Archive for the ‘Personal Finance’ Category

There are many sites and tools that help you to calculate your Net Worth (try Googling “net worth”… you’ll get about 16,500,000 ‘hits’!).

The trouble is, not one of them is right … at least when it comes to helping you understand if you are financially on track. The reason is that most people define Net Worth as:

Your Total Assets – Your Total Liabilities.

That means that your house, your car, your furniture and many other items that don’t put a penny in your pocket until you sell them are all included!

So, to REALLY see where you stand financially, when calculating your Net Worth, you should LEAVE OUT:

a) Any ‘equity’ in your house that you NEVER intend to release as investment (i.e. borrow against for purchasing, when the timing is right, income-producing-buy-and-hold-investment-real-estate).

b) Any supposed ‘equity’ that you have in your business.

c) Any depreciating ‘assets’ such as cars and furniture (unless they are PROVEN collector’s items).

Let’s call the result your INVESTMENT NET WORTH …

It’s the only one that matters!

Why?

Well, there are only TWO reasons to even bother calculating your Net Worth:

1. To ensure that your ‘portfolio’ matches the Rules of the Rich (e.g. the 20% ‘rule’ on home equity that I talk about in a recent post), and

2. To check whether your INVESTMENT NET WORTH (which should be in passive income-producing investments by then) can FUND your ideal retirement with at least 99% chance that your money won’t run out before you do.

Now, what’s YOUR Investment Net Worth … more importantly, can it fund your IDEAL retirement?

Author: Adrian J Cartwood
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Cellphone news

The secret to becoming rich is really quite simple.

First of all you must spend less than you earn – Then you must invest the difference.

But don’t stop there – You then need to re-invest the profits that your initial investment created as well as the original investment. In time this will create a big enough resource that you will be able to comfortably live of the income that your investments create.

Does this sound a little bit scary or like too much hard work? Well don’t worry because all you need to do is to create some savings and investment strategies and the rest will fall into place.

The first step is to create a Savings plan that works for you. When it comes to saving money there are generally two different types of people.

The first type are people who are somehow able to save money without any great difficulty. They have good restraint when it comes to purchases and they always have a sock full of money somewhere. When they are ordered around and given strict rules to abide by they tend to want to rebel and do the opposite.

The second type of person needs strict rules and regulations to achieve most things. Left to their own devices they would happily spend all their spare money on a new pair of jeans or car. When these people are given clear rules they seem to be able to save money with much more success.

Which type of person are you? Do you need strict Savings and Investment Strategies to save money or are you at your best when you are given more freedom. To be completely honest I think that everybody could become a better at saving money if they applied a few simple ideas.

One of the best savings and investment strategies that I have come across is this.

Reward Based Savings System

The first step of this system is to actually create a savings plan. For instance you need to focus on some areas in your life where you think you could save some money eg.

Bring your lunch from home
Quit smoking
Less alcohol from expensive bars
Cook your own meals
Public transport
Cut down on snacks

Isn’t it fumy how most of the things that I have just mentioned would be beneficial to your life in more ways than just saving you money? The problem is that all of the above things are actions and pastimes that you really enjoy.

So is it realistic to try and cut these activities out of your life and expect to be happy just because you are saving some money?

No, I don’t think it is. What about if every time you saved money you simply rewarded yourself? Then you might actually enjoy saving money rather than growing to resent it.

For example if you were to give up smoking then I would suggest that you keep a tally of the money that you are saving and use a portion of it to reward yourself with something that you love but don’t usually get, for instance a massage or a night at the movies. This way you are creating a savings plan that will actually work. Why? Because you want it to work so that you can get your rewards. Too many people create Savings and Investment strategies that don’t have inbuilt reward systems. The best thing about a reward based saving system is that you really enjoy the feeling of saving money. Then if you are smart enough to invest the extra money that you are saving you will have begum your journey towards financial freedom.

Author: Banjo Smyth
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera News

As an investor, many of your decisions will be made based upon your investment risk tolerance. Some people are bearish, believing that the market will decline, while others are bullish, expecting that the market will rise in value. Also, investors can be classified into risk tolerance categories based upon their willingness to accept investment risk for any given level of portfolio return. There are four primary classifications of investors based upon risk tolerance, including Aggressive, Moderately Aggressive, Moderate and Conservative. Do you know which type of investor you are?

