Did you cheat your way through the research assignment? Did you buy someone else's paper and turn it in as your own? Did you get your cheerleader girlfriend to write it for you so you could practice for the big Friday night football game? Did you blow it off entirely since you could still get a "C-" in the course without actually doing the research paper?

If any of the above scenarios hits home, you should not worry. Want to know why? The cheerleader, the teacher, the entrepreneur who sold his papers and some other rather intelligent folks can help you out by providing free investment research for you now. They paid attention and can do it; you didn't. See how it all works out? Sometimes life's plan is incredible, don't you think?

Anyway, now that you have a few extra bucks despite your lack of focused attention in school, it is time to figure out how to go about making a bit of a profit by investing those dollars. Chances are, you have very little clue how to go about that, though. Most people really don't; that is where free investment research comes in.

If you are interested in learning a little about how best to use your money to make yourself more money, one thing you can do is let your mouse do the clicking. There are sites available online that can assist you by providing free investment research. Usually, if you agree to use their brokerage services, those economy-savvy folks will look into everything for you, just like they did in high school and help you make wise decisions with regard to your investment strategies now.

Whether you are willing to take a big risk and would like stocks, are scared to death to take much risk at all and would prefer bonds, need a quick return on your investment so you can retire in five years, or are willing to wait it out for the long haul, professionals are available to provide free investment research or investment research for a fee.

Whichever investment roads you choose to travel, one thing is certain. You should be extremely thankful for the boys and girls - nerdy or otherwise - who actually learned those research skills. They are here for you now, when you need them most.

It is similar to buying stock in that you are actually buying mutual fund "shares" that makes one a shareholder in that fund.  But, unlike stocks, which in buying shares of stock signify direct ownership in a company, mutual fund shares represent ownership of a fund which in turn is invested in different companies. Example, if a particular mutual fund has purchased stock in Disney, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and other companies, a shareholder in that fund is essentially an indirect stockholder in all of those companies, but without the rights usually afforded to corporate shareholders.

Here's some advantages mutual funds have over other kinds of investments (Pollack and Heighberger : The Real Life Investing Guide, 1998) :

Diversification

Diversified investment allows new investors, even those with just a few dollars, to spend their money over a wide range of stocks and bonds. Diversification means that the investor's money is divided between many different types of stocks and bonds, allowing investors to cushion losses from a single investment.

Professional Management

Allows the inexperienced investors to hire the expertise of a fund manager whose full time job is to eat, drink, and sleep mutual funds.

Cost - Controls

Mutual funds can be started without charges. Unlike stocks, which require brokers and their commission charges to get started.

Have a balanced portfolio

Divide your stock market investments so as to accommodate the top 4 sectors. It is not possible to accommodate all the sectors. Have sectors that balance each other. An ideal example would be realty and Information technology. Do not include sectors that are interdependent like realty and cement.

Have some sectors that never go bust like FMCG and telecom. This way you will have a balanced and considerably risk free portfolio in the sense that even if a sector fails you will still continue to float.

Ideally approximately 35% of your total money should be in the stock markets.

Invest in mutual funds

Mutual funds are less risky since they are managed by professionals who constantly monitor the markets. Even if the markets plunge be assured that the fund will bail out sooner than the stocks you have invested in. Again do not put your money in sector based funds but go in for diversified equity funds which invest in a variety of sectors and the fund manager keeps juggling the stocks.

Investing in Index funds should see you much safer than investing in pure equity based funds. Another safe option for investing in mutual funds is balanced funds which are a combination of equity and debt.

Ideally about 30% of your corpus should be in mutual funds of which 10% should be in index funds, 10% in balanced funds and the rest in equity diversified funds.

Invest in government Bonds

Government bonds are very safe and yield better returns than bank deposits. The only deterrent is the time period. Bonds require a lock in period of 2 to 3 years and hence not many people tend to invest here.

Ideally 25% of your corpus should be in bonds and similar investments.

Invest in bank deposits

Fixed deposits are the safest forms of investment, that is, until the bank goes bust! Fixed deposits earn decent interest, more than the money kept in that bank accounts and they can be withdrawn without any hitch. It is always advisable to keep a decent amount of money in safe instruments.

