available stocks on that index is likely to return average returns that are somewhat in line with the returns shown by that index.
Passively managed funds often carry lower fees and may tend to offer lower returns. However, those lower returns are often favored by investors who believe that receiving a low return is better than risking the chance of receiving no return at all. I tend to agree. Its more of a slow and steady wins the race, long term type of approach.
For investors who once again don’t wish to trust their money to a fund manager, then your passive investing option is to develop a broadly diversified stock portfolio that you hold for the long term. You have the choice of allowing your stocks to simply sit in your portfolio and collecting the dividend or you can reinvest your dividend earnings back into your portfolio to buy more stocks.
Everyone has very different risk tolerance levels, so it’s important to understand your own preferences and investing goals before you choose between active and passive investing strategies.
Active vs. Passive Investing Definitions
Actively managed investments, such as mutual funds, try to beat the market performance of a benchmark index, like the S&P 500, by choosing the best 100 or so performing stocks. The best performing stocks are chosen based on the likelihood of receiving a good return.
A passively managed investment will simply accept that market performance is what it is and invest in all 500 stocks on the index.
Which is Better – Active or Passive?
Many investors wonder what the better option is for their own investing goals. Once again, it does come down to the individual investor’s personal levels of risk tolerance.
The level of risk you’re willing to take with your hard-earned money can often determine how you’re willing to spend and invest. After all, higher risks can often yield higher returns. Unfortunately higher risks can also compound losses too.
Low risk might equate to lower returns, but it’s commonly believed that a low guaranteed gain is far better than a risky bet on a higher risk return that you may never cash out on.
Active Investing
An active investor understands that not all stock prices move at the same rate or even in the same direction as the entire market as a whole. They will actively try to single out individual stocks that have the likelihood of out-performing the index.
In most cases, actively managed mutual funds carry higher costs. This is partly associated with the higher trading costs, time costs involved with researching likely stock picks and management costs. Simply put, more work is put in, the costs increase as the effort increases.
For those investors who wish to take on their active investing activities themselves rather than trust their money to a fund manager, then day trading on the stock market is a very similar tactic. You spend the time researching stocks that are likely to outperform the index and you manage your portfolio personally, buying and selling as you try to capture profits and minimize losses. Don't allow this approach to intimidate you, as nobody should or will care about your money more than you do.
Passive Investing
A passive investor will understand that as the market index moves up or down, then having a passively managed fund that is broadly diversified across almost all the available stocks on that index is likely to return average returns that are somewhat in line with the returns shown by that index.
Passively managed funds often carry lower fees and may tend to offer lower returns. However, those lower returns are often favored by investors who believe that receiving a low return is better than risking the chance of receiving no return at all. I tend to agree. Its more of a slow and steady wins the race, long term type of approach.
For investors who once again don’t wish to trust their money to a fund manager, then your passive investing option is to develop a broadly diversified stock portfolio that you hold for the long term. You have the choice of allowing your stocks to simply sit in your portfolio and collecting the dividend or you can reinvest your dividend earnings back into your portfolio to buy more stocks.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
How Do I Start Investing?
Have you ever asked yourself "How do I start investing"? There are many people who would love to invest, but because they don’t know where to start they don’t end up starting at all.
Some people believe that they don’t have enough money to start investing, while others simply don’t know what assets they should begin investing into. After all, there are so many investment types to choose from and so many choices to make that it can be intimidating.
Here are some basic tips for anyone wanting to begin investing with only small amounts of money to get you started.
How do I start Investing with only a small deposit?
Perhaps the easiest option for beginning investors with only a small deposit is to look into investing in mutual funds. There are funds available that allow you to start investing without a lump sum deposit to get you started. They simply ask you to pay an agreed amount using monthly withdrawals from your checking account. You might agree to withdraw $25 or $50 or even $100. Decide how much you want to invest every month and then stick to a figure that is comfortable for your budget.
Each month, the mutual fund managers withdraw your money and invest it for you. Your money forms a part of a much larger pool of money, made up from the cash of lots of investors.
How Do I Choose the Right Investment?
Choosing the right investment platform to suit you is a lot more involved than just sticking your money in the bank and earning interest. While this may give you some return on your money, it’s not exactly a long term investment strategy.
Your investment goals should be tailored to your own specific reasons for wanting to invest in the first place. If you’re trying to find a way to save extra money for a home deposit or to pay for college education, then consider how long you want to hold onto the investment. This can help to determine what type of investment you choose and how long you need to stay with your plan to see the returns you hope for.
Should I Start Investing in the Stock Market?
When you buy shares, you’re buying little pieces of ownership in one company. If that company performs poorly and the value of your stock drops, then you’ve put your investment at risk. Perhaps a less risky option to get started would be stock mutual funds. A stock mutual fund manager will invest the pooled funds from lots of investors into many company stocks, which diversifies the portfolio overall and spreads out the risk significantly. Even if one company performs badly, the total fund may still offer good returns simply because the investment is spread across a diverse selection of stocks.
