Category Archives: Investing

Investment tips from an ancient time

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In today’s technologically driven society, persons looking for advice can readily turn to the Internet to find solutions to almost any problem that they might encounter. When it comes to financial issues, it’s not difficult to search online and quickly find answers to a variety of questions about money.

One of the financial questions foremost on many people’s minds is how to become wealthy by investing. Many readers express that they would like to find the secret to making money work for them, so that they can work less.

However, while it’s important to learn about the operations of different investment options, it is even more essential to discover the principles of investing.

One resource that contains many of the basic laws of investing and creating wealth is The Richest Man in Babylon, by George S Clason. Although this book was written in the 1920s, it still provides relevant and practical nuggets of wisdom that can help you to understand what it takes to build sustainable wealth.

Continue reading Investment tips from an ancient time →

Mind Your Own Business

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We have recently been examining some key books that can help you to learn how to achieve a financially rewarding life. Understanding and practising the basic principles of money success are fundamental steps to creating a prosperous future.

As Robert Kiyosaki explained in his bestseller, Rich Dad Poor Dad, “If you want to be rich, you need to be financially literate.”

Reading Kiyosaki’s account of the lessons he learned from the mentor whom he called his ‘rich dad’ was an eye-opening experience, as it revealed some financial concepts that I had never encountered before. It was impossible to think the same way about money after being exposed to the wealth secrets that ‘rich dad’ shared. Continue reading Mind Your Own Business →

Inflation and Your Money

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Imagine going to a restaurant to buy a cup of coffee and being told that the price was $5,000. After ordering a second cup, you request a bill and see that the total cost for two cups of coffee was $14,000.

Upon enquiring about the obvious error you were told, “If you want to save money and you want two cups of coffee, you should order them both at the same time.”

You may think that this is just an amusing story. In fact, this was a real-life example of life in Germany after World War I recounted in Adam Smith’s Paper Money, which described the extreme effects of inflation on that country’s economy. Continue reading Inflation and Your Money →

Smart Real Estate Investing

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In challenging times there are always tremendous opportunities for smart investors to make profit. Despite the fact that we are in the middle of a reported recession, there are several ways to earn good returns from investing in Jamaica.

Right now, money market instruments are yielding attractive interest rates; government global bonds can be bought at low prices; stocks in quality companies are trading way below their true values; and buyers have the upper hand in the real estate market.

While you can get expert guidance on investing in the money market, bonds and stocks from several licensed financial advisors, it’s not so easy to find out how to win in the real estate market. Continue reading Smart Real Estate Investing →

Investors: The Sceptical,The Gullible and the Greedy

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Typically, when people think of investors they picture wealthy business moguls or savvy stock owners wheeling and dealing their way into large fortunes. The reality is that investors come in all financial shapes and bank account sizes. An investor is simply anyone who commits money to an endeavour with the expectation of making a profit.

I’ve often wondered about the personal traits that can help to create a successful investor. Some people seem to have the Midas touch – everything they invest in turns into gold. Many others, however, seem to fail at any investment they undertake.

What does it take to win at the investing game? Is it lady luck, dominant genes, or hard work? Continue reading Investors: The Sceptical,The Gullible and the Greedy →

Get A Bang For Your Buck With Bonds

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“How can the average person invest today and make good returns? I’m not looking for a fly-by-night investment scheme; I want a legitimate opportunity that I can place my hard-earned money and receive a worthwhile profit.”

Over the three years of writing this column I have seen an increase in the numbers of people enquiring about investment options. They have a genuine desire to find out how their money can work for them. Gone are the days when the investment arena was occupied only by jargon-speaking financial traders and the super-rich!

While persons may have heard about the benefits of investing in the money market and the stock market, many people have never examined the possibility of earning big in the market for bond investments. Continue reading Get A Bang For Your Buck With Bonds →

Has Your ‘Alternative’ Income Disappeared?