Keep the last 10% of your money in fixed deposits.

Following the above structure for your money should get you through difficult times and at the same time earn you a more than decent sum. Learn to manipulate the amount invested in the different investments depending on which sector is doing better at what time. And most important, learn to resist greed and have infinite patience!

One of my friends, who is a long-term investor said last week "I don't know where the Market is really going towards. I could have invested my money in real estate". Off course, he was worried. It took nearly an hour to convince him about how good a long-term investment in Indian stock market is.

My NRI (Non Resident Indian) Friends

Recent days I see an enthusiasm among my NRI friends in investing their money in sites, buildings around my town.

I don't wonder.

The global real estate consultant 'Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM)' says they see 10% raise in Indian realty market by NRIs, in spite of all the economic pressure the country is undergoing. I don't think I to have write about the economic chaos in developed countries, these days, especially about realty market of US. It is obvious and understandable that NRIs think India as a right place for realty investments.

In past six months, cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune witness 10% of NRI investment in realty market.

Buying a House vs. Realty Investment

It is pretty good idea to buy a house for living and it is never an investment.

Triggers of Realty Boom

India has shown a drastic growth in realty market in past two years and an increasing demand over past five years.

Things that Seem to be Good

Indian population is growing at the annual rate of 2%.

Joint families are being broken into nuclear families.

Escalation in economic status of urban middle class.

Where people were chasing public sector banks few years back, now enjoy easy financing by private banks, where a housing loan was considered as a "favor" to person by banks, is now considered as "product" to be sold.

Good GDP growth rate

Things that Seem to be Not so Good

India's largest housing finance house, ICICI had decreased number of applications for housing loan by 20% last year.

Increased interest rates and increased tenure of EMI have made a common man to repay his or her housing loan for 15 to 20 years, which is really a "horrible" time stretch, where we live in an unpredictable economic scenario

IT and IT enables services in India needs good amount of commercial place, where the business is estimated 28% growth by 2010

India, a country which attracts tourists world wide, needs more hotel accommodation which seem to have some trouble according to facts and figures

Bangalore, which city I personally know, where the realty prices are almost hit the limit where one has to think twice before invest his or her hard earned money.

Pujit Aggarwal, Managing Director of Orbit Corporation said the demand in Mumbai getting poor. He said on May 2006 " If this demand continues to be poor, prices may correct to some extend because everybody needs money or cash flows to pump into projects. So developers may look at reducing prices." He expects further prices correction of about 10-15% : Source CNBC TV18

Correction In Realty Market?

Analysis shows that there would be a correction of prices in realty market that suppose to start from hot cities.  Every market where the demand and supply exists, there will be correction and Bull Run. Realty enthusiasts now witness the Bull Run, which we saw in Indian stock market past three years.

Technical Analysis stands on two legs.

1. Market moves in trends (Not only stocks, all markets)
2. History Repeats (Investor psychology remains the same and they would do the same mistake again and again)

Indians Have a Psychological Affinity Towards Physical Properties and the Reality of Realty Market

One of my NRI friend was busy in purchasing a property two days back. We were pretty busy in registration, arranging funds, rushing to bank, which took 120 kilometers of driving. I have two questions for my friend.

1. "Why don't you invest your hard earned money in more than one market? if one does not perform well, then another one would come handy"
2. If you strongly believe what your so-called "experienced" advisers say, why don't you invest some of your money in good realty stocks, where your investment could be managed little better than doing on your own? It does not violate your own logic of investment.

OK. You say your realty investments have given 50 to 100% return in past two years. My dear friend, let me tell you something. If you have bought the stock of UNITECH, a realty company, on Dec 2005 for Rs.16, you could have sold it for Rs.450 in Dec 2006.  Calculate the return on your own!

If you say a bull market is an exception and it is not reasonable to give this example, then my friend, again I have a news for you. If you did not book your profit on 2005, in this depressed market condition too, you can sell it for Rs.156.05 according to closing price of 12th Sep, 2008 (The day I am writing this). Calculate your return. It is no way 50 to 100%. More than that.

Boom and Correction

Boom and correction are not something specific to Stock market. It exist in every market, where there is a demand-supply, including realty market.

