Do you spend
more than a thousand bucks just getting to class every year? Have you spent
$765 over the last year eating off campus?
You
may be surprised how quickly it adds up, but the infographic below can help put
things in perspective.
The extensive infographic is based on a national surveyperformed by 21st Century Insurance, and focuses on both how
students spend money and how they save as well.
Does it match your own spending habits? Weigh in with your opinion
in the comments section below!
From sports teams and
extracurricular clubs to first jobs and first cars, high school students learn
new lessons every day, many away from the classroom. But when it comes to
balancing their obligations, many students learn some tough lessons for the
first time as they dip their feet into adult life, particularly with their
finances.
"Only 7 percent of
high school students are financially literate and fewer than 30 percent of
adults report being offered financial education at school or college,"
said Brian Page, finance teacher and personal finance adviser to H&R Block
Budget Challenge. "Personal finance can be an overwhelming subject to
learn, so many students have developed money misconceptions."
According to Page, many
students share these six common misconceptions when it comes to money:
1.Left Over Saving
A person can save
what is left over at the end of the month. Those who save by making automatic
savings deposits right from their paycheck save four times more than those who
only deposit directly into one account, according to CFED.org.
2. College is unaffordable.
Most teens are well aware of the surge in college costs. However, many teens
don't realize that, by comparison shopping, seeking financial aid and looking
at alternative pathways to earning a degree, college costs can be more
manageable.
"Borrowing now to improve your future self can be a good idea," Page
said. "Student loans not exceeding your first year's anticipated income
makes sense for most everyday Americans." To find information on
anticipated salary, check out PayScale.com.
4. Overdraft protection
is free to use.
This couldn't be further from the truth. The Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau found the typical overdraft situation is comparable to a
small-dollar loan with a 17,000 percent interest rate.
5. I don't need to
budget right now.
Teens annually spend nearly $100 billion, reports the
University of Illinois. Yet only 17 percent of teens maintain a budget, states
an H&R Block survey. Budgeting is important now as small expenses can add
up and get you into trouble - for example, the average American spends more
than $2,500 a year dining out, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Properly monitoring your spending habits can help avoid overspending.
6. Never use credit
cards.
It depends. "If you're unable to control credit card spending,
steer clear," Page said. "However, they can be ideal credit building
tools for young consumers who use them responsibly." Consider starting
with a secured credit card, avoid borrowing more than 30 percent of the credit
limit each billing cycle and always pay the balance in full and on time.
Having these
misconceptions doesn't mean teens are doomed to have a damaging financial
future. Proper education through programs like the H&R Block Budget
Challenge help teens prepare for the real world so they can correct any
misinformation received in the past.
What are successful people doing right before bedtime? Do you want to know the secret?
Morning routines are important — but bedtime rituals can have a serious impact on your success. Here are seven tips that will make you the master of your evening schedule and set you up for a high-energy and focused tomorrow.
1. Assess your day
Ben Franklin was famous for his rigorous routines and schedules. He ended each carefully mapped day by asking one single question, “What good did I do today?” The sentiment is right, but as an entrepreneur take a slightly more structured approach to examining your day. Take time to review your schedule, projects and insights.
2. Take a walk
The busy CEO of Buffer likes to unwind with a brisk walk right before bed. He uses his walks to turn off his thoughts about work, and slowly work his self into a “state of tiredness”.
For a busy person always on the go, Joel’s late night walk routine could be perfect way to unwind after a stressful day. And aside from the obvious health benefits of daily walk, there a couple of surprising bonuses that come along as well.
One study revealed that walking can increase creativity. When you’re walking, your mind isn’t working as vigorously, which “opens up the free flow of ideas.” So if you’ve got a tough problem you haven’t been able to solve, maybe a nice, night time stroll is all you need to find the perfect, creative solution.
Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates is an avid reader. Each night before bed, he spends an hour reading a book, ranging on topics from politics to current events.
Aside from the obvious benefits of gaining new knowledge, reading daily has also been shown to reduce stress and improve memory. A 2009 study from the University of Essex revealed that reading for as little as six minutes a day can reduce stress levels by up to 68%.
