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Investing in share trading platforms

Investing in share trading platforms

Online share market platforms are gaining in popularity; they provide a terrific opportunity for ordinary folk to get involved in the share market on a shoestring budget. Just deposit $5, $10, $20, or more per week and given the benefit of time and patience this can all grow into a tidy sum.

The beauty of this is that your financial literacy increases as you get more and more involved in choosing which shares to buy.

In New Zealand Sharesies is the number one share market platform. It enables anyone of small means to invest directly into the share market and even in individual companies. 80% of sharesies investors are under 40 so it is appealing to the young folk. That is a good thing as it shows that the young are interested in matters of finance. It is also a good thing that the young are improving their financial literacy.

I cannot speak for other sharesies investors but here is my strategy. It may not necessarily be right for your personal circumstances but I will share it with you. 

I choose one company per year to invest in with sharesies and drip feed money into it every two weeks which means that whether its share price is up or down I have bought shares in it. If I had just made one purchase of the share then chances are that I have bought it at the higher price and its value has dropped a few weeks later but spreading my investment out means that I have bought some at the lower price.

You can use different strategies to suit your budget, goals and personal circumstances.

Here is the link to join Sharesies if you are keen to give investing a go. This is only for those living in New Zealand or Australia.

 

https://sharesies.com/r/377DFM

www.robertastewart.com

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The difference between assets and liabilities

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE

Knowing the difference between real assets and real liabilities and then setting your financial goals accordingly can be the difference between getting yourself financially sorted or the poorhouse. It underlines the value of financial literacy in helping achieve your goals.

The difference between assets and liabilities

Written by R. A. Stewart

An asset is something which pays you money while an asset is something that costs you money.

So let’s look at some examples.

Is property an asset or a liability?

Some people may say it is an asset because it is something you own, however, if you owe money on that property and are not getting a return on it then it is a liability because it is costing you money.

Is it an asset if you are receiving rent from that property?

Only if you are making a profit.

Some people would not agree saying, “The property is increasing in value over time.”

Lets not forget there are rates to pay plus maintenance costs and insurance to pay on that property so it could be costing you money in the long term but you will have to sit down and do your homework. 

Other investment times are less complicated such as the sharemarket so lets look at other investment types which are assets. 

Assets

Your retirement fund

Mutual Funds, also known as managed funds

Other investments

Business or farm

Learn to invest your money in items that can be quickly converted back to cash; some investments do not allow you to quickly turn the asset back into cash without jumping through several hoops.

Liabilities

Any item which has money owed on it and this is your form of transport, however there are circumstances where it may be an asset such as if the vehicle is used as a taxi, which therefore makes it an asset as it is producing an income. Such costs and the money owing on the vehicle can be tax deductible. The same applies to any vehicle used in a business.

Even though a vehicle used for work and business purposes may be classed as an asset, the money owed on that vehicle is a liability and will go into the accounts as such.

The reason why so many people are in such a poor financial state is that they borrow for stuff instead of saving for it and therefore pay more for that item in the form of interest payments.

A pet can be classed as a liability if it is costing you an arm and a leg to keep. Think of a dog for example; I read somewhere that it costs $20,000 to keep a dog during its lifetime. That is not just the food but vet bills and the like. A dog can be classed as a liability.

Do a stock take

Before you know where your money is going you need to do a stock take of all your spending.Your number one priority has to be the elimination of debt and plug up those leaks in your spending that is costing you money. In this way you will know where to make savings and redirect that money elsewhere.

Your task needs to be to reduce liabilities which means reducing debt then once you have savings use it to build your wealth. This involves setting goals which will increase your wealth and not send you to the poorhouse.

There are a number of share market platforms where you are able to drip feed money into the markets. Take advantage of these as they are a great way to build your financial literacy.

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE

Accumulating assets instead of liabilities will lead to a more prosperous future. It is vital for investors to know the difference between the two. In this article Robert Stewart explains this difference. Check out his blog at www.robertastewart.com

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How to spend your money

This article was obtained from a PLR website. I have decided to share it with you. As usual the advice may not be applicable to your personal circumstances.

