Will Pressley is President of Bramridge Property Solutions a total real estate solutions company. In addition to selling and buying homes and other real estate, Bramridge Property Solutions offers, financial management education and services, including loan programs, credit repair, real estate investment and financial management education. Bramridge Property Solutions covers all the bases. To discover how you can obtain high rates of return on your IRA, CD, or other sources of private money using little known investment strategies, visit http://www.iloc-ira-investing-site.com now
Archive for Downers Grove
Jan
13
Tips for Investing From Within an IRA
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I don’t know a thing about you but I’ll bet you’re either investing from within an IRA, or considering investing from within an IRA.How do I know? Because most of us right now are having to provide investment guidance for our future retirement. This is pretty common since most companies and employers are no longer overseeing employee retirement accounts, and if they are it’s a safe bet that they are looking to discontinue the practice in the near future.That leaves our retirement safety in our own hands. Whether your experienced with investing from within an IRA or are looking for information on how it’s done you’ll find these tips useful.First be very selective when choosing an IRA custodian. These are the individuals, brokerages and bankers that are administrators of IRA accounts. Like anything else not all custodians are equal. The fact is some are light years ahead of others in there service, experience and know how. Don’t let just anyone oversee your account. You’ll want experience and comprehensive knowledge of IRA’s and the rules and regulations that govern them. Oddly there are actually few custodians that have this type of knowledge.An example of this is that what you can invest in when investing from within an IRA is surprisingly broad. However most custodians allow only a narrow area of investment. This is actually because most are only educated on the traditional IRA investment vehicles such as stocks, bonds and certificates of deposit(CDs). You’ll want to find a custodian that allows clients to invest in the full spectrum of possible investments options just as congress intended you be able to. The truth is that many things can be invested in using an IRA. One example is real estate.In fact real estate is a Little known investment that makes massive use of the tax advantages of IRA’s. And as strange as it may sound most custodians themselves are in the dark as to the rules to investing in real estate. This is one of the main reasons that real estate is not often taken advantage of when investing from within an IRA.With real estate it’s possible to double or triple the money invested in properties within 1 or 2 years when investing from within an IRA. The tax free and tax deferred advantages of IRA accounts can greatly speed large gains.But the key to this secret is knowing which real estate is a good investment and which are bad investments, this type of expertise takes years of experience and often comes with some hard knocks. This is why most custodians and administrators don’t want to deal with real estate. The territory is to foreign to them since most are skilled only in traditional IRA investment options such as stocks and bonds. This brings about the need for a self directed IRA account, with a self directed Roth or regular IRA account you are able to direct your custodian to invest in which real estate you want to invest in. Some people may have knowledge in this area and are able to analyze properties, do market research and all of the other due diligence necessary to use real estate to build retirement wealth quickly. But most people are not experienced enough in this area,to adequately make use of real estate when investing from within an IRA.But there’s a secret tactic that smart IRA account owners are using to great advantage. That tactic is to enlist the expertise of real estate investors who are experienced in using real estate when investing from within an IRA and are willing to show IRA owners the ropes. These investing experts are also rare because just as with knowledgeable custodians, many professional real estate investors have never even heard of using IRA’s to invest in real estate or are unaware how to go about it. You definitely don’t want the advice of your local Realtor here, only a few seasoned real estate investors can guide you in this areaA final peace of the puzzle that you don’t want to miss is the need for a self directed Roth or regular IRA account so that your custodian and your real estate consultant can work together as a team to grow your investment account.Now that you’ve discovered these tips for investing from within an IRA you can look into taking advantage of these little known tips for large profits.
safe high return investments Chicago
Jan
07
Basics Stock Investment Knowleadge for Beginners
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To invest into stock market or other securities is quite a very critical decision every investor should note before taking a step into ”The Bull Market” I choose to call it ”The Bull Market” because, the benefits and profits in the stock market is quite enormous. The stock market is the only business transaction that its resource is yet untapped, you stand a great chance of profiting unlimitedly in trading stock, as well as losing every thing you have worked for all your life into stock market just in a twinkle of eye.
