Beginner Investing: Diversify Your Portfolio

joanne — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:40:56 +0000

When you’re a beginner investing in the stock market, you need all the information you can get to help with making your nest egg grow. In this article, I’ll go over the different investment vehicles that there are to diversify your portfolio. When the average person thinks of the stock market, they typically think of stocks, but there is so much more to know if you want to be successful.

1. Stock or Equities

Stocks and equities are basically the same thing. They’re securities that represent owning a piece of a company. There are also equity mutual funds, which are also in the same class. There are several ways to acquire stocks and/or equities. You can purchase shares of a company through Initial Public Offers (IPO’s). You can buy from a broker and/or brokerage house (i.e. TD Ameritrade). Also, if your company offers a 410K plan, you can buy stocks through their program. What good about owning equities is that they are easily liquidated if you need to raise capitol right away. Their performance is quite volatile and generally give the best returns over the long haul. With the way equities move in value over the short term, in most cases they’re not ideal for short term investing unless you are very active on a daily basis.

2. Fixed Income Securities or Debt Instruments

Securities that will generate return within a period of time fall in this class. Bonds are the most common of them all. Returns are in the form of dividend income and/or interest. Bonds are issued by either the government, a company that want to raise capital to increase their business or a bank fixed deposit. It’s basically a loan to them from you. They can be purchased through corporate bonds, bank fixed deposits or debt mutual funds. They are considered a safer mode of investing since they aren’t as volatile as equities. It is also used by investors to protect their stock portfolio. The yield varies depending on the economic conditions at the time of issuance.

3. Real Estate

I don’t think I really need to explain what real estate is, but to cover all bases, ownership of land, homes, or commercial property are considered real estate. Real estate is sold in the open market by buying land, houses or commercial property, as well as taking ownership through inheritance.
Another way to invest in real estate is through funds that only involve real estate properties. They are known as REIT (Real Estate Investment Trusts). Investing in real estate can bring great rewards. Look at any wealthy person and you will see that they’re investing in real estate. To own rental properties will bring high yield over the long term while the tenant’s rent will (in most cases) cover the mortgage and other monthly expenses.

4. Gold

Again I don’t think there’s any need to explain what gold is other than it is the most sought after precious metal in the world. There was a time that the American dollar was related to gold, referred to as the gold standard. Gold can be purchased through jewelers as well as banks. Once can also invest in gold through gold ETF’s (Exchange Traded Funds) and mutual funds. The benefit of investing in gold is that it has always held it’s value against inflation. It’s not effected by the fluctuations in either the stock market or any currency. Many of the smart investors hold a position in gold to help hedge against the volatility in the markets. Gold will bring high returns over the long period of time.

5. Commodities

Commodities consist of of any type of tangible item that can be bought or sold. Precious metals, base metals, ferrous metals, agricultural products are just some of the many things that are considered a commodity. To invest in these you would need to go through a commodity exchange, such as NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) and the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) to name a few. I don’t recommend a beginner investing in commodities. The risks are very high and unless you have advanced knowledge in this area, I say stick with the equities (stocks) that handle these products.

To properly make it in the stock market, you should have a well balanced portfolio. I suggest that you learn more about each one before investing any of your hard earned cash in the markets. It will help you to seek the advice of a professional before doing any of the things that were discussed here in this post. General questions are always welcomed and I will do my best to answer and help.

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Beginner Investing: Researching Stocks

joanne — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:38:23 +0000

When I first started as a beginner investing in the stock market, I was looking to hit it big and make a big score. Everything that I read pointed me toward trading penny stocks and how they can go up in value by 25%-50% in just one day.

I worked with someone that had the trade of a lifetime. He was telling me that there was this company that was in the commodity sector (which in regards to penny stocks, means nothing) and that they were about to hit pay-dirt with a new ore vein discovery. I really wasn’t too sure about commodities and knew even less about how the engineers calculated the potential find of an area.

He talked to another co-worker and myself about getting in on the deal. I was hesitant but this co- worker said that he would research it and get back to us with his findings. I had known this person for about four years and knew that he’d made some decent money in the stock market. About a week later he came back and said that he couldn’t believe what he was finding out. The company was actually going well and was on the verge of the “mother load” of discoveries.

I went ahead and took a chance with the only money that I was able to put together in a short period of time. I invested $200 into the company, but the other co-worker decided to liquidate some of his holdings to get in on the deal in a big way. He invested $50,000 in to this company.

I’m sure by now you know where I’m going with this story. Yes, the company was a scam. They were based in Africa and weren’t subject to the same laws as others that traded on the big boards.

What I mean by the big boards is NYSE (New York Stock Exchange), NASDAQ, CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) and the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange). This stock was trading on what is referred to as the OTC pink sheets, which means it’s an over the counter type stock.

I share this story not because I enjoy talking about my failures, but I will discuss the mistakes I’ve made here for two reasons.

1. You can learn from my mistakes.
2. I learned from my mistakes.

My point of this story is that when you trade stocks, you need to do your research and due diligence in finding out everything about a company that trades on these smaller boards. If they trade in a different country they may not be held to the same standards as the ones traded in the United States.

Penny stocks can make you a lot of money, but you can also lose it just as quickly. Be careful in how much you invest in what is referred to as penny stocks.

A penny stock is a stock that has a share value of less then $5. That doesn’t mean that some of the financial stocks that have been beaten up lately are considered a penny stock. I refer to stock of companies that are relatively new and are trying to raise capital to increase their company. Many of them are legit and will become a major player in years to come, but you need to do your homework to help steer clear of the ones that won’t make it out of the gate.

This post is part of the Carnival Of Money Stories

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Beginner Investing: Diversify Your Portfolio

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