Fortune Watch

It’s a dangerous time for investors when any and every investment makes money. I do realize that I must be sounding like a lunatic when I say that. How can things be dangerous when money is flowing into investors’ account statements as if it grew on trees? And for mutual fund investors, it does appear to be growing on trees. Of course investors in the best funds made an absolutely humongous amount of money.

Something similar has been happening for stock investors as well. Even though there were some stocks that lost money, an overwhelming number of them went up by huge margins. There isn’t really any stock or mutual fund investor out there who didn’t make a great deal of money. Therefore, what we have here is like an examination which everyone clears because the passing marks have been reduced to zero.

These are abnormal times which are very dangerous precisely because it’s impossible to make mistakes. You can invest in bad companies and bad funds and still make money. And that means that when the going gets even slightly tougher, a lot of people will find that they actually did invest in bad companies and in bad funds.

It’s an old saying that more investment mistakes are made in good times than in bad times and since the times are so good right now, the potential for making mistakes is that much higher. Investment markets change direction very quickly. Nothing prevents what look like good investments today from turning out to be bad ones.

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Beginners who are not aware of current trade investments and who don’t have enough capital to invest may face a lot of setbacks. These factors, however, should not discourage an individual from investing. If you are too scared to take the risk, you lose a lot of opportunities.

Investing gives you the leeway to increase your income. If you just simply put your money in a savings account, a 2-5% interest will not do to secure your future. Since in this set-up you can easily pull out your savings account, it increases the likelihood of you spending the money in unnecessary expenditures. In a short span, your money is gone and that leaves you with nothing.

Lay down the cards. For beginners, the first thing to do when you plan to invest your money is to have a reality check. To start off, do you have a capital to invest on? It is not just capital but do you have a risk-capital?

Add up your assets and check which of these you are willing to bet and let go. This may be hard at first especially if all of which are valuable to you. But if you carefully choose which assets are of lesser value to you, this will make it easier for you to accept loss if your first investment fails. Since investing is also an expense, consider it a loss anyway but with a potential to grow.

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A man walked into a bank in New York City one day and asked for the loan officer.

He told the loan officer that he was going to Philippines on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000. The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan.

Then the man handed over the keys to a new Ferrari parked on the street in front of the bank. He produced the title and everything checked out The loan officer agreed to accept the car as collateral for the loan.The bank’s president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the guy for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral against a $5,000 loan.

An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank’s underground garage and parked it there.Two weeks later, the guy returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest, which came to $15.41.

The loan officer said, “Sir, we are very happy to have had and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multi millionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow “$5,000”.

The millionaire replied: “Where else in New York City can I park my car for $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return”

Well thats how the rich stay rich, they know a lot more about Money Management. All the millionaires I have met in my life were penny wise. Look after your cents and the Dollars will look after themselves.

A large percentage of people will admit to not having any type of savings account. Maybe there’s just not enough at month’s end to give to a “rainy day” fund. Perhaps the money in put into a savings account gets used just as fast as it gets saved. Either way, taking out an emergency credit card can help to avoid depleting your savings account while providing security. Knowing there is a way to deal with a financial emergency can give you peace of mind. While having cash for unforseen expenses is always the best line of defense, it seems that so many times as soon as we manage to put something aside, something else comes up and we need that money.

Having a credit card for the sake of an emergency is a great way to insure you won’t be left on the side of the road with a car breakdown or pulling your own tooth because you can’t afford to see a dentist (let’s hope you wouldn’t do that!). While there has been a credit card debt epidemic over the past several years, if you are responsible and can practice some self-control, you can have peace of mind should you need to come up with some quick cash.

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Financial planning is the process of identifying the monetary goals of an individual after considering different factors like his risk profile, life priorities, current lifestyle, etc… It is a process that can present before an individual, an organization or even a nation details about their current monetary position and the adjustments that are to be done to their pattern of spending in such a way that they can effectively meet their financial objectives.

Today, I have some advice for those of you heading into retirement or already into retirement and have realized that, for whatever reason, whether it was an unforeseen or medical expense or just a lack of excess income after all the expenses of taking care of your family or whether you just didn’t pay attention to saving until it was too late.

My theme for you continues to be “Yes, you can retire and live twice the life at half the cost”. You just have to be smart about it”.

Now here’s my advice… if, after adding up all you’ve saved for retirement, you find that your income won’t be enough to support you, start to actively look for ways to trim your expenses. This way you can keep more of the income you are set to receive, enabling you to live the life you’ve always dreamed of but could not afford.

Today, I want to share some of my favorite suggestions and add a few I picked up from an article titled 7 Realistic Strategies for Retirement by Tom Sightings, for U.S. News & World Report.

First, remember there are only two ways to get to your destination. Using a boating metaphor, you either raise the bridge or lower the water. Raising the bridge means earning more income. Lowering the water means cutting your expenses. Only you know which choice is the most feasible for you but today I am going to talk about ideas which “lower the water”.

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And I think it — about money. A lot of financial advice — — on our here’s our taste and some common financed and it’s. Never take a mortgage and corporate giant. This made perfect sense — — interest — super high rates today even with recent hikes are still at historic lows. So that means it makes a lot more sense to keep that market’s going to pay — — slowly. But invest any extra money in your retirement account — stashed away in an emergency. You can see — health care. And then borrow against — or. This is often cat bites. While most people don’t wanna take the organ paying fees. Borrowing money against your — and came makes sense now particularly because interest rates alone the going rate. Four point 2%. A lot better that you’re gonna get from the credit car or even a private — The only. Less money you should have stuck — my. That you’ll meet him in the last — but with the average retiree somebody in the — — twenty to thirty years longer. You need more money invest in stocks from the nineteenth. 2000 well. Average return for a large — acts with 10% a year it makes perfect sense to invest in stocks for the long ball. This advice that a live forever. Like discs — — when it comes to financial ties him for exploration.

No more greasy burgers for you. No more frothy Frappucinos, hold the whip. No more fresh new duds just because you deserve it. All great decisions, but you must also ask yourself, “how much am I really saving?”

Are you saving enough to pay off all your bills? Are you significantly reducing the strain on your wallet?

Probably not. Saving $10-15 a week will never make you rich. It will help to ease your burden a bit, but little else.

Frugality gets billed as a well built road that will move you from rags to riches when traveled, but if you look deeper into the stories behind the people who pulled off amazing feats of frugality that left them swimming in riches, you’ll find far more than squeezing extra life from a few hundred pennies.

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Stocks rose on Tuesday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 closing at new all-time highs as Federal Reserve officials’ comments eased some concerns that the central bank could start reducing its stimulus program.

Dow component Home Depot gave the market a lift after the world’s largest home improvement chain raised its profit outlook, driving its stock to a record intraday high.

JPMorgan also bolstered the Dow, rising more than 1 percent to a 52-week high after the bank’s chief executive won a vote of confidence from shareholders.

Stocks extended gains in afternoon trade after New York Fed President William Dudley said he cannot be sure whether policymakers will next reduce or increase the amount of purchases, due to the “uncertain” economic outlook.

Earlier, James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, had urged the European Central Bank to consider employing a U.S.-style quantitative easing program to counter slowing inflation and recession in the euro zone.

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