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“I’m very financially stressed now. Last year I really wanted to change both my job and my lifestyle, so I put money in three high-interest investments. I calculated that the returns would be enough to pay my bills and give me extra money to start my own business. However, these investments have stopped paying interest for awhile and I don’t know how I’m going to survive.”

There’s a wave of worry and depression that’s affecting many investors today. Everywhere you go – your salon, your church, your office, or your gym – you can share in sorrowful stories of lost riches and ruined finances.

And just when you think you’ve heard it all, someone comes by with an even more devastating tale of great wealth that has disappeared in an instant.

In recent years, Jamaica has been a haven for high-yielding ‘alternative’ investments. Persons who previously had to settle for less than five per cent annual interest on foreign currency bank accounts, were thrilled at the chance to jump on the ten-per-cent-per-month train.

Finally, it seemed that average investors would be able to make their money work hard for them, so that they could quickly achieve their financial dreams.

Continue reading Has Your ‘Alternative’ Income Disappeared? →

Can we gain from rising oil prices?

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“Every day the cost of living is increasing, thanks to the continuing rise in oil prices. The last straw for me was the big jump in my electricity bill. I don’t know how I’m going to survive these higher prices when my pay is not going up. What can I do to fight rising costs?”

Unfortunately it seems that there is no end in sight to the rapid rise in the price of oil. In July last year, the price of oil was just about US$70 per barrel, and current prices have blown past the US$145 per barrel mark. There have even been discussions suggesting that oil prices are heading to an unbelievable US$200 per barrel.

The rise in oil costs is negatively affecting consumers in many ways. One obvious instance is painful petrol prices. I’m secretly wondering if the gas station price boards can actually display prices over J$100 per litre!

Then there are the electricity bills that are getting higher than many of our other expenses combined. All industries which use oil as inputs such as tyre and paint manufacturers, and businesses that rely on high-priced petrol and electricity to produce and distribute goods are forced to increase the costs of their products.

What exactly is driving the dramatic increase in oil prices that’s causing this decrease in our standard of living?

Continue reading Can we gain from rising oil prices? →

Mutual funds have benefits, but be careful of the fees!

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Jamaicans are becoming more conscious of the need to make their money work for them. Gone are the days when most people were satisfied with the security of a bank account because it was all they knew. Whether they’re rich, of modest means, or barely making ends meet, people are looking for investment opportunities that can bring more profitable returns, and help them fulfill their financial dreams.

While the lure of high-yielding ‘alternative’ options still abounds, investors are warming to the concept of mutual funds as a viable method of investing. Many financial institutions have had to scramble to find products that could compete with the earning potential of the alternatives, and are now offering overseas-based mutual funds. These also offer the opportunity to save in foreign currencies such as Canadian and United States dollars.

A mutual fund is an investment vehicle that pools together the investors’ funds and uses the money to purchase assets such as stocks, bonds and money market instruments. The mutual fund company has specific objectives and restrictions that determine how the funds can be invested. Continue reading Mutual funds have benefits, but be careful of the fees! →

Other ‘Alternative’ Investments

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Thanks to the upsurge in investment clubs and institutions offering high monthly returns, Jamaicans have developed a seemingly unquenchable appetite for ‘alternative’ investments. Many investors, no longer satisfied with the regular returns paid by established financial entities, are on a constant search for high-yielding options.

Trading in the foreign exchange market (forex) provided the first opportunity for many ordinary investors to participate in the global investment markets. This investing phenomenon, formally unknown to Jamaicans, was termed an ‘alternative’ investment.

However, with forex being the largest financial market in the world with over US$3 trillion traded 24 hours per day, Sunday to Friday, it hardly seems to deserve to be described as an alternative market.

However, looking at the definition of alternative, it might very well be acceptable to give it this description.  Dictionary.com provides one definition of alternative as “employing or following nontraditional or unconventional ideas and methods existing outside the establishment such as an alternative newspaper or alternative lifestyles.” Continue reading Other ‘Alternative’ Investments →