Category: Where to Invest

Where to invest is the most common question when someone decides to enter the markets. It doesn’t matter what the market is. It could be a stock market or Forex, or cryptocurrency market. The question will always be the same: Where to invest.
Traders-Paradise aims to give you some clues, to give you some hints of where to invest in.
The possibilities are enormous and if you want to make a profit or secure your future, investing is the most profitable solution. In turn, you’ll enjoy knowing that you made a better choice than savings can ever be. Moreover, you could earn a lot by investing a little money.

Here you will find great articles about new technologies, investment opportunities, all with suggestions.

The main goal that Traders-Paradise has is to show you how investing process can be easy and profitable. If you want to get more knowledge about investing, this place is top for you. Traders-Paradise knows that investing may sound strange and difficult. But, if you have any doubts about investing this is the place where you can find all answers.

The website Traders-Paradise will show you where should you start and how to begin your investing journey. You may read different financial websites but this one is unique due to its true fact-checking, honesty, clear, serious, and comprehensive observations on a given subject. You’ll have a true and detailed picture of the world of investing. That is a common goal for both you and Traders-Paradise’s team.

We wish you profitable investing.

Passive Investing is a Good Choice

Passive investing is the way to force your money to work for you.

By Guy Avtalyon

Passive investing has become a significant part of the market. Finally! The low-cost index funds or exchange-traded funds are popular. However, there are still a lot of investors who are trying to achieve an excellent return through active investing. The question is why they are doing that when passive investing provides a better alternative.

What is passive investing?

It is investing your assets in funds that mimic a market. The main task of fund managers is to purchase the security in the precise proportion of a particular index to copy it. It is a passive investment. Sometimes you will hear the term “indexed investing.” It is the same.

Let’s consider a bit more the act of active and passive investing strategies. Three years ago, the S&P500 had a total return of 9.54%. What did every passive investor make? Precisely 9.54%. On the other hand, an active investor gained 12,5%, but the other made just a 1,9%, or some made losses of -27%.

How is that possible?

The passive portion returned 9.54% and the total market returned 9.54%. But returns before the cost is not what should be counted. You should count what you actually earn. And what is that? The returns after cost and after-tax.

So, where is the catch?

Passive management is cheaper than active. Active management is more costly. If you know that the cost of managing an index fund is between 0,15% and 0,50% rely on the market replicates, you will find that an active investing will have a minimum of 1% higher costs than passive investing.

That 1% is 100 basis points and may not sound a lot.

But let’s consider the following situation.

Let’s say you put your money in the bank account instead of buying stocks because you don’t want to pay that 1% of costs. You are short immediately 5-6%. Your wealth is worthless. Actually, if you invest that amount in stocks there is a chance to gain more. With putting money in the bank account you will lose 15-16% of your net profit from potential investments in the stock market. In only one year. Over time this difference could considerably decrease your wealth. It will surely lower your standard when retirement.

The costs of active investing are not only fees. The activity by nature adds more costs. The active trades create capital gains more often than passive investing. So, why wouldn’t you avoid them entirely? It is simple math. If you want active investing you would pay more. Just take into account the taxes and costs.

So, we have to say, index funds and passive investing can be a better option than actively managed funds.

Passive investing in index funds has changed the investment world.

In 1975, Jack Bogle, the father of passive investing, introduced the index fund. His radical idea showed the financial sector regularly cheated the individual investor with the unknown and opposed fees.

This doesn’t mean that everyone should be indexed. Of course not. Active managers’ choices hold prices closer to values. That allows indexing to operate. Index investing means to leverage their trade without paying the costs. The majority of investors decide to index part of their money, some do it with all of them. But the others want to explore the less-priced securities.

Let’s consult the statistic, in 2017, the percentage of securities owned by passive fund portfolios was about 5% of the total in the global market. The biggest part it took in the US where it was 15 %.

When it comes to investing, you can choose between active and passive investing.

Picking the right is crucial to your investing profit. If you make a mistake, you can end up with money loss. With the right one, you are the winner and you can make a big success in the stock market.