That is the more reason why every investor should think twice and think very carefully before investing into stock market, to tell you the fact, the stock market is not for every body. The stock market is meant for people who are willing to take risk, people who have extra to spend, people who are credit free, people who are independent, people who are financially free and people who are strong and willing to stand any financial risk situation. Before you invest into stock, you need to know your self and most importantly your financial status, because stock trading is very volatile, risky and that is the more reason why you need to check your self and your background before investing your money to avoid losing your hard earned money.
To invest into stock market or other securities is quite a very critical decision every investor should note before taking a step into ”The Bull Market” I choose to call it ”The Bull Market” because, the benefits and profits in the stock market is quite enormous. The stock market is the only business transaction that its resource is yet untapped, you stand a great chance of profiting unlimitedly in trading stock, as well as losing every thing you have worked for all your life into stock market just in a twinkle of eye.
That is the more reason why every investor should think twice and think very carefully before investing into stock market, to tell you the fact, the stock market is not for every body. The stock market is meant for people who are willing to take risk, people who have extra to spend, people who are credit free, people who are independent, people who are financially free and people who are strong and willing to stand any financial risk situation. Before you invest into stock, you need to know your self and most importantly your financial status, because stock trading is very volatile, risky and that is the more reason why you need to check your self and your background before investing your money to avoid losing your hard earned money.
Investment Plan:
Every beginner needs to have an investing plan, weather you are beginning to trade/invest into stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures, forex, real estate, equity and many other financial market. You need to have a plan point of how much risk you are willing to take at the starting point, and the investing plan is ”How Much Are You Willing To Risk” on your starting point. You need to start investing from some where, but where it will not affect your financial status even if you lose your capital margin into the investment.
Before you invest your money, make sure to start with as little as you can afford to risk, that will make you not to lose all you have and at the same time, it will prompt you more opportunity to harness on the transaction to ascertain if it actually worth investing your hard earned money into such business. Dont risk investing the amount of money you can not afford to lose, all security transactions are very profiting but at the same time you can lose so much into the transactions as well.
The Beginners Target Of Investing:
The target of every investor is to make profit, and by that you need to invest your money into a very lucrative and legitimate kind of transactions that will yield better interests and profits, as a beginner, you dont know the most lucrative and legitimate transactions to invest your money yet, but before you invest, make research about the business to know certain things before you jump into such transaction, but it has been proven that security investments like stock, bonds, mutual funds, equity, futures, forex and other financial transactions yields more better profits in short time investment than other investments, which is the more reason why investors are destinating to invest into financial/securities in order to reap from the untaped profiting ventures.
Because of the volatile in the security transactions, prices tend to rise over time, which gradually increasing your money to profit, in this aspect you have benefited from the investment when the prices ascends up. It can also fall over time as well as decreasing the margin of your investment, in this aspect you are losing your money into the investment when the prices descends down. Therefore, investing your money into transactions is not only to make profits but it will also give you the opportunity to make turn over of your money, which also increases the weight and value of the money you have into more strong money. However, investments requires strategies, good decisions, careful planning and patience in order to make a better returns in your transactions.
Ponn Nac, Is The Health Author To Many Health Magazines And Other Health Organisations Too, He Is Also a Bona-Fide Member Of Security Investor And a Trader In Stock Market, Financial Markets And Other Securities Investments. Visit Stock Gurus Blog
To Read More.
