Developing An Investment Strategy

By Micheal Jones

There are a few things to take into consideration when developing your investment strategy.

Corporate Actions A good way that you can predict whether a specific stock may fluctuate upwards or downwards is by checking into the individual company with which you intend to invest. If there is an impending action on the part of the company such as a take-over or a merger then you may see a dramatic increase in the share price even if the market trends in general are taking a downturn. You can increase your chance of beating the market average by simply knowing a bit of information about a company.

Dividends Another great trick for knowing ahead of time in which direction the share prices will go is to know when the dividend payments will be paid. Some investors actually only invest for the purpose of dividend farming.

This simply means that they will purchase the stocks to take the dividend yields and then sell them when they become ex dividend. You may see a relatively cheap stock, but you should check to see if it is ex or cum dividend. Buying a stock ex dividend means that you are not entitled to the dividend allocation of the stock that you bought. The person who is selling that stock receives the dividend and then sells it at a lower price to you.

Opinions Finally, there is the fact that people are much like sheep; if one says sell then most of the herd will surely follow. If the media says to sell then you shouldn?t just sell blindly, you should investigate further and make your own decision.

Remember that the media is not paid to give you a good bargain or opportunity. The same is true for family and friends, too. Just be confident in your own investment strategy and don?t be afraid to go against the herd if you?ve done your homework and know your own mind.

Michael Jones is an expert investor and hedge fund manager; find out what he has to say about investing in the Australian Share Market and the best approach for investing. - 23212

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US Dollar (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

You should understand the role of monetary and fiscal policy in strengthening or weakening the US Dollar or that matter any other currency is important. Who makes the monetary policy in any country? It is the Central Bank of that country. The Federal Reserve Board (FED) is responsible for making the monetary policy of United States. Through its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), FED sets and implements the monetary policy. The voting members of FOMC are the seven governors of FED plus five presidents of the district reserve banks. The meetings of FOMC are widely watched by the analyst for interest rate announcements and changes in growth expectations. Eight meeting of FOMC are held every year.

FED has the mandate for long run price stability and sustainable economic growth. FED has a high degree of independence in setting the monetary policy. FED uses the monetary policy to control inflation, unemployment and balanced growth. The most important tool used by FED is its Open Market Operations.

Open market operations involve FEDs sale or purchase of government securities that includes treasury bills, notes and bonds. In increase in FEDs purchases lowers the interest rates while selling of these securities raises the interest rate.

Federal Fund Rate is the key policy target of the FED. It is the interest rate at which the banks lend overnight to one another. The primary interest rate that is affected by these operations is the Federal Fund Rate.

The other main pillar of economic policy is the fiscal policy. Who controls the fiscal policy? The governments in almost all the countries! Fiscal policy means the amount of taxes and government spending for a given year. The US fiscal policy is in the control of US Treasury. In fact it is the US Treasury that actually determines the US Dollar policy.

You should always try to watch the US Treasury views as changes to that view is very important for the currency markets. For example, US Treasury can give instructions to the New York Federal Reserve Board to intervene in the forex markets by actually buying or selling US Dollars if the US Treasury feels that the US Dollar is under or overvalued.

EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD and USD/CHF are the most heavily traded currency pairs in the global currency markets. These currency pairs represent the most frequently traded currency pairs in the global markets. Over 90% of all currency deals involve the US Dollar. As you can see, all these currency pairs involve US Dollar on either side of the pair. So the most important economic data for the global currency markets is the US Dollar fundamentals.

The relationship between Gold and US Dollar is very important for you to understand. There is an almost perfect negative correlation between the US Dollar and the gold prices. The US Dollar moves in opposite direction to the gold. This inverse relationship stems from the fact that gold is measured in US Dollars.

When US Dollar depreciates due to global economic uncertainty like the present, gold appreciates. Similarly when the US Dollar will appreciate on the news of US economic recovery, gold prices will go down. Gold is commonly viewed as the ultimate safe haven commodity by the investors all over the globe. You must know that the gold prices are going up right now and have reached very high levels. Gold trading and currency trading can be a very powerful combination. - 23212

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try Strignano's Forex Signals free. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot Trading System!

Evolutionary Investing

By Michele Perdue

Our hard wiring through evolution has resulted in a short circuit that makes us more apt to risk losing money if we start worrying about not earning it. The majority of investors are busy worrying about their missed opportunities.

Reflection is important but attention should be focused on the purchases that were mistakes rather than the non-purchases that we regret. Mistakes are costly and the missed opportunities do not affect us but to be there as a reminder that we chose the wrong investments.

A useful analogy might be found in a book (more than a decade old) called Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins. This science writer, evolutionary biologist and provocateur talks about strategies that are available to the animals with high metabolisms, such as small birds, that has the need to find food often in order to stay alive. Imagine that the bird is flying around seeking its prey and is surrounded by twigs that may hold some cleverly camouflaged caterpillars. If the bird got close and examined the twig a moment it may be able to distinguish between twig and caterpillar quite readily.