Another big benefit from cracking open a good book on a nightly basis is that it can improve the long term health of your brain. Every time you read, it’s like a mental workout for your mind. This study performed in Britain showed that people who stimulated their minds through activities like reading, reduced cognitive decline by an average of 32% as they got older in age.
4. Meditate
The media maven has long supported the idea of regular meditation. No doubt, Ms. Winfrey has a schedule that keeps her mighty busy, and what better way to unwind at the end of a stressful day, than with a focused meditation session.
There’s often times a stigma surrounding meditation, and there has always been a debate as to whether mediation is actually helpful. But when a 2014 study took a look at over 19,000 cases involving mediation, the results were clear. Meditation was found to help reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and pain. So regardless of one’s view of mediation, you can’t argue with the results.
5. Get creative
In 2006, Vera Wang stated to Fortune that her nightly routine includes, “a fair amount of designing — at least conceptually if not literally.” Sometimes, the quiet of the night can be the perfect remedy for a creative block.
What’s even more surprising is that there’s a study that actually shows night time can be the perfect time for creativity, even if you’re tired from a long day. A study from Albion College revealed that, “tasks requiring creative insight was consistently better during their nonoptimal times of day.”.
So if you’re a morning person (raises hand), then your most creative ideas will come right before bed. Researchers believe this is true because your mind is less restrained at night. Your ability to make logical connections worsens, but it works in your favor because you’re able to make connections you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.
After passing out from exhaustion and injuring her head to the tune of five stitches, Arianna Huffington has been an evangelist for “unplugging”. Every night before bed, she puts her phone in another room so she’s not distracted by it before bed. And science proves that she might be onto something.
According to Dr Charles Czeisler, a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard University, the bright lights produced by our cell phone screens disrupt our bodies natural sleep rhythm and actually “trick” our bodies into thinking it’s daytime. Those bright lights send a message to our brains that prevents certain chemicals from being released, causing us to have a much harder time going to sleep. So, if you want a good night’s rest, stash your phone in another room.
7. Plan the next day
The American Express CEO likes to manage his time, and he does so by ending his nights in a very simple way. He plans out three things he wants to accomplish for the following day. That way, he can wake up in the morning, and get to work on his most important tasks, right away.
This study from the early 90′s supports Chenault’s strange addiction with planning. Researchers followed a group of students from their high school years, until four years later at the end of their college careers. The researchers tested these students on their time management skills in high school, and when they caught up with those students four years later, they made a shocking discovery.
The students with better time management skills, had higher college GPA’s then their peers who had higher SAT scores. Basically, time management played a bigger role in their academic success than actual scholastic aptitude.
Have you ever woken up many
nights in cold a sweat because you are
not doing what you love? Not pursuing what you are very passionate about? What is stopping you from following your dream?
When we pursue a dream,
we are connecting with our heart’s desires. It’s a way of telling our soul
“I love you.” It’s pretty great to hang out with people you
love—especially when it’s yourself!
Our truest life is when
we are in dreams awake.
This reasons are much
signals that you need to change your life.
1.
You only Live ONCE.
Your time is limited,
so don’t waste it living someone else life. Do not be trapped by Dogma, which
is living with the result of other peoples thinking. There is something in you,
Life is a choice and is irresistible, you either live it or you lose it,
because time is your opponent
Our days are numbered,
so let us makes the days count. Make sure you play this one shot regret free.
2. Because Passion is
Everything.
This is your life, do
what you love and do it often. If you don’t like something, change it. You’ll
be much more successful if you follow your dreams and follow your passions.
Do You know the major reason behind people quitting their jobs?
It’s because of
passion. They have passion in something else.
It’s quite interesting
to see that:
There are people who
are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working the job they hate of 40
hours a week.
These are only
passionate people, people who want to live life the way they have imagined
I know, you too are
passionate about something but right now, you aren’t capitalizing on it. Start
working on it because passion is the single fastest way to spur your life.
3. Because no one will follow them for you.
Let’s face it: no one
else is going to pursue your dreams for you. Everyone has their own dreams and
their own goals for what they want to achieve in life. If you don’t go for it, no
one else will. If you don’t build your dreams, someone will hire you to help
build theirs.
All of us have been
around people who told us our dreams weren’t possible. Let that add fuel to
your fire. Think about all the people who said it would never happen, and go
out and prove them wrong. Never be afraid of the space between, your dreams and
the reality. If you can dream it, you can live it.
