Top Ten Investment Tips

1. Diversify

The expression, "don't put all your eggs in one basket" is meaningful when it comes to investing. Don't put all your money in one stock. Also, buy fixed income securities (i.e. bonds) and stocks. Don't pick only one type of investment.

2. Do Your Homework

Obtain and analyze as much information as possible before making your investment decisions. This will alert you of any problems a company may have, or what to expect from your investment.

3. Set Goals & Limits

Determine the price (high target price or low stop-loss price) at which you're willing to sell. Analyze interest rates to decide what return you want.

4. Don't Gamble With Money You Can't Afford To Lose

The less you can afford a loss, the more conservative you should be in your choice of investments.

5. Don't Be Greedy

Don't expect your broker to recommend stocks that will double in value within a few months. If you do have a stock that goes up considerably -- i.e. 50% or more -- sell.

6. Invest For The Long-Term

Company stock prices will fluctuate, sometimes unfavourably, in the short-term. Invest for the long-term, but keep your current financial needs in mind. You never know when you might need some of that money.

7. Avoid Acting On Impulse

An impulse buy, whether at the mall or on the stock market, is still an impulse buy. Stick to your plan. Don't buy a stock on a hot rumor; you'll get burned 90% of the time.

8. Go For Value

Undervalued stocks will help create the most growth in your portfolio. Look for bonds of companies that are out of favor too. They should be selling at a deep discount.

9. Tax Planning Is Important

Consider income-splitting techniques. (Ask your investment advisor).

10. Get Professional Help

If you're starting out, hire the best professional help you can afford. Professional advice will likely pay for itself within a short period of time. Once you become used to the market, do the research yourself. Later on in the game, switch to an online broker.

Investment Strategy

A well-planned investment strategy is essential before having any investment decisions. A business strategy is generally based upon long run period. Formation of business strategy largely dependent upon the factors such as long-term goals and risk on the investment.

As the return on investment is not always clear, so the investors prepare the strategy so as to face the ongoing challenges in investment. A balanced investment strategy is generally required in the process of investment, which possesses long time period and some risk tolerance.

In the case, when a strategy is aggressive the chance of attaining a higher goal is higher. An efficient strategy can be obtained from portfolio theory, which shows good estimates on risk and return.

Investment Strategy is usually considered to be more of a branch of finance than economics. It is defined as set of rules, a definite behavior or procedure guiding an investor to choose his investment portfolio. For example, investing in mutual funds has recently emerged as a very favorable investment strategy.

An investment strategy is centered on a risk-return tradeoff for a potential investor. High return investment instruments such as real estate and mutual funds usually have more risks associated with it than low return-low risk investment opportunities. Return on investment can be calculated on past or current investment or on the estimated return on future investment.

Symbolically, it can be expressed as:

Vf/Vi -1 where Vf denotes final investment value and Vi is the initial investment value. (“f” and “i” should be noted as subscripts)

Return on investment (ROI) is profitable when Vf/Vi-1>0 and the investment is deemed to be unprofitable when the value of final investment is less than that of the initial investment. ROI is calculated to be 1 or 100% when the value of the final investment is twice the value of the initial investment.

Types of investment strategies can be defined as follows:
A passive investment strategy attempted to minimize transaction costs.
An active investment strategy guide used to maximize returns based on moves such as proper market timing. This usually mean, “buying in the lows and selling in the highs” or buying investment instruments when they are cheap and selling them off when their price appreciates. This strategy, however, is not very beneficial for small time investors.

Small time investors can adopt the buy and hold investment strategy to invest in equities, which although volatile in nature, give favorable long run returns. Investing in equity markets for small time investors is associated with the investors holding on for very long periods. In the case of real estate, the holding period extends the lifespan of the mortgage. Notably, in case of this strategy, indexing or buying a small proportion of all the shares in market index or a mutual fund is a purely passive variant of the above strategy.

The strategy of value investing, a classic investment strategy propagated by Benjamin Graham simply concentrates on the strategy that an investor buys shares of a company as if he was buying off the whole company without paying any attention to the stock market scenario or any exterior conditions such as the political climate. At the end of the day, if he can buy the stock at less than that its actual future worth to the buyer, the person is said to have discovered a “value investment.”

Investment strategies can also denote the investment strategies a national or federal government should follow to bring about economic growth in a country. This can only be achieved by domestic investment as well as significant FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) flows to particular sectors of countries, especially the less developed ones of Asia and Africa.

In case of India, infrastructural problems, excessive government intervention, rigid labor laws and corruption are stifling the flow of FDI in the critical sectors. Less developed countries such as those in the Asia- Pacific region and Africa can bring about much needed development in these economies.

An investment strategy in mutual funds is probably the best bet for a profitable investment. Mutual funds is defined as a pool of money supplied by different investors and in turn used by the mutual fund company to invest in various assets such as stocks and bonds. However, a detailed research has to be conducted for choosing the mutual fund companies and only those should be considered which have a professional investment manger. This will ensure that the funds get channeled towards the right investments. This also applies for investing in stock markets where a decision to invest should follow a through research about the past and current trends of the stock prices and their Net Asset Values (NAV). Analyses from market researchers about the predicted future trends should also be considered otherwise gains from capital appreciation; capital gain distribution (in case of mutual funds) and dividends might not be realized.

Lastly, investment strategies leading to green investments or investments in renewable sources of energy will be the next big thing in the investment spectrum

Investment : Types & Overview

Though the term investment simply means using the present income for generating wealth in the future or net addition to the stock of capital, still it has its infinite meanings through its versatile application in the real practices.

The term investment has gained its strength in the recent years through changing economic climate over the world. The world business climate is changing very fast and it is the term investment, which is in the perfect direction to provide smell to more than 6 billions over the world.

From the latest United Nations Conference on Trade and Development( UNCTAD report, it is found that the developing nations over the world have actively participated in the field of investment. As to UNCTAD statistics, investment to the developing countries over the world has nearly doubled in two years.

Increasing liberalization among the countries over the world can justify the best result from investment. Present economic success brought by the countries such as India and China have gained a lot from the investment boom.

Present economic growth is largely dependent upon investment factor. This section covers meaning of investment, trend in investment and investment companies over the world.

Investment refers to an asset which is purchased with the expectation that it will generate income in the future or its’ value will appreciate in future so that it will be sold at a higher price. In other sense, we can say that Investment is the purchase of the goods which are not consumed at the present but is used to create wealth in the future. Investment cannot be done without Savings. Savings provides the funds necessary for investment. Investment is influenced by Rate of Interest. Falling interest rates result in increasing rate of Investment. Investment plays a vital role in economic growth of the country as Investment increases the production capacity of the economy. The meaning of the term Investment is different in different genres. In Economics, Investment is the production per unit time of goods which are not consumed at present and are used for future production. According to economic theory Investment depends on income and rate of interest. An increase in income positively affects the Investment but an increasing rate of interest has a negative effect on it. The interest rate in this case is nothing but the opportunity cost of investing the funds rather than using them at the present. In Finance, Investment means purchasing of securities or any other assets in money market or capital market or purchase of any liquid assets like gold or residential real estate property or commercial real estate property.