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Archive for December, 2009

Whichever way you plan to invest, this section will give you some tips and techniques to get you started

Understand why you are investing.

One of the keys to successful investing is identifying your investment goals, and the time frame over which you will invest. What do you want to do with your money?

Do you want to save for a goal? Do you want to invest a certain amount? How long do you want to put that money away for?

Your goals and time frame

When investing money, many people have a specific goal in mind. If this is the case for you, you need to decide what time frame is attached to that goal — short term, medium term or long term?

Short term (1–3 years) deposit on a home overseas holiday new car starting a family Medium term (3–7 years) boat house renovations Long term (7+ years) children’s education deposit on a holiday house retirement

Rather than having a particular investment goal, some people may just want to invest a sum of money, for example, an inheritance. If you are in this situation, you need to decide what you want from that money. Do you want to use the money in the next year or two? (in which case you are a short-term investor).

Or do you want a regular income? Or do you want it to achieve capital growth over the long term?

A short-term investor would be more likely to choose a more conservative investment like cash, to ensure that their capital is available in the next one to three years when they need to access it. A long-term investor would be more willing to invest in growth assets such as shares, as they do not need to access their capital for at least five years, so are usually less concerned about short-term ups and downs. They recognise that the potential returns are higher in growth investments, and if they are held over the long term the risk associated with short-term volatility is reduced.

Don’t forget that superannuation is one of the most tax-effective ways to invest for the long term. If you would like more information on superannuation, contact your financial adviser.

In considering which type of investment is most suitable for your goals, a professional financial adviser can help you with this decision after analysing your investment objectives, particular needs and financial situation.

2. Become an investor instead of a saver.

Many people invest but only some become wealthy. Why? The mistake many people make when investing is that they treat their investment as saving. So what is the difference between saving and investing? Saving is what you do to build up funds for something, like a holiday, and when you have the amount saved, you withdraw your capital from your investment and spend it.

Investing is different. People who want to build wealth invest their money for the long term in growth assets, such as shares and property. Their strategy is to spend the income that the investment produces, but leave the capital invested. They don’t withdraw the capital, so it stays there to grow, which in turn allows more income to be produced.

If you do this it will take you a while longer initially to get to your investment goal, but in the long run you will find that the extra wait has been worth it. As the years go by, you may have an increasing additional income stream from your investments and your standard of living can rise accordingly.

So what’s the secret to becoming wealthier? It’s easy! Start investing, and stay invested.

Other Tips to Remember…

Start early and take advantage of compound interest.

There is always a ‘good’ reason for not investing, but there is actually an even better reason to start investing right away. In fact, starting sooner rather than later is one of the best investment decisions you can make. The reason? So you can take advantage of compand interest. The problem is that compound interest works against those who hesitate. Most of us studied compound interest at school, so we know how it works. But it’s not until you start looking at practical examples that you realise how powerful it can be.

Use market movement to your advantage.

Dollar cost averaging – One way to ride out the market’s ups and downs is a technique called dollar cost averaging, typically used in managed funds. With dollar cost averaging, you don’t have to focus on where share prices or interest rates are headed. You simply invest a set amount of money on a regular basis. Dollar cost averaging is an investment technique that can help turn the odds in your favour. The idea is that you buy less units when the market is up, and more units when it is down — automatically.

Don’t try to time the market.

One of the excuses many use for not investing is that it is not the right time to invest. These people are likely to be under the misconception that they have the magical powers to be able to predict the future. They are under the illusion that the path to riches is a matter of getting on the right horse at the right time.

However, as investors begin to learn the vagaries of markets, they begin to realise the insurmountable difficulty in picking market movements. Trying to pick the magnitude and direction of market movements has cost even the most experienced investor dearly. Don’t chase returns.

Investing in the fund that had the best performance last year may be a big mistake! Most fund managers will offer you a choice of many different types of managed funds, from shares and property to fixed interest and cash, to mixtures of all of them. There are also usually a range of different share funds investing in different parts of the world. Given such a wide choice of investments, and the ability to switch your investments between them for little or no fees, some people make the mistake of chasing returns.

Chasing returns means that you are moving your investments across to the fund that had the best performance last year. Why can this be a mistake?

It is possible to get started making money on the Internet without spending any money out of your pocket. Because there are so many different ways to get started making money at times it can be confusing on what to do. In this article let’s take a look at where to find free work at home business opportunities that you can get started with today.

1. Search Engines

Over 50% of all people that use search engines use Google, so we will use them in our example. Google does a great job of providing relative websites for the keyword phrases that you are searching for.

To research ways to get started making money for free, you can start by typing in the words free work at home business opportunities. Another thing you can do is type in the same words but put quotation marks around them like this “free work at home business opportunities”.

