Tools for Investing

I know this site is more about saving than investing, but Ask the Advisor has a nice "toolset" article listing 57 web resources for investing. The sections are:

• Learning Tools - check out Morningstar classroom, with nearly 200 courses.
  
• Investment Blogs
• Fantasy Investment Sites
• Investment News Sites
• Research Tools
• Investment Brokers
• Investment Message Boards
• Free Trading Sites - check out Zecco, which gives you 10 free stock trades per day, and Bank of America, which gives you up to 30 free trades per month.
• Free Advice
• Everything Else - just a round up of some sites that don't fit the above categories.
   

The article doesn't mention many web2.0 applications, but the Advisor archives has a number of other articles worth checking out, including a list of 25 web2.0 apps for money, finance and investment. There are a couple of applications in that list that look great for money management. One of the standouts is Wesabe, which not only let's you managing your finances but you can actually pay bills online by attaching bank accounts.

What'd be really nice to see is similar tools from some of the financial institutions that offer online savings accounts. Obviously, people like convenience. I'd really like to have a single website access point for my bank accounts, mutual funds, online savings accounts, bill payments, and investing. Or maybe that's a security risk?

Turning The Tables On Credit Card Companies

Credit card companies are currently fighting amongst each other to get your debt. That's because personal debt in North America is at an all time high. The result is loads of 0% APR credit card offers applicable to balance transfers. So, if you have debt elsewhere, they want it. That way, when your 0% offer runs out, you'll be paying them interest, not someone else.

But if you have very little or no credit card debt and good credit, you can use it to your advantage with a technique called balance transfer arbitrage. Balance transfer arbitrage is the act of using all those 0% APR credit card offers to earn money. The basic principle is to deposit each balance transfer check issued to you into a relatively high-interest online savings account or other liquid investment, such as a CD (Certificate of Deposit).

For example, say you received a credit card offer for 0% APR, 12 months, $10,000 limit. You have the card activated and receive a balance transfer check for the full amount. You then deposit the check into something like the Emigrant Direct American Dream Savings Account, which is currently at 5.05% APY.

That's roughly $500 in interest earned on $10,000 over 12 months. (Though you don't want to cut things that close. Only deposit for 11 months so that you don't miss the deadline to pay back your credit.) You could also get a CD, which usually earns at a higher rate. You just have to be able to cash out your investment before the credit line comes due.

You can read more about the ten golden rules of balance transfers at Your Credit Advisor.

Bootstrapping Your Business

Growing a young business is obviously a critical step to success. If you have a business or are starting one, you probably know the statistics. Something like 80-90% of all new businesses fail in the first year. (I might be making that up, but it really is very high.) And of those that remain, a huge percentage fail in the 2nd year. Get past that, you'll probably do fine.

The primary reason for failure? Well, I'm guessing it's one of two things:

1. Poor planning.
2. Rapid growth.

Can You Live On $12,000 Per Year? 20 Tips Towards Frugality

Time was when you could actually work a minimum wage job full-time and get by. Two jobs, and you could raise a family. Nowadays, it's nearly impossible, but some people seem to be making an attempt at living under the median line. The movie The Pursuit of Happyness is an example of what persistence can do to move you from having nearly nothing towards being such a success that someone makes a film about you.

I'm not sure if someone will make a movie about Donna Freedman, but people are writing about her decision to intentionally live on $12,000 per year. She seems to be not only coping but in control. Is it really possible? As someone who did it on about $10,000 a few years ago, for about 3 years, I'd say it was possible then, and still might be so today, but only in some cities. You'd have to give up anything that wasn't absolutely essential. It's not necessarily enjoyable, to be honest, but if you eat properly, you can at least maintain your health.

Here are some tips, if you find yourself in a similar position or just want to save money for a trip or investment or what have you.

Five Tips To Better Stock Investing

Just around the turn of the decade, I was questioning my many years of computer progamming and analysis and the growing difficulty of finding contracts and even salaried work. I entertained the notion of writing my broker's exam and even did a great deal of studying, as a supplement to developing some trading models I'd been working on since 1991.

I used the models to predict three of four market turns in 2000 but decided that being a stockbroker wasn't really what I wanted. I did learn a great deal about stock investing in the past decade: mostly that paper trades are often meaningless theory, and only by performing actual trades can you learn anything. And learn I did, from making some big mistakes. But it's best to get your failures out of the way early in your investment "career". Here are a few tips for better stock investing.