Aggressive Investors

Aggressive investors are most often focused on investment growth through the use of equity investments. Their investment time frames are generally 7-10 years at a minimum, and they are willing to accept portfolio risk in any given year in exchange for an increased expected portfolio return over the long term. The investment return that they expect to earn is on average higher than the market returns annually as a whole. For example, the market typically earns on average 10% per year in returns, while an aggressive investor is seeking returns often above 12% per year on average.

Moderately Aggressive

Moderately Aggressive investors are also seeking capital growth through the use of equity investments, however, their risk tolerance is lower than that of an aggressive investor and they typically are seeking market average returns, not above market average returns. While the overall investment objectives are often similar to aggressive investors, their general portfolio mix contains more moderate investments and is often more diversified across asset classes to provide more portfolio stability. The recommended investment time frame is between 6 and 10 years.

Moderately Conservative

Moderately Conservative investors will often have a portfolio that is more blended, seeking a balance between investment growth and capital preservation. A moderately conservative investor is much less willing to accept portfolio value variations on a year to year basis and is often seeking an investment income stream from their portfolio. To balance out the risk in the equity side of the portfolio, a moderately conservative portfolio will often contain bonds, real estate and other fixed income investments. The average rate of return that a moderately conservative investor targets is between 6-8%, and the average investment time frame is generally between 3-6 years.

Conservative

A conservative investor is seeking capital preservation and is often seeking current income from their portfolio’s assets. The time frame for a conservative investor is generally under 3 years in length, causing the portfolio to often contain a higher ratio of cash assets and bond assets so that it can remain liquid as well as so that it can provide an income stream. While there can be some equity component to a conservative portfolio, the more common asset classes will be real estate, individual bonds or bond funds, cash and possibly fixed annuities.

An investor’s risk tolerance will change as their investment time frames change and as their investment objectives change. Risk tolerance is designed to serve as a guide for portfolio investment selections and should be considered prior to the selection of a given investment. You can determine what your personal risk tolerance is by evaluating your personal goals as well as by completing a risk tolerance quiz.

Author: Larry Haywood
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rates

Vacations Made Easy: Buying a Florida Investment Property

A relaxing beach vacation means different things to different families. However, imagine returning from a long day in the sand and waves, hair dripping and tan glowing to a place where you and your family have settled over the years. You know where your favorite beach towels are tucked away and where the soothing aloe gel sits in your medicine cabinet. This is what you call a home away from home. You can avoid the regular vacation stress by buying a Florida investment property, close to the theme parks and beautiful beaches of Florida; your own Florida Investment Property. With the increasing popularity of vacation homes, travelers can find their own place in the sun tailored to fit their familys needs. Plenty of websites offer condominium listings to help you find a condo in the area you desire. These condominium listings give an overview of properties and the features they offer along with special deals. Owning a Florida Investment Property gives families the chance to experience a comfortable vacation at their own pace. All it takes is finding the perfect condominium in the right location.

Hot Places to find a Florida Investment Property

When searching for the perfect place near a Florida Investment Property for your family, there are a lot of choices to consider. First, find an area that is near the places you want to see. For families with kids, a place near the attractions may be the best option. There are plenty of areas surrounding Walt Disney World. Kissimmee and Davenport are two Central Florida towns that are right around the neighborhood of the theme parks.
Beachside vacation condos also offer specials at certain times of the year. If you choose to stay by the beach, your family is still close to the inland attractions. Many Florida Investment Properties may offer decreases in sales prices during the Winter months sine it will be very slow season.

Your Florida Investment Property Style

One of the first things to decide on when searching for a Florida Investment Property is the style of home that a property offers. Ask for detailed floor plans. Do the room sizes meet your familys needs? Some condos dont offer only a basic kitchen space while others include a full kitchen and dining room. Find out if the condo comes furnished or if you will need to factor in the cost of furniture to fill another house.

Another point to consider is the actual purchasing of the condo. If the property is a time-share, you will be locked in to certain times during a year to visit and will need to plan your vacations accordingly. If you are purchasing the condo, there will be maintenance fees. Properties offer a range of purchasing options. One property near Orlando Florida, the Bimini Bay Resort offers a revolutionary system. Vacationers purchase a condo and receive fees from the property for its use when owners arent in residence.
Finding the perfect Florida Investment Property also requires love at first sight. Do cool Caribbean houses make a splash in your mind or do you prefer pristine white high rises? Almost every vacation community today offers a website where perspective buyers can view the property and its amenities. This is good for narrowing down the candidates. However, once you decide on a property its best to call them directly and ask questions that can be answered by someone on the property. Ask for any type of visuals, schematics and possible links to pictures from previous buyers. Finally, visit the site. Most Florida Investment Property offer a personal tour of their vacation homes. This way, you can get a feel for not only the condos themselves, but also the community surrounding the property. You can then make the deal in person and avoid unanswered questions later. Now all you have to do is pack your bags and enjoy the Florida sun!

