Mortgage Investment and Interest Rates

30 July 2010

Invest in yourself – Invest in Your Own mortgage and reduce those interest charges.

Let’s begin with the premise that you are a homeowner, have a mortgage and have at least a small amount of money left each month to invest. Where do you invest it? You’ll want a safe investment that pays more than those bond funds. It would be nice if your investment compounded monthly. How about accessibility? Yeah, that’s very important. No problem.

The baby boomer generation were taught that having savings is good and that it should be put safely in the bank. Even if the bank became insolvent our money is insured by the FDIC up to $100,000. So all we had to do, if we were lucky enough to have more money than that was to open account at another bank. Only problem is the interest that the banks pay on savings or even certificates of deposits is, at most 5.5% AND is taxable.

An alternative to Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds could be just putting the funds you may otherwise invest in these methods and pay down your mortgage. So in other words each month pay your mortgage payment plus some extra. Maybe a portion of the amount you invest each month or maybe the whole investment, the decision is yours.

A Little Extra – The Savings Math

Here’s an example of what would happen if you invested in the mortgage, you owe on your home. Let’s use a new fixed rate mortgage with a starting balance of $100,000 amortized over 30 years at 7%. By paying an extra $25 per month we would pay this mortgage off 39 months early. Check my math, but I calculate that would save us 39 (month) x $665.31 (monthly payment amount) = $25,947 minus 321 months that we made extra payments each of $25 or a total of $8,025 would leave us $17,992 in savings growth. $17,992 divided by 321 months is an average of $55.83 a month in tax free growth. Annualized that amount for a yearly average of $669.96. Divide that by our yearly investment of $300 ($25/month) and we get a whopping average return of 223%.

If you were to further invest a little time, go check out some great mortgage rates at www.propertysharesinternet.com, you could even shave another few thousand dollars. Go ahead and invest in all the fancy funds Wall Street has to offer, but at least consider investing in your own mortgage.

If your still thinking shares are the way to go www.propertysharesinternet.com may be able to guide you in the right direction also.

Happy Investing!

Anthony Simon

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How To Develop A Secure Retirement Income

23 July 2010

One of the rules of life is that, sooner or later, everyone has to stop working and retire. For some, this is a golden opportunity to enjoy life and do things they never got the chance to do while they were busy with working and raising a family. For others, however, retirement can be a very scary prospect, with no money coming in and yet some of the biggest expenses still needing to be taken care of. Even though work stops, the truth is that life (and your bills) doesnt. Here are some ways to plan ahead and develop a secure source of income for when you retire.

The most important factor in planning out your retirement income is to plan ahead- the sooner you start to plan, the better. As soon as you reach that stage of life where you are receiving a secure income, you should begin to put money aside in order to draw off of when you retire. You can do this by diversifying your investments- small contributions to several areas will add up when you retire to provide you with a comfortable living- if you are very wise and frugal you may find that your retirement income is actually more than your regular working income was!

The best places to put this money are in areas where they will be able to accrue interest, especially of the compound variety. Some safe investments include mutual funds and saving bonds, in which an investor agrees to leave the money aside for a stated amount of time in order to earn the interest that will often be guaranteed. In some areas, it is also possible to invest in Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) which will not only accrue interest until the time you retire, they are also usually tax deductible in the present.

You should also look for a job in which a regular contribution is made by both the company and by yourself to a pension plan. Ask your employer if it is possible to have some money deducted from each paycheck and deposited to a specific pension plan- many employers will meet the contributions made by the employee.

The most important thing when you are planning out your retirement income is to make sure that the money you invest for that purpose remains there. Many people lose their retirement nest egg in emergencies or even investing in opportunities that seem iron clad, but arent. When you make investments towards your retirement, do not touch them. Remember that this money will be all you have at that time in your life, and if you lose it you are going to be in for some hard times, with no chance at recuperation. Any risks as far as investments go should be undertaken with money that you budget for that purpose, and not with any of the money that you plan on setting aside for retirement purposes.

Prudence and long-term planning are the watchwords when you begin to develop your secure retirement income. Make a plan and stick to it, and your golden years will be the best time of your life.

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Retirement Planning Tip-How To Achieve Your Retirement Goals And Get

25 June 2010

Retirement Planning Tip-How To Achieve Your Retirement Goals And Get Where You Want To Be

There are many people who will offer you a retirement planning tip to help you achieve the retirement you’ve always wanted. Of course, not all this information is good. First of all, you need to realize that the most important part of your retirement planning is your investing.