Using quotation marks is a way to limit the number of results and come up with a more targeted list. Regardless of how you do it you will now find literally millions of web pages to look at.

With Google across the top of the page and down the right hand side there are paid advertisers. Going down the middle of the page these are known as organic searches and Google is placing them there based on the merits of what the site delivers in relation to the words that you are searching for.

Therefore, on page 1 you will have the top 10 results for the phrase free work at home business opportunities. This is a good place to start your research, because these are some of the more established websites, and in theory could be offering some of the best ways to get started making money for free.

2. Discussion Forums

Another thing you can do is Google search the words “free home business discussion forums” and go and visit a few of those. Discussion forums are great because you can ask questions and get answers from people who are already in a free work at home business opportunity.

You can find out what is good and what is not good. The other thing is, as you become more comfortable in discussion forums, you yourself will be able to answer questions and possibly recruit new members to your opportunity as well.

This is 2 places where you can find free work at home business opportunities. Anyone can do these and get started today.

“Respect is important in sports and in business. You can not be successful without respect for the customer or the competitors. Respecting the rules means respect the referee”. Perluigi Collina, Retired International soccer referee, a respected figure among soccer referees in the world.

Collina says, both sports and business are similar when it comes the decision making, a wrong decision can be fatal for both business and soccer. If your decision is getting wrong-footed, you may be ended up in hot water, however if you take the decision under good judgment and the decision should be for the benefit of the business and for the sports, however the wrong decisions may lead to on field battle by the players and spectators and in business doubts created about the credibility of the manager. He says, there are things that could be very similar between his activity and the business world, as for a manger, he has to take decisions very quickly under pressure. Important decisions will have big consequences, if it goes wrong. Another key is that decisions are all about building relationships with players on the pitch and employees in the organizations. Sometimes, the decision the referee takes is accepted not only because it is correct but because the relationships are positive.

The final goal for the referee and for a manger that they are to be accepted even when they are wrong.  It means that the players trust the referee, as if someone trusts the business manger even if he is wrong. The referee is accepted not because of the role but because of what he does on the field.  This is similar the case of a manager. The manager can not be accepted because he is a CEO, but the manager is accepted because he has shown everybody that his way to run a company is correct.

Business leaders need to have an insight into coping under pressure could do worse that to follow the referees, who do not betray some nerves prior to the game probably should not be there. Like referees the manager needs to be little nervous just before taking a big decision. If a manager feels powerful more strong, but there is a limit. If he takes it too far, nerves reduce his performance. Everything which happens on a pitch that also happens round the table. Both the manager and referee face challenges and have to have criticisms, when something happens, the like the manager, referee has also to change the things what can be changed and look to the future and this what the referees and manager do. 

The vital and important key of a soccer referee is the instant and immediate decision making ability, that too in split seconds, there is some relief to the cricket umpires that in cricket matches, the umpire can refer to third umpire for decisions and let them decide, however in soccer no such assistance can be taken from the replays or third umpire, he has to take the decision instantly and immediately and we can see from the replays that 99% of the decisions were correct, in fact referees are not playing spoiling sport, he actually manage a business of 2.00 hours, he can not be partial, even if the spectators think so. They have nothing to do if a team win or loss, they are just managers of a soccer match and once the match is over, they go another assignment. In most of the decisions, though players and their coaches could still be argued the decision is wrong. It becomes more crucial for referee that when taking decisions in a match, which is being watched by millions of spectators around the globe.

If the referee wants to do his best i.e. to referee in big matches, from Arsenal vs Man United to world cup matches, even though it’s still just a game of football and nothing else. Making good decisions is essential even either in EPL matches or in the small matches. There’s been an explosion of exposure lately – every single incident gets noticed and analyzed. Like soccer, the managers are also watched by the directors and stake holders, then the decision should be correct to the great extent. If the referee, they had a couple of cameras at a game 10 years; nowadays for a live match there are numerous cameras, capturing every decision the referee is going to take. If a referee makes a mistake, millions of people are there to blame him, he should be affected only by his desire to do a good job, not adverse publicity. This is similar to the business managers, as these days the media closely watches all the decisions they take.

Both in the business and in sports, the respect is very important; giving and taking the respect, nobody can be successful without giving respect and getting respected for the customers, or the competitors and once you get the respect and trust of players and employees, you are successful and your decisions are respected by everybody. People may not instantly put a name to the face, but once they realize that this is the man who is credited with being the most outstanding referee/businessman, the penny drops. There is some dissimilarity too, in football it is mandatory to retire referee at the age of 45, irrespective of they mental and physical strength, but in business there is no such restrictions, he can perform till his health allows him to do. The qualities required for a good referee and good businessman are the same; they have to have;

To stick eyes on the “ball”

Both should focus on what is going on in the pitch in case soccer and organization or market and without watching following the ball (focus) no manager can take any decision for the benefit of the organization and this is also applicable for referees, once their eyes distract from the ball, wrongful decisions can be made, it may be fatal. It may attract the ire of the spectators and can lead to loss the job. Both should stick on the focus for taking a decision for the interest of the business and the game being played amidst pressure for both sides.

