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Bring Big Gains To Your IRA’s and 401k’s
September 5th, 2010
Have you ever heard of a REIT? These are something that you should think about adding to your IRA’s or 401k’s. They have the potential to provide huge gains from nothing more than just owning them. REITs are company that have to pay out most of its income to its share holders. What does this mean to you? big dividends. We are talking dividends from 8-20%.
What Does Real Estate Investment Trust – REIT Mean?
A security that sells like a stock on the major exchanges and invests in real estate directly, either through properties or mortgages.
A security that sells like a stock on the major exchanges and invests in real estate directly, either through properties or mortgages.
REITs receive special tax considerations and typically offer investors high yields, as well as a highly liquid method of investing in real estate. (source: www.investopedia.com)
There are also different type of REIT’s, but we will be looking at a particular kind. Equity REITs: These are company’s that invest in and own properties (typically commercial). Their revenues come pricipally from their properties rents. Since they are required to pay out a large portion of their income to shareholders, you get nice fat juciy dividend checks.
Possible Suggestions Include
Annaly Capital Management Inc (NYSE: NLY) - Yeild 15.42%
American Capital Agency Corp- (NASDAQ: AGNC) – Yeild 19.74%
To really boil it down for you it’s like being a Landlord, but not having to be a landlord. You get the benifit of owning real estate without having to be a landlord. With property prices taken a beating the last couple years, now may just be the chance you have been looking for to get into realty. Property prices and rents are sure to increase as home sales and prices come back. REIT’s are a great play for when the housing market bounces back, which may be sooner than you think.
“REIT’s are a great investment for College Students, you get exposed to realty which has great upside potential and have many years to let the dividends grow tax free in an IRA or 401k plan.”
Are You An Investor Or Trader
September 5th, 2010
Which one are you? I have been contimplating some ideas I recently saw on Mad Money with Jim Cramer. He says that you really need to be both a trader and an investor. So what’s the difference? An investor takes a long term outlook, say 5-20+ years. You pick a good looking stock on its fundamentals and earning outlook and hold on for the ride. On the other hand traders are active. These are the “gamers” that are actively buying and selling stocks and taking profits here and there as the market swings back and forth. While on paper being an active trader seems very promising, and it is if you can pull it off. I feel for the average trader that there is a very large risk of losing a lot of money quickly. Trading short-term gains seem to only work if you are moving a substantial amount of money. Where as seeing a short ”pop” up of 2% on a 2500 dollar position after commission leaves me with about $3 7.50 @ a 1.5% gain. While some may argue this is a lot of money, taking these profits on a stock of a company you believe to be a good long term investment has just increased your chances of missing out on near gains of the company and potentionally having to buy it at a higher price.
While I believe long term investing is right for about 80% of home investors, there are some that may need more excitement. I would suggest that you take a percentage of your total portfolio and use that income to actively trade stocks. Chart your gains for a year and compare them to the dividend stocks you just held on to. If there is a positive difference between the two and is large enough to justify the time spent continue, but if you are not beating your long-term valued stocks, then get out of being a trader and leave that for the big mutual funds.
In a market that seems to make no sense trading just feels a lot like gambiling. Where a market drops on good news and rises on bad news what is a trader suppose to do? You decide, roll the dice or stay in and hold your cards.
We look forward to hearing what you think of this topic. Please Discuss your opinion in the comments section. Should you be a trader or investor?
Tip Of The Day: Credit Card Rewards
April 13th, 2010
Tip of the Day
Make sure you are getting rewarded for using your credit card.
Today’s tip: Using credit cards is not always a bad thing as many might have you think. The trick is being in control when using them. Many cards offer rewards like 1% or 2% cash back on all purchases or frequent flyer miles and can really add up if you spending high dollar amounts. They do this to try to get you to overspend what you will be able to pay off, thus leading to interest and fees that far exceed the 1 or 2 you are getting when making the purchase. If you can however control your spending and not use your card without having the cash in your bank account you can gain an extra 1-3% return on your income you spend. A nice return for doing nothing but spending your money.
Here are a couple rewards cards to look at- please remember this may not be for everyone and to read the fine print before accepting any credit card offer. These are all cards with no annual fees.
1. Fidelity Retirement Rewards American Express Card Read more >>
2. Chase Freedom -great card and popular Read more >>
3. Citi Dividend for College Students - popular also with college students Read more >>
4. Citi Forward Card for College Students- Rewards for paying your bill on time Read more >>
This is not a complete list, but rather a starting point for a search for the best reward card for you. It will all depend on what you spend your money on and what reward you prefer whether it be cash, flyer miles, or dining out.
