Self Storage as an Investment

by Schmitt Co

Are you considering self storage as an investment? Self storage is a rapidly growing market worldwide but even more so in the United States. The United States has over fifty thousand self storage locations, with more being opened at a high rate. This can be attributed to various social factors, including increasing divorce rates (which call for storing personal belongings), an increasing home improvement market (which requires more storage for materials and tools), and an increasing rate of home loss.

As experts in the self storage management market we look at hundreds of factors when we consider marketing or managing a storage facility. As a potential investor, you should look at a few key points when considering self storage as an investment. Security, cleanliness, climate control, and complimentary services should be your main focus. Most self storage facilities provide rolling metal doors, with entry-controls ranging from basic lock and key to thumbprint scanners. Security guards are often employed at upscale self storage units, and cameras are a common sight as well. Wire mesh or chain link ceilings provide significantly more security than do dropped ceilings.

Climate control is often overlooked but a huge selling point to some potential renters. Organic materials kept in self storage can accumulate mildew, mold, or be damaged by water if humidity is not well-regulated. Similarly, metallic materials can rust. Keep this in mind when looking at a potential self storage investment are they prepared to regulate humidity (temperature is not quite so important), as it is a prerequisite for any proper storage unit. This can be accomplished by central conditioning systems, which are generally low maintenance and low cost.

Complimentary services are not to be forgotten for those wanting to get into the self storage investment arena. Many self storage facilities offer free dollies or rolling carts. Elevators and freight lifts are used in multi-story units.  These are potential selling points for certain potential renters and may contribute to a higher occupancy rate. Providing trucks or moving vans to customers, whether for free or for a rental fee are services to consider as well. There are numerous other aspects to take into consideration. Self storage is quickly becoming a ripe market, and should be taken advantage of as soon as possible.

About the Author

Schmitt and Co has been in the Self Storage Management industry for over 30 years. From day to day management to long term goal setting, we are the self storage experts.

Where to invest today? Consider Oil & gas

by Mike Traweek

With everyone's attention focused on the crisis in the financial markets, many are overlooking the fact that there are still good investment avenues open if you know where to find them and how to evaluate them. One such avenue is oil and gas and this article will show you why it is still a good investment, and how you can evaluate the ones you find.

Let me clarify that I am specifically talking about investing in oil & gas drilling programs. There are other vehicles to invest in the energy industry but they are currently not doing well so I am focusing only on drilling ventures. So what is a drilling venture?

The entire oil & gas industry depends upon the ability of companies to locate and produce oil and gas from pockets hidden under the earth's surface. Drilling programs do this both for public and private companies. The limitation with public companies is that the only way you can invest with them is via their stock. While this can be a good long term investment, it does not provide the many benefits of investing directly in an oil & gas drilling program with a private company. Here is why.

Investing in a sound drilling program offers the investor the opportunity for substantial returns, plus it offers tax benefits that are only found by investing in these programs. By substantial returns I mean that returns from 50 to 100% per year are attainable, plus these returns can last for 10 to 20 years. I must point out that these returns decrease over time at an average rate of 10% per year, so the returns do decrease as the reserves are depleted. Still these types of returns are hard to find elsewhere, if you can find them at all.

The tax benefits include three distinct mechanisms which when combined make this the most lucrative investment vehicle available. The tax code was revised in 1986 to allow for the following:

* 100% write-off of intangible drilling costs (IDC's) * 100% depreciation write-off of capital equipment over 7 years * 15% of income from the production is tax free (not a deduction)

IDC's are those costs which are essentially services consumed to drill the well. They include hauling, drilling fluids, core samples, electric logs, the actual drilling of the well, and many other services. Since they are not capital goods like tanks and pump jacks, they can be written off immediately regardless of the outcome of the well. What this means is that the risk capital invested in a program is reduced by the amount of the tax bracket for each investor. Essentially the investor is using $0.60 dollars (varying with the tax bracket) to invest in the program. I know of no other investment vehicle that offers this and this alone is one reason it is popular with those who have done it.

Depreciation is well understood though it is worthy to note that equipment is 100% depreciated in 7 years.

Finally for every dollar the investor earns, 15% is tax free meaning only 85% of the income can be taxed.

It should be clear that this is a great vehicle. The real question is how does one evaluate a program with confidence. To do this, we have prepared a Guide To Oil & Gas Investment which shows how you can accomplish this with confidence once you know what to look for and what you must avoid. For your free guide visit:

http://www.successful-oil-and-gas-investment.com/

By: Mike Traweek NOV8TNS, Inc.

About the Author

Mike Traweek has 30 years of experience in sales and marketing, 20 of which is in the oil & gas industry. His experience includes managing drilling programs in Texas and Kansas as a General Partner.

How To Invest When Market Is Down

by Tony Clifton

Some people have the luck to live most of their active life in calm and prosperous times. What about you? Oh well, you don't even need to tell me. We live in these crazy times together. We don't have the luck of those people.

Does that mean that we should give up investing just because the markets are crazy, stocks are going down and we smell the ghost of deflation? No, not at all.

In fact though times for the markets are best for the smart investor. I'll give you some simple beginner investing tips that can help you invest like the pros - and even much better than them.

When markets are in mass panic, then is the best time to buy When a recession or financial crisis is coming, people start being afraid that the things can go much worse. Why were not they afraid of that when the prices of their investments were high? You have much less to lose when buying low as compared to when the markets are growing. Besides that, markets go in cycles - low times follow high times and the other way around. You should worry most when everything seems bright on the financial markets.

You can only win if you buy when everyone sells in panic. Even if you don't buy exactly at the bottom, you'll still need much less time to reach big profits compared to everyone else (yes, including those mutual fund managers).