Improving how to spend your money

It is important to be aware of where your money goes in order to correct any bad habits

Money may not be with you all throughout the year. There are downs and ups when we talk about the financial resources and income of an individual or family. In dealing with financial difficulties, there is a need to have budgeting techniques as early as possible. There is a need for us on how to master the art of stretching the capacity of our available money. 

It is but normal to commit errors especially when you are not yet used to doing things your job calls for you to. But, do not make those mistakes that you would surely regret in the long run. As soon as you could, you have to develop a great way of managing to budget your money. There are some tips you could remind yourself of. These would be points you could use in making or establishing good means to improve the way you budget your money.

  • Make a list of your unwanted budgeting habits. This includes all those you think of being not useful or helpful for you and your financial needs and financial security.
  • You plan on what to do in order to take the first steps in changing your old habits or acts in which they made your budget method a failure.
  • Manage your income and the amount of money you spend by preparing a sort of tally sheet of such information.
  • Prepare your spend plan. This must include your foreseen expenditures.
  • Collect receipts and note bigger amount spent 
  • Limit spending by looking for some alternatives to it
  • As much as possible do not use many credit card or checks.

Those above-mentioned points are really a great reminder for you. If followed, you would clearly see the improvement in your budget techniques. It would surely result to better financial management capacities for you. 

When this is achieved, you would definitely live a more satisfactory life. The right way of how you budget what you need as a winning one in the field of financing one’s self.

It is important that you set personal goals that are your own and not be influenced by how others are living. People who have no goals or ambitions just fritter their money away and are left at the mercy of life’s misfortunes for stuff happens such as a car breakdown, dental emergency, house repairs, or some appliance such as the toaster, electric jug, dryer, or washing machine breaking down. An individual who manages their money well will be able to pay for these emergencies without using credit of some kind.

www.robertastewart.com

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ARE YOU HOBBIES COSTING YOU A FORTUNE?

Our passions are what makes us unique, everyone needs some form of outside interests but we have to be aware of how much it is costing us and whether the money spent on them is affecting our financial future. We need to keep a lid on the amount of money we are spending on our recreation as it could cost us in the long term.

Are your hobbies costing you an arm and a leg

By R.A.Stewart

Hobbies can give us a sense of release from our day to day issues; the satisfaction one gets from pursuing a pleasure whether it is collecting stamps, bank notes, beer labels, or any of the stuff which people describe as collectable, boating, sport, car racing, or whatever. 

If you are going to have a hobby you really need to make sure  it is not costing you more than what you can afford and that it is not at the expense of your retirement fund.

There are ways of keeping costs down with your hobby; take whatever it is you collect. You can list your duplicate items on ebay or other auction sites. It will also give you an estimate of the kind of demand there is for your particular kind of collectable. 

It is also important to realise that something is only worth whatever someone else is prepared to pay for. If you cannot find a buyer for whatever your collection is then it is not worth anything.

There are some things that are sentimental however, things which may not have any monetary value but are priceless to family such as old photographs or heirlooms.

These may not have cost you anything to acquire as they may have been handed down through the generations or have been given to you but that is not so with a lot of collectables which are acquired with a passion which can be described as hoarding. 

Unless someone has an unlimited amount of spending money all of this stuff must be at the expensive of something.

People will often go without to finance their hobby such as not owning a car, not contributing to their retirement fund, or not spending money on much needed house repairs.

A collector who owns a huge collection of beer labels, 30,000+ I believe proudly boasts about it to everyone who visits. It is anyone’s guess how much he has spent acquiring this collection but the saddest thing is that he is not contributing to his retirement fund and therefore missing out on the government incentives.

The old excuse of “I might die before retirement and so someone else will get my money,” has been used several times, but then someone else will inherit his beer label collection and if something financial crops up such as a huge medical bill he will not be able to afford it, and it is doubtful if he would be willing to part with his collection even if a lot of money was offered for it.

The same is said for any other activity that is a hobby. The old saying of “Pay yourself first” rings true because sooner or later a person who mismanages their finances will eventually find that it catches up on them.

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE

If you loved this article feel free to post it on your blog or website, share it, include it in your ebook, or even sell it.

Robert Stewart publishes a blog with articles about personal finance. Check it out on www.robertastewart.com

It pays to keep tabs on your discretionary spending

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LEARNING FROM PAST FINANCIAL MISTAKES

This article is of the writer’s experience and opinion. If you require financial advice then see your bank manager or financial advisor.

