“We all have to stop waiting for the government to solve the housing affordability difficulty and instead people have to look at how they can create their own solutions” says Brett Marks, CEO of the Noah Group.

“Nothing miraculous is about to fix the housing affordability problem” Brett Marks continues, “It’s hopeless to sit around waiting for the right time to buy property.”

“Unfortunately too many people are waiting for the government to introduce new policies to solve the problem,” Brett Marks says.

“For some reason, over the past 100 years, people have believed that property in their decade was too expensive to afford. This is not looking at the problem in reality as property prices tend to increase substantially over 10 year cycles. Therefore it makes sense to get into the property market as soon as possible which can be done by talking with a financial planner and getting them to look for ways to organise your finances according to your circumstances.”

“A great option for younger people looking to get into the property market is to rent the house you live in and purchase an investment property” Brett Marks says. ‘The Noah Group can show you how much cheaper this would be due to the tax breaks you can get for investment property.”

According to Brett Marks, there is no better time to get into the property market than now and the Noah Group financial planners suggest that the best method for entering the market is buying with the view to renting the property out.

Another big part of the Noah Group services and another option for people wanting to purchase an investment property is, if you and your partner have over $120,000 in super between you, you can create your own self managed super fund (SMSF) and leverage it to finance the purchase of an investment property.

“When you’re purchasing an investment property, it’s not important whether you like the location or the design or the colour scheme as you’re not going to live there,” Brett Marks explains. “This is an investment - your money box for the future - your far better off to buy a property which has great potential for high capital growth and strong rental return.”

In regards to renting a place to live, the Noah Group recommends that you look for location that will suit you e.g. a place that is close to your work. Renting a place to live will also make it easier to upgrade to a bigger house to accommodate a growing family, or if you need to relocate for work purposes.

The increased volatility in the US Stock markets over the past few weeks has scared investors, now may be a good time to look at what happened in the 1987 market crash.

During October 14 and October 19, 1987, major indexes in the United States dropped 30 percent or more. On October 19, 1987, a day now know as Black Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 508 points, losing 22.6% of its total value, while the S&P 500 dropped 20.4%, falling from 282.7 to 225.06.

The 1987 crash ended the five-year bull market that had seen the Dow rise from 776 points in August 1982 to a high of 2,722.42 points in August 1987. Unlike what happened in 1929, however, the market rallied immediately after the crash, posting a record one-day gain of 102.27 the very next day and 186.64 points on Thursday October 22. It took only two years for the Dow to recover completely; by September of 1989, the market had regained all of the value it had lost in the ‘87 crash.

Many investors feared that the 87 crash would trigger a recession. Instead, the fallout from the crash turned out to be surprisingly small. This phenomenon was due, in part, to the intervention of the Federal Reserve. The worst economic losses occurred on Wall Street itself, where 15,000 jobs were lost in the financial industry. (Like today)

Numerous explanations have been offered as to the cause of the crash, although no one theory has been said to have been the sole determinant. Among these are computer trading and derivative securities, illiquidity, trade and budget deficits, and overvaluation. Below are some of the major theories of what happened.

1: DERIVATIVE SECURITIES

The initial blame for the ‘87 crash focused on the relationship between stock markets, index options and futures markets. In the former, investors buy actual shares of stock; in the latter they are only purchasing rights to buy or sell stocks at particular prices. Thus options and futures are known as derivatives, because their value derives from changes in stock prices even though no actual shares are owned. The Presidential Task Force on Market Mechanisms, which was appointed to investigate the causes of the crash, concluded that the failure of stock markets and derivatives markets to operate in sync was the major factor behind the crash.

2: COMPUTER TRADING

Many analysts blame the use of computer trading (also known as program trading) by large institutional firms. In program trading, computers were programmed to automatically order large stock trades when certain market trends prevailed. With a large decline in the market, analysts believe that program trading caused more selling. However, studies show that during the 1987 U.S. crash, other stock markets which did not use program trading also crashed, some with losses even more severe than the U.S. market.