safe high return investments Chicago
Jan
04
Are You Investing or Speculating? Your Answer May be Detrimental to Your Future Wealth
Posted by: | Commentssafe high return investments Downers Grove
Oil prices are high, real estate is down, the dollar is flat, unemployment is high, your investments are down, and no one really knows what’s going to happen with the elections in November. The future is uncertain to say the least, and for many the fear of uncertainty can lead them to make poor investment decisions that will have a rippling effect into their future. It is times like these that separate the well prepared investor from the panic stricken speculator. Let’s explore the difference between the two and the consequences.An investor is someone who invests using a consistent, long-term strategy to secure their financial future using well diversified investments. Generally the focus is on minimizing risk while maximizing return.A speculator or market timer is someone who is less concerned about consistency and who switches investments on an emotional whim.During a bull market most people would say that they are investors, but when the stock markets are jittery investors get tested, revealing many closeted speculators. This may include you, if you liquidated your investments and are waiting for the markets to recover to get back in.Why This Strategy Does Not WorkYou simply cannot predict when the markets will rally and when the markets will hit rock bottom. And missing the upswings of the market can be very damaging to your long term returns as seen in the following graph. Understanding RiskInvesting in the stock market is not risk free. You should understand and feel comfortable with the level of risk in your portfolio so that when the market goes through its cycles you are well prepared. Let’s explore this further. Let’s use a hypothetical portfolio ABC with the following risk and return criteria:Standard deviation = 10% (Standard deviation is a statistical measurement that sheds light on historical volatility. This is a good measure of the portfolio’s risk. The higher the standard deviation, the riskier the portfolio.)Expected return = 12%If you own portfolio ABC what can you expect going forward? To answer this question we must go back to statistics. If you are a long term investor you expect that the average return will be 12%. This does not mean that you will earn 12% every year. After all, there is market risk to consider. For example, one year you may earn 6% another year 25% or anywhere in between, and so forth.At any given period you can be 68% confident that your portfolio’s return will fall within a range of 2% to 22%. And you can be almost certain that your portfolio’s return may fall anywhere from -18% to 42%. Can you deal with this? Most investors enjoy the up side of risk, but seldom enjoy the downside. Case in point, an investor that earns 32% on a portfolio whose long term expected return is 12% is a happy camper. But, is that same investor happy when the same portfolio (whose expected return is 12%) earns a crummy -8%? The point of this example is to understand that returns will vary from year to year. Depending on the standard deviation of your portfolio, those figures will fluctuate within a given range and you must be willing to live with that volatility. Just like you will not get 12% returns every year, you will also not get negative returns every year. Long term investors must understand and accept this risk if they want to be appropriately compensated.Remember you are a long term investor. It’s the long term strategy that matters. Over the long run when you average the positive and negative returns your portfolio’s total return will approximate 12%. All the bumps in between are just part of the investment process.
Quoting Warren Buffet “Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”The Importance of DiversificationAs investors, we must understand that markets are cyclical and that there is risk involved in investing in the stock market. While that risk never completely goes away, we can do a lot to minimize the portfolio risk to the best extent possible. The best way to do this is to diversify our investments across different asset classes (or categories of the stock market) The key here is to identify investments in segments that perform opposite to one another under different market conditions (known as negative correlation), or at least have low correlations to each other. The result is higher returns and lower risk over time.One common example that simplifies this concept is that of suntan lotion and umbrellas:If you own a store that sells suntan lotion in Florida, more than likely you will do very well when it’s sunny out and people are going to the beach or outdoors. However, we all know that it rains in Florida, so on rainy days your store may not do so well. To diversify the risk of not selling any suntan lotion on rainy days you could consider also stocking up on umbrellas. That way you will make money whether it rains or it’s sunny out. This is the concept of diversification. Market conditions that cause one asset category to perform well, often cause another asset category to have average or poor returns. If properly executed, diversification will smooth out the unsystematic (market) risk events in your portfolio.What About Asset Allocation?Asset allocation describes how you choose to distribute your investments among investment vehicles such as stocks, fixed income, alternative assets, cash etc. According to Roger G. Ibbotson’s The True Impact of Asset Allocation on Returns“for the long-term individual investor who maintains a consistent asset allocation and leans toward index funds, asset allocation determines about 100 percent of performance—regardless of whether one is measuring return variability across time, return variation between funds, or return amount.”How you decide to distribute your assets among investments is a personal choice that needs to be looked at very carefully. In making this decision you should take the following into consideration:
Conclusion
When it comes to investing and life in general, it always pays to do your homework and have a plan. As a long term investor your goal is to diversify your investments to reduce risk and maximize your long term results. This involves the careful selection and distribution of assets among investment vehicles that support your risk tolerance, time horizon and individual needs, as well as the appropriate mix of negatively correlated asset categories.There is no denying the sexy allure of timing the market, or the fact that speculators can make money, and do get lucky investing in what’s “hot”. However, the reality is that they can’t consistently beat the market. More times than not, speculators end up buying high and selling low in a panic. You will always hear how much money a speculator made on one or two investments, but you will rarely hear how much money they have lost on their other not-so-“hot” investments. It is wiser to develop a long term strategy and remain consistent even when the market misbehaves. After all, if we do our homework we would know what to expect in the long run and this includes expecting, that at some point or another, our portfolios will experience a few bad periods. What matters is the long term performance of our investments and most of all our peace of mind.