To Research more cards, please go to CreditCards.com
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10 Steps to Financial Freedom
April 12th, 2010
Don't get caught in these traps!
Today I attended a local seminar on how to learn to be a savy saver. I saw the advertisement about this event and was thinking about not going, I mean an MBA student learning about financial basics? Really, come-on. At first this seemed like it was going to be a waste of time, really what could I learn from something such as this, having completed a variety of finance, accounting, and financial decision making classes.
Learning how and where to save money to many may seem like a simple task, but we all need a reminder sometimes. Follow these 10 steps and you will be well on your way to a path of riches.
Global Strategy Ideas
March 31st, 2010
You must think global in today's world
This week’s reading of Redefining Global Strategy by Pankaj Ghemawat had some very different ideas, than previous readings. Ghemawat believes that we are not heading to an era of extreme free trade or full globalism, but rather that we will experience semi-globalization. This semi-globalization will not happen in all countries of the world, but rather focus on the rather large economies that are close to home.
This week I would like to discuss Ghemawat’s idea of “ADDING” value. The concept of why we should globalize is one that doesn’t appear to be discussed much, but rather that globalization is inevitable. The idea that globalization is good and that globalization is the key to be successful, the real question that is rarely asked is why/should we globalize?”
How To Retire At 45
November 6th, 2009
Retire at the age of 45? Can this even be done? Yes, and No. By making smart decisions early it is possible to retire at 45. Start saving today and you could possibly be able to quit that 9-5 job quicker than you thought. I was told the other day that there is no way you could possibly quit working at the age of 45, unless you somehow had some sort of rare luck bestow upon you. I tried to explain to this person that retiring is just a numbers game. That being able to retire is all about numbers, more specifically your bank acount numbers and how much is in them. Follow these simple steps will help you be on track for early retirement.Apparently Cramer Agrees
October 15th, 2009Apparently Cramer agrees with our August recomendation of buying AT&T. Read about it here.
AT&T has also created a new security division that will possibly provide a huge new revenue stream. They are expanding their security services to business. This expansion in to the security service focused on business will help AT&T outperform many of its competitors.
College Corporation Partners with Google Adsense
September 7th, 2009We are pleased to announce that College Corporation has been accepted into the Google Adsense program. This great opportunity will provide us with good advertising content to place on our site. This program should allow us to generate income to help maintain the costs associated with maintaining and hosting this site. These costs have been increasing with each year and have made me ask if running this site is worth the time and money. Hopefully this will help address some of these concerns.
In the comming months expect to see changes around our site as we add this content to our site. You may see content being moved around as we try to find out what works best for our layout. This is a great first step in making this site self-sustaining.
If you have any suggestions or comments on what you would like to see or have ideas on how to help us keep this site growing, please leave a comment below. Please check back frequently as new content is always being added.
Education Pays Dividends
August 28th, 2009Is education a good investment? Let’s take a look at some of the numbers and see if we can draw our own conclusions on whether education can help increase your chances of earning more in your career.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 90% of young adults graduate high school. Of these 60% continue on to college. The chart below helps illustrate the economic value of education. It appears to show that an increase in education results in an increase in annual earnings.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Surveys, March 1998, 1999, and 2000.
By finishing your bachelor’s degree on average you would make about $21,800 more than a high school graduate annually. If you extend this over a projected work period of 40 years as the U.S. Census Bureau does, you would earn about $872,000 more than someone with a high school degree.
Where have all the jobs gone?
August 7th, 2009Just like the Jonny Rivers song “Where have all the flowers gone long time passing….” Where have all the jobs gone? So you’ve graduated with that new degree and looking to get a good paying job finally – actually have some money; think again.
So today the job loss report was released and shows that job loss is slowing. The report showed that last month the economy shed 247,000 jobs, which was less than expected. This brings national reported unemployment down to 9.4%. (Unemployment in June was 9.5% and 9.4% in July this means unemployment improved even though more jobs were lost- which only means that people are starting to stop looking for work.)The media has portrayed this in a very positive sense, but that fact we lost 247,000 jobs this month isn’t good. This means we are still on the down slide and still losing jobs.
Today’s job market is beyoned competitive, it’s overwhelmed with canidates. You have to be better prepared than ever to land a job in this market. Follow these pointers and you may just land that job.