Why Learn and Who Teaches Lesson102

Companies are cutting back on personal, and those that remain employed are required to work more hours to get all the work done. Most people would rather not work harder, but at least there is a retirement account offered at work that we can use to increase our income, and if your employer matches an amount that you deposit into the account, that's even better. (Matching means your employeer adds to your account, example; for each dollar you deposit, your employer will put in $0.50.)

Some companies offer a Deductable IRA, Non-Deductable IRA, or a Roth IRA retirement account to help you prepare for retirement. Most of the time what you get is minimal information to explain the choices available, and because of this limited information, what is best for you is hard to decide. The choice of low risk, medium risk, and high risk isn't much help. What kind of risk is there?

Questions start coming to mind. What is a fund?, what are the meanings of these different names given to funds, and what is the difference in each one? Or should you pick one of the dated funds that are supposed to be a pick and forget fund? Are dated funds any good?

Retirement accounts normally have "Funds" to choose from. Funds have names like Fidelity Global. The name tells us which investment company operates the fund "Fidality" and how the fund is investing(in this sample "Global" means invested in nations throught the world).
Other fund investment descriptions are, Value, Growth, Large Cap, Small Cap, Global, and International.

Lets start with "dated funds", these have a year at the end of its name, (2025). This is the year you expect to retire and start using the money you saved in this fund. These funds are new and have no history of performance. The recent huge loss in these funds in March 2009, showed that they are too heavily weighted in stocks. As the retirement year gets closer, risk of loss needs to be reduced. This will lower the chance of losing your savings at a time that you plan to need the money. Because of losses, these have been readjusted to be more conservative, but again I'm reminding you that these are untested and are new.

The other question, "what are funds" is an easy one. Funds are a blend of stocks, and many mutual funds also invest in government bonds - either U.S. or municipal. The money manager (the person who controls the direction of the investments in the fund), buys stocks and bonds needed to accomplish the goal of the fund.

Depending on where the fund is invested gives the fund its name. International, means that the fund is invested in nations other than the United States. Global, means that the fund is invested in nations throughout the world. The other descriptions in the names, is to describe the company size (by the dollars it's worth). The bigger companies will expose your money to less risk, and slower stable growth. Smaller companies are a greater risk of loss, but your investments growth could be faster.

Where to learn all this and more?

In March 2009 many people's savings were reduced a great amount delaying the start of retirement, or causing those that were retired the need to return to work part time to supplement the money that was lost. Many people learned that they needed to have an understanding of where the savings went, and how to control the money invested, so they could make informed choices. Some schools created classes to fill this need. (check local colleges for courses).

Learn online

If time is hard to find for taking classes, or you would like to learn in your free time, http://www.youcontrolinvesting.com/ allows you to learn at your own pace. We provide a textbook to study with, and use as a reference book for your future investing needs.

Learning on line is a great savings of time, you also have access to your instructor by email, and phone to answer questions as needed to help you learn.

Good Investing,

Bruce Cortez / Instructor

http://www.youcontrolinvesting.com/

email; Bruce@YouControlinvesting.com

What stocks should I buy? Lesson 101

The question I get asked many times is the one of which stocks should I buy, or which stocks will make me money?

The answer is, that you should look at what you know about and like. For those that are new to investing I ask them to look around their neighborhood and see which companies and stores they walk into to spend money. Those are the companies they know, and the stocks of those companies are good starting places to begin considering to invest money into.

Look at the places where you shop; Costco, Target, Sears, Kmart, Big Lots, J.C. Penney, Avon, and many more. Now look at the products on the shelves, and read the name of the companies that manufacture them; those are companies you may be interested in looking at to invest into.

The products in our home are places to start looking. The things we buy for ourselves we believe are the best for our money, so maybe the makers of our things are quality companies to look at for investing.

Look at the brand name on your toilet, light bulbs, television, washer, dryer, stereo system components and perhaps the maker of your furniture. These are companies in investigate.

The medicine chest will have products we trust made by companies we trust. Look at who makes your band-aids, and medicines. Now that we are here, how about looking at the pharmacy that provides your prescriptions? Is it CVS, Walgreens, or RiteAid? These are companies to consider.

Let's not forget the toys your children play with, many of the makers are large companies like, Hasbro and Mattel.

We can look at your car and get ideas. Who makes the tires, radio, seat covers, engine parts, and paint that go into making a car? The companies that build cars are another idea, Toyota, Honda, TaTa Motors, or maybe a local company like Ford Motor Company.

For those that work on their cars, AutoZone, Pep Boys, Kragen Auto Parts or similar are good starting points. Maybe the products in the store are of interest. The makers of wiper blades, starter motors, alternators, intake and exhaust manifolds, steering wheels, batteries, tires and many of the other products on the shelves are great considerations.

Perhaps the makers of products that lubricate, clean, or seal leaks are companies you like and would be happy investing money in.

Which gas station do you like? Conoco, Shell/ Tosoro, Arco, or Valero, Exxon/Mobil, and others.

Your garage has many more ideas for companies to invest your time to look at. The maker of your lawnmower and edger. Briggs and Stratton make the engines. Black and Decker power tools, another place to look for investing ideas. Keep looking, I'll bet you see many more products that are made by companies you might invest time and money in.

The companies you look at for investing, must have meaning to you. You should be able to tell a friend what the company does to make its money. You don't need to know every detail, but you should understand what they do.

There are many companies around us in the products they make, or the services we pay for.

We know who makes good products and bad quality products and this information is what we use to decide what company is worth our time to research, and finally our money to invest into.

Good Investing,

Bruce Cortez

http://www.youcontrolinvesting.com/

Who we are and our goals.

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