Recession is great time for real estate investing The panic of recession does not cause just stock sales. Financial crisis often causes apocalypse at the real estate markets because the banks increase the interest rates and start giving loans harder. The higher rates lead to many people's inability to pay their mortgage and as a result they lose their homes. At the same times the demand of houses goes down because of the harder access to loans and it becomes even harder for these homes to be sold.

This leads to very low house prices which of course is excellent news for the smart investor. If you have the money, buy real estate when everyone is selling.

At low markets you can easier find out what assets have real value When the markets are growing and the prises of everything only go up, it's hard to distinguish which assets have real value and which are in bubble. It's not like that when the market is down. At a down times the bubbled assets lose value like crazy while other lose just a little of their price or stay at the same levels.

It's wrong to think that you should buy only the assets that have lost a lot of their value in the crisis. The ones that have not lost are still good because they are really valuable and not bubbled. With the bubbled assets you can target aggressive gains with some risk (if you don't catch the bottom). The really valuable assets will not bring you such big profits but they are secure and will never crash as bad.

Finally, when the market is down, the buyer is the king. You can negotiate your deals. You can negotiate prices of real estate, construction projects, investments, hiring people and so on. There is no better time for the one who has cash than recession.

About the Author

You don't need to be a guru to win from a down market. All you need is patience and basic beginner investing knowledge - you can gain it on our site http://hywd.info. It will help you learn not only passive investing, but also how to make wealth without taking big risks.

Catalog Shopping Online

by Suta

One of the businesses on the Web that is highly profitable is online catalog shopping. With a growing number of consumer patrons who would rather sit down in front of the computer and would rather stay away from competing with the crowd in the malls, catalog shopping online is a sure hit these days. Time-consuming, and sometime confusing online shopping experiences are to be found, despite the increasing demand of online purchase. This is mainly due to a poor level of usability of most e-commerce sites. Sometimes a sale becomes a page exit from the website because the shopper was not happy with the online shopping experience.

If you are an online catalog shopping site owner, it is just imperative that you find ways to improve the "user-friendliness" of your shopping website. It is easier for potential buyers to find what they are searching for with the help you provide. For better usability, optimize your catalog shopping site by following these tips:

Headings, subheadings, and breadcrumb navigation should be used well: This way you can assure the shopper that he is not lost in the site. It saves time and effort on his part and tells immediately what category of page he is in now.

The top area of the page should contain the search bar: The search bar will ideally be simple and plain for easy usage. Also, you can device it in a way that it can search per catalog or category for easier search experience. It should be easy for users to take advantage of this when searching for merchandise so it should be placed above the fold.

Have your contact information or phone number placed on top of the page. If purchases made online are tracked, it is more convenient for both you and the shopper. However, allowing shoppers to contact you can help you establish relationships with your loyal customers. It also provides a certain level of security for the shopper when they see that the catalog shopping site has a legitimate phone number and address.

A "show page" functionality must be present on your site: The option to see a part of the page, for example a particular item in display, and the choice to show the entire page for each product category must be available. Your customers are being given more buying choices to choose from. For online shoppers, it is just as good to offer products as it is to guarantee them an excellent user experience. A unique selling point is to have a user-friendly catalog shopping website.

About the Author

Article By Suta At: http://2goshopping-online.blogspot.com/

The Need for Speed

by charen smith

Postcards are probably hands down the shortest and quickest forms of marketing to design and get out to the people. The space you need to fill is considerably smaller than what goes into almost any other form of advertising, and the messages are often very brief and to the point.

You put a Come on In kind of message on a postcard, or a Sale This Friday statement. The goal with any postcard is to get your message to people in the shortest span of time possible, which means the message has to be brief or no one will bother to read it.

Because they’re so easy to design and create it means you can get them to your customers much faster than you can with other advertising, and you can send them a lot more often. But can you make the process even faster?

This is where postcard templates come into the picture. A postcard might be quick and easy to design, sure, but you still have to spend a certain amount of time figuring out just where you want the pictures to go, where the words will be on the postcard, and so on.

So what you do instead is set up a certain amount of postcard templates with your designs already there. All you need to do is change out the information in them and send them right back out to the people.

Now you have access to lightening quick direct mailing campaigns for just about any kind of sale or event you want. No matter how short of notice you have you can get your postcards out the door without any hassle.

You also get to save a considerable amount of time on your part that would’ve gone into designing multiple postcards. Many companies send out postcards every month or even every few weeks. That’s a lot of different postcards to design if you aren’t using a template to make the job easier.

And, as the old saying goes, time is indeed money, so why waste your money on something that can be done for cheaper and with greater ease? A postcard might be simple, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it doesn’t take any time at all to design them, and if you are sending them out every few weeks, you don’t want to spend anymore time than you have to on the design aspect.

It isn’t as if getting a solid template is a difficult task to achieve. Once you settle on a few postcard designs you like just make a template from those, and your work is already finished.

The stronger your competition is the greater the need for mobility becomes. Beating the competition by getting a certain message to your customers first can give you a big advantage in the long haul.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit Postcard Templates

About the Author

Charen Smith writes articles about Internet Marketing. She has an extensive knowledge and experience when it comes to business strategies, techniques and business solutions.

Essential & Successful Link Building Tips For 2008/2009

by Steve Hill

It is coming towards the end of 2008, Google have just celebrated their tenth birthday, boy how things have changed in those ten years for those of us involved in the web promotion business. Fair play to Google, I understand their reasons for waging war on the paid links market, however I hear that it is still thriving "underground" as it were. I also agree with their new stance on excessive reciprocal linking, so what forms of link building should a webmaster be involved with and what are the best ways to promote a website in these heady days?

In my humble opinion 2009 is the year where one way backward links are going to be all the rage. They have always been of a higher value than the reciprocal link but next year could be the time when these links are given even extra weight and power.

