The Stock Market Game

Did you know there are several "virtual" stock market games you can play to hone in on your investing skills? These games are a great way to learn how to invest in the stock market without actually risking your own hard earned cash. If you're a beginner to investing in the stock market or if you just want to see what you could do with a few thousand bucks, then I suggest you check out this collection of some of the more popular stock market games available on the internet.

Source: Stock Market Tips

Forex Trading Myths

There are numerous Forex myths but the one enclosed is perhaps the biggest myth of all and one that most novice traders fall for, if you make this mistake, you are odds on to lose so lets take a look at it...

The myth is that forex trading is easy and you can follow and Expert Advisor and just get instant success.

Fact: Forex Robots etc Lose Money

They offer an instant income stream for $100.00 or so - but that's obviously not true, otherwise the whole world would be trading and not working! Read the full article: Forex Trading Myths

Company Stock Options

Are Company Stock Options a Good Buy?

Many companies offer stock options as a part of their compensation package. But are these options a good buy? Stock options are a sort of promissory note. They allow an employee to purchase the company’s stock for a particular price. Usually there is a specified grace period. The employee is allowed to buy the stock at their option price, but they cannot sell it until the grace period is over.

Often, this gives the employee the opportunity to buy the company’s stock at a discounted price. Sounds like a great deal right? Not always. There have been cases where employee’s retirement packages were heavily invested in the company’s stock. When the company’s stock took a nose-dive, these employees were left with very little in their retirement portfolio.

What these employees did was put too many of their eggs in one basket. Their portfolios were too centered around the company’s stock. This is never a good idea, even if the company that you work for seems to be a very solid company with a lot of growth potential.

A well-balanced portfolio should include a wide variety of investments. This is called diversification. It creates a certain amount of safety in your investments because if one stock does poorly, there is a chance that others will do well and the average balances out.

Employees would do well to invest in their company’s stock, especially if it is a company that they believe will do well. It’s even better when they can get the stock at discounted prices.

Help Selling Mutual Funds

Mutual funds are designed to be held on to for the long term. Because of this, they like to discourage active trading by charging fees for early sales. For example, they may charge you a hefty fee if you sell your shares within 30 days or six months of purchase. If you have not owned your shares for very long, you sell your shares, you should carefully read your fund's policies with regards to early sale fees.

Also, some types of shares may carry back-end charges that were waived when you purchased. If you bought these types of shares, you would be required to hold those shares for a certain period, typically six years, before you would have the fee waived completely. The fee typically declines at a certain rate every year, and the earlier you sell, the more you would have to pay in back-end charges.

3 Ways To Profit With Options Trading

In a bear market, most people lose a lot of money. Are you cognizant of the bursting tech bubble and consequent recession circa 2001-2002? In this article, we will be covering three option trading strategies for a recession or a bear market, which will allow you to maximize profits rather than lose money.

Option Strategy No. 1 - Buying Put Options
It is fairly easy to purchase put options. If your broker authorizes you, you can use this option trading strategy in an IRA account. There is a stock falling in value that you want to pick. You desire to select a stock, which you feel has a good chance of going down in price.

Read the entire article: Option Trading Stategies

Buying Mutual Funds

There are literally thousands of mutual funds to choose from, and new funds are introduced just about every day. It may seem a rather daunting task even to choose what type of fund to invest in, much less a particular fund! But buying mutual funds really isn't that difficult.

The first step is choosing the type of fund you want to invest in. Once you have made that determination, you need to take a look at the rankings to determine a few funds that have good potential. From there, you should take a look at each fund's prospectus to determine whether or not the fund matches your investment goals.

You might want to invest in more than one mutual fund to spread your risk around a bit. If you choose to do this, you shouldn't buy more than one fund with very similar investment objectives. If you buy two growth funds, for example, you may end up with funds that are extremely similar, and you'll end up paying two fees for the same basic portfolio. What you might want to do is choose one growth fund and one income fund, so that you are invested in both stocks and bonds.

Also, it is not a good idea to buy multiple funds that have a large number of their major investments in the same companies, because if one fund performs poorly, the other will, as well. One of the big advantages of purchasing shares in multiple funds is lessening risk through diversification, and that advantage is lost if you buy shares in funds with extremely similar portfolios. This fits with the rule of not buying funds with similar investment objectives, because most funds have similar portfolios.

When buying shares in a mutual fund, you can time your purchase just like you might time your purchase when investing in stocks or bonds directly. It is extremely difficult to do this, so you may want to just skip this. If you're interested in doing this, though, you might choose to buy during a time when the markets have fallen slightly. In reality, though, unless you are investing a rather large amount, the money you save won't be that great.

20 Different Investment Mistakes People Make

20 of the Biggest Investment Mistakes

Investing can be a very risky game, but you can minimize your risk by making sure that you are not making any of the common investment mistakes.

Not starting early. Many people do not start investing while they're young because they feel that they have a lot of time ahead of them. This is a really silly mistake. Because of the power of compound interest, they are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, that's certainly not chump change.

Taking unsolicited investment tips. Occasionally, you'll get a spam email or a telemarketing call offering investment advice. Don't take it. They are trying to drive up the prices of certain stocks so that they can make a profit. Do your own research or listen to your financial advisor.

Not realizing that there are risks. Just because something is considered a "safer" investment, doesn't mean that there isn't a chance that you could lose your money.

Being late to buy. You want to buy a stock as its price is increasing. If you are too late, you will buy it just as it's starting to turn down.

Not reviewing your portfolio. While it's a good idea to automatically invest a portion of your paycheck each month, you should often review your portfolio to check for any mistakes and make sure that things are performing the way that you want them to.

Having no plan. Good investing requires a solid plan. You should know your risk levels and what your goals are and invest in ways that reflect that.

Not diversifying. You should strive to have a well-balanced portfolio. You don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket.

Changing their portfolio often. Many people find it exciting to buy and sell their stocks. It's addictive. All addictions come with a price though, and you are paying a lot of money for each of those transactions.

Succumbing to panic or excitement. You shouldn't always sell just because other people are selling or buy just because others are buying.

Not participating in your company's 401k program. Many companies offer to match your 401k investments. If you are not participating, then you are giving away free money.

Trying to take shortcuts. Proper investment should be for the long term. Taking shortcuts rarely pays off.

Holding losers and selling winners. Many make the mistake of holding onto a losing stock because they are waiting for it to go back to the level that they bought it for. Others may sell their stock too early, only to find that the price continued to increase well past what they sold it for.

Following recommendations in the media. By the time that an expert is talking about an investment on TV, it's already getting past its prime.

Investing in individual stocks without financial knowledge. If you don't know much about investing or how to determine whether a stock is a good buy, you should stick to mutual funds.

Falling for get-rich-quick schemes. There is no easy way to make money. Get-rich-quick schemes are rarely all they say they are.

Being over-invested in their company. Some people become over-invested in the company that they work for. You should strive to have a balanced portfolio.

Following your emotions. Your emotions can cause you to make mistakes. Investing should be something that's done with your brain.

Making early withdrawals from your 401k. 401ks are meant to be a retirement plan. There are hefty penalties for withdrawing your money early.

Not saving enough. Many people simply don't save enough money. You need to make sure that you are saving enough money now to reach your long-term goals.

If you can avoid these huge investing mistakes, then you will save yourself a ton of money and heartache.