Browsing Category: "online investments"
Treat your online investing as a Business…
When you place money in a high street bank savings account you will rarely need to closely monitor its performance as the interest rate is normally fixed and assuming you have selected a reputable bank your funds should be perfectly safe (at least we hope so because we’ve all learnt the recent lessons haven’t we?).
For your online investments this hands off approach is not recommended. In fact you should treat any online investment as part of an investment portfolio that needs to be actively managed. The best way to do this is to consider your portfolio as a business venture and manage it in that way.
Before you make any investments sit down and consider your overall business goals.
- What funds will you have to invest with
- What return are you looking for (daily, weekly, monthly and annually)
- How will your portfolio be constructed (what range of investment risk will you consider)
- Consider tax implications and how they will be managed
- How will you monitor performance
All of the above points should be addressed so that you are able to manage your funds in a constructive manner.
Even if you are investing a relatively small sum start to make withdrawals on a regular basis (you should tie this in with the goal of recouping your seed money as soon as possible if that forms part of your business plan). This way it will be easier to treat your investments as a business as regular withdrawals will create the mindset that you are aiming to make a profit on your funds. When you make a withdrawal there is nothing to stop you re-investing the funds in a new programme. As this is a conscious decision it complies with your business plan objectives for diversification and ensures that you create a more balanced portfolio.
You could even take some earnings out to improve your current lifestyle, whatever you do make sure that it is planned rather than a random act as this will breed bad habits for the future.
It is very easy to make an investment and then rely on the programme website to monitor how it is performing. Whilst this may be acceptable if you have just one investment it will quickly become difficult when you join more.
Develop a record for each investment you make and make sure that you keep this up to date. The level of detail you record will be a personal decision but it should be enough to allow you to have a view of your overall portfolio performance on an ongoing basis.
There are software programmes available on the internet that can help you track and monitor all the programmes you invest in. Some are free and some require payment. Take a little time to find one that suits your needs and integrate it into your monitoring activities.
Doing this will help you both manage the inflow and outflow of funds and reinforce the need to treat your online investing as a business.
Call me, don’t be afraid you can call me…
The title of this post are words from a song performed, by amongst others, Petula Clark in the 1960′s. So what connection do they have to online investing?
Well the answer is related to how personal we need to get when we try to share potential online investment opportunities with other people.
For the vast majority of people that read my blog I have no idea of who you are, where you come from, whether you are male, female, young or old. That’s not to say that I couldn’t find out some of this information as it is fairly easy to track where people are located and even an IP address but with regard to you as an individual that isn’t possible directly, and rightly so.
For a small number of readers I know a little more about you as you’ve signed up to my private newsletter so I know your first name and email address. I’ve had to make sure that you gave me permission to hold this information but now I can at least refer to you by your first name when I contact you with what I hope you consider to be useful, relevant and potentially profitable information.
But what would happen if I tried to speak to you on the phone? This question has been buzzing around my mind over the last few days. One program that I belong to recommends that if you receive no response from email communications you should phone the prospect and speak to them directly. I’m struggling because I doubt whether an unsolicited call would be either popular or welcome, especially if it is not 100% clear to the person you call that they willingly provided their phone number when filling out an online form.
Many people provide their details to all sorts of business opportunity websites and end up being extremely wary when called.
Personally, I’m highly suspicious of any call where the caller is unfamiliar to me. But, perhaps that’s just because of my reserved English character. Are people generally happy to receive calls from strangers and be happy to be pitched too?
I’ve got no problem in calling someone who willingly provides me with their number on the basis that they do it in the full knowledge of what I’d want to discuss when I called. So for me the title of this post is not something that I’m entirely comfortable with. Perhaps you have other views, why not leave a comment and add to the debate.
Are higher returns really that much riskier…
It’s been about twelve months since the world’s banking system went into meltdown. You’d think that the banks who were helped out would be still licking their wounds and trying to stay under the radar to avoid bad publicity.
But that doesn’t seem to be the reality. As it happens for some banks and financial institutions the last twelve months have been very profitable and headlines are again pointing the finger at huge bonuses for bank employees whilst the man in the street still struggles.