5. You’ll meet other dream seekers.
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can, and the universe will create doors for you where there were only walls.
When you are motivated and excited about pursuing your dreams, you’ll attract other people who have the same values and interests. The more you surround yourself with high achievers, the further you’ll go.
Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.”― Edmund Lee
If you decide to go and
follow your dreams, you will give hope to others who want to do the same. You
can serve as their example and their reason why they should give it a try. You
can help them, coach them, and encourage them to keep going.
7. The World Awaits You .
Life is about the
people we meet and what we create with them.There are untapped potentials
inside of you the world is looking for.
So go out and start creating them. Getting lost will help you find yourself. The
world will stretch your imagination, to challenge your mind and will strengthen your intellect.
The Bottom Line
I have not always chosen the safest path. I've made my mistakes, plenty of them. I sometimes jump too soon and fail to appreciate the consequences. But I've learned something important along the way: I've learned to heed the call of my heart. I've learned that the safest path is not always the best path and I've learned that the voice of fear is not always to be trusted.” ―Steve Goodier
Must watch Inspirational speeches. If you can dream it, you can Live it!!
Mark Zuckerberg and the current lot of 20-something CEOs are ruining it for people like us who’re facing a mid-life crisis.They assume that youth is a necessity, or at least a major benefit, when starting a business.
But do you actually have to be young? Is there such a thing as being too old to start a thriving businesses? (According to Dr. Juan Enriquez, a renowned Harvard researcher and TED fellow, the average age of the successful start-up founder is 54 years of age. Thats right, 54!)
Now there's a conference specifically targeting this demographic of entrepreneurs. This infographic gets back at those young pricks and proves why it’s never to late to start your own venture.
McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc sold paper cups and milkshake mixers till he was 52
Harry Potter author J.K.Rowling was a single mom on welfare till she was 31
Harrison Ford was a carpenter till his 30s
Zara founder Amancio Ortega was a shirt shop helper till he was 30
Evan Williams co-founded Twitter at the age of 35
Niklas Zennstromm was 37 when he created Skype
Arianna Huffington started Huffington Post at the age of 54
Still not convinced? Here’s more:
In my opinion, age does not have to be a limiting factor when starting up a new venture. People place perhaps too high a value on being young when discussing creativity and ideas generation. But the reality is older people possess something younger people lack: namely experience, expertise, judgment, and performance and don't need the same education as younger people do.Startups are not just for bright young things – age brings indispensible wisdom to new businesses
Important Things To Consider Before Taking The Plunge.
About 16 million Americans work from home - a number that Global Workplace Analytics expects will increase by 63 percent over the next five years. In fact, every 12 seconds someone starts a new home-based business in the United States, according to Business for Home. Access to new technology, increased job flexibility and a higher earning potential are just some of the reasons many entrepreneurs consider a home-based business more rewarding than the typical corporate cubical.
Home-based business owners can easily engage with customers in real-time through social media channels. They can even take advantage of technological advances, such as cloud computing, video conferencing services, apps and mobile payment devices to connect with business partners and conduct business from virtually anywhere in the world.
Millennials especially enjoy the idea of not worrying about the dress codes, arrival times and rush-hour traffic that come with traditional jobs. Global Workplace Analytics found that 81 percent of them expect to have a flexible work schedule, and home-based business models allow just that. Perhaps most attractively, self-employed business owners also have the potential to earn more money instead of being confined to a pre-determined salary, since higher risks sometimes yield higher rewards.
But while owning your own business and working from home offer many advantages, there are some important things to consider before taking the plunge. Here are three things you need to know before starting your own home-based business:
1.Get established
Having the initial courage to get started is often the hardest part of setting up your new business at home. Proper financing can make or break your success. While federal agencies do not provide grants for starting a home-based business, many low-interest loan programs will give you startup financing.
It's also important to decide what type of ownership is best for your business. You have many options: sole proprietorship, partnership, Limited Liability Company (LLC), corporation, S corporation, nonprofit and cooperative. The U.S. Small Business Administration notes that you must establish your business identity, as it determines which income tax return forms you have to file - income tax, self-employment tax, taxes for employers or excise taxes.
