How To Read An Annual Report

A company's annual report hold valuable information for the prospective investor. If, said investor can manage to understand what they see in the annual report! Seriously, with confusing terms and huge calculations it seems as if these annual reports are meant to confuse the individual investor. Leaving you crying in the kitchen floor screaming for your broker. It's okay, pick yourself up! Here's how to read and annual report.

* Income Statement - How sucessful has the company been at making money?

In the income statement you'll see where the company makes it's money, by doing or selling whatever it is they do or sell. You'll see that a portion of the revenue is put towards paying their own expenses. What they're left with, their profit, is the "bottom line" on the income statement.

* Cash Flow Statement - How are hey paying for operations and growth?

Here's the company's money, the "bottom line" from the Income Statement becomes the "Cash Flow from Operations" here. You'll see the amount of money that came into the company. Cash Flow from Financing, here you can tell the company's health. Has the company created new stocks to sell? This lessens the value of stocks, that's bad for the shareholder! Are they buying back shares? That can mean the company is paying off debt. That's good for the shareholder! Cash Flow to Investing: we want to see a company grow, to expand their earnings. We want the company to be able to pay for this growth with earnings from Operations, without having to raise money by selling new stocks.

* Balance Sheet - What the company owns and owes (debt)

How much will the company pay or owe to Stock and Bond Investors?

Are you more of a visual learner? Click here to see how it all works!

Free $25 For Investing

If you're a member of mypoints.com you can get 550 points and a free $25 through Sharebuilder! I received this offer in my inbox for the second time. I took advantage of this oppourtunity a few months ago by opening a custodial account for my daughter. I made my first investment and about 4 weeks later received $25 in my inbox. We all know investing is the smartest way to save your money, so there's really nothing to loose here! If you don't have a mypoints account, go sign up now- it's free!. You have to open a new sharebuilder account, if you already have one open- no big deal, open another. You can make it for something specific, like a college fund or individual account. Use the promotional code mypoints25; there's nothing better than free money!

Free Stock Newsletter

About.com is an information website. You can get expert information on nearly any subject! Ken Little is a stock and investing guru over at about.com. He's written 8 books on the subject of stocks and investing. His many years of experience in the field equal invaluable knowledge for the new or experience investor. You can sign up for a free newsletter from Ken Little. You'll revieve updated articles every week in your inbox. He'll explain the basics of stocks. It's like have a tutor for money managing! Click here to sign up for Mr. Little's free weekly newsletter!

Is your website filling your piggy bank? It can! You can earn extra income through your website with affiliate advertising through LinkShare.com.

You can choose to show your readers ads from services and companies that you know, trust and respect. It's free to sign up and easy to use. Click the join programs tab and select from hundreds of well known companies. After you're approved simply click the create links tab, you'll be able to select from textual, banners, graphic and other sorts of advertising. Choose the one that's best for your site or blog. Whenever someone uses your link to make a purchase you will earn a certain percentage of the sale.

Get More Out Of MyPoints

Mypoints is a shopping rewards program. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: You open a free account with www.mypoints.com; this is not a referal link.

Step 2: Earn points by receiving e-mails, referring friends and family, taking surveys and shopping at 100’s of well known and trusted online stores that you already use!

Step 3: Redeem your points for gift cards to a variety of well known stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Old Navy and much more. You can redeem your points for gift cards in a variety of categories, so you’ll certainly find a store that you love.

The great thing about Mypoints is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money for your points to really add up! I’ve honestly made very few small purchases online since I started using Mypoints, yet I have enough points to get a $50 gift card to Target. They have plenty of free ways to earn points, which is where the majority of my points come from. I get promotional e-mails from Mypoints everyday, all I do is read an e-mail and I get 5 points! They also have pages full of “easy offers” that require no credit card to earn points as well.

Different stores offer different point values, anywhere from 2 to 10 points per dollar. Overstock.com currently offers a whopping 10 points per dollar. Overstock.com is like a discount warehouse online offering 75% off or more RETAIL SALE. You can find great brand name electronics, apparel, bedding, furniture, entertainment, and the list goes on. Before I buy anything, I check Overstock.com to see if they have what I need. I know I’ll get it at a great price and I’ll get 10 points per dollar via Mypoints.com.

Right now I’m in the market for a digital camera, and Overstock.com is exactly the place to get it. I’m sure I’ll end up spending at least $200, that’s 2,000 points right there! I’d be well on my way to getting a free $25 gift card to Overstock.com.