How Do I Get Started Investing in Mutual Funds?
If you think you’re ready to begin investing, then you should spend some time researching into different types of mutual funds available. There are quite a few websites that offer mutual fund ratings and search-able parameters that can give you results of funds that meet your criteria.
You might search for funds that don’t require an initial investment deposit and will allow you to begin investing using only monthly withdrawals from your checking account. When the database returns your results, you can narrow down your search into further categories, such as how much the administrative fees will cost, the return the fund has posted for the current year and other aspects.
Some people believe that they don’t have enough money to start investing, while others simply don’t know what assets they should begin investing into. After all, there are so many investment types to choose from and so many choices to make that it can be intimidating.
Here are some basic tips for anyone wanting to begin investing with only small amounts of money to get you started.
How do I start Investing with only a small deposit?
Perhaps the easiest option for beginning investors with only a small deposit is to look into investing in mutual funds. There are funds available that allow you to start investing without a lump sum deposit to get you started. They simply ask you to pay an agreed amount using monthly withdrawals from your checking account. You might agree to withdraw $25 or $50 or even $100. Decide how much you want to invest every month and then stick to a figure that is comfortable for your budget.
Each month, the mutual fund managers withdraw your money and invest it for you. Your money forms a part of a much larger pool of money, made up from the cash of lots of investors.
How Do I Choose the Right Investment?
Choosing the right investment platform to suit you is a lot more involved than just sticking your money in the bank and earning interest. While this may give you some return on your money, it’s not exactly a long term investment strategy.
Your investment goals should be tailored to your own specific reasons for wanting to invest in the first place. If you’re trying to find a way to save extra money for a home deposit or to pay for college education, then consider how long you want to hold onto the investment. This can help to determine what type of investment you choose and how long you need to stay with your plan to see the returns you hope for.
Should I Start Investing in the Stock Market?
When you buy shares, you’re buying little pieces of ownership in one company. If that company performs poorly and the value of your stock drops, then you’ve put your investment at risk. Perhaps a less risky option to get started would be stock mutual funds. A stock mutual fund manager will invest the pooled funds from lots of investors into many company stocks, which diversifies the portfolio overall and spreads out the risk significantly. Even if one company performs badly, the total fund may still offer good returns simply because the investment is spread across a diverse selection of stocks.
How Do I Get Started Investing in Mutual Funds?
If you think you’re ready to begin investing, then you should spend some time researching into different types of mutual funds available. There are quite a few websites that offer mutual fund ratings and search-able parameters that can give you results of funds that meet your criteria.
You might search for funds that don’t require an initial investment deposit and will allow you to begin investing using only monthly withdrawals from your checking account. When the database returns your results, you can narrow down your search into further categories, such as how much the administrative fees will cost, the return the fund has posted for the current year and other aspects.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
3 Easy Steps for Quick Credit Repair
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeIf you're having problems with your credit, you've probably gotten behind on at least one debt. Late payments or missed payments can dramatically damage your score. The first step toward quick credit repair is to make sure you make the right payments on time.
If you're having financial problems, just this first step can seem difficult. But if you figure your income and expenses and there's just not enough there to make the minimum payments, then you need to contact the companies and let them know you're having a hard time.
The credit card companies will usually be willing to work with you. They may lower your interest and/or your payments to make it easier for you to pay on time and get caught up. It can only help you to ask them.
If this doesn't work and you still can't pay, you may want to look into a quick credit repair program that negotiates for you to pay a percentage of what you owe in smaller payments. It's important to do something so that you don’t keep getting farther and farther behind.
Paying less than you owe will show up as a black mark on your credit report, but doing that is better than letting your debt slowly grow as you pay late each month or not at all. That can be far more damaging in the long run.
If you can manage the minimum payments, then the best quick credit repair step you can take is to make those payments on time. This will keep late payments from showing up on your reports. Step 2 is to try to make more than the minimum payments.
You can pay more on each card if you want. But you'll get more of a feeling of satisfaction if you choose one card to work on first. Make the minimum payments on the other cards, and pay as much as you can on that one card.
Using this method, you'll see the balance of that card drop more quickly. It can help you feel like you're really starting to take control of your credit. Once that card is paid off, chose another card and start applying what you were paying on the first card to it in addition to its minimum payment.
That balance will start falling even faster. Then once that's paid, add what you were paying to the minimum payment of another card. This snowball effect can get you out of debt much more quickly than you'd probably imagined.
The third easy step is to contact Experian, Equifax, Innovis and TransUnion and request your free annual credit report. Look them over and contact them about any errors. These are 3 easy quick credit repair tips than can really improve your score right away.
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