Once you've decided how to finance your business, most states require you to register your "Doing Business As" (DBA) name, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. For sole proprietors and partnerships, you need to register a DBA if your business is called anything other than your real name. You can register a DBA at your county clerk's or state government office.
2.Get in the zone
Depending on where you live, zoning laws can prohibit some home-based businesses. Restrictions may limit how much of your home can be used for business, your ability to advertise with signage, parking and the number of employees. If you're not approved to have a home-based business due to zoning ordinances, you can apply for a variance. You can familiarize yourself with these local rules and ordinances by checking with the public library and local government websites in your area.
Depending on your business, you may need to obtain additional licensing, according to BizFilings.com. For example, if you're a caterer, you not only need to obtain a business license, but you may need to meet Food and Drug Administration requirements. You can consult your local and state government websites to find specific requirements in your business region.
3.Get covered
You probably already have homeowners insurance, but it may not cover your home-based business. "The three most common coverage options for a home-based business are a Homeowners Policy Endorsement, an In-Home Business Policy and a Business Owners Policy (BOP)," says Erie Insurance Vice President and Product Manager Joe Vahey. "You might even want to consider extra coverages like workers' compensation if you have employees; disability insurance to protect your income if you're ever injured and can't work; and business auto insurance if you use vehicles to conduct business." Most of the time, business insurance provides more coverage than personal insurance. An Erie Insurance agent can help assess where your coverage gaps lie, and which coverages will best protect your business.
By taking the proper steps to establish a strong home-based business up front, you may reap the rewards in the end by having a secure, stable and profitable business with the flexibility and earning potential you're looking for.
“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” - Karen Lamb
Over the years, I've come to accept that I’m a natural procrastinator. No matter how much I want to avoid it, its just my nature. Whenever there’s something that needs to be done – whether its big or small, important or irrelevant – my instinct is to “start later” or “put it off until tomorrow”. But one thing i always forgot was that "someday" isn't a day of the week and tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.
“You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again. - Benjamin Franklin
Have a look at this infographic, generated by U.K.-based infographic design company NeoMam Studios on behalf of the writing services firm Essay.Expert, for 15 techniques to fight your tendency to procrastinate. For example, don’t set unreasonably ambitious goals. Facing the impossible is paralyzing and you won’t end up doing much of anything.
Empowering Reasons Why Women Can Be Better Investors
Despite the earning power of today's women, many still shy away from investing and long-term planning. One of the reasons may be a lack of confidence. A 2014 report by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies found that half of women say they are not confident about the ability to retire comfortably.
"There's no reason a woman should shy away from investing in her future," says Nicole Sherrod, managing director for TD Ameritrade's Active Trader group. Sherrod points to several factors that should encourage women when they think about their finances and investing for retirement, including:
* As of 2009, women controlled as much as 70 percent of household purchases and $20 trillion in consumer spending worldwide. "In a market dictated by supply and demand, women are the demand," Sherrod says.
* Women may be less likely than men to be overconfident investors. They may also be naturally more risk averse and more likely to hold investments for the long haul, which many financial professionals and academics see as incredibly valuable when investing for long-term goals like retirement.
"Sherrod adds, "Pair that with the fact that working women are estimated to drive an increase in earned income globally from $12.5 trillion in 2013 to $18.5 trillion by 2018, and it appears that a shift may be taking place."
Whether married or single, women can and should view retirement planning and investing as well within their abilities. Sherrod offers some advice to help women who still may not feel quite confident: If you're planning as a couple, your investing personalities will almost certainly be different. You can, however, try to complement each other. Both spouses should attend meetings with a financial planner or registered investment advisor and allow an approach to evolve from both of your differences. One spouse may pick up on a nuance the other misses. One may be the voice of reason when the other is tempted to rush into a decision without fully researching it.
Or if you're taking a do-it-yourself approach, take advantage of free tools and information to help you make informed financial decisions. TD Ameritrade offers a variety of free investor education and third-party research reports that cover a wide range of topics from retirement to analyst rankings of individual stocks. Used with other tools, these reports can help you learn terminology, plan for retirement, examine the fundamentals of a company's stock, or dig into an array of other investing ideas.
