Six Things to Know about Oil and Gas Investments
If you are interested in oil and gas investing there are many things to consider. Here are six things you might want to consider before you get started.
1. Dry hole drilling. When it comes to drilling oil, it is all about location. It has happened before for oil investments when the drilling site comes up dry the investor loses all of their oil investments. You can lose the entire investment and this is a risk you have to take. It is important to remember that you can write off the entire amount of the investment if the endeavor fails though.
2. Scams. There are many people out there who want to take advantage of others who are trying to make an honest investment. Be sure you do your due diligence and know you are working with an actual company.
3. Price volatility. Oil and gas investing has many factors but the profit relies on the market prices of the oil and gas. It is common for prices to be volatile. When this occurs it can have a major impact about the profitability.
4. Company Management. When you invest in gas investments it is important to look at the company. One of the biggest success factors is about the people who are managing the company. Learn about the management and if you think they are capable you might have chosen a good investment.
5. Contracts. Before you sign any contract it is extremely important to read it thoroughly. Read all of the fine print and be sure you like what it says. Don’t sign anything that you don’t agree with. The best thing you can do is have your attorney review any contractual agreement about your investments before you sign them. An attorney will find any holes or problems with a contract and may be able to help work out any details that need to be changed.
6. Research. The most important thing you can do when you choose oil investments is to do plenty of research. Know everything about your investment before you make your decision. Research everything you can about the location of the drill site, the company doing the drilling, and more. The more you know about the gas investments, the more comfortable you will be with your decision.
Oil and gas investments can be considered a risky endeavor. However, you can make a lot of money if you invest with the right company. Always do your due diligences before you make a decision on where you want to invest your money.
Buffett’s Guide To Value Investing (Part 4)
The fourth part of this series deals with the debt/equity ratio, which is another key component of Warren Buffett’s legendary methodology. In fact, it is a component that the man himself treats very carefully when deciding which stocks to invest in. Just like the return on equity in the previous part of this series, it is an equation that is commonly used in finance, however, Buffett is the one who makes the most and greatest use of it.
The elements that comprise the debt/equity ratio are clearly evident and it’s very likely that many people first got acquainted with it in secondary school in a commerce subject. Nevertheless, some confusion may still reign, hence I will give a simple, short explanation. The debt/equity ratio is calculated by dividing total liabilities by shareholders’ equity.
Both total liabilities and shareholder’s equity can be found on a company’s balance sheet (sometimes known as the statement of financial position). This is known as taking its ‘book value’. On the other hand, if the concerned company’s debt and equity are publicly traded, you can use the market value instead. There is also the possibility of using a mixture of both the book and market value.
The ratio illustrates the proportion of debt and equity the company is utilising to support its assets. If a ratio is high, this corresponds to a situation where debt is mainly shoring up the company. The principal dilemma with a high ratio is that it renders earnings volatile and leaves it at the mercy of interest rates, which can be expensive.
This is something that Buffett takes very seriously and it’s important to understand the reasons why. Like everyone else, he prefers to see a small amount of debt and the reason why is that small amount of debt means that earnings growth is being generated from shareholders’ equity as opposed to borrowed money. If a company is using borrowed money to finance its earnings, this tends to commence a vicious cycle of debt and repayments which is volatile and which is at the mercy of interest rates.
The lesson to digest from Buffett is to focus your efforts on companies that have a low ratio, or at the least a ratio which is low compared with other firms in the same industry. All that’s needed from your part is to calculate the ratios for each company, but as I pointed out previously, the necessary information is often available on company reports.
Many investors prefer to use long-term debt rather than the traditional component, total liabilites, when they are calculating the ratio. According to many, this could prove to be more effective and convenient due to the long term nature of stocks investing. Among these people, Buffett is one of them.
The fifth and final section of this publication will concentrate on one final component of Buffett’s methodology known as profit margins. Coming soon!
Making More Income Also Means Paying More Taxes
While it’s not the sole factor in determining your level of wealth, your amount of disposable income is probably a fairly strong indicator. At the very least it indicates your financial planning ability, as a person living above their means will have a lower percentage of their income available as disposable income. There are of course ways to improve your percentage of disposable income, which we’ll discuss below.
Increase your income
There are many ways to accomplish this, not solely restricted to getting a new job or even taking on more responsibilities at your current place of employment. A great way to make this happen is by increasing your training or education. A more highly trained or educated individual can expect to be paid greater rates even in the same position. Of course if you want to move forward in your career and take on a higher position that’s certainly possible too by improving your skills. You?ll also be increasing your job security and ability to get work through another employer should something happen at your current place of employment.