Learning from past investing mistakes

By Robert A. Stewart

“He who never made a mistake never made anything,” but there is no need to make a mistake if you can help it. How? By learning from other people’s mistakes.

The most tragic thing of all is to not learn from your own mistakes; here are some tragic examples which have left people with badly burned fingers.

In October 1987 the sharemarket crashed bigtime; there were horrific stories of mum and dad investors losing fortunes. Leading up to the crash investors would borrow money to purchase shares by using the value of their shares as collateral. As the share values increased, they were able to borrow more and more money. One story I was told was of a man who borrowed money using the value of his home as collateral. 

Many companies were basically called paper shufflers; in order words they were not producing anything tangible but trading in shares.

It took several years before the market recovered.

One should never borrow money to purchase shares which is the first basic lesson of investing.

During the Global Financial Crisis several finance companies went belly up in NZ; these included Provincial Finance, Hanover Finance, Dominion Finance, Lombard Finance, and South Canterbury Finance. There were sad stories with one common one being of investors who had their whole life savings invested in the company. The media’s spin on this is to tell the viewer about the investors who lost everything they invested but that is not the case. The truth is investors were drip-fed money from what the receiver’s could recover.

The investors concerned had a lot to say about all of this but one thing was never mentioned was the fact that they placed all of their financial eggs in one basket. This is a fundamental mistake. In one case, an investor had NZ$400,000 invested in Hanover Finance. One would have thought an investor with commonsense would have spread their money around. 

It does make one wonder whether someone provided this investor with misleading advice. 

The second basic lesson is to not place all of your financial eggs in the one basket.

Crypto currency such as Bitcoin and the like have been very popular during the last ten years. Stories of great wealth have been floating around from time to time of investors who have invested x number of $ and turned it into a fortune worth x. My view of Crypto Currency is that it should be treated as a bit of a gamble where you only invest discretionary income in. Only money you can afford to lose should be invested in crypto currency.

A company called “Cryptopia” which was basically a blockchain which held funds invested in Bitcoin was hacked into and all those with bitcoin invested with cryptopia lost their money. There were some sad stories of an x amount of $ lost.

The third lesson here is to NEVER invest money in cryptocurrency which you can not afford to lose. In other words only use your discretionary money for Bitcoin.

It is certainly well worth remembering that if there is a chance of capital gain then there is also a chance of capital loss. That is the nature of investing.

The bottom line is this; “It is up to YOU, the investor to take responsibility for your mistakes.

www.robertastewart.com

Investing in Gold is worth looking at but like other investments an investor needs to do their research, check out the following;

https://affiliates.goldco.com/l/1VRW1MU2Q/

Sign up for future email updates  and receive the free ebook, “Financial Steps,” here; https://forms.aweber.com/form/72/892285272.htm

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GOALS AND YOUR INVESTMENT STRATEGY

Your goals and investment strategy

The type of investment you place your savings in all depends on your goals and the timeframe for achieving your goals. Investing in low interest accounts is not the best strategy for long term goals while investing in growth funds in the sharemarket is not necessarily the best option for achieving your short term goals. Your investment platform has to be tailored to suit your goals. This table will give you better idea of what I am going on about.

SHORT TERM GOALS

A short term goal is any goal which can be achieved within a year. This may be for a holiday to the West Coast (if you are from another district) or saving up for a car (if it is cheap enough).

MEDIUM TERM GOALS

A medium term goal takes between a year to 5 years to achieve and can be saving for a house deposit or an overseas trip.

LONG TERM GOALS

A long term goal may be saving for your retirement or paying off your home mortgage.

Lets look at some investment options.

SHORT TERM GOALS.

If you already have the money saved up but won’t be needing the money for 3-6 months then investing in fixed term accounts with one of the high street banks is a good option but if you are actually saving up the money then opening up a special account for this is one but not ther only option. I understand that one is able to drip feed money into bonus bonds and it is easily accessible. Investing in Sharesies may be another option worth taking a look at

MEDIUM TERM GOALS

Investing in Sharesies is a good option I believe because your savings has potential for growth while you are saving but another option is to use an everyday savings account to save and once you have saved a certain amount invest in a 90-day investment with a high street bank. 