Use technology you've already embraced. Mobile apps and push notifications can help you keep a close eye on your career, your family and your calendar, so use them to keep a close eye on your investments as well. Your time is valuable. Make technology work for you and create easy routines that help you stay on top of the market.
Finally, Sherrod points out that women can lean on their strengths and shift their lenses.
"Women are often able to look at the landscape of products they need for themselves, their families or their homes, and then search for the best possible product for the best value. So they shouldn't find it a stretch to apply those same principles to investing decisions. Shifting your lens to look not only at the products you buy, but also at the companies that produce them can help open your eyes to potential investing opportunities. Of course, just because you've found a brand or product you like is no guarantee that you have found a winning stock.
As I discussed above, Residency is a 3+ year training program in a medical specialty. The first year of training after medical school is called internship, or more commonly it is called first year of residency or PGY-1 (PostGraduate Year-1). The following years are called PGY-2, PGY-3, etc. The training that is done after a residency (in a subspecialty) is usually called a fellowship. Much of what you will learn in your chosen specialty will be learned in your residency.
It's hard to believe that, after 12 years of school, 4 years of college and 4 years of medical school, there is still so much to learn. The first 20 years of school are the foundation and the tools you will need to learn your specialty. During your residency you will learn medicine by caring for patients with a variety of diseases. The more patients you care for, and the more disease and variations of disease that you see and treat, the more proficient you will become. The knowledge obtained from patient care is supplemented with lectures and conferences.
There are so many different residencies, but generally the first year of residency (internship or PGY-1) is spent either rotating through different specialties or rotating to different areas within one specialty. In my case I spent the year rotating, in 1 month intervals, to the ER, General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Intensive Care Unit, Orthopedics, Pediatrics and OB/GYN. After the first year much more emphasis is placed on your own specialty.
A typical day in residency starts around 7AM. First you see your patients prior to "rounds" to check on the results of diagnostic tests, to see how they are responding to therapy. Next are "rounds" with your team. A team usually consists of several interns, a upper level supervising resident, and an attending or teaching physician. They take care of a specific group of patients. "Rounds" mean you walk around to each patient to discuss his or her care. Suggestions on further diagnostic tests and treatments are the usual topics of discussion. After rounds you may return to see some patients in more depth, do whatever procedures need to be done, talk to the patient's private physician, etc.
Usually there is a lecture or conference at some point in the day. After lunch new patients are often admitted to your team. You will need to do a history and physical exam. Then write their admitting orders. These are written instructions about which tests, medications, etc. are to be given for this patient. At the end of the day you "sign out" to the team that is "on call" that night. This is done to tell them about either all your patients or the ones that may run into trouble that night. At home it is important to continue to read about medicine, especially at this point in your career. However, fatigue plays a big role and you often need recovery sleep from your night on call.
Arguably one of the best wealth creation books ever written is Think and Grow Rich written by Napoleon Hill in 1937. Hill was compelled to write the book after interviewing Andrew Carnegie (who was at the time America's wealthiest man). Carnegie challenged Hill to seek out some 500 of America's most successful people and to conduct a study into their common traits of success. Over a period of 20 years, Hill tirelessly proceeded with this challenge until he eventually published the book.
Today, the book is still in print and is freely available from many places on the web. Almost all successful people even today, dedicate a lot of their success to the principles outlined in the book.
These principles are sometimes associated with the Law of Attraction, and in more modern times, "The Secret" book and DVD. By using the principles in ones daily life, everyone is given the opportunity to harness the success of all who live by them.
This is not a book that is to be read in one sitting and then forgotten about. You must take your time, and be thorough to ensure that you understand exactly what it is Hill is trying to get across to the reader. Hill never actually tells us what the secret is, rather he indicates that the secret will appear in our minds when the reader is ready.
The fact that this book has been reprinted so many times, and prefaced by so many authors, adds to the weight of just how powerful this book is.
I list the principles below, but without you taking the action to read the book, these words will not have the full impact that I wish to bestow on you.
