What Is An Option?

By Micheal Jones

When you understand the basics of what an option is and how it works you will then be armed for working with them in the real world. An option is simply the legal right, but not the obligation, for a person to call (buy) or put (sell) the stock?s future or index at a specified strike (price) before a set amount of time has lapsed.

Options are inexpensive when you consider the costs of buying a stock outright. As an example if you purchase stock in XYZ Corp. You might spend $10000 to own it as it is $1000/share and the stock is typically traded in groups of 100; conversely, if you option the stock you may be able to get it for $800 because it may be listed at 8 points.

Options are for a block of 100 shares, so at 8 points, or $8/share, you are paying a fraction of the cost at $800 for 100 shares. Options are sold in blocks of 100.

With an option you do not own the stock; you are simply leasing the potential profits for a set amount of time. The time value of an option decreases the longer you own the option. You should know the difference between the call options and the put options.

Put options will give the buyer the rights to sell a specified number of the underlying instrument; this is usually 100 shares per contract and the price is called the strike price which is set with an expiration date.

Call options will give the buyers the rights to buy a certain number of the underlying instrument; this is typically 100 shares per contract and the specified price, the strike price, is set with an expiration date.

Find out more about options from Andrew Baxter, an expert investor and hedge fund manager. He has some great advice on investing in the Australian Share Market. - 23210

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Developing An Investment Strategy

By Micheal Jones

There are a few things to take into consideration when developing your investment strategy.

Corporate Actions A good way that you can predict whether a specific stock may fluctuate upwards or downwards is by checking into the individual company with which you intend to invest. If there is an impending action on the part of the company such as a take-over or a merger then you may see a dramatic increase in the share price even if the market trends in general are taking a downturn. You can increase your chance of beating the market average by simply knowing a bit of information about a company.

Dividends Another great trick for knowing ahead of time in which direction the share prices will go is to know when the dividend payments will be paid. Some investors actually only invest for the purpose of dividend farming.

This simply means that they will purchase the stocks to take the dividend yields and then sell them when they become ex dividend. You may see a relatively cheap stock, but you should check to see if it is ex or cum dividend. Buying a stock ex dividend means that you are not entitled to the dividend allocation of the stock that you bought. The person who is selling that stock receives the dividend and then sells it at a lower price to you.

Opinions Finally, there is the fact that people are much like sheep; if one says sell then most of the herd will surely follow. If the media says to sell then you shouldn?t just sell blindly, you should investigate further and make your own decision.

Remember that the media is not paid to give you a good bargain or opportunity. The same is true for family and friends, too. Just be confident in your own investment strategy and don?t be afraid to go against the herd if you?ve done your homework and know your own mind.

Michael Jones is an expert investor and hedge fund manager; find out what he has to say about investing in the Australian Share Market and the best approach for investing. - 23210

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Evolutionary Investing

By Michele Perdue

Our hard wiring through evolution has resulted in a short circuit that makes us more apt to risk losing money if we start worrying about not earning it. The majority of investors are busy worrying about their missed opportunities.

Reflection is important but attention should be focused on the purchases that were mistakes rather than the non-purchases that we regret. Mistakes are costly and the missed opportunities do not affect us but to be there as a reminder that we chose the wrong investments.

A useful analogy might be found in a book (more than a decade old) called Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins. This science writer, evolutionary biologist and provocateur talks about strategies that are available to the animals with high metabolisms, such as small birds, that has the need to find food often in order to stay alive. Imagine that the bird is flying around seeking its prey and is surrounded by twigs that may hold some cleverly camouflaged caterpillars. If the bird got close and examined the twig a moment it may be able to distinguish between twig and caterpillar quite readily.

But, this is problematic for the bird as it cannot examine each of the numerous twigs lest it starve while looking for its first meal. It needs to take a faster approach, scan rapidly at a more cursory level even if it means missing out on many caterpillars. Finding the right balance between a deep scan and one that is more cursory but still effective is important. Too cursory will mean that the bird never finds anything and starves; to detailed and the bird may find too few and starve.

