Investing is a tricky business. This is especially true for first-time investors. For these individuals, they will often feel that they can never get enough assurance that they made the right decision in choosing the right product or stock they invested in. Most of the time, they will also be worried that they will not gain the return on investment they were aiming for or worse, that they will lose everything that they invested.

But whether you are confident or not about your first foray into the world of investments, as a first-time investor, there are some key, tried-and-tested principles that can help you start and stay on the right track. By following these principles, you will have a higher chance of finding success or, at the very least, contentment in your investment ventures.

Below are some of these important and useful investment principles:

Diversify to spread risks.

One effective way of reducing your risk exposure and increase potential returns in the long run is to spread risks across a wide range of investments. This means holding a mixture of different types of investments which can help cushion your portfolio from downturns. Shares, bonds, cash, and property react differently in varying conditions. As such, opting for more than one asset class can help to ensure all your investments won’t all rise or fall in value at the same time. You can also spread risks through geographical exposure and by going into long-term investing.

Be knowledgeable about all your investments.

Although you may be working with a financial adviser or investment solutions provider, it would always work to your great advantage if you take the time to study and understand the type of investments you have. When you have a good understanding of your portfolio, you minimize the risk being cheated by scrupulous individuals. You can also have a more realistic expectation of what to anticipate in terms of payouts or profits.

Invest for the long-term.

Lastly, it is quite obvious: the longer you invest, the bigger the potential effect of compound performance on the original value of your investment. In general, your investments can benefit from compounding (money multiplying itself by earning a return on the return) if you reinvest any income you receive. As long as you are careful with the types of investments you choose to go into, you won’t go wrong when you invest for the long-term.

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A few decades ago, it was widely believed that the most effective way to analyze the markets for trade was to determine the fundamentals, such as the number of bushels in storage, the current demand figures, the expected harvest yield, etc. Many assumed that Technical Analysis was not useful. Reasons given were that price action is random, or that it ignores the fundamental factors of the underlying asset. The facts are quite the contrary.

Many have come to learn that the old ‘buy and hold’ strategy can be a costly one. Stories abound of those who have found the value of their portfolio has only broken even (or lost value) after holding for several years. The financial crisis of 2008 highlights one of several historical periods where investors have lost millions. While it is always a good idea to know a company’s financial health as well as their future potential in sales/profits, what may be a healthy financial statement and outlook today can look a lot different tomorrow.

Technical analysis focuses on price movement, anticipating price direction based on its ebbs and flows (ie. swings, cycles, etc.). Fundamental factors of any asset is built into price action, as the market discounts everything. In addition, history tends to repeat itself and this repetitive nature of price action can be anticipated and taken advantage of.

Many technicians rely on various indicators that help expose some aspect of historical price data for the use of timing. Where one indicator might highlight some underlying cycle pattern that could help anticipate the next trend change period, another indicator might highlight a markets overbought or oversold condition, all relative to past price action.

The technical analyst relies heavily on price charts. Certain patterns often repeat giving the technician a heads-up to a potential price break. Such patterns are given names, such as the ‘Head-and-sholders’ pattern, the ‘wedge’ or ‘flag’ formation, etc. All of these technical approaches are useful to some degree.

Precise market timing is crucial in today’s volatile markets. Without greater precision in timing, the trader is exposed to a higher degree of risk and can leave more profit on the table.

Let me illustrate this.

For the sake of discussion, suppose that the price range of each trading day is 50 points. If your allowable risk exposure (how far you will allow the market to move against your position) is 50 points, you must enter the market on the exact day you expect the move to start in your favor to avoid being stopped out with a loss. If your allowable risk exposure is 100 points, you must be accurate in your timing within +/- one day to avoid getting stopped out with a loss. This highlights the importance of precision market timing.

Now in the real world, each day the price range varies from the next. Depending on how effective your market timing approach happens to be, you may be able to risk less than the average range in points. The less precise your market timing approach happens to be, the more you should initially risk on the trade.

While market timing itself can be loosely done using standard technical indicators, trend lines and moving averages, precision market timing is achievable with good market forecasting methods. Market forecasting for market timing purposes is extremely effective because, unlike most technical indicators that are ‘leading’ or ‘lagging’ in nature, a good market forecasting method can forecast a market turn to an exact day of a trend change. Giving any market forecasting method a small deviation allowance of +/- one day can give any trader an incredible edge in predicting market turns for the purpose of precision market timing and trading.

