October 18, 2006
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There are a vast number of investment opportunities available to potential investors, but not all of them are right for all purposes. The most common types of investments are stocks and bonds. Stocks are shares of individual companies, while bonds are government-issued investment funds. Both can be great for starting in the investing market, but you should know a little about the difference between the two before making your investment.
Stocks
Stocks can help balance out a bond-heavy portfolio by providing diversification
Stock dividends also receive more favorable tax treatment than bond payouts.
If you make the decision that stocks may be the place for you to put your investment dollars, you must now determine the primary purpose of your stock investment.
The two primary stock investment goals are income and growth. You can have a combination of the two in one stock investment, but the features are almost never equal. In other words, although growth and income may co-exist in a particular stock investment, the investment choice you make should take into account the primary strength of the stock.
Growth Stock vs. Income Stock
Growth stock is stock in a company that doesn’t pay cash dividends, but instead reinvests its profits into the company. The idea behind this strategy is that the company will continue to grow and become more profitable, driving the stock price up.
Income stock is stock in well-established companies that do not need to reinvest their profits into their companies and therefore use their profits to pay dividends to stockholders. Income stock is often more expensive because the income stream and security of the investment is greater.
Mutual Funds
Many investors invest in the stock market through mutual funds. Mutual funds are professionally managed and are easier to diversify your investments in, which makes them less risky than investing in individual stocks. You still have to research what type of stock will best suit your goals, but the average investor finds it less stressful to invest in the stock market through this method.
Bonds
Bonds, though some consider them “safer” than stocks, still come with risks. Some bond funds offer enticing payouts but may take big chances to do so, including venturing into lower-quality and longer-duration credits; if your funds’ bonds lose value, you could see your principal shrink even though you’re pocketing a healthy yield. Checking a fund’s quarterly losses can be an easy way to see whether you could stomach a given fund’s short-term losses. There’s nothing wrong with making room for some higher-yielding bond funds around the margins of your portfolio, but consider these income-heavy funds to be side items because of their greater potential for volatility.
And while paying for high-quality financial advice can be money well spent, think carefully before paying a sales charge for a bond fund. If you’re paying a 3.75% load to buy a bond fund (and that’s a pretty low load), you’re surrendering most of your first year’s income payments from the get-go.
Individual Bonds vs. Bond Funds Many investors prefer to invest in individual bonds rather than bond funds. While that’s a reasonable tack if you’re buying Treasury securities or perhaps even extremely high-quality corporate bonds, it makes sense to opt for a professionally managed bond fund for every other type of fixed-income security. Not only will a mutual fund offer you much more diversification (and therefore lower risk) than you could obtain by buying individual bonds, but smaller investors who are buying and selling individual bonds are also at a big disadvantage when it comes to trading costs.
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About the Author
John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help homeowners find the best available loans via the www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.
A beginner usually feels very attracted to the stock market while for example discovering a stock that’s being reported in CNBC or the news program and watching it rise fast and make new highs from $10 to $35 in just 2 months.
While learning about this successful news story he’s saying to himself … ” Oh boy if I was one of those lucky guys who bought that stock back when it was priced at $10 i easily would have tripled my money by now … That means my 20 grand would transformed in to a whooping 70 K ! hassle free … I would have been able to grab one of those big HUMMERs on the spot and probably pick up a nice Rolex by the way !
The stock market news constantly reports of hot stocks that are breaking out and making tremendous gains on the same day or doubling in price in just a few hours. Back in the bull market of the late 90’s you could easily see a good number of hot stocks sprouting out every week.
Those years surely made it look like every body could easily take LONG SHOTS and make a shiny pile of gold every day in the stock market. But today’s market is a different story. A totally different animal.
Some say that the stock market has gotten more realistic. Fantasy land is over and GAMBLING YOUR WAY TO RICHES is not an option anymore. You might get lucky a few times, but your constant loses can wipe you out sooner or later.
The fact that the bull market period has ended for now doesn’t mean that you can’t make a great deal of money in today’s market. A lot folks from many walks of life keep making excellent profits on a daily basis, pocketing hundreds & thousands of dollars by trading stocks online.
Success in stock trading & investing starts by applying a wiser and REALISTIC methodology for choosing stocks as well as for getting in and out of them with profits in mind.
You need to look at the stock market more realistically. You got to learn that you can benefit when stocks go up and also when they FALL down. You got to WORK SMARTER and get more selective about the hot stock trading opportunities that you choose. You need to embrace the nature of day trading and be fully prepared to take advantage of stocks that are poised for a BIG RISE on the same day.
I think the worst thing that can happen to a beginner stock trader is to get information overload. It’s better to go step by step, and test a simple strategy that can show you how to focus on concrete ways to make money.
For more information on how to choose and approach stocks that can make big gains on the same day visit Chat Hot Stocks today at http://www.ChatHotStocks.com
In the end, stock market investing & trading is all about buying and selling according to your knowledge filter. Once you master and follow youre proven filter parameters like a clock, you can expect to start making serious amounts of cash on a consistent basis.
About the Author
Chat Hot Stocks helps day traders and investors pick hot stock trading opportunities every day at http://www.ChatHotStocks.com
