Daily Investment Tips

Do-It-Yourself debt relief is quite simple. You stave off payments to the credit card companies, skipping a month, sending in less than required, while SAVING CASH all the time, and not in a bank account.

When you have saved 40% of the most belligerent account balance, offer them 40% cash to buy out the debt. In the meantime pay off all your very small debts such as overdue grocery bills, shoe repair, lawn maintenance, all the little people.

You must go on a CASH ONLY basis from the very beginning and it might mean giving up a lot of small pleasures. Then start saving a large amount and tackle the next big card debt. When you have finished, you should have no debts whatsoever and money that can now be put in the bank. You would be surprised at how quickly this can be accomplished.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Account Balance, Credit Card Companies, Credit Card Debt, Credit Debt, Debt Free, Debt Relief, Grocery Bills, How To Get Out Of Credit Card Debt, Lawn Maintenance, Lot, Money, Shoe Repair, Small Debts, Small Pleasures

If you have a house mortgage that is 50% over the value of the house…WALK AWAY FROM IT…never never send them another dime, don’t talk to them ignore them. Eventually they will evict you, it may take up to a year.

They will offer all kinds of deals…IGNORE THEM!…you will only go deeper into debt eventually…they are not giving away anything but YOUR TIME and FUTURE.

Rent a cheap place until you are fully out of debt. Stay in CASH mode until you can afford a modest home once again, a home that you should put 50% down on in CASH…takes time but then you are a free person. You will be amazed when you discover you have 30% more income than when you were on a credit basis.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Credit Basis, Debt Free, Free Person, House Mortgage, Mortgage Debt

According to Google finance BP stock analysis, BP had an operating margin of 10.74% in 2009. In 2010 BP operating margin was 12.91%.

BP Net profit margin for the same period was 6.81% in 2009 and 8.32% in 2010.

BP itself admits, It is hard to predict BP operating margins because they are affected by

1. Seasonal demand patterns
2. The ever changing price of oil.
3. Geo politics

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Bp, Demand Patterns, Finance, Google, Net Profit, Operating Margin, Operating Margins, Price Of Oil, Profit Margin, Seasonal Demand, Stock Analysis

With BP Oil spill on the gulf of Mexico in the news 24-7, all that negative news vibe has had a negative impact on BP stock. Since the crisis begun BP stock holder have lost 80 Billion dollars of market value.

BP is facing lawsuits and cost of clean up. There is growing fear that the cost might be so high such that BP could be driven to the ground. The CEO has denied the possibility of going under, insisting BP finances are strong enough to withstand the current crisis.

After looking at BP finances I agree with the CEO.

Credit Suisse Group AG estimated the total cost of the clean up may reach $37 billion.

According to BP 2009 results, BP balance sheet was  like this:-

Cash equivalents – 8.3 billion dollars

Total Assets – 236 billion

BP Balance sheet analysis

Lets assume BP final bill is 37 billion dollars as estimated by credit Suisse, BP has a two options to pay this bill.

1. Sell Assets
2. Borrow new money to pay the bill.

BP has high value assets spread all over the world. BP can sell off some of these assets to raise the money it needs. In it’s balance sheet there is an item called long term investments, which is valued at 37 billion, this alone can be enough to offset the clean up bill.

With the price of oil projected to remain high, BP will continue to generate robust revenue. They can issue new debt based on projected revenue.

Unless the cost of clean up sky rockets, BP should withstand the Gulf of Mexico crisis

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Balance Sheet Analysis, Billion Dollars, Bp, Bp Oil Spill, Cash Equivalents, Credit Suisse, Credit Suisse Group, Group Ag, Gulf Of Mexico, Mexico Crisis, Negative Impact, Negative News, New Money, News 24, Price Of Oil, Sky Rockets, Stock Holder, Term Investments, Value Assets, Vibe

With high net worth individuals around Los Angeles, the city has a large population of financial advisors. Financial advisors are spread from high street wallstreet to your next door independent advisors.

If your search is for the high street advisors, one suggestion is to look at the ranking of California financial advisors by barrons online.

Top Five Financial Advisors around Los Angeles

According to Barron the following financial advisors made up top six of their ranking :-

1. Drew Zager Morgan Stanley PWM
2. Steve Lockshin - Convergent Wealth Advisors
3. Bruce Treitman - Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown
4. Palmer Murray - Morgan Stanley PWM
5. Richard Jones - Merrill Lynch
6. Steven Levine - UBS Financial Services

Others notable financial advisors near Los Angeles and not on the Barron list and whom you can easily find online are:-

1. Westlake Financial Services Los Angeles
2. Axa Advisors Los Angeles
3. Strategic Financial Group Los Angeles
4. HREC Financial Advisors Los Angeles
5. Oaktree financial Los Angeles

Just keep in mind being more expensive does not mean they are the best. One of the best ways to find potential financial advisor is by talking to others. Check with friends and family or anyone else that you trust for referrals as well. Your family and friends have your best interest at heart and you can never go wrong asking for their advise.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Axa Advisors, Axa Financial, Convergent Wealth Advisors, Deutsche Bank Alex Brown, Financial Advisors, Financial Group, High Net Worth Individuals, Hrec, Independent Advisors, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Murray Morgan, Oaktree, Pwm, Steven Levine, Strategic Financial, Ubs Financial Services, Wallstreet, Westlake Financial Services, Zager

One of the simplest saving idea is to treat saving as one of your bills. When your paycheck comes in each month, you pay your bills, right? So treat investing like a bill.