Some traders are historical legends having used market forecasting methods for precision market timing purposes. Who has not heard of William Delbert Gann (better known as WD Gann)? This financial trader is famous for developing several technical approaches, such as the use of Gann angles or the trend indicator. His forecasting methods included the use of the Square of Nine, cycle analysis and market geometry. By using ‘market forecasting’ tools such as these and others, he is famously reported to have many times turned a small amount of money into a large amount rather quickly.

So there are two main points that I hope you have garnered by reading this article. Point #1 is that in order to better manage your risk exposure and maximize your profit potential, the more precise you need to be with your market timing approach. Point #2 is that the most precise way to time the markets is to take advantage of market forecasting techniques, where often you can time your trades to the exact day of a new move.

There are many market forecasting secrets, methods and techniques that you can learn right now to improve your market timing. Some are good, some not so good. I have spent over three decades learning, testing and discovering market forecasting approaches. When I started, there was not much available as there are today. So it has definitely seen some growth over the years and therefore you should have no problem finding the approaches that will fit your style of trading and investing.

Why acquire Copper Collectors items?

Throughout history mining harvests have been hoarded to be the hedge to protect against inflation. Despite the fact that the US dollar is continuing to falter in an uncertain global economy, metals retain their worth. Now copper, regularly considered a base or industrial metal, created interest from precious metals buyers. Many expect higher demand as India and china modernize and new technologies making use of copper are actually designed. Although some people opt to invest in commodities markets, many prefer to take physical possession of the metal, honoring the option that, “If you don’t hold it, you do not own it.”

Accumulating copper products can be regarded as a critical investment, or merely as a fun hobby considering the added and unique benefit of amassing unique value. In times of economic issues many collectibles lose value due to the fact that demand falls, but copper products always hold a commodity value.

In a very very worst-case scenario, should hyperinflation strike the us government dollar as it has with numerous fiat currencies before, many believe precious metals and copper products provides a way of bartering for other services and goods.

Precisely why are Copper Bars so Expensive?

There are many factors that trigger what appear to be high premiums on copper bullion as compared to the spot price shown for paper markets.

The first factor would be the fact copper is no easy task to process. Unlike gold and silver, which melt efficiently and do not oxidize easily when melted, copper oxidizes readily especially if heated. It entails the usage of special methods or chemicals to provide pure copper without bubbles or contaminants being created.

Due to this extra handling, uncontaminated copper is not easy to accumulate anywhere close to the raw market trading price unless you have a contract to opt for a typical shipping and delivery of multiple tons each month. Factor in the expense of processing, sizing, finishing, stamping or engraving, and shipping, and the price has reached the level you see on my web page.

Though there is a premium as opposed to the spot price for copper bullion, the same is true for silver and gold. In this particular market it seriously isn’t unusual for the premiums on silver coins to exceed $4 – $5 per ounce, and gold is regularly selling for $50 – $60 an ounce over spot. Looking at our popular 1 ounce copper rounds in terms of the premium over spot on copper, is significantly less than the premiums on both silver and gold.

Although, money and investing are very important topics, many people don’t understand how to go about them. To help you out, here is what you need to know about investing money:

The goal of investing

The main goal of investing is to ensure that you have enough assets to give you passive income inform of dividends or interest.

In addition to living off the income from your investment, you should also leave something for your loved ones or charitable organizations. If you are well planned, you should be able to pass down your wealth from one generation to the other.

What you should invest in

The most common investments are stocks and bonds; however, there are many other things such as real estate investment trusts that you can invest in.

Although, there are many ways in which you can invest, you should pay attention to the debts that you have.

According to experts, you should not invest if you have a debt that incurs over 10% interest. This is because if you invest in the stock market, you will get far less money thus you won’t be able to repay your debt.

If your debts have an interest costing less than 5%, you should consider investing in bonds and then use the money to repay the loan.

You should note that some bonds tend to yield very small amounts of money; therefore, you should do your research in order to invest in the right bonds that will have high yields.

How to invest for a lifetime

There are two main ways of investing for a lifetime: investing in mutual funds, and buying and holding stocks.

In the first strategy you need to invest in low-cost index mutual funds. You should treat the funds as an investment reserve fund where you deposit any money that you find. While this strategy is great in helping you in investing your money, it often requires an initial investment of about $5,000.

Buying and holding of chosen stocks involves identifying a valuable stock and staying with it. Since you will not sell the stock, it will be earning you dividends. At the same time it will rise in value thus you will have more money at your disposal.

Conclusion

This is what you need to know about investing money. You should note that investing takes decades to accomplish therefore you should be patient in your journey.