Exchange Traded Funds vs Mutual Funds

By Peggy Black

Why buy mutual funds when you can be owning an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)? Mutual funds have limited liquidity in that you can only buy and sell mutual funds at the end of the day. Plus exorbitant fees charged investors average 1.5%.

Mutual funds are only required to declare their investment holding twice a year. Investors in funds are in the blind and not sure what they own until it is disclosed.

The S&P 500 Index EFT was the first Exchange Traded Fund. With one trade position, one could own the entire 500 companies of the S&P 500 with the street symbol SPY.

Professional traders keep the market price of ETFs in line with the value of the underlying stocks by arbitrage of any price disparities. Unlike mutual funds where their price may get distorted in regard to the underlying value, ETFs give a fair deal.

ETFs are liquid in that you can buy and sell them at any time. You can place stop-loss and limit order as protection. You can see the latest quote in real-time.

The expenses to own an ETF is negligible. For instance, fees for SPY (S&P 500 index ETF) are pegged at 0.09 percent.

Best of all, ETFs are transparent and you always know what you are getting. You'll know exactly what the market index is composed of. There is now wondering if your ETF owns something that you did not know about.

If there is a choice between mutual funds or ETFs, one should be aware of fund management past history and direction. How do they do in a bear market? How do they perform in a bull market? Do the beat the ETF for the same investment area? - 23218

About the Author:

Not only Exchange Traded Funds research and screeners, but also seasoned observations on the future direction of the markets that will that will guide your investments. Read the best rated investment paper for 80% off news stand prices delivered right to your front door at Wall Street Subscription

Property Investing Advice - How to Steer Clear of Costly Mistakes

By William Watson

If you're determined to succeed in real estate investing, then hire a coach to provide expert Property investing advice. Many novice property owners try and learn the ropes all by themselves but this can be a very costly attempt on your party. It would be more favorable if you take note of the advice of coaches who the industry inside and out. This document offers four strategies to enable you to invest wisely.

If you want to flourish in property investing, then you should start out by trying to locate positively geared property. This means that the rental payments you receive are greater than the payments you need to make to own the real estate. Property investment advice should contain guidelines on how to discover great properties with great return potential. Property investment education should also be addressed, which includes locating property management that will not increase the cost of owning the property to exorbitant levels. You can get this priceless information from professionals who have a good history of discovering positive geared property.

Neighborhoods next to main Australian capital cities are also excellent places to examine for positive cash flow property. Bordering locales to explore are Liverpool, Blacktown and Penrith. Sur, you may find positive cashflow properties in the suburbs in the immediate vicinity of the Sydney CBD, but it will not be trouble-free to uncover them. Go and visit Leichhardt and Annandale if you want to take a crack at it. Here's a tip: don't try to cover too many districts at the same time; this will help you be knowledgeable about property rates in those districts without delay. If you focus your search on specific neighborhoods only, you'll hear about bargains faster than other real estate owners.

Uncovering property steals takes A LOT of digging. While plenty of property investment seminars will tell you to go out and find deals wherever they are, Property investing advice that promote concentrating your efforts on only a small number of neighborhoods is far more effective. This is exactly why you require the services of a coach and buyers agent. These authority figures will help you find property investments that are truly worth your time and money. Allow their experience and market know-how work for you, allowing you to invest your capital shrewdly.

When buying an investment property, finding is bound to be discussed. Bad financial judgment can lead to you not having enough capital to invest in other properties. Even if your 1st buy is positive cash flow property, it's extremely vital to handled finances wisely. Mortgage brokers are only able to lend a hand you with one property at a time. This may prevent you from financing subsequent property opportunities. Perhaps you should contact mortgage planners to help you draft a great investment strategy? - 23218

About the Author:

You may be looking for sydney investment property advice information, in which case you should visit that site. Get more help on the topic of property investment course.

Understanding How the Forex Brokers Make Profits

By Hass67

When you open a currency trading account, you are told by your forex broker that there are no commissions involved in forex trading. New traders take their brokers word as true. Most think that the cost of trading is minimal.

Forex brokers also called FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants) make profits through the bid-ask spread they offer to their clients for each currency pair. This bid-ask spread is the trading cost for you and the profit for your FCM.

Lets take a practical example to make it clear how trading costs can effect your trading. Bid/offer spreads are usually overlooked by retail traders as the price they have to pay for trading. So lets calculate what your cost of trading can be annually.

Suppose you are day trading. 5 times every day, taking away the weekends, when you cant trade, there are 250 trading days for you.

As a day trader, you will open and close your position before the end of each trading day. That means each position is traded 2 times by you.

Suppose; your start with a deposit of $50,000. You use a leverage of 4 only, you are being cautious. So this $50,000 deposit will control (50,000) (4) = $200,000.

Annual Turnover = (5) (250) (2) (200,000) = $500 Million. You can see the annual turnover of your trading is huge! Now lets calculate how much your broker will make and what your trading cost is based on your spread cost. Spread Cost= (Annual Turnover) (spread)/2.

Suppose further, the bid/ask spread offered by the broker is 3 pips. 3 Pips Spread Cost= (500M) (0.0003)/2= $75,000.