In stock market, we could know the prices, index due to its transparency. So a correction could be "rapid". In realty market, there is no transparency of prices as it is in Stock market, it may take time to realize the facts, but that never rules out the possibility of a correction.

Speculation

Is speculation is specific to stock market? No. There are facts that would show you the real estate price movements too are due to speculation in certain cases.

Click the following links to read more

Experts See Price correction in Mumbai Realty Market

Realty Price Trends

Pune Realty Correction and.. you can find a lot more.

Again

I would like to say "Technical Analysis stands on two legs".

What are stocks?

When you buy stocks, or shares, you're buying part of a company. A company will offer a number of shares for sale. You can buy some, hold them as long as you like, buy more, or re-sell them.

Buying and selling is also known as trading. Once trading begins, the price of the stock can rise or fall.

Most stock is bought and sold at a stock exchange. Examples of stock exchanges are Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, and the London Stock Exchange. You can also buy over-the-counter (OTC) stocks, which are not listed on stock exchanges.

You don't buy and sell stocks yourself, but act through a stock broker or brokerage firm. Usually you make the decisions, and the broker represents you on the market. You can also choose to let the broker invest your money for you.

You might buy stock at a low price, and sell at a higher price to make a profit. Or, you might invest in companies that will pay regular dividends over several years, for a more stable flow of income. The stock you buy depends on your financial goals, and your personal investment style.

There are two types of stocks: common, and preferred.

• Common stocks give you voting rights in the company. If you want to stage a hostile takeover, you would buy up as many voting shares in the company as possible. In general, common stocks give you a say in the way the company is run. Dividends fluctuate, depending on the fortunes of the company.

• Preferred stocks return a fixed amount, with regular payments, but you have no voting rights. If the company has financial problems, the dividends on preferred stocks are paid before those of common stocks.

A company pays dividends in cash, or in shares. Taxes may apply to cash dividends.

Price of Stock

What determines the price of stock?

Broadly speaking, the price of stock depends on supply and demand. The more people buying the stock, the more its price rises.

The market price of a stock is not the same as its intrinsic (real) value. A stock price can rise, simply because other people are buying. People may buy in hopes of quick wealth, or because they have emotional ties to the product or service - or, just because everyone else is doing it.

Scams, such as Pump and Dump, take advantage of this. Worthless stocks become inflated in price by increased buyer activity, based on hype and high-pressure sales.

Avoid stock market scams and bad investments, with five simple rules.

1. Research, research, research.
   
   Research is your best friend on the stock market. Usually, companies offering stock for sale must disclose financial statements and other company information. Know the company history, the key players and company structure. Look at past performance, and strategies for the future. Know the industry as well as the company. Examine the economic factors affecting its success or failure.
   
   Never invest in a company or industry you don't understand. If you do, it's not an investment. It's a blind gamble.

2. Put personal feelings aside

   Emotional factors can affect the price of stocks. Often, stock prices are driven by greed, emotion, or pure ignorance.
   
   Keep a cool head. Don't buy out of impulse or passion.
   
   Don't buy into wind power, for example, because you believe in saving the environment. Buy because the company has a solid performance record, a strong demand for its product or service, and good potential for growth and profit.
3. Diversify your stock portfolio
   
   Buy stock in more than one company. If you're just starting out, choose at least three or four different companies. Even the most reliable stocks can take a sudden dip.
   
   For instance, Maple Leaf Foods (MFI) stock was $16 a year ago. Recently, several people died of listeria found in Maple Leaf meats. In August of this year, stock hit an all-time low of $7.60.
   
   MFI stock is now rising again, largely due to investor interest in the low prices. The company has a solid history and will probably bounce back. However, this illustrates the potential for a sudden price dive even in established companies.
   
   If your portfolio includes several investments, you have a backup if one or two do poorly. Even seasoned investors make mistakes, or are subject to factors beyond their control.
4. Know when to hold 'em
   
   If a company's revenues go down, so do the stock prices. Is it temporary, and will the company recover? Wise investors know when to hold their stock, and when to cut losses, and sell.
   