Some people like to cash in their points every chance they get, for a $10 gift card to Wal-Mart, or something of the sort. That’s great, but it seems to me that there’s a much better way of doing it. With a little bit of planning, you can continually regenerate your points so you can cash them in for bigger amounts without spending as much!

Unlike those “some people” that I mentioned before; I’m the kind of girl who likes to save her points for bigger purchases or bigger rewards. As I mentioned earlier, I’m in the market for a digital camera, so if I buy that digital camera off of Overstock.com, via Mypoints.com, and receive my 2,000 to add on to what I already have I’ll be able to redeem my points for a $100 giftcard to Overstock.com or any other retailer of my choice. Then if I use my $100 giftcard via MyPoints.com on Overstock.com, I’ll have yet another 1,000 to go towards another gift card.

If you take the time to think about your purchases and do a little bit of planning you can really stretch your dollar! It’s especially important if you’re planning a big purchase like a new laptop, TV or other expensive item. Take the time to compare stores on Mypoints keep in mind price, shipping, and potential points earned. It’s always nice to get a little (or big) something extra out of your money!

Textbookx.com

The College Board, a nonprofit organization did a study during the year of 2003-2004. It found that the average college student at a 4 year public university spend over $800 each year on books and school supplies! While prices will vary by location it’s safe to say that college students are shelling out a lot of money just in books!

The best way to save your money is to buy textbooks used if at all possible. You can find Over 900,000 new and used books! Free shipping on retail orders over $49. at textbookx.com. You can buy the books you need at discount prices. There’s just no reason to pay full price for college textbooks!

The semester is over and you have absolutely no use for that textbook that you spent $60 on? Get some of your money back; Sell Your Textbooks Here! on textbookx.com.

You’ll more than cut your textbook expenses in half by buying and selling on textbookx.com. You can also pick up extra cash by selling your old DVDs and video games, come on, you beat that game 50 times- get a new one!

How To Save Money- Everywhere

Typically I talk about online investing, but this blog is also about personal finances in general. There are so many easy ways to cut your spending without making much of a sacrifice! I know clipping coupons and keeping them organized can be a major pain, but it’s a great way to save money. Good thing there are sites like coupons.com! You can print out as many coupons as you want and I believe they have 100 on there at all times. These are really useful coupons, you could save a ton of money on your grocery bills! Did I mention that it’s really easy to use and free?

Do you like to eat out? Join restaurants.com! It’s free, of course because you know I’ll never pay to save! You can buy dining certificates to your favorite restaurants at discount prices. I see a lot of $25 dining certificates for $10, or $10 dining certificate for just $3. Go ahead and see if there are participating restaurants in your area.

If you’re really interested in saving on your dining tab, visit the website of your favorite restaurants. Sign up for their newsletter, if they have one. You’ll receive special offers and coupons right in your e-mail.

Primetime Shows To Watch

If you want to be an investor, you must be informed. You’ve got to know what’s going on in the market, what’s going on with your companies and general current events. Set up a daily schedule, a time to read the paper or to watch certain shows that keep investors informed.

I have a 17 month old daughter, so I lack the time to actually sit down and read a paper. I do have time to turn the TV on anytime, and I do. Here is a list of shows that I think you should watch, to keep your head in the game.

Kudlow & Company, hosted by Larry Kudlow, ties politics, law and the stock market into an hour long show starting at 5pm Monday through Friday on CNBC.

Mad Money, hosted by Jim Cramer; also on CNBC. You’ve seen me mention Jim Cramer’s Mad Money many times in this blog, that’s because I love him! As he says at the end of every show, there’s a bull market somewhere and he wants to help you find it! By the way if you’re a student at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, click here to register for tickets to “Mad Money’s Back to School Tour” on February 7. Oh yea, and catch Mad Money on CNBC every night at 6pm and 11pm.

I’ve wanted to check out “Fast Money”, a show that comes on CNBC at 8pm, but I’ve yet to have the chance. I’d bet that it’s a very informative program, you should check it out!

Homage To Jim Cramer

BOO-YA citizens of Cramerica! Yes, thank you. I'm feeling many studdering BOO-YA's in return. If you're a fan of Jim Cramer's mad money, or any of his books then check out the latest homage to Cramer. You can find informative blogs, Cramer's books, and let everyone know how your portfolio is treating you. Visit Make Mad Money!

Stock Market Jokes

Investments

STOCK: A magical piece of paper that is worth $33.75 until the moment you buy it. It will then be worth $8.50.
BOND: What you had with your spouse until you pawned his/her golf clubs to invest in Amazon.com.

BROKER: The person you trust to help you make major financial decisions. Please note the first five letters of this word spell Broke.

