Sunday, 25 November 2012

Choosing where to invest

By Stephen Hauptman


There are several different types of investments, and there are many factors in determining where you should invest your funds.

Naturally, the first step to choosing where to invest, is deciding how much you are willing to risk, and what style of investment you prefer. Of course, you also have to have clear financial goals, but that is a step you should take before deciding whether you want to invest at all.

Before you buy a new car, you take it for a test drive, to make sure it is exactly what you are looking for. The same principle applies to investments. Before making an investment, do some research, and put it to the test. It's very important that you are absolutely sure that whatever you do is right for you, before you do it.

Before you start to invest, you need to learn as much about investing as possible, and study other investors to see how they did well. It's just sensible, to try and learn from others who have gone before you.

It can be a difficult subject to learn about, but thankfully there are plenty of good books available to help you out. You might also want to consider taking a course at your local college, as this will give you some expert guidance and a very good grounding in the basics. Other then that, or if you don't want to spend money on a course, there are a lot of good websites that can help you get started, as well as plenty of books that you can borrow for free from your local library. As well as study, you can also practice the stock market, with the help of the internet, where you can practice playing the stock market, only using fake money to see how you do.

You can make pretend investments, and see how they do. Do a search with any search engine for "Stock Market Games" or "Stock Market Simulations." This is a great way to start learning about investing in the stock market.

Besides the stock market, there are a variety of other forms of investment you could make, although they do not have simulators you can use to practice with them. I'm afraid the only recourse you have, is to study and learn about them yourself.

As a potential investor, you should read anything you can get your hands on about investing... but start with the beginning investment books and websites first. Otherwise, you will quickly find that you are lost.

Last but not least, you should have a conversation with a financial planner. They can help you clarify your goals, and put in place a concrete plan to achieve them - after all, that is their job! A professional financial planner will have a great deal of experience with investing, and will be able to give you good advice as to how to invest with the minimum risk and maximum rewards, so listen close to what they say!




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