Value Investing for Beginners

Investing in the stock market, especially for beginners, can seem like an impossible task. With thousands of companies to choose from, how do you know which one to pick and minimize any potential loss? Some of the world’s richest people, including Warren Buffett, believe one way to beat the stock market is to follow what is known as value investing.

Value investing has been around since the early 1920s when two professors began teaching it at Columbia Business School. The idea behind this type of investing is that investors look for stocks that are selling below the company’s true value. These are public stocks which also offer high dividend yields, have low price to earnings multiples or low price to book ratios. Value investing goes against buying the hottest stock at any particular moment and instead trusts that the price will reflect the company’s true nature over the coming years.

There are several basic steps to following value investing. One is to look for a great company. It can’t be just good or OK, it has to be great. This can be a company you work for, buy products from, is environmentally conscious, or one you just really like. If you are going to invest in a company you must really like it or you will not pay as much attention to your investment.

Another way to follow value investing strategies is by checking to see how long the company has been in business. Companies in business less than two years have little track record for you to examine when trying to determine whether or not to invest with them. On the other hand, companies that have been in business for at least ten to fifteen years make excellent candidates for value investing. Companies which have been in business this long have a proven record for investment.

When investing in a company, ask yourself if that company will still be around in ten, twenty or thirty years. The way to make money on the stock market is not in constantly buying and selling, but rather long term investing. If the company isn’t going to survive the next several years, then there is no point in investing in it. You wouldn’t invest several hundred dollars on a new computer if you knew it is going to die in a year so why would you invest in a company that may go under shortly.

The final piece to value investing is making sure that the company you are considering investing in offers something unique. Be sure to find out if they offer something that no one in the same field has. Do they have patents or copyrights? If they do, these can be worth a lot of money and keep others from copying what they do therefore flooding the market. If they have a competitive advantage in their respective field, the chances are better that the company will be stable and still be in business several years later.

Investing in the stock market is not as easy as throwing a dart at a board, but with a little research you will be able to find the undervalued stocks which could pay large dividends down the road.



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This is a guest post from Genuwave LLC. Some of their blogs include MoneyAlps, International Travel Medical Insurance, Reward Credit Card, and Selling Time Share.

Four smart ways to get rid of debt

*Guest post by Veronica Brown:


Often, people get into debt but they don't have the sufficient income to get out of it. As a result they start having sleepless nights. However, there are many ways by which people can get rid of debt easily.

Four ways to get rid of debt:

* Debt Consolidation: The purpose of debt consolidation is to combine all of your unsecured debts into one monthly payment. Many financial institutions offer debt consolidation loans. In case you are stuck with several different loans, then the best way to get out of it is to go for a debt consolidation. You will get one loan that will pay back your outstanding balances. For this loan you have to make single monthly payment over a certain period of time. This loan has a low rate of interest. As you are paying over a long period of time so your monthly payments will be less.





* Debt settlement: The most popular way to get rid of debt is debt settlement. The debtors can reduce their balances from 40% to 50%. There are various debt settlement companies who offer this program. It is a process where the debtor starts saving money in a trust account(opened by the settlement company) instead of paying money to the creditors. However, this account does not usually earn any interest. It is only when the debtor has saved 50% of the outstanding balance in the trust account, the counselors start negotiating lump-sum settlements with the creditors.





* Debt management plan: This plan can also help the debtors to get rid of debt. This plan helps the debtors to pay back the unsecured debts. Usually, a third party organization access the debtor's income, expenses, credit balances. Then the counselors negotiate with the creditors to lower the interest rates and payments.





* Self-help: The debtors can also get rid of debt if they follow few guidelines. Debtors should cut down their expenses ( going for a movie, buying luxury items, designer clothes and etc). They should find ways to increase their income ( per-time jobs, forex trading). They must stop collecting new credit cards, store cards, etc. They must contact the creditors as soon as possible and negotiate with them to reduce the interest rates of the loans. They should make the minimum payments on each card on time.





These four ways can help you to get rid of debt within few years. Once you get rid of debt, you can lead a tension-free life


If you are interested in doing a guest post or swapping links contact me (click big CONTACT tab at top of page.)

9 quickest ways to earn money

Are you looking for quickest way to earn money? In recent times only one source of income is not enough so some part time jobs can help t to earn in a short span of time.

If you have enough money in hand then that can save from incurring debt. And so you don’t have to enroll for a debt settlement service.

These are some points that help you to earn money in fastest possible way:

1. Sell your garage: Promote your garage by posting leaflet at stores near to your house. Make a bill board near the buy street to attract the attention of the people. Try to show case the items at the departmental store. In this way you can increase the amount of the garage by a well and planned advertisement.


