Congratulations. You are starting to make some money and you are saving a good percentage of it every month. But now, you are wondering how to build wealth, instead of shoving all the extra cash at the bank and earning negligible interest. Welcome to the world of investing, where some build wealth while many others lose their fortunes.
Today’s question is from Gorro, who wants to learn more about investing, and trading in particular.
Both my wife and I are in a period where we are saving as much as we can each month. However, apart from having all our money in certificates of deposits, we are keen to learn how to trade. To date, we haven’t been able to find a comprehensive guide to trading and personally I am not a fan of buy and hold.
I have come across various books on technical analysis but they don’t seem to explain how we can invest in an index for example or what we need to know as beginners, which websites we can use for over the counter trades e.g. TradeKing, etc. We are looking for capital growth on our savings and earning a measly 3.5% per year is well….measly. We are not based in the US so we can’t follow every suggestion out there. We would be grateful if you could point us in the right direction.
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We often talk about the benefits of an online savings account but it may not be for everybody.
Online savings accounts seem like a great deal, but despite the potential perks, there is a downside that you must be aware of. At first glance, stashing your money online seems great. The interest rates are higher than at your local bank, not to mention that you can open an account within minutes and in your pajamas. But after dealing with a few issues recently, I list a few potential pitfalls for you to consider:
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Improving your finances doesn’t always have to be a question of saving money. Taking steps to increase your income is a legitimate option, and can make the books much easier to balance in the end. One of the most important strategies is to ask your boss for a raise: the worst that can usually happen is a “no”, but with proper preparation, you may be able to convince your boss to say yes. Here are some easy ways to improve your odds.
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A recession like the one we’ve been in doesn’t come to an end all at once; the economy gradually moves out of its funk, and the changes might not even be noticeable until one day you realize that things are already better. While this can provide some peace of mind, it is important not to get carried away. With improvements becoming more apparent in the economy, it can be tempting to begin abandoning some of the money practices you adopted out of necessity during the recession.
Don’t. Now is the time to learn from the past, and make sure you are prepared for the future. There will always be another recession at some point down the road. (Isn’t that fun to look forward to?)
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After the post from Thursday on supporting the locals, I read an article in a local publication describing the meat chain that recently setup shop in our neighborhood. The author described the chain as Goliath, and urged us to support David, the local butcher.
Being the inspired soon to be first time home owner, I decided to try my hands on barbecuing steak. I happily strolled down to the shop for the first time, bought a few slices of rib eye, asked a zillion questions just in case they didn’t spot me as a first time cook as I walked in and sang as I went home.
Emma was proud of me, but she pointed out that there was a dark spot on one of them when I pressed on for her opinion of the meat the shop chose for me. She explained that it’s probably been frozen for too long, but she comforted me by saying that it shouldn’t be that bad. We went on to barbecue the steak, and the meat, well… not so great.
Turns out the local business needs more than marketing and should improve their business model instead.
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The price of water is going up. As more and more of this precious natural resource is taken up by large scale farming and manufacturing, the average citizen finds his water bill spiraling out of control. The only effective way to cut costs here is to cut water usage, but reducing your water consumption can be done in a relatively painless fashion, so read on and save yourself some money.
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