Financial Instruments in Life

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Author: Michael Chan

Ways to Money

There are several financial instruments in life to get ahead Each has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Understanding the materials in this article will help you to do well financially in life

Career

Being an employee of someone definitely has its advantages A fixed and sure salary each month, medical and other benefits make a career worth pursuing Also, a large corporation offers good advancement opportunities and benefits

To ensure you do well in a career, you must always cultivate good relationships and a strong network and be prepared to keep learning new things You may need to switch employers (to move from an SME to an MNC, for example) over the years as you develop your career

Unfortunately, a career is at the mercy of not only the economy, but also your employers The dangerous time comes normally when you are in middle-management, when your pay is high and yet redundancy most easily resolved with downsizing (when companies merge or the economy is poor) The years when you are in middle-management also tends to be the years when your expenses are high

Businesses

The risks in doing a business are great Statistics indicate that 90% of all businesses fail within the first 5 years due to marketing and cashflow problems In the next 5 years, another 90% of the remaining businesses will also fail because of cashflow and also because the founder has moved his passion to other things in his life

Moreover, most if not all businesses have business cycles Business cycles are natural movements of businesses due to supply and demand A severe recession can put many businesses into cashflow difficulties and force them to close down

For a business to really move on to big things, contacts and funds are needed A person generally cannot start up a big company until some of the big boys are helping These big boys may come in the form of banks, Venture Capitalists (known as VCs) and angel investors (people who give money for personal fulfilment or who doesn't mind losing the money)

Unlike a salaried employee, a businessman must be prepared to put in long hours and much effort in running the business at the beginning He also must be prepared to take losses and money out of his own pocket to finance the business while it is still in its infancy

Business turn out a cashflow at about 18 months on the average, so the businessman must have savings or low expenses to tide out that period of time

However, once a business system has been set in place and employees trained (and moved or hired to management), the businessman generally finds himself with time to start up another business or branch The business will more or less sustain itself, with minimal supervision, if the management is good

Most of the rich (and that means really filthy rich) people on this planet became rich through businesses

The rest are rich because they are royalty or heirs - something the average person cannot really do anything about

Stock Investments

When a company wants to expand, or the founders want to cash in on their company, they normally offer part of the company for sale Shares of the company stocks are then created For many companies, these stocks are traded publicly on a stock exchange, where members of the public can easily purchase them

Some investment houses also create mutual funds where a manager buys shares and manage the investments on behalf of the members of the public who places their money with them Shares in these mutual funds can also be traded easily

The major newspapers (or internet) will publish the price of each stock

The price is normally for a single share in the company A company may have billions of these shares An investor will normally simply call up the broker and tells him the number of shares he wants to buy Some brokerage houses may allow up to 3 days before payment of the shares

There are two types of stocks generally - growth stocks and income stocks Growth stocks normally do not pay out part of their earnings to their investors The only way an investor can gain from them is to wait for their stocks to rise in value and then sell off the stock they own Most stocks dealing with technology (like Microsoft) are growth stocks

Income stocks, on the other hand, normally pays out part of their earnings to their investors - either quarterly, semi-annually or annually

These pay-outs are called dividends

Most stocks dealing with food or utilities (like Coca-Cola or SingTel) are income stocks

The price of a stock is determined by supply and demand Unfortunately, supply and demand is determined by the human emotions of greed and fear, and can be very unstable, fluctuating from day to day

Good management and business leadership in the company normally makes these fluctuations small and manageable

Occasionally, however, this instability really tips the scale, causing widespread panic or mania. This creates bubbles and crashes that affect the entire stock market

Real Estate Investments

Everybody needs a place to live or do business in. Some will buy it outright, but there will always be those who does not want to buy. They may be constantly on the move, or may not have the down payment. The banks may not want to give them a mortgage due to a poor credit history Or, especially for new business, the long-term stay in the premise may not be certainIn such cases, there is a market for rental properties. Residential properties are meant for families to live in, while Commercial properties are meant for the conduct of business. Certain areas of the country are preferred (Prime areas) while certain are not so desired (Poor areas). The prices and rentals of the properties reflect that

Real Estate, however, is considered a heavy investment. The downpayment typically count in the thousands, and a bank normally has to come in to give a loan (called a mortgage) to cover up to 90% of the property price. In addition, the investor has to pay the lawyer's fees, the broker's fees (if any), maintenance fees and also property taxes. Maintenance fees and taxes are also collected regularly, as long as the investor owns the property. Also, normally furniture has to be provided for the tenants

The key to earning a living from real estate investments is to make sure that the rentals can cover the mortgage payments, taxes and maintenance costs That creates the cashflow for the investment In addition, over time the investment may appreciate (increase in value) as demand for such properties increase. Of course, if demand decreases, there will be a drop in value

Just like stock investments, the price of real estate is actually determined by supply and demand. A high demand for certain properties will drive up both its price and its rental, while a low demand will depress its price and rental

Unlike stocks, however, real estate tends to be more stable. This stability, however, means that it may take much longer to buy or sell real estate. Matching buyers and sellers are not as easy, and it takes time for lawyers to process the necessary documents to transfer the property

Even with that stability, occasionally the market may experience extreme euphoria or depression, creating real estate market bubbles or crashes

Conclusion

Everyone of us have unique strengths, weaknesses and comfort levels when using any of the financial instruments to get ahead of life. We would need to assess carefully everything, before we commit ourselves