How to find the right passive investing opportunity?

Passive management requires buying investments that track an underlying index or making asset allocation and holding to it for the long term.

One form of passive investing is the mutual fund investment because the mutual fund’s purpose is to return what the S&P 500 returns every year. The advantages of passive investing are numerous.

Passive funds don’t require you to make trades and adjust holdings daily. The management fees are much cheaper, which is a benefit in the long run. You will always get the same percentage as the market returns. Good or bad, but the same.

Passive investing is easy. You just have to pick some investments and that’s all. There is no need to monitor the market every second and make changes or to try to catch price swings. But passive investing is not for investors who want to beat the market. Yes, you can do it from time to time, but all the time. So, probably, if you are not a professional you will make big losses.

Passive investing is more than set up your portfolio and don’t touch it anymore. You have to monitor your portfolio and make corrections as the market moves. You have to rebalance.

Say the stocks increase in price, bonds are falling. If you have a 60% stock and 40% bond in your portfolio, this price movement requires an adjustment to 70% stock and30% bond in the portfolio. In case you never make these changes in your portfolio you will take on too much or too little risk. You will not achieve your targets. So, some monitoring has to be done. In the first place, you have to think about your money. The money is not just a piece of paper. Having money means that you are free and safe.

You have to force your money to work for you. Passive investing is for sure a good way.

22nd July 2019
Investing in Bonds – How to Start

Bonds as an investment are not free of risks. For many investors, the bonds market is still mysterious.

By Guy Avtalyon

Investing in bonds isn’t as easy as you might think. Anyway, read this post to its end and things will be more clear.

If you are OK with the lower return but with considerably fewer risk sounds as a good investment for you, it’s time to invest in bonds. Reducing risk is essentially what bonds will provide you.

Bonds are securities. They are very similar to loans. They are issued by governments or companies. And you can buy them. Governments and companies issued them because they want to fund some new projects, to continue the realization of plans, or some other reasons can be on the scene.

The issuer gives periodic interest payments and compensates for the full investment at the end of a prearranged time frame. The bond ends “maturity” when the investor can expect the principal will be returned, plus all accumulated interest.

How to start investing in bonds?

It is not so simple

You can’t simply purchase bonds and hope you have a low-risk investment. Bonds are complex instruments in comparison with stocks. There are some risks involved. For example, the bond can be less worth after some time if the interest rate rises. If the interest rate rises continuously until the maturity of the bond, the value of your bonds will be lower even worthless in some extreme situations. That is the interest-rate risk.

There is no bond protected from interest-rate risk. So it is likely to get a lot of risk with bonds. And it is not the case with low-grade bonds issued by the company with financial problems. The risk of investing in bonds may appear with high-grade bonds too because of interest-rate changes.

Bonds are assumed to be the firm and low-risk part of your portfolio, but the bond investing is still full of traps.

Let’s find them!

Are bonds risky?

Bonds Market is still enigmatic.

It’s hard to recognize are you aiming at a good price. Let’s say you want to buy individual bonds. You have to be sure you are not overpaying. If you buy stocks, your broker will charge a commission.

But when you buy bonds, instead of a commission, you will pay an unrevealed margin on the cost of the bond.

What is most important when investing in bonds?

You have to reveal is the closing price you are paying for your bonds matches the price which other investors are giving for the same security. But even institutional investors with lots of money have the same problem: to identify pricing data. The reason is simple. Almost all bonds are traded over-the-counter not on some exchange.

Bonds are rarely traded. Individual investors will hold bonds until they mature. So prices based on recent sales usually don’t even exist. They are changed or invisible.

High liquid Treasury bonds and notes are some other stories. Their prices are broadly announced. But this kind of market is the exemption to the rule.

The issue price of a bond

It depends on the relation between the interest rate that your bond pays and the market interest rate on the same date.

You have to determine the interest paid by the bond. For instance, a bond pays a 5% interest rate per year. That means on an amount of $1,000, the interest payment is $50.

