Profit From an IRA Mortgage Investment

Bothered by all the fallout in the subprime mortgage industry? This article shows you how to find a reliable borrower and profit from it instead.

If you have a traditional IRA and decide that you want to diversify yourself into private mortgage investing, the first step is to find an IRA custodian that facilitates this kind of investment and initiate a tax-free transfer to that custodian. Most major financial institutions can do this, but other companies such as Pensco (see Resources below) may have fewer net worth and income requirements.

Once the funds have been moved, you will need to authorize the IRA custodian to invest in a specific mortgage note. Either you can find the note yourself or a mortgage note broker can find you one for a fee. A quick Internet search for private notes should locate a broker in your area. Novice investors should probably pursue this avenue, at least until they become familiar with the process.

Although there are exceptions, in most cases you will need at least $50,000 to begin this type of program. You can purchase either a new note or an existing loan, usually at a discount. There are many loan servicing companies and brokers that also offer payment collection services and go after delinquent borrowers. Sellerloans.com is one such company (see Resources below).

Historically, this type of direct investment has yielded returns in the 9 to 14 percent category, and the yields at this point are nearing the high end of the spectrum due to the lack of liquidity.

Tips & Warnings

• Many bank trust departments and brokerage firms can provide this service, but as mentioned previously, they may have net worth and income requirements that must be met before they will proceed.
• Investing directly in mortgage notes can be an involved process in some cases, therefore investors should do their homework and research the matter thoroughly before committing.

By ehow.com

CNBC's Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge

CNBC has just started another million dollar portfolio challenge. This has been a huge hit for CNBC.com in its past contests, so they decided to come back with another contest despite the terrible current conditions of the stock market.

First things first, if you aren't registered for CNBC.com you must do so. It only takes a couple of minutes to register so it really isn't that big of a deal. You select a username to be known as in the market contest as well.

Understand the contest time period. The Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge began November 17th and will end on February 9th. You can signup anytime during this period, but the sooner you signup the better your chances of winning.

Understand the rules of the contest. You are given 1 million CNBC bucks, fictional money, to trade stocks and ETF's. You are allowed to create up to five separate portfolios to compete in this contest. There are weekly winners for the first ten weeks and then those ten weekly winners will face off for the overall top prize. The overall top prize in this contest is $500,000.

Take some risks! How should you go about trying to win this Million Dollar Challenge on CNBC.com? You have to understand that this is not at all like a normal stock portfolio, rather it is a short term game. You won't win this game if you don't take big risks. Remember you are playing with fictional money, so you can afford to do that.

To win the cash you must move fast! You must keep up with this portfolio constantly if you wish to be a weekly or overall winner. The market is moving faster than ever now, and you must be able to trade and make huge profits in the short run to come out on top.

Tips & Warnings

• Signup soon to make your chances better.
• Trade in stocks that are low priced stocks and ones that are extremely volatile.
• Don't use a typical buy and hold strategy or you won't win this contest.

By ehow.com

How to not lose all your money in the forex market

Foreign exchange trading is not a new investment but nowadays is more easily accessible to the not so wealthy. Whenever venturing out into any type of investment your number one goal should be to NOT lose money.

First things first. Before even opening a demo account much less a real account. You'll need to know how money works. Yes I said how money works. Money always prefers to be treated nicely. Money follows where it is treated best. Lets use an example in step two so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about

Alright. In this example we are going to use two countries. The united states or America and Canada. Now lets say the united states has an interest rate of 2.75 percent and Canada has an interest rate of 3.75 percent. Money is going to tend to flow towards a higher interest rate. So that means investors are going to start dumping there money in bonds with Canada because they can make more money. If I had a choice between 2.75 percent and 3.75 percent naturally I'm going to pick 3.75 percent.

Pretty simple so far right? Well its not that simple unfortunately. You see there are other factors you have to account for as well. Is Canada's unemployment rate higher than the united states. If so investors might seem unsure of the direction of Canada's economy. While Canada would have a higher interest rate the united states would seem a safer place to park money even if it had a lower interest rate. Is inflation on the rise in the united states if so investors and/or banks might think that the united states is headed for trouble and view Canada as a safer bet.