   Don't listen to gossip or rumors. People will offer stock market tips, or claim to know stock market secrets, wink wink nudge nudge. Inform yourself, do your research, and make your own decisions.
5. The greater the risk, the greater the reward
   
   In general, the more risk you're willing to take, the more potential for high return. Also, the more chance the investment will fail, and you lose your money.
   
   Reliable companies command higher stock prices. Returns are less, but so is the risk.
   
   If a stock offers high return with low risk, be wary.

Experiment without Spending

Before investing your hard-earned money, set up a mock portfolio with several stocks. Follow your investments online, and chart their progress. Amend your choices, "buy and sell", and watch them perform in real time, without risking a penny.

What is the Capital Gains Tax?

As usual, the tax man is after a piece of your pie. If you sell your stock at a profit, a capital gains tax applies. Taxes may also apply to stock dividends.

You have a capital gain if you sell your stock for a higher price than you paid. If you sell your stock for less than you paid, it's known as a capital loss.

If you hold your stock for longer than a year, it's a long-term capital gain. Under a year, you have a short-term capital gain. Short term capital gains are taxed as regular income.

Long-term capital gains holders pay a tax of up to 15%. However, in 2008, investors in the 10 - 15% tax bracket paid a long-term rate of 0%. This won't change until the year 2010, when the rate will go back to 15%.

Be aware of the tax advantages or disadvantages of any stock you purchase.

What's Your Investment Style?

Are you a hard-nosed rogue or an armchair softie? Does losing money fill you with stress and worry, or do you hunger for challenge? Are you looking for a quick profit, or a long-term retirement strategy?

Understand yourself and your goals before you invest. Read up on the investment styles and strategies of top investors like Warren Buffett, his mentor Benjamin Graham, and people like Kirk Kerkorian or Jesse Livermore. You'll find that their styles are different, but they all believe in the five simple rules listed above.

Stock Brokers

When you're ready to invest, choose a stockbroker or brokerage firm that you trust. Licensed brokers are either full-service or discount brokers.

• Full-service brokers charge a higher fee. They provide information, details and guidance to the investor.

• Discount brokers charge a lower fee, provide minimal information, and usually don't give any guidance.

Decide on the type of service that's best for you. Again, research is your friend.

With a basic understanding of the stock market, you can make confident, informed decisions, and increase your chances of investment success.

You may sell your stock incurring loss, and you could call yourself it as a stop-loss. But the concept of stop-loss is entirely different from what we discuss here.

You can turn to be an investor though you want to be a trader. Yes, if you have a policy of not selling a stock for loss, you can keep them with you, waiting, watching them to move up at-least to the price level that you have purchased. But investment decisions are different from trading decisions.

I don't undermine the wonderful returns of Investing. I just want to caution you, how you can behave as an investor which may not a right strategy for you, as a trader.

What is the Difference?

Well, the buy decisions taken by an investor are entirely different from the decisions taken by a trader. An investment decision is all about "buying a business", wheres trading is all about "buying a price". An investor go by Fundamental Analysis and the trader go by Technical Analysis (or by some random indications).

Fundamental Analysis is about analyzing a company in-terms of its soundness in its business, considering its chances for future growth.

Technical Analysis is about analyzing a the demand and supply situation of a stock, considering many complicated market parameters.

Let me share with you the little experience I could gain.

The Three Things That Should Be Handled With Care

News

I remember it was a Thursday (in India), media came out with the news of Ranbaxy-Daichi merger. One of my client exclaimed "See the price of Ranbaxy, moves up!". I smiled at him. He was busy with the television news, he could not even recognize the smile at my face! He was buying the stock from people who had bought at lower price level, earlier.

How could a news cheat you?

Well, do you honestly think a great news like this could be kept secret till the media releases it?

Can you afford to "buy" so called first-hand-information? Though you can, is there any guarantee that it is a first-hand-information?

Can you go on digging, analyzing everything you hear about?

Why Ranbaxy have good R&D activity than any other Pharmaceutical company in India? Why it tops the list of companies in patent filing? Why it is the second on the list in patent filing in US, till the day I am writing this article? and about how Ranbaxy is smart in a tie-up with Bayer, when it comes for its one day pill for Aunthrax?...the questions go on... it is not reasonable, and it is beyond the scope of stock trader to investigate everything.

