The southeast portion of the US was one of the first regions to recover after the real estate [...]]]> I have been cruising the internet today and found some very interesting sites for you to look into. Here is a variety of investment ideas that may be important for your strategy. Happy Investments to you!

The southeast portion of the US was one of the first regions to recover after the real estate crisis. This is good news for owners of Atlanta investment property, as they quickly saw minimal gains. Atlanta remains a popular location, which means there are locations to buy and rent out for every pocketbook.

Forex investing has gotten a bad rap over the years, but the truth is that investing in the forex markets is a legitimate way to strengthen your portfolio. Knowing that there are inherent risks involved with any type of investment is the key to realizing that due diligence should be executed when researching any potential opportunity.

Forex investments can be risky, but also very lucrative. Critical skills are needed to profit in this highly competitive investment landscape, but these skills can be acquired through education, training and practice trading utilizing virtual (demo) accounts from the right broker. There is money on the table for those who can follow a system, control their emotions and practice good money management methods.

Costa Rica has more expatriates than any other country in Central America and investors have been purchasing Costa Rica real estate for decades. It’s not hard to understand why. Costa Rica is a beautiful country with a rich biodiversity, benefit laden retirement program, stable democratic government and a growing economy.

If you were told that you could get free money in the form of a real estate grant that you would never have to pay back, what would you say? Nothing is free these days but if you are looking for a down payment on your mortgage, help towards the closing costs for your home purchase, or money to refurbish your home and then you could qualify for a real estate grant.

The stock market can be a daunting place for a beginner investor. There are so many types of stocks, bonds and other instruments to trade – where does one start? Here’s an idea: try exchange traded funds. ETFs are like a mutual fund because they are a fund of companies in one instrument, however they are traded like stocks on the exchange. So these funds can be a great place to start – with options like financial ETFs, foreign currency ETFS, commodity ETFs, derivative ETFs to name a few. As always, do your research on your ETFs of choice before investing in any given sector.

So you want to be a real estate investor? Have you been thinking about buying investment property for a long time? Have you read all the books and watched all the infomercials, but just didn’t know where to start? Here are some quick steps to get you started toward your investment property dreams.

To add new investment ideas to your portfolio, take some time to learn to invest money in vehicles you haven’t tried before. Consider investments in global index or commodity ETFs, currencies, corporate bonds or real estate. Try tracking these investments with an online virtual trading account until you feel like you have a handle on how these investments work, and add these to your portfolio to improve diversification.

There are times where a penny stock investment can make you a profit and then there are times you will lose your investment. Research is the key to helping you reach your goal and there is no substitute for it. Take your time and do it right.

If you are experiencing significant financial turmoil, you may have wondered whether you should declare yourself bankrupt. At Claiming Bankruptcy, we provide you with all the information you need to make an informed decision, allowing you to get on with your life.

That’s all for this month.  Hope you enjoyed the Roundup!

The main question that has to be answered [...]]]> I have often wondered how much I would need to retire and I’m sure you have too. It is a difficult question to answer. In my case, I will be getting a pension from the US Government. That is good, but it adds a complexity to the problem.

The main question that has to be answered first is how much money do you need to live on? This is a deeper question still, because so many things go into that answer. Some things to think about.

Will you have a company subsidized health plan that can go into retirement? If not, this could be a much bigger expense than you are paying now.

Your mortgage payment? Will you still owe on your house? Depending on the interest rates at the time of your retirement, you could refinance and get your monthly payments down. That depends on what your situation is right now. Are you in a fixed rate 15 year mortgage? If not, get one quick. If you will have your home paid off, that is fantastic!

So how much money will you need to have saved for retirement? Dave Ramsey explains it this way, and it finally made sense to me, to hear it explained in such simple terms.

Let’s use an example.

In our example, John is retiring with a pension of $40,000 per year. He has determined that he could comfortably live on $80,000 per year. John has been saving money in a Roth IRA for many years. The question is, how much does he need in that Roth IRA? By the way, if you need information on what a Roth IRA is, go to these links for a post I wrote called 16 Roth IRA Facts. According to the way Dave Ramsey explains it, John would need an amount that could return $40,000 per year in gain, leaving the base amount to continue to grow. He says we should plan on 8% – 12% gain, if invested in a good growth mutual fund. Plan on removing 8% to live on, letting whatever gains there are above this continue to compound and protect us from inflation.

Simply written, it looks like this.

We need $40,000 per year so our base amount needs to be $40,000 / .08 = $500,000.

If we have 500,000 and get 8% gain per year, we can remove 40,000 each year and still have the $500,000. Make sense? I hope so. You can see that if we make 10% instead of 8%, the $500,000 will actually increase in value. But some years it may make only 5%. We can still take our regular amount out, knowing that it will likely balance out and actually grow.

Start figuring out what you need now! Get a game plan! If you are in your 30′s, you have plenty of time, if you start now. Read How to Make a Million Dollars. If you are older, you may have to work longer than you wanted to, or adjust what you actually “need” to retire.

EDIT: Here is an excel sheet that gives an example, correcting for inflation, what it might look like. If we can get 12% average each year ( and I think that is entirely possible), then we can turn the original $500,000 into 1 million in only 25 years , and still take our 8% each year. A nice way to leave something for your kids!

As with all my financial or tax advice, I am not advising as a professional and I give no professional legal or tax advice. If you need professional advice, please get that from a CPA or attorney.

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