Coping under pressure: Soccer officials are routinely subjected to a wide range of potential stressors, like the businessmen, as both reveal a considerable mental and physical toll. Soccer referees identify spectators, players, coaches, trainers and other personnel as sources of aggression. Unlike the businessman, at the extreme, referees and their assistants have been pushed, punched, kicked, and even shot to death by players, managers, coaches and fans. Referees and their regulating bodies are well aware of these sources of threat, and some attempts have been made to provide psychological training to help them cope.

In addition, match-specific demands are extreme. The referee must have a thorough knowledge of the current laws of soccer and implement them while keeping constant vigilance over complex activities and interactions, whereas a manager should know the market trends, customer trend . Considerable amounts of time must also be spent on pre-match preparation, travel, and post-match reports.

A few studies have examined referee responses to stress, but little was found about the mechanisms which motivate officials to continue their involvement despite the variety of potential physical, social and cognitive factors which are regularly encountered. The present study was designed to allow referees to convey their perceptions, particularly with regard to their methods for coping with demands and abuse and their reasons for remaining referees.

To deal the negativity : Social psychologists have identified a number of cognitive strategies that help people explain and deal with negative experiences. Blaming others for failure while taking personal credit for success, distorting or ignoring unpleasant information, and interpreting one’s motives as principled and righteous, are among the variety of available methods of maintaining confidence in difficult circumstances. Misrepresenting reality with ‘positive illusions’ (Taylor & Brown, 1988, 1994) can ultimately be healthy and adaptive. Indeed, they serve a vital function of removing perceptions of self-blame, protecting from external censure, and providing palatable explanations for disturbing events. In the longer term, they may lead to more positive expectations about the future, greater persistence and self-efficacy. Taylor and Brown (1988) suggest that people who fail to use these strategies are more likely to be anxious or depressed.

To expect the unexpected: Sports performers and coaches often make use of self-serving attributions to explain their own disappointing results. External factors such as bad luck or other people’s incompetence are used to deal with unpleasant experiences, defeats, and rejection, while internal factors such as skill and effort are seen as responsible for victories and other successes. Some analysis showed that players and coaches were more likely to attribute their successes to internal factors, such as skill and determination and their losses to external factors, such as cheating opponents and poor weather. These factors are closely associated with the business managers in various situations.

To decide on personal strengths : Another potentially useful mechanism is ‘illusory superiority’ or self- elevation, where people adopt the view that they have more positive qualities than others and describe their personal strengths as above average compared with those of other people their age. Individuals made more flattering judgments about themselves than others made of them. Individuals also believe their personal relationships are of a higher quality than the relationships of others and remember experiences as more successful than they really were. These factors are also existing in the managers

The managers and the umpires are the connecting link between players and spectators, likewise a manager, who is a connecting link between the employees and the board of directors, stakeholders, the job of a referee and a manager are same in most of the scenarios, though there are indeed some deviations. The keys for success for both are almost all the same – and the most important is the INSTANT DECISION MAKING POWER. Therefore, one wishes to analyze the similarities and qualities of a manager and referee, similar factors impact their performance off and on the pitch/office are vitally required for success, to get respected and to get the reputation of a good referee or a good manager. 

Mark Twain’s oft heard adage – ‘buy land, they’re not making it anymore’ has been indirectly taken to heart by investors in the UK scouring the markets for the best investment. That is to say that in relation to the boom in the buy-to-let property market it is not the bricks and mortar which rises in value, but the underlying UK land on which the development sits. Indeed, the value of bricks and mortar deteriorates over time, so in some senses a UK property market investment is actually a UK land investment more than anything else.

In this article we will look not at the relative merits of a land investment vis-à-vis a property market investment but at whether the two (ie direct land investment versus indirect land investment) complement each other in an investment portfolio. The former subject is too extensive to discuss here and, at any rate, since many people already have property market assets the pertinent question for them is this: ‘does investment land complement property market holdings or is each investment opportunity best pursued in isolation?’.

Of course much depends on what type of investment land is being considered. For instance, self-build land investment is a natural bed-fellow of buy-to-let property market investment since it is common for investors to develop small plots of UK land and then retain ownership in order to earn rent from the resulting property. However, if your idea of the best investment is not one which involves buying land with planning permission or buying land without planning permission and then developing it out, there are land investment alternatives.

