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What is Ethical Investing?

My aim with each blog post is to help you move to a better financial future. I believe that there is not enough financial education in the national curriculum and I intend to share anything helpful that I have learned along the way. I am by no means a financial expert. None of the information on this website constitutes financial advice and is provided as general information only. This is my personal finance blog; my marketing blog is over here and I have been blogging there since 2010. I hope you have found this information useful. Thank you for reading.

Best regards,

Mike

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How to get Started with Index Fund Investing

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Regular readers of this website will remember this post that I wrote, Investments: Why Saving is not Enough . You cannot simply save your way to financial freedom, if you are to be successful and achieve your financial goals, you will need to grow your finances exponentially. In today’s post I want to return to investment as a topic and discuss one particular type of investment namely Index Fund Investing.

What is an Index Fund?

An index fund is a type of mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) with a portfolio constructed to match or track the components of a financial market index, such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) in the United States or the FTSE 100 in the United Kingdom.

What are the Benefits of Index Fund Investing?

Lower Risk

If you were to invest directly in a company via stocks or shares your level of risk is quite high. The company’s fortunes could change for the worse and your investment could literally be worth nothing through no fault of your own. An index fund lowers your risk considerably by investing your money in the top performing companies in a particular financial market. If one company underperforms, they will drop out of the index and be replaced by another. Your investment is likely to benefit from the good performance of the best companies within the index.

Low Operating Costs

Compared to other investment vehicles, Index Funds have relatively low operating costs that manifest themselves in terms of fees for individual investors.

Investment Performance

The primary investment objective for an index fund is to match the risk and return of the market. When investing for the long term, the market will usually outperform any one single investment. This is why index fund investing is an excellent approach for retirement accounts.

How to Get Started with Index Funds

You can invest in an Index Fund via a brokerage account or directly via a mutual fund company. If you are relatively new to investing, a visit to an independent financial adviser would be a sensible first step.

To review some of the best performing index funds click here and remember that past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

Next Steps

Are you interested in index fund investing ? Have you invested in one already? Let me know in the comments section below. Also, get in touch if you would like my help. My email address is mike@learnmoney.io

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Brand Deals as a Micro Influencer

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – Review

Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

What is Ethical Investing?

Best regards,

Mike

Image credit: pexels.com

How to Invest in Property without a Large Deposit

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Wherever you are in the world, investing in property, or Real Estate as it is called in the United States, remains one of the most prudent investments an individual can make. Once you have invested in property, you have the opportunity to benefit from capital appreciation (the value of the property going up over time) and rental income.

In the United Kingdom the total value of the UK’s housing stock hit £7.39 trillion* in 2019, a new record high. The traditional way into property ownership is to save a large deposit and secure a residential mortgage. In terms of a deposit, ten percent of the purchase price is a typical requirement by mortgage lenders. In London, this often amounts to tens of thousands of pounds. What if you haven’t got a large deposit? Does this mean that you will not be able to invest in property? No, it does not. Keep reading to discover alternative ways to invest in property.

Property Crowdfunding

As the name suggests, property crowdfunding is when many individual investors come together via an online investment platform to purchase a property together. There may be several hundred investors for one property. The amount of money required is significantly lower than if you were trying to purchase the property yourself. A few thousand or in some cases a few hundred will secure your stake in a property and you must commit to specific time period, this could be five years. After that time you are free to exit the investment and liquidate your profits or reinvest into another property.

In the interests of balance I must point out that when you invest in a property via a crowdfunding site like Property Mouse or Property Partner you have little control over your investment once you have committed to it. Also, the reviews of both websites are mixed so my advice would be to do your due diligence before investing. If you live outside of the United Kingdom, there may be similar websites in your country.

Joint Venture Partnership

A Joint Venture partnership in the property market is when two individuals formally agree to work together and create an agreement clarifying each other’s role in the partnership. A person who finds below market value properties and presents them to a property investor could be covered by this sort of agreement. In that scenario the person who finds the properties (property sourcer) requires no funds but will be compensated for each successful property deal they present to the investor. Please note, that sourcing below market value properties for property investors is very competitive work. Be prepared to devote considerable time to it if this is your planned route to property market.

Property investment Funds REIT

Investing in property via a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) may be the most comfortable way of investing in property for many who lack a large deposit. A REIT is property investment company listed on the stock exchange. The company manages commercial properties, residential properties or both types for its shareholders. When you invest, you buy shares in the REIT. If the compnay does well you will receive a share of the profits. Please note, the value of your investment can go down as well as up.