Most people pay very little attention to their investing activity, and simply let their employer handle where their 401k and other retirement money goes. Knowing this information yourself is crucial, because without understanding investing and knowing the best places to put your money, you will never achieve your retirement goals and lifestyle.

Of course, without having a specific plan in place, investing is all but useless. First of all, you need decide what kind of house you want to live in, and the overall lifestyle you wish to live when you retire. When you know this, decide how much money that will cost you.

When you have all this information, only now should you begin exploring investing options. For instance, if you need $1 million in the bank by 2030, your investing choices will be different than if you knew that you only needed $300,000 in the bank.

The main point is to find out how much money you will need when you retire, and find the right investment vehicle for you to help get you there. Of course, this vehicle will be different for everybody depending on their retirement needs; there is no right or wrong answer to where you invest. You can invest in real state, the stock market, mutual funds, bonds, etc. It really doesn’t matter.

When you invest however, remember that the bottom line is always about the numbers. This is the number one retirement planning tip that just about everybody misses. Believe it or not, most investors never look at the financial situation behind the investment they are considering.

For example, in the stock market, many investors will simply look at how a stock price of the company’s doing, and jump aboard only because the price is going up. There may be no profits at all behind that particular company (in fact there often arent) but they will still invest anyway, because their stock broker call them up and told them to.

Don’t ever take this approach with your investing. Remember that whether you are investing in real state, the stock market, foreign currency, etc, it is always about the numbers in the financial situation. Before you invest, always look at the numbers and make sure there’s profits in whatever investment that you are planning on doing, whether be real estate or to the stock market. This is probably the most important retirement planning tip you will ever get, because without knowing what the finances of the investment you are considering are like, you can never be certain it will make money.

This is by far the most important aspect of investing, and the only way to ensure long-term success. Don’t ever jump aboard a particular investment just because someone hypes you up on it, gives you a tip on it, or because it looks good; if the numbers arent there now, they likely never will be.

So to recap the process: formulate your plan, figure out how much money you’ll need to achieve your retirement lifestyle, and then find the right investment vehicle to get you there. When looking for the right investment, look only at the numbers. Follow this important retirement planning tip, and you’ll achieve the retirement you’ve always wanted to, no matter how lofty or ridiculous you think your goals may be.

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Property Investment for Retirement

12 May 2010

While many fortunes have been made and lost in the real estate business, many people overlook the value of real estate investing when it comes to planning for retirement. There are many great ways that you can let real estate build a nice little nest egg for your retirement and the sooner you begin the process the better.

While there are all kinds of stocks and mutual funds that confuse even the most intelligent among us, real estate is a pretty straightforward business to get into. The problem is that many people feel it is too risky. The truth is that there are many different types of real estate investing that all carry different risk to the buyer. One thing is for sure and that is that with proper care and attention properties tend to gain value over time rather than lose value. If you purchase properties today and properly maintain them, you can not only reap years of rental income while paying the mortgage on these properties but you can also find your retirement home and pay today’s prices for it rather than the prices of tomorrow.

When it comes to real estate it is always good to arm yourself with knowledge before taking any steps and you should carefully discuss all plans for your financial future with your trusted financial planner or advisor. His or her job is to give you guidance when making plans and purchases that will affect your financial stability and security. They can also help you with the matters of taxation, cost analysis, estimated inflation, and the average rise in property value for an area.

As I mentioned before there are always risks when it comes to any sort of investing. The same holds true for real estate investing. Things can go wrong. On occasion you will find lemon properties, for this reason you need to have a complete and thorough inspection performed before you purchase the property. You should also make sure that you are aware of your state and local laws as they apply to landlords. For this reason it is a good idea to consult with an attorney that specializes in this type of financial investing in addition to your financial advisor.

Rental properties aren’t the only way to build a property investment portfolio. There are all kinds of property investment opportunities for those that are willing to take the risk. When it comes to property investing, the greater risks often net the greater potential rewards. The thing you must remember is that you are gambling with your financial future. I tend to stick with rental properties as they are a fairly safe bet and actually pay for themselves over the years while building a nice nest egg for my future.

There is the eternally fascinating investment opportunity that property flipping presents for one. When flipping a property you purchase a property below market value-preferably one that requires minor cosmetic repairs. Make the repairs. Then sell the house for a substantial profit. This is a risky venture for those who are novices to the field and many would be investors have lost a great deal of money doing this. Successful investors however can net significant profits in a very short amount of time if they have the knowledge and skills to do the work themselves and time things perfectly.