It should be pointed out that if you are saving for your first house deposit then joining kiwisaver is a must because you are able to withdraw part of your kiwisaver for a first home deposit providing you have been in the kiwisaver scheme for at least three years.

LONG TERM GOALS

Investing in kiwisaver is your best option here irrespective of the date of your birthday because even if the  retirement age of 65 is just around the corner, you can scale back the type of funds you are in from growth/balanced to more conservative however people may have 20 years or more left after they retire so this may not necessarily suit some people. Once one reaches 65, those in kiwisaver are able to withdraw their retirement savings in one hit or whenever they need it. 

There are so many investment options available to you and you do not have to be rich to get involved but you do need to invest to get rich, one investment I am in favour of is Sharesies;

If you would like email updates from me, you can sign up here;

https://forms.aweber.com/form/72/892285272.htm

www.robertastewart.com

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HOW TO ADD ANOTHER STRING TO YOUR FINANCIAL BOW

Sharesies makes investing accessible to all!

Do you have some discretionary dollars to spare and are wanting to invest in a fund with growth potential then look no further than Sharesies; a managed fund which is proving popular among all ages, particularly the young. Sharesies is an excellent investment vehicle for Mum and Dad investors who are looking to add another string to their financial bow but don’t have much money to start with. Even if you have only a spare $50 to start with, it is a start, and Sharesies a great way to invest and at the same time increase your financial literacy.

What is Sharesies?

It is a managed fund, much like kiwisaver but the difference is with Sharesies you are able to choose which companies to invest in. 

How much does it cost to join?

$30 per annum, but you do have the option of having monthly payments debited from your account. Payment can be done by a visa debit card or whatever means you choose.

What is the minimum amount to start off with?

You can start the fund with as little as $20 and make regular deposits to the fund (minimum $5) after that; this can be done by making direct credits to the sharesies account or just simply transferring money into the Sharesie account regularly.

How do I make deposits into Sharesies?

You will be given a reference number which is used each time you make a transferal online; you will also be given the Sharesies bank account account number. It also pays to place your username in one of the slots where you write your deposit details to help Sharesies track you if something goes wrong. (I once left a number out of the reference number)

How do I join Sharesies?

Go to the site by clicking on the link below;

https://sharesies.nz/r/377DFM

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YOUR FINANCIAL RISK PROFILE

Your risk profile-what is it?

Your risk profile is the level of risk you are willing to take when you make an investment! The higher the potential return on your investment, the higher the risk but the catch 22 situation is that just parking your money in low risk low return investments will inhibit your potential returns and could end up costing you in the long run. Taxation and inflation will eat away your profits so investing needs to be a balance between risk and reward. 

Your risk profile is a big factor when deciding how you are going to invest and that has several parts to it so lets examine them.

1. YOUR AGE

When you are young, you are able to take more risks because you have more time to recover from financial setbacks but that is not to say you cannot be on the conswervative side if your circumstances warrant it. 

It also does not mean that you cannot take risks when you are approaching retirement because chances are that you could live long after you retire. 

2. YOUR GOALS

It would be madness to invest in high risk (growth investments) if you require the money in the short term, say within the next 6 months to pay for a wedding, new car, or whatever because the markets may be losing ground and you may end up with less money than you intended. Therefore for money you require in the short tern, invest conservatively. 

3. PERSONAL MAKE UP

If the prospect of losing your money is going to cause you to lose sleep then lean towards more balanced investments. These are a combination of growth and conservative investments. 

Your potential return will not be as much as it could be but at least you will sleep easy, albeit, at a cost.

4. YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION

If you are up to your eyeballs in debt then clearing that debt has to be your number one priority and staying out of debt is priority number two then you can think about saving for whatever reason. Investing in the kiwisaver scheme is a very good investment for the reason that there are tax credits of up to $520 per annum and you are entitled this providing you invest a minimum of $1040. That equates rto 50% return on your investment, tax free. Where else will you get a return like that?

At the end of the day, it is your money you are investing and it is you who will bear the consequences for any financial decision make.

If you would like email updates from me then you can sign up here;

https://forms.aweber.com/form/72/892285272.htm

www.robertastewart.com