Posts tagged: trading

3 Strategies To Increase Your Stock Returns In 2018

money stocksImproving your investment results is no easy task. The stock market is not for the faint-hearted and emotions can get the better of us as investors. As 2017 comes to an end, you may have noticed that your investment portfolio doesn’t look as healthy as it originally did. However, there are tools in which you can use to your advantage and boost your stock returns to the numbers you want to achieve. These are three strategies to receive more financial gain.

Value vs growth method

With the use of index tracking, value companies have outperformed growth companies in the U.S. and international stock markets. Focusing your investments on value instead of growth companies will increase your chances of receiving higher returns.

By doing this and using financial tools such as a covered call screener, you are more guaranteed to get an increase of returns in 2018. Even though value companies have lower stock prices than growth companies, several value firms will offer stock brokers an annual dividend payout. Dividends are particularly useful if the price of a stock has slow appreciation during a time period.

Rebalancing strategy

Inevitably, your investment portfolio will decrease from its original asset class percentages and won’t appear as healthy as it first did. The method of adjusting the portfolio back to its original allocation is known as ‘rebalancing’.

There are a couple of ways in which this can be accomplished. These are: adding money to the under-weighted section of the portfolio, selling a portion of the over-weighted section and adding this to the under-weighted piece, or, taking withdrawals from the over-weighted assets.

By rebalancing, you are enhancing your portfolio performance and making it look more financially appealing to potential sellers. Not only does it do this, but it puts your investments back to the original level of risk tolerance. Keeping an eye on your portfolio and ensuring that each investment is being efficient with beneficial results is key to selling high and buying low. This means that you’re more likely to make profits than losses.

Prioritising equities and bonds

Before we go into detail over this strategy, let’s first establish the difference between an equity and a bond. Equity is essentially another name for a stock, where investors buy them to generate growth. The ideal equity is one which increases in price over time which allows the investor to sell their share for a large profit. However, a bond doesn’t give much opportunity to grow in value and instead, provide regular portfolio income.

Even though investing in equities can be more volatile and risky, the stock market has consistently outperformed the bond markets over the past decade. But, by carrying out a manageable combination between the two within your portfolio, this can offer better stock returns.

Let’s round it up

As an investor, you can see just by reading these simple strategies how boosting your stock returns and improving your portfolio can be easily done. The key rule is to prioritise your portfolio by keeping it balanced and consistent. Don’t get carried away with the influx of money and lose your main financial vision.

Advice For A First-Time Business Owner

time for businessIf you have entrepreneurial determination then that’s a good starting place for a business. Of course, it’s only one component of many. You need to think about your own experience or expertise regarding the management of a business, how you’re going to fund such a venture, how many other people you might need to hire to help you with this company, and, most importantly, what type of business you’re going to start. Money is probably the biggest worry on your mind but if you focus on making sure all other components of your business are running smoothly then the profits will look after themselves. Here’s some more detailed advice for any first-time business owners out there.

Become a real boss.

You might have an innovative idea and qualifications in a certain line of business but that isn’t going to be enough to transform you into a successful business owner. When you’re the boss of a company, you need to be an all-rounder. For example, if you’re running a legal business then it isn’t enough to simply have a qualification in law. You need to know how to manage finances, marketing, and, most importantly of all, people. If you want your business to get off the ground then you need to learn how to manage your team and fill them with the same passion for the company that you feel. Making that step will transform you from somebody with a great idea into somebody with a great business.

Research the market.

It’s your job to drive the direction of the company. You might have a good business plan at the moment but the market is always changing. You need to update your approach in order to adapt to a changing industry. You need an enticing and widespread online presence in this digitally-driven era of business, as we’ll discuss in the next point, so you might want to look into online companies such as Youi Pty Limited, who deal specifically with buying and selling goods online, for a little insight into their credit ratings and financial situation.

It’s important that you take note from other companies, whether they’re in your industry or not, so as to not only get an idea of what they’ve been doing well but what they haven’t been doing well. The great thing about being the second or third business to dive into a certain industry is that you don’t have to make the same mistakes as the companies that took the plunge first. You can save yourself a lot of money and time by figuring out how to cut straight to “Successville”.