BEAR: What your trade account and wallet will be when you take a flyer on that hot stock tip your secretary gave you.

BULL: What your broker uses to explain why your mutual funds tanked during the last quarter.

MARGIN: Where you scribble the latest quotes when you're supposed to be listening to your manager's presentation.

SHORT POSITION: A type of trade where, in theory, a person sells stocks he doesn't actually own. Since this also only ever works in theory, a short position is what a person usually ends up being in (i.e. "The rent, sir? Hahaha, well, I'm a little short this month.").

COMMISSION: The only reliable way to make money on the stock market, which is why your broker charges you one.

Find more great stockbroker and investment jokes at www.jokes.net or add your own!

Meez

how entertaining is this?

Download Your Free Copy Of Stock Market Outlook

Click here to download a free copy of Stock Market Outlook. This report is by Ken Fisher, money manager and Forbes columnist. There’s a foreword by Jim Cramer (BOO-YA!). You know I like anything and everything that Jim Cramer touches! I haven’t read through the copy I downloaded yet. This is a limited time offer and I wanted to get it out to you as soon as possible. Go ahead and download, it’s free and you might learn something!!!

Dollar Cost Averaging; So Much Simpler Than It Sounds

Dollar cost averaging is an investment strategy where regular investments are made into your account or portfolio. Dollar cost averaging can be an ideal plan for the young online investor. It lowers risk, cost and doesn’t require big lump sums to be invested all at once. Despite the fact, that, generally speaking young online investors can afford a bit more risk than those closer to retirement, many of us just don’t want to put the work into it. That’s okay!

1) Determine exactly how much you can afford to invest on a weekly or monthly basis. Sharebuilder.com has an automatic investment plan exactly for this purpose. By developing a dollar cost averaging investment plan and setting that plan in motion through a free, basic account at Sharebuilder.com you’ll only pay $4 each time you invest! Real time trades via Sharebuilder.com can cost you up to $15.95 per trade! You can see how much money you’ll save.

I know that a few posts ago I talked about how I made the switch from Sharebuilder.com to Scottrade.com. That’s because I am an active trader. Sharebuilder.com is an excellent site for online investors, but it’s a special value to those wanting to implement a dollar cost averaging strategy.

2) Dollar cost averaging is a long term investment plan; it’s not a good way to make a quick buck. It is a good way to secure your financial future. That leads us to the type of investments you want to make. Like all good investment strategies, a key goal is to diversify your portfolio. You do not want to pour $50 a week into one stock for years, goodness only knows the risk you’d face. However, with $50 a week it’d take some pretty rigid and careful planning to create a diversified stock portfolio on your own.

What are your other options?

Index funds; like the S&P 500, the Wilshire 5000, or the FTSE 100. If we take a closer look at the S&P 500, you’ll see large capitol corporations and a ready made diversified investment. The idea behind an index fund is that you are investing your money along with others; this enables you to take part in a number of investments that would not be plausible for most individual investors, must less the young, newbie, online investor.


Mutual funds; you must purchase shares straight from the fund itself. If you own a mutual fund you can sell your share back to the fund. Some of the nice things about mutual funds are the professional management, their affordability, they are redeemable and like index funds are diversified. However, there is a down side to mutual funds such as the cost, lack of control and price uncertainty. Before you consider involving yourself in a mutual fund, use the mutual fund cost calculator to compare costs.

If you’re new to the world of investing, but dying to get in on the action, dollar cost averaging is a great place for you to start. The most important thing is to have a plan in place before you make your first move. That means, you have to either do the research or pay someone else to. Either way, knowing what you’re putting your money into today is an investment you’ll be glad you made in the future. Get it? investment- now wasn't that a witty pun?

Evaluate Value Stock

We’ve been through growth stocks, now lets look at their counterpart “value stocks.” Unlike growth stocks, value stocks are usually inexpensive. Based on price to earnings and price to book value ratios these stocks have been undervalued. Value stocks trade at low prices, compared to their earnings. Value stocks considered to be low risk stocks.

Halliburton Company was Jim Cramer’s #3 value stock pick of 2007, but why? In order to be a successful individual online investor you have to understand how to pick a value stock. What’s in store for HAL? You, the online investor, can measure how well a stock will do in the future by reading company reports and watching out for it in the news. With value stocks were looking for stocks that were undervalued, but are expected to go up in price in the future. That’s how you make money. Buy it a stock, like Halliburton Company (HAL) at a low price and then wait for it to shoot up.

