Archive for December 16th, 2009

Have you ever thought about investing in real estate but wondered, “Where do I begin?” I cannot answer for you, but I know that I have. In fact, I may not be sitting very far from your chair right now.

Let me tell you a little about myself. I am 37 years old. I did not even know how to handle money until I was 34, and I had quite a bit of debt to repay. I didn’t even have a positive net worth until I was 36. Really! I’ve spent the last year-plus investing into the stock market. Unlike most people, I’m proud to say that I’ve done really well for myself. I am not mentioning this to brag that I am great, but it begs the question, why am I considering real estate then?

There are benefits to learning how to make money in multiple ways, outside of your regular 9 to 5 job or whatever your real hours are. Plus, as an investor, different money making vehicles present themselves as better opportunities at different times. One investment is not necessarily better than another investment type, but the timing is key. There is room to make money on stocks, still, but their best time was during the first few months of the year. Now is the real estate’s time, because you can buy properties for so little money. Continue reading ‘Real Estate Investing – Where to Start’ »

Band is a popular extracurricular activity, but with the rising costs of participating, a lot of bands are really feeling the financial pinch. Bands fundraisers are becoming more and more of a fact of life for bands where the school simply cannot provide the funds required to keep things running.

If you are in charge of organizing the band fundraiser, this is a great opportunity for you to make sure that the much-needed cash finally starts coming in, but of course you want to choose a fundraising idea that will be the most effective. Continue reading ‘How to Choose a Good Fundraiser For Bands’ »

or many people with available assets who are shopping for secure and unobtrusive ways to invest, unit trusts may be a solution. They are generally considered to be a safe investment avenue, as the risks as well as the profits are shared mutually among the pool of investors who hold interest in them.

These trusts most often are stock market or money market instruments into which any number of investors may pool their funds to buy shares, or units. These trusts are open-ended, where the size of the fund grows or declines based on the number of investors in the pool. Continue reading ‘How to Choose a Unit Trust’ »

Choosing to rollover 401K funds is a big decision. These rollovers are nothing more than ‘transfers’ of your money that is in a 401K retirement plan that exists with your employer. Should you change jobs, then you have some options to consider about just what is going to be the best move for you to make with your investment. Do you roll it over into an IRA? Do you take it out in cash? Just what is going to be the wisest choice for you? The important thing is that you follow the 401k withdrawal rules.

You may choose to make a trustee to trustee transfer that will move your 401K from the place it resides now straight into an IRA account. When you choose this option, you get the benefit of not being held liable for any taxes. You also don’t have any type of limits on the amounts of cash that you can move. This can be a very important decision, because for the most part this type of move involves a very substantial amount of cash. Continue reading ‘401k Withdrawal Rules – Should You Rollover 401k Funds?’ »