I have never really understood the value of a reciprocal link in any case. I give you a pound, you give me a pound, where is the value in that. We started with a pound and we still have a pound. Linkmetro really highlighted the whole problem with these types of links and hence a change has been made.

I am one of those people who really believe in the benefits of article marketing. Why? Well to put it in simple terms, it works. I have been writing articles for the last three years, I set myself a goal to write an average of one article per day and have managed to do this for the last eighteen months. The results have been quite amazing and what's more this form of web promotion is free.

I also believe in viral marketing. This is where you start or try to start people talking and more importantly linking to your site because of something that you have wrote on the site. It can be quite tricky to start with to fully comprehend but again it's quite a clever way to obtain those all important backward links.

Without a doubt though, the best way to gain links is by having quality, original and fresh content on your website, a site that you update on a regular basis. Content is king as they say.

About the Author

Steve Hill is a webmaster from Birmingham, he has interests in a number of websites including: stuttering memory foam mattresses DVD replication

Marketing on the'Net: Your Marketing Plan Must Turn Visitors Into Buyers

by Diamonique Fortune

One of the most challenging goals of an Internet Marketer is attracting visitors to your website and then turning them into buyers. The vastness of the Internet makes this an almost impossible task because of the anonymity it creates.

An Internet business is located in cyberspace, which is invisible and infinite. It is completely different from a "real world" business because you can't touch or feel the products, and you can't see the persons you're doing business with. Trust, then becomes a very important issue with an Internet business.

A real world business is operated through a physical location. Even if it is a mail order business, the business is to a physical location with an address. The business and its owner are easier to locate, and business can be conducted face-to-face if desired.

Not so with an Internet business. That means you not only can use conventional forms of marketing and advertising (i.e. catalogs, flyers, classified ads, magazines, newspapers, radio, tv, etc.), that's associated with the real world or offline businesses, but you will need to adapt to using strategies that are exclusive to the Internet.

Because of its vastness and infinite structure, the Internet thrives off of search engines, which in turn thrives off of keywords. And as far as the Internet is concerned, people will mainly find your website while using the search engines.

Keywords are words or search terms that people type in the search engine box for information they are searching for. From a marketing standpoint, and regardless what strategy you use to attract potential customers to your website, keywords will always be the main factor that drives them to your website.

That means your Internet business must be built upon and thrives on keywords. Keywords must be prevalent throughout your marketing, your web content, articles, titles of e-books, books, and used in the description of your products and services.

Once you attract visitors to your website, then your landing page or website must do its job in converting visitors into loyal buying customers. The content on your website then becomes your automated salesman, which if convincing enough, will convert your visitors into buyers. If your marketing plan fails to accomplish this, then your Internet business will not thrive. Without sales, you're out of business.

Once you discover a strategy that works for your business, use it over and over again to create profits for yourself.

About the Author

To learn more about how to successfully market your Internet business go to SuccessLearningNow.com by clicking: Internet Marketing Success Now!

Get Google Ads Free

by Dr. Jon Cohen II

A new breakthrough secret is all you now need in order to get your Google AdWords pay-per-clicks FREE!

A gentleman from New York discovered what he calls an "oversight" on the part of 99.9% of all marketers that allows him to get otherwise paid-for advertising at Google as well as all other search engines that allow sponsored ads.

And no, nothing about his "secret" is illegal - nor does it require that you know someone on the "inside" at Google, Yahoo, MSN, Overture and others.

Instead, the New Yorker boasts proudly "...this is something that I caught onto just before 2000 when there was so much search engine craze running around, and started doing small just to test things at first ... but which I later expanded on after getting the hang of it."

This same fellow went on to start and operate sixteen separate online companies selling everything from pet food, DVDs, children's toys & games, books, software, and sold not only his own manufactured products but became an affiliate for other web businesses - all the while applying his mastermind secret.

Over the course of nearly eight years the New Englander confesses "I've actually gotten over $87 million in advertising that using my secret I never had to pay for ... and the largest share of which was more recently in Google pay-per-clicks as well as other forms of pad advertising at search engines ... all of which I got for free ..."

So powerful is his secret that he's able to monopolize any niche online, and can always secure the top premium spots just above the usual organic results featured at most search engines.

He still has to set up an account with the search engines - but after applying his secret he is removed from having to pay for all the costs otherwise involved. Again, nothing about his secret is either illegal or robs from the search engines. One spokesperson from one of the most popular search engines said chuckling after being made privy to this amazing secret "Wow! Ha! This is really unique ... and in my expert opinion it would only serve to enhance and bring more business to us at [name of search engine withheld for legal & confidentiality reasons] and not cause us to lose business in the slightest. Amazing!"

The northerner revealed that in this nearly eight years' period of time since applying his secret he's done well over $300 million in sales revenue with a most diverse line of products, and most recently in the last two years netted nearly $166 million after really "buckling down and pressing my secret to its fullest potential."

Now to everyone else's fortune, the city slicker is releasing his secret for getting an unlimited amount of pay-per-click ads to the general public. But he's not promising any of us for how long.

A bit of an eccentric, the gentleman says "We'll see just how long I can make it available before it saturates things."

One famous public web guru pointed out that although this man may gain economically more so as a result of the publication of his secret "he's already so amazingly rich that whether he continues or discontinues its sale will neither make nor break the man, but not grabbing it for yourself while it's still available could prove disastrous for you as you may only have one chance, and a very limited one at that, to get this."

It is currently available at:

http://ourmoney56.freegoogle.hop.clickbank.net

...so you may want to head on over there now and get it.

It's in a very easily readable format and is quickly and readily understood and mastered by anyone with even a 4th grade reading level.