3: ILLIQUIDITY

During the Crash, trading mechanisms in financial markets were not able to deal with such a large flow of sell orders. Many common stocks in the New York Stock Exchange were not traded until late in the morning of October 19 because the specialists could not find enough buyers to purchase the amount of stocks that sellers wanted to get rid of at certain prices. As a result, trading was terminated in many listed stocks. This insufficient liquidity may have had a significant effect on the size of the price drop, since investors had overestimated the amount of liquidity. However, negative news to investors about the liquidity of stock, option and futures markets cannot explain why so many people decided to sell stock at the same time.

4: U.S. TRADE AND BUDGET DEFICITS

Another important trigger in the market crash was the announcement of a large U.S. trade deficit on October 14, which led Treasury Secretary James Baker to suggest the need for a fall in the dollar on foreign exchange markets. Fears of a lower dollar led foreigners to pull out of dollar-denominated assets, causing a sharp rise in interest rates.

One belief is that the large trade and budget deficits during the third quarter of 1987 might have led investors into thinking that these deficits would cause a fall of the U.S. stocks compared with foreign securities (this was the largest U.S. trade deficit since 1960). However, if the large U.S. budget deficit was the cause, why did stock markets in other countries crash as well? Presumably if unexpected changes in the trade deficit were bad news for one country, it would be good news for its trading partner.

5: INVESTING IN BONDS AS AN ATTRACTIVE ALTERNATIVE

Long-term bond yields that had started 1987 at 7.6% climbed to approximately 10% during the summer before the crash. This offered a lucrative alternative to stocks for investors looking for yield.

6: OVERVALUATION

The majority of analysts agree that stock prices were overvalued in September 1987. The Price/Earning ratio and was too high Historically, the P/E ratio is about 15 to 1; in October 1987 the P/E for the S&P 500 had risen to about 20 to 1. Does that imply that overvaluation caused the 1987 Crash? While these ratios were at historically high levels, similar Price/Earning values had been seen for most of the 1960-72 period. Since no crash happened during that period, we can assume that overvaluation does not trigger a crash every time.

Comparing today’s market, with the 1987 crash, show that there are not many similarities. Bonds are not at attractive levels, stocks are not overvalued and computer trading has evolved significantly over the past 20 years. Emotional fear is in the market. Once the fear subsides, it will be back to business as usual.

To get some form of activity after retirement, you might have to work part time. Working here does not mean you engage in another stressful job. No, here you are doing what you love doing to keep you busy. It could be painting or art, house repairs, organizing parties, etc.

Staying active after retirement means indulging in lots of physical activities. You could also help out in charity homes and engage in other hobbies you love. This way, there will never be a dull moment after your retirement.

Do you have lots of family members? If yes, keep yourself actively involved with these family members. This is one great proactive method of staying happy after your retirement. Don’t allow yourself to become a hermit when coping with life transitions.

In planning for your retirement, you have to know which business to invest in. This of course can only be possible if you know the kind of life you want after retirement. So, first find everything you will need– do you want to own a beach house in California, travel a lot, etc. All these will help you decide.

If you are a low income earner, you can achieve your retirement goals by investing. Just as warren Buffet and others have said - compounding interest is the eighth wonder of the world, and you will need to use this to your advantage in order to achieve financial success in your retirement years.

The process of planning for your retirement begins long before you retire. Planning for your retirement includes looking at investment options and determining which one is more viable for you. Investment options include Stocks, Bonds, Real Estates, etc.

Retirement means having enough rest. Or have you forgotten that working round the clock without enough time to give your bones good rest can cause more havoc to your body than you can ever imagine?

Even if you didn’t plan for your retirement, it’s not too late. You can start planning the rest of your retirement starting today. Why not put aside a couple of days or weeks to carefully plan out the rest of your retirement?

Should you learn how to buy bank owned foreclosure properties, the national mortgage crisis has resulted in a exceptionally high home foreclosure rate. This is a crisis for many, but also an opportunity for astute investors. Investors are able to make a large profit when they buy properties after foreclosure and resell them.

