There is a lot of stock market trading software available today, all to make your investing and trading life easier. Here are some examples of such stock trading software. Most of it is free and you can download it right off the internet:

• STOCK ACCOUNTING. This stock trading software gathers your accumulated trade history. It is also able to access a variety of stock brokers online, where you can compare or match your trades so that you can calculate your losses or gains accurately when it comes to a particular transaction. This software can even link directly to the IRS and your accountant, so they can determine whether you have indeed made a profit.

• STOCK DAY TRADING. This stock market trading software is perfect for those who do day trading for a living. The normal trading times are between 8am and 4pm Eastern Time, but we all know that day traders need to know what’s going on with the stock market outside this rigid time frame. So, if you’re keen on day trading, but still want to have a life outside of staring at your computer monitor, this software is ideal.

• STOCK QUOTES. Stock market enthusiasts praise the Stock Quotes Software. Everything is about the bid price and the price that is asked when it comes to a stock that you’ll be trading. These will be marked in percentage points. With this software, though, you’ll have to familiarize yourself with all the various symbols that can be anywhere from two to five characters long.

• STOCK CHARTING. This stock market trading software will first perform a detailed historical analysis of all your accounts. Then it evaluates all your accounts and looks for the best options for you to invest in. The charting software also gives you a warning when certain stocks are going up, while singling out others that may need to go to the archives.

• STOCK MARKET TIMING. This software provides you with various technical indicators, and it is a wise decision to get this application. The Stock Market Timing program can give you real-time updates for your stocks. You get an alert every time your stock increases or drops in value.

• STOCK ANALYSIS. It is very handy for a program to be capable of simulating a trading transaction, before you actually do it for real. This stock trading software stores and then replays historical data from the sectors that interest you. It will also issue reports when the stock starts decreasing in value, which will save you enormous amounts of time of waiting for updates on television or the internet on the stock exchange reports.

For more information, go to: http://www.stocktradingsoftwarereviews.org/

Trading and investing have been used synonymously for far too long, and it’s time to put a clear distinction between the two. Even investors themselves often don’t know the proper definitions of trading versus investing, and these are usually people who rarely make any money on the stock market. Before you can make a profit from trading, investing, and the market, you must understand that the fundamental difference between the two is your intention, i.e. what exactly are you looking to do with your capital?

Investing has been around since the beginning of time. Investors supply capital (necessary cash) to help a business, which makes the investor a partial owner of that business. With large scale investing on the global stock markets, the investor gets company shares, for whichever company he/she chooses. Obviously the act of investing is the belief that the company will grow and make a profit, and, in turn, make some profit for the investor as well.

However, unlike trading, investing is long term. What does this mean? Generally, the answer is at least one year and often longer. Daily market fluctuations are overlooked by the long-term investor, and a few percent increase or decrease in your stock price is of no concern. Investing is usually done into a company that one has researched thoroughly and partly treats as his/her own. Much like an entrepreneur takes care of his own business, an investor takes care of his/her investment.

Trading versus investing, though, is a completely different thing. Trading stocks is usually done over a short period of time, which could last anywhere from one day to six months. A trader, as opposed to an investor, looks for stocks solely for the purpose of seeing them grow quickly by a few percent and sell as soon as that happens. The way traders make money is usually through the knowledge of fundamental analysis to profit and the technical analysis of the stock.

Sometimes with trading the shares are bought several times, i.e. they are sold for profit, but if they go down in price, they are bought again. Traders make money only from short-term fluctuations in the market, unlike investors who are looking for a long-term steady increase. In the end, traders are probably risking less capital and see results of their activities a lot faster, so this is suitable if you’re impatient!

The bottom line is that whether it is trading or investing that is right for you depends solely on your personality and comfort level. You must also work out a strategy that works only for you, rather than blindly follow the latest hot tips and ‘guru’ advice.

High risk stocks are called that for a reason – it is very risky investing in them! Yet there are a great number of people who invest in high risk stocks, because they are after making a profit fast – maybe over a couple of days. This is very risky indeed, as the chance of losing money on such transactions is huge, since it’s difficult to ensure returns that are profitable over a period as short as two days. Of course, if it was all doom and gloom, people wouldn’t do it; and there certainly have been times when stocks peaked over the short term. Unfortunately these occasions are rare.

