RP Wang Investment

In your search for information on investing you will come across many articles, brochures, and sources that outline opportunities for you to make money. Some of these will be truthful and others will be misleading. Just how do you tell the difference?

Look for experience

Many reputable people and firms will offer information on investment opportunities. The main way to find out if the offer is genuine is to look at the structure of the organisation that is making the offer. You need to go into the historical results and structure of the organisation.

In Australia, investment advisors need to be licensed. How long has the firm you are considering been licensed? If the people or firm have only been licensed for a year, then they have no previous historical results that you can look at. It might be wise to review them at a time further down the track when they have performance results to show you. Look for experience.

Beware The Unbelievable

In your research travels, you will come across all sorts of offers. Some are too good to be true. Often they are just that. Unfortunately, there are those people that become trapped in financial exploits and need money to bail themselves out. Often they need or want your money. These are dangerous investments. It takes a shrewd business person to rescue a financially exposed business opportunity. These are not investments for beginners. You may be offered ownership rights, with the majority of profit outcomes as a lure into financially rescuing a business opportunity. You see all the outcomes as positive, and are rarely aware of the downsides of costs and viability. A financial disaster awaits you.

Misleading Headlines

Headlines are meant to grab your attention. Brochures and advertisements rely on this. However with the misleading headline, once your attention is gained, the explanation behind the headline is never reached or given in the follow up. Headlines that state “Massive profits!” and “Opportunities never to be repeated!” are marketing tools that can be used to mislead the investor into believing that easy profits are to be made. The main question to ask here is that if easy profits are to made, has the person offering the product or service made the profits they are talking about, and if so why are needing investors to make the same profits? What’s in it for them? This cautious attitude will save you from many bad investments.

Good Information – Bad Information.

In summary, the three main points to look at are;

1) Who

Who is giving you this information, what are the history and track performance records that can be verified?

2) What

What is on offer and is it too good to believe. It often will be.

3) Why

Why is the offer being given to you? Has the person making the offer completed and made the same profits that they are offering you?

4) When.

When is the offer expiring? Do not get pushed into acting by an expiration date. This is often used to stop you properly exploring the background information you need to make your decisions.

By: James Mcinnes

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There are several investment opportunities for people of all categories. To get the best investments is not an easy task. According to a survey, it has been found that house is the primary wealth for almost 90 percent of the people in the United States. Thus, house or real estate is the best investment people could ever have. While opting for house investments you should consider various factors. The most important factor is the location. Other factors that are to be taken into consideration are lifestyle, size of the family, environment, law and the government.

Other best investments are in the field of oil, natural gas and energy, hotels and travel, banks and financial institutions. Bank deposits, money market, fixed income savings accounts and mutual funds are considered as low risk investments. Though the returns of these investments are a gradual process, it produces double digit capital growth. These investments also show better capital gains with lower volatility.

There are many agencies and concerns that provide advice on investments; they charge you for these advices. Some agencies make big promises that finally end up as a scam. So care must be taken before getting into a deal for investments. Here are some of the tips for best investments. The first step is to keep a non biased financial planner who can provide you with the best investments plan. Secondly, do not go buying a whole life insurance, and also learn to stop impulse buying.

Thirdly, take 10 percent of your disposable income and invest it. Next step is to divert your auto insurance to progressive. Also make sure that your investments are in Direct Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs). As a next step, keep an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) so that it can track all major or minor stock indexes, and also make steady growth and solid dividends. By following these steps you can have the best investments.

By: Seth Miller

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Despite reports of a slowdown in the UK property market, many experts claim that investment property is still a source of significant profits for investors. Although most investors would find it difficult to profit from conventional property investments like buy to let and renovation, experts say that the astute ones can still manage to ensure a good future. This is possible if they allocate less money into traditional investments like commercial property and investment funds.

Do your research

Whenever the housing market becomes unstable, many people become hesitant to put their money in property. However, what many of them do not realise is that there are various forms of property investment opportunities, which range from investing in a property fund to buying pieces of land. For those investors who want to take a ***** at investing in property, they will fare better if they do their homework and be diligent about it. The three things that matter most for those who aspire to be successful property investors are: knowing what form of investment is appropriate for them, the amount they can really afford to invest, and whether investing in property will exactly provide the returns they are expecting.

Property Renovation

There is money to be made in property renovation or development. The most common method for this type of investment is to acquire property at an affordable price, have it renovated, and then sell it for a profit. But investors who plan on investing in property renovation need to know beforehand what they are buying and the amount of work it will need. To make sure that they will not be making huge mistakes, they are advised to ask for guidance from a professional who can inform them precisely of every aspect of the repair process.

Buy to let

Investing directly in the residential market is the most recognized form of investing in property. While they have become increasingly popular in recent years, some observers caution that the market is on the decline. Although buy to let it is not exactly as hot as it once was, many investors seeking steady growth are still putting their money in it. For them to be successful in a slowdown, they need to be in it for the long-term, with rental income the end result and the potential of capital appreciation an added bonus.