You could also take on another job on the side, though this could severely limit the amount of free time you have, thus limiting the purpose of having more disposal income to some extent. For short bursts though, this could be a nice method to building up a good deal of disposable income that could last you for some time.
Another option aimed at increasing your income would be to start a small business or strike out on your own as a freelance worker, should the field you occupy allow for such. By getting out from under the constraints of a structured company?s pay rates you can drastically increase your earning potential, often with less work put in to boot. The beginning stages of such a venture can be discouraging though, and may require a good deal of capital to get started. You can expect to put in many long hours to get your venture off the ground before things settle down and the money hopefully starts rolling in at a steady pace. With the difficult in starting a successful small business, you may want to do so on the side without quitting your day job at first to make sure the venture is viable.
Investing
Investing can create a nice level of passive income after a time, though it will initially take deposits from your disposable income to get it started. There can also be risk involved in investing, so if you aren’t well versed in financial matters you may need to rely on a financial advisor, which could recommend starting with a zero interest transfer card. If you happen to have a huge chunk of capital sitting around that can be wisely invested though, you could create a nice little stream of revenue coming in with very little work.
Spend less
This is basically a lifestyle decision. You’re not so much spending less as you are using your money differently. Driving around in a more affordable car or living in a more affordable apartment can vastly increase your level of disposable income, with no real detriment to your way of life. It’s all about what you value and living true to yourself.
Short Sale Real Estate Investing
Short sale real estate investing has gathered momentum over the past year due to the high number of homeowners defaulting on their mortgage payments. In such cases, you can pick up a property from the lender at a discounted rate if the homeowner is unable to meet the mortgage payments. These deals are quite different from your normal sale-purchase deals and hence you will need to build up the right contacts and sharpen your negotiation skills in order to succeed.
Lenders are motivated into selling their property before it can reach the auctioneer’s block since an auction would most probably result in the property being sold off at a very low rate. Thus, if you approach a homeowner who is in financial doldrums and wishes to exit the deal, which anyway he or she is unable to complete and impress upon him or her to sell the property, then you could pick up the property at a cheap rate. The real problem, however, is to convince the lender to part with the property at your rate.
You may have to approach the lender with your offer, which in all probability might not be initially accepted. Therefore, do not place your final offer on the table at the first instance itself. The lender could also call you again to renegotiate the rate. There could also be other potential buyers who might want the same property and chances are that they could be quoting higher rates in order to bag the deal. You will first need to calculate the market rate of the property by determining the ongoing rates in that neighborhood. You will then need to squeeze in your profit margin into the deal before placing your offer on the table.
One thing you ought to bear in mind is that most short sale homes may require some maintenance work since the homeowner may not have been in a position financially to maintain the property. This important factor should also be calculated in your purchase price or it could wipe out your profits. In some cases, the homeowner might have mortgages from two lenders and in such cases the lenders might be even more motivated since the second mortgage would anyway get wiped out if the property went to the foreclosure auction. The problem is that you will need to convince even more people to agree to your figures. This could make your deal even more challenging.
In order to lay your hands on such juicy deals, you will need an efficient network of people to inform you when homeowners have defaulted on more than 3 payments to their lender or are in the 2nd stage of the pre-foreclosure process. This is when the homeowner could be ready to sign over the deed that you will require to negotiate directly with the lender. This network could include reliable brokers, or lenders themselves. Make sure that you have a list of willing buyers to buy that property even before you buy it so that you do not end up in a quandary over a property that no one wants.
Short sale real estate investing could be the perfect boost to enter into this niche market where the profit margins are quite high. Polish up your negotiation skills and get a source to supply you with regular short sale properties to rotate your properties on a profitable basis.
Controlling Your Forex Investment
Even though investing can be fun and exhilarating the young investor must understand that there are some very basic rules that need to be followed. Making money can be extremely fun, but loosing money can sometimes set you back in life several years, not allowing you to be able to invest any more. Let’s take a look at one simple aspect that many people forget while investing; Control
This is something that I learned later on in my investing career. When I first started I didn’t care who was in control I just wanted my money out there in an investment earning more interest then the bank was paying. I thought that the returns would stay high as the previous years, and that the moment things changed my broker would call me and suggest changing markets. I was nave to think that other people would care for my money the same way that I would. This was a painful lesson.