1. Desire
2. Faith
3. Auto-suggestion
4. Specialized Knowledge
5. Imagination
6. Organized Planning
7. Decision
8. Persistence
9. The Master Mind
10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
11. The Subconscious Mind
12. The Brain
13. The Sixth Sense
I believe that this book should be made available to all school students, to prepare them for a life that could well take them away from the jobs that society says is acceptable, and to allow them to become who they were intended to be. I truly wish that I had the good fortune to read this book while I was still at school, instead of fifteen years later.
For anyone who is serious about obtaining success and financial freedom in their life, no matter what your position is in life right now, "Think and Grow Rich" is the one book that you simply must read.
Most people are excited when they start a brand new blog on self hosted Wordpress, at Blogger or any other blogging website. They usually have a general idea of what they want their blog to be about and they are just buzzing with ideas. They want to share a little of this and a little of that while making their opinion known about the main topic of the blog.
There are so many different things to blog about:
If your passion is mental health, you might choose to blog about Bipolar Disorder, depression and anxiety.
If parenting is your forte, you might blog about various aspects of parenting like rewards and punishments, dealing with temperamental teenagers, how to be an effective single parent and tips for dealing with preschoolers.
If you’re blogging about weight loss, you might want to highlight the pitfalls of straying from a healthy diet plan and how to get back on track with one’s fitness plan by working out at home with work out DVD’s and fitness gear. You might share how to make recipes that are not only delicious and quick but also healthy too.
If your blog caters to those who want to save money and spend less you might write posts that show your readers how to save money on their next trip to the grocery store, how to use coupons when making online purchases, how to sell thins they no longer need or want to generate some extra cash and ways to save money on bills in the winter.
As your blog starts to gain a little momentum you may find that your readers want more. Posting biweekly or once a week may no longer satisfy those who love your blog. The people want more and so you try to give it to them, posting two to three times a week or even daily.
You set up a blogging schedule to deal with the hectic demand for content. For some, blogging daily will be easy cake, a walk in the park and for others, they might feel a sense of dread or frustration as they try to come up with yet another post after barely choking out the last one. They were fine when they didn’t need to write as much content but now the task is becoming overwhelming for them. They may even begin to suffer with writers block.
Fortunately their is an easier way. PLR to the rescue. PLR,which stands for private label content, is any type of content that you can edit and use as you see fit as long as you don’t add it to article directories or sell it as PLR yourself. There’s a lot that you can do with PLR.
You can copy and paste it as in when you’re in a bind and need content quick or you can reword the content, changing the order of the sentences or paragraphs as well as swapping out words for appropriate synonyms.
You could even take it a step further and use your PLR for research ideas. You could then branch out from some of the main points covered within the articles and easily create unique content of your own.
Alice Coaxum is a homeschooling mother of four, Beach Body Coach, PLR writer and internet marketer. She is the owner of ShopForPLR.Com where you can find quality PLR articles, blog posts, emails and reports at affordable prices.
I believe the questions you are probably have about investing are, "How do I get started? How do I actually achieve a 12.08% annual return by buying all the stocks in the Index" How can I achieve a 20-25% return a year by beating the market? "How do I select the right stocks"? How long will it take for me to achieve the returns I want?"
Well, strap on your seatbelt and get ready because I am going to share with you a whole range of strategies I use to multiply my money at millionaire returns. Through my own course of learning to invest over the years, I have found that there are many very different philosophies and strategies that experts use to select stocks to achieve above average returns.
Growth Strategy 1: Buying Markets & Sectors
The first growth involves achieving the same returns as the whole US stock market or Singapore Stock market by buying the market indexes such as the S&P 500 index, Dow Jones Index, NASDAQ composite Index and the Straits Times Index.
This is the most basic strategy that all novice investors should start off with. Executing this strategy successfully involves the lowest level of financial competence but it can make you consistent annual compounded returns of 10%-12.08%.
The holding period for such investments would be usually over one year or longer. Buy sectors or industries that may be performing very well within the whole stock market
Select specific stocks of individual companies that would outperform the general market and even the hottest sectors. Value investing is the strategy employed by Warren Buffett, the worlds greatest investor and second richest man.
In value investing, you will learn to buy high performing companies at a fraction of what they are worth. In other words, you will learn how to buy great companies when they are undervalued and to sell them for a huge profit once the market realizes its true value. This strategy has consistently made me profits of 15%-25% annually!