So, I’m going to do the research and see what makes Halliburton a good value stock to have in your portfolio. I’ll listen to their latest conference call, request the online investors kit, and you’ll find much more information, like press releases just by browsing their website.

Growth Stocks For The Online Investor

Growth stocks or growth investing is the practice of focusing on a stock that is growing and has high potential for continued growth. So, how do you spot a growth stock? There are a few key indicators, however there’s no such thing as an exact measurement.
Naturally one of the first things to look for is a high growth rate. Look at the company’s growth rate over the past 5 years, for smaller companies it should fall around 10% or more. You can expect to see a slightly less growth rate with larger companies, 5% or more.

Return on Equity, or how efficiently a company uses it’s assets to produce earnings. This is calculated by dividing the Net Income by Book Value.

Study the company’s pre-tax profit margins. If sales do not translate into earnings, this is a good sign of a bad growth stock. Also, read this article on evaluating stocks to understand how to use “earnings per share” as a comparative tool when investigating stocks. http://stocks.about.com/od/evaluatingstocks/a/eps1.htm

A good portfolio is a diversified portfolio. Online investors should have a good balance of growth stocks, value stocks, and perhaps even a speculative stock if you’re feeling lucky. I’ll get into value stocks and speculative stocks in my next posts.

CANSLIM: Could it make you rich?

You know you need to research before you make an investment or trade. Do you know what to look for in your research? There are probably hundreds of different methods that professional and individuals use; to each his own, right?

William J. O’Neil established and publishes the popular newspaper, Investor’s Business Daily. He also developed an investing formula to find the next “Microsoft” or “Starbucks” big gainers like that.

According to O’Neil “CANSLIM”
C- Current Quarterly Earnings
A- Annual Earnings
N- New Products, New Management, New Highs
S- Supply of Stock
L – Leader
I- Institutional Ownership
M- Market Direction

So what does it all mean? Visit Investors.com to learn more about the CANSLIM method.

Research Stocks

Investing is a risky business, if you don’t do your homework. Somehow online investing can seem a bit surreal to us at times. It's something about the power of playing the market right from our own homes or offices. Keep that in mind before you start investing online, there is risk and you could loose money. Before thinking of investing in a company you must do the research. Finding the information is relatively easy. You can find company reports, what analysts are rating the stock and even get transcripts from company conference calls. The following are two free resources for online stock research.

MSN Money Central

Seeking Apha

The Seven Questions Every Investor Needs To Answer

The Seven Questions Every Investor Needs To Answer
By James Delrojo

Most people invest with the aim of making a profit but of course making a loss is always a possibility. To help you make the best investment decisions there are seven questions that you need to be able to answer. Your answers will much better equip you to make profitable investment decisions.

Most people hate making decisions. They stall and stall until in the end the decision makes itself. This is a great strategy if your aim is to bob along on the wave of chance, but how many people do you think really get rich by chance? The self made rich, the successful investors and all people who are in control of their own life, take that control by developing the habit and skill of being a good decision maker.

In order to make a good investment decision in regards to investing you need to be able to answer these seven questions.

Question 1: What is most likely to happen?

In order to answer this question you need to understand what drives capital growth in that particular form of investment. If you don't have this knowledge it's time to invest in some appropriate education before you risk your money.

Question 2: How can I best capitalize on that?

Every market is constantly a mixture of opportunities and difficulties. The trick is being able to recognize the opportunities. Opportunities that are obvious to an expert investor are often invisible to a novice or intermediate level investor. Recognizing opportunity comes from a combination of knowledge, experience, and creative thinking.

Question 3: What could go wrong?

Optimists often lose their money because they never look at what could go wrong. On the other hand pessimists see so many potential problems that they are too afraid to invest and so make no profit. It is important to learn how to switch between the two states as required.

For question 3 you need a degree of pessimism. Make a list of all the things that could reasonably go wrong with the particular investment that you are considering.

Question 4: How can I manage that risk?

Not investing because there are risks involved is a sure way to stay broke. Every investment (and every business) has risks. Experienced investors will invest if they can manage the risks within their decided tolerance levels. If not, they look for a different investment.

Question 5: How will I cash flow this investment?

Capital growth can make you rich but cash flow is the king. I have seen many unskilled investors lose money because they are so focused on the capital growth potential of a particular investment and forget to assess whether they can cash flow it during the time it take for capital growth.

This is particularly true with high growth residential property that often has low rental yield and therefore requires cash input each month to meet the loan repayments. Don't get in over your head.

Question 6: What will my strategy be in the event that I am right in my assessment?

Collect profit and minimize losses is a wise motto for investors.

If you are right in your assessment and all goes well with your investment then how and when are you going to collect your profit?

