1.  Don’t go back for more. Anyone who has made a bundle off a lucky investment will be tempted to angle for a second windfall, but the odds of getting one are slim. "Be especially wary of investing in stocks or mutual funds that remind you of the one you made a killing on long ago," writes Zweig, "Chances are, any similarities to another investment, living or dead, are purely coincidental."
2. Don’t trust your instincts. "Many of the world’s best investors have learned to treat their own feelings as reverse indicators," Zweig writes. "Excitement becomes a cue that it’s time to consider selling; fear tells them they should be thinking about buying." The lesson: when it comes to investing, your gut may be lying.
3. Beware your triggers. "The stock market generates signals that can goad you into trading," warns Zweig. Don’t be Pavlov’s dog. Avoid obsessively checking stock prices on the computer. And if you’re watching CNBC for stock updates, turn the sound down, so the bells and shouts of the trading floor don’t spur you into action prematurely.
4. Divide and conquer. Investing requires being tolerant of risk, but you don’t want to jeopardize your entire nest egg. Play the odds by putting 90% of your money in a low-cost, diversified index fund. The other 10% can be used for purely speculative trades. But once it’s gone, it’s gone. Don’t dip into your savings to replenish it, Zweig cautions.
5. Stay calm. If great gains are driving you to buy, or losses propelling you to sell, think before you react. It’s always a bad idea to make investment decisions in the heat of the moment.

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A total of 11,660 greenback millionaires made the last, to take to 66,600 Singaporeans whoise individual assets amounted to at least S$1.5 million, not counthing the home they lived in.

Singapore is home to the world’s fastest-growing population of millionaires, according to the annual world wealth report compiled by Merrill Lynch and the Capgemini Group.

The number of high net worth individuals in Singapore grew by 21.2% last year to reach almost 67,000 millionaires.

Singapore’s millionaire boom is part of a global trend that saw the number of high net worth individuals rise 8.3% to reach 9.5 million last year.

Among the super-rich are a group called the ultra-rich, with assets over US$30 million.

The growth of these ultra high net worth individuals grew 11.3%, outpacing that of high net worth individuals and suggesting a growing concentration of wealth.

“The main reasons for the growth in the number of high net worth individuals was GDP growth, which was about 8.2% in Singapore last year, and the strong market capitalisation growth reflected in the stock market. Also, Singapore’s strong savings rate has helped in the creation of wealth,” said Kong Eng Huat, MD of Merrill Lynch, International Bank.

In the past, land owners ranked high in rich lists ranked by business publications. Then came the age of manufacturers and now, digital billionaires.

In Singapore, the property and stockmarket are noteworthy wealth propellants. And the good economy is predicated to continue for more years to come, so more new millionaires will be created.

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Henry is a former securities analyst who was senior Internet analyst for Merrill Lynch during the dot-com bubble. In December 1998, he predicted that Amazon.com’s stock price would hit $400 (which it did a month later, gaining 128%). In 2000, he was voted the No. 1 Internet/eCommerce analyst on Wall Street by Institutional Investor, Greenwich Associates, and thestreet.com.

While there are many who feel that Blodget is related to the loss of billions of dollars of shareholder assets during the Internet bubble of 1999 and 2000.( Forbes ), Henry now sets out to tell the truth about Wall Street ( Fool ) and this article is a good advice to most investors not to get too carried away in trying to beat the market and constantly picking stocks.

Most stock pickers believe that they are among the tiny minority of investors who can beat the market after costs, and, for inspiration and encouragement, they point to legends such as Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham. What such investors often don’t know is that even Buffett has said that the best strategy for most investors is to buy low-cost index funds and that the great Benjamin Graham eventually changed his mind about the wisdom of traditional stock-picking. Graham, you may remember, is considered one of the greatest stock pickers of all time, the man who, in the 1930s and 1940s wrote two classics on intelligent investing and whose security-analysis techniques are still taught in most serious investment classes. But in 1976, shortly before his death, Graham told the Journal of Finance the following:

I am no longer an advocate of elaborate techniques of security analysis in order to find superior value opportunities. This was a rewarding activity, say, 40 years ago, when [the bible of fundamental stock analysis, Graham and Dodd's Security Analysis] was first published; but the situation has changed. I doubt whether such extensive efforts will generate sufficiently superior selections to justify their cost.

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Tags: stocks, stock, stockmarket, investing, warren buffet, henry blodget, benjamin graham

For instance, you have been told to save diligently, fully fund your employer’s 401(k) plan and avoid credit-card debt. And those are all good suggestions.

But there are other suggestions that aren’t quite so good — including these four popular pieces of advice.

1. Amass Cash
2. Buy Big
3. Get A Life
4. Go For Growth

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For angel funds, venture capital funds and other investment partnerships, there are often complex formulas for how the individuals involved in managing investments make money. You should keep the formulas in mind when developing your fundraising approach.

