When you are active in the binary options market, the specific brokerage service that you use can make a huge difference in the kinds of profits that you can generate through your trades. There are more than a thousand brokers that you can find online, but it can be tricky to know which ones are going to offer the right services, tools, and terms to help you to be successful in your investments.

If you’re looking to work with one of the top 10 binary options brokers, consider some of these basic guidelines that can put you in touch with the right firm:

Regulatory Controls

Not every broker is licensed to operate in the country that they serve. In some cases, this is not a major problem. For example, many traders choose to work with European brokerage firms that are not licensed to work in the United States, but who accept traders from the U.S. However, these firms may be controlled by the corresponding entity, CySEC, in the country that they operate in and may hold a license that correlates to it. There is some manner of risk in using a service from another country, since funds are not guaranteed to you in the same way that a service from your own country might be, but it is still possible to work well with a broker from another country.

However, you’ll want to make sure that the firm does hold a license from a regulatory body, not just marketing themselves as being regulated, and that you understand the kinds of regulations that might affect the firm, so that you can protect your investments.

You’ll also want to explore the terms of the brokerage service prior to committing funds into an account. Some firms charge excessive fees or have lengthy retrieval times for profits that are made using the service.

While the specific brokerage firms that can be counted among the top 10 binary options brokers are constantly changing and new brokers are being added to the market continuously, it is possible to find and partner with some great service providers who help to make it easy to generate profits. There will always be some degree of risk in the binary options market, but having the right kind of binary options brokerage service on your side can help you to navigate the waters with a little more ease.

Share to Explore !!

Facebook

Digg

Pinterest

Twitter

Reddit

Linkedin

StumbleUpon

Tumblr

Print

email

Yummly

Buffer

In the often confusing world of the stock market – and its fondness for acronyms – an IPO is an initial public offering – simply meaning when a company sells shares of its stock to the public for the first time. Before it becomes an IPO, a company is said to be privately held, meaning its ownership falls into the hands of a select few, and it isn’t listed on any Stock Exchange or traded by brokers such as CMC markets, you can look but you won’t find.

So how and why does a company decide to become an IPO? The reason is usually a financial one – a large company stands to make a lot of money from the sale of its shares, although many smaller companies also issue IPOs. The company will try to anticipate exactly how much profit and what the capital will be used for – for example to fund expansion or development. The company’s management decides on a particular day that the shares will be made available, and of course the anticipated asking price, with guidance from at least one investment firm. The 1990s saw many small start-up companies selling large amounts of stock through usually well-publicized and successful ventures, which has made the IPO popular among small and large investors alike.

Investing in IPOs can be risky and unpredictable though, and many investors advise against it unless you are particularly experienced and knowledgeable. One of the difficulties is that there is no existing track record as to how the shares will perform over time. Much of the profit and risk potential of buying shares in an IPO depends also upon the state of the market that particular time, the level of interest and even the general economy.

So how does one try to make a profit from these investments? Sometimes it depends on who you know as well as what you know. If you are lucky enough to work for the company in question, you may be offered a number of shares at a substantial discount or even have them given to you. Many IPOs are heavily oversubscribed, meaning there are more offers to purchase shares than there are available shares; in this situation, an employee or client would be given preference. This is one of the drawbacks of IPO’s – the majority of the shares may be allocated or offered first to employees, retirees, clients, etc. rather than the general public.

Do some research on the company that is intending to put out an IPO. There are many different financial newspapers, journals and web-sites that provide information and forecasts. The company is also required by Federal law to put out a prospectus detailing the offer, although this can be a lengthy and confusing document. Pay particular attention to the most recent earnings of the company as well as their projected earnings. Is the company you are planning to invest in solvent? Do they borrow money heavily to repay debts? Find out what the company’s product or service is, who its competitors are and what percentage of market share it has. A company whose product or service is seasonal or temporary might not be a profitable long-term investment.

One of the most attractive features of IPOs is that the shares offered are usually priced very low. In fact, the stock price of many companies can increase significantly during the day that the shares are offered, occasionally as much as 500 %. If you are fortunate enough to move quickly and buy the shares as soon as they are offered, you can sell them again that same day for at least a small profit. Many ‘speculative’ investors are more interested in this short term profit potential rather than any long term gains. If you are what is known as an ‘income’ investor, you are more concerned with the company’s long term profits and dividend potential.