Market risk is not predictable nor avoidable that is why stocks have higher returns than “safe” savings and fixed income investments.
Karla Arguello, MBA
Executive Vice President of Cathy Pareto And Associates, Inc. – Experience a more personal approach to financial planning and investing.
www.cathypareto.com cathypareto.blogspot.com
safe high return investments Chicago
Jan
03
Investing for Income
Posted by: | Commentssafe high return investments Downers Grove
A friend asked me during the week where he could “park” some cash while he was tossing up possible renovation plans for his home. A similar situation might be faced by those saving for a home deposit or who already have a deposit and are waiting for home prices to fall before jumping in to buy.
The first suggestion that comes to mind would be to focus on removing volatility from any possible investment (and in doing so reducing risk). In particular, a serious look at investing for income is definitely warranted. So what is investing for income?
——————–
The most commonly understood way to earn income from an investment is through cash and fixed interest style investments. The common thread between these investments is that they pay regular interest payments over time while the initial value of the investment does not grow.
At the moment these style of investments are offering relatively strong returns. The Weekend Australian Financial Review provided a good summary of some of the better returning cash and fixed interest style investments. They firstly looked at cash accounts with the most compelling options those provided by online saving accounts. The top three were Bankwest 8.25%, RaboPlus 8.00%, ING Direct 8.00% (It should be noted that these are introductory offers but still great returns.)
The great benefit of cash is that it is easily converted into money that can be used to purchase goods and services. In financial terms these investments are highly liquid. You are also very confident that you will not lose any of the initial investment along the way. The major risk is that while this money is sitting in cash, alternative investments are providing a higher rate of return.
The next in the pure income line of investments are term deposits. For agreeing to lock your money up with a financial institution for a given term, the institution pays you a slightly higher return compared to deposit accounts. It was interesting to note in the AFR article that not until terms of at least 90 days were the rates above or equal to the rates offered by the top online savings accounts. Basically what the current rates are telling us is that an investor is not compensated for having money locked away for less than a 3 month term. The major risks with this type of investment is that you either need the money before the end of the term or interest rates in the economy increase meaning that your money could be yielding higher levels of income elsewhere (for the same level of risk).
The third basic category is fixed interest securities otherwise known as government or corporate bonds. Investors purchase these investments with the issuer promising to pay a particular rate of return over a given term with the initial investment being returned to the investor at the completion of the term. Bonds are traded and therefore once issued may move up or down in price. These changes are most likely caused by changes of interest rates in the economy or a change in the likelihood of the issuer meeting its repayments on the bond. The major risks therefore are that interest rates in the economy increase causing the price of the bond to fall in value also meaning you could get better returns elsewhere or the issuer is unable to make the payments as required. (More about this default risk later).
From here we move to less traditional cash and fixed interest securities.
In between the pure fixed interest investments and growth assets, like shares and listed property, are what are known as hybrids. These are bond-like offerings which provide regular income payments but have equity characteristics. Should a company collapse, holders of these securities are treated like shareholders and their claims come after the claims of debt holders (bond holders). You therefore should expect to be paid higher rates of income compared to bond holders. For more information on an example of this style of security take a look at Scott Francis’ recent Eureka Report article – Suncorp offering with a bonus.
The clear risks with hybrids are that the company will not be able to make the payments however one risk that is removed is that of interest rate movements. The products tend to have a floating rate tied to a relevant cash rate. At the moment the premium above the cash rate is high as the credit market is tight and companies have to pay more to secure your money.
Then we come to the property sector. Most people invest in property to hopefully see the value of the property grow. However, there is also the benefit of receiving rent provided by tenants. We access property exposure in our portfolios through listed property trusts. Latest figures put income from listed property at 8 or 9%. However, it should be noted that there has also been a significant depreciation in the value of listed property trusts over the past year, the worst year in history. Therefore the major risk of utilising property investments for income is that the price of the investment will fall in value.
Finally, the last major income producing investments are shares. Again, many investors get caught up in the growth side of the share return story while forgetting the income being provided through dividends paid by companies. This story is particularly attractive in the Australian context thanks to the dividend imputation tax system whereby companies are able to pass on dividends that effectively have already been taxed at 30% before reaching the investor.