To be successful in this industry, investors need to be armed with clear cut and effective investment property strategies. It is vital for them to know the basics of property investing such as when to buy, where to buy, when to sell, how to finance their portfolio, and how to buy below market value. In addition to this, when investors are totally aware of the risks and how to manage them, they will be ensured of better returns.

By: Parmdeep Vadesha

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The basic description of the word illustration is to ‘remove obscurity.’ Hardly.

The FSA sought to reduce commission bias with products and create a fair and open illustration so you, the consumer, could directly compare what you were paying, and also so advisers who were being paid obscene commission would be under pressure to reduce that commission.

It has had a benefit in that commissions on many products have been slashed and the consumer is considerably better off. For example commission on a pension that was once £1000 is now near £100.

It has not been fully successful however, and whilst this is a complex column you should consider its contents carefully if you are considering a financial product, particularly if it’s an investment bond or a structured product.

Firstly structured products: These are the arrangements you see highlighted in windows with ‘x % growth over six years and 100% capital protection at maturity’. Or alternatively – ‘y% income over the same period’. They are sold as simple risk efficient plans that offer you capital security and a positive return, and more often than not are described as not having ‘any up front or explicit charges’. What a bucket of nonsense that is.

Their complex nature is such that the charges are hidden into the profit at outset so the profit is wielded off to the product provider before you see it. The commission for the adviser is also hidden in there. So you, as a consumer invest and believe you have had your advice for free. Not at all, and the complexity of these arrangements is such that you will never know how much you have actually been charged. A great way to be sure to avoid such an arrangement is to use an independent financial adviser who charges a fee, that way there is no bias to use a commission wielding product.

Next, the obscurity of investment bond illustrations, probably the most oversold investment since toxic assets became ‘all the rage’. When advisers illustrate an investment they show growth at 4%, 6% and 8%, basically to highlight what will happen to your money if you had returned these levels and the impact of charges. Most of you don’t get to this point anyway because it all looks like a pile of spaghetti numbers, but continue to do so at your peril for it will cost you a fortune. For example a few pages in you will see that the cost of investing ‘could bring the investment growth down from 6% to 3.4%’ – quite a typical illustration on a bond – or 43% over five years as I prefer to put it.

The unscrupulous will know you won’t make it to those pages but even if you do it’s still misleading. The FSA recently made it clear to all providers that the correct growth rate assumptions must be used for funds and to use a lower growth rate assumption where the expectation of return may be lower. For example when building a portfolio of higher grade fixed interests (lower risk and lower potential return) is it really appropriate to illustrate at 4%, 6% and 8%?

I asked a number of providers recently to provide illustrations for me. Only Standard life illustrated correctly by using the appropriate growth rates for illustrative purposes for the correct funds. Because fixed interests potentially return less, they should be illustrated at a lower figure. Whereas Standard life illustrated a fixed interest fund at 2.25%, 4% and 5.75%, other providers illustrated at the full growth rate, an amazing 78% higher thereby making the whole illustration process a complete fiasco.

Whilst these providers are all under pressure to correct this, they haven’t done so. And so, the next time you are being ’sold’ an investment such as the above, present the adviser with this illustration and sit back and enjoy.

By: Peter McGahan

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Whether you are starting to invest or considering changing what you are currently doing, you must decide which of the three investment strategies can best reach your goals. It doesn’t matter if you make your own investment decisions or give you money to someone else to manage it; there are only three investment strategies to choose from. You must choose between relying on market timing, security selection or asset class allocation as your investment strategy. To decide which you need to be able to identify each strategy and understand its benefits and downsides.

Market timing depends on the timing of when an investment is made. The investment could be in a particular security, asset class or sector, but the decision to invest or not depends on when. Market timing boils down to betting on the direction a market will move in a certain time frame.

Security selection chooses what to invest in. With security selection the direction of the market doesn’t matter because you’re always invested. The decision is what is going to go up the most or down the least. You want to pick the best investment between different securities, asset classes, or sectors.

Asset class allocation determines how your money gets spread between different asset classes to best diversify your portfolio. Asset classes are different types of investments categorized in terms of risk, reward and income characteristics. For example, bonds, stocks, gold and real estate represent different asset classes. With asset class allocation you want to hold a group of asset classes whose prices move up over time, but go up and down at different times from each other.

Once you’ve identify the investment strategy being used you need to understand the unique benefits and downsides of each.

Market timing and security selection can provide exceptional returns, easily capable of beating the market by double digits. However, both require four correct decisions to be consistently profitable. You need to correctly decide what to sell, when to sell it, what to buy and when to buy it. Just to break even, you need to be correct on all four decisions more then 50% of the time to cover your losses, commissions and taxes. That means you have to be right on each of the four decisions more then 80% of the time. Market prices are the result of millions of people buying and selling based on news, their unique needs and their perception of what others will do. Because nobody can know or be right about these immeasurable variables consistently market timing and security selection are a losing game for most investors. Unfortunately, the other side of the potential for beating the market by double digits is the more likely result of trailing the market by double digits.