While you're there, why not scroll down and review for yourself the huge successes others are now having with this incredible breakthrough in targeted advertising now made freely available to the rest of us?

To your success,

-Barbara

About the Author

A New York Doctor discovered what he calls an oversight on the part 99.9% of all marketers that allows him to get otherwise paid-for advertising at Google as well as all other search engines that allow sponsed as.

Why IRA Investing in Real Estate is a Sound Idea

by Camille Kent

IRA investing in real estate is becoming an increasingly popular choice. If you’ve never heard of the option, it’s because most account custodians don’t offer it.

In order to begin, you need a self-directed account. But, even some companies that have self-directed accounts don’t offer the real estate option. Those that are currently advertising “free and easy online set up� are stock market brokers.

So, just as you carefully choose what investments to make, you have to carefully choose your custodian. The fees they charge vary greatly, as do the services they offer.

The success stories about IRA investing in real estate are amazing. The most successful people are those who are experienced at making real estate investments with their personal funds.

Rehabbers, for example, are people who buy houses that need “some work�. They usually get a very good price and with minimal work are able to resell them for a profit.

But, if you have no experience, you can learn. There are seminars, books and investment clubs. There are groups of experienced investors that basically teach you all about IRA investing in real estate, in a “step-by-step� manner.

They have a lot of good ideas that are particularly relevant for today’s market. The economic problems in this country have affected many people’s credit ratings. Due to all of the foreclosures, most banks no longer make “high-risk� loans.

With the money in your retirement account, you could offer to provide financing at a much higher interest rate than a traditional bank loan. This is usually accomplished with a simple lease-option agreement.

You buy the property. The prospective buyer agrees to lease it for a period of time and has an “option to buy� at the end of the lease. In a year’s time, they should be able to improve their credit rating enough to qualify for traditional financing.

You sell the house for more than you paid for it. The rental income and the profits go back into the account. Any cost related to the transaction comes out of it. That’s just one example of how IRA investing in real estate can work.

Along with learning about the buying, selling and leasing, you should also learns some rules related to prohibited transactions. I’ll give you some examples. You cannot sell the house you are currently living in to your retirement account. It may seem funny, but a lot of people ask about that.

You can’t lease office space in a building owned by the account. You can’t take a vacation in an investment property owned by the account. Your kids can’t rent a house that is owned by your retirement account and neither can your parents.

All of the relevant rules have to do with self-dealing and indirect benefits. You can learn more about them through the better companies that offer self-directed accounts or by reading the relevant IRS publications.

IRA investing in real estate has helped investors grow from $20,000 to over a million in a relatively short period of time. If you make the right choices, you may be the latest success story.

About the Author

Camille Kent is a money management expert who specializes in IRA's.

Investing from Within an IRA Can Allow You to Walk Away a Winner

by Camille Kent

You have many choices for investing from within an IRA. The best choice for you depends on how much risk you are willing to take. Typically, the greater the risk you are willing to take, the higher your returns may be. But, even if you’re a risk-taker, some choices are better than others.

The only investment types that are completely free of risk are bank certificates of deposit and government bonds. They are guaranteed by the federal government, but the returns are low.

When CDs are used for Investing from within an IRA, the rate of return depends on how much you have to invest. For example, if you have $20,000, the best rate you can get right now is 3.2%. If, on the other hand, you have $100,000, you can get a “jumbo� CD and a rate as high as 5.3%.

Banks need money right now, primarily due to the large number of defaults and money lost on foreclosure. So, they are offering higher rates than usual for people with a lot of money to invest.

If you choose government bonds for Investing from within an IRA, you will only earn about what you would with a standard savings account or “money market� account. Right now, that’s an average of 2.44% for a $10,000 retirement account. That’s even lower than the rate of return on a CD.

So, how about the stock market? Well, last week the Dow closed more than 51 points below the previous week. NASDAQ didn’t lose that much ground, but still dropped by nearly 15 points. Car sales were down. GM reported huge losses and the only thing that really increased in value was a barrel of oil.

If you want to be successful and actually have enough money to live on after retirement, you need to take a less than traditional approach to investing from within an IRA. With a self directed account, you can invest in a number of different things that may not have a guaranteed return, but they aren’t that risky, either.

For example, real estate has become an increasingly popular choice for investing from within an IRA. Didn’t know you could use account funds to buy a piece of real property? Lots of people don’t.

Even a lot of self directed trustees don’t offer the option. Most trustees are brokers, so they only now about the stock and money markets. Even many accountants don’t understand the ins and outs of using a retirement account for real estate investments.

The housing market has always been considered a relatively safe place for investments. Property values almost always go up. Not many people are buying right now, but that has to do with the economy and stricter credit rating requirements.

With a little education, there is no limit to the amount of money that a smart investor can earn for his retirement in a year’s time. It is not unheard of to turn $40,000 into $400,000 by choosing real estate for investing from within an IRA. Maybe you should consider the option.

About the Author

Camille Kent is a money management expert who specializes in IRA's.

Stock Market Strategies

by korprit zombie

Stock market investing tips are a dime a dozen. And since a stock market strategy is easily one of the more common and diverse offerings you will come across. So many stock market strategies exist because each and every investor purchases stock shares using a strategy that works for them as an individual. Investment tips are merely someone telling others what stock shares appear to work for their own stock market strategy. There is no other way to find a stock market strategy than to discover your own.

Every so called 'guru' will give you investing tips, but do the tips work more often than they do not? Probably not, and this is because the stock market strategies of the 'gurus' do not include the most important part: timing.

When it comes to stock market strategies, timing is simply knowing when to buy and when to sell to gain the most economically appeasing results. If your learning how to invest stocks, then understand that timing is really the most important part. Why? Because every stock market strategy revolves around the old 'buy low sell high' ideology.

