Investments Archives - Learn Money.info

Invest in Bitcoin and Receive Some Free Bitcoin

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In July 2018, I wrote this post, Has the Cryptocurrency Bubble Burst? If you have not read it, please read that post and then come back here. At the time I wrote the post bitcoin had been to $17,000 but was down to $6,600. Today as I am writing the price of bitcoin is $53,884 which represents a 316.96% increase on the $17,000 figure. Even to the casual observer it is clear that the growth trajectory is upwards for bitcoin. Large financial institutions have completed their due diligence on bitcoin and decided that it is here to say. Elon Musk has even got in on the act.

How to Buy Bitcoin

It appears that investing in bitcoin is a good financial move. Please remember none of the information on this website constitutes financial advice and is provided as general information only.

Do your own research and if you want to buy bitcoin, Coinbase is a relatively safe place to start. You can sign up for Coinbase here and because I referred you, when you sign up and buy or sell $100 of bitcoin or more, we’ll both earn $10 of free bitcoin!

Have you bought any cryptocurrencies? What has been your experience? Let me know in the comments section below.

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

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Investments: Why Saving is Not Enough

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.

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

Best regards,

Mike

Is Forex Trading Hard to do?

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

What is Forex Trading?

If you have travelled abroad on holiday or a business trip you may have needed to buy some foreign currency to use at your destination. More than likely you will have used your home currency to buy currency for your destination country. Foreign Currency exchange or Forex trading as it is more commonly known is based on this buying and selling of currency pairs, the currency pair being the two currencies that you wish to exchange. Through the buying and selling of currencies at opportune moments it is possible to make a profit. Fundamentally Forex trading is quite easy to understand but that does not mean it’s easy to do profitably.

If you want to start Forex trading the first step would be to find a reputable broker. This article lists the top 25 Forex brokers in the UK ranked by their trust score.

Is Forex Trading Hard?

The majority of Forex traders are not making a profit and this is because of a number of reasons including; a lack of understanding of the complexities of international currency markets, a reluctance to exit a bad trade in the hope that it turns around, poor risk assessment and management, allowing greed to take over and emotionally driven trading. If you are to avoid becoming another failed Forex trader, I recommend the following steps:

*Start trading with a practice account before using any real money.

*Keep a record of all yout trades as you build up your experience.

*Understand the importance of setting up stop loss orders and apply them to your trading procedures.

*When you start, pick currency pairs that are familiar to you.

Create a daily routine that is conducive to good trading practices, sleep, exercise and nutritious food are likely to lead to better trading decisions.

In answer to the question in this post’s title, Forex trading is not hard to do but it is hard to do well. Beware of ‘Fake Gurus’ oversimplifying Forex or offering you a foolproof trading system because it is likely that they are only being successful by selling their ‘system’ rather actual trading success in currency markets.

Next Steps

Are you interested in Trading Forex ? Have you started 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:

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Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

What’s the Best Strategy for Clearing Debts?

Investments: Why Saving is Not Enough

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:

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Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

What’s the Best Strategy for Clearing Debts?

Investments: Why Saving is Not Enough

Best regards,

Mike

Image credit: pexels.com

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:

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Credit Cards: How to Make Balance Transfers Work For You

What’s the Best Strategy for Clearing Debts?

Investments: Why Saving is Not Enough

Best regards,

Mike

Image credit: pexels.com

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

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Best regards,

Mike

Image credit: pexels.com

Coinbase Earn: Earn Free Cryptocurrency

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 .

Earn While You Learn

Cryptocurrency is no longer new in investment terms but if it was a sport it would still be regarded as a minority sport played by a small percentage of the nation’s population. Established Cryptocurrency exchange and provider of free digital wallets, Coinbase knows this and has created opportunities for new and existing cryptocurrency investors to earn while they learn.

Coinbase Earn: Earn Free Crypto

What is Coinbase Earn? Well, you are asked to watch a few videos, answer questions and in return you earn cryptocurrency that goes into your Coinbase account. It is not complicated to do or to receive the cryptocurrency.

In this video, I demonstrate the process you need to follow to earn the free cryptocurrency and explore Coinbase’s motives for creating the initiative. I hope that you find it useful.

This video will be of interest to people who are interested in earning income online and making money online generally. It is another simple way you will be able to increase your financial assets and investments without a drastic change to your lifestyle or weekly routine. Here’s my invite for you to join Coinbase and then you can participate in Learn and Earn.

Next Steps

Would you like to earn some free crypto via Coinbase? Here’s my invite for you my invite for you to join Coinbase . Have you heard of Coinbase before? Let me know in the comments section below.

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Best regards,

Mike

Cryptocurrency Exchange: This is Why I Recommend DSX

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

You can sign up to DSX here. This video is called, Cryptocurrency Exchange: Why I Recommend DSX by Mike Pitt.