The point i'm trying to make to you wether you have a live forex account or kinda tinkering around with a demo account is that there are countless factors that affect the forex market. Don't just look at your charts, see a currency move up and decide "hey i think i'll buy" it may be moving up in a short term but the foundation of the currency might be cracking from underlying problems with the country of its orgin and ready to collapse. You do not what to get caught in a collapse. When I first started trading i got caught in one and lost about a thousand dollars in roughly two hours. Not a good feeling trust me and i don't want that to happen to you.

Well i hope this little how to helped out some. I hate to see people lose money. I trully beleive in the law of abundance. This law states that there is enough money to go around for everyone. We just have to make good decisions but we need to do our homework first to make those decisions. Remember that bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered. Words to live by in the investment world.

Tips & Warnings

• Always make an informed trade
• Never get greedy take your profits and be happy with them
• Never trade based on hope and faith
• Never buy forex signals, they don't work, none of them
• Never buy forex material, everything you need is free on the internet just search around for it
• Please research before making a trade

By ehow.com

50. How to Set Trade Position Size for Maximum Profits

This is a video I found on YouTube by InformedTrades.com. Hopefully the information I provide will be useful to everyone.

A leIn yesterday's lesson we talked about the martingale and anti martingale methods of trading which are the two categories which position sizing methodologies fall...

NOT Buy and Hold Stocks

"Buy and Hold" is a popular investment strategy. This article attempts to prove that strategy wrong, and provide a better alternative.

"Buy-and-Hold" is a passive investment strategy in which an investor buys stocks and holds them for long periods of time, regardless of movements in the market. An investor who uses a "buy-and-hold" strategy selects stocks, and once they are purchased, is not worried about short-term price movements or technical indicators.

Conventional investing wisdom tells us that with a long time horizon, stocks generate a higher return than other assets like bonds. But there is debate over whether a buy-and-hold strategy is actually better than an active investing strategy. Both sides have valid arguments. A buy-and-hold strategy has tax benefits, because long-term investments tend to be taxed at a lower rate than short-term investments. But now let's look at how a more active investing strategy would render greater returns.

Look at the picture for this article. The graph represents the performance of Apple's stock from July of 2005 to the end of 2006. The stock goes from $40 in July of '05 to $87 in February of '06. Then it goes back down by July of '06 and back up to $90 in December. If you were a buy-and-hold investor and bought Apple stock at $40 in July of 2005 and sold it at $90 in December of 2006, you would have made a great profit - more than doubling your money.

Now let's examine what a more active investor might have done (obviously hindsight is 20/20). Ideally, you would have bought the stock at $40. At that point, you must be constantly researching the stock, following its fluctuations, and looking for an opportunity to sell the stock to take some profit. If you were doing this, you might have been able to sell the stock at let's say $80.

Continuing to follow your stock, you would have had the opportunity to buy Apple stock back at around $50, and sold it after it went back up past $85 to $90. This strategy of active investing obviously has the potential to generate much greater returns than the typical buy-and-hold style. * I will not attempt to teach in this article how exactly to know when to buy and when to sell a stock (I have written other articles titled "How to Know When to Buy a Stock" and "How to Know When to Sell a Stock"). But through reading books and practicing yourself, you will be able to create your own investments strategy that best suits your personality and needs.

By how.com

How to not lose all your money in the forex

Foreign exchange trading is not a new investment but nowadays is more easily accessible to the not so wealthy. Whenever venturing out into any type of investment your number one goal should be to NOT lose money.

First things first. Before even opening a demo account much less a real account. You'll need to know how money works. Yes I said how money works. Money always prefers to be treated nicely. Money follows where it is treated best. Lets use an example in step two so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about

Alright. In this example we are going to use two countries. The united states or America and Canada. Now lets say the united states has an interest rate of 2.75 percent and Canada has an interest rate of 3.75 percent. Money is going to tend to flow towards a higher interest rate. So that means investors are going to start dumping there money in bonds with Canada because they can make more money. If I had a choice between 2.75 percent and 3.75 percent naturally I'm going to pick 3.75 percent.