Growth Strategy 3: Momentum Investing
This next strategy will allow you to achieve much higher returns (of more than 25%) within a much shorter period of time (3-6 months). Momentum investing involves finding the hottest stocks that are ready to make great gains. Momentum stocks tend to already be priced above their fair value.
However, because of the entire market's optimism about the stock's potential, these stocks tend to increase significantly in price within a very short period of time before they are overbought and come tumbling down (this is when you sell and make huge profits).
Make 100%-500% returns on your money from as short as one day to a maximum holding period of 3 months. This final strategy requires you to have the highest level of financial competence and skill. This strategy is known as trading (as opposed to investing) and it involves the use of buying (or selling) stock options. Trading is different from investing in a few ways.
Investing usually involves making money by buying a stock and predicting that it will increase in value over a few months to a few years. However, in trading you are able to make profits whether the stock price moves up or down and you usually enter and exit a trade within a very short period of time.
The funny thing is that some of these strategies contradict each other. Where one expert says that you should thoroughly understand and love the business behind a stock that you buy, other experts say that you should treat stocks as commodities and trade them without any need for understanding the business.
Some experts have made their fortune purely by studying a company's fundamentals (i.e. financial strength, profitability & business potential) while totally ignoring its historical price trends (i.e. technical analysis).
At the same time, I know gurus who have made millions purely through the analysis of a stock's price movements and reading the psychology of the market, while ignoring the company's fundamentals.
Some experts believe in buying and holding their investments over the long-term while others believe that you should be in and out of an investment within a few weeks! Some investment experts like Warren Buffett believe in buying undervalued stocks only when they are shunned by the market and then selling them for huge profits once they reach their fair value.
After studying and testing the many schools of thought (with my own money), I have discovered that all these different strategies WORK, when thoroughly understood and applied properly. Today, I use a whole range of different investment strategies myself, depending on the return I seek to achieve.
Follow these time-proven wealth creation steps and watch your personal financial security and wealth grow!
Why learn the hard way by losing your hard-earned dollars making the same old common investing mistakes. It's much better to learn from the experience of thousands of investing professionals over the last 100+ years. Here are the top ten timeless investing tips. (See Part II of this article for the other five tips).
1. Invest for the long term.
If you are looking for quick winnings all you're going to do is lose money, sooner or later (don't be fooled if you're making money while the market is rising, that's easy, the key is are you making money over the long term even across inevitable market downturns). By investing for the long term you are picking investments that have a proven ability to appreciate over the next 5-10 years, and if there is a 6 month or even 18 month down turn, you still have a good investment and time is on your side. 2. Diversify.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. You don't need to invest in 100 different stocks or vehicles, but neither should you be overly concentrated in just 5. Financial statistics show that by having at least 20-25 separate investments, none being more than 5-7% of your total position, you have significant diversification without the hassles or costs of managing 100's of investments. Today another key aspect of diversification is to be sure to invest in global stocks as well as U.S. stocks.
Be patient & be consistent. Don't chase today's fad (or worse yet, yesterday's fad). Research your options, choose carefully, put your money at work, and then be patient. If you chose investments that should perform over the long term, then be confident in your strategy and be patient, and don't panic sell when the market turns south for a few months.
Save regularly from your earnings. Set aside 10% or more of every pay check automatically every month (a good idea is to set up an automatic deduction to your savings account). Then regularly take these savings and move them to your investment account and buy regular amounts of stock (see Dollar Cost Averaging) below. Follow good strategies for saving money on airlines and outdoor sign purchases.
Don't spend your investment earnings; instead, reinvest them in your investment portfolio. As your investment portfolio throws off earnings and profits, do not make withdrawls for a new boat or remodel. Instead, reinvest the money in the investment account. This way you have the magic of ‘compound interest' working in your favor – your annual investment earnings will grow ever higher because the underlying investment capital at work is growing.
Time has shown that these principles will work with little risk and great returns, so long as you don't freak out on every day's stock market ups and downs. And, best of all, you'll have a unique and invaluable dividend every day of your life – the ‘sleep at night' factor: because your investments are carefully and systematically deployed for the long term in a well-diversified manner, you can live your life focusing on other issues, knowing that your investment account is doing it's job: growing safely and providing for your dreams.