Perhaps the most common high risk stock is a penny stock. These are stocks that trade for $5 a share or less. A lot of people won’t even go near investing in these, because there is a general belief that companies with shares that value below $5 carry a substantial financial risk. Penny stock prices fluctuate continuously throughout the day, and they may gain or lose within a matter of hours.

Another type of investment considered a high risk stock is shares in a new company without prior positive performance history. However, just as the risk here is great, so is the potential pay-off. One strategy used by investors is to examine new companies that offer innovative products and services or those in an under-saturated market. Sometimes these are worthy investments indeed, as these companies end up making high earnings.

Of course, to select the right high risk stock, you need to do some research. The most important thing you should consider is eliminating bad risks. Most of these are obvious, like buying shares from high risk companies that show a history of decline or are in an over-saturated market. The thing to remember is that all high-risk stocks usually are at a greater chance of losing money rather than making a profit. So, your best bet is to thoroughly research the market, the industry, and the company history in order to determine the most prudent high risk investment.

Another piece of advice when selecting a high risk stock is that you should look at general trends of such stocks in the industry. That way you will gain a general understanding of the way prices fluctuate. You must also decide how much money you would be OK with losing if you invested in high risk stocks.

The bottom line is that high risk stocks may be a viable option if you’re out to make a profit quickly, but sometimes the risks are too great and you end up with a loss instead. So, you should weigh all the pros and cons before you invest your money in such stocks and be 100 percent sure it’s worth the risk.

For more information on stocks, go to:

Whilst the temptation is to go as cheaply as possible, don’t just look at the figures. Many an investor has lost out because he or she opted to go for the cheapest option, and it turned out to be far from the best product to buy. With investment products, you, to a degree, should get what you pay for, but there are many cases in which expensive funds have performed badly, and cheap funds well. This relates to management fees, however, and not to loads, which can be a complete waste of money. For more on this distinction, read on..

There are 3 hidden costs of mutual funds that can cut into your savings more than you may think.

1 – 12b-1 fees
These fees are common in mutual funds and are used to cover marketing and distribution costs. They are clearly listed in the prospectus of every fund. Some fund companies use this fee to pay brokers who bring them custom, so make sure your broker is not offering you a fund for this reason. This fee varies little from fund to fund, so does not significantly impact investor choice.

2 – Loads
Front end loads – A load is a commission paid to a broker when you buy into a mutual fund. This fee goes to the middle man and the middle man only. If you invest $20000 into a mutual fund, and the load is $700, you need to make this just to break even. You will also lose out on some compound interest. In addition to this, loads mean that if you make a bad investment, you can feel trapped. If you want to sell a poorly performing fund, then you will need to buy into a fund in the same family if you want to avoid paying another load. This significantly reduces your options.

Back-end and ongoing loads – Mutual funds are usually listed as A, B and C shares. All of these classes have a load of some kind, cutting into your finances. A shares have a front-end load. B shares have a back-end load. This means that you have to pay at least 5 percent if you sell the funds within 5 to 7 years. C shares have a back-end load which means that if you sell the fund in the first year you pay at least 1 percent.

Quick and simple advice for you: avoid load funds!!! No-load funds are the same and perform just as well, but are much cheaper!

3 – Management fees
These vary considerably for different funds. For example, bond funds have small fees. International equity funds, on the other hand, have large fees, to cover the traveling costs of the fund managers.

Management fees DO vary widely, and this is where you as an investor has the most choice,l and it brings me back to my first point. There is no reason why you should be paying super high management fees if you are not getting the reward, but just going for the lowest fees might leave you with minimal reward anyway. It is important to know how the manager has been running any particular fund, and the returns that he or she has made. If the results are better than the market average, then it would be worth paying a higher than average management fee if this fund demands it.

For more information on mutual funds, go to:
en.wikipedia.org

It is surprising how many mutual fund investors I come across who do not have a clear idea of the fees that they are being charged. Some even think that just because they are paying a relatively high fee, then they are in a “quality” fund that is most likely to make the best returns. This is the big myth of the mutual fund market. In fact, expense mutual funds have lagged behind their cheaper counterparts in the last few years in terms of overall performance.

