All posts by Judy Finlayson

Investing And the Potential Pitfalls

One of the first things to bear in mind is the old saying “a fool and his money are soon parted”~There is a saying that is worth bearing in mind when considering the stock market and that is “a fool and his money are soon parted”~”A fool and his money are soon parted” is a saying that is well worth bearing in mind when you think about the stock market. Although it sounds derogatory, it isn’t intended just a little reminder that although it can sound quite grand to say “I’m an investor,” it is well worth remembering that investments can go down as easily as they go up.

You are always taking a gamble that you might lose your money so it is important to never invest anything that you could not realistically afford to lose. It is always better to start investing with a small amount of money there can still be great pleasure in watching shares or gold prices going up and down (preferably up)~When starting off, you should only invest small sums of money because you can still take great pleasure in watching the prices move up or down.

Before the property crash of 2008, it was considered to be very safe to invest in the property market. A lot of people think that now is a good time to try and get back into the property market because the prices are still quite low. Over the last year there has only been a one percent increase in the price of houses but there are no real signs that things will improve even more. It could well be the case that the housing market will experience another dip over the coming months. A lot of buy-to-let investors were put off buying like this again because of the crash and they will probably only buy houses that they will reside in again.

Another form of investment is by a method called spread-betting, which calls for the investor to gauge whether the markets will rise or fall. For the beginner investor, there is just too much risk involved in spread-betting so it should probably be avoided; there is a risk that an investor could lose all their money if the market changes direction too suddenly.

For those looking to encourage a teenager or a friend to consider investing, it is possible to buy one share in a company; this share is framed and can be given as a gift. Because the cost of the share is cancelled out by the present element of the share, it is not actually a good investment. This is a wonderful idea for a gift as it is unique and interesting; and don’t forget that if the person wanted, he or she could attend shareholder’s meetings with just one share. There are many different shares available from one share in Amazon, one share in Ford and yet another in Hewlett-Packard. The company you choose is up to you but there are plenty to choose from and the price will vary depending on the company; they all come in a frame however.

This is not something that someone wanting a real investment would consider but it is a novel gift idea. It may provide the interest in one company and perhaps at some time in the future the recipient may decide to invest in the same company.

Penny shares are low priced shares that small investors usually go for. But the biggest issue someone would have with penny shares is the risk involved; they tend to lose more than they gain.

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