Check out the free week of investing tools from IBD at www.investors.com. There are some great features there that can really help you out with your investing and stock search. So much information, so little time. Don't waste time, check it out today!
Happy Trading!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
How to Find the Right Financial Planner
You may just be the best financial planner that you can find for yourself. After all, who else has more interest in your financial well-being than you. However, you may feel overwhelmed by all the options there are for you to save and invest, or you may not have the time to take care of all that is out there that can make you financially healthy. If this is the case, you may want to hire a financial planner. But now there is another scary concept. How do you find the right planner? How do you know he has your best interest at hand?
A good place to start is to ask your friends/relatives for referrals. Don't rely solely on their opinions though, as many people have different investing strategies and look for different things from their financial planners. Set up a meeting with a prospective planner to get an idea of their strategies and if they match what you are looking for. The number one thing to remember is that first impressions are very important. Would you feel comfortable discussing all your financial matters with this person. Do you think they would keep your best interests in mind? If so, then you are off to a good start.
There are a few important things for you to know/ find out about your prospective financial planner.
-You should only use fee-based planners, not those that make a commission on your every move.
-Ask about their background, how long they've been in this business and what kind of formal training they have received. Experience is important, but it is not everything.
-Ask if they recommend term life or cash-value policies. Term should be their only answer. If they begin to praise the virtues of cash-value you may want to move on. Anything other than term life is unnecessary and more expensive.
-Ask if they use index mutual funds and ETF's. You definitely want these as options in your portfolio. Not to be used exclusively, but they are good to have in the mix.
-A good question to ask is if they recommend using a home equity loan or line of credit to pay off credit card debt. The answer you are looking for is NO! With a home equity loan, your home becomes collateral for the loan...so you risk losing your home if you fall behind on your payments. On the other hand, credit card debt is unsecured-there is no collateral that the credit card company can take if you fall behind on those payments. (Don't get the impression that it's OK not to pay your credit card debt... do your best to pay something every month to keep your credit looking good.) The thing is that you can never tell when you might fall on hard times, just don't risk losing your home which is probably your most valuable asset.
I'm sure there are many more questions that you want to ask, make sure you do! Go prepared with a written list and jot down notes. Chances are that you will find someone that has most of the qualities that you want, but not all. It will all depend on what is most important to you. I would meet with a minimum of 5 financial planners. This may seem time consuming, but well worth it since it is your money that he or she will be working with. You can always speak by phone at first and narrow down your choices and then meet in person. Just make sure you take the time to have your most important questions answered.
Good Luck!
A good place to start is to ask your friends/relatives for referrals. Don't rely solely on their opinions though, as many people have different investing strategies and look for different things from their financial planners. Set up a meeting with a prospective planner to get an idea of their strategies and if they match what you are looking for. The number one thing to remember is that first impressions are very important. Would you feel comfortable discussing all your financial matters with this person. Do you think they would keep your best interests in mind? If so, then you are off to a good start.
There are a few important things for you to know/ find out about your prospective financial planner.
-You should only use fee-based planners, not those that make a commission on your every move.
-Ask about their background, how long they've been in this business and what kind of formal training they have received. Experience is important, but it is not everything.
-Ask if they recommend term life or cash-value policies. Term should be their only answer. If they begin to praise the virtues of cash-value you may want to move on. Anything other than term life is unnecessary and more expensive.
-Ask if they use index mutual funds and ETF's. You definitely want these as options in your portfolio. Not to be used exclusively, but they are good to have in the mix.
-A good question to ask is if they recommend using a home equity loan or line of credit to pay off credit card debt. The answer you are looking for is NO! With a home equity loan, your home becomes collateral for the loan...so you risk losing your home if you fall behind on your payments. On the other hand, credit card debt is unsecured-there is no collateral that the credit card company can take if you fall behind on those payments. (Don't get the impression that it's OK not to pay your credit card debt... do your best to pay something every month to keep your credit looking good.) The thing is that you can never tell when you might fall on hard times, just don't risk losing your home which is probably your most valuable asset.
I'm sure there are many more questions that you want to ask, make sure you do! Go prepared with a written list and jot down notes. Chances are that you will find someone that has most of the qualities that you want, but not all. It will all depend on what is most important to you. I would meet with a minimum of 5 financial planners. This may seem time consuming, but well worth it since it is your money that he or she will be working with. You can always speak by phone at first and narrow down your choices and then meet in person. Just make sure you take the time to have your most important questions answered.