These are just three options for investing in property without a large deposit, if you are serious please remember to do your due diligence. Also consider property bonds and property unit trusts.

Next Steps

Are you interested in investing in property? ethical investments? Will your next investment be property related? Let me know in the comments section below. Also, get in touch if you would like my help. My email address is mike@learnmoney.io

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Brand Deals as a Micro Influencer

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – Review

Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

Best regards,

Mike

Image credit: pexels.com

*Source – https://www.savills.co.uk/insight-and-opinion/savills-news/294601/uk-housing-stock-now-worth-a-record

How to get Brand Deals as a Micro Influencer

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info. This video was first published on my YouTube channel; you can subscribe to my channel here http://bit.ly/1BuKsoM .

Influencers

In recent years, the widespread adoption of Social Media has led to the emergence of individuals who have amassed large followings on Social Media. People with large followings on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok or a combination of all of these, are known as Influencers.

Kylie Jenner and Cristiano Ronaldo are both great examples of influencers. Every week, Influencers are approached by brands who are willing to pay them to endorse their products or services.

Micro Influencers

Micro influencers are similar to influencers except they have a smaller following, this makes them more accessible to their followers. Recognised as experts in their field, Micro influencers enjoy the support of a engaged community who choose to follow them because they appreciate their authority and expertise.

I have been described as a micro influencer and have received new financial opportunities as a result. Generally, it is harder for micro influencers to secure brand deals but the website that I discuss in the video makes it easier for brands to connect with micro influencers and for micro influencers to earn additional income. Is this something you have considered? You may be micro influencer too, have a look at the diagram below.

Image credit – socialbluebook.com

In the video, I discuss a website that has commercial opportunities for micro influencers. There are opportunities for you to secure brand deals and complete tasks for payment via the website. When you have completed the task, the brand or company will pay you via the website. I explain the whole process in the video.

Next Steps

Are you a micro influencer? Are you going to explore new opportunities as a micro influencer? Let me know in the comments section below. .

Also, get in touch if you would like my help. My email address is mike@learnmoney.io

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – Review

Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

Best regards,

Mike

What is Ethical Investing ?

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Ethical Investing

Ethical investing is an approach to investing where the investor filters potential investments according to their own values and moral principles. For example, it would be entirely understandable for someone to decide that they do not want to invest in companies that manufacture missiles or tobacco.

The earliest recorded instance of ethical investing in America was the 18th century Quakers who banned their members from spending their time or money in the slave trade. Indeed, historically religion was often a motivation for ethical investment. Today, in addition to religious motivations for ethical investing there there are also concerns for environmental issues, racial equality, gender equity and inclusion.

Do Ethical Investments Perform Well?

There is absolutely no guarantee that ethical investments will perform well over any time period or when compared to index funds. A prudent approach would be select firstly based on your values and then once you have done so assess all of these with performance based criteria. An investment portfolio comprised exclusively of ethical investments will look very different to one focused solely on maximising potential returns for an investor. In practice, ethical investing requires a lot of research, you must go deeper than the corporate brochures and mission statements to discover whether a company’s actions match their words. Unfortunately lots of companies claim to be more ethical than they really are.

If you are interested in investigating ethical investment funds in the United Kingdom, check out this resource. It’s a great starting point for building an ethical investment portfolio. Please remember that this information does not constitute financial advice.

Next Steps

Are you interested in ethical investments? Will your next investment be an ethical one? Let me know in the comments section below. Also, get in touch if you would like my help. My email address is mike@learnmoney.io

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – Review

Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

Best regards,

Mike

Image credit: pexels.com

How to Make Money From Sponsored Posts

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info. This video was first published on my YouTube channel; you can subscribe to my channel here http://bit.ly/1BuKsoM .

Next Steps

Are you a website owner? Are you currently making money from sponsored posts? Do you need my help? Let me know in the comments section below.

Also, get in touch if you would like my help. My email address is mike@learnmoney.io

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – Review

Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

Best regards,

Mike

What are the Coronavirus Job Opportunities?

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info. This video was first published on my YouTube channel; you can subscribe to my channel here http://bit.ly/1BuKsoM .

Coronavirus Job Opportunities

It will not have escaped your attention that we are in the midst of a Coronavirus pandemic. It is a global health crisis and it is also an economic crisis. As governments around the world struggle to contain the coronavirus outbreak, many have lost their jobs because their places of work have been forcibly shutdown as part of lockdown restrictions.

