Either it does not take much cash to survive long in Pakistan, or Osama Bin Laden has the world’s worst financial planner. When he was found Sunday night, still warm with two SEAL bullets in him, he had an escape plan that seemed like it was concocted by a toddler. Bin Laden had, sewed into his outfit, 500 euros and two phone numbers. Other than that, he was apparently relying on some sort of underground railroad for maniacs.
It is unlikely that you, as an investor, will ever need to prepare for the day when Marines or Navy SEALS bust down your door and start shooting. It would, however, be prudent to have your own investment plan for the future, so you can read Benzinga and react to whatever the markets are doing.
A few things to think about, whether you’re a beginning investor or a seasoned pro, include your asset allocations, diversification, and your buying/selling strategy. Your age, your goals for investing, and your financial and time resources will all factor in to how you want to play the market.
Asset allocation is essentially going to be a product of your time frame (a young investor might have more leeway to go after higher-risk, higher-yield assets), your financial responsibilities, and your ability to absorb risk. Depending on those variables, you’ll want some mix of stocks, bonds and ETFs, among other things. You’ll want to consider staying domestic or going international. Do you take a gamble that China will keep growing? Do you jump into emerging markets?
Diversification is a simple concept of not putting all your money into one fund, one stock, or one market. Spread your investment dollars around, and you’ll spread your risk of losing all your money — either because of natural disaster, market crashes, or some other financial calamity, such as a Madoff-style scam.
The other thing to consider is how and when you will buy and sell your assets. Some investors, particularly those with a lot of time (and/or a Benzinga Pro account) will routinely buy stocks when they dip a little and then sell them at higher points, only to repurchase the stock when it later drops. This timing-the-market strategy is riskier, but offers additional profit margins for clued-in investors. The other strategy is buy-and-hold, where you periodically buy your investments regardless of price. If the price is low, you end up with more shares; if it rises, you have less shares at a higher value. Over time, the two extremes should even out.
Monday 9 May 2011
Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines:Shortage of independent financial advisers looming
Financial advisers who can give independent guidance to New Zealanders will be in short supply when the new financial services regime comes into full effect on July 1, less than two months away.
And at least one industry player is warning it will only worsen the country’s underinsurance problem.
So far the Financial Markets Authority has on its records 4953 registered financial advisers (RFA) and 454 authorised financial advisers (AFA). It expects the numbers to rise to 5000 and 2000 respectively by the regulation deadline, but that is still far less than the numbers the industry originally estimated.
AFAs and RFAs are considered “independents” compared to qualifying financial entity (QFE) advisers who are “locked” into giving advice on products they market. So far, the 63 QFEs on the register have an estimated 20,000 advisers among them.
Fidelity Life chief executive Milton Jennings said the decrease is not good for the insurance industry which is serviced by both RFAs and QFE advisers, and the retail investment industry which is covered by AFAs.
“We’ve got an underinsurance problem in this country. Less people selling insurance will only make the problem worse.”
He said the lack of independent financial advisers tilts the insurance market to favour banks that “are getting far better in insuring people”.
It will split the market with “RFAs on the high-end side of the advice market and banks in the transactional volume end of the market with the simpler type of products”.
Jennings said the Government was expecting 5000 AFAs but “there’s not even 2000 right now” because many advisers stop at the entry RFA level even if they could get to AFA status because of the cost.
“There’s a lot of compliance they have to go through, a lot of costs and unless they’ve got a strong business then they’d find it difficult to make good money,” Jennings said.
When you compare the 2000 AFAs expected by July and the 1.7 million KiwiSaver members, Jennings said it’s like “having one AFA for every 800 to 1000 people” – which is not in balance.
The FMA’s Mel Hewitson said “5000 was never a target, but an estimate made early in the FAA regime planning stages”.
“Not having available basic information like that is one of the problems we’re facing regulating a previously unregulated industry. In the past we’ve never known how many advisers were offering complex AFA-level advice for clients because there’s been no requirement to register or qualify before,” Hewitson said.
He said it had expected the qualification requirements of the new regime to reduce adviser numbers, “that was the experience in Australia as well”.
And at least one industry player is warning it will only worsen the country’s underinsurance problem.
So far the Financial Markets Authority has on its records 4953 registered financial advisers (RFA) and 454 authorised financial advisers (AFA). It expects the numbers to rise to 5000 and 2000 respectively by the regulation deadline, but that is still far less than the numbers the industry originally estimated.