There are even more property investing opportunities that provide even greater risk, as they are highly speculative known as pre-construction investing. This is the type of investing that creates millionaires. On the flip side it has sent many into bankruptcy along the way as well so tread very carefully before engaging in this sort of real estate investing and take great care never to invest more than you can afford to lose.

As you can see there are ample opportunities in real estate to create an outstanding financial retirement plan for you and your family. The only decision you need to make is whether or not this type of investing is a good fit for your comfort zone.

PPPPP

681

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Planning For Your Retirement Tips

05 May 2010

When you are planning for your retirement, a 401K plan is a good place to start. This a very special account that you fund with pre-tax earnings and is deducted from your paycheck each pay period. These funds are then invested in a variety of bonds, mutual funds, and stocks, and no taxes are charged upon it until the funds are withdrawn from the account. Congress created this in the early 1980s and is used as a vehicle for saving for retirement. There are many benefits of a 401k plan that can make an excellent financial net when it comes time to retire. Some of the advantages include, tax, match programs initiated by employers, the flexibility to customize your investments, portability, and the ability to withdraw for a loan or hardship cases.

Most employers match a portion of the employees 401K contribution as a appealing factor of keeping employees. Some employers will even increase the amount of their match when the employee works for them for so long, it all depends on the company. It is of your best interest to invest the maximum amount you can to the 401K to fully benefit from this program. Additionally, the 401k plan allows you to customize your investments and are flexible in this manner as well.

One very flexible and appealing option of the 401K plan is the fact that if you decide you change employers you have a variety of options available to you. These options include, leaving the 401K plan with the employer you are leaving, the administrators could begin to charge you money for keeping the records and managing your account. You also have the option of rolling over your 401K to your new employers 401k plan. You could also do the rollover and put it into an IRA. This will allow you to control the allocation of your assets meaning you are not limited to only what your employer provides. Your last options is to cash out, pay the taxes, plus a possible penalty fee.

It is important that you investigate all options and properly weigh the pros and cons of each, this will help you to make informed, educated, and practical decisions that will benefit you and your future retirement. After working hard all of your life, many people like the comfort of knowing that when they retire they will have some sort of financial backing to help them out.

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Im Too Young, Im Too Old, Im Almost Old Enough,

09 March 2010

Im Too Young, Im Too Old, Im Almost Old Enough, Should I Have A Retirement Plan?

Yes retirement planning is important for all of us. This is not an easy subject for any of us to talk about, but, we must discuss it sooner rather later!

We want to be able to enjoy our golden years comfortably without having to worry about our finances. Planning your retirement is a crucial key to making this happen.

So, what do I need to do to plan for my retirement? You can start by asking and answering some or all of these questions: How long will it be before I retire? Do I have money already saved for retirement and if so, will it be enough for me to retire on? How much money should I put away for my retirement? How should I invest my money in order to achieve the amount of money I want to retire on? How much money will I need to live on to maintain my present and future lifestyle?

All of these retirement planning questions are important for you to think about in order to have solid retirement planning. Once you have answers to these questions, then proceed to start your retirement savings now!

What are some of the areas I can invest my money in for retirement? Stocks, bonds, certificate of deposits, mutual funds, 401K, IRA, Roth IRA, annuities and many other miscellaneous investment vehicles.

Where can I expect to withdraw money for my retirement? Social Security, savings, pension plans, and your investments from 401K plans, certificate of deposits and other investments.

How much money will I need for retirement? It is estimated that you will need approximately 60-80% of your current income at the time of your retirement. This will allow you to live the lifestyle you are accustomed to having by the time you retire.

When should I start saving for retirement? Now! It’s never too early or late to start saving for your retirement. The sooner you start the more money you will have for your golden years to live on.

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How to transfer a retirement account

08 March 2010

Make sure you know where you intend on moving your money in advance!

As you probably know, an individual retirement account requires that you decide where your money is going to be invested in order to work with the retirement account. Essentially this is called a “custodian” for your investments. You should generally chose a safe custodian – some of the most common ones are mutual funds, savings accounts, and bonds. While you should definitely be careful as to which custodian you choose for your retirement account, don’t worry! You are not stuck with the same investment until you retire.