Because of the large number of bank owned properties many more people today are realizing the money they can save by buying foreclosed bank owned properties. when a bank foreclosure auction fails to sell a property the banks depend on private investors to buy these properties or they can be stuck with it much longer than they would like.

Knowledge is definitely power! If the numbers add up and the property make sense for you, then you want to act fast and make the offer before other investors scoop it up. Buying a foreclosed property requires that you follow many steps. In most cases of foreclosure, the lender(usually a bank) has taken back ownership of the house.

The sheer temptation to snatch-up a deal like that is almost unbearable to pass up. The average price on bank owned property for sale is well below market value. There are some properties that have been selling as cheap as thirty to forty percent below market. Another benifit to puchasing foreclosed property is that the banks are determined to get these foreclosed homes off their books

Many states still require these properties to be sold at public auction or “on the courthouse steps”. In that case, you will need to contact the county courthouse to get a list of their auction times and manifest. Be prepared before you attend a public auction of this type. The first thing to know is that you will need cash on hand.

A trip to the local Chamber of Commerce can lead to insight on where the city intends to expand or develop businesses. Properly zoned land purchased right outside of a growing city, provided the long term industrial growth looks positive, can be an investment bonanza when later developed or turned into commercial real estate. A smart real estate investor has to be able to view the overall picture before deciding where to put his or her money into. When it comes to the monetary investment, it is better to not borrow too much. Financial advisors can advise how much money to put into a property without risking personal financial hardships.

Foreclosures are a soaring problem across the country. In 2006 there were over 283,000 foreclosures filed, as apposed to the 2005 reports of 641,503 you see an increase of over 53% and that is a staggering jump. Adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are one of the big culprits in the rising rate of foreclosures. With over 500 billion dollars in sub prime ARMs Scheduled for rate and payment hikes in 2008 added to the increase in their mortgage payment the rising cost of things like oil, gas, food, electricity and the recent doubling of credit card minimum payments. And you can quickly see how so many people have become overextended without losing their job.

What you need is to have access to a searchable database of bank owned properties from all of the big lenders. One of the most important steps in investing in bank owned properties is making sure your offer is not too high. Your bid must allow you to make improvements and sell the property and still make a profit. Thus, the profit from investing in bank owned foreclosure property is not made when the property is sold, but when it is bought. For more expert tips and advice on foreclosure how to buy properties subscribe to our RSS feed.

The first wave of Baby Boomers are just starting to enter retirement. Over the next 20 years, 76 million people will retire.

Or so they hope.

Since 2000, the US stock market has been in a Secular Bear Market. Simply defined, a Secular Bear Market occurs when successive security prices do not rise above the previous high. The majority of investors are still using strategies such as the modern portfolio theory, to diversify their portfolios.

Boomer have noticed that this has not given the rate of return they expected. Since 2000, the S&P 500 index has returned an annual average of only 2.45 percent. Hardly the returns they were looking for.

How does this really impact bay boomer retirement plans? If $10,000 was invested in the S&P 500 index on 12/31/1999 at the end of 2007 it was worth $11,231.08. A historic annual average of 11 percent would have grown that $10,000 to $23,045.38. Quite a difference when looking at a financial plans forward projections.

The last Secular Bear Market lasted almost 17 years. In John Mauldin’s 2004 New York Times Business Bestseller Bull’s Eye Investing he states .”If you invested in the S&P 500 in 1966, it was 16 years before you saw a gain, and 26 years before you had inflation-adjusted gains”.This is why the Baby Boomers may not be able to retire.

After the greatest expanse in US economic history (1980 -2000) and the burst of both the technoligy bubble and real estate bubble,, there is a good chance that this Secular Bear Market will last at least another ten years - or more. The baby boomers will either have to save more, work past 65, or find an alternate investment strategy.

One strategy which should be looked at is a Long/Short strategy. This strategy dates back more than 60 years to 1948 when Alfred Jones, also known as the “Father of the Hedge Fund”, set forth to try to minimize risk in holding long-term stock positions by short selling other stocks, therefore “hedging” risk.

