Tuesday, June 26, 2012

What is net worth and how it is useful?


What exactly do you mean by net worth? The amount by which an organization or individual’s resources exceed its liabilities is known as net worth.
When it comes to counting, Assets are things that you or your entrepreneurship owns, liability are things that you or your entrepreneurship owe to someone else , so therefore net worth in simple language means your actual worth.
This is a very important aspect as normally an organization compares itself to the other to observe its standing.
An organization which has a positive net worth is well financed and thus is able to finance its current operations without fearing or defaulting in paying its suppliers and other liabilities.
When an organization does not have enough assets to settle or clear its obligations is known as a negative net worth. There is a general fear that the day-to-day operations may stop functioning in the organization and the creditors may have to run after the organization’s assets to satisfy their obligations.
This also means that the organization is more of a type where it is actually owned by its creditors rather than its owners.  Therefore impending ‘net worth’ in this unusual way (read holistic) keeps things in outlook and can provide various opportunities for us to get all assets as well as providing an opportunity to  actually calculate the cost of carrying non-financial liabilities during our life time. It also acts as a reminder for us to focus purely on money as a calculation of ‘net worth’ is a very simple and potentially devaluing vantage issue.
So, how does one increase its net worth?
Here are a few points to focus on:
1)            Try and save un-necessary expenditure. Put a budget together and stick to it.
2)            Focus on eco-friendly initiatives such as saving electricity and water if you are paying for them from your own pocket.
3)            Buy your necessary stationery from a wholesale store
4)            Avoid usage of phone calls until and unless absolutely required
5)            Walk more and try to avoid usage of vehicles. You can use public transport too.

Increasing your network is also another way of increasing your net worth. Networking is nothing but staying connect with people who are associated with your day-to-day work. Building relationships with people – the people who are related to work and higher the quality of these people, the better.
It is all about developing a rapport and staying connected to these people for a long term relationship.
Remember, developing support is the key to this relationship and over a period of time, when you develop trust, you know that you have these people in your database forever.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Get the feel of actual Stock Market with Stock Trading Simulators


Stock Trading Simulator are stock trading based games that feature a virtual stock market. These games are developed and ideated mostly by stock brokers, to give its clients a feel of the actual stock market and get some hands on training and confidence before they begin trading in the actual Stock Market.
Stock Market simulators are of two different types, i.e. Financial Market simulators and Fantasy simulators.
Financial Simulators
Financial market simulators allow its users to generate a virtual portfolio which is based on real stock entries but is bought with virtual currency. A majority of the current active financial simulators use delayed data feed between 15-20 minutes to ensure that traders do not use their data to trade actively on a competing system.
The main purpose behind such a system is to let the investor get hands on practice with fantasy funds in a real-life situation so that they can understand and determine whether they would or not gain money by investing all by themselves.

Fantasy Simulators
Fantasy simulators trade in shares or derivatives of real world items or things that usually are not listed on a commodities trading list or market exchange. For e..g, movies, television shows, etc. Some of these simulators focus on sports and may or may not have been linked to active betting and wager based systems.

Technology behind these simulators
Many of these online stock simulators use Java, Javascript, ASP or php with a mysql or postgresql database. Many of them are based on open source and others are proprietary with the codes being marketed as priceless market software. This technology has been sold to a lot of film studios such as MGM and Lion’s Gate films and also to many popular science teams for usage in their PPX systems.
The stock market simulator engines can be customized for being used in other functions other than basic stock information tracking. The HSX engine has also been modified to trace popular science trends and is very useful in tracking YouTube videos.
Other various applications that can be used for implementation with this software including popularity tracking and ranking from a set scale rather than actual numerical values.

Many of these Stock market games are speculative that allow its players to trade in stocks or in a virtual or simulated share market.
There are many stock market games which exist in several forms but the basic concept in these games is to allow players to gain experience in trading in the stock market or just for entertainment by trading stocks in a virtual world where there is no actual risk.
Some stock market games do not involve real money at all. Players compete with each other to actually see who can predict the direction of the stock markets. Many stock market games are based on real life stocks from NSE, BSE, etc.
These games are useful for people who don’t know anything about the stock market but want to invest in stock market.
It allows them to get a feel of the actual market without involving any risk factor.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Get the feel of actual Stock Market with Stock Trading Simulators


Stock Trading Simulator are stock trading based games that feature a virtual stock market. These games are developed and ideated mostly by stock brokers, to give its clients a feel of the actual stock market and get some hands on training and confidence before they begin trading in the actual Stock Market.
Stock Market simulators are of two different types, i.e. Financial Market simulators and Fantasy simulators.
Financial Simulators
Financial market simulators allow its users to generate a virtual portfolio which is based on real stock entries but is bought with virtual currency. A majority of the current active financial simulators use delayed data feed between 15-20 minutes to ensure that traders do not use their data to trade actively on a competing system.
The main purpose behind such a system is to let the investor get hands on practice with fantasy funds in a real-life situation so that they can understand and determine whether they would or not gain money by investing all by themselves.