However, unlike a normal investment, you should keep in mind that you are only allowed to transfer or “roll over” your retirement account once a year. Also, there are some very specific rules that you need to follow. It is generally a good idea to find out how to transfer a retirement account before you even begin to invest in one. That way if you ever need to do a roll over in the future, you’ll be ready.

First of all, you should probably have a good idea of where you want to invest the money before you start the rollover process. The reason for this is that after you take the money out of your original IRA custodian, you’ll only have 60 days to put it into the new custodian fund. If you take too long, then you will be subject to a large penalty tax – and penalties are definitely not worth the few extra days that you take!

Something to keep in mind is that if you do a roll over, you will need to report that at the end of the year. Just like anything else that is involved with your finances, you should make sure that you keep track of which custodians go with your individual retirement accounts and how much money is in each account.

If you are going to do a smaller transfer from one existing IRA to another, then it is possible that you won’t even have to report your transfer. These transfers are also tax-free. This is a good idea if you do not want to change all of your money from one custodian to another, but you think that it would be a good idea to change how much money you have in each IRA.

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How To Save For Retirement

05 March 2010

Retirement is a time to relax and do the things that we enjoy or interest us. While retirement might seem like a long way off, eventually it will be right around the corner. Whether you have just started working or have been in the workforce for 20 years or more it is important to come up with a plan to save for retirement. Here are some tips.

Start as Early as Possible

The earlier you start saving for retirement the more money you will ultimately save. This is true not only because you will be saving more money over time, but because of the power of compound interest. Compound interest means that over time interest grows exponentially. For instance, you can put $100 a year away in your mattress for ten years and save $1,000. However, with compound interest, if you put that same amount of money away in a bank account earning 10% interest for 10 years, this amount amazingly grows to about $2,000. That is twice as much just using the power of compound interest.

Savings

Your Savings is obviously vital to saving for retirement. There is a popular term that is used in the finance circles and it is called Pay Yourself First. This is a good creed to live by. We make sure we pay the gas company, our mortgage, the restaurant, etc, however make sure you pay yourself before anyone else. Whether it is $20 per week or $200, saving money on your own can help you invest for your future once in retirement.

401K

Most corporations offer their employees pensions, however dont just rely on a pension for your retirement. If you looked at the paper this last year, many large corporations have reneged on their promises of offering a pension to their employees or the amount of the pension they give to their employees have been drastically reduced. Instead take advantage of another benefit your company offers- the 401K plan. A 401K plan allows employees to divert a percentage of their income in order to invest it in either company stock, money markets, bonds, stocks or mutual funds. The great part about 401K plans is that these plans are taxed when your 401K is cashed out, not before when this money can help your investment grow. This means that you get more bang for each dollar you put towards your 401K plan since it is not taxed up front and helps increase the power of your investment.

Investments

Investments outside of savings and a 401K plan can help you save for retirement as well. However, it is important to be very careful not to choose risky investments. One investment that has shown promise throughout the decades is real estate. Your home or purchasing a second home for investment purposes can be a great tool in helping you save for retirement.

If you are looking to maximize the amount of money that you have at retirement in order to do the things that you always dreamed about, it is important to carefully plan your retirement and choose strategies that will deliver in the long term.

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Different Gambling Arenas For People At Different Income Levels

01 March 2010

Everybody is trying to get more money, keep more of the money they have, and, at the very least, pile a little up for retirement. But lower income, middle income, and upper income groups have a different approach to multiply their money. Casino patrons visit in order to quickly turn a tiny amount of money into a large amount of money. People from every economic level visit casinos, for most people it is short-lived entertainment. When it comes to getting more serious about an ongoing way to make a little money into a lot of money, most people do their gambling in three other arenas.

You want the big money right now, so why wait? Buy a lottery ticket today and find out the result tonight. This is the first gambling arena that people frequent to try to end their money troubles. People earning under $100,000 are 2.5 times more likely to frequently buy lottery tickets as people that earn more than $100,000. No big surprise here, middle to low income earners find lottery tickets a cheap and easy way to hit big money on the way home from work. This is not a form of gambling that I would recommend as your chances of winning have been equated to being struck by lightning 25 times.

