The idea that it is necessary to achieve a 15% return on your investment comes from the mind of Warren Buffet, the single most successful investor. This is a man who adopted the idea of investing from a business perspective as his chief strategy....

So you're fresh out of school and saddled with school debt. You found a decent job. You think you can save some money to invest but it may only be $75 a month. Should you bother investing it, or wait until you can invest more?

Read this carefully and turn on the printer when you're finished. Adhering to these points can make a big difference towards reaching your financial goals. So let's begin...

If you regularly keep up to date on the stock market or ever watch CNBC, you've probably heard of "after-hours trading"...

Arbitrage is a method, or concept, that has been around for thousands of years, but there is still no set definition of what it is. Your stock broker may give you one definition, while a commodities broker may tell you it's something else. Heck, most investors have no clue what it's about.

In the investment world an asset can be defined as a category of financial instruments that displays similar characteristics...

Many investors check stock prices and are confused because they actually see three prices... the bid, the ask, and the price. All three are very important indicators of the actual stock price, but don't feel stupid if you don't understand how to differentiate them.

With many different types of bonds, it's no wonder that they can be so confusing. Three common types of bonds are Treasury Bills (T-Bills), Treasury Notes (T-Notes), and Treasury Bonds (T-Bonds)...

Here are some excerpts from reviews by the FCN staff of some of their favorite business autobiographies.

So...you want to open a brokerage account? Let me give you a birds-eye view of what to expect when you call a stockbroker. Whether you are leaning toward a full-service, discount or Internet-based brokerage service, there are certain steps and requirements that will be uniform throughout the brokerage industry.

The famous investor William Graham once said, "Investment is the most intelligent when it is the most businesslike." This quote means that one should think about owning the companies that the stocks represent.

There is something I can't understand. Where have all these new investment consultants come from during the last years of this bull market and who is using them?

Convertibles. No, we're not talking about the Dodge Viper that you've been eyeing at the local car dealership. Convertible bonds are simply bonds that can be later converted into stock.

If you've been involved with the stock market for atleast a couple months, you've probably heard talk of such things as earnings reports and whisper numbers. Over the last couple of years, corporate earnings have become very important to many short-term as well as long-term investors through numerous internet websites and television shows that report them.

Are you a young investor who wants to begin investing in the stock or bond market? Or maybe you are a parent who would like to get their children interested in investing. In both cases, it's necessary to understand the basics of custodial accounts.

There's little question among financial experts that short of buying your own home, stocks are the single best long-term investment an individual can make (one reason homes make better investments: you can live in them while they make money for you). Over most of this century, the stocks of well-run companies have produced some of the best returns of any investments.

When most people think of investments they think of stocks or mutual funds. An investment is more than this. An investment requires one to set aside an amount today with the expectation of receiving a larger sum in the future.

An investor's required return on common stock should include a premium for risk. There are two ways to measure risk. One is by using modern portfolio theory and the capital asset pricing model and the second is to look at the various risk factors which affect a business.

"The Dow's up 250 points by midday! Amazon.com up 12 points! AskJeeves.com up 50 points on it's first day of trading!" Hearing this on television and reading it in the news sometimes makes me wonder "What happened to buying a good stock and holding onto it for the long term?"

As Buck investors investing for the long term, we can expect to make money in the stock market with the help of research, patience, and time. There may be times when we lose a little money here and there, but in the long run, we expect to become wealthy.

Some say investing in rare coins is prosperous...are they right?

A Brief Course Explaining the Steps You Need to Take

Most of us are familiar with common stock but may be "in the dark" when it comes to preferred stock. There are a few notable differences between each.

They say a dog is man's best friend. We can't argue against that considering the fact that dogs constantly give us love and companionship without ever once complaining. There is, however, one thing that a dog can never give us...that thing is MONEY!

A smart businessman once went to a busy kitchen at a local restaurant to make a deal with the owner. He had a contract that said he would be willing to work for one month as a dishwasher. Instead of being paid a regular wage, the businessman had a different proposition.

Every investor uses either diversification or concentration when it comes to their portfolio based on their risk tolerance. If you are unsure what the difference is between the two, this article should help clear things up.

With all the talk about DRIPs (Dividend Reinvestment Plans), investors have liked the idea of purchasing stocks that offer high dividends. However, many beginning investors may still be asking themselves "What is a dividend and how does it benefit me?"