With asset class allocation you don’t pick what will go up more, down less or when. What you do is select asset classes that go up over the long run, but over the short run go up and down at different times. This provides the maximum benefits of diversification. Diversification on this level means you can reduce risk and which increases returns. Asset class allocation minimizes losses and builds wealth over time. Asset class allocation will not outperform the market by double digits. However, the other side that is, asset allocation prevents big losses, leaves you in a position to recoup losses faster then the market and this provides higher gains with less risk over the long run.

By: Seth Myers

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While solid financial advice can help anyone, there are a few pieces of investment advice for veterans that you should know about. Having served in the military, there may be benefits that you are entitled to. Taking advantage of these resources is a smart investment tip. You’ve earned the benefits, so why not put them to use for your future?

- Offering investment advice to veterans can be complicated by the fact that many are still active service members. If a member of your family is deployed or your family is active military, you may not have the time and energy to constantly watch stock options and funds to make sure that you are getting a good return. If you find that your time is indeed limited, try to find investments like mutual funds that are run by a third party. You can still take an active role in your investments, but there’s an expert watching over your accounts to make sure that they are growing during the times when you can’t keep a constant watch over them.

- The Federal Thrift Savings Plan may be a good option for your financial needs. It’s not a 401(k) plan, but it provides the same basic retirement planning for federal employees, including members of the U.S. military. Money can be automatically withdrawn from your pay and invested in mutual funds, and you can feel secure knowing that your money is being looked after.

- Investing in real estate is a solid piece of investment advice for veterans. Veterans Loans are one way to secure the funds do this. Sure, the real estate market has been dropping, but with a little research you could find a great deal and use a Veterans Loan to help buy a house. You can’t guarantee a return on your purchase, but if you’re planning to stay in the house through the economic downturn, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to make some money down the road. Plus, in the meantime, you’ll have a new home at a great price.

No matter whether you are retired or still active in the military, contacting a professional financial planner may be in your best interests. There are a variety of other programs and tax breaks for veterans, and these planners can help you find them. Financial planners can discuss the best ways to meet your investment goals and work with you to determine how actively you wish to participate in managing your money.

You’ve served your country, and you deserve the benefits you are now being offered. Taking care of your money and investing wisely is the single best piece of investment advice for veterans.

By: Wesley Watkis

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Investment rental properties are great to have when times are booming; however during this time of economic downturn, it also carries several risks. In fact, there are many investors right now chasing foreclosures and short sales as though these investments carry little risks. Even though these investment rental properties seem like great deals right now with great rewards, consider some of the risks associated with them.

There are obvious risks associated with investment rental properties. The most obvious is that you could lose your investment. However, that could just be the start. For example, if you purchase a short sale, it often comes with an “as is” clause. These “as is” clauses mean that no matter what is wrong with the property, the seller has no responsibility for fixing the problems.

Let’s take that concept one step further. If a broken pipe is found on your property, it could cost thousands of dollars to repair. This simple broken pipe can also lead to the tenant telling you that he / she cannot live in the house until the pipe is repaired. In that case, you also have lost rent to contend with. If the broken pipe is out to main pipe, it could take 30 days or more to repair.

Let’s also consider an investment rental property that you are not able to rent out. There are many reasons why that may not be possible … bad neighborhood, rent is too high, renter lost their job … In that case, your cash flow may become negative. If you run into a serious cash flow problem, you may decide that you are unable to keep the property. At that point, you may want to just stop paying your mortgage. Now, not only are you in jeopardy of losing your investment, but also ruining your credit.

Investment rental properties also take the form of commercial office buildings. One of the little known facts about commercial loans is that they are subject to judicial foreclosures. What does a judicial foreclosure mean? It means that the bank can sue you for all of your assets in order to recover their losses.

Consider that you own a residential property and money in the bank. And, you decide to stop paying on your commercial property. In a residential investment property, the banks are only allowed to do a “non-judicial” foreclosure, which means that their protection is only secured by that property alone. No other assets can be tapped to make up any losses. So now you have also risked losing not just your initial investment, but also additional personal assets.

Depending on where you live, there are also pro-tenant cities. For example, San Francisco is one of the most notorious cities for protecting tenants … as if “all” landlords are greedy slumlords. Consider a tenant who sues you because of some complaint, real or not. There are so many free legal resources available as tenant rights groups that the tenant could tie a landlord up in legal battles for a very long time … at no cost to the tenant, but certainly a huge cost to the landlord. One case in particular, which I am aware of, cost the landlord $20,000 moving fees to get the tenant out. That did not even include legal fees and lost rent.

By: Christine L. Tran

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