Some of your monthly bills are rent / mortgage, food, clothes etc. On that list include saving on it.

You can allocate a percentage of your pay for saving, it could something like 10%. That 10% can be deposited into a savings account or an investment account. You can collect your money yourself and deposit it into the account or If you want to make it easier, then go to the finance office and set up an automatic allotment from your paycheck and you’ll never think about it again.

When you treat saving and investing as part of your bill it forces you to budget for it. When you start looking at saving from this angle you will never again complain how it is hard to save or you dont have money to save.

To your success

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Allotment, Budget, Clothes, Finance Office, Investment Account, Money Saving Ideas, Money Tips, Mortgage, Paycheck, Savings Account, Young Adults

If you live around San Francisco and you need suggestions for a good financial advisors you need to look for a great financial advisor. Not one of those cut throat brokers that are just out to get your commission on trades. But one with your best interest at heart.

Looking for a Top Ranked Financial Advisor In San Francisco on Barron List

One of the places to find a Financial Advisor around San Francisco is the ranking of top financial advisors in San Francisco by Barron Online.

According to the 2010 Barron Ranking of San Francisco financial advisors, Top five were :-

1. Troy Griepp of Morgan Stanley PWM
2. Dan Osborne Merrill Lynch
3. James Hulburd Merrill Lynch
4. Sanford katz Credit Suisse Securities
5. David La placa Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown

San Fransisco Independent Financial advisors

These are the big firms and like all other big firms they don’t come cheap. If they are expensive for you, you can always look for the independent advisors based around San francisco.

Another good place to find the San Francisco financial advisors is at Yelp online. This financial advisors are rated by people like, people who have done business with them. You can search for financial advisors near your neighbourhood and read other people have to say about them.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Barron, Best Interest, Credit Suisse, Cut Throat, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bank Alex Brown, Heart, Independent Advisors, Independent Financial Advisors, Katz, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Neighbourhood, Pwm, San Francisco, San Fransisco, Sanford, Suggestion, Trades, Yelp

When choosing a state to settle in you may consider the level of taxation in that state. Some states levy high income taxes while other level low income tax while some unique states have zero income tax.

The seven states in USA with Zero Income tax are

1. Texas

2. Florida

3. Alaska

4. Nevada

5. South Dakota

6. Washington

7. Wyoming

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Alaska, Income Tax, Income Taxes, Levy, South Dakota, States In Usa, Taxation, Wyoming

Burton Malkiel is the author of the classic investing book, A Random walk down wallstreet, his latest book is Elements of investing.

The following is an index of some of Burton Malkiel Investing ideas and investing tips.

1. Burton Malkiel Number one Investing Idea is simple – It all starts with saving. The earlier you do it the better.”
2. Burton Malkiel Advise on Buying a Bigger Home – It is not worth it. Buying a bigger homes means spending more money to service the mortgage and less money left for saving and investing.
3. Burton Malkiel Advise on managing risk – To make money you need to take some degree of risk and the way to reduce risk is by being very well diversified.The best way to go about this is to buy index funds.
4. Buy and Hold – just like many other investment advisors who started their careers in 1970s, Burton swears by the mantra of buy and hold – over the long haul the stock market will do what it’s always done: namely be in a long-term up trend.
5. Take advantage of tax efficient retirement funds.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 1970s, Burton Malkiel, Careers, Degree Of Risk, Elements, Index Funds, Investing Ideas, Investing Tips, Investment Advisors, Long Haul, Managing Risk, Mantra, Money, Mortgage, Random Walk, Retirement Funds, Stock Market

The following gold exchange traded funds or (GETF) are listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Some of these funds hold physical gold while others merely track the price.

DB Gold ETF

DB Gold Double Long

DB Gold Double short

DB Gold Double short

Sprott Physical Gold Trust

Ishare Comex Gold Trust

For a detailed description of these funds visit wikipedia gold etf

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Comex Gold Trust, Detailed Description, Exchange Traded Funds, Gold Etf, Gold Exchange Traded Funds, Gold Funds, Ishare, New York Stock, New York Stock Exchange, Nyse, Physical Gold, Wikipedia, York Stock Exchange