Learn about one of the most successful investment strategies

Are you worried about "jumping into" the market at the wrong time? Well you shouldn't be as long as you use a method called "dollar cost averaging".

The way that each individual lives in a society is based on how the country handles problems and questions involving their economy. These are issues dealing with inflation, consumer needs, and so forth.

Learn about the indicators that reveal the future of our economy

Creating a family emergency fund is a vital part of an investment program. An emergency fund can provide much needed money in a family crisis. Many financial professionals indicate a family should stash away at least six months of income into an emergency fund. However, three to four months of income is more realistic for families with a steady income.

Have you ever wanted to invest in a mutual fund that your friends or fellow co-workers have raved about but can't afford the initial investment? Possibly you have called a full-service brokerage house looking for guidance and they were not interested in your business because you could not afford the minimum for the privilege to invest with them.

Have you ever wondered where stocks come from? Perhaps it's time for us to have that heart to heart talk about...the facts of life as they pertain to publicly-traded corporations.

Learn how to limit the effects of Interest Rates

One aspect that my professors stressed in college business courses is that there are two purposes of business: making money and increasing shareholder value. I disagree. I think it's building wealth and making money. But let's really think about it. Businesses are absolutely nothing more than a vehicle to make money and build wealth for the people who are behind them.

Like stocks, you should research your mutual fund before you decide to trust them with your hard-earned cash. If you have plans to invest in a mutual fund, there is one more area to research besides the usual aspects of the mutual fund: the portfolio manager(s).

Believe it or not, investing in this country started as early as the late 1700's. Although they didn't have a sophisticated stock exchange then, the fundamentals and principles were the same. There was a strong belief in the growth of the U.S. economy and an even stronger belief today. That is why investing has become so popular recently.

ne of the most frequently asked questions from young investors is "How do I start investing?". This question is asked often, not only from young people starting out, but also by older, more experienced inquirers.

Ok, so you've got that mutual fund prospectus you've been tracking for some time and as you get to the fees and expenses page, you see that there is an expense ratio. But what is that expense ratio?

Unfortunately, not all of us are bookworm wiz-kids. Nope, we didn't all make straight A's in high school and attain college scholarships that gave us $150 spending cash a month. But if you, or your parents, can't pay for college, there are many options to help fund education.

While technical analysis uses past data to predict stock price, fundamental analysis provides a much more intellectual analysis using information such as sales, profits, and ratios. So basically, any time you've considered a stock and asked yourself, "What's the P/E ratio on this stock?", you have used fundamental analysis. The key to fundamental analysis is that investors are evaluating the company and its performance.

Have you ever wondered if it was possible to figure out what a stock will be worth in a couple of years? Would you like to have an idea of what kind of return you would have? There just happens to be an investing method that helps you achieve this.

Many questions have arisen about commodities and futures. They are often referred to as "the hidden market" because they sometimes seem caught in the shadows by talk of stocks and mutual funds. These can be very profitable investments but also include a large amount of risk.

In a perfectly efficient market, all investors would act rationally and consider all available information when deciding on their investment choices.

When it comes to mutual funds, most of the talk is directed at stock, bond, and index funds. But that doesn't mean that there aren't more types of mutual funds out there, such as the quant and green funds.

One of the most sought after goals of investors is to "beat the market" When one talks about "the market", they're likely to be referring to the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

For an investor, inflation can prove to be a formidable adversary. Inflation can greatly limit your gains so it is important to understand it because it will help you decide which investments to make as well as your investment strategy.

Why so many investors react to interest rates!

Of all the junk information we hear from the "know it alls" about investing and personal finance, international investing is one which has merit for discussion.

If you've combed through lists of mutual funds while looking for the right one to invest in, you've probably come across a couple international funds. Besides the usual stock and bond mutual funds that seem to stand out in the spotlight, there is another whole world of funds out there.

Most agree that Warren Buffet is the world's greatest investor. When Buffet took control of his holding company in 1964, Berkshire Hathaway, it had a market capitalization of $22 million. Today, only 35 years later, Berkshire is worth nearly $115 billion.

Over the last two years there has been a phenomenal number of acquisitions and mergers among U.S. companies. Just think about it, each week we hear about multibillion dollar mergers, and how teaming-up may impact various industries.

ith so many mutual funds out there, how do you choose the one that's right for you?