If you have read this post, Has the Cryptocurrency Bubble Burst? you will be aware of the inherent volatility within cryptocurrency markets and also the tremendous investment opportunity presented by them. Even though fortunes have already been made by some we are still very much in the early stages of crypocurrencies. In August, I took the opportunity to research and review a UK based cryptocurrency Exchange called DSX. In this video*, I explain why I am happy to recommend DSX to those considering investing in cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency Exchange

There are many cryptocurrency exchanges all around the world. A quick review of Coinmarketcap.com, shows that Binance is the biggest when compared by trading volume. However, trading volume is not the only consideration when comparing Cryptocurrency Exchanges. The fees charged for transactions, deposits and withdrawals are also very important. The more transactions that you execute the more fees you have to pay. DSX has low fees compared to other exchanges that I have used. I speak about this and other considerations in the video.

* This video was first published on my YouTube channel and some of the written content was originally published on my marketing website.

Have you invested in Cryptocurrencies? Are you considering investing? Let me know in the comments section below.

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Best regards,

Mike

Should you Combine Your Pensions?

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

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Over the course of your career, you are likely to move jobs and contribute to more than one pension. Keeping track of all your separate pensions and monitoring the relative performance can be a difficult task; there’s also the often complicated fees and charges to be taken into consideration too. It is no wonder that many working adults in the UK do not stay on top of their retirement planning in general and pensions in particular.

Your Pensions and Performance

When you have tracked down your pension pots, write to the pension providers and if necessary advise them of your new address. I add this point in because whenever I have lost track of a pension it is because pension providers have been sending the annual statements to an old address. You must notify them when you move house. Once your details have been verified, when you call your pension provider they will be able to give you a statement balance for your pension. Repeat this step for each of your pension pots. Ideally you will have the balance from previous years too. This will enable you to calculate which is your best performing pension.

Exit Charges

Once you have worked out which is your best performing pension it would be great if you could simply move all of your pensions into the best performing pension and go on to live happily ever after. Well, unfortunately it is not that simple, whilst most pension providers will usually let you add to an existing pension pot free of charge the same cannot be said ot exiting an existing pension plan. You are likely to face exit charges for exiting the pension plan early. Give your pension provider a call to find out the full extent of the charges that you will face if you exit the pension plan.

What Should You do?

After your research and phone calls, you will have a better understanding of whether it is a good idea to combine all of your pension pots into one. I cannot give a generic recommendation in this case. Please also consider the investment funds that your pensions are invested in on your behalf. You could have set them up with different risk profiles; keeping separate pension pots could be a smart way to diversify your pensions portfolio and reduce investment risk. At some point as you are evaluating your pensions and deciding what to do it would be sensible to consult an independent financial adviser.

Have you tracked down a lost pension pot recently ? Have you worked out which is the best performing pension? Let me know in the comments section below. There is no need to write any specific amounts!

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Best regards,

Mike

Follow me on Pinterest

Investments: Why Saving is Not Enough

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

Image credit: https://www.bankrate.com/

In a few of my blog posts on this website I have reminded you of the importance of saving 20% of your income. Saving is vitally important to give yourself a platform to build towards financial freedom but saving on its own will not be enough. Let me explain, the current rates of interest offered by most financial institutions are relatively low, in most cases they are below 1.5%. This is lower than the current rate of inflation.

Saving into an account that offers this kind of interest rate will not magically produce a large lump sum or provide a regular passive income that will enable you to become financially free. Sadly even many pension funds built up during the working lives of adults in the UK will not deliver the levels of capital growth necessary. In addition to saving you will need to make investments; investments offer the chance for your money to grow significantly in the medium to long term. It is worth stating that investments usually have more risk attached to them; there are usually greater risks and potentially greater rewards.

Investments

Below I have listed several types of investment that could potentially move you closer to financial freedom. This is not an exhaustive list so I encourage you to do your own research to discover the investment approaches that are most appropriate for you.

Property

Property is my favourite type of investment here in the UK. The purchase of a Buy to Let property was until recently a very popular investment allowing investors to benefit from capital appreciation and rental yield. Changes in the tax relief that landlords can claim , introduced to dampen the buy to let market and create opportunities for first time buyers, are having their intended effect. It is now not as easy to set up profitable buy to lets.

For investors with less available capital, property crowdfunding is a way to join other investors and pool resources to invest in properties. Property Partner is an example of a crowdfunding property company that enables smaller investors to participate in property investment without having to buy a property outright. The returns from property crowdfunding are good and it is open to investors of all levels.

Stocks and Shares

By purchasing Shares, it is possible to invest directly in the performance of one particular company. Investors who hold shares in a number of companies refer to them as Stocks. Imagine if you had invested in Amazon or Apple in the early years, the return on your investment that you would have received would have been phenomenal. Investors can benefit from the increased stock price and dividends that the company might declare and distribute.

Unit Trusts and OEICs

Investing in one particular stock can work out well if the company does well but you could also lose all of your money if the company folds. A less risky approach is to use an investment fund to invest in a range of companies. The two most popular types of investment funds are Unit Trusts and OEICs. With a Unit Trust, you purchase units of a fund that is made up of the investments of many investors. This could be a tracker fund or an actively managed fund; a fund manager makes the investment decisions for the fund.