Today, this same strategy can be created by using mutual funds with an active management style. But, the ultimate goal of a Long/Short Hedging strategy is not necessarily to beat the market, but to attempt to minimize the downside risk of being in the market and produce a positive return.

If you are going to get rich, you may have to give up everything you ever learned in school and from your parents and start from scratch. Now that’s not a definite by any means. You may not have to start over. If someone along the line taught you, for instance that it doesn’t actually take money to make money, then you may already be on the right track.

That’s right. Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad book series, said it exactly like this: “It doesn’t take money to make money. I often hear people say it takes money to make money. I disagree. We had no money when we started and we were also in debt. It also doesn’t take a formal education.”

He then mentioned Bill Gates as someone who never completed a college education. Which would you rather have, a collection of doctorates or Bill Gates’ money?

Robert Kiyosaki claims that to become wealthy, you simply need to be a quick learner, with enthusiasm about reaching your goals. The other part of the puzzle is to know where you’re at right now in relation to money, and how you will have to change your attitude about money to prosper in the future. This is where Kiyosaki’s Cash Flow Quadrant comes in.

The Cash Flow Quadrant is an icon taught to him by his best friend’s father, a man to whom he refers in his books as his “rich dad.” It is an illustration of what his rich dad called the four different types of people in relation to money: Employees, the Self-employed, Businesspeople and Investors. Each quadrant comes with its own outlook on the world. The outlook of those in the B and I quadrants are the ones that help make them rich.

What Robert Kiyosaki means when he says that in order to build wealth, you need to be a quick learner, is that you must learn the ropes of investing. Following in the steps of “Rich Dad,” Kiyosaki himself invested in real estate– a great choice for anyone considering investing, as so much depends on it. In his “Rich Dad,” book, he points out how many of Hawaii’s businesses were located on land owned by Rich Dad.

But he doesn’t just mean you have to learn the nuts and bolts of investing. You do have to learn about those things, at least to the point that you are able to intelligently choose a professional to help you with your investments. But more importantly than that, you have to learn how to think like an investor, and possibly a bit like a business person too.

That is a far cry from thinking like a Self-employed person. According to Kiyosaki, a self-employed person is someone who owns a job, not a business. You don’t own a true business, he said, unless you can leave it for a year and return to find it still making money for you. Businesspeople, he said, know better than to try to do everything themselves. In order to save time and money, they hire people to do the things they can’t do or don’t have time to do. That’s why hiring a qualified real estate professional to guide you in your decisions can be a good investment in and of itself.

At the end of the day, you only really need to have a certain level of knowledge regarding the ins and outs of real estate, and the experts you hire can guide you the rest of the way. If you take one thing from reading this article, let it be this: if you aspire to be rich, it’s time for you to make the move to the ‘I’ quarter of the Cash Flow Quadrant.

Where ever you look, people are debating whether last Monday’s S&P 500 plunge of 8.8% combined with yesterday’s 8.3% loss at the lows and 3.8% loss at the close is the capitulation we need to call a bottom. Was the last-hour recovery yesterday a sign that the tide has turned?

Here’s a round up: Mark Hulbert: “It’s worth remembering a truism about market psychology that has been too often overlooked in recent weeks: When genuine capitulation finally takes place, few will recognize it as such at the time. In contrast, an eagerness to declare that capitulation has occurred probably means that it hasn’t.”

Bill Cara: “Equity markets complete their Bull and Bear cycles with increased volatility, which is the case today. Bull cycles end when the actors run out of cash needed to push prices higher. Bear cycles end because cash holdings build up to very high levels amid the growing opportunities to buy value.

I believe we will do better from here on, and that by far the worst is over. I think the credit worries culminated with the collapse of Bear Stearns, and credit spreads have already improved since then. If spreads keeps coming in, the write-offs at the huge financials will cease, and we may even have some write-ups in the second half instead of write-downs.

Valuations are attractive, and valuation spreads are now about one standard deviation above normal, a point at which valuation-based strategies usually begin to work again, and momentum begins to fade.