Get your online marketing campaign right.

As touched upon in the point above, you need a strong online marketing approach in order for your business to succeed. You might not be a marketing expert but you should certainly get marketing professionals to help you if that’s the case. The “build it and they will come” mentality doesn’t always work because there’s a lot of competition offering the same products and services as your business. You need to stand out from the crowd if you want consumers to come to you. Figure out how to optimize the content on your website and social media pages so as to climb the rankings on Google and other search engines. That’ll get you in front of your target market.

Can I Afford To Hire Someone?

business hiringFrom a financial perspective, running your own business is the biggest risk you can take, but can also reap the biggest rewards for you and your family. Running a business takes a huge amount of planning, time spent working, developing skills and completing orders. There will come a time within your budding business career that the jobs seem to mount up to a level which you cannot cope with alone. It is at this point which you may start to wonder whether hiring someone will benefit you and your business.

Think about yourself and how much you value your time. You are the owner and instigator of your own business, you are worth a lot of money, and this is money which should not be wasted by sitting in front of a computer checking emails, social media and handling tech support. These are all tasks which other people can do for you at a more reasonable price- so instead of costing yourself an hour of your own time, cost an hour of someone else’s.

It is hard to know exactly when the right time is to hire a new person you’re your team, but it really comes down to how much profit you earn and the time you take out of your day to complete tasks which prevent you from doing your work to its full extent.

The right person could save you time doing these small tasks and allow you to focus on new ways to expand and increase the profitability of your empire. You could end up deciding to expand overseas, open a store, or maybe invest in things such as foreign currency: http://trustedforexbroker.com. It will free up your time and in the end mean you can make much more money.

If you feel that you need someone there to help the business grow and prevent it from falling into debt, then you will have to make the financial sacrifice to start with in order to see those long-term results. It may seem as if you simply cannot afford to hire someone- but can you afford not to?

Hiring The Right Person

If you do decide that you need to hire an extra pair of hands, make sure you take that time to hire the right person for the job. Simply having the right employee can bring your profits up and the efficiency of your business up by a huge amount. Someone who has the knowledge, skills, enthusiasm and drive to succeed can transform the way your business operates. It may mean you have to offer them a larger sum to start off with, but that investment will pay off tenfold when you are able to work on more projects and expand. If you need tips of finding the right employee, here’s a helpful post: https://www.thebalance.com/top-tips-for-hiring-the-right-employee-1918964

And remember, if you can’t afford to hire an employee for full-time work- all you need to do is offer a part-time position instead. It will give someone the chance to work for you and balance their other commitments and you will have an extra helping hand.

The Business Costs Startups Should Never Skimp On

invest in start upsAs a startup owner, chances are that you don’t exactly have a huge and unlimited pool of money at your disposal and it’s only natural, and sensible, that you should try to make savings wherever possible if you want to be in the best possible financial situation 12 months from now, but there are some things that startups just should not even think about skimping on.

Here are some examples of the kinds of things you MUST invest in if you want your business to be a success commercially and financially:

Reliable IT Services

So much of what we all do now is done at a computer, tablet or smartphone, and online is the space that modern businesses really need to conquer. What this means for you as a startup owner, is that you really cannot afford to skimp on reliable IT services. If you cut corners in this department, not only could you lose money when your network goes down, but you could actually risk losing sensitive data, and that could get you into a whole lot of trouble, not to mention cost you a whole lot of cash. It really isn’t worth the risk, especially when you can find great IT services which are moderately priced.

Data Backup

It’s also sensible to invest in a good data backup system, preferably in the cloud, so that should your website be hacked and your data lost, you will be able to instantly recover it. You can backup your data securely for as little as $10 per year, so it really would be foolish not to do so, especially when a loss of data really can cripple a small business.

Great Design

A lot of what determines whether or not a business will be successful, rightly or wrongly, is how attractive its brand is. Think of all the massively successful companies out there; your Google’s, Coca-Cola’s and Nikes and you’ll notice they all; have one thing in common – an instantly recognizable brand. If you want to be in their league someday, you need to invest in great design for your website, logo, business cards and, where applicable. Your products.