Pretty simple so far right? Well its not that simple unfortunately. You see there are other factors you have to account for as well. Is Canada's unemployment rate higher than the united states. If so investors might seem unsure of the direction of Canada's economy. While Canada would have a higher interest rate the united states would seem a safer place to park money even if it had a lower interest rate. Is inflation on the rise in the united states if so investors and/or banks might think that the united states is headed for trouble and view Canada as a safer bet.

The point i'm trying to make to you wether you have a live forex account or kinda tinkering around with a demo account is that there are countless factors that affect the forex market. Don't just look at your charts, see a currency move up and decide "hey i think i'll buy" it may be moving up in a short term but the foundation of the currency might be cracking from underlying problems with the country of its orgin and ready to collapse. You do not what to get caught in a collapse. When I first started trading i got caught in one and lost about a thousand dollars in roughly two hours. Not a good feeling trust me and i don't want that to happen to you.

Well i hope this little how to helped out some. I hate to see people lose money. I trully beleive in the law of abundance. This law states that there is enough money to go around for everyone. We just have to make good decisions but we need to do our homework first to make those decisions. Remember that bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered. Words to live by in the investment world.

Tips & Warnings

• Always make an informed trade
• Never get greedy take your profits and be happy with them
• Never trade based on hope and faith
• Never buy forex signals, they don't work, none of them
• Never buy forex material, everything you need is free on the internet just search around for it
• Please research before making a trade

By ehow.com

Make Money Online with FOREX

Looking for a big way to make money online or work from home? More and more people are discovering the benefits of working with Forex. Here's how to get free info, free Forex practice, and start your work from home adventure.

FOREX = FOREIGN EXCHANGE. Forex trading is exchanging one type of currency for another. For instance, trading American dollars for the equivalent value of Euro. In this scenario, you are selling American dollars and buying Euros. It is a form of trading that does not involve the transfer of property or assets other than money/currency.

MAKING MONEY WITH FOREX. Trading currency for profit is a guessing game, often referred to as 'speculation'. You 'speculate' that a particular currency will go up or down in value. Like trading stock, when you believe a currency is about to go up in value, you move to purchase it at its current low rate. You do this by selling a currency you believe will be of less value than the currency you are purchasing. EXAMPLE: You have $50 US dollars that you believe will be less valuable in the near future. At the same time, you see that the Euro is about to go UP in value. As a Forex trader, your speculations would suggest you should exchange the $50 US for the equivalent value of Euro. If, as you predicted, the Euro increases in value while the US Dollar does not, you will earn money as your Euros rise. However, if your speculations are wrong, and the US Dollar thrives while the Euro takes an unexpected dive, you will lose money.

LEARN ABOUT FOREX. Before you invest in Forex trading, you should have a good idea of the rules. Gain Capital Group's website, Forex.com provides basic tutorials and advanced instruction for traders of all experience levels. Learn about trends and warning signs in the market. Make use of their free resources to make an informed decision about working from home as a Forex trader.

PRACTICE FOREX. Rarely are we given the chance to try our hand at making money before we invest. Forex trading is unique in that you have the ability to try it without investing a cent, for as long as a month. To making money online with Forex, visit the link listed in the resources. This will direct you to a 30 day practice session with Forex trading. In this practice session, you will not be using real money, so there is no chance of financial loss if you are not particularly good at Forex trading. Likewise, if you discover your practice investments make money, don't forget that it's not real money. You will not make or lose money with the 30 day free practice session. However, you might discover you have a wildly profitable talent to make money online as a trader.

JOIN A FOREX TRADING GROUP. If you are pleased with your results from the 30 day free practice session, and you feel confident about your ability to make money online with real Forex trading, you will have to join a trading group. This is a simple process that generally requires a small fee. Simply perform a Google search for such groups.

Tips & Warnings

• REMEMBER!!! YOU COULD LOSE BIG MONEY!!! While the practice session uses make believe money, real Forex trading takes directly from your wallet. This is real money and you can REALLY lose it. While the potential for massive gains exists, the potential for huge financial losses is real as well.
• SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE IS NOT A PROMISE. Even if you have 30 days of perfect practice trading, there's no promise your real trading will always go as well. Even the most successful Forex traders experience loss at times. Limit your investment to reflect a level of financial loss you would be comfortable with.

