Help me to Retire

As the panicky markets around the world have sold off over the last few days / weeks several analysts are looking for a short term bounce in the markets. This can be a great opportunity to make some money on some stocks that have just been sold down because everything is getting sold.
Today will be a telling day as Tolly from Alert Trader using his methods predicted yesterday (22nd Jan 08) as an Intermediate low for the Australian Market. He also believes the mining sector has just about finished its run down for the moment almost testing its support level. Tolly says that “More aggressive traders out there might be very much inclined to put the toe in the water (so to speak), preferably (obviously) with 1 or 2 better quality mining stocks.”

To back this up Paul Nojin from Invest4Profit sent out a message today saying that  “bargains have begun to appear”  and “I have NOT made a new stock recommendation since the 3rd quarter of last year, but I will be in the next fortnight, or sooner. It will depend on how far it falls. I’m particularly focused on stocks in the commodities sector.”
He then goes on to talk about BHP. “First and foremost I want to have BHP back on my list of buys. I expect I will be notifying clients in the next 24 hours when to buy. BHP is going to fall further yet… but the bottom is within sight.
It will not go below $29″.

So there you have a couple of pros view on the current situation and maybe a stock to follow up on.
Please remember that the above is for educational purposes only and not professional advice. You should seek professional advice before making any trading decisions.

The markets may recover for a while but I still believe longer term that more downside is likely, so pick your stocks well and good luck with your trading / investing.

While we are on the topic of the Apple company, I found an interesting site called Keynote Index Fund.
The site goes through the history of the Apple Keynote presentations from the MacWorld events for the last 10 years.
The sites table shows the year, the products launched at that event and the corresponding change in stock price.

Overall it looks as if you would have been up overall if you did some trading either side of these events over the years, especially the last couple of years. There is an event coming up next week, so if your into short term trading and you like the sound of the rumoured product releases, give it a crack. Don’t bet your life savings on it though as it’s pretty much gambling.

The best way to take advantage of the Apple stock would have course been to buy some stock in 1997 and held it to today! Hindsight.

Check it out 

I found an interesting read on the Apple Inc company that I think you should have a read of.

It’s a great tale of how the company nearly went out of business and how through planning and innovation has come out on top with its share price showing the results. There is a great picture there showing the stock price when announcements were made and when products were shipped and the effect on the stock price. Check out where the stock price went after the iPhone announcement…
A good read about business and stocks.

Check it out 

Steve McKnight and the propertyinvesting.com team have got a heap of gifts waiting for you at their site.

Included in your basket of presents are:

• Listen to Steve’s Christmas message as he reflects on 2007 and outline how to prepare for success in 2008.
• Free e-book – ‘Fundamentals of Investing Success’.
• Free video: Hot Spotting! Discover the #1 factor that investors should look for when seeking high growth locations.
• Mystery Prize - Entertaining but not investment related…  Xmas related.
• 3 Day Mega Conference - Grab a great deal
• Free Chapter – Interest rates are on the up and up - read what Steve’s advice
• Free video: Latest Deal

So head on over there now before Christmas is over!

Merry Christmas!

Wise owl are currently giving away 1 Week Free trials to their service. In these times of uncertain markets this is a great oportunity to have a look at what some of the experts think.

Wise Owl currently offer 3 different reports.

1. The Equities Report - this report covers small to mid cap opportunities often overlooked by other investors.
2. ASX200 Report - this weekly report features buy, sell and hold recommendations on Australia’s top 200 stocks.
3. Derivatives Report - this report provides a variety of short term trading strategies over large cap companies using options, warrants and CFDs.

Each of these reports are $890 each for a 12 month subscription. So check out the trial today and see if the Wise Owl guys know somethign you don’t.

Click here for the Trial.

For first timers renovating, setting and sticking to a budget is paramount so as not to over capitalise.  The usual budget for a reno job is about 5% of the purchase price of the property.

From there:

• Research what needs to be done to the property and who will do the work (yourself or reliable tradesmen)
• Start from the Street - Street appeal - paint, render, new fence, new letter box etc
• Inside - flooring (floorboards or tiles and carpet), paint (neutral colours), blinds for curtains etc
• Kitchen - use cheap and effective ideas such as tile paint , laminate paint and new handles for cupboards and just replacing bench tops.
• Bathroom - make it look big and clean - mirror, whites, tub and tile paint, get rid of the shower curtain, new taps \ vanity and toilet if necessary
• Adding other value items that your tenants will appreciate such as a dishwasher and an Air Conditioner

Remember most renovations should be done within 4 weeks.

Good Luck and to read more about the subject head on over to the Reno Kings Web Site.

I don’t as yet have children, but when that day comes I want to be armed with a life time of financial information to teach them all I know about investing before they get out of teenage hood. I for one wish I knew what I know now when I was a teenager. I think it could have changed my life to the result of being several hundred thousand dollars richer or even much much more.

So at what age do you begin to teach your kids? I think it’s never to young as long as your kids have a basic understanding of money and its value. You can then begin to teach them about the ways money can make money. Perhaps starting with a basic savings account, preferably one with a decent interest rate and no fees such as the ones offered by ING and Bank West. Get them to save at least 10% (preferably more) of every bit of money that comes their way. Make sure they don’t touch it and show them how their money is growing over the following months and years. Get them excited about it.
Once they have a decent amount saved up and they have matured a bit you could then get them into a managed fund or even open a stock market account for them. Teach them about charts and valuing companies. This can be a great learning experience for them, especially if they make some money and lose some money.

From here you can teach them about property investing and using leverage (other peoples money). You can also get them to read books like Rich Dad Poor Dad so they can learn the difference between being an employee, self employed, a business owner and an investor.

There are several books written by Rich Dad to help you in the area of teaching your kids, you can check out the range here.

I think most of all you need to keep learning about money and investing fun, especially when your kids are young, other wise they will just think it’s boring. Good luck.

In these interesting economic times, now more than ever it is important to get all the information you can on a company your choosing to invest your hard earned money in.

There are many places you can do this. There is those reports you get from your broker, there is those online subscriptions you have, there is the news releases from the ASX and other markets and then there is your own research. And what do we use to research the most these days? That’s right, the Internet. So what would you say if I told you I was about to give you a link to a page that has 200 places where you can get info on companies? Not bad hey. Unfortunately they are mostly American, but there is plenty of world wide info there to be had and of course lots of us invest in the US anyway. Good luck.
Here you go

There is plenty of talk at the moment about the US dollar’s decline.

There is now talk of many countries abandoning the greenback.  Others are dumping large amounts and the rest are at least asking to be paid in Euros or Yen.

For some, like the guys at my work its time to hit amazon.com and buy up or make that trip to Disneyland as the Aussie dollar nearly equalises, but others know that there is financial shake up occuring that could upset markets world wide.

Interesting times ahead. Especially when people like Paul Nojin from Invest4Profit.com.au make predictions like the Australian Dollar is heading to $1.14 US.  I personally can’t see him being far wrong. I guess time will tell.

Short the US $ or Long the Rest.

Some more reading on the $US here

Check out Michael Yardney’s latest tele-seminar of his interview with wealth consultant Roger Hamilton.

Well worth a listen for all you budding investors out there.

You can grab the MP3 download of the session here