But, this is problematic for the bird as it cannot examine each of the numerous twigs lest it starve while looking for its first meal. It needs to take a faster approach, scan rapidly at a more cursory level even if it means missing out on many caterpillars. Finding the right balance between a deep scan and one that is more cursory but still effective is important. Too cursory will mean that the bird never finds anything and starves; to detailed and the bird may find too few and starve.

This is the same thing we must do as investors. If we waste time on a twig, we?ll never find a caterpillar; and we really can't afford to think about all those missed caterpillars. An optimal investment strategy will be profitable while leaving a number of the good opportunities untouched. Birds don?t fret over their missed caterpillars and neither should you.

Investing is a tricky thing to master. Get some great advice and investment tips from a leading expert and hedge fund manager, Andrew Baxter. - 23212

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If you wish to learn the best information on investing today you need to check out this free video right now!

The Best Software You Can Use to Get Debt Free

By Sean Payne

If you're still in debt, you may have noticed that many people who have successfully gotten out of debt tend to use some kind of debt free software. There's a reason for why they do this: It works great!

There's a saying that Success leaves clues. This means that people who are successful in getting out of debt have done specific things that got them out of debt, and that by doing the same things that they've done, you can get out of debt, too.

Most people who have successfully gotten out of debt did so by making a plan to pay off their debts, and then working their plan. If you have made a plan for paying off your debts, the right debt-free software will help you stick with your plan.

My favorite software for getting out of debt is budgeting software. I personally use an Excel spreadsheet called You Need A Budget, and it has done wonders for helping me to get out of debt. I attribute all of my success in paying off my debts to the fact that I use budgeting software.

There are plenty of other excellent budgeting software programs. One of the "big daddies" of budgeting is called Mvelopes Personal, which is a web-based budgeting program that lets you work with your budget from almost anywhere that has an Internet connection. Mvelopes also looks at your bank accounts to automatically enter transactions into your budget.

One free budgeting program is Mint. Its also a web-based budgeting system, but it doesn't cost anything to use. One unique feature of Mint is that it compares the rates you're paying on your debt to offers from credit card companies. If it finds a better rate for you, it will let you know, and it could end up saving you hundreds of dollars while you're working to pay off your debt. Similarly, if it finds a bank account that pays a higher interest rate than yours, it will let you know, giving you the potential of earning much more money on your savings.

In addition to budgeting programs, there are plenty of other debt reduction software programs that will help you follow your plan for getting out of debt.

Intuit's Quicken and Microsoft's Money are both programs that can help you so create a budget and manage the rest of your finances. Both of these programs have related capabilities, so whichever one you decide to use, they'll both do about the same thing. One of the complaints I have about these two programs is that they do too much. They have so many features that you will probably be distracted from your plan to get out of debt.

My best advice to get out of debt in a hurry is to stay with a dedicated budgeting program. A good budgeting program will help you keep track of your expenses, debts, and income. Don't make the mistake of getting into a complicated program that has way too many features. Even a basic spreadsheet that you make can help you, but I suggest that you use a program that has a reputation for helping people to get out of debt.

Regardless of which software you use to help you get out of debt, start today, and continue to use the same software until you get out of debt. Be consistent in using it, daily or weekly depending on your situation, and your software program will help you to quickly get out of debt. - 23212

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If you're serious about paying off all your debts, the right debt free software can get you out of debt much faster. Check out Sean Payne's great advice at his budgeting software program website.

How To Invest In The Australian Stock Market

By Michele Perdue

The heart of the stock market system in Australia is the Sydney Stock Exchange. The exchange lets investors both foreign and domestic supply the regional companies with the funds that are needed in order to expand the economy of Australia. You can be among the investors that deal with the yop-performing companies in the Australian market in just a few simple steps.

Your first step is to hire a broker that is registered with the Australian Stock Exchange; this stockbroker will be able to help you fill out the agreement forms, set up your international account for the trades and give you valuable advice on the changes and trends before you begin to invest.

Investment clubs are popular because they let the investors share the learning experience of how the stock exchanges work; you should gather some friends and fellow investors in an investment club to follow the Australian stock market together. When your club meets you should discuss your individual portfolios as well as observe the rising stocks.

In order to counteract the riskier investments it is advisable to purchase some futures in the Australian stock exchange. The people who invest in the futures will sell their shares back at a predetermined time with the price established before any transactions are made. Using this investment too you can have longer range stocks mixed in with the day trading.

One of the rapidly expanding industries in which to invest is the biotechnology industry. Take advantage of the rapid expansion of the biotechnology industry by investing in some of the hundreds of publicly owned and traded biotech firms that are accessible to the foreign investors. These are the ideal stocks if your intent is to invest over a long term in an industry that is gradually growing.

There are other things to consider and more investing options, Andrew Baxter who is an expert investor and hedge fund manager can offer you some great insights about investing in the Australian Share Market. - 23212

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