There is a lot of stock market trading software available today, all to make your investing and trading life easier. Here are some examples of such stock trading software. Most of it is free and you can download it right off the internet:
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Trading and investing have been used synonymously for far too long, and it’s time to put a clear distinction between the two. Even investors themselves often don’t know the proper definitions of trading versus investing, and these are usually people who rarely make any money on the stock market. Before you can make a profit from trading, investing, and the market, you must understand that the fundamental difference between the two is your intention, i.e. what exactly are you looking to do with your capital?
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High risk stocks are called that for a reason – it is very risky investing in them! Yet there are a great number of people who invest in high risk stocks, because they are after making a profit fast – maybe over a couple of days. This is very risky indeed, as the chance of losing money on such transactions is huge, since it’s difficult to ensure returns that are profitable over a period as short as two days. Of course, if it was all doom and gloom, people wouldn’t do it; and there certainly have been times when stocks peaked over the short term. Unfortunately these occasions are rare.
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Whilst the temptation is to go as cheaply as possible, don’t just look at the figures. Many an investor has lost out because he or she opted to go for the cheapest option, and it turned out to be far from the best product to buy. With investment products, you, to a degree, should get what you pay for, but there are many cases in which expensive funds have performed badly, and cheap funds well. This relates to management fees, however, and not to loads, which can be a complete waste of money. For more on this distinction, read on..
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It is surprising how many mutual fund investors I come across who do not have a clear idea of the fees that they are being charged. Some even think that just because they are paying a relatively high fee, then they are in a “quality” fund that is most likely to make the best returns. This is the big myth of the mutual fund market. In fact, expense mutual funds have lagged behind their cheaper counterparts in the last few years in terms of overall performance.
In the fund market, however, unlike when choosing between a Kia or a BMW, price does not necessarily relate to quality. Investing in mutual funds with low fees can be a difficult endevour. Do the figures over, say, a decade, and if you have a decent sum invested then you will be paying out a shockingly large amount on fees.
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The mutual funds vs stocks debate is something which every experienced investor has contemplated at depth at some point in time. The simple answer is that there is no answer, in the objective sense. Every investor has to decide for himself, as it depends directly on how much risk he or she wants to take, and how much time he or she can put into the decision making process.
This article will help you make that big decision of how much money to put into mutual funds, and how much into stocks.
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There is a great deal of beginner investors who want to invest in gold and silver, but they are not quite sure where to start. If you are one of them then you have come to the right place. With the bull market maturing, an increasing amount of ways have emerged to invest in gold and silver. The following article can be considered a comprehensive guide to investing in gold and silver:
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Lately gold prices have gone up considerably, so this is making a lot of people ask the obvious question: should I invest in gold and other precious metals? This may not be a bad idea at all, considering that buying gold as an investment will offer diversification to your portfolio and it could also make up for potential inflation.
If you are considering buying gold as an investment, you should keep in mind that it is quite a peculiar investment. On the one hand, if you own it, there are few economic benefits – only the hope that could sell it for more than you bought it at some point in the future. But on the other hand, the main argument in gold’s favor is that it is always something to fall back on, even if everything else in your portfolio is going down the drain. For example, when the panic began in the fall of 2008, gold was only going up, so it can act as a safety net for your investment portfolio.
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Whilst practically everybody knows about mutual funds, with the stats showing that more than half of American adults have money invested in such a fund, much less is know amongst the general public about index funds. This is not a good thing! Everyone needs to know about all the investment options available to them. Many people, for instance, have the option to choose between the two as part of the employer’s retirement plan.
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Mutual fund investing is a multi-trillion dollar business that many investors rely on to diversify their portfolio. There are many articles around sprouting about the advantages of this form of investing, but not so much has been written about the drawbacks. So here they are – in 7 simple steps.
Disadvantages of mutual funds 1) The diverse nature of mutual funds does reduce the amount of risk involved with mutual funds, but at the same time this is also an inherint disadvantage due to dilution. This means that if one security takes off, the benefit to the mutual fund will only be small as this is just one of many which make up the fund’s holdings. The result is that few mutual funds do exceptionally well, and investors looking for outstanding returns will be put off by this.
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