In the fund market, however, unlike when choosing between a Kia or a BMW, price does not necessarily relate to quality. Investing in mutual funds with low fees can be a difficult endevour. Do the figures over, say, a decade, and if you have a decent sum invested then you will be paying out a shockingly large amount on fees.

n the early 80′s fees were actually double what they are today. Thankfully for us, since then the increased competition amongst mutual funds has driven prices down. Low cost ETF’s are now further driving down mutual fund fees, as they struggle to compete with the increasing popularity of this investment instrument.

So when looking for mutual funds with low fees take the following 3 points into account:

1 – To avoid paying the fees of a financial services professional, you need to do-it-yourself. This is not difficult: you just need to establish an account directly with a mutual fund family. It is important that it is a no load family, or you will be forking out big bucks on extra, unnecessary commissions.

2 – The unavoidable management percentage fee varies widely between different mutual funds. The fee structure of the fund can be found in the prospectus of the fund, and should be carefully studied. Large capitalization funds typically have low fees, whilst small and mid-cap, and international funds have larger expense ratios. A broad-based indexed no-load mutual fund should have the lowest expense ratio out of any type of mutual fund.

3 – Look for a fund with a turnover ratio of less than 100 percent. You can find this in the prospectus of the fund. This is the best measure of the transaction costs for making trades.

For more information on mutual funds, go to:
en.wikipedia.org

The mutual funds vs stocks debate is something which every experienced investor has contemplated at depth at some point in time. The simple answer is that there is no answer, in the objective sense. Every investor has to decide for himself, as it depends directly on how much risk he or she wants to take, and how much time he or she can put into the decision making process.

This article will help you make that big decision of how much money to put into mutual funds, and how much into stocks.

A mutual fund is a aggragate thousands of investors’ funds, and it spreads those funds over a large number of stocks and bonds. This gives the following 4 big advantages:

1 – Mutual funds make it much easier for you to create your investment policy. Simply match what you want with what is on offer. Lets say that you want only international or green stocks, then you could easily buy into an international fund or an alternative energy fund, and this would be much easier than searching by yourself into specific foreign or renewable energy companies.

2 – Mutual funds make it more simple to rebalance. If the market rockets, and you decide to sell some of your assets and invest the proceeds back in to something else, then this is much easier with mutual funds – you just have to sell whatever percentage you like of your fund shares. With stocks, it is more tricky, as working out what to sell can be extremely difficult. The ones that have done best? A bit of everything, or what?

3 – Mutual funds are a buffer from making big mistakes. A large ownership into a stock or a few stocks that go bad can hugely damage your portfolio. Unless the markets as a whole are crashing (ie – 2008), then you are unlikely to make such catastophic loses with mutual funds. This diversification tool is invaluable for many investors.

4 – Mutual funds save you a great deal of research time. To invest in stocks, unless you just want to wing it, you need to do lots of research into the individual compaines that you might be intereted in. This involves reading financial reports, and what stategies the company has to grow earnings. You must know how the sector as a whole is peforming, and what prospects it has in the time frame that you intend to invest for. This needs to be done for every stock that you want to invest in. To pick a mutual fund, however, you only need to do this once – look into the past performance of the funds that interest you, and decide which sector has the best potential.

Despite these natural advantages of mutual funds, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, the mutual funds vs stocks debate is a very personal one. If you are a more experienced investor with the time to put into research, and you are willing to accept higher risk in the race for higher returns, and have a clear idea of how you want to manage your portfolio, and how to diversify it, then stocks will be for you, especially as mutual funds come with fees of around 1.5%.

Personally, in my early investing days I began at 80% mutual funds and 20% stocks, but with experience and a greater knowledge of the markets this shifted gradually, and now I have 75% stocks and 25% mutual funds. That works best for me. Make sure you think very carefully about what works best for you!

For more information, go to:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_fund,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stocks

There is a great deal of beginner investors who want to invest in gold and silver, but they are not quite sure where to start. If you are one of them then you have come to the right place. With the bull market maturing, an increasing amount of ways have emerged to invest in gold and silver. The following article can be considered a comprehensive guide to investing in gold and silver:

1) Gold and Silver Exchange Traded Funds (generally known as ETFs): This is a relatively new way to invest in gold and silver, but it makes it very easy for you to make a direct investment. The ETF prices fall and increase in direct correlation with the underlying gold price. The silver-only ETF is an even newer phenomenon, and it tracks the silver price in a similar way as the gold fund.