Despite this bleak outlook there are some industries that are benefitting from the crisis. In this video, I discuss 4 industries that are recruiting right now as a response to the coronavirus crisis. There are quite a lot of coronavirus job opportunities. If you find yourself newly out of work, this post will help you. All of the links that I refer to in the video are in the video’s description box.

Next Steps

If you are interested in any of the job opportunities that I mentioned in the video, click on the links in the description and follow the instructions to make an application. Once you have applied, let me know how you get on via the comments section below.

Also, get in touch if you would like my help. My email address is mike@learnmoney.io

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – Review

Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

Best regards,

Mike

How to Make Money Giving Blood

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info. This video was first published on my YouTube channel; you can subscribe to my channel here http://bit.ly/1BuKsoM .

Make Money Giving Blood

Following on from my earlier video about making money selling your own hair, here is another more unusual way of making money. This time the focus is on making money by giving blood. This is not an opportunity for those of you who are squeamish about needles of course. If you have no issue with having a needle inserted into your arm, this will be a straightforward way for you to make some extra cash.

How Does it Work?

In this video, I discuss two websites that offer individuals the chance to earn money by giving blood. One of these websites is relevant for the United Kingdom and the other is for those in the United States. If you live outside of these two countries, a local Google search will no doubt find alternatives relevant for your country.

Next Steps

Does the idea of having a making money by giving blood appeal to you? Do you have experience of giving blood? Let me know in the comments section below. Also, get in touch if you would like my help. My email address is mike@learnmoney.io

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – Review

Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

Best regards,

Mike

How to Make Money Selling Your Hair

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info. This video was first published on my YouTube channel; you can subscribe to my channel here subscribe .

Selling Your Hair

When I started this Learnmoney.io website never did I think that I would record a video and write an article telling my subscribers and community members how they can make money selling their hair!

The world is amazing and this opportunity is amazing too. Believe it or not, there is an opportunity to make up to $1500 USD (£1140.00 approx) by selling your own hair.

In this video, I discuss two websites that enable you to do this. I should point out that not everyone will be able to make $1500, watch the video for full details.

How Does it Work?

The websites mentioned in the video are portals that bring together buyers and sellers of hair. In short, they act as marketplaces and facilitate business between the two groups. If you are interested in the opportunity, take time to explore the different types of hair available and how best to market your own hair. Pay special attention to the type of photos you should take to achieve the optimum price for your hair.

Next Steps

Does the idea of selling your own hair appeal to you? Have you heard of this opportunity before? Let me know in the comments section below. Also, get in touch if you would like my help. My email address is mike@learnmoney.io

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – Review

Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

Best regards,

Mike

Are you Missing out on Compound Interest?

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

What is Compound Interest?

The thought of saving money is not exciting to many people, they would rather buy things with the money that comes into their hands or wallets. Compound interest makes the prospect of saving money more exciting.

Compound interest is when you earn interest on the interest that you accrued as well as the initial sum invested.

How Does it Work?

For example, if you saved £1000 at an interest rate of 5%, at the end of year 1 you would have £1050, with a compound interest account you would then earn 5% interest on £1050 by the end of year 2.

This would mean that your total going into year three would be £1102.50 instead of £1100.00 if you had earned 5% each year. Over the long term, the increases to your savings total become very significant so much so that Albert Einstein reputedly said of compound interest,

“Compound Interest is the most powerful force in the universe. Compound interest is the 8^th wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.”

Albert Einstein

Savings Accounts & Compound Interest

Given how beneficial Compound Interest is to the individual saver, you would expect all savings accounts to offer Compound Interest to their account holders but that is not the case. There is every possibility that your savings accounts are not paying you compound interest, please check with your bank or building society. Your bank may be only paying you simple interest, which is interest paid annually on the principal sum only.

If they are not, study the example below and open a new account that will pay you compound interest from any provider you choose. Remember that to really benefit from compound interest you will need to save for the long term.

This is an example of a UK savings account that pays compound interest. International readers, you may need to do some investigative work to find comparable savings accounts in your country.

Next Steps

Hopefully this post has made you re-consider the savings accounts that you have; now is the time to open an account that will pay you compound interest. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Also, get in touch if you would like my help. My email address is mike@learnmoney.io

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – Review

Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You