Good Luck!
Friday, February 16, 2007
The Week Ahead
Looking to the economic and earnings news for the week ahead, it's not a real heavy economic week, but there are a few significant reports. Of course the market is closed on Monday so enjoy your day off...off from trading anyway! On Tuesday possible market movers are the CPI and the FOMC minutes and on Thursday as usual Initial Claims (which unless are a huge surprise, haven't moved the market much lately).
On the earnings front some of the bigger names reporting are Hewlett Packard(HPQ), Home Depot (HD) and Wal-mart (WMT) on Tuesday and JCPenney on Thursday. There are a number of gold/silver companies announcing including Hecla Mining(HL), Agnico-Eagle (AEM), Kinross (KGC) and PanAmerican Silver (PAAS) just to name a few.
A few of my favorite places to check out earnings(as well as other financial news/info) are Yahoo finance and Bloomberg.
Have a great loooong weekend.
Happy Trading.
On the earnings front some of the bigger names reporting are Hewlett Packard(HPQ), Home Depot (HD) and Wal-mart (WMT) on Tuesday and JCPenney on Thursday. There are a number of gold/silver companies announcing including Hecla Mining(HL), Agnico-Eagle (AEM), Kinross (KGC) and PanAmerican Silver (PAAS) just to name a few.
A few of my favorite places to check out earnings(as well as other financial news/info) are Yahoo finance and Bloomberg.
Have a great loooong weekend.
Happy Trading.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Test Your Trading Strategy
Take a few minutes today and go to www.cnbc.com and sign up for the "$1,000,000 Portfolio Challenge". It's a great opportunity to test your trading strategy, get your feet wet in trading and make some serious cash.
Starting on March 5th, CNBC will give you $1,000,000 CNBC bucks to trade. You can make up to 50 trades a day. Each week one person will win $10,000 based on their portfolio value. Even if you don't know anything about trading this is the perfect opportunity to get over that fear of trading and try it out. After 10 weeks, 20 people will play in the finals for $1,000,000. The 20 finalists will be the top 10 along with the 10 weekly winners. The finals are two weeks long...from May 14 to May 25 and the top portfolio after the two weeks will win $1,000,000. What do you have to lose?
You can read all the rules and sign up at www.cnbc.com.
Good Luck and Happy Trading!
Starting on March 5th, CNBC will give you $1,000,000 CNBC bucks to trade. You can make up to 50 trades a day. Each week one person will win $10,000 based on their portfolio value. Even if you don't know anything about trading this is the perfect opportunity to get over that fear of trading and try it out. After 10 weeks, 20 people will play in the finals for $1,000,000. The 20 finalists will be the top 10 along with the 10 weekly winners. The finals are two weeks long...from May 14 to May 25 and the top portfolio after the two weeks will win $1,000,000. What do you have to lose?
You can read all the rules and sign up at www.cnbc.com.
Good Luck and Happy Trading!
Friday, February 9, 2007
Don't Overlook These Tax Deductions
I came across an article on Kiplinger.com that I think is definitely worth the read before you do your taxes. It lists the tax deductions that are most commonly overlooked. There are a few that are not even on the tax forms, because Congress did not pass them until after the IRS had the 2006 forms printed. A few of the deductions include state sales tax deduction, college tuition, student loan interest, child-care credit and state tax you paid last tax season. They list 13 in all. Definitely worth the time to save yourself some of your hard earned money. Here's the link http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2007/01/deductions.html.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Investing for Beginners
Many people wonder how to get started in investing. As NIKE would say "Just Do It". There's no time like the present to start learning and the best way to learn is from experience.
The first thing to do is open an account with a brokerage firm. Most times you can open an account for as little as $500 to $1000. You can choose from a full-service broker or a discount firm. If you are new to investing, you may want to consider full-service so you'll have a broker that can answer questions and aid in your education. You can always change to a discount broker later. But don't pick the cheapest one, choose one with a good reputation that offers good service (and preferably one with a good charting service).
