How To Start Investing with $1000 or Less

One of the hardest things facing beginning investors is getting started with a plan in the first place. Not only are there hundreds of decisions swirling around facing each investor--whether to buy stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate investment trusts, or whatever, but each investor has the burden of finding a low-cost provider so he doesn't have to burn a lot of his hard-earned savings on trading fees and commissions. If you open an account with a brokerage house, the odds are high that you will have to pay a trading fee each time you purchase shares, ranging from a few dollars ($4.95) to a more substantial chunk of change ($29.95).

I highly recommend that you visit websites such as Computershare (formerly Equiserve) or BNY Mellon. They give you the opportunity to regularly purchase large-cap stocks with fees ranging from nothing to a few dollars per transaction. If you're reality is that you will be investing less than a $1000, then you can't afford to be spending $20, or even $10, on a purchase. Those fees will eat you alive. That's why finding a company participating with either Computershare or BNY Mellon is intelligent, because the fees that you will be spending on trades will be far lower than you will find with a typical brokerage house. The Passive Income Earner recently put out a great article on accumulating wealth slowly by investing your money into direct purchase stocks, and I recommend that you visit his link by clicking here: http://www.thepassiveincomeearner.com/2011/06/how-to-start-dividend-investing-with-little-money.html .

How To Find A Good Mutual Fund

When I was in high school, one of my teachers only had a handful of rules, and they were all 'don't's.' He would tell us 'don't forget to do your homework, don't get a girl pregnant, and don't forget to show up for class. And don't take too many bathroom breaks.' While a classroom with a bunch of 'do nots' may sound like a depressing place to be, it was actually quite liberating. As long as we didn't do a few things he forbid, we were in the clear. Likewise, when we're buying mutual funds, we should keep in mind a couple things that we should avoid.

First of all, we shouldn't think that buying 5, 10, or even 15 funds ensures diversification. It all depends on the type of funds you're buying--if you're buy 15 international mutual funds, you're going to be far less diversified than someone who buys an American fund, a bond fund, and an international fund. So quantity doesn't matter unless you're diversifying across asset classes.

Likewise, you should avoid mutual funds with high fees. Often, they don't meet your initial expectations--many even lag the market! And when you factor in the 2-3% expense cost of some of the more expensive funds, then you don't even have much of a chance of earning market average returns, let alone market beating returns. My Money Blog has put out some great posts about the type advice that you should avoid when looking to purchase a mutual fund: http://www.mymoneyblog.com/how-not-to-select-a-good-mutual-fund.html

Are Academic Advisors Always Right?

If you have limited knowledge about investing and allocating your assets intelligently, it can be all-to-easy to place absolute faith and trust in your financial advisor, which is without a doubt one of the dumbest things that you can do. After all, financial advisors feed their family, pay their mortgage, and buy their cars with the fees they make by charging you to invest. And I'm not condemning financial advisors for having to earn a living. But I am saying this--how much money they earn is dependent upon how much money they can eke out of your investments. So you should keep an eye on the amount of money that your advisor charges you--if your advisor is charging you high fees, then you better be earning market-beating returns. If your investment returns lag the general market when you count the fees you are paying your advisor, then you should probably consider switching advisors or putting your money in generic index funds. To get an idea of the types of errors that academics can make with your money, be sure to visit Larry Swedroe's intelligently written article over at Money Watch, link here: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/investing/blog/wise-investing/why-academic-evidence-shouldnt-be-taken-at-face-value/2588/ .

A Word On No Credit Check Loans

The Financial Newsline recently ran an article on no credit check loans, which I'll include a link to at the bottom of this post for your viewing pleasure. One of the most important things to keep in mind with no credit check loans is that you're not exactly dealing with the highest caliber institutions when you enter this market. Because no credit check loans generally imply that you are at a high risk of default (otherwise you wouldn't mind having your credit checked), you're going to be at the mercy of the company giving you the loan, because they know that you have very few options and are incredibly likely to acquiesce to their terms. Usually, these types of deals will lead to exorbitant late fees, administrative fees, and high interest rates, and I cannot recommend that you seek a no credit loan check outlet. But, obviously, if you're in dire straits, you're gonna do what you gotta do. If you want to check out the Financial Newsline piece on the topic, be sure to click here: http://www.financialnewsline.com/loans/no-credit-check-loans-realize-your-financial-emergency/ .