In reality, most of the typical stock market strategies are nothing more than a way to determine when the low price and the high price occur (opposite if shorting). When you can start to buy stock shares when YOU feel the time is right, when it reaches a point that it will rebound from, then you have in your hands one part of the stock market puzzle.

You must learn to do buy when it is comfortable for you so you do not blindly buy stock shares simply because another person tells you to do so. Blind opinions are inherently risky since they are human conceived and therefore prone to inaccuracy. Probability of error is the reason why you should never let investment tips guide your finances. Take investing tips to be simply a suggestion which can be used as a lead to funnel further due diligence toward.

Once you figure out how you like to buy the lows, then you only have to learn when to sell. The only investing tip I would ever back, is to not get greedy. When I get the feeling to walk away, I do. Period. So what if I miss out on extra gains? A gain is a gain. I would much rather have a minuscule gain than a loss, any day.

As long as you can identify when you feel it is right to buy, and you can identify when it is you are comfortable taking a gain or loss, then congratulation, you have your very own personal stock market strategy for investing. Stick to this strategy and adjust as you go. This is exactly what all professional investors do when they spit out investing tips. If any one person had a reliable or repeatable system that earned a consistent ROI, then everyone would be using it. No system like that exists because every person is unique and requires their own tailor made stock market strategies.

Now do yourself solid and recognized that investment tips are just a hint at an investment you may want to perform due diligence on while using your own systems to develop stock market strategies that work for you.

About the Author

The korprit zombie is an author for Beginner Investing & Passive Income and an avid enthusiast of entrepreneurial exploration.

Financial Freedom Plan

by Steven Miller

Millions of people are buried in credit card debt with rising interest rates and mortgage payments going through the roof! Without a financial freedom plan, we might even lose our homes.

Financial stress is a common topic around the dinner table all over our nation! What can we you to relieve this stress? Since most of us don't have a rich uncle to rescue us from our financial mess, we must formulate a financial freedom plan.

First, get organized. Before starting any financial freedom plan, find out exactly how bad your debt really is. Are you at the point of bankruptcy or just need to reduce unnecessary spending?

Throwing all those bills in a drawer, forgetting they exist doesn't count as a financial freedom plan. Every month, they just keep showing up in our mailboxes again.

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of people have what I call "magical thinking". They complain about their debts. When I ask if they have a financial freedom plan, they say they're waiting for their tax refund. Then they go shopping and charge more. How many different ways do they think they can spend that tax refund? Watch out for that "magical thinking". It's dangerous!

If you don't at least make the minimum payment every month on your credit cards, you will soon have a more serious problem. Next thing you know, you will see those extra charges for late payments adding up and then your interest rate will go sky high! Not to mention your credit will be destroyed!

Obviously, you need a financial freedom plan. Let's get started with becoming debt free.

First, gather all your regular bills, mortgages, credit card statements, and any other debts. Find a working pen and notebook. On the top of the page, write FINANCIAL FREEDOM PLAN.

List all your regular monthly bills on one side. Also average out your other household and gasoline expenses. Take yearly expenses and divide by 12 to determine cost per month.

This would include taxes on your house, house insurance, perhaps even car insurance. On the opposite side of the page, write down your monthly income. Subtract your total monthly expenses from your monthly income. Hopefully, the result is not a negative number! Now we are making progress on our financial freedom plan.

When it comes to your credit card debt, add all balances up to see exactly what you owe. Have you considered the possibility of doing balance transfers to a new card with a 0% internet rate for 12 or 15 months? Consolidating several credit card balances in this way could save you tons of money and reduce your stress.

If you do this type of consolidation as part of your financial freedom plan, close out those cards as soon as the balances have been paid. It is better not to keep them around and be tempted to start using them again. There will be a small fee for doing balance transfers, but it will be worth it discontinue accumulating interest and lower your monthly payments.

You may have to cut your spending to only things that are necessary. Of course, you have to put gas in your vehicle, but you don't have to stop for fast food on the way.

Although you won't starve, you may have to quit eating steaks once a week for awhile. One-pot meals and leftovers can save you some money. Check out websites where they offer free recipes for the budget conscious consumer. You can eat healthy and hardy for less!

Put your vacation on hold for now. Spend some quality time at home with the family. It's free and your family will thank you for it! Instead of buying or renting movies or going to the theater, make some popcorn at home and check out what movies are on TV--perhaps play a game. Get creative!

About the Author

About the Author: Steven Miller is passionate in learning financial freedom & wealth creation with 21st Century Academy's self-made millionaire Jamie McIntyre.

Investing in Your Child's Future

by VK Melhado

There is still time to use your child's move to University as an investment opportunity for yourself. Searching the ads for an apartment for your child can be frustrating. The viewing usually consists of a bathroom, kitchen area and studio area that turns out to be no bigger than his or her entire bedroom at home!

A year or two ago it would have been madness to consider buying a home for your son or daughter to occupy for their University years. At that time, some areas of USA were experiencing their boom and now they are in the 'bust' part of it. Many University and college towns had less of a boom/bust realty bubble, as these 'school' towns and cities tend to be more stable.

One outside factor which is worth investigating is the University housing situation. This can make a difference to private rentals, for instance, if it has been overbuilt then you may not wish to participate in an investment opportunity in this particular town.

However, if this is not the case, and you buy now in order to save paying rent, it makes good financial sense. Your son or daughter can 'manage' the place for you - and learn some of the hard facts of life! Your child will also have a better room and a choice of how noisy the 'student home' should be.

If you find a suitable house, which will normally have five bedrooms - if the basement is finished - then you can multiply your rental income times five for your net income (or times four if you will give your child a free room).