AFAs and RFAs are considered “independents” compared to qualifying financial entity (QFE) advisers who are “locked” into giving advice on products they market. So far, the 63 QFEs on the register have an estimated 20,000 advisers among them.
Fidelity Life chief executive Milton Jennings said the decrease is not good for the insurance industry which is serviced by both RFAs and QFE advisers, and the retail investment industry which is covered by AFAs.
“We’ve got an underinsurance problem in this country. Less people selling insurance will only make the problem worse.”
He said the lack of independent financial advisers tilts the insurance market to favour banks that “are getting far better in insuring people”.
It will split the market with “RFAs on the high-end side of the advice market and banks in the transactional volume end of the market with the simpler type of products”.
Jennings said the Government was expecting 5000 AFAs but “there’s not even 2000 right now” because many advisers stop at the entry RFA level even if they could get to AFA status because of the cost.
“There’s a lot of compliance they have to go through, a lot of costs and unless they’ve got a strong business then they’d find it difficult to make good money,” Jennings said.
When you compare the 2000 AFAs expected by July and the 1.7 million KiwiSaver members, Jennings said it’s like “having one AFA for every 800 to 1000 people” – which is not in balance.
The FMA’s Mel Hewitson said “5000 was never a target, but an estimate made early in the FAA regime planning stages”.
“Not having available basic information like that is one of the problems we’re facing regulating a previously unregulated industry. In the past we’ve never known how many advisers were offering complex AFA-level advice for clients because there’s been no requirement to register or qualify before,” Hewitson said.
He said it had expected the qualification requirements of the new regime to reduce adviser numbers, “that was the experience in Australia as well”.
Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines:Obama sees China as a partner in Mars mission
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama views China as a potential partner for an eventual human mission to Mars that would be difficult for any single nation to undertake, a senior White House official told lawmakers.
Testifying May 4 before the House Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice and science, White House science adviser John Holdren said near-term engagement with China in civil space will help lay the groundwork for any such future endeavor. He prefaced his remarks with the assertion that human exploration of Mars is a long-term proposition and that any discussion of cooperating with Beijing on such an effort is speculative.
“(What) the president has deemed worth discussing with the Chinese and others is that when the time comes for humans to visit Mars, it’s going to be an extremely expensive proposition and the question is whether it will really make sense — at the time that we’re ready to do that — to do it as one nation rather than to do it in concert,” Holdren said in response to a question from Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a staunch China critic who chairs the powerful subcommittee that oversees NASA spending.
Holdren, who said NASA could also benefit from cooperating with China on detection and tracking of orbital debris, stressed that any U.S. collaboration with Beijing in manned spaceflight would depend on future Sino-U.S. relations.
“But many of us, including the president, including myself, including (NASA Administrator Charles) Bolden, believe that it’s not too soon to have preliminary conversations about what involving China in that sort of cooperation might entail,” Holdren said. “If China is going to be, by 2030, the biggest economy in the world … it could certainly be to our benefit to share the costs of such an expensive venture with them and with others.”
Wolf, who characterizes China’s government as “fundamentally evil,” said it is outrageous that the Obama administration would have close ties with Beijing’s space program, which is believed to be run primarily by the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA.
Testifying May 4 before the House Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice and science, White House science adviser John Holdren said near-term engagement with China in civil space will help lay the groundwork for any such future endeavor. He prefaced his remarks with the assertion that human exploration of Mars is a long-term proposition and that any discussion of cooperating with Beijing on such an effort is speculative.
“(What) the president has deemed worth discussing with the Chinese and others is that when the time comes for humans to visit Mars, it’s going to be an extremely expensive proposition and the question is whether it will really make sense — at the time that we’re ready to do that — to do it as one nation rather than to do it in concert,” Holdren said in response to a question from Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a staunch China critic who chairs the powerful subcommittee that oversees NASA spending.
Holdren, who said NASA could also benefit from cooperating with China on detection and tracking of orbital debris, stressed that any U.S. collaboration with Beijing in manned spaceflight would depend on future Sino-U.S. relations.
“But many of us, including the president, including myself, including (NASA Administrator Charles) Bolden, believe that it’s not too soon to have preliminary conversations about what involving China in that sort of cooperation might entail,” Holdren said. “If China is going to be, by 2030, the biggest economy in the world … it could certainly be to our benefit to share the costs of such an expensive venture with them and with others.”
Wolf, who characterizes China’s government as “fundamentally evil,” said it is outrageous that the Obama administration would have close ties with Beijing’s space program, which is believed to be run primarily by the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA.
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