Some serious investors advise that rather than buy shares when the company is first launched, you should wait a while – say a period of several months – even years – to get a better feel for how the company is doing financially. The share price usually ‘settles down’ after the initial excitement, and you can get a better idea whether it’s a good buy or not. In the long term, this can be a safer way to make a profit rather than buying at once.

Share to Explore !!

Facebook

Digg

Pinterest

Twitter

Reddit

Linkedin

StumbleUpon

Tumblr

Print

email

Yummly

Buffer

I’m sure you’ll agree that the internet is one of the most revolutionary leaps forward in history. How many times have you used an internet connection today? How much harder would your life be without that? Pretty much every facet of our lives has been influenced by the world wide web, and investing is no exception. In this post, we’ll take a look at how the dawn of the information age has changed the way we invest.

With the sheer size of the internet these days, it’s pretty tough to explain exactly what it is. At the core of it, it’s one giant bank of information. The internet has made information more accessible than ever before, and stock traders have benefited from it exponentially. Before the internet, an investor’s job was incredibly long-winded. Every time you wanted to find out about a company, you’d have to head to a library and sort through stacks of financial journals. Lengthy files on the history of stocks and bonds would have to have been leafed through until you found what you were looking for. The only alternative would have been calling up a company and asking directly for a financial report. This would not only cost a lot in the way of postage, but would also take a lot of time to gain any benefit from. You would have to wait for the report to be printed and posted. After that, you’d start again with the process of sorting through all the information yourself!

The internet immediately sped up this entire process. These days, you can get onto the SEC website in a matter of seconds, and view company reports in detail as soon as they’re updated. Lengthy, detailed documents on financial histories can also be downloaded in an instant. Then, you can easily search for keywords, figures and specific topics. With the erratic nature of the stock market, these quick updates became an essential for any successful investor. Many modern companies also keep up investor relations web pages. Here, you can find all the same files, presented in a clear, simple way. This created a pretty significant shift of power in the world of investing. Before the information age, investment managers and brokers had a huge advantage over investors like you and me. They had immediate access to detailed financial reports, without having to go through the same trials as investors. This has completely been turned on its head now! Some online resources will provide information for an affordable fee. Others even offer their valuable information for free! Perhaps the biggest change technology has had on investment is lowering investor’s fees. This has been seen in precious metals, FOREX and everywhere else in the world of investing. Retail investors have benefitted the most from this however. These days, it’s completely common for online brokers to charge a mere £6.00 for a trade.

As the internet has become more widely used, the power has gradually transferred to the little guys. Let’s hope that future technology continues to do so!

Share to Explore !!

Facebook

Digg

Pinterest

Twitter

Reddit

Linkedin

StumbleUpon

Tumblr

Print

email

Yummly

Buffer

Our finances are our bread and butter, the feature of our lives that makes everything tick. With taxes, cheques, loans, credit and mortgages, the whole thing can become slightly overwhelming. So, just what can you do to help yourself help your money?

The online space is a wonderful tool with many assets. This means there are no shortage of ways to pull your money organisation together, and here are but a few of them.

1. Online and mobile banking

It’s surprising to learn that so many people still aren’t banking online. In fact, in a relatively recent survey, it was revealed that only 51 percent of adults bank online regularly. What about that other 49 percent?!

There are certain stigmas surrounding online banking, and they’re understandable. They are generally believed by the older generations, and most of them are concerned with security risks. And while it’s true that online banking is as safe as you make it, it’s far more beneficial that just using a branch.

You can send and receive payments, check statements and open new bank accounts in minutes. In fact, it takes mere minutes to open a brand new bank account from the comfort of your laptop – I can attest to that. So, if you aren’t banking online or on the go yet, consider it. It could be the solution you need to better organise your money.

2. Receive financial supplies with the click of a mouse

The rise of online shopping and giants like Amazon has made it pretty easy to find a wide range of commodities on the internet. You can now order cheques online, buy bank books and even browse for credit and bank cards, to arrive within days. It sure beats the old-fashioned method of strolling down to your local vault and requesting some documents.