From this figure you pay your mortgage, your property taxes, the Internet and the power bill. These days most students expect to have accessible Internet in their rental accommodation. You can connect the heating to a timer to ensure that power is not wasted. Allow a certain amount for maintaining the house and then you will know approximately the amount of rent you will need to make from the house.

In order to keep the relationship sweet between you and your child, make each student responsible for putting the monthly payment in your bank themselves (i.e. do not make your child the 'rent collector'!). Some students prefer to pay a lump sum up front if they collect a student loan at the beginning of each semester, and this is advisable!

One small investment that will be required of you is to change all the bedroom door handles so that each student can lock his or her own door. This will only cost about $10 for all five doors. Spare keys to all rooms may be held by you. You must also cut five keys for the front door.

If the University town is a long way from your home town, then plan at least one visit a year - just to make sure that the wild partying that we all hear about is not happening at your house!

About the Author


Visit PreviewNaples.com for all the tools and information you need to navigate the Naples real estate and greater Southwest Florida real estate market. You'll find local realty info, including details about Park Shore real estate.

A Guide to Choosing an IRA Custodian.

by W. Conley

Choose your IRA custodian according to the investment types that you would like to make. Check out the options that they offer, as well as the fees that they charge before you may a decision. Otherwise, you could end up paying more than you need to with a company that offers fewer services.

Under the tax law, every qualified retirement account is required to have a qualified IRA custodian. An individual can only offer the service if they meet the requirements set down by the IRS.

It’s not that difficult to qualify. Most brokers are approved. Most bankers are too. I would suggest that you avoid the guy down the street that just hung out a shingle. You want someone experienced and someone you can trust.

An IRA custodian is basically an account manager, but holdings within the account are deeded to his or her name or the name of the company that they work for. For example, if you are holding a piece of real estate within the account and your name is Warren, the deed will read “IRA custodian’s name or company’s name for the benefit of Warren’s individual retirement account�.

That’s why you should be able to “trust� your IRA custodian. The company is basically holding your retirement wealth in their hands. You should also look at the fees they charge.

The best choice is a company that charges a basic set-up fee and a reasonable annual charge. Otherwise, transaction fees, check writing fees, processing fees, asset administration fees and any number of hidden fees may be charged, as long as they are considered customary.

If you are opening a self-directed account, choose according to the types of investments that you would like to make. Not all companies offer all of the options that are allowed under the tax laws.

For example, real estate is an increasingly popular choice for retirement accounts, but the average IRA custodian does not offer the option. With the condition of the stock market, today, the need to diversify is greater than ever.

You simply cannot fund your retirement by investing in stocks, bonds and bank certificates of deposit. Bonds and CD rates of return are hardly enough to keep up with inflation, particularly if you only have a small amount to start with.

Some banks are offering high rates of return on large opening balances, but for the small investor, the rate is less than three percent for IRA CDs and money market funds. The rates are actually higher for non-IRA types.

It’s seems like banks don’t want your retirement money. But, actually, they want to encourage more people from the general population to invest. They are almost guaranteed to get some retirement account investors, since it is the only “insured� investment type.

There are many success stories from people who have chosen to include real estate in their retirement portfolios. If you know very little about the market, there are plenty of people willing to help you learn.

Your IRA custodian cannot give you the investment advice that you need. But, others can. So, choose the right company and get the right advice. Soon, you’ll be on your way to making a million, possibly even more.

About the Author

W. Conley is an advocate of IRA investing in Real Estate as a means of diversifying your portfolio, while maximizing returns. He has successfully invested in Real Estate and has seen fantastic returns on his investments, all of which was done using a proven system. You can read more about the benefits of IRA investing by going to http://www.iloc-ira-site.com

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by C.S.

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The CYCLE-SYSTEM has been developed to invest and at the same time, protect your money from any loss. Since 2001 the CYCLE-SYSTEM has produced more than 3.319.000 US$, more than 440.000 US$ per year. www.cycle-system.com


About the Author

contact@cycle-system.com

How To Pick A Junior Resource Stock

by E. Kyle Demski

E. Kyle Demski Equationorial Evaluators

Commodity

What commodity is the company involved in, does this particular resource have good fundamentals to go up, as well as a good trend? If not is your company flexible to changes in the underlying commodity? If it isn’t and the resource is likely to change price, then your stock is gonna flop… also is the commodity very controlled such as the price of gold which possibly is manipulated. Or in a different situation uranium is very much under government scrutiny.

How does this affect your company?

Management

How long have they been in the business? About 20 years Is good enough. What type of experience do they have? Does their experience concern what their doing now. For instance someone who was successful in copper might not be successful uranium. Or some one who triumphed with an exploration company might not have the knack for a mining company. They are both totally different jobs. Do they have entrepreneurial minds? Are they going to succeed? Are they concentrated on the company your looking at.

And one more thing do they have the skills personality and temperament needed for what they want to accomplish.

Property

Is the property big, does it have the potential to have a large resource? Bigger project are most likely to attract interest from majors. Big mines make more cash and have the same amount of risk of something breaking down. How deep does the resource start? If the resource starts 500 metres down... well that’s a long ways. Unless it is an Insituleach project, you’re going to have to dig down there! If you want that mine in production you going to need power. How far is the nearest power source? Does the property have easy access is their a road or whatever going up there? Metallurgy, are the minerals easy to separate? And finally is the property subject to any environmental concerns. depending on the type of mineral being mined the distance from the mill and or selling point is also important.


Financing

The third evaluator calculates if they have enough money or have access to sufficient capital (without diluting their stock to nothing) to do what will ultimately raise their share price, drilling a couple holes starting a mine etc…

A company’s ability to do this usually depends on management's past track record and the feasibility of their project. Well in fact, most of the factors mentioned in this essay are what determines how easy the company can finance.


