Top tips for how to multiply your money. It’s a basic rule of investing that to improve your chance of a better return you have to accept more risk. But you can manage and improve the balance between risk and return by spreading your money across different investment types and sectors whose prices don’t necessarily move in the same direction – this is called diversifying. It can help you smooth out the returns while still achieving growth, and reduce the overall risk in your portfolio.
Peter Lynch famously spoke about “tenbaggers”-investments that increased tenfold in value. He attributed his success to a small number of these stocks in his portfolio. But this required the discipline of hanging onto stocks even after they’ve increased by many multiples, if he thought there was still significant upside potential. The takeaway: avoid clinging to arbitrary rules, and consider a stock on its own merits. There is no guarantee that a stock will rebound after a protracted decline, and it’s important to be realistic about the prospect of poorly-performing investments. And even though acknowledging losing stocks can psychologically signal failure, there is no shame recognizing mistakes and selling off investments to stem further loss.
Properly managing your credit is one of the most critical responsibilities of the financially responsible individuals. Your credit score plays a major role in your financial life. Your credit score determines whether you are approved or declined for major purchases such as buying home, car, or receiving approval for a credit card. Your credit score will also impact the interest rate that you receive on your major purchases. While buying a car at a 0 percent interest rate for 5 years can be a wise financial decision, paying for the same car at an 18 percent interest rate is a poor financial decision. See extra details on How to build a good credit score.
Mutual funds are investment securities that allow you to invest in a portfolio of stocks and bonds with a single transaction, making them perfect for new investors. The trouble is many mutual fund companies require initial minimum investments of between $500 and $5,000. If you’re a first-time investor with little money to invest, those minimums can be out of reach. But some mutual fund companies will waive the account minimums if you agree to automatic monthly investments of between $50 and $100. Automatic investing is a common feature with mutual fund and ETF IRA accounts. It’s less common with taxable accounts, though its always worth asking if it’s available. Mutual fund companies that have been known to do this include Dreyfus, Transamerica, and T. Rowe Price.
Many good investors stress the importance of diversification. But Warren Buffett tends to disagree with the idea. Buffett says that diversification is for people who don’t know much about investing. An experienced investor should choose stocks on a long-term basis and should have faith on his/her investments. Some investors diversify their portfolios because they are afraid that any one stock might sink their entire portfolio; but, while doing so, it becomes much harder to keep track of the current events impacting each company. So, by diversifying, they might reduce the volatility of their portfolio, but at the same time they reduce their focus on individual investments. Buffett waits for opportunities to buy good stocks, and when those opportunities come his way, he takes full advantage. According to Buffett, “When it’s raining gold, put out the bucket not the thimble.”
About MultiplyMyMoney : I have more than 12 years of experience as an independent and personal financial and investment consultant. I used to run a financial blog called BuylikeBuffett which provided insight on investing, saving, money management, and all things finance. I am also the author of Your Financial Playbook: A Guide To Navigating The World Of Personal Finance a financial guide written to inform the beginning investor about the basics of the market. I decided to start a new site because I receive a great number of questions about financial topics on a daily basis. I figure that this would be a great way to answer those questions and increase financial literacy. I also figured it would be a good platform to write articles on everything from teaching how to get rich, explaining the basics of cryptocurrency, to detailing ways of rebuilding your credit score. I was the founder and president of New Horizons Financial Management, LLC, and was a registered investment advisor. New Horizons was an independent investment advisory asset management and personal financial consulting firm offering investment advisory services to high net worth individuals. Read extra info on Learn how to multiply my money.