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HERE ARE 10 STEPS TO BECOMING A REAL ESTATE MINI-MOGUL:

1. Evaluate your existing exposure.
2. Identify what is it you really want from the property.
3. Ignore national statistics.
4. Is the area’s affordability index in the hot zone (between 25 and 39 per cent)?
5. Buyer beware is still the golden rule
6. Use an experienced broker.
7. Start small.
8. Is the location forward looking?
9. Is the area attractive to baby boomers?
10. Think suburban.

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Tags: real, estate, investing, investment

The British love affair with property investing has continued despite experts’ warnings that easy pickings are over, with 330,000 buy-to-let mortgages worth £38.4bn taken out in 2006 according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

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It is always safer to have a diversified portfolio, that is, to spread you money around in various types of schemes, so that the risks and returns get balanced out.

One of the best means of long-term money management is Real Estate investing.

The way to make money in investing is to find out about companies doing stuff that is really cool before anyone knows about it.

Thankfully there’s lots of information available about the FOREX and how to trade.  You can find hundreds of web sites with useful advice and there are just as many books about all aspects of FOREX trading.  If self-learning is not your style, there are training courses available that guide you step-by-step through the intricacies of Foreign Exchange.

If you have the time and the inclination, you can find all the facts you need on the Internet or in your public library.  The problem with Internet sources, however, is that the information is generally unstructured.  You may find bits and pieces of useful data, but finding a source that presents it in a step-by-step fashion is more difficult.

Study courses, on the other hand, present their material in a logical and structured manner that aids in understanding FOREX trading.  The investment involved in a FOREX course may well worth the time saved in seeking out similar information on your own.  There are courses available for both beginners and intermediate traders.

The cost of a FOREX course varies from free to $1000 or more.  As with most things, you get what you pay for.  Free Internet courses may give you the basics needed to begin trading, but usually omit the in-depth training needed to analyze charts and plot trading strategies.

There are two basic types of study courses.  You can attend a class with a group of people, or you can sign up for an online course that is taken over the Internet.  Classes are available in most major cities.  You can attend a class to learn the basics or sign up for more advanced courses if you are an experienced trader.  The advantage of these courses is that you get personalized attention – any questions you have can be answered directly by the instructor.  The disadvantage is that you must follow the class schedule – if you miss one class it can’t be made up at a later time.

Seminars are also a possibility for learning about FOREX.  Seminars are usually aimed at experienced traders, but if you know the basics you could benefit from a 1 or 2 day seminar.  These are available in most major cities, and you could expect to see seminars offered every couple of months.  They are usually conducted by well-known FOREX professionals who can offer new insights and strategies in FOREX trading.

If you prefer to study at your own pace you should investigate online FOREX courses.  You can log on to a website any time of the day or night and go through the course material as you see fit.  If you have any questions, you can usually communicate with an instructor by email.  Responses could take anywhere from minutes to days.

A variation of online courses is CDROM courses.  These are done on your computer, but you order the study materials from a company and they arrive by mail.  There may be little after market service offered with CDROM learning materials.  If you have questions you may not be able to contact an instructor for answers.  However, each company has their own policy about this, so find out what their service provides before putting down your money.

Other types of home training include video lessons.  These can be watched in the comfort of your living room and are similar to attending a FOREX training seminar.

The best kind of FOREX training can be with an individual trainer or mentor.  This would be someone with many years of FOREX experience who can offer insights and strategies learned through the course of conducting thousands of transactions.  FOREX mentors usually charge a lot of money – thousands of dollars is not unheard of.  Whether the cost is worth it is up to the individual to decide.  Working with a master trader can provide valuable insight into the psychology of FOREX trading. 

Different accounts may be available for mutual fund investing online than are found in the bank you can walk into down the street and it is very worth your while to check in to this before making a final decision.

The differences between traditional investing – when you’d call up your tame stockbroker, discuss the info he had on the company or companies of interest and then buy,buy,buy and ordering the stocks, buying and selling them purely online – is something you should make yourself familiar with in a hurry. If you have invested in the stock market and it is dipping at slow pace, what will be your online investing strategy?

While online investing allows you to access your account at any time, and place orders whenever you wish, any orders placed will only be executed during normal market trading hours and, even then, they may be subject to delay in heavy trading periods.

One of the most convenient aspects of online investing is that you can research stocks and companies, make your decisions and even place buy and sell orders at your convenience.

Another good thing to do when investing online is to try and stay diversified, in other words don’t concentrate all of your portfolio on just one thing, instead develop a well-balanced portfolio of stocks, bonds, and cash.

This type of online investments is perfect if you want to diversify your portfolio and at the same time counteract any losses that may occur if the value of higher-risk stocks drops.

Remember that just because you are investing online, the Internet is not foolproof and you are bound to run into some problems.

Tags: invest, investment, online, investing