Part of the solution to organised financials is saving time. Just like online banking in point number one, you don’t have to lift a finger with the online space. You can order everything you need and check your bank statement within two minutes, while watching Game of Thrones.

3. Tracking income and expenses with ease

As many self-employed contractors and business owners will attest to, tracking finances is difficult. With the latest news that could see the introduction of a quarterly tax return, it’s never been more important to watch our money.

Luckily, it’s simple to do so. A service such as Google Sheets is a cloud-based spreadsheet creator, that can tot up your daily, weekly and yearly earnings with ease. What’s more, you can access it anywhere that has an internet connection, from the airport to the library.

4. Send invoices quickly and hassle-free

Jumping back into self-employment, businesses around the world will have heard of the dreaded invoice. If you forget to send it, you don’t get paid. It can be a hard document to organise, especially if you’re owed a lot of different amounts of cash. If your business wants to make money, you’ll need to use these documents every week – but how to do so efficiently?

Well, luckily, the internet is here to help. Using an online invoicing tool you can even schedule invoices to go out on certain dates. You could even line up your invoices for the next month, or two months. Additionally, like Google Sheets, many of these systems are cloud-based, so you can update them and send from anywhere.

Hopefully these tips have helped you somewhat. Our money is our most precious commodity, so give it the attention it deserves!

Share to Explore !!

Facebook

Digg

Pinterest

Twitter

Reddit

Linkedin

StumbleUpon

Tumblr

Print

email

Yummly

Buffer

When you see the stock market in movies, it looks easy. It looks like nothing but fun and quick cash (and sometimes illegal substances). And, for sure, the real stock market can offer those things. But the films you’ve been watching often leave out the unsexy details. One of those unsexy details is capital gains tax.

Many people have heard the term capital gains tax. Many know what it is but don’t think it applies to stocks. Well, they do! Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know about these taxes on your stock sales.

Capital gains tax: a quick explanation

A capital asset is something you own that you use outside of business. The money you’ve sunk into the initial price and subsequent costs are combined and called the basis. When you sell a capital asset, you either make a gain or a loss. If the price at which you sell the capital asset is more than the basis, then you’ve made a profit. And in the government’s book, that means you’ve made a taxable capital gain. The capital gain minus the basis is the total profit. That value is what is going to be taxed via a capital gains tax. When filing your taxes, you need to get yourself a Schedule D (form 1040).

So this applies to stocks?

Yes. Capital assets include land, vehicles, real estate and securities, among other things. Securities include bonds and stocks. If you own stock for personal investment purposes, then it’s a capital asset. The profit you make from the sale of a stock can be taxed by your national revenue agency. So if you want to work out the total money you’re going to pocket after an exchange, you need to calculate capital gains tax.

Are there different types of gains?

There are indeed. There are what we call long-term gains and short-term gains. Short-term gains are the taxable profits you made from the sale of stock you held for less than a year. They don’t benefit from any special tax rate. The value, minus the basis, is usually taxed depending on your income. Long-term gains are the taxable profits you made from the sale of a stock that you held for over a year. The tax rates on these are much cheaper. In fact, if your ordinary income tax is less than 15%, there’s a chance you’ll pay no capital gains tax at all.

Keeping a record

When it comes time to file your taxes, you need to have everything in order. You’re not going to be taxed for every single stock; that’s unreasonable and will hurt the IRS’s calculator fingers. What you need to do throughout the year is work with your stock broker to record all of your gains and losses. These should be arranged into short-term and long-term. Oddly enough, this is when you find out whether or not you actually made a short-term gain or loss in the long run. If all your short-term losses outweigh all your short-term gains, then you’ve made a short-term loss. Whatever the result, put the calculation on Schedule D when you’re filing your taxes.

A loss isn’t a total loss

Revenue agencies aren’t completely heartless. Keep a record of your losses. You can use these losses to offset any future capital gains tax you incur!

Share to Explore !!

Facebook

Digg

Pinterest

Twitter

Reddit

Linkedin

StumbleUpon

Tumblr

Print

email

Yummly

Buffer