2) Gold and Silver Mutual funds: This is the next option in our guide to investing in gold and silver. There is a wide variety of mutual funds that invest in the precious metals sector. They invest either directly in gold and silver, or in gold and silver mining. One example is Bernies Gold and Silver Fund, which is a mutual fund that is known to invest in both gold and silver on an international scale.

3) Gold and Silver Mining stocks: On the current bull market you will get the most leverage through the purchase of gold and silver mining stocks. Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind that buying these stocks also carries a large amount of risk, since you will have to deal with all the mining operation risks. In addition, you will probably end up investing in some companies that are just beginning to explore new gold deposits, which is quite risky in itself, but your portfolio could get quite a boost from it if discoveries are made.

4) Gold and Silver coins: This is the next best way to invest in gold and silver. The coins can be purchased directly from brokers, or you can get them on a site like www.investmentrarities.com. Rather than investments, these are more like safe havens for the long term, but it is a good idea to have at least a few of these.

5) Direct Sales: This is a good trick to know, and it is the last point in our guide to investing in gold and silver. You should find sellers who will sell you silver as close to their spot price as possible – this entails a fee, but it is usually very reasonable. Usually, the rule is that the more silver you buy, the less fees you will pay.

For more information, go to:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_as_an_investment,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_as_an_investment

Lately gold prices have gone up considerably, so this is making a lot of people ask the obvious question: should I invest in gold and other precious metals? This may not be a bad idea at all, considering that buying gold as an investment will offer diversification to your portfolio and it could also make up for potential inflation.

If you are considering buying gold as an investment, you should keep in mind that it is quite a peculiar investment. On the one hand, if you own it, there are few economic benefits – only the hope that could sell it for more than you bought it at some point in the future. But on the other hand, the main argument in gold’s favor is that it is always something to fall back on, even if everything else in your portfolio is going down the drain. For example, when the panic began in the fall of 2008, gold was only going up, so it can act as a safety net for your investment portfolio.

However, you shouldn’t necessarily get too comfortable with the safety of your gold investment. The only reason it is considered a safe haven by investors is because everyone believes it. If suddenly investors began to doubt this fact and noticed that gold is actually of marginal economic value and relatively volatile, then your investment could hit the fan. So, gold is not infallible, and you should still monitor it closely.

ETFs (Gold Exchange-Traded Funds) or precious metal stocks offer a liquidity solution when buying gold as an investment, because you can sell and buy these on a regular stock exchange. Many of the ETFs represent a variety of precious metals, so it is easy to invest in a diversified group of stocks and not spend too much. Another popular gold investment option is to choose gold coins. These have two main investment advantages: the coin’s collectability and the value of the actual gold. In some cases one is more valuable than the other. Sometimes the coin is worth strictly its melt weight, while in other cases the coin will be worth much more than the melt value, simply because it is collectible and rare.

So, if you are still asking the question ‘should I invest in gold’, the simple answer is probably ‘yes you should,’ and in no way would it be a crazy thing to do! On the contrary, it makes good sense to have gold as well as a small amount of silver and other precious metals in your portfolio as well. However, you probably shouldn’t invest a whole lot of your portfolio in it. It is wise to determine what percentage of risk you are comfortable with and delegate some of your portfolio to precious metals. It would also be wise to list them in your asset allocation plan and when necessary, rebalance your portfolio.

For more information on gold as an investment, go to:
en.wikipedia.org

Whilst practically everybody knows about mutual funds, with the stats showing that more than half of American adults have money invested in such a fund, much less is know amongst the general public about index funds. This is not a good thing! Everyone needs to know about all the investment options available to them. Many people, for instance, have the option to choose between the two as part of the employer’s retirement plan.

So, if you are one of the many who does not have the knowledge to distinguish between the two, you are in the right place! Read on..I will explain everything you need to know about the Index Funds Vs Mutual Funds debate!

