Invest your money

By Ian Sani.

Ok, now you have your money after saving it from the hard work you have done in previous years. So where can you invest your money? That is a million-dollar question. There is no same place for every one to invest. The first two thing you need to know before asking that question are:

• How much is your investing target return
• How much risk are you willing to take

So your answer might be, “I want a ten percent return with minimal risk”. Sounds realistic? Remember that the higher return you want, the riskier it will be. There are many kind of investment out there. The most common place to invest money are to stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, and starting your own business. Each investment has their own characteristic. It’s your job to know their characteristic and match it with your preference.

Bond, mutual funds, and real estate generally have lower risk than stocks and starting your own business. With stocks you can loss your money in minutes. Imagine if you had bought Citibank stock at the start of the year at $7 per share. Guess how much it is now? It’s around $3 at mid July. A 50% drop in half a year. See how you can lose money from stock. The same applies if you own your own business. There are many companies that are closed at it’s first year. Imagine how much money you could loss this way.

If you don’t know anything about investing and want to leave it to the pros, then you can try mutual fund. A mutual fund is a professionally managed type of collective investment that pools money from many investors. Although it is professionally managed, it does not means that you won’t lose money from it. Those professional can also loss money, but at least their knowledge is a lot more than you.

Morgan Stanley, tumbled 9 percent after posting a wider-than-estimated loss. Morgan Stanley fell $2.21 to $22.44. The bank reported a loss of 57 cents a share, wider than the 8-cent deficit estimated by analysts as real-estate and debt-related writedowns overwhelmed trading gains. The company also cut its dividend to 5 cents a share from 27 cents.

Buying your home is a lot of fun, but can also have a great deal of stress. Here are some things to consider when searching for the perfect property for your family:

• Ask a property agent to help you find the home that you simply cannot see your family living without. When you are interviewing agents, make certain to ask about his fees.
• Think first how much is your budget, house specification like the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, or backyard.
• Find out your target house neighborhood. Check if the area is growing or not, the crime rate, and distance to public area like schools, and mall.
• Before you buy a home, you should always have it checked for termites.
• Never offer the asking price right away. Offer something a little lower and allow some negotiating room.
• When you look towards a home purchase loan, you’ll need to fully understand the interest rates. You should do research on different financial institutions because rates can be different between them.  If you choose a longer period, usually your interest rate will drop.
• Find pre foreclosures house, which the owner has no choice but the sell the house, and therefore will listen to just about any offer that he receives. Due to this very reason, you can find pre foreclosures for sale. This is an ideal time to purchase, especially if you are looking to save a lot of money.
• If you do not have the skill or time to check for your target house, you can hire a real estate inspector. But surely this will cost you. They can know problems on the property, thus you can address the problem before it turns out worse. They can also sheds light on the amount of money that will be needed in order to get the house in good working.