| |
| |
|
Stocks & Mutual Funds Information |
|
|
|
A Stock Market Investment Plan that Never Lets You Down
The bulls and bears of the stock market are both tempting and scary to the investors. Speculators are enchanted by the stock market's potential to help them in making quick money with a big M. While those who tread with care and caution, often shy away for fear of losing. However, the stock market is not all about speculative gains or black Tuesdays. It is a place where committed companies look for raising money to fund their activities. Serious investors can actually create wealth not only for themselves, but also for the companies and the nation. A wise way to invest in the stock market is to empower your self with information. You have to know and learn about the company you invest in, from past records and future plans. Irrespective of what the Wall Street Gurus predict or what the economic indicators like Dow Jones Average say, a simple and foolproof way of knowing that a company is doing well is to keep a track of how much dividend income does it pay to its share holders every year. If the dividend rates have been rising steadily every year, you know you have a safe bet. To benefit from the future prospects of such companies, it is a good idea to rollback the returns into the company. Which means, instead of adding the dividends to your savings, you can invest them in the shares of the same company. That way, you can ensure that the dividends you receive are always higher than what you got last, with a larger number of shares getting added to your investment portfolio every time. With this kind of an assured investment plan in place, investors with a gambling streak begin to think beyond making a quick gain. While those who were afraid to take risks get wiser. Let us find out why companies that give ever-increasing cash dividend income are a good choice for investment: Your Share Holding Goes Up And So does Your Dividend Income. Your income begins to escalate with your owning more shares every year and the dividend income rising correspondingly. Your Dividend Income Increases Even If Stock Prices don't. You are no more at the mercy of the market. Irrespective of what your shares are worth, you keep earning additional cash dividends. In fact, even if the market price dips, you are still at an advantage, as that allows you to reinvest to purchase more shares. You are not hit by Inflation. With the dividend income rising every year, you offset the effects of a rising inflation. This particularly provides relief to people who have retired and depend on a regular cash inflow to help them meet their expenses. At this stage one need not rollback the investment into further shares, instead, the cash dividend can be used as a kind of regular pension money. Start Young The ingenuity behind this investment strategy is that it protects you from the fluctuations that generally occur in the market. A lower stock market rate only means you buy more to increase your dividends more. It is advisable to start this strategy early in life while you are still working, so that your wealth builds up gradually and constantly over the years. And you are assured of a regular income, as you grow older. Remember, the success of this proven investment plan depends significantly on the track record of the company you invest in. It should be one that declares a higher dividend at the end of each financial period. A simple way to find that out would be to calculate the dividend yield. You can do that by dividing the annual dividend per share by the price per share. Of course, no investment can be totally free of risks, neither is this one. Keep an eye on the dividend yield, and if that dips, it's a signal for you to opt out of the investment. James Marriott is a finance writer with more than 15 years of experience in writing financial content, including those related to credit cards, mortgages, stocks, investments, and funds. He has been with RNCOS, a premier financial writing services company, for 2 years as head of financial writing. He is also a regular financial columnist with renowned business journals. For your comments on the article and further financial assistance, please contact our staff writer at info@rncos.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Stock Market Investments If there is one term over-used when talking about makinginvestments in the stock market I would think that termwould be: buy low, sell high.Buy low? Sell high? How low is low and how high is high? Ilike the term buy low, sell dear, much better! But betterstill are the terms buy and hold, and dollar-cost-averaging(buying the same stock at different prices through theyears). How To Beat The Mutual Fund Companies At Their Own Game You'd have had to be living on a desert island with no TV, newspaper or internet connection to have missed hearing about the great mutual fund scandal of 2003.The issue was that some mutual fund companies allowed certain hedge funds to engage in after-hours trading, sometimes incorrectly referred to as market timing. Kick The Tires Before you buy another car you walk around the lot, kick the tires, slam the doors and look at the mileage indicator. That's an odometer. Planning Your Dive and Diving Your Plan - Trading! A colleague of mine just returned from a scuba diving trip inCozumel, which just happens to be one of my favorite places todive. Anyway, she was telling me about an unexpected difficultyshe encountered while swimming around the corral reef down about85 feet. Buy and Hold Investment Strategy "Buy and hold" is one of the most heralded investment strategies promoted today. "Buy and hold" is also one of the few investment methods where you are guaranteed to lose money 2 out of every 5 years. How to Maximize Your 401k Mutual Fund Returns When it comes to 401k's there is an overabundance of sad stories. Here is one that at least has a happy ending-and it's getting happier all the time. Bollinger Bands Strategies The Bollinger Band theory is designed to depict the volatility of a stock. It is quite simple, being composed of a simple moving average, and its upper and lower "bands" that are 2 standard deviations away. Mutual Fund Expense Lies When purchasing mutual funds we are cautionedto read the prospectus, look at pastperformance, check out the fund manager's recordand see what their expense ratios have been.We are also told that we should not buy fundswith expenses exceeding 1% to 1. Moving Averages Every day on CNBC-TV they show a 200-day moving average line superimposed on the stock price history. It seems they give great credence to this manufactured line as it represents 10 months of price action. Whos Calling? Its dinnertime and the phone rings. It's Joe Noname with SuchNSuch Investment Company and has he got a deal for you. 3 Components Needed for Beating the Market Time to look back2004 is over, now we are in 2005. This is time to seriously look at performance of your personal investment, such as mutual fund, or individual stocks holdings, etc. Evaluation II As I said in Part I everyone in the insane asylum looks normal, but at least the doctors are sane. Unfortunately, in the insane asylum known as the stock market all the doctors (brokers) are also insane. Red, Green, Yellow - or - Stop, Go, Go Very Fast: Which Describes Your Online Trading? Ever notice how behavior in one area of life can apply to behavior in other areas of life? For example, I've noticed a number of things while driving that apply to online trading. One of them is regarding how people behave toward traffic signals. Stuff I continually hear from economists, talking heads, other market letter writers, analysts and assorted "experts" that I need to know all kinds of "stuff" about the stocks and mutual funds I am going to buy and I should keep up with them on a regular basis.What is this important "stuff"?Let's see. Stock Valuation using the SMP Model Disclaimer:Please note that I do not necessarily purchase, own, or partake of any of the securities or other financial instruments mentioned in this article. I also do not take any responsibility for any actions resulting from any actions taken by anyone who reads this article. Living Trust Investing: Income Considerations when the Grantor Dies A common problem I often see when working with living trust beneficiaries and trustees is the lack of attention in rethinking income strategies in the event of the grantor's death.When the grantor of a living trust dies, the trustee (especially a family member or close friend) sometimes feels reluctant to revise the portfolio, feeling it's an affront to the wishes of the deceased. When Should I Sell? People are always asking me when should I sell my stock or mutual funds?There are some relatively easy answers to this. In fact, so simple that you won't believe them, but they are things I have learned over the past 30 years as a professional trader on the floor of the commodity exchange in Chicago. The Problem With Hedge Funds Are hedge funds a suitable investment for you? Hedge funds are an appropriate investment for qualified purchasers with a net worth above one million dollars and an annual income exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Purchasers are often required to sign an acknowledgement confirming their qualifications to invest in hedge funds. Trading For A Living How many times have you said to yourself, "I'd like to quit this job and just make a living trading in the stock market"? Well, maybe you can, BUT.. Advantages and Disadvantages of Mutual Funds Outlined below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of mutual funds. Every investment has advantages and disadvantages.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |