When a privately owned company decides to sell stock to the public, they often divide the company into “shares” of stock and sell them to the general public. This is often done to help the company raise money to carry out the goals of the company, such as expansions and improvements. When you buy a share of stock, you have an ownership share in that corporation and are entitled to part of that corporation’s earnings and assets. Stock investors are also known as shareholders or stockholders.
Archive for the 'Investing' CategoryPage 7 of 7
Nov 10th 2006
Creating an investment portfolio is an investment towards your future. There are some good reasons to start building an investment portfolio as early as possible. It not only provides you with money for your retirement or for your child’s education, but also gives you the resources to buy that dream house, open your own business, or just live a debt-free lifestyle. Getting started is the hardest but most important step.
An investment portfolio is an investor’s collection of investments. A portfolio is a list of the total number of investments an individual investor holds. A diversified portfolio contains assets from a number of different sectors.
Nov 7th 2006
When you buy a bond, you are essentially loaning money to a bond issuer to fund their day-to-day operations or to finance specific projects. Consequently, bonds are sometimes referred to as debt securities. In return for your investments, bond holders get back the loan amount plus interest payments at regular intervals, based on a fixed annual rate (coupon rate).
During a bond’s term, you earn interest on your loan, which is the amount you invest to purchase the bond, just as you do on the money you deposit in a bank savings account. No one would buy a bond if the only incentive were getting back the money after a period of time. This is the bond issuer’s way of compensating you for its use of your money. The “income” in fixed-income investing is the interest you receive at a fixed rate, called the “coupon rate” or just the “coupon.” The rate at which the interest is paid is usually fixed when you buy the bond and stays the same for the term, the longer the maturity, the higher the coupon, and vice versa.
Oct 18th 2006
The investment terminology might be new to you, but the facts won’t be. There are different kinds of investments you can buy with your retirement dollars. You will want to choose a certain mix of investments for your account that reflects the amount of risk that you are willing to take. Remember that as the rate of return you want to achieve goes up, so does the risk. You will want a balance that gets you to your goal with a risk factor that you can live (and sleep) with.
To begin your research there are some basic steps to follow and the first one is to take advantage of the Internet and learn what the expertise of market analysts can tell you. There are thousands, or more likely there are millions of sites totally dedicated to stocks and the discussion of investment objectives and strategies.
Oct 15th 2006
Investing, for some, might be just a hobby, but it can sure be an expensive one. Yet, if you’re like many of us, you know there are opportunities for putting your money to work and having it grow. Nonetheless, investing, like any business (and it is a business) has its own unique challenges. Below are several tips and techniques which will help you learn how to invest and what good investments are:
- Pursue a Disciplined Approach: This is a key to successful stock market investing.
- Diversify: Diversify among your stock market investments as well as among various asset classes (such as bonds, real estate, international stocks and bonds, etc.).
- Avoid Large Losses: Protecting your principal from significant investing losses is fundamental to generating an attractive average return over the long haul. Use asset allocation and find a disciplined approach to monitoring your investments and knowing when to cut your losses or sell out to lock in profits.
Oct 3rd 2006
It’s no secret that real estate is one of the most lucrative investment opportunities available. After all, property is the one commodity that we’re not making more of. Nonetheless, some people aren’t comfortable with the risks often involved in buying, selling and renting out properties-and yet they still would like to reap the rewards of a real estate investment. This is where a real estate investment trust comes in.
Real estate is one of the few investments in which risk is directly proportional to knowledge. True, it has a higher learning curve than investing in the stock market, but there’s no proof that having knowledge of the stock market reduces risk (just ask your mutual fund manager).