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Does Your Life Include a RIPE Plan?
Planning Tips for Retirement, Investing, Protection, and Estate Planning – Part 2 (Investing)
By Janet L. Hall
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After reviewing your retirement plan, or lack of one, you might
have had a huge eye opener to the type of life you might have to
endure after retirement. Did it become apparent that you HAVE to
change your lifestyle NOW so you can enjoy your future? Did it
become apparent that you better start learning about investing
and start investing NOW?
TIP: Before you begin to invest you should also educate yourself
into the vast arena of investing. You should have a game plan,
know what your expectations are for investing, and your needs
for now and the future.
The Internet has made it easier then every to start investing;
at least you can sit in the privacy of your home or office and
click away your money. BUT are you investing wisely? OR does the
whole idea of investing have you so confused or scared that you
don’t even think about it?
Let me tell you right up front, there are no PERFECT
investments. Very few people (if any) get rich overnight by
investing. Investing is more like a long-term savings plan, but
hopefully with much better returns.
To make intelligent and wise investments, you should know and
understand the economic conditions; not only of the US or
country you live in, BUT the world economy as a whole. Stop,
learn, and understand how inflation, interest rates, and taxes
will affect your investments.
Once you have some understanding of economics and how it will
affect your investments then you need to know and understand the
different types of investment opportunities that are available
and how your age and possibly even your health plays into those
investments.
The 5 W’s of Investing:
~~ WHO do I use as my broker or do I go at it alone? You can do
most of your investing yourself but if you need or want advice,
hire a planner or broker; you DO NOT have to be rich to hire a
planner. Just remember, bottom line, it’s your money, not
theirs, and it’s your life!
~~ WHAT type of investments should I make? A lot of things come
into play here – your age, income, available monies, your
health, and your expectations. I’ve listed several types of
investments for you. It’s your job to find out which is best
suited for you.
Types of Investments:
For a small amount of money you can invest in many stocks by
investing in MUTUAL FUNDS.
Under Mutual Funds you have: Growth Funds, Income Funds, Bond
Funds, Money Market Funds, Sector Funds, International Funds.
There are * open-ended * and * closed-ended * funds, * fund
families *, and * big * funds and * small * funds (Isn’t this
FUN!).
INDIVIDUAL STOCKS are publicly traded stocks that are
over-the-counter and listed.
Under Stocks you have: Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Cumulative
Preferred, Stock Dividends, and Penny Stock.
IOU a BOND, which is what a bond is.
Under Bonds you have: T-Bonds, T-Bills, Savings Bonds, Municipal
Bonds, Corporate Bonds, and Stripped Bonds.
You can also invest in Real Estate, Art, Collectibles,
Utilities, and Commodities.
There are Low Risk/Low Effort and High Effort, Medium Risk/Low
Effort and High Effort, and High Risk/Low Effort and High Effort
~~ WHEN do I start investing? If you’ve been doing your homework
the last couple of months in OverHall IT! You should have a
working budget in place, cut out needless or wasteful spending,
and your financial area should be more in balance. The next
suggested step before you begin investing is to build an
emergency fund of three to six months’ salary. After all these
tasks are completed, then and ONLY then should you think about
investing.
TIP: You should only invest money that you can afford to * put
away * for at least five years or longer. This means you must
take a very close look at other things in your life, such as is
your job secure, is your transportation reliable, are you in
good health, is your business profitable and steady, and many,
many other areas and things in your life before you start
investing your hard earned money, because you want to make a
profit, right?
~~ WHERE do I invest? Only you can answer this AFTER you’ve done
your homework!
~~ WHY do I want or need to invest? Do you want to build an
estate to leave to your loved ones or do you need extra money
now? Are you investing to supplement your income or for your
child’s future?
~~ HOW do I invest? Invest the time in learning about investing
your money, it’s your MONEY and your FUTURE. If you’ve already
started investing, schedule a meeting with yourself or
planner/broker and review your portfolio to make certain your
investments are or will be meeting your needs. Make it a habit
to review your portfolio at least yearly and especially when you
have a * life * change.
As you can see, there is a lot more to investing then just *
picking something * and laying out your hard earned cash!
How much time are you willing to invest in your investments?
The mantra for Investing is * Educate, Select, Monitor, and
Review *!
TIP: Try playing * pretend investing * while you are learning.
E-TRADE offers a * PLAY * area to do such a thing at
http://www.etrade.virtualstockexchange.com
Here’s hoping you invest wisely and make the monies that you
need or want!
Smiles, not Piles, The Organizing Wizard, Janet L. Hall, is a
Professional Organizer, Speaker, and Author. She is the owner of
OverHall Consulting, and Organizing By Phone. Subscribe to her
FREE organizing newsletter at
http://www.overhall.com/newsletter.htm or visit her web site at
http://www.overhall.com
Copyright 2000 by OverHall Consulting P.O. Box 263, Port
Republic, MD 20676 All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted to
reproduce, copy, or distribute so long as article is kept
intact, this copyright notice and full information about
contacting the author is attached.
About the author:
The Organizing Wizard, Janet L. Hall, is a Professional
Organizer, Speaker, and Author. She is the owner of OverHall
Consulting, and Organizing By Phone. Subscribe to her FREE
organizing newsletter at http://www.overhall.com/newsletter.htm
or visit her web site at http://www.overhall.com
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