2. e-Bay can a platform to sell: People are willing to buy all kind of thing on online if it is in a good condition. You can buy the local stuffs at a reasonable rate and sell them on ebay keeping aside a certain amount of profit for you. Even if you sell small items it can also fetch you a handsome amount. Just keep it in mind that the buyer pays the cost of the shipping.

Books, CDs, unused sports or exercise equipment have a good online market.

3. Sell your clothes with the consignment shops: Few fancy dresses like a cocktail dress or a prom gown, you do not require right now, are piled up in the closet throughout the life. It is time to use them! These dresses can be handed over to a consignment shop and would reap the benefit of proceed from the sale. It would be a great idea to sell your clothes with the consignment shop.



4. Earn by performing household services: Let your friends know that you are willing to do household services. But tell them that you would charge a certain amount for the service you would provide. Make sure that the charges are affordable enough for the people to avail it. You can make this service a part of your extra income every month.

5. Bake and keep it on sale: If you have a talent of cooking and baking yummy breakfast or chocolate chip cookies then your flair for good cooking can fetch you some extra money in your pocket. Once in a week bring the baked products in the office and sell them to your colleagues. Just see the reaction of your friends and colleagues if they like it then ask them to introduce you to their other group of friends. In this you can expand your business and reap a good amount of profit.

6. Organize a car wash with a cause: Hold a car wash and ask your friends and family members to stretch their helping hands. Highlight the cause for organizing a car wash that you want to raise money to pay for the children’s extra curricular activity in school. Inform everyone to join the cause and ask your any one of your friend who has parking lots in their apartment can provide the space.


7. Gardening services would be a good idea: A good summer job for your kid is to mowing lawns. If you have mowers then ask your kids to use it for their business purpose. You also pick over the gardening waste to the dump as the garbage service won’t clean it.

8. Paper delivery can be a source of income: You can earn some extra cash by delivering paper in the morning. As the proverb goes early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and fine so wake up early to fulfill the task. Before the work day starts you will be able to finish distributing the paper of one route.


9. Baby sitting service: If you want make the baby sitting as your profession then you have to be accredited and registered with the state. So make it your part time job to get hold of some extra income. Look out in your community some people who are in search of a baby sitter then tell that you are eager to help them. Let them know your charges but it should be reasonable enough for the people otherwise you might lose the opportunity of that extra cash in hand.

These are the few easiest ways that you can employ, to fetch the extra cash in the pocket. They are most convenient way to earn money with investing much in the initial stage.
This is a guest post by Kevin Craig. If you are interested in writing for How to Make a Million Dollars, contact me and send me a sample.

Making Hay While the Sun Shines by Sarah Scrafford

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

A friend and I were recently discussing an actor who’s been doing the rounds in practically every single happening event in recent times. On his home turf, he’s making movies, hosting television shows, starting film production companies and appearing in product endorsement events and commercials. Besides this, he’s investing in game franchises and has just bought himself a team; not stopping at that, he somehow finds the time to be at every one of his team’s games and cheer his players on from the sidelines. As a direct result of more than a finger in each of his many pies, he’s being invited as a guest on various talk shows, interviewed by news and radio channels and doing public appearances as part of his various promotional duties.

Does this man even find time to sleep, we wondered! He must be totally exhausted hopping from city to city, living life in the fast lane in the direct glare of the cameras and spotlights. While I’m not too sure about his personal gratification from all these activities, I’m certain his bank balances are extremely smug and full of themselves.

And that’s where this man shows his shrewdness and acumen – he’s a star in a sphere that does not offer long-term financial security. He knows that he needs to extract as much as he can while the fickle public mind still remembers him as the main man rather than a has-been. So he’s doing what he needs to do to line his nest comfortably for the years to come, years when he will be an aging also-ran - he’s making hay while the sun still shines on him.

Now while some people may call him greedy and money-hungry, in my book, he’s a financial genius. Not only is he slogging it out to make some money, he’s doing it at the height of his popularity. And if he continues to be wise and makes sure that his money is invested well, he’s set for a cushy life no matter if he’s famous or not in a year or two down the line.

We don’t have to be actors to follow in this man’s footsteps; no matter what field we’re in, all we need to do is work really hard when we’re in our prime and put aside as much money as we can. Fame is a fair-weather friend, as we all know; well, so is money. When you have a job, all is well and you feel financially safe and secure. But if you’re suddenly unable to work for some reason or the other, you’ll find your cash supplies drying up faster than a puddle from a rare rainstorm in the Sahara desert. And that’s when you’ll be left high and dry.

Saving for the future is important, but just as important is the fact that you have to work really hard in the present to ensure that you make the most money you can.

By-line:

Sarah Scrafford is an industry critic, as well as a regular contributor on the subject of how to manage your money. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.