Next, plan on spending several hours each week keeping track of your investments and the market. You should learn to read charts and invest in a good book on technical analysis. It is good to buy a stock for fundamental reasons, but if the technicals look poor, it will cause you to think twice about that particular stock. Many people like to trade on paper only, to see how they think they would do if it was for real. First, this obviously does nothing for your wealth and secondly, it does not allow for the emotions that come with trading your own money. You will have decisions to make at times like selling at a loss, or taking a profit even if you think the stock will go higher. With your hard earned money on the line, you are less likely to take unnecessary risks. On paper, none of this matters and you will not be learning the discipline that is so important to trading and investing.
Don't try to own too many stocks. It becomes difficult to keep track of them, and too many stocks will dilute your overall results. If you are trading with $5000 or less, you should not own more than two stocks. With $10,000, 2 or 3 stocks and with $25,000, 3 or 4 stocks. I could go on, but you get the idea. Picking stocks can seem very overwhelming with all the companies that are out there. You can ask others what they are investing in, but don't follow them blindly...make sure you do your own research on the company(fundamental and technical). Read financial papers and websites, listen to a little financial radio or TV. Find out what sectors are hot and look for the best stocks within certain industries. I always like to back up a good fundamental story with a stock chart and some technical analysis. One thing I don't like to do is to follow the herd. Eventually you will find a trading technique that you are comfortable with. Don't expect to learn everything you need to know overnight. There is so much to learn. Just take your time.
One of the most important things when it comes to trading is to know when to cut your losses. It becomes a very emotional decision. After being down on a stock, you may keep thinking it can't go much lower, it will turn around here. The most difficult thing to do is realize that a trade has gone against you and to get out. You should not take more than a 7 or 8% loss on a stock. This will ensure that you will be back to trade another day. If you sell and the stock does go back up, learn to deal with it. No one is right(or wrong) all the time. Taking the emotions out of your investing will be a very difficult thing for you to do, but the more you learn over time, you will be able to do just that. Just remember, there's always another trade!
Happy Trading!
The first thing to do is open an account with a brokerage firm. Most times you can open an account for as little as $500 to $1000. You can choose from a full-service broker or a discount firm. If you are new to investing, you may want to consider full-service so you'll have a broker that can answer questions and aid in your education. You can always change to a discount broker later. But don't pick the cheapest one, choose one with a good reputation that offers good service (and preferably one with a good charting service).
Next, plan on spending several hours each week keeping track of your investments and the market. You should learn to read charts and invest in a good book on technical analysis. It is good to buy a stock for fundamental reasons, but if the technicals look poor, it will cause you to think twice about that particular stock. Many people like to trade on paper only, to see how they think they would do if it was for real. First, this obviously does nothing for your wealth and secondly, it does not allow for the emotions that come with trading your own money. You will have decisions to make at times like selling at a loss, or taking a profit even if you think the stock will go higher. With your hard earned money on the line, you are less likely to take unnecessary risks. On paper, none of this matters and you will not be learning the discipline that is so important to trading and investing.
Don't try to own too many stocks. It becomes difficult to keep track of them, and too many stocks will dilute your overall results. If you are trading with $5000 or less, you should not own more than two stocks. With $10,000, 2 or 3 stocks and with $25,000, 3 or 4 stocks. I could go on, but you get the idea. Picking stocks can seem very overwhelming with all the companies that are out there. You can ask others what they are investing in, but don't follow them blindly...make sure you do your own research on the company(fundamental and technical). Read financial papers and websites, listen to a little financial radio or TV. Find out what sectors are hot and look for the best stocks within certain industries. I always like to back up a good fundamental story with a stock chart and some technical analysis. One thing I don't like to do is to follow the herd. Eventually you will find a trading technique that you are comfortable with. Don't expect to learn everything you need to know overnight. There is so much to learn. Just take your time.
One of the most important things when it comes to trading is to know when to cut your losses. It becomes a very emotional decision. After being down on a stock, you may keep thinking it can't go much lower, it will turn around here. The most difficult thing to do is realize that a trade has gone against you and to get out. You should not take more than a 7 or 8% loss on a stock. This will ensure that you will be back to trade another day. If you sell and the stock does go back up, learn to deal with it. No one is right(or wrong) all the time. Taking the emotions out of your investing will be a very difficult thing for you to do, but the more you learn over time, you will be able to do just that. Just remember, there's always another trade!
Happy Trading!
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