Majority of housing stocks are up double digits this year amidst bleak headlines, a sign the market had already priced in the current anxiety. I think likewise we have seen the bottom in financials and consumer stocks, but not necessarily the bottom in headlines about the woes in those sectors. Although the economy is likely to struggle as it did in the early 1990s, the market can move higher, as it did back then.

There’s no need to panic as we have been here previously! Nevertheless, if you need your money within the next five years then you will be well adviced to take your money out of the stock market. If you have more than 10 years before you retire then you need to keep investing in the stock market. The ultimate mistake you can ever make right now is to stop contributing to you 401K plan! You have to keep contributing to your retirement plan as it will help you in the long run due to the Dollar Cost Averaging theory.

Dollar cost averaging is a strategy used to mitigate market risk through the orderly buying of securities at agreed intervals and set amounts. Instead of investing assets in a lump sum, the investor works his way into a position by slowly buying smaller amounts over a longer period of time. This spreads the cost basis out over several years, providing a cushion against changes in market price.

By employing this method of purchasing stocks and securities, you will be able to buy more securities when the prices drop and less when the prices rise. Over time, it will average out with the potential to increasing the value of your potfolio. This is why it is absolutely important to continue to stay in the stock market. A lot of stocks of fundamentally sound companies could be purchased at a bargain right now!

This article will take a look at a new and innovative method for real estate investment financing you really should know about. I don’t care if you have never done a single deal, or you’ve done a thousand, take a couple of minutes and read this report, which will introduce you to the idea of private money financing and private lenders. This method can enable you to find and secure deals many experienced investors will be forced to leave behind, and you’ll be able to finance almost any type of property deal. Below, I’ve outlined a few basic steps to get you ready to take advantage of this powerful and flexible financing method.

The first thing you’ll need to do is understand yourself by sitting down and writing a business plan. I’m not talking about a thirty page tome, but a brief, concise, and to-the-point outline of what kind of investor you are (or will be) and how you plan to make money. Think of potential questions an investor may ask, and try your best to answer those questions in your plan. Talk especially about what kinds of properties you will invest in, whether or not you will hold them for rent, and how you plan to make your money.

You’ll need to take your time with this and not rush, because it will pay off for you later. This plan you are writing will become the foundation for two more components of the system- your elevator speech and your seminar presentation - which I will cover in a future article. Make certain you are not long winded, and you are specific, and keep your potential lender in mind as you work. It may even help for you to think of one specific person as you write, and write TO that person. Add details about deals you have already done if you have any. If not estimate, but do so conservatively.

Once your business plan is complete, make a list of everyone you know. This will become your initial list of prospective lenders, which you will never stop adding to. Don’t limit yourself to people you think have money. In fact, don’t make any judgments now. If you know the person, add them to your list. It doesn’t even matter how well you know them , or for how long. Just write the name down as you think of it. Ask your family and friends to help you remember people you may have forgotten you know. Strive to make your list as complete as possible.

You don’t want or need to hurry this step. Slow down and get a good start on the list, then set it aside for a couple of days to let your subconscious go to work. When you pick it up again, you will be astonished at how many new names you’ve remembered. Lastly, keep the list with you constantly for a few days, and put any name you think of down immediately.

When you feel you have a list with the names of everyone you know, add their contact information. Your goal here is to have at least one way to contact everybody on your list. You’re looking for telephone numbers, email addresses and street addresses. Make sure you have complete and up-to-date information, because once you start contacting these folks, you don’t want to get stalled because you can’t find their contact info. Again, no need to hurry. The time you spend in this phase lays the groundwork for your success later on.

The final step in this preparation phase is to write a letter. You’re going to take the business plan you created in step one, and write a letter to your list of contacts that briefly explains the kind of investing you do, how you plan to profit, and why you’re contacting them. Be specific, and tell them you are looking for private money for real estate investing, and you would like them to consider being one of your private lenders. Put your self in their shoes as you write, and give them all the good reasons why they would want to be one of your lenders.

