Mom, you are staying home with your kids and must sometimes realize that your children are going to need million-dollar educations in 18 years or so. Unless you are rich or have a guaranteed financial future, that will always remain as one of the biggest questions for you to answer. Why not start investing with your very small amounts of money today to make your children's dream come true tomorrow.
Even though investing in the financial markets has never been an easy task, but learning the basics can move you ahead and make you feel confident about where you decide to invest your money. For most of us, any extra money counts toward our children's happiness and success.
Investing isn't a get-rich-quick scheme.
Investing takes work, time and effort. But the rewards are always great.
Investing is not gambling. Even though there is always risk, and there are no guarantees, but investing is more than simply hoping Lady Luck is on your side.
Most Common Types Of Investments
Bonds
The main attraction of bonds is their relative safety. If you are buying bonds from a stable government, your investment is virtually guaranteed, or risk-free. The safety and stability, however, come at a cost. Because there is little risk, there is little potential return. As a result, the rate of return on bonds is generally lower than other securities.
Stocks
When you purchase stocks, or equities, you own part of the business. Stocks allow you to receive any profits that the company allocates to its owners. These profits are referred to as dividends. While bonds provide a steady stream of income, stocks are volatile. That is, they fluctuate in value on a daily basis. When you buy a stock, you aren't guaranteed anything. Many stocks don't even pay dividends, in which case, the only way that you can make money is if the stock increases in value - which might not happen. Compared to bonds, stocks provide relatively high potential returns. Of course, there is a price for this potential: you must assume the risk of losing some or all of your investment.
Mutual Funds
A mutual fund is a collection of stocks and bonds. When you buy a mutual fund, you are pooling your money with a number of other investors, which enables you (as part of a group) to pay a professional manager to select specific securities for you. The primary advantage of a mutual fund is that you can invest your money without the time or the experience that are often needed to choose a sound investment. Unless you are an experienced investor, you should most of the times get a better return by giving your money to a professional than you would if you were to choose investments yourself.
Most Reliable Stock Research Centers
Yahoo! Stock Research Center: Featuring Company Earnings, Company Reports, Analyst Research, Research Tools, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Options...
MSN Money Central: Research Tools, Guided Search, Find Stocks, Quotes, Charts, News...
Morning Star: Latest Analyst Reports, Stock Analyst Notes, Commentary, Highest-Rated Stocks by Sector, Equity Research...
Market Watch: Industry Analisys, Interactive Charting, Analyst Estimates, Historical Quotes, Stock Pickers, Stock Screener, Industry Screener...
Investing News Sources
http://finance.yahoo.com/mo?u
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/home.asp
http://today.reuters.com/investing/business.aspx
http://www.google.com/finance
Create Your Free Portfolios (all required sign up & login)
Market Watch:
- Track and analyze your investments
- Tailor your portfolio to show data important to you
Money Central MSN:
- Save customized views of your portfolio that show the columns and sorting options you want to see.
- Use the MSN Stock List to track symbols across MSN.
- Import Stock Screener results to a watch account in your portfolio.
- View news headlines, alerts, and message board posts all on one page.
- See an analysis of your portfolio.
- Easily add new symbols to your account.
Yahoo! FINANCE:
- Get insights and opinions from exclusive Yahoo! Finance Columnists.
- Track real-time quotes.
- Stay ahead with Wall Street research.
Google Finance:
- An easy way to add to, delete from and manage the list of companies and funds you're most interested in
- Quick snapshots of your investments—how many shares you purchased and at what price
- Quick access to detailed financial info (including balance sheets, news and management information) about the companies and funds you're tracking