Index funds are effectively clones of stock market indices. These indices measure the total value of a stock group. The S&P 500 is one of the most popular indexes. This consists of 500 large cap stocks which are selected to reflect the market average. There are many other indexes too, such as the Russell 2000.

The very first index fund appeared back in 1975. The creator was the John Bogle, who was also the founder of Vanguard. Nowadays Vanguard are strong proponents of index fund investing, and this is the company which has now become the second biggest mutual fund holder in the world.

Index funds are a specific type of mutual fund, and they are meant to reflect the stock market index performance. In the same way as a mutual fund, the share values of index funds are determined according to the value of all the stocks the fund has bought into.

Unlike mutual funds, index funds are not bought and sold via managed trades on a regular basis. Index funds use a set of rules to change the investments, and this occurs infrequently. This takes the human element out of the process.

Index funds consistently outperform mutual funds for the following 3 reasons:

1 – They have much lower management fees. Mutual funds are actively managed, and hence the large fees on them.

2 – They trade infrequently so the turnover ratio is a lot lower. This can have a positive impact on capital gains tax liability.

3 – Many mutual funds have the goal to just meet the market indexes, and no more. Only 15% of them actually beat the market average.

Here is an example real comparison between the two. My colleague was given the two options for his company retirement plan:

Index fund: The Vanguard international stock index has beaten the international stock index in all but one of the last 5 years. The expense ratio is just 0.26%

Mutual fund: The Artisan international has beaten the market in just 2 of the last 5 years, and has an expense ratio of 1.2%.

There are an increasing number of knowledgeable investors who put their money only into index funds as they believe that they are superior in every way to mutual funds. In the majority of cases, they are right. This does not mean that this is a fool proof rule though; of-course there are exceptions, and as ever you need to do your research! If you have the option of a particular mutual fund or a particular index fund, then, despite what you have read in this article, make sure you study them both.

For more information, go to:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_fund,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_fund

Mutual fund investing is a multi-trillion dollar business that many investors rely on to diversify their portfolio. There are many articles around sprouting about the advantages of this form of investing, but not so much has been written about the drawbacks. So here they are – in 7 simple steps.

Disadvantages of mutual funds 1) The diverse nature of mutual funds does reduce the amount of risk involved with mutual funds, but at the same time this is also an inherint disadvantage due to dilution. This means that if one security takes off, the benefit to the mutual fund will only be small as this is just one of many which make up the fund’s holdings. The result is that few mutual funds do exceptionally well, and investors looking for outstanding returns will be put off by this.

Disadvantages of mutual funds 2) Mutual funds are government regulated but they are not insured for losses. The FDIC insures for losses of some kinds occured by banks and credit unions, but not for mutual funds. As a result, although it is very unlikely, there is the chance that the entire investment can be lost.

Disadvantages of mutual funds 3) Mutual funds do not guarantee returns. Something like 75% of funds do not even meet the major market indexes. Some critics consider that many so called professional mutual fund managers are no better at picking stocks than the everyday investor.

Disadvantages of mutual funds 4) You lose a certain amount of control when you put your money into mutual funds, as with someone else deciding which securites to buy and sell, it can be hard to manage the tax consequences of your portfolio.

Disadvantages of mutual funds 5) The fees involved with mutual funds can be quite high. They typically charge about 1.5% per year management fees, as well as sales commisions and redemption fees. With some funds, particularly the ones which buy and sell on a regular basis, these costs can add up fast.

Disadvantages of mutual funds 6) Mutual funds are generally very liquid, but most of them cannot be bought into or sold during the trading day. This can only take place right at the day’s end, when calculations for the day are complete. This is not a problem for the majority of investors, but for a select number of very active investors, this is a considerable drawback.

Disadvantages of mutual funds 7) The large mutual funds can find it hard to find enough good companies. If, for instance, a fund has $10 billion to invest but rules limit their investment into a single company to $50,000, then the fund would have to find 200 companies to invest in, and to do this it may have to bet on companies that are not of the highest standards.

Keep in mind that these disadvantages relate to mutual funds in general. There is an enormous amount of mutual funds available, with different strategies and styles. These drawbacks are a general rule of thumb, but for any particular mutual fund they may not all apply.

For more information on mutual funds, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_fund”>en.wikipedia.org