The AFR article on the weekend provided some interesting figures regarding dividend yields. Historically companies in Australia have paid yields for industrial stocks averaging 5.2% since 1961. Goldman Sachs JB Were are predicting yields of 5.9% for the year up from 5.6% last year. Macquarie Research forecast 6.1% for the current year increasing to 6.4% in the following. This gradual increase in dividends being received by investors is a real benefit of these investments that is often forgotten. Of course the recent plunge in sharemarkets have detracted from shares as investments but if you are willing to hang on and wait for share prices to rise, this level of income being paid is nothing to be sneezed at especially given the tax benefits of fully franked dividends.
Across all of the income producing investments there is an underlying risk that the holder of your cash, including shares, will not be able to return it when required. i.e. they default on returning the money you have loaned them. The greater the risk of this occurring, the higher the return that should be expected by investors. Groups like Standard & Poors help determine this risk by providing ratings of the underlying products and companies. Having consideration of the rating of a product or company is key to assessing whether the investment is suitable for you. It is interesting to note that the best yielding income investment mentioned in the AFR article was the Babcock & Brown Infrastructure EPS (BEPPA) returning 23%. The recent news surrounding Babcock & Brown show that this is indeed a riskier style of investment.
For more information on this topic, Vanguard have produced a really clear explanation of Investing for Income in their Plain Talk library which is well worth a look.
Regards,Scott Keefer
Scott Keefer has been a partner in the business since January 2007. He has completed a number of degrees related to financial management including a Masters of Financial Planning and Bachelor of Commerce. He also holds a Graduate Diploma of Education.
Prior to joining the business, Scott was involved in secondary education where he held middle management positions in schools in Brisbane and Jakarta, Indonesia. Part of these experiences involved teaching Indonesian students about Business Management and Economics principles as relate to the Australian context.
Scott is a co-author of the book ‘It’s Time You Knew the Truth: Building Investment Portfolios That Work’. He also shares a passion to work with people at all different stages of the financial planning process helping them to build successful financial solutions through well structured investment portfolios. Scott is working towards authorised representative status which will be in place later this year. His current role in the business is to oversee administrative functions including initial preparation of client statements of advice and placement of investments.
safe high return investments Chicago
Dec
28
Choosing a Real Estate Investing Course
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Choosing the right real estate investing course will ensure that you get the most knowledge and insight before you begin investing. There are many ways you can invest in real estate and many different real estate investing courses that will give you specialized information about the type of investing you want to do. Because there are so many real estate investing courses out there that cover every imaginable investing topic, it is important to choose the real estate investing course that will be of the most benefit to you and give you the information you need to succeed in your investing ventures. There are many things to look for in a real estate investing course, including topic, price, format, and the experience level of the person teaching it.One of the most important things to consider when choosing a real estate investing course is the person who developed the course and the person who is teaching it. Sometimes this is the same person and other times it is not. You want to make sure that the real estate investing course you choose was designed by a real estate professional that has experience and success in the real estate business. You should also make sure that the person who is teaching the real estate investing course you choose be knowledgeable about real estate if it is not the same person so you can get personalized feedback and advice form someone with experience. You should also look for a real estate investing course that is tailored to your particular investing interest. There are many different ways to invest in real estate and they all require different knowledge and advice. Buying rental properties is much different than flipping houses or finding foreclosures, so be sure to pick a real estate investing course that will tech you what you need to know to fit your interests.It is also important to pick a real estate investing course that has a format you will enjoy and will not eat up too much of your time as well as a price you can afford. Spending thousands on a real estate investing course will eat into the money you have to invest and usually you can find a real estate investing course for much less than this. You should also pick a format, online, at a local college, or self study that you will enjoy and that will keep you motivated.The last thing you should consider when choosing a real estate investing course are the experiences of former students. Asking people who have previously taken the real estate investing course you are interested in will give you a good idea whether or not the real estate investing course is valuable. Be sure to ask former students if they feel as though the real estate investing course you are considering gave them valuable advice and useful knowledge that set them up for investing success. Asking former students about their experience is one of the best ways to decide if the real estate investing course is right for you.
Brad Wozny is a real estate investing expert. Let Brad show you how to connect with eager real estate investor buyers & sellers of investment properties. Access private money & creative lending resources. Claim your FREE Strategic Investment Manifesto and Download your 2 FREE real estate investing mp3 case studies.
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