High-Quality Web Hosting

A lot of small business owners opt for the cheapest web hosting package they can find available to them. This is understandable, after all, hosting is hosting, right? Wrong! Very wrong! You see, a lot of the cheaper hosts go offline a lot, and when your website is down, that means you are losing money. Not only that, but a poor host could mean a slow website which will put customers off and prevent your media from effectively loading. Factor in the time you spend sorting it out, and the losses to your company could be huge.

Web Design

As well as putting a great web hosting package in place, you should also invest some of your startup capital in creating a website that looks beautiful and performs flawlessly. In the 21st Century, your website is often the first thing about you that the consumer will see and if it looks awful, well, they’re hardly going to have much confidence in your products and services are they? Don’t make the mistake of using a basic template when even just a little investment in a custom solution can be all that it takes to make that sale!

Creative Content

Naturally, you’ll want to put some content on your website so that people can actually find your company. If you want that to happen, it pays to invest in high-quality content written by professional copywriters, either on staff or freelance. If you do this, you can bet that you’ll make your money back and then some in the fullness of time.

Customer Service Training

Most startup owners are so focused on the future and how they want their business to be a year, two years or even ten years down the line, that they often lose sight of the things that need to be done now to get them there. One such thing is high-quality customer service training.

You see, although customer service might not seem like your most pressing issue right now, or even something you can justify using the business credit card on, it is actually one of the most vital tools in your arsenal. After all, your customers are the people who will make or break your business, and without them, you won’t even have a business at all. Once you realize this, it’s well-worth taking the time to invest in the right training so that your employees always treat your customers right.

Legal Counsel

We all know that legal fees are expensive, lawyers aren’t exactly known for being poor, after all. However, there is absolutely no way of getting around the fact that, if you want to start a successful business and avoid future financial difficulties and even bankruptcy, you need to invest in good legal counsel when you set up your business. If you don’t do this, you could end up making a mistake somewhere down the line and getting sued and, as I’m sure you will know, the cost of litigation, not to mention the cost of compensation should you lose a case, can be astronomical.

Great People

You can try, but I would bet against you starting a successful new company without a few good people by your side to help you along the way. Every company’s biggest cost is its payroll and hiring more employees than the minimum or those who don’t exactly come cheap might seem like a good way to cut business costs, but if you want your company to grow, you need to invest in the most creative, hardworking qualified people and you need to invest in enough people so that none of you are spread too thin.

As the old cliche says “Sometimes, you have to speculate to accumulate.” This is something that is certainly true in the startup world, and especially when it comes to these particular things.

Thumb Rules of Investing in Stocks

investment in stockMaking profits in the equity market is not based on your luck. With a disciplined and research-based investment approach, you may be able to earn high returns. In addition, using some basic thumb rules based on the experience of other successful investors will help you earn profits.

Here are five thumb rules for investing in stocks

1. Do not try to time the market

Predicting the tops and bottoms in the equity market consistently over several cycles is almost impossible for seasoned investors. In reality, most people who try to time the market lose money.

2. Take a disciplined investment approach

Historically, great bull runs have also had their moments of panic. The volatility in the equity market has resulted in people losing money even during bull runs. However, if you follow a disciplined investment approach with long-term goals, it is most likely that you may avoid losses.

3. Invest in a broader portfolio

It is recommended you invest in different stocks across various sectors. Furthermore, you must include several asset classes to reduce your risk exposure. The different types of instruments that may be included in your investment portfolio primarily depends on your risk appetite and financial goals.

4. Monitor your portfolio regularly

The stock market is not only affected by domestic happenings. International occurrences also affect the equity market today. Therefore, it is very important that you monitor the performance of your portfolio regularly and make modifications as required. In case you are unable to track your portfolio at periodic intervals due to lack of knowledge or time, taking the help of an experienced financial advisor is recommended.

5. Avoid leverage

To ensure you do not face financial difficulties, you must invest the money that you can afford to lose. It is vital that you do not take on debt for stock market investing. In case the stocks do not perform as expected, there is a huge risk of losing the borrowed money and repaying the same may have adverse results.

Stock market investing may be highly profitable. However, you must do your research and make informed decisions. Furthermore, you must never let your emotions control your decisions and be realistic in your expectations.