Fantasy Simulators
Fantasy simulators trade in shares or derivatives of real world items or things that usually are not listed on a commodities trading list or market exchange. For e..g, movies, television shows, etc. Some of these simulators focus on sports and may or may not have been linked to active betting and wager based systems.

Technology behind these simulators
Many of these online stock simulators use Java, Javascript, ASP or php with a mysql or postgresql database. Many of them are based on open source and others are proprietary with the codes being marketed as priceless market software. This technology has been sold to a lot of film studios such as MGM and Lion’s Gate films and also to many popular science teams for usage in their PPX systems.
The stock market simulator engines can be customized for being used in other functions other than basic stock information tracking. The HSX engine has also been modified to trace popular science trends and is very useful in tracking YouTube videos.
Other various applications that can be used for implementation with this software including popularity tracking and ranking from a set scale rather than actual numerical values.

Many of these Stock market games are speculative that allow its players to trade in stocks or in a virtual or simulated share market.
There are many stock market games which exist in several forms but the basic concept in these games is to allow players to gain experience in trading in the stock market or just for entertainment by trading stocks in a virtual world where there is no actual risk.
Some stock market games do not involve real money at all. Players compete with each other to actually see who can predict the direction of the stock markets. Many stock market games are based on real life stocks from NSE, BSE, etc.
These games are useful for people who don’t know anything about the stock market but want to invest in stock market.
It allows them to get a feel of the actual market without involving any risk factor.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Initial Public Offering – A boon or a curse for investors?


An Initial Public Offering (IPO) or a share market launch is the very first sale of a stock by a company to the public. It is a type of public offering as a result of which the private company turns into a public company. This kind of process is used by various companies to raise or expand their capital and become a public based trading enterprise. Many companies that undertake an IPO also request the assistance of an investment banking firm which acts in the capacity of an underwriter by aiding them correctly to assess the face value of their shares i.e. the share price.
Whenever a company lists its shares on a public exchange platform, the money paid by the investors for the recent issued shares directly goes to the company. This is in contrast to a much later trade of shares on the exchange and the money has to pass in between the investors.
Therefore an IPO, allows a company to gather a wide pool of investors to provide itself with capital revenue for future growth, repayment of debt or working capital. A company that sells its common shares is never required to repay its capital back to the investors.
Once a company is listed, it will be able to issue extra common shares via a secondary offering, thus providing itself again with a capital for expansion without incurring any debts.

This ability to raise large amounts of capital from the market in a short span of time is a key reason for many companies seeking to go public.
There are many benefits on offer after becoming a public limited company. Some of them are listed below:
1)            Bolstering and assorted equity base
2)            Allowing cheap access to capital
3)            Providing, exposure, prestige and public image to the company
4)            Attraction and retaining better management and employees through liquid equity participation
5)            Facilitating acquisitions from various investors
6)            Creating multiple financing opportunities via equity, convertible debt, cheaper bank loans, etc.
 
Thus IPO’s can be a mixed bag as an investment option. One must carry out the necessary investigations, background and reference check for a newly turned public limited company before investing their money. However, one must also simultaneously remember that investments are a long term process and one must show maximum patience during the investment period. The long term benefits can prove really a boon, if the investor shows the right amount of patience while investing in the right place.

Monday, June 11, 2012

The difference between a financial and an investment advisor


Investment Advisor is either a firm or an individual that provides advice or guidance to its clients regarding securities (financial).
It guides and advices on securities such as investment in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or exchange traded funds are investment advisers. Some investment advisers manage portfolios of securities.
The main difference between an investment advisory and a financial planner is that almost all financial planners are investment advisers but not all investment advisers are financial planners. Some financial planners assess every aspect of an individual’s financial life which includes savings, investments, insurance, taxes, retirement and in some cases estate planning as well. After their assessment, they help the individual to develop a detailed strategy, insurance, taxes, retirement and estate planning.
They also help you to develop a strategy or a financial plan for meeting your day to day financial goals.
Before hiring the services of any financial professional, one must know what kind of services is exactly required and what kind of a background does the financial professional hold. After all you are going to invest your hard earned money therefore it is very necessary for you to know everything about your investment advisory.
1)            To how many people do you provide advices regarding investments?
2)            What is your educational background?
3)            With which stock broking organization are you associated with?
4)            Which are the licenses you hold?
5)            What products and services do you offer?
6)            What is the commission that you charge for your services?

Also one needs to know how the investor advisers are paid in order to make better use of the services that are provided to them.

1)            A percentage of the total value of the assets that they manage for you.
2)            An hourly or daily fee on the basis of their handling of your work.
3)            A fixed fee for the services that they offer you.
4)            A commission on the basis of the securities that they buy/sell for you.
5)            A small combination of everything mentioned above.

All the compensation methods have potential benefits and possibly drawbacks, based on your individual needs. You must ask the investment advisory to explain you all the differences thoroughly before you do any business with them.
One must also ask if these service fees are negotiable or they are a onetime fixed amount. Based on your needs and requirements, the investment advisers will provide you with various strategies that will cater to your financial needs.