Thursday, July 23, 2009

How To Get Started In Commercial Real Estate

By Emily Cressey

With many Americans now realizing they can't depend on the government to take care of them in old age, investors are now turning to face the hard reality that it's time to take care of their own financial futures.

Of course, there are always those who want to build wealth and amass a fortune, just so they can say they've done it. However, many more of today's beginning real estate investors are looking for something more tangible - they want to know they and their families will be taken care of - and able to live at the standard to which they have become accustomed, even after they have stopped working for a paycheck.

One asset class that has traditionally met these goals is the stock market. Low-fee, high-growth mutual funds have an excellent track record when it comes to long-term returns. However, many investors feel frustrated by the sense that there's nothing they can do to improve the performance of their stock and mutual fund portfolio.

That's why investing in real estate makes so much sense. IF you want to work with an asset you can control, rather than just watch, you may want to look into commercial real estate investing.

Many investors dip their toes in the water with a few rental homes or a small apartment building. That's a great place to start building wealth and learning the commercial real estate industry. However, for investors looking for serious retirement income that can be relied upon to grow in a hands-off portfolio, commercial real estate certainly has its place.

Commercial real estate for beginners is not something to be entered into lightly. It's hard to read a book or talk to a broker and really understand everything that's involved in making and financing a good real estate deal, and then managing your property once you have it in place.

I think the two best ways for beginners to get involved in commercial real estate are to: a) Work their way up through the ranks of owning smaller properties or b) Work with a mentor of some kind - ideally another property owner in your marketplace - to find out what they do, how they do it, and why they do it.

You can find a lot of salesmen trying to get you started in commercial real estate by buying their magical business-in-a-box but their claims of simplicity from just following a simple system are often over-stated. You can get yourself into a lot of hot water in commercial real estate as a beginner unfamiliar with the business, so if you can't afford to make a mistake, it's best to grow slowly and pay your dues. When you do dip your toe in the water, let the voices of experience guide you and check with your attorney, CPA, and other investors in your area to help you confirm you are on the right track.

If you need help with your real estate strategy, consider hiring a coach, mentor or independent real estate adviser who can help you evaluate your personal situation and/or the commercial property you're considering.

Getting good advice can sometimes be the best investment you will make. - 23309

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Forex Investment Begins With A Forex Education

By Bart Icles

Foreign Currency Investing is fast catching up to becoming one the investment market's most popular investment opportunities today. A few years ago, investing in Forex was only limited to large financial institutions and companies. Now, it has become one of the most lucrative investment markets. Comparing it to other investments markets like the stock market; Forex operates in a 24 hour basis and is the most liquid in existence. The cost of investing in Forex currency trading is comparatively low, and due to its liquidity, any investor can get in and out at any time they desire.

Forex currency trading is open to any one who's willing and brave enough to invest their time, money, and attention to it, as well as having the right attitude to learn technical and analytical skills, and the market's simple strategies. What Forex presents may be very complicated to most Forex beginners with its charts and computations, terminologies and trade processes. But in general, everything in it can be studied, learned, understood, and eventually mastered.

Everything will become easy and free flowing once one has availed of a quality Forex education. Any one can make consistent and profitable trade deals in Forex - as proven by many, who've already done so and still keep doing it, but not by mere luck alone, but by also using the knowledge and skills they had learned by simply educating themselves to what Forex is all about.

Investing in Forex does not only begin with investing a small or substantial sum of money to it. What most Forex beginners should remember when planning to invest in Forex is why they are getting into it, for how long they are to stay in it, and what it will demand from them to make their venture successful or otherwise.

Forex trading in itself is different and unique compared to other investment markets. Forex trading is done through patterns, signals, and defined technical applications. When one looks for an educational training program on Forex, one has to find one that offers Forex fundamentals, analysis, applications and techniques, and risk management. When one has a basic understanding of the different methods being applied in every day Forex trading, one can start to learn and make small yet consistent profitable transactions.

One of the most effective ways of learning Forex essentials is to avail of online training programs being offered by legitimate and professional individuals or companies. If you're hoping to get one that will effectively answer all your needs and questions on how to invest in Forex correctly, simply follow the link below to start yourself in the right path to success. - 23309

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Placing Stop Loss Order

By Ahmad Hassam

You should understand how to select stop orders to limit your potential losses and how to let profits ride. Managing risk and using systems that helps evaluate price changes is critical for a trader if he/she is to maintain a degree of profitability over time.

Managing risk should be your number one job. The descriptions of the types of stops and the pros and cons of each should help you make the right decisions for the different market conditions. Capturing as much profit as possible from winning trades should be your utmost goal.

Predetermined stop loss orders help you conquer your emotions. Stops should be part of the trading system. They should be included in your trading rules. You should also know where and when to place these stops. You should know the various types of stop loss orders.

Set a stop objective. Weigh the risk/reward ratio before entering each trade. Stop orders can be placed close to the entry level when volatility is low. However, when the volatility is high, stop orders should be placed further from the entry level.

Initially you will form an opinion based on your gut feelings that is substantiated by a trade signal. When entering a trade make sure you know where and why to put the stop order.