This is the same thing we must do as investors. If we waste time on a twig, we?ll never find a caterpillar; and we really can't afford to think about all those missed caterpillars. An optimal investment strategy will be profitable while leaving a number of the good opportunities untouched. Birds don?t fret over their missed caterpillars and neither should you.

Investing is a tricky thing to master. Get some great advice and investment tips from a leading expert and hedge fund manager, Andrew Baxter. - 23210

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Strategic Investment Research

By Lilia Germann

I have been actively participating in my financial well-being by making calculated decisions regarding my investment purchases. When I first became an investor, my activity was limited to participation in a 401K program and several CD purchases. My co-worker advised me to go see a financial planner that she was dating, and I received life-changing advice. I was told that my investment strategy, as it stood, would not allow me to retire. I could only count on earning approximately $400 per month from my investments if I were to retire at 65.

I was shocked and afraid when I heard this news. Based on this advice, I knew I had to change my investment strategy. After this, I began working with an investment brokerage; they started providing me with research. Their research included financial newsletters, stock market newsletters, and investing newsletters; I actively read each one. Their research didn't provide me with enough information to apply to my investment decisions.

I thought that the investment research lacked forward-thinking. Constantly it seemed as though they only paid attention to the U.S. market " specifically the Dow Jones " and forgot all of the other elements that effect market forces. Another problem was that their research was posed only at very conservative, long-term investments. Conservative investments are fine, but I don't want to miss out on an opportunity just because that investment has a higher level of risk. Investments with higher risks must have made the investment brokerage afraid. That fear must have been caused by their lack of knowledge; I felt it indicated they were doing a lot of guess-work.

Due to my lack of real investment research, I began looking online for alternatives. After searching for several days I found MyStrategicForecast.com while looking for reports and forecasts.

Based on facts, My Strategic Forecast offers really valuable investment research. They take many factors into account besides economics when compiling their investment information. A mild storm season was predicted for the Atlantic by meteorologists, as one example. My Strategic Forecasts stock newsletter predicted a slightly lower return for home improvement companies after taking this information into consideration. They also showed that historically, an active season follows a mild one. As a result, I held onto my stock, because I wanted to see what next years hurricane season would bring. They ended up being right.

By using a historical perspective, My Strategic Forecast is able to provide all the necessary information to tell where the market is headed. I was able to use their forecast abilities to gain even more and build up my portfolio. - 23210

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If you want to take a change for the best and start increasing your own income, visit friendfeed.com/investmentresearch.

Choosing The Right Online Investing Broker

By Micheal Jones

If you are determined to invest online then there are a lot of sources available on which you can invest your money. You can invest in bonds, futures, stocks, mutual funds, forex and there are a number of sources available. But first and foremost, it is more important to find out the right online investing broker for you. The broker should be trustworthy and reputed enough. You can follow a few simple steps, in order to find out the right broker according to your need:

Open your web browser and visit any investment brokers? website. If you decided to invest with a firm then your 1st step should be analyzing about the websites they are having. Of course, their website should look professional, sophisticated and establish since a recognizable time. Do not forget to check the date on which the particular investment firm was created. You can easily access this information by clicking ?About us? tab, at the bottom of the websites' homepage. This is very important because older the firm, better the track record, and even better security in terms of your money.

You can take the help of Internet in terms of searching about the particular firm on which you are planning to invest. You can search the company's name on Google. And also, you can search at various online forums and chat rooms about the reputation of the company. Along with this, there are few dedicated review websites available over the Internet from which you can find the exact review about the firm on which you are planning to invest.

While searching about a particular investing firm over the Internet, keep in your mind that you cannot find any firm with 100% positive feedback. However, if you're targeted investing firm is having a lot of negative feedback then definitely you should look for another investing firm.

Before investing read the policies and terms of conditions of the company. Make sure there are no hidden rules. Make sure that the investing firm won't charge you for depositing and withdrawing money.

Do your homework, compare about various investing firms and then make your decision.

If you follow these 6 simple steps before investing then you too can be very successful in online investing. However if you choose to go into it blindly then you'll lose your money for sure. - 23210

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If you want to get the edge over everyone else and learn how to invest online then check out this site today.