As I started investing my father would always tell me “No one cares as much about your money as you do”. I had invested with a friend and I automatically thought that he would put my interest first, and for the most part he did. It was inappropriate for me to think that he would care and look over my money as I would. Why? It wasn’t his! He hadn’t sweat, and worked hard for that money. Knowing this now, I take all control of my money as I know that I am the only one who will care for it as I will.
Ultimately whether we make money or loose money we are the ones that have to be responsible. We can not blame a broker that they lost our money, unless they were involved in doing something illegal; which normally isn’t the case. If you give full and total control to your broker and they loose your money it is your fault. It is your fault because you didn’t take care of what is yours.
I know that every broker and trading agent will tell you that they will take good care of your money. I am not saying that this is false; many brokers do take very good care of their clients’ money. But we are focusing on YOU becoming a better investor! If YOU are going to become a better investor then you are going to have to educate yourself and decide how to invest your money.
Have you ever loaned your car to someone? I have more then a few times and I hate it every time. I see the people driving off and they throw there empty Coke can on the floor board of the passenger seat as if it were the trash can. It makes me mad! Why? Because I worked hard to buy a nice car and I just washed it. I don’t want sugar stains and stick floor mats. But my friend isn’t interested because once he is done borrowing my car, he gives it back to me. Money is the same way, I repeat, “no one will take care of your money the same way as you will!”
It really isn’t that hard to be a successful investor. There are people out there that are not as smart as you making a lot of money in Forex trading. These individuals are doing well because they take control of their money and invest wisely.
This is one of the reasons why I like trading in the Forex market. I can maintain control of my money at all times. I accomplish this by trading with an online forum in which I can control my losses and take in profits. To think that you will invest and never loose money is foolish, but at least you can control how much you loose. And in the end you can sleep at night because it was your decision to make that trade not someone else’s.
If Forex trading is something that interests you then I would encourage you to get online and read some more about how to trade successfully. Click on the links in the bio box and read some more articles. There is even a free e book that you can download to get you started in Forex investing.
When in My Working Life is a Roth IRA a Good Idea?
With all the options out there for saving for retirment, the question is asked whether it is a good idea to start a Roth IRA - and if so, when.
IRAs are Important
Certainly, starting an IRA is a crucial move and a good idea for anyone who is getting older - and that is everyone! Retirement age will creep up on you before you know it, and starting an IRA is an easy way to increase your retirement savings. On the other hand, it is never too late to start saving for retirement.
Starting the best type of IRA for you requires an understanding of the choices available - a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA. Both have advantages.
Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts
Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts have been around since 1981. Taxpayers can contribute up to $4,000 per year of earned income into an IRA. These contributions are tax deductible in the year they are made. Taxes on the earnings on the account holder’s contributions are deferred until they are paid out to the account holder, which cannot happen until the account holder reaches the age of 59 and one-half years.
Roth Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs)
Roth IRAs are much newer than traditional IRAs - they have been around since 1998. Single taxpayers who earn more than $116,000 and married taxpayers who earn more than $169,000 cannot contribute to a Roth IRA. So if you earn that much and you are asking yourself, “Should I start a Roth IRA?” the answer is definitely no because you cannot. For both single and married taxpayers who earn more than $101,000, there are phased reductions in the amount an individual can contribute to a Roth IRA.
If you aren’t stopped from having a Roth IRA because of the earnings test, the answer to the question, “Should I start a Roth IRA?” is most certainly yes. Unlike a traditional IRA, the contributions an account holder makes to a Roth IRA are not tax deductible in the year in which they are made. By contrast, the amounts of contributions, and the income they earn, are not taxed during the account holder’s lifetime.
If you earn well under the income cap now, it is quite probable that you will reach the earning limit during your career, and then you will wish you had taken advantage of the Roth IRA when you had the chance to do so. Unless tax laws change significantly, a Roth IRA is one of the best investments you can make. So repeat after me: I should start a Roth IRA. I should start a Roth IRA. I should start a Roth IRA.
Investments In Your IRA
Remember that any IRA is only worth what the investments inside of it are. Think of your IRA as an envelope that holds your retirement investments. What you choose to put inside the envelope is up to you.
There is a whole range of trading vehicles that could be suitable for your IRA. Most financial advisers suggest a blend of bonds, small capital stocks, large capital stocks, and mutual funds made up of shares in domestic companies and international companies. However, a mutual fund can also hold other kinds of investments.
IRA’s should focus on long range return. You should be more conservative as you near retirement. That is because investments are cyclical over long periods of time, based on the national economy. You don’t want to be caught short at retirement time or have to work longer than you had planned to because an economic downturn cycle occurred when you happened to reach retirement age.