Some might be scared of this step, but you won’t be! All the preparation you’ve done up til now will give you confidence to carry through to the finish line. Go for it, and write the best letter you possibly can, no matter how many re-writes it takes. this letter is going to be the cornerstone of the future work you do to build a stable of private money sources, eager to stuff cash in your pockets for real estate deals. In your letter, add at least five benefits for the lender to participate, and make them pop! Now that your letter is finished, you are prepared to move on to the next step of finding actual lenders for your private money lender loans program.

A beginners guide to investing can help you get started with investing your money wisely. Without investing, your money will grow slowly or not at all. However, there are good ways to invest and there are wrong ways as any beginners guide to investing would teach you.

A general beginners guide to investing will teach you the importance of investing your money wisely. It is a general guide so will not tell you how to invest or what to invest in but will concentrate more on convincing you to invest. You will learn the downfall of not investing and not learning how to invest properly.

By the time you finish reading a beginners guide to investing, you should be convinced that it is a good thing to invest. There are many benefits to be had. The next thing you will need, after the beginners guide to investing, is an advanced guide to investing based on the type of investment you decide to invest in.

Deciding what to invest in is something that you need to spend a lot of time on. A beginners guide to investing may teach you how to pick the first investments but it is always up to you ultimately to decide if something is right for you. You may choose to invest in the stock market or bond market or even a currency market. But, whatever you decide, make sure it is right for you.

There are many factors to consider when deciding what to invest in. You will read all about how to pick your first investments in any beginners guide to investing. Pay attention to every chapter to ensure that you are not missing any important points.

Another important thing to remember when reading any beginners guide to investing is that each author may have different viewpoint when writing about how to invest. Different people have different strategies which may not be suitable for you. You need to use your own judgment when reading any beginners guide to investing. Think of any suggestions you read as suggestions, rather than rules that you must follow.

Different investors have different risk tolerance and preferences when it comes to investing. A beginners guide to investing should tell you all about how to assess your risk tolerance level and to choose the investments that are suitable for your risk tolerance level. Don’t invest in something riskier than you can put up with.

A beginners guide to investing is very helpful but only as a guide. When starting to invest, it is a good idea to read a general beginners guide to investing and once you understand it fully you can proceed to read advanced guide to investing. But always evaluate any strategies recommended in a beginners guide to investing to see if they are suitable for you.

Teaching children to save money starting when they are small is easy. Every child learns very quickly that money buys things they want. They already know the value of money, money concepts are taught in school, and the basic mathematics involved. Here a 6 simple tips to help you get them saving and investing.

1. 3 things to do with money. They can let it sit in their wallets and purses, spend it, or save it and watch it multiply. Drive to different parts of your city with your children and point out different living conditions. Some spend everything and never get ahead. Others let their money sit idle and it never increases. But the wealthy know how to spend what they need and then save and invest the rest.

2. Help your children set goals. Ask your children what they want when they grow up? Every child wants to be someone like a doctor or a fireman but what do they want? How do they want to live? Do they want to be poor or rich? Help them set some goals early and explain that proper saving and investing is a huge part of getting what they want.

3. Activate those goals. If you have a financial planner you can introduce your children. Explain to your adviser what you are doing and they will have the foresight to develop a future client. You can also help your children develop a financial plan. Make a game of it and show them how they can retire by the time they are 40…wouldn’t that be fun.

4. Be frugal. If you have not already, read the book “Millionaire Next Door.” This really opened my eyes to the world of the rich. People become rich through saving and investing wisely, not by earning a great deal of money. The typical millionaire in America has appreciated assets from years of careful investing and saving. Show your children how a frugal budget allows you to save more.

5. Open savings accounts early. Take your children to the bank as soon as they understand basic money principles. Open savings accounts in their names and go over the statements with them as they come.

6. Let your children make choices. As parents we want our children to have the best. Often times though our children are just as happy if not happier with simpler things. Examples of this are birthday parties and family get togethers. Consider taking some of these occasions and letting your child choice simpler activities that are less expensive. Show them how you can then take these savings and invest them.

Saving and investing is difficult for most of us. In America we save less than many par