By ehow.com

49. Trading The Martingale and Anti Martingale Strategies

This is a video I found on YouTube by InformedTrades.com. Hopefully the information I provide will be useful to everyone.

A lesson on the two different categories that position sizing strategies fall into when used in the forex, futures, and stock market. ur last lesson we looked at

Make Money Faster

Making money is not hard to do, but making lots in a short time span can be. Here are some great ways you can make money faster.

Time. For the most part time has a lot to do with making money. The amount of time and effort you spend on something typically will reflect your return. Whether that be in starting your own business, the stock market, etc. So the more time you invest, the bigger the payoff.

eHow. Starting out writing articles for ehow can sometimes be discouraging by listening to how well other people are doing, while you are making pennies. But do not fret, this can be you as well. Give yourself an amount of time each day to write, the more you write, the more you are likely to earn. Before you know it, you could be making hundreds a month through ehow.

The stock market. The more money that you invest at one time will yield you a bigger return. But be sure that you have done your research for the certain stock or stock option that you have invested in. Because just as quickly as you can earn the money, you can lose it too.

By ehow.com

Learn How to Day Trade

There are many ways that you can teach yourself on how to become a successful day trader and here are a few of them.

Take a business class. This is a great way to learn how to day trade. Make sure the class you sign up for has to do with stock market and not just business in general. That way you will learn specifics not just about trading daily. This will help you when you start to day trade.

Youtube. Youtube has many people that have submitted lessons on the stock market. While some are not very helpful, many of them are. So be sure to look around youtube for some great advice. Make sure that the person actually knows what they are talking about though.

Watch the market. Day trading has a lot to do with real time trading. So you want to make sure you are constantly watching what is going on. Because within minutes a stock can plummet and you don't want to lose all of your money.

Books. Many bookstores will carry books over the stock market and how to make good decisions with your money. They have information on anything you want to know, such as, stocks, stock options, techniques, high risk, low risk, etc.

48. Why Fixed Position Sizing Is Not the Best Way to Trade

This is a video I found on YouTube by InformedTrades.com. Hopefully the information I provide will be useful to everyone.

A lesson on how using a standard amount per trade when trading the stock, futures, or forex markets is not the best way to go. In yesterday's lesson we introduced

How to Invest Young

Start early and use the time advantage you have in hand to learn, research and build your future.

Save or invest your money automatic! You need to have a plan to do so. If you work and your company offer 401K plan you can start contribute toward your future by automatically contribute to your retirement plan every month from your paycheck.

Pay yourself first Pay yourself first! Save some percentage of your income every month in separate account before you use it for anything else. If you don't do this you may end up spending all of your money. Then in the future you can use this account to invest in real estate, businesses, paper asset, etc.

Invest your time Invest your time to learn! There are many different investment vehicle out there. You need to invest your time to learn before you invest your money.

Learn to invest your money Learn about trading stocks, options, commodities, index, volatility, etc. Learn about real estate investment such as rental houses, apartment, commercial property and other income producing properties.

Building a business Learn about building a business base on your hobby or your interest! In example if your hobby is writing and traveling then you may can start a blog about traveling. If your hobby is art and craft you may can sell them offline and online. In the future you can monetize your blog or have your own art and craft store offline and online (e-commerce).

By ehow.com

Keep Your Money Safe in a Recession

You’re nervous. The stock market is acting like a roller coaster and you would love to have a crystal ball to plot your next more. While reading tealeaves might not be a bad idea right now, there are some more conventional ways to keep your money safe when the nation is teetering on the brink of an economic downturn. Learn how to assess Money Market funds and shift your money to safe investments.

Find out how safe your money is in the bank. Check out EDIE – The Estimator. Run by the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission, EDIE allows you to search each bank where you have money to see how safe it is. (See Resources below)

Choose a less aggressive Money Market fund if yours is earning over 2 1/2-percent. Anything over that is too risky in a bear market. Reinvest in a more modest Money Market fund and stay safe.