Should I Start A Roth IRA? Yes!
The benefits of a Roth IRA over a traditional IRA are enormous: limited contributions vs. no limit on contributions; deferred tax on earnings vs. no tax on earnings. There is virtually no downside to starting a Roth IRA.
Read this Forex e-book Before Your First Trade
All of us dream about the potential of working at home make trades through the internet a few hours a day and making enough money to quit our day job. In all actuality this is quite feasible for any one of us who is determined to be successful in trading in the Forex market.
Hold one for just one second before jumping into a Forex trade. I want you to think about a few things before you get started. I know as young investor the hardest thing was to be patient and study first. It is this very thing that can make you a rich investor instead of a poor one.
Your investment education is the greatest asset that you can invest in. Most of the time we want to invest and watch the chart go up. Beware! It is highly possible that you can invest your money and watch the price go down also! If you seriously want to make money then you need to take the time to educate yourself and prepare yourself to be very rich.
I know more then anyone that Emotion can ruin a good investment. It can ruin your day, week, month and even year. How you might ask? Simple! When you invest from emotions you will not make clear thought out decisions. This will cause you to loose money every time guaranteed!! Trust me I know from experience.
I have learned that learning is the greatest way to ensure my investments safety. When I learn how the investment works, I also see more clearly how each side of the investment works. I can then see the risks and the true potential rewards that might come from that investment. This increases your odds greatly to be a successful Forex trader. All these factors work together and the more educated you are the less you will invest from emotions. Thus making you much richer!
If you choose to educate yourself before you begin investing you will gain riches much quicker then others. Many times we think that we can’t wait and that we need to make money now and that reading is delaying our riches. This is totally opposite from the truth; the least educated that you are, the poorer you will become.
Don’t forget that the people pushing you into an investment are the ones that will make the most money off of you while you are investing. That’s right; they are going to be making a commission off all your trades. Remember that so that you will be able to factor this into you investing decisions. I’m not saying these people are evil. In fact they are necessary, just remember that you need to be just as smart if not smarter then they are!
That is pretty much it. You can’t escape the fact that you are the one that will ultimately determine your level of riches! If you can learn how to control your emotions and gain some tips on how to trade successfully then you will gain a great amount of wealth. No one has fun loosing money; I hope that you are an investor who has fun!
If you are interested to educate yourself more in Forex trading go to www.smartforextrade.com There you will find a free e-book that you can download and begin your education process to becoming a better, richer investor.
Self Directed IRA: Investing in Fixer Uppers
One of the favored investments of Self Directed IRA account holders is buying and selling fixer uppers. Fixer uppers allow you to maximize your investment via property flipping. If you choose to flip properties via your Self Directed IRA account, following are three things to keep in mind.
3 Keys to Maximizing Your Self Directed IRA Investment When Flipping Properties
For those who are patient, flipping fixer-uppers can provide a phenomenal return on for a Self Directed IRA portfolio. Careful research is required to make sound decisions when flipping properties, but, that is the case with any investment. If flipping properties is how you choose to maximize your retirement income via your Self Directed IRA account, keep the following in mind.
Location is Key: This is the golden rule when buying real estate. And, it is particularly true when you are buying solely as an investment. This is easy to digest when you consider that it’s easy to fix what’s wrong with a property. But, you can’t change the dynamics of a location with a can of paint.
Invest with the needs of the buyer in mind. This means good schools, properties that are appreciating in value, an active local government, etc…
Cosmetic Renovations: Where possible, choose properties that need as little work as possible. This is especially true if you are just starting out. After all, you’re using the monies from your self-directed IRA LLC - Self Directed IRA account to increase your portfolio’s value. Don’t fall in love with the wrong property and overspend to buy it, or fix it. This is a business investment - nothing more, nothing less. Never forget that.
Get to Know a Rehab Specialist: A rehab specialist will be able to tell you whether or not the property you’re thinking of buying is a good deal or not. For, they don’t consider how “pretty” a property is, but assess its bones. They look at those things that can cost you dearly, eg, the electrical wiring, the plumbing, the insulation, etc. Cosmetic fixes are easy and relatively cheap to fix. Maximizing your Self Directed IRA investment depends on the knowledge of someone who knows the difference.
Questions and Answers About Mutual Funds
Mutual funds are so popular nowadays that there are actually more mutual funds available than there are stocks of individual companies. Below we present some of the most popular questions about mutual funds along with some short answers to the questions.
How Long Have Mutual Funds Been Around?