Potential

Potential really means how high can the stock price go up. If you got two company’s that have the same chance of being losers, and the same chance of being winners and the one, if it is a winner, It’s going to rocket ten times higher then the other one… well you know which one to buy. A speculative audience can value a company with big potential in a hot market extremely astronomically.


Share Structure

This part of the evaluation deals with number of shares outstanding, fully diluted, warrants you know all that kind of stuff. What I would like to see here is that the company has not been diluting their stock excessively, that there isn’t a bunch of warrants or options coming on the market in the next while. As well as when they finance they do so at high prices then I’m pretty much satisfied.


Promotion

If you have a company with every thing going well, pulling out crazy intercepts in a good jurisdiction with no problems at all, but nobody knows about it then the share price will not go up its as simple as that for a company to be considered as doing enough promotion. It must go to at least three major conferences a year. They must make at least 2 analyst/investor tours of their property each month. Every year Management should spend at least ten thousand dollars on external promotion services. And of course it helps a lot if the company is in the news a lot for some r eason or other, or if maybe a guy in the company is famous.

Politics of Place

This part of the equation figures in risk from the country where they are operating. Like if there is risk that they might be kicked out of the country because the wrong politician has become elected. You also want to find out what the risk factor is that the project might be shut down because of environmental problems, environmental laws vary from country to country and from province to province. For instance it is very difficult to permit something in California (environmentally speaking) then it is in let’s say Nevada.

Value

Does the company’s holding’s justify its market cap? Do this, property + cash - debt. Let’s say company X has 1 million ounces of gold, first you have to check what all the other companies are being valued at per ounce in your company’s development stage. If it’s, let’s say around 40 an ounce then you multiply that by one million. 40,000,000 + cash lets say 10,000,000 �" debt 2,000,000 and Ta Da! You got categorized value in comparison to other stocks. This is just so you have something graspable. Also, check how the market cap is, compared to other similar stocks, if it’s more, then determine for yourself, how much of this is attributable to the other positives, that this particular stock might have.


Timing

Don’t pay too much for a stock, if you think you can get less for it. Act smart, just because you read some fantastic report don’t rush out, almost trip on the stair (if you have any) and buy buy buy. Use your common sense unless it really is an infallible stock. Chances are you might be able to get in at a better price. By waiting, for example if you found a stock which last week let out motherlode type drill results. And the stock shot up, well, assuming they aren’t in danger of an immediate takeover, and don’t have any additional properties to spout news from, and their next drills are set to come out in five months. There is a slight possibility that the stock could cool down between now and then. And that’s when you buy!

Additional Notes

Psychology of the stock

Look on the forums what do people think about this stock. If it’s a small stock these people can be what makes the stock move

Manipulation from dirty sources

This can as well as pushing the stock around. Also Makes people get “rumours� sifted out by the manipulators make sure you’re not a victim of this.

Make sure they are making real progress on the ground

Keeping an eye on what’s happening with private placements can help in timing.

It’s positive if the management own a lot of shares, it’s even better if they are buying more.

A helpful way of keeping track of a stock is to sign up to the investor relations Firm promoting them.

Try to buy a company before it gets out.

http://goldanalysis.co.cc

© Kyle Demski 2007


About the Author

Kyle Demski is an investor

Top Stock Picks - 5 Reasons To Buy Double Bottom Stocks

by Mike Perras

1 - These are not momentum plays as yet. Thus easier to position yourself, as the stock has not started a breakout.

2 - Double Bottoms by my definition are stocks that are on my radar only, as they are close to a breakout point. When that's confirmed, I'm a more confident buyer.

3 - People who have shorted these stocks have likely already made their money on the way down to the Double Bottom. If they hold on too long and a recovery or breakout occurs, they will have to cover. In most cases, these shorters are pretty much gone already.

4 - Double Bottom stocks tend to be more of a conservative technical trade. On the surface these stocks seem to have little interest from the street. That said, when a true breakout happens, there tends to be more authentic buying and not flipping, as the technical traders are usually the main buyers.

5 - I don't have to be watching my screen all day. I can set up my Double Bottom alerts in Yahoo and receive an email when the stock reaches my breakout price target.

There are numerous ways to trade stocks. I believe the Double Bottom investment style is extremely underrated and can deliver some very attractive gains, with a minimum of effort. If you consider yourself a conservative investor or trader, who is willing to wait for the proper time to buy, then the Double Bottom approach is very worthy of consideration.

You are welcome to visit my blog for more details. www.thedoublebottom.blogspot.com

Best Wishes Always,

Mike Perras P.Mgr

About the Author

Mike Perras is a former broadcast executive, freelance journalist, investor and college teacher. You can write to him at mikeperras@hotmail.com If you would like to share this article with others, please feel free to do so. Or visit his blog at http://www.thedoublebottom.blogspot.com

5 Disadvantages of Mechanical Investing

by Steve Alexander

In a previous article, 5 Advantages of Mechanical Investing, I laid out 5 main reasons that using a mechanical, or statistical, investing strategy like Joel Greenblatt's Magic Formula is an attractive investment plan. This article will present the flip side - 5 reasons why mechanical investing is not followed by many investors. So, with no further a-do:

1. One-time Charges and/or Gains Can Skew Statistics.

One-time, or "special", charges and gains are a common fact of life in the investing world. For example, a company could sell a piece of real estate is not longer needs for a one-time gain, or take a one time charge for reducing the value of goodwill on the balance sheet. The problem with these is that they can greatly skew valuation statistics, adversely affecting a statistical screen. That one-time gain from a real estate sale can artificially inflate earnings, making the P/E ratio look much cheaper than it actually is based on on-going operations. Without taking the time to research the company's financial statements, this would go unnoticed by a mechanical investor. Good mechanical screens try to account for this, but it's not always possible for a computer algorithm to catch these discrepancies. Which brings us to the next point...