Buy up some Treasury bills. These are safe investments in a bear market with a recession on the horizon. Select from 30-cay, 60-day or 90-day maturity dates if you have cash to invest. You can buy Treasury bills online at the Treasury Direct website. (See Resources)

Take out a HELOC now, before you need it. If you have a lot of equity in your home and are nervous about your income or your ability to pay your bills, ask your bank about taking out a Home Equity Line of Credit now, while you’re financially healthy. That way, you’ll have it available if you fall on hard times.

By ehow.com

47. Why Position Sizing is So Important in Trading

This is a video I found on YouTube by InformedTrades.com. Hopefully the information I provide will be useful to everyone.

A lesson on why position sizing is one of the most important aspects to consider when trading the stock, futures and forex markets. So far in the lessons leading u...

How to invest like Warren Buffett

Investing like Warren Buffett is certainly not easy, but using some of his basic principles makes a lot of sense. Don't expect to get the amazing returns that Buffett has, but use his bottom up approach to finding stocks that have value in order to prop up your bottom line.

Warren Buffett has become the most famous investor in the world by being extremely successful finding valuable companies trading at a discount. Buffett credits his mentor, Benjamin Graham, as the reason for his successes. Understanding the basics of Graham and Buffetts philosophy can help you be much more profitable in your investing. Ben Graham's Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor are both books that help provide some of that much neededed information.

Stocks or businesses? One of the keys to investing like Warren Buffett is understanding that you are buying businesses and not stocks. When you buy a stock you are becoming a partial owner in that company, meaning you have a stake in their success. Don't treat it just as a piece of paper or something from your computer screen, but rather a business you have a large interest in.

Invest and do not trade. Warren Buffett believes completely in buying undervalued companies and holding onto them for the long run. Buffett believes that things such as derivatives are harmful to the normal investor and that day trading isn't the way to make a living in the stock market.

Can this company coin money year after year? Understand a company's economic moat. A company is said to have economic moat when it's cash flows are protected from competition. It is a continuous and sustainable competitive advantage that a company has over its peers. Buffett has consistently said that a wide economic moat is one of the most important things in any investment choice.

Keep emotions out of investing and use intrinsic values to guide your investment judgement rather than the pundits predictions. The market often overshoots on both the upside and the downside so Buffett is famously coined as saying "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful."

Tips & Warnings

• In order to understand Buffett's ideas even better, check out what he owns in his own company, Berkshire Hathaway.
• Do not get trigger happy with stocks. Allow your investment to have time to play itself out.

By ehow.com

How to invest like Peter Lynch

Peter Lynch is one of the greatest investors ever, so quite obviously you would want to get the returns he did. How did he go about managing a top performing fund and how can you apply that to your portfolio?

First of all, who is Peter Lynch? Peter Lynch is now a research consultant for Fidelity Investments. He has worked with the company since 1966. Between 1977 and 1990 he managed Fidelity Magellan, the world's most successful mutual fund during that period. He achieved a stunning annual return of 29% over those years.

Look for these books at a nearby bookstore Peter Lynch has written two great books called "One up on Wall Street" and "Beating the Street." These are two great ways to get inside of the mind of an investment genious that can help you make money.

Peter Lynch's biggest key to investing in a company is to know what you own. Lynch believes that an investor should be able to be completely understand the company and how it works and earns money before they invest in it.

Good management is absolutely vital to a company's well-being. Lynch states numerous times that one of the main lessons he learned is to do your research and see how the current management has done and if it is poorly, even if the product seems great you should stay away. There are lots of ways for bad management to ruin a great idea.

In order to invest like Peter Lynch you must be a long term investor. Lynch believes that predicting where the market will be in 2 or 3 years is a coin flip, but over a 10 or 20 year period the market is relatively predictable. Do not worry yourself with short term fluctuations.

Don't ignore that light bulb Don't shy away from buying stock in companies you deal with on a daily basis. Use the information that you have about a specific company or product to your advantage. By doing this you are actually ahead of the wall street insiders. Buy what you already know!