The very first mutual fund was formed in the Netherlands in the early 1800s. Back then, a mutual fund was known as an investment trust. The first mutual fund formed in the U.S. was the New York Stock Trust in 1889. Because at that time Boston was considered by many to be the financial center of our nation until the turn of the century, a majority of funds started there: Fidelity, Pioneer, and Putnum Fund, to name a few. In 1928 the Wellington Fund was established and was made up of both stocks and bonds.
Are IRAs the Same as Mutual Funds?
Back in 1975, in the United States the IRS code was changed to allow people to contribute up to $2000 per year to an IRA (Individual Retirement Account). IRAs became very popular and many IRA’s are invested in mutual funds.
Top Mutual Fund Questions Of 2008 - What Is A No-Load Fund?
No load funds are mutual funds that don’t impose a sales fee on the investor when they buy or sell the fund. A sales fee that is charged by the mutual fund company is called a “load”.
What Makes a Mutual Fund?
A mutual fund is a group of stocks or bonds that are bought together - individual investors buy shares in the fund instead of the individual securities. You become a shareholder of the mutual fund instead of the individual stocks when you buy shares of a mutual fund.
What Is An Index Fund?
Most investors are probably best off in the long run buying an Index Fund. This type of fund tracks one of the stock market indexes, whether it is the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index, the entire stock market index, or some other performance measure of a like group of stocks.
What Is Net Asset Value?
Net Asset Value (NAV) is the value of a share in a mutual fund and is calculated by dividing the total value of the fund, less the fund’s liabilities, by the number of shares currently issued and outstanding. For most of the funds, the NAV is determined daily, after the close of trading on some specified financial exchange, but some funds update their NAV multiple times during the trading day.
Top Mutual Fund Questions Of 2008 - What Is A Public Offering Price?
Open-end funds sell shares at the POP and redeem shares at the NAV, and so process orders only after the NAV is determined. Closed-end funds may trade at a higher or lower price than their NAV; this is known as a premium or discount, respectively. If a fund is divided into multiple classes of shares, each class will typically have its own NAV, reflecting differences in fees and expenses paid by different classes. A Public Offering Price (POP) is nothing more than the net asset value plus a sales commission.
Stocks Company Investment in Stock Picker and Blue Chips
If you have a favorite company, like the Walt Disney Company, Coca Cola or other brand names in the United State you may be able to implement a Direct Stock Plan to purchase stocks on a regular basis. You can review the list of stocks in your local library or check out the company you are interested in by accessing the company web site.
One method of investing direct in a company is by way of the Direct Dividend Reinvestment Plan. It is commonly called a DRIP. The good aspect of this type of plan is that instead of receiving the dividends you agree to reinvest the dividends in more stock in the company. It is a regular Direct Stock Plan with a reinvestment agreement. You may do the same reinvestment plan with your other stocks and mutual funds even if you have a broker.
It will astound you the number of very good companies that will allow you to buy stocks direct by setting up a plan. The ranges of possibilities include utility companies, fast food stocks, entertainment and retail stocks.
Using your cupboard as a stock picker
There are experts in the field of making predictions on stock performance. Another expert in the field of some stocks may be you the consumer. Think about it, you pick products that for various reasons are your favorites. Your kitchen cupboard or shopping basket may be a very good prediction on the long term performance of the company stock.
In the brand name product area you may need to look on the packaging to determine the name of the company to find the stock. Some favorites like Clorox, Johnson & Johnson, and others are listed under the familiar company name. Due to mergers and acquisitions many name brand products have become subsidiaries or subsumed in a larger company’s product line. All you need to do is check out the references on the label or customer service information that is located somewhere on the product.
The blue chip stocks
In times of uncertainty and for long term investors the Blue Chip stocks are a part of every portfolio either in direct stock purchases or through mutual funds. The Blue Chip stock is a large cap company and has decades and even a century of presence on the stock market. Some Blue Stock stocks are relatively new players like Home Depot or the result of a merger & acquisition. If you look around your house and around your town the brand products you use or have come to rely on are Blue Chip stocks.
The investor can pick and choose a Blue Chip stock and buy it through a stock broker or on-line with a trading company like Scotttrade or E*Trade. This gives you access to the companies performance on the short term and charts going back at least 10 years. The investor can access the company’s financial reports and quarterly earnings on-line. The investor can ask the company to send you a company prospectus.
The variety of ways to invest in Blue Chip stocks is endless, spiders, index funds, and hybrids in between. There are option contracts and some tricky investments that only a really savvy trader can advise you about.