I have been pointing out the fact to my clients, that Japanese Candle Stick chart was showing..oh! sorry, the charts were predicting the price movement of Ranbaxy earlier on Monday. The stock was moving up right from Monday and really it did not move up much on the day the news came out, as it moved for earlier three days.

Expert

If you have not thru with my earlier article Single Technical Indicator for Making Good Profit in a Bull Market,  I suggest a reading so that you can understand how easily one could pick a profitable stock during bull run.

I picked a stock on a day and the stock moved 10% up on the day itself. Very next day, an Indian Market expert recommended the same stock to public, which was already 10% up!! (No harm it was really a good recommendation)

I am not such an expert appearing on television; I don't beleive that expert could have missed the thing what a person like me could see one day earlier.

I worry...some experts are traders themselves and some of them are portfolio managers too, who trade for their clients. Obviously, an expert's opinion would influence majority market participants decisions.

Self Appointed Expert

Self appointed experts could be your friend or relative. Thanks to sophisticated charting tools, one could draw some trend lines as they think wise. They may say "NIFTY is heading towards 2000" or something like that.

Some of the self appointed experts collect news, views of experts, and write on every magazine as they  believe that they have something to write about the market!

Advice

Generally, I would prefer giving suggestions rather than advice. This time I would like to break my own rule.

"Be ware of the three pitfalls and learn how to prevent yourself"

Good Luck!

Ben Graham is the father of two basic stock market disciplines: security analysis, and value investing.

Graham believed that stock market prices were often wrong, because of the emotional factors involved. He developed the concept of "Mr. Market", an emotional and unstable character, to explain fluctuations in the market.

Mr. Market appears every day in your office, and offers to sell you some stock. One day, he might be hysterical with glee, and the next he's morose and hopeless. The intrinsic value of the stock doesn't change, but the price varies with the moods of Mr. Market.

Graham acquired his wealth by targeting undervalued companies. He looked for companies whose stock prices were temporarily down, but whose fundamentals were sound for the long run.

Ben Graham is the mentor of investment guru Warren Buffett, and has influenced several generations of stock market investors.

Warren Buffett b.1930

Also known as the "Oracle of Omaha", Warren Buffett is the world's richest man in 2008. He uses a value investing strategy influenced by Ben Graham.

Buffett buys companies as long-term investments, at a discount to their intrinsic value. He stresses the importance of research, and looks for companies with strong management, good potential for long-term return, and an attractive price.

His investment strategy involves discipline, patience and value. While he claims no investment favorites, Buffett is currently interested in family-owned businesses in Europe, and predicts hard times for newspapers.

Buffett owns Berkshire Hathaway, whose first-quarter profit plunged 64% this year, with $991 million in investment losses. In July, Berkshire Hathaway offset the loss by announcing the sale of Anheuser-Busch to a Belgian company for $2.49 billion, earning a profit from the purchase price of 1.9 billion in 2005.

The world's richest man pays himself a salary of $100,000 a year. It's a figure that hasn't changed in twenty-seven years.

Peter Lynch b.1944

Peter Lynch bought into Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and Yum! Brands' (YUM) Taco Bell, before Wall Street noticed their existence.

Peter Lynch uses a bottom-up approach and concentrates on a company's fundamentals, instead of listening to market chatter. He invests for the long run, and pays little attention to short-term market fluctuations.

His chameleon investment style adapts with the times, but he relies on core principles. He believes that no one can predict economic fluctuations. Lynch advocates research, and warns against long shots for building wealth.

Kirk Kerkorian b.1917

Kirk Kerkorian turned 91 this year, and has a net worth of $16 billion. Known as the father of the mega-resort in Las Vegas, Kerkorian is a self-made man, who started earning money for his family at age nine. As a young man he learned to box. Under his brother's tutelage, Rifle-Right Kerkorian fought his way to the Pacific amateur welterweight championship.

In World War II, Kerkorian learned to fly with the Royal Air Force. After the war, he bought a Cessna and began flying wealthy passengers into the small railway town of Las Vegas.

He quickly saw the potential of Vegas. In 1947, Kerkorian gave up gambling, bought a local airline for $60,000, and renamed it Trans International. He operated the airline for twenty-one years, then sold to Transamerica for $104 million.