News releases create price spikes that may make an adverse move against your position. However, you will undoubtedly get caught in the news driven price shock events. It makes the markets highly unpredictable in the short run.

Stop orders are placed to protect against losses. These orders can also be placed to enter positions. Stop orders that you place online if the market trades at a certain price, then the order is triggered and become a market order to be filled in by the next best price available.

Sell stops are placed below the current market price and buy stops are placed above the current market price. Protective stops are used to offset a position and to protect against losses and against accrued profits.

You can set a daily dollar amount on the loss limit. If you want to risk only $250 per $100,000 standard lot position then your stop loss will be placed 25 pips from your entry point. Stops can be placed on a dollar amount per position.

Traders use 2-5% of the overall account size as their stop loss. Suppose your trading account size is $10,000. You can also use a certain percent of your overall account size as your stop loss. This comes out to be $200-$500.

Swing traders can use the automatic trailing stop. Many traders tend to turn winners into losers as they get in the let it ride mindset. The trailing stop reduces the chance to let trades ride. This makes the decision making process fully automated. - 23309

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Forex Automated Software Can Make You Money

By Jane Koloff

Currency trading has become more of a household name the last few years and with good reason. Everyday we spend trillions of dollars around the world buying food, clothing, fuel for our cars, real estate, utility bills not to mention the money we spend on our children's education. With more money being spent we must also make more money. This is where the currency or forex market comes into the picture.

With the Forex Market, trading currency from around the world is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are literally trillions of dollars traded everyday throughout the world. The Forex market is not only the largest financial market in the world but also the most liquid. Investing in a good Forex Automated Software can be the key to making the most in this market.

Forex automated software can help you increase your profits whether you are a trader or just a speculator. Finding the right forex automated software can be done with just a little research. You will find that many companies have demo versions available to test before you buy which insures you are getting the right forex automated software for your style of trading.

There are two types of forex software available, one is desk-top software and the other being web-based software. Here is some basic information about both types:

1. With the desktop-based forex software, the data used for trading is stored on your hard drive. With this option you will be responsible for security and technical issues that might arise with your personal computer. If you choose this type of software you will want to consider allocating a single computer for you forex trading.

2. Security solutions such as hacking/virus protection are provided for you when choosing a web-based forex software. You will be able to trade anytime, and anywhere around the world as long as you have an internet connection if you choose a web-based forex software. Unlike desk-top based software, there can be an a minimum or annual fee for your account maintenance.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of forex software. When considering which software is right for you, take into account your daily schedule, how much you travel, trading style as well as the cost factors of each forex software. It does not matter which software you decide is right for you, they both offer a higher potential of profits by trading with forex automated software. - 23309

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Forex Trading Hours - They Are Not The Same!

By Steve Maenshel

Forex trading hours are important for anyone who plans to trade currencies at the Forex exchange market. The Forex market operates twenty four hours a day, five days a week, except for national holidays. Forex trading hours differ due to that various major financial institutions operate in different hours in different time zones.

Experts identify four major time zones, whose Forex trading hours substantially differ: Australia, Asia, Europe and America. Forex trading hours in Tokyo begin at 23:00 GMT on Sunday. This starts the weekly trading session. The weekly trading session closes on Friday at 10 pm in Chicago.

Forex market does not stop its work even during the biggest holidays, because there will always be a region on Earth, which does not considered that day a holiday. The best examples are the opposing Christian and Muslim holidays. When a holiday starts in the Christian regions of the planet, you may simply concentrate your Forex trading hours on the financial centers of the Muslim countries, and vice versa. Even during the "global" holidays, currency trading usually does not just stop. For example, during the Catholic Christmas, you can still get the currency quotes from Muslim countries and other Asian countries banks.

Small volume of traded currencies (often referred to as thin) also occurs at the Forex market on the weekends, but the weekends spent trading at the Forex market, may not result in anything profitable, since it is very difficult to find a good contractor on the weekends, and it's even harder to find a good price.

Forex trading hours are different around the globe, which makes Forex one of the most colorful and mixed markets. The currencies that are traded on the Forex market include such major currencies like: USD, Euro, Yen, Pounds, Australian and Canadian Dollars and many others.

Why were Forex trading hours established? Why cant the market be open 24/7 without holidays? Forex trading hours are also needed for employees to carry out certain necessary operations to maintain order at the market, as well as for the traders to simply get some "rest".

Some countries actually get the Forex trading hours falling particularly in the time of the late evening and night. However, in other countries Forex trading hours perfectly fit within the regular business day.

Forex trading hours in the main 4 timezones

Forex trading hours overlap and make up 24 hours of every day, 5 days a week. Trades are also carried out on the weekends. However they are much less active. Below you can take a look at the Forex trading hours in the 4 major time zones, in accordance with Eastern Standard Time:

Tokyo, Trading Hours: 19.00 to 04.00 EST

New York Trading Hours: 08.00 to 17.00

London: 03.00 to 12.00 (noon) EST

Sydney: 17.00 to 02.00 EST

Forex trading hours are important for the best trading results. Forex market will become somewhat different depending on the Forex trading hours that you will choose for your trades. - 23309

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