2. Accounting Methods Differ Between Firms.

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, are used by all public companies, but GAAP allows for a lot of freedom in classifying assets and earnings. What this means is that, when looking at a statistical screen, we may not always be comparing apples to apples. Take a simple, and relatively common, mechanical screening criteria - price to book ratio. How a company calculates book value can differ greatly. Take, for example, Harley-Davidson (HOG). The main competitive advantage for this company is their brand name - but this asset is not recorded anywhere on the balance sheet, so HOG's price-to-book looks higher than a company that does record branding as an intangible asset (like, say, Coca-Cola (KO)). Peter Lynch, in his book One Up On Wall Street, talks about how Pebble Beach's gravel pit real estate asset was worth several times what it was recorded for in the balance sheet! Without due diligence, these kinds of things are impossible to know by using just a mechanical investing approach.

3. Mechanical Strategies are Often Very Volatile, Making Them Difficult to Stick To.

Joel Greenblatt, in The Little Book that Beats the Market, spends a lot of time talking about this point. All too often, an investor decides to base his strategy on a mechanical technique, just to find his portfolio trailing the market after a year (or less). These results lead to the emotional conclusion "this doesn't work!", despite years of data showing that it does. The investor drops the strategy, which then goes on to crush the market for several years. The Magic Formula, and many other mechanical strategies, can be volatile. There will be periods where they trail overall market returns. The mechanical investor must have a strong will and conviction that the strategy will outperform the market over the long term.

4. You Know Little About the Companies You Entrust Your Money To.

Probably an offshoot of the last point. For many investors, blindly buying stock in a company without knowing anything about it seems risky and foolish. There is not much else to say on this one. It is a major hurdle for many people, and for some people it will not bother them at all.

5. Driving Using the Rear-View Mirror.

Clearly the biggest problem with mechanical investing is the "driving using the rear-view mirror" aspect. What this means is that you are investing based on past results, instead of taking into consideration future prospects. After all, it is future results that will determine the success or failure of your investment, not past performance. Sure, Crocs (CROX) were all the rage the past few years, earning a ton of money, but is it likely this fad will earn those same dollars going forward? Maybe that low P/E ratio is warranted. Many large banks looked downright cheap on a price-to-book basis at the beginning of the year. However, as huge write-offs were announced, the "B" part of that ratio dropped in a hurry, and now those "cheap" prices don't look so attractive. Doing some fundamental research could have at least raised red flags on these potential future problems, something a mechanical screen would not have found.

Mechanical investing has a lot of great aspects, but some risks as well. The goal of MagicDiligence is to use a very successful mechanical screen, Joel Greenblatt's Magic Formula Investing screen, while eliminating the disadvantages of the strategy. Through MD's stock research reports, you can eliminate the risks of not knowing about your investments, not accounting for future prospects, and missing accounting anomalies. Also, since the MagicDiligence Top Buy list only contains companies with strong and durable competitive advantages, we aim to reduce the overall volatility of the strategy, making it easier to stick with for long periods of time. Take a look at our Top Buy list for FREE and see how it can improve your Magic Formula Investing experience.

About the Author

Steve Alexander is the editor of MagicDiligence, a site dedicated to researching and recommending only the best stocks on the Magic Formula Investing screen. Take a look at our Top Buy list for FREE and see how it can improve your Magic Formula Investing experience.

Forex Trading Robots - Why Do Most Lose and Can I Find a Winner?

by kelly Price

You will find a lot of forex robots sold online and they all claim they have made big gains but the reality is most haven't and wont make you money. There are a few that are good and here we will help you spot the losers and find the minority of winning systems...

The way to discount most forex robots is, simply to check if the track record is real - most are not they are simply done in hindsight and carry this warning.

"CFTC RULE 4.41 - Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading"

The warning continues and shows how seriously you should take the track record.

"Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown".

For some reason most traders never question the above and the flaw in using past data to make a track record of course, knowing the prices makes it easy to make a profit.

Of course these forex trading systems blow up in real time trading and really the trader should have thought for the price of a dinner out he wasn't going to get an income for life - it's the old saying "if it looks to good to be true it is".

Don't be fooled by clever advertising copy, if it doesn't have a track record in the real world, its not proven so move on.

By looking for a real time track record you will instantly discount the bulk of trading systems now what do you need to look for to find a winner?

A real track record of course! One that is audited and has supporting docs over at least a two year period. Never accept one of a few weeks - any trader can get lucky.

Then you need to consider the following

1. Are you confident in the logic and can you trade it with discipline through losing periods? 2. Check the longest losing period and time to recovery and check that it fits your risk profile. 3. Check how long the software takes you to use each day. 4. Check that you get full support from the vendor should you have any questions.

The above is really common sense.

When you are getting a real time trading system the best will give you around 50 - 100% per annum, in terms of compound annual growth. Losing periods will be few weeks, up to few months and average losses, on the ones I have used have been about 30%

You can find them, if you look around and a good one will cost a few thousand dollars - but it will pay for itself many times over, so hunt around and find the best.

FREE Forex Robots

There is a free one we have used for years and its one of the best systems you will find.

It won't cost you a cent and it's called "The 4 Week Rule" and it only has one rule which you don't even need a computer to do the calculation - you can do it in your head!

We have written about this forex trading system numerous times, so look up our other articles and don't be deceived by the fact its free - it works and has made countless millions.

Many savvy traders have used it to make millions of dollars, it's worked, continues to work so, check it out.

So there you have some tips, to find the best forex robots and also a free one for you to consider as well.

These systems can be time efficient and make you money, spend a little time choosing the right ones and you will be well rewarded for your time.


About the Author

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