His most famous success was a piece of Vegas land, purchased for just over $960,000, in 1962. He leased the land to Caesar's Palace for four million, and sold it to them six years later, for five million more.

His fortune comes from shares in DaimlerChrysler, MGM Mirage (MGG) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). He has a talent for identifying opportunities early. Kerkorian will buy, sell and then return to a company. He twice sold MGM, then took it over for a third time in 1996.

Kerkorian's recent investment in Ford Motor Co. kept stock trading at its highest levels in almost six months.

Jesse Livermore 1870-1940

Jesse Livermore made and lost millions, and once declared bankruptcy. He was notorious for short selling during the stock market crashes in 1907 and 1929, to the point that JP Morgan asked him to stop.

Livermore focused on markets as a whole, instead of on individual stocks. He would adopt a buy-and-hold strategy in a bull market, and sell when it lost momentum.

His fluctuating fortunes came from breaking two of his own rules: never listen to stock tips; and, always cut losses short.

Livermore always had an exit strategy. He committed suicide in 1940, owing more than a million dollars.

Edward Lampert b.1962

Lampert is Chairman of Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD) and the founder of ESL Investments, Inc. Lampert created ESL at the age of twenty-five, in 1988. The company's returns average 29% a year, and Lampert is number sixty-eight on the Forbes list of 2008.

He looks for a mature business that is easy to understand, and has a strong cash flow. He targets companies with the potential to generate a large cash flow over the long run. Lampert is less focused on the management team, and willing to bring about changes in the company structure to realize a profit.

His numerous investments in the retail sector include Home Depot (HD). Other investments include CIT Group (CIT) and AutoNation, Inc. (AN).

George Soros b.1930

George Soros is a Hungarian-born American investor, speculator, philanthropist and political activist.

He's infamously known for breaking the bank of England on Black Wednesday, 1992, by selling short more than $10 billion worth of pounds.

His investment strategy revolves around the knowledge that financial markets are chaotic, and prices depend on the human beings who buy and sell. Often, buyers and sellers act out of emotion, rather than cool logic.

Soros looks for opportunities by studying value and market price of assets. He follows a theory of reflexivity, based on the idea that investor bias affects market transactions.

These days, Soros prefers philanthropy over speculation. By 2003 he had given away more than four billion dollars to help the underprivileged, in nations such as South Africa, Central Europe and Russia. In 2007 he gave $100 million to fund internet access in Russian universities.

George Soros holds shares in BUCY - Bucyrus International Inc.; ANR - Alpha Natural Resources Inc. and WIND - Wind River Systems Inc.

Carl Icahn b.1936

Icahn made headlines in 1985 with his hostile takeover of TWA. He's known as a tough negotiator and clever market strategist.

Icahn takes minority stakes in public companies and pushes for change. He does not believe in following trends. Icahn says, "... consensus thinking is generally wrong. If you go with a trend, the momentum always falls apart on you. So I buy companies that are not glamorous and usually out of favor. It's even better if the whole industry is out of favor."

In May, Carl Icahn took on internet giant Yahoo (YHOO). Icahn bought as many as 50 million shares, preparing for a proxy fight to remove Yahoo's Board of Directors. On July 21, 2008, he agreed to join the Board of Directors and end the hostilities ... at least for now.

Philip Fisher 1907-2004

Fisher was a formative thinker in the growth stock school of investing. His book, "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits", is a standard for investors. Fisher believed in investing for the long haul, and wrote that the best time to sell a stock was "almost never".

Fisher did extensive research to help build his wealth, and preferred the technique he called "scuttlebutt" or the business grapevine, to seek out information.

Fisher bought Motorola in 1955, when it was a radio manufacturer. He held onto it until his death in 2004.

William J. O'Neil

At the age of 30, O'Neil was the youngest ever to have a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. He's the founder of Investor's Business Daily, and author of two successful books.

O'Neil uses a mix of quantitative and qualitative strategies in his investing approach.

His investment style is to seek out the growth stocks that have the highest profit potential and will show a swift price rise. He coined the acronym CANSLIM to identify such stocks.