Suppose the bid/offer spread charged by the broker is only 2 pips. 2 Pips Spread Cost= (500M) (0.0002)/2= $50,000.

The cost of trading with a 3 pips spread versus a 2 pips is $25,000. This is 50% of your account equity. You can see yourself that a 1 pip difference can result in $25,000 more of trading costs.

You will need to make a profit of $75,000 simply to break even with a 3 pips spread. Trading costs are one of the primary reasons most active traders fail in the long run. - 23218

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading and swing trading stocks and currencies. Learn Forex Nitty Gritty. Read about Trend Forex System. Try Netpicks Forex Signal Service.

Government Auctions - Are Pre-foreclosures more Profitable then Foreclosures?

By Dianne Jones

Pre-foreclosures are homes and/or property that are about to go into foreclosure. This is where some of the best deals are made. These are generally negotiated directly with the owner, who is eager to avoid the grief of foreclosure.

The number of pre-foreclosures is growing every day. If you've kept up with the media recently, you know that investing in pre-foreclosure homes is one of the best ways to make a substantial profit. There are virtually a limitless number of these discounted homes on the market, due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the current economic slowdown.

Depending on your situation buying a pre-foreclosure home can be an improved method of acquiring property rather then buying at an auction. Auctions more often then not require that you have the necessary cash on hand in order to bid. When buying pre-foreclosure homes, however, you don?t necessarily have to have cash on hand.

The main advantage of a pre-foreclosure is you get to meet the people who's house your interested in acquiring in a less anxious environment then at an auction. With an auction homeowners will usually remain anonymous.

One of the biggest advantages of purchasing a pre-foreclosure over an auction is that you can inspect the property before it goes into auction. At this point the property owner is still living in the home so obviously you want to call on them and take a look around the house to see what kind of condition it is in. If the owner feels you make be able to help them, they may disclose if there are any internal problems with the house (i.e. water damage, electrical issues, etc.). Also if the owner is co-operative and you have enough time it would be advised to get a property inspection done as well.

This allows you to determine how much effort, if any, will be required to repair the house and at what cost. This will eliminate much of the risk and will help you make a better decision about if the property would be a good investment or not.

So now you can see that buying at the pre-foreclosure stage has some nice advantages over buying at auctions or from a realtor. It really comes down having the right information to make the right choice, at the right price. - 23218

About the Author:

To research more regarding the top government auction & pre-foreclosures web sites click government auctions reviews or pre-foreclosures.

Currency exchange is a very standard way to get money while you're on holiday. Loads of people use currency exchange services currently.

By Abby H Naylor

Due to the fact that people think that we now live in a global village, there is very much a feeling that the use of Currency exchange services is redundant. Who needs Currency exchange services when you can use a credit card? After all, everyone has credit cards and debit cards, so why would you need to use a Currency exchange services?

When life gets difficult and things just don't work out, you sometimes need to be able to get hold of money quickly, which is where Currency exchange services come into their own. If you are travelling and the worst should happen and you lose your credit or debit card then you will know that bad things can happen.

Is it possible to help a loved one, when they are so far from home? And what can be done from half way across the world? You can get cash to your loved one in a matter of minutes, which is a real comfort to know. You can just use Currency exchange services and it is there in a minute or two.

Currency exchange services can really help someone in his or her hour of need, but they aren't just there for the nasty things, they can also be used for other really nice things.Many people prefer to do business with a transfer of cash, because they distrust giving credit card details out to strangers.

Using Currency exchange services is also a great way to surprise family members who may be living overseas. Money going astray isn't a problem with Currency exchange services, you can rest assured that the money will be in their account in just a few minutes.

Second home owners will also find that Currency exchange services will really ease the process of organising repairs and making things easier in terms of getting trades people in. So Currency exchange services are anything but redundant, they take place daily and literally billions of dollars, Euros, pounds, Japanese yen etc are sent all across the world every hour.

The sheer volume of transfers means that the process has really been speeded up and it is also very cost effective. Currency exchange services are very easy to organise and another bonus is that they are cheap because commissions aren't as common place as they are with other ways of sending money.

So no matter where you are in the world, or where your loved ones are, you can have peace of mind, knowing that with Currency exchange services you will always have ready access to money. You can also use transfers to buy some of the nicer things in life, so you are only limited by the funds you have available and your imagination!

Getting Currency exchange services is easy and a lot of people are able to use them on a regular basis with little effort at all. It's easy to get Currency exchange services, all you have to do is call a bank or money shop such as the Western Union.

You will find that Currency exchange services is a fast and easy way to ensure that you're covered or that you can pay someone quickly. Making Currency exchange services is easy and fast and it's relatively secure because all you need is the bank account number and sort code.

Currency exchange services is the best way to get money while you're away and it's certainly becoming very popular. Make sure you understand the process and do a lot of research before you even think about using Currency exchange services.

Currency exchange services is a great way to pay someone some money and is ideal for holidays and trips abroad. Currency exchange services is very popular these days and a lot of people use them to ensure they get their money quickly. - 23218

About the Author:

Author Abby H Naylor discusses getting foreign exchange services for your time abroad. www.purefx.co.uk has great information on foreign exchange, you will certainly be able to get a deal that you like.