By ehow.com

46. How To Protect Your Trading Profits with Trailing Stops

This is a video I found on YouTube by InformedTrades.com. Hopefully the information I provide will be useful to everyone.

A lesson on how to traders use trailing stops when trading the stock, futures, and forex markets. In yesterday's lesson we talked about some of the psychological

Invest in the Stock Market During this Financial Crisis

Our economy has experienced some tumultuous times of late. Has the market hit a bottom? Is it time to jump back in and invest in the stock market....?

The stock market has dropped about 37% in the past year. Investment accounts and retirement funds have undoubtedly plummeted as well. It is tough to know what to do in this environment. Experts disagree with each other daily on CNBC. The big mutual fund managers have lost money too. I don't pretend to be any smarter than all the experts. So you can take my advice for what it's worth. But I do believe that I can provide some valuable tips.

Be Cautious This has to be the most important aspect of your investment strategy. Caution. Don't begin investing all your cash in the market at once. It it too difficult to 'call a bottom'. You nor I nor anyone knows when exactly the bottom is. Maybe we already hit a bottom. But maybe not. And that's why you have to be cautious.

Do Your Research You must know everything about the stock or mutual fund you plan to purchase. Read every single news story about it before you buy it. Look at the cash flow statement (available on Yahoo Finance) - make sure the company has sufficient cash to operate in this crazy environment.

Buy Slowly Once you have made your decision to buy a stock, don't buy it all at once. For example, if you plan on buying 100 shares total, buy it in four sets of 25. This way, if it goes down after your first purchase, you can buy some more - on sale. After you've made your decision to buy, be firm with that decision. If it goes down, don't panic. Use it as an opportunity to buy more shares at a better price. These steps are obviously basic, but very essential.

By ehow.com

Invest in Real Estate with Little Money or Experience

If you are thinking of investing in real estate and have very little money and less experience, there are still ways you can do this. There are many people who have made quite a bit of money doing this. With interest rates at an all time low this is the time to invest. The money you can make when you buy property and either resell or rent it can be an income that you can live on.

Consider foreclosures and tax aales. There are many ways to buy real estate with little money. Finding a foreclosure or a tax sale home can be the way to go. There are also for sale by owner homes that many people will carry the note on if you have a down payment. When you purchase a home this way, you can either rent it for more than the mortgage payments or you can resell the home, pay it off, and have extra to purchase another home.

Consider apartment complexes. One of the ways you can make even more money would be to purchase apartment complexes. The potential for earnings using this method is quite a bit more than purchasing a home. If you buy an apartment complex that has as few as four apartments, consider what your monthly income could be if the real estate is in an area that rents for a good price. The amount could pay your mortgage and leave enough for you to live on comfortably. If you invest in several apartments, hire a management company to take care of everything for you and sit back and collect the rent, you will be generating a good income.

Utilize government programs. Some options are available through government sponsored programs, cities and counties. Some counties or cities will allow you to buy homes at a very cheap price if they need renovating to help the economy and to keep from having them torn down. This is especially true in areas where housing is at a premium and people are having a hard time finding homes.

Know your options. There are various ways to purchase homes with little money or experience. All you have to do is be willing to check into a few options and check with your city or county about laws and procedures that are required when you buy property. The tax sales that your county has are another excellent way of purchasing property. The back taxes are paid by you and the owner of the property has a time limit to either pay you the taxes back with interest or the property becomes yours. This is a no-lose situation and many times homes have been purchased for a fraction of their worth. By purchasing property so cheaply, if you decide to rent or resell, the money you will be making will be all profit after the taxes are paid.

In conclusion, there are many options for investing in real estate with little or no money. Simply consider foreclosures and tax sales, apartment complexes, government programs, and more. By doing this, you will be able to find a great deal and profit handsomely for your efforts. Good luck!

By ehow.com

45. Stop Your Mind From Causing You to Take Profits Too Soon

This is a video I found on YouTube by InformedTrades.com. Hopefully the information I provide will be useful to everyone.

A lesson on psychology of trading and how it relates to people's inability to let their profits run when trading the stock, futures, or forex markets.