The Philosophy of Investing

Whether you are a twenty-year veteran of investment banking or a fresh graduate from business school out looking for their job, there are some very basic premises of investing that have held true for a very long time.

Avoid putting all your financial eggs in a single basket. If you trip on a rock and the eggs go flying out, you will be very lucky to recover one or two that has not been cracked by the fall.

The higher the yield, the higher the risk. Think of risk as the probability of not getting your money back even when you have a signed receipt for it.

If it is too good to be true, it probably is. Try to look out for the catch.
Finally, consider investing in a company that actually makes something. Forget paper tigers and just go old school again.

The Story of Stone Hawk

I know our country is blessed with some of the finest drug rehabilitation centers in the world and many have pioneered various treatment methods which have proven highly successful. But I must tell you about one michigan addiction treatment that really got to me when I heard their story. You see, Stone Hawk was founded by people who have gone through just what their patients are going through today. That’s because they were once addicts too. But they managed to rehabilitate and get their lives back on track and have pledged to help others make the same recovery they have.

Planning Your Estate

Most people think you have to be really, really rich to care about your estate. But that’s not true. No matter how “average” you feel your income is, you still want the peace of mind of knowing that your family will be okay even if something happens to you.

The estate plan can do that. You will need to draw up a will, a power of attorney, and a medical power of attorney. This will enable you to accurately list your assets (including investments, savings accounts, and policies) and determine who gets what. Your will also give instructions on who will gain guardianship of your kids, and what decisions you would like to be made in case of medical emergencies.

It will also enable you to distribute your assets directly to your kids rather than your spouse, allowing them to avail of estate tax exemption and protect your spouse from a really high taxable estate.

Don’t Try This at Home

Abazias.com has just joined the trend of YouTube submitters creating videos of various experiments, especially ones involving certain items in a blender. The company has decided to take quite an expensive route to make their point and educate people a bit more about diamonds. To do this they actually placed a real half carat diamond engagement ring set in 14K gold into a blender and set it at ice crusher mode. While most people tend to think that as the toughest substance known to man it can withstand any type of manhandling and is immune to destruction. But as the video will show, the diamond actually didn’t stand a chance against the blender. The fact is that diamonds are the hardest substance, not an indestructible substance. In fact, diamonds can shatter quite easily. What people don’t understand is that a tough substance can actually break quite easily and is even easier to break than a softer substance. Just think of glass or even metal as opposed to wood. It would be almost impossible to scratch a diamond with a softer substance but it will shatter if you just as much as drop it on a hard floor. It’s an interesting lesson to learn but one you definitely don’t want to try at home…

Should I Accept an Early Retirement Package?

Companies are providing this option to their elderly employees, especially when faced with a need to cut costs or downsize. If you’re one of those offered the package it might look attractive at first glance, but think again. Sure you’d get a huge lump sum of money upfront and if your company has a well-laid out early retirement program you might even get other benefits such as a health or life insurance.

But try to assess the long-term effects over the short-term benefits before you take the offer. If your present financial situation and lifestyle can let you and your family manage to go without your employment for a long period of time, then go ahead and enjoy that early retirement offer.

Wize Trade

Keeping on top of your finances requires keeping up with what’s going on in the financial world. While staying on top of everything that’s going on is not something everyone can do, there are some good resources that can help you make better decisions with regard to your money and investments.

I came across The Wizetrade Blog today and found some very helpful information there. The site provides coverage for their Wizetrade software program which helps investors perform stock market analysis and chart potential entry and exit signals. Timing the market is not for everyone and learning to do it requires skill. The Wizetrade program can help and the company has developed a series of educational tools and events to help investors make the most of their product and learn how to use it in their advantage.

Mutual Funds, Stocks and Bonds

What is a Mutual Fund? It is an investment tool that basically allows a group of investors to pool their money together to gain access to a larger portfolio of stocks, or bonds. A mutual fund is managed by a fund manager who takes charge of investing the money for all the shareholders, or those who invested in the mutual fund.

What is a Stock? A stock is a share of ownership in a publicly-listed company or a commercial enterprise and is the most common ownership investment in the financial market.

What is a Bond? A Bond fund, also known as a fixed income fund is a form of a lending investment tool where you get your returns on the principal plus interest over a predetermined amount of time.

News from Lonely Loans

The Lonely Loans blog has recently joined the PayPerPost network of bloggers. For those of you who aren’t familiar with PayPerPost, they provide a bridge between advertisers and bloggers who review their products and services. The way it works is an advertiser posts a request on their system for bloggers to review their website (for a fee) and bloggers who qualify based on the advertiser’s criteria can then go ahead and accept the opportunity to blog about the advertiser. This is a great way for bloggers to make money from their blog while giving their readers good and useful reviews of websites relevant to their blog. Advertisers also benefit from the exposure they receive on the blog which is considered to be a prime means of advertising.

One of the main things that keeps PayPerPost apart from their competitors is the fact that they have adopted strict blog ethics which are enforced on the bloggers in their system. Basically what this means is that bloggers are required to disclose the fact that they are being paid for blogging about certain products and services in order not to mislead their readers. You can see a sample of a what a disclosure looks like at the bottom of this post which has also been sponsored by PayPerPost.

Leisure in the new milleneum

As busy as people are in the new milleneum, there seems to be a lot of leisure time around, very often resulting in sheer boredom. And, outdoor activities have given way to virtual reality. Let’s face it, the computer is our number one time killer and electronic games are in greater demand these days than ever. Parents should monitor their kids’ Internet use. One highly recommended website is www.macgamesandmore.com, which is geared for all ages. Mac games, such as mac solitaire, are very entertaining and easily accessed. Overall, when it comes to mac games, Mac Games and More are fair, friendly and fun-filled.