Only half of the American population has ever tried their hand at the next gambling arena: the stock market or mutual funds. You might have a retirement account with a couple mutual funds, or you could be trading in and out of stocks every few days. But this is where middle income earners go to gamble and try to get rich. The average stock portfolio is a whopping $34,300. Any stockbroker will tell you that if you are lucky and have 50 years, you may be able to own a portfolio worth a million dollars. When there is a sharp increase in the stock market, the amateurs rush in and try to make it a profession; but get financially hurt in the end. In the late 1990s it was day-trading. I personally know successful short-term traders, but 97% of them quit after losing most/all of their trading account in a short amount of time. This is not a gambling arena that Id recommend to build your wealth: whether short-term or long-term stock investing. (The high income earners have an extra flavor of this type of investment called a hedge fund, but these funds offer a few spectacular gains but more frequent financial implosions.)

People in the high income bracket have two gambling arenas that they employ to get richer: real estate and private placement memorandums. The beauty of investment real estate is that it can lower your taxes by taking a deduction for depreciation. This feature is not available to lottery tickets, slot machines, or mutual funds. In this gambling arena, there is land development, residential rentals, apartments, and commercial property of various types. The high income earners buy properties with a high monthly income, reduce their taxes with its depreciation, and hope for a large rise in the property value over time. But as I said before, when there is a price run-up, the amateurs rush in and ultimately get financially hurt. In 2002-2005, the rage caught on in preconstruction condominiums (the cheapest way to get into real estate). The term flipping condos became prevalent and masses of beginning investors have lost a lot of money because they werent educated about real estate investing. But professionals in the industry continue to earn money because they buy based upon monthly income, and speculative gains are just the extra icing for the investment. The second casino that high income earners use is PPMs (private placement memorandums). These are investments that are illegal for people earning under $200,000, or have a net worth under $1 million. (The government only wants sophisticated investors who can afford to lose their money entering these unregulated investments.) These investments are normally created by small business owners that need more money to expand, so they are offering part of the ownership of their company with a higher than average rate of return. Conservative real estate offer the best odds of success for any of the gambling arenas; and then when you have built up enough money, you can begin with some conservative PPMs.

Where do you want to focus your getting richer effort? There is no risk free path to follow, but maybe this will help you decide: What is the probability that you will successfully pick the winning lottery numbers today? The joke youll hear is that losing money on lottery tickets is a tax on the mathematically challenged. What is the probability that youll buy the stock of a runaway company before the professionals run the price up? What is the probability that you can find a valuable real estate transaction? It is my opinion that educating yourself about real estate offers the best chance for sharply increasing your financial fortune.

[There is one more popular gambling arena available to people with internet/computer/technical skills, and that is joining a start-up company that is eventually taken public. The odds of success are only 7 times better than the lottery, about 1 in 6 million.]

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How To Develop A Secure Retirement Income

20 February 2010

One of the rules of life is that, sooner or later, everyone has to stop working and retire. For some, this is a golden opportunity to enjoy life and do things they never got the chance to do while they were busy with working and raising a family. For others, however, retirement can be a very scary prospect, with no money coming in and yet some of the biggest expenses still needing to be taken care of. Even though work stops, the truth is that life (and your bills) doesnt. Here are some ways to plan ahead and develop a secure source of income for when you retire.

The most important factor in planning out your retirement income is to plan ahead- the sooner you start to plan, the better. As soon as you reach that stage of life where you are receiving a secure income, you should begin to put money aside in order to draw off of when you retire. You can do this by diversifying your investments- small contributions to several areas will add up when you retire to provide you with a comfortable living- if you are very wise and frugal you may find that your retirement income is actually more than your regular working income was!

The best places to put this money are in areas where they will be able to accrue interest, especially of the compound variety. Some safe investments include mutual funds and saving bonds, in which an investor agrees to leave the money aside for a stated amount of time in order to earn the interest that will often be guaranteed. In some areas, it is also possible to invest in Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) which will not only accrue interest until the time you retire, they are also usually tax deductible in the present.

You should also look for a job in which a regular contribution is made by both the company and by yourself to a pension plan. Ask your employer if it is possible to have some money deducted from each paycheck and deposited to a specific pension plan- many employers will meet the contributions made by the employee.

The most important thing when you are planning out your retirement income is to make sure that the money you invest for that purpose remains there. Many people lose their retirement nest egg in emergencies or even investing in opportunities that seem iron clad, but arent. When you make investments towards your retirement, do not touch them. Remember that this money will be all you have at that time in your life, and if you lose it you are going to be in for some hard times, with no chance at recuperation. Any risks as far as investments go should be undertaken with money that you budget for that purpose, and not with any of the money that you plan on setting aside for retirement purposes.

Prudence and long-term planning are the watchwords when you begin to develop your secure retirement income. Make a plan and stick to it, and your golden years will be the best time of your life.

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