Bill O'Neil's motto is "buy the strong, sell the weak." He seeks out companies that perform as leaders, with something new to offer, and a proven rise in current and annual earnings.

Every great investment guru has an individual approach, but all follow the same basic rules: know the company and the market; never listen to market gossip; and always keep a cool head.

Forex, Bonds, Stocks

Forex is simply trading currencies to obtain a profit.

Stocks are trading shares of companies to make money.

Bonds are trading bonds to make money just how you would the other two.

Real Estate

There are many ways to make money in real estate. You can own a place to rent out, flip a house, condo, foreclosures, tax liens, and real estate finder's fee.

Bank Accounts

Savings accounts, cds, 401k's, IRA, and money market accounts are all bank accounts. Savings accounts are safe with low returns however they are liquid. CD's are not liquid but you can get a much higher returns than a savings account. 401k's and IRA's are retirement accounts with tax benefits that have high penalties if you take them out before retirement. Money markets are a cross between a savings account and a cd. Money markets have the interest of a cd with the terms of a savings account.

Right now with our economy on the rocks it is actually a great time to buy stocks. But if you like just owning random stocks just for the hell of it then do me a favor; next time you want to invest, take some money out of your wallet, then throw as much of it as you can fit into your hand and right into the garbage can.

Because that's what most investing is like. You're not really investing; you're giving some con your hard earned cash. So I'll go over some good pointers and a few good stocks to look into.

Good old tip; invest in something people can't do without. Like even though people are buying less and less luxurious things now days they still have to buy food, I hope. So buying stocks in food companies or highly successful stores can pay off. (Never buy too much of one stock though)

Keep your eye out for scams; people out there are smart and good at getting you to but into their over the mail business. Don't.

Check the market regularly; stocks can crash in value in minutes and may not go back up for awhile if not at all.

Buy metals; Gold and silver are good investments to hold the rest of your nest eggs together. And are very valuable right now nonetheless.

Be careful with home investments; when you buy homes or other property to sell in the future you're putting your own credit at risk. And homes can stay on the market for years before being sold. Especially now.

Good stocks;

Wal-Mart; (even though I don't like them personally) they are having record sales right now and are always going up. (Pay high dividends)

Adobe; also having a high sales wave and pays high dividends.

Oil companies; this is pretty self-explanatory right now people!

That's all I found worth posting for now. Will be back soon with more.

PS. You just got “stocked” by a sixteen-year-old! Surprise!

Baron Rothschild said “buy when there is blood in the streets.” With all of the bad news around home prices, there certainly is sufficient blood in the streets to consider investing in the homebuilders. Much of the blood in the streets is red ink spilling out of the homebuilders' financial statements - they are losing a lot of money on their inventory of homes already built, and are selling vacant land that they purchased at higher prices for home construction. WCI Communities, a publicly-traded home and condominium builder declared bankruptcy recently, as did privately-owned Levitt & Sons. Homebuilders Tousa, Kara, and Neumann Homes also sought bankruptcy protection within the last year. However, despite the awful market conditions, not many publicly-traded homebuilders have gone bankrupt. Granted there are some that are weak, and the industry is clearly suffering the worst homebuilding environment in decades - maybe even generations, but the current bad news is already price into the stocks for these companies.

It is interesting to note though that with much less building housing starts on an annualized basis have declined to below 1,000,000, historically recessionary levels from which housing turnarounds have begun. Furthermore, single-family housing starts have declined to the point where there are fewer homes being started than are being purchased so that the inventory of new homes is starting to decline. Granted there is a large inventory of used homes (called existing homes) for sale, and with foreclosures rising there could be more.

This writer believes that Toll Brothers (symbol TOL), a luxury homebuilder, and an S&P homebuilding exchange-traded fund (symbol XHB) are reasonable purchases in today's risky homebuilding environment. There is a lot of risk in the homebuilding companies today, but there are also conditions being established for a turnaround. There will be further volatility in the sector, but with so much bad news already priced into the stocks of these companies, the downside risk seems bearable; whereas any good news in the sector could signal the end of a trying couple of years in a battered industry and reward patient investors with returns above that of the general market. By the time the headlines tout the positive trends for homebuilding companies, much of the stock price gains from the turnaround will have occurred.