An OEIC is very similar to a Unit Trust except that the fund is run as a company and you purchase shares instead of units. Returns are paid through regular distributions, they could be quarterly or monthly dependent on what the fund guarantees.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

Exchange Traded Funds( ETFs ) are a relatively new investment product and are similar to Unit Trusts and OEICs in that they are open ended but the difference is that they are are listed on a Stock Exchange. They also include a wider variety of assets that Unit Trusts and OEICs.

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies are easily the most volatile of all investments that I have included on this list. It is possible to both make or lose a fortune with cryptocurrency investments in the space of a few hours or days. Many professional investors including Warren Buffet do not consider cryptocurrencies a suitable investment and believe them to be little more than a gamble. However, blockchain technology which provides the platform for cryptocurrencies via its distributed ledger system, is here to stay. To read more about cryptocurrencies, read this post, Has the Cryptocurrency Bubble Burst?

If you have the stomach for it, and can afford to lose what you invest cryptocurrencies, most notably Bitcoin could provide the significant capital growth you will need for financial freedom. Despite what some professional investors thinks cryptocurrencies have made many new billionaires and millionaires in a short space of time.

What Should you Do?

Research the investments or investment approaches that appeal to you. Have you already made some investments? What type are they? Please let me know in the comments section below.

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

How to Stop Emotional Spending

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How to Stick to Your Budget During Summer: 5 Tips

Does Your Choice of Supermarket Matter?

Save Money by Switching Energy Supplier Every Year

How to Stop Impulse Buying – 10 Ways

Have you Found all of Your Dormant Accounts?

Can you live off a Cash Budget for a Week?

Has the Cryptocurrency Bubble Burst?

Why you Should Drive and Old Car and Pay of Your Mortgage Early

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Save Hundreds on Rent Per Month By Becoming a Property Guardian

4 Obstacles you Will Face on Your Financial Journey

Make Money Now With These Two Referral Apps

Have you got the Right Money Mindset?

Best regards,

Mike

Follow me on Pinterest

Can you live off a Cash Budget for a Week?

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

Image credit: https://www.thebudgetmom.com/

The next stage up from following a monthly budget is living off a cash budget for a week or a month. If you are not already following a monthly budget, please read this post, How to Create a Budget That you can Stick to; that post will help you create your monthly budget. For those of you already following a monthly budget, the cash budget could be for you. Following a cash budget will enable you to make further financial gains.

What is a Cash Budget?

Each month you receive your salary or pay cheque, when you do you should pay all of your bills and account for your needs. There will be money left over that you allocate to discretionary spending; items such as groceries and entertainment will fall into this category. For each of these items of expenditure you are going to withdraw the money from your account and place the money in an envelope. For example, if you have allocated £200 for entertainment during the month, you must place £200 in the entertainment envelope. Once that entertainment envelope is empty, you have run out of money for entertainment until next month. The same applies for all the other sub categories.

The Benefits of a Cash Budget

The beauty of the cash budget system is that you will physically see how much you spend on different items of expenditure. Compare that to contactless payments with plastic cards and no receipts, a scenario that makes it so easy to lose track. When you are living with a cash budget, do not steal from one envelope to make up for a shortfall in another. Your envelopes will become emptier as the month progresses; you might find that you are spending a lot on entertainment, groceries or lunches at work.

If you are disciplined, the cash budget system will make you more intentional about everything you spend your money on. This will mean greater control of your finances, which in turn will mean that you improve your net worth and achieve your financial goals more quickly.

It may be that you need to make more money, if that is the case the ideas contained in this post will help you, 10 Ways to Make Money Now.

What if you Have Money Left Over?

If you have money left over in some sub categories and shortfalls in others, you may need to re-visit your monthly budget and make some changes. If you have money left over and no shortfalls it would be advisable to increase the amount that you are saving.

The ideal scenario is for your first experience with a cash budget to be a positive one and for a new habit to be created. Research has confirmed that paying with cash will make you more conscious of every expenditure. Many people have attributed their success in paying off debts and achieving savings targets to the fact that they have used a cash budget.

Your Challenge

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to live off a cash budget for one week. Split your money into budgets for the different sub categories and then live out of the envelopes on a day to day basis. I would love to hear about any progress that you make. Also, feel free to tell me about anything you found particularly difficult and how the overall process made you feel about your personal finances.

Let me know in the comments section below.

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

Has the Cryptocurrency Bubble Burst?

Why you Should Drive and Old Car and Pay of Your Mortgage Early

Make Money By Being Part of a Focus Group

Save Hundreds on Rent Per Month By Becoming a Property Guardian

4 Obstacles you Will Face on Your Financial Journey

Make Money Now With These Two Referral Apps

Have you got the Right Money Mindset?

Best regards,

Mike

Follow me on Pinterest