One such is buying land on a professional property and development project. This is sometimes known as Site Assembly land investment and often appeals to the investor for whom self-build land investment is not suitable. The growing market for investment land is being in large part serviced by Site Assembly investment land because, relatively speaking, the number of people investing in land is growing but only a small proportion have the necessary skills and/or appetite for self-build land investment.

With this in mind, we can refine the original question thus: ‘does Site Assembly land investment complement buy-to-let property market investment or is each investment opportunity best pursued in isolation?’ (since Site Assembly land investment is becoming more common).

The key considerations in land investment, and in fact any investment, are threefold:

-Risk (what is the chance of gaining/losing)

-Term (how long is the investment for?)

-Liquidity (how easy is it to exit the investment?)

These criteria will help elucidate whether buy-to-let property market investments and investment land on a Site Assembly project are complementary. In investment terms (ie land investment and otherwise), ‘complementary assets’ are those that provide diversity, so the Risk, Term and Liquidity should be different in each case.

Let’s see:

Buy-to-let property market investment

-Risk: Low

-Term: Long

-Liquidity: High

Site Assembly land investment

-Risk: Medium

-Term: Medium

-Liquidity Low

Although these are generalisations, the above broadly reflect the true nature of buy-to-let property market investment and Site Assembly land investment. Naturally, some buy-to-let property market investments can be medium term just as some Site Assembly land investment projects offer moderate or even high liquidity but generally speaking the information above holds true.

It is therefore reasonable to conclude, working from the premise that complementary investment assets display different profiles (Risk, Term and Liquidity), that Site Assembly land investment and buy-to-let property market investment do complement one another in a portfolio.

This article has not attempted to assess the extent to which investment land is superior to property market investments (or vice-versa). What it has attempted is to consider the growing popularity of investing in land (especially on an existing development projects) and whether such a venture is compatible with a buy-to-let property market investment portfolio.

Rational analysis, as set-out above, suggests that Site Assembly land investment and buy-to-let property market investment are complementary.

It makes me laugh and in the same time sad, when I read online articles, sales letters, posts or whatever I read… that are teaching you to start an online business because is EASY.

This is just full of crap(forgive the expression).

Why? Because starting a real online business has never been, or it is, or it will be EASY.

Starting an online business is like starting an offline business. It`s hard. You need knowledge. And if you were like me when I first started my businesses offline and more recently my online businesses, not knowing in what you are getting yourself into, you will have to expect to waste a lot of money in informations.

Because the most expensive thing online is INFORMATION. And not any kind of informations, I mean TARGETED INFORMATIONS. What is Targeted Informations? Is that kind of info that teaches you what you need to know in order to move forward.

You will see, that after you have started your business, no matter if is online or offline you will sure admit that, the more you learn, the more you realise that you don`t know anything.

There are several ways that people make money with online business. These methods include selling products on Ebay, creating a product for affiliates to sell, starting niche websites to make money with Google Adsense, and selling other people products through affiliate marketing; just to name a few.

1. Selling Products On Ebay – well, not a bad business if you have suppliers that you can trust. The biggest problem that you encounter when you want to start your Ebay business is the lack of products that you can sell, in order to make a profit. And despite the fact that you don`t have a product, you don`t have an supplier in whom you can trust to deliver good quality products.

2. Creating a product for affiliates to sell – this business has the following problem…

What niche I am targeting and has a potential for profit? How do I create the product for that niche? If you don`t face a niche market you can have the most beautiful product in the world, that product it won`t sell.

3. Starting niche websites to make money with Adsense – Google Adsense program is one of the best online program to make money online. Is easier to make money per click, then per sale. One problem with this kind of online business, is that you got to have multiple niche websites, to make a considerable profit. If you will have only one website how many clicks will you need to receive in order to make a profit? Another problem is advertising, how do you attract visitors to your site?

4. Affiliate Programs – This is a good online business opportunity, because you sell something that you don`t own and you receive a commission for that sale. Another common problem that we encounter when we want to start this kind of business is HOW DO WE ATTRACT TRAFFIC? PPC? Writing articles? How?

All of these methods can and will make money if the proper research is done. The reason why 95% of all online businesses fail is because the operator goes in to quickly without the right knowledge. This can lead to a lot of wasted time and money.

But there is another opportunity online from which you can make real money, if you are willing to invest some time and little money. This opportunity is called Master Resell Rights Products.

5. With Master Resell Rights Products you can make money by selling other people products, and you can keep all the profits to yourself. You buy the master resell right product, than you attract some PPC visitors, and then start all over with another master resell right product.

More informations I will give you in the following article that will be called “The Opportunity Called – Master Resell Rights Products