Florida Investment Property Features

Families should look for a place where they can be comfortable away from home. Property owners know this and therefore cater to a wide range of features for buyers. Families can choose a Florida Investment Property with enough bedrooms for kids and parents, whether they need a full kitchen or just a simple area to prepare food, as well as the amenities that a property offers.

Many Florida Investment Properties offer three and four bedroom accommodationsenough to house a family comfortably or perhaps a few guests. Some condos provide a cozy upstairs to house the bedrooms while the bottom floor is devoted to living space. Most furnished condos provide a double bed so that a room can be split between children or other guests.
Certain Florida Investment Properties are home to a slew of amenities that make a beach condo feel more like a luxury resort. From pools to tiki bars and cabanas, properties may also offer an exercise facility, sauna and even a personal massage room. The trick is to make sure that these luxuries come as an all-inclusive package with the Florida Investment Property. While most properties do offer basic amenities such as a pool, it is best to check before making a final decision. Families should look for kid-friendly activities such as a game room, kiddy pool or supervised childrens activities.

Florida Investment Property Listings

So, where to look? There are plenty of condominium listings on the internet. However, doing the general Google search can be pretty daunting. There are sites that connect you to local real estate based on the country and city where you want to search for a condominium. Below are a few user-friendly condominium listings that will help you get started.
What may be the most informative place to turn to is the tourist information bureau. They can turn you over then to local tourist boards with their own condominium listings. Floridas interactive website is a vacation hotspot, with links to accommodations, attractions and many other vacation needs. For condominium listings, the easiest way to look is by a jump to search. After typing Florida Investment Property or vacation home, youll find a long list of places all over Florida. To browse by city, click on destinations and youll find an interactive Florida map that details each section of the state. Vacationers can find all this is on flausa.com.

Another broad condominium listing is condominiums.com. The site lets customers browse new, resale and ultra-luxury condos. This easy to use web page also allows browsers to select a country, state or province and city among thousands of condominium listings. Lists of local condos are ordered according to price and many show pictures of the property, which helps to give perspective buyers an idea of local style.

Homescape.com also allows perspective buyers to select by location, type of property desired and the number of bedrooms. This condominium listing takes browsers to links from local newspapers that include a detailed directory of properties for sale in the area. This way, perspective buyers can be assured that the condominium listing is up to date and accurate.

One more user-friendly condominium listing to try is homegain.com.

Homegain, like the other links, lets users select where in the country they want to look, what type of home they desire and also includes color pictures for most properties listed. Unlike other condominium listings, homegain.com provides information about home loans and mortgages.

Vacationing in Your Florida Investment Property

Wherever you choose to look, condominium listings are only the beginning. To find the perfect Florida Investment Property, take time to research the properties that interest your family. When you find the right place after browsing a condominium listing, calling the site directly can help you decide right away if the property has what you need. Properties may offer a toll-free number that will connect you directly to a real estate consultant for this very purpose. Remember to research the propertys website, where you can read testimonials and view pictures of the condominium. Thankfully, Florida Investment Property come in a range of locations and prices so you can find whats right for your family. If you choose a bustling vacation hub like Orlando Florida, decide whether you want to stay beach side or attraction side. Many Florida Investment Properties offer both options based on their location. Looking for a quiet place by the sea? There are so many options to choose from that can give your family the best vacation. Choosing a Florida Investment Property is the first step to a home away from home, a vacation that lets you feel comfortable in your own place without the hustle and bustle of a hotel. A vacation from the comfort of your own home is a rejuvenating experience that many have come to prefer. Whats waiting for you? More than you can imagine.

Author: Lisa Carson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty

When somebody mentions a ‘Free Investment Seminar’ what is the first thing that pops into your head? Most people’s initial reaction is ‘SCAM’. Our parents have taught us that ‘nothing in life is for free’, so why on earth would somebody want to give us valuable information and not expect to get anything in return? Then just as we are about to completely dismiss this idea of a free investment seminar the optimist within us pops up and makes us think twice “maybe they do genuinely want to help me”?