Question 7: What will my strategy be in the event that I am wrong in my assessment?

Even the most experienced investor can make an incorrect assessment and invest when they should have declined. For this reason an experienced investor designs an exit strategy BEFORE he or she invests. Then if the investment goes the wrong way they already know what to do.

Get good at answering the seven questions and your net worth will reap the benefits.

James Delrojo would like to help you by giving you his
ebook "Unleash the Success Power of Your Mind"
(valued at $27) completely FREE.
Go to http://www.YourSuccessMind.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Delrojo
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Seven-Questions-Every-Investor-Needs-To-Answer&id=397282

Scottrade.com

I’ve set up my account over at scottrade, and I must say that I’m already impressed. Since I’m a night owl, I created the account online last night. This morning around 10am, I got a call from scottrade, they wanted to see if I had any questions or needed help with anything. I think that’s pretty good customer service so far!

I’ll start trading and investing there as soon as I transfer money into the scottrade account. It may take a week or so, all of my money is tied up in my sharebuilder account. I will say that I do prefer the look of the sharebuilder site, but aesthetics are a small sacrifice to make for saving money and great customer service.

Jim Cramer's Mad Money

Over the months I’ve become an avid follower of Jim Cramer’s “Mad Money.” It’s a show on CNBC dedicated to informing the individual investor. By informing, I do not mean Cramer spends an hour dishing out his hot stock picks. No, the aim on this hour of primetime is to teach you how to invest; I also might add that it’s very entertaining! If you're in debt you have to make the most of what you're saving. Investing is a great way to do that.

Cramer is constantly stressing the need to do your homework; research the stock, research the company. If there’s anything I’ve learned in my mere months of investing is that you won’t get far on luck! I know a lot of people are wondering where to do research and what they need to look at?

I find it difficult to stomach too much new information at once. That’s why, I’m offering you a little bit of information at a time. Tonight, I’d like to share some tips about what to look at when buying stock in certain sectors. The data and reports that matter in one sector do not necessarily matter in another.
If you’re trading or investing in the Hotel business: “Average Revenue Per Room”
If you’re trading or investing in Retail and Restaurants: “Same Store Sales”
If you’re trading or investing in Banks: “Net Interest Margin”
If you’re trading or investing in Tech: “Best Gross Margins”

BOO YA! JIM CRAMER! Catch his show on cnbc at 6pm, 9pm or midnight.

Tech Claim

Technorati Profile

Save For A College Education At The Grocery Store!

Do you use brands like Tide, Hershey's, Flordia's Natural, Fujufilm or Huggies? You can save money everytime you go to the grocery store, just by purchasing items that you already need.

Upromise is a free service designed to help you save for your childs college education. Everytime you purchase from a company, store or brand participating in the Upromise program a portion of your purchase goes directly into your upromise college savings account.

It's free and easy to use. There are thousands of companies, therefore, there's really no way you can't put away a bit of money with Upromise. Even if you only save enough to cover the cost of books- that's something! Hopefully, you're getting an early start and your children are young. If that's the case, then you can build your savings overtime. Upromise also offers a 529 Investment Plan specifically designed for college savings.

There's really no reason not to sign up for Upromise. It's free, it's easy, you can keep track of where you're saving and how much; simply by logging into your Upromise account. You can check it out and sign up for free by going to Upromise.com

This is not a paid advertisement, it's a great service that I am personally recommending!!

The First Step To Saving

The holidays are passing and the New Year is approaching quickly. After dropping a fortune on gift giving and feast making, as many of us did, it's time to turn our minds to more frugal financial decisions and managing our debt.

Do you have a New Years resolution involving money? Many of us do. If I had to guess I'd say "saving more money" or "getting out of debt" is right up there with "weight loss" on the "New Years Resolution Scale."

For most of us, it really isn't that hard to save money, and saving money is the first step to getting out of debt. It all begins with getting into the right frame of mind. The problem with resolutions, is that we are often setting ourselves up for failure. To aviod that, the first thing you need to do is make a reasonable budget.

Start by knowing, and writing down, how much you start the week off with. Let's say you make $800 a week, then automatically deduct any fees that come out, like health insurance.

Next make a detailed list of all of your expenses. Divide this list into seperate catagories. For example, put your needs like electricity, water, food, ect in one group and wants like diners out, and other treats in another group.

That's a big task! Figure out how much you're spending each week or month on needs as well as wants. After you do that, you'll know exactly where all of your money is going- and you really may be suprised to see how much is spent on what!

Keeping track of your money is the very first step to saving.