Is it any surprise then that when I see a television advert here in the UK proudly proclaiming that if I would hand over a mere £10,000 the bank would deign to give me 4.2% per annum return on my investment that I say some rather choice words under my breath?
Do they really think that we are that stupid to believe that such a paltry return is all that we deserve? Personally I feel totally dumbfounded, so it’s no surprise I spent many of the last few years searching for returns that are more acceptable.
The question now of course is what return should we consider acceptable. Rather than go into a whole lot of debate about this let me pin my colours to the mast and say that a return of 5% a week is not unreasonable.
In fact it may be more than this but I don’t believe much more than this is sustainable for the long run. How do I know this is possible? Well, the answer is very easy as there are several programmes that have been paying these sorts of returns for many years and they have the ability to continue at this level for the forseeable future.
Rather than provide names here I’ll ask you to do a little something for me before you find out. Just sign up for my private newsletter and I will provide you with details of programmes that provide such returns.
I’ll admit these programmes aren’t quite as convenient as your local bank but the little extra time needed in getting an account is paid back many times over by the increased returns.
Get your name in the queue to Secure Your Future…
Having been around the world of online investing for several years it’s no surprise that you come across both good and bad resources. As I hope you believe this is one of the good ones I want to put you in the direction of what I think is another valuable and trustworthy resource.
The admin at the Secure Your Future, John Noakes, forum has always conducted himself in an honest and straightforward manner. He wears the battle scars like many of us veterans and he always tries to help his members.
Currently membership to the forum is closed but it shouldn’t be too much longer before he opens the gates again so I’d recommend you head over and get yourself on the waiting list.
He is promising to provide members with some very affordable and easy to manage investments in the near future so if your name is down you’ll have a chance to learn all about them.
I should say now that John runs a tight ship and you will need to be comfortable following his instructions once you get there. The whole point is that membership is valued and contributions should add value rather than just speculate about matters. If you are comfortable knowing this then I’d recommend you get your name down as soon as possible.
3 steps to online investing success…part 1
This is the first in a series of 3 posts where I’ll be exploring just what it takes to be involved in the world of online investing. Firstly we’ll look at some simple investor psychology, in the second post we’ll discover what you need to do to be able to make investments and in the final post we’ll delve into the sort of investments you might consider when starting out.
There are literally millions of people who are looking for the opportunity to increase their income and improve their lifestyle. They are looking for a way to earn an income for themselves that will free them from working for someone else. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this ambition but unless you understand what it takes then this goal will be hard to achieve.
Ideally investors want a higher rate of return than is possible with main stream savings accounts. As long as you understand that higher returns generally come with higher risk then you will be in a good starting place.
It’s been said many times but is still one of the golden rules, only invest what you can afford to lose. Do not deprive your family of food, shelter or clothes on the basis of some future unproven wealth. Be realistic about what can be achieved and responsible enough to pay the bills first. There are many examples of people who have taken out huge loans in the belief that an online program would be there forever and provide more than enough for all. They have not only been disappointed but also plunged even deeper into financial debt. If you can’t really afford it then don’t do it.
One great virtue to have when investing is patience. No matter what you are told there will be occasions where things go wrong or slow down. When this happens don’t panic, give the admin time to resolve the issue. By allowing time to pass the options will become clearer and mass hysteria can be avoided. Some very reliable programs have ceased because investors weren’t patient enough to allow problems to be sorted out, they made disparaging comments which led to unrest and ultimately the demise of the program. Patience is essential.
Don’t believe all you read without checking yourself. Jealousy is a pitiful trait but is often evident in the world of online investing. Some people rejoice in telling lies and spreading falsehoods about others. If you get sucked in by people like this you will find it difficult to differentiate between fact and fiction. Find people you can trust and ask them their opinion before getting involved. There are many seasoned investors who would be happy to help those who are just starting out. Take time to seek these people out, test what they say and if you are happy use them as a sounding board for any investment you want to make.
In the next post we’ll look at some of the steps you need to take to be able to invest in online opportunities.