So the question still remains, if you see a Free Investment Seminar what should you do? Go and see what it’s all about or would that be a waste of your money. You might be asking how can a free investment seminar be a waste of money when it is free? I believe that the most important and expensive thing in our life is ‘time’, remember the saying ‘time is money’. Therefore if I go to a free investment seminar I don’t learn anything then technically I have wasted my money. Secondly is there really such a thing as a ‘Free Investment Seminar’? Surely nothing in life is really for free? Is it?

It probably is true that a free investment seminar is going to have some sort of catch or back ended product that the speaker will be trying to sell, but is does this mean that you shouldn’t attend? Yes and No, I have attended many free seminars and from my experience about 70% were very beneficial. On the other hand there is nothing worse than sitting through a few hours of a long winded sales pitch, so if this is the case I would recommend that you stop wasting your time (money) and leave.

If the speaker is honest and upfront then you should be able to gain valuable knowledge whether or not you buy the product. Why is it then that the majority of people who attend Free Investment Seminars don’t even come close to achieving results that the seminar proclaims they can? This might sound strange but I believe that the reason is because the seminar was free in the first place. Let me explain myself – In order to get ‘value’ into your life you need to ‘invest’ something. The more you invest into something the more you expect to gain form it. Have you ever been lucky enough to find some money? If you have, can you remember if placed the same level of value onto your ‘free’ money compared to the money that you had to work hard for? Probably not, instead you might have spent it on something you usually wouldn’t buy simply because you didn’t have to ‘invest’ anything to get the money. So does this mean that free investment seminars are a waste of time? No, it means two things

1. The impact of things are not directly related to their price tag
2. People need to value their ‘time’ more and consider anything they do to be an investment.

There are a few distinctions that I would like to make clear about the above statement’s. This does not mean that you will never have to pay for good information and it definitely doesn’t mean that you should listen to advice from anyone.

“The most expensive advice you will ever get, is free from poor people” – Kurek Ashley

Unfortunately this is one of the main reasons why lots of poor people will remain poor. If you told your friends that you were going to go to a free investment seminar they would probably laugh and you and tell you that it’s a scam. It is up to you to be strong enough to make your own mind up. Who knows it may turn out to be a scam but if you approach things with an open mind you never know what you might learn. Always remember – steer clear of expensive advice from poor people and be open to free advice from rich people. Who knows that free investment seminar might be worth wasting your time on after all.

Author: Banjo Smyth
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker

To begin your retirement investor portfolio, the beginner investor asks the following question: “How much do I need to have in my portfolio to comfortably retire?” It is not easy to come up with this future dollar amount! There are many factors that influence the answer: age at retirement, your present income, your retirement lifestyle, and how aggressively you wish to build your retirement investor portfolio.

Planning your retirement investor portfolio is one of the most important financial decisions you will make in your lifetime. It is easy to get caught up in the financial needs of the present and put off thinking about how you will manage financially once you hit retirement age. Most of us cannot afford to rely on any one entity or company benefit to shield us from the financial expectations and obligations of retirement; we must grab the retirement bull by the horns and make sure that we will be financially prepared and comfortable on that first day of our retirement.

The Basic Types of Retirement Plans

There are different types of ways to save up for your retirement they include employer offered plans, government retirement plans and individually sponsored retirement plans. They all have excellent retirement investor incentives. Two plans you may run across as a beginner in retirement investing are the 401k and the IRA.

401k

This is a voluntary retirement plan that is often offered by employers to their employees. This plan allows for a set amount of your pretax pay to be set aside as a retirement investment. The funds and the growth on those funds are not taxed until your withdraw the funds at retirement. Most employers will match your contributions or match a percent of your contributions each year. There are restrictions that apply to when and how you can withdraw from your 401k without suffering penalties. You do the management of this type of fund.

IRA

This plan allows an annual contribution of 100% of earned income but only to a specified maximum amount. Traditional IRA’s may be deducted from income tax, depending on your income and any coverage that your employer has sponsored if any. Depending on the type of IRA you have selected the earnings may be tax-differed or even tax-free. You have to investigate each type of IRA to determine the tax and income benefit of each before selecting what type fits your portfolio best.

As always there are professionals in the Investment field that can help and guide you through the multiple choices available to you. You should take advantage of this help always remembering that what you do today will definitely have an impact on your lifestyle at retirement. Starting as early as possible is the key along with systematic savings. If you tithe to your church then by all means tithe for your future and that of your family. A comfortable old age is your goal. As worry free as possible.

Author: James Cone
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Electric Pressure Cooker