How to find the present value of the bond? Say the bond matures in five years, its present value factor is 0.74726, as taken from a table for the present value of 1 due in n periods, and based on the market interest rate of 6%.

The present value of the bond is, therefore, $747.26.

Now, calculate the present value of interest payments. The present value of an average annuity of 1 at 6% for five years is 4.212.

When you multiply this factor by the annual interest payment of $50, you will come to a present value of $210.62 for the interest payments.

Now, calculate the bond price. The result should be $957.88. That is the amount of the present value of the bond repayment at its maturity in five years, and the present value of the associated with future interest payments.

You see, the price of the bond is lower than its face value. So we can say that the interest rate on the bond is below the market rate. Investors are therefore offering its price below. In order to reach an effective interest rate that equals the market rate.

Hence, if the result of this computation a higher price than the face value of the bond, then the interest rate on the bond would be more expensive than the market rate.

So, we can easily conclude, as interest rates rise, current bond prices normally fall. But these modifications do not change all bonds fairly. It is a matter of duration. Duration regulates how a bond’s price will change in interest rates. Interest rates also affect the duration. The higher the interest rate, the lower the duration.

18th July 2019
Bitcoin Price Falls Under $10,100

2 min read

Bitcoin price dropped $1.4K in 24 hours and hit a 2-week low. Majority of the top 20 cryptocurrencies are recording losses on the day we are posting. Bitcoin (BTC) fell under the $10,100 mark.

Monday seems not to be a good day for cryptocurrencies.

Take a look at its weekly chart, the coin is dropped by 10.14%.

Some traders are awaiting the price to fall under $10,000. They say it will be time to buy.

Since June 27, the bitcoin price has fallen from almost $14,000 by more than 22%against the U.S. dollar in an almost large pullback. That led to the crypto market to fall. All major cryptocurrencies recorded a decrease in value.

Yes, this is a drop-in price, but the bitcoin price grows more than 210% in comparison with its value last year. The other main cryptos tend to be more volatile. The exceptions are Litecoin and Binance Coin.

A possible scenario: bitcoin price falls below $10,000

The bitcoin price has moved from $4,000 to almost $14,000 in a time frame of four months. So, the huge reversals from the current price continue to be a possibility.

The bitcoin price slips to recover behind $10,000, a pullback to the $9,000 zone is possible.

Say, the trend of bitcoin is bullish. There are some important factors to study that could work as incentives in the next few months. For example, the block reward halving of bitcoin.

Also, after US President Donald Trump recent comments bitcoin, it’s price recorded a small increase, but now we have this drop.

It is about $1,000 less than where it was 24 hours ago.

The US President identified currencies like Facebook Libra as untrustworthy. He also said that it carries no value and that it doesn’t hold on a firm platform. He also said that he doesn’t care for cryptocurrencies and that they usually pull illegal action and that the cryptocurrencies are not real money.

Do Trump’s words have any influence on Bitcoin price?

We don’t think so. After Trump’s comments, the next few days bitcoin has maintained its position despite his words. But, despite the first expectations to rise more and more, the price falls quickly and drastically. The coin has scored its lowest rate since June.

But the bitcoin price is higher than in April. Given it has retained its force, it is reasonable to expect price spikes in the following days.

Since the bitcoin price fell around 10%, many alternative crypto assets like Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, fell by 4 to 9% against the U.S. dollar.

Bitcoin is down by around 43% from its highest price at about $20,000. The alternative crypto assets are down too, some by 80%, the other even to 90% from their greatest highs.

Three months ago trader and cryptanalyst Josh Ranger recommended that the Bitcoin accumulation phase will last until mid-July 2019. And then there will be a steady price increase.

According to the historical overview, the current price dynamics is alike to that seen in 2015. After Bitcoin hit the bottom, the growth period lasted 216 days.

This price drop is good for those who would like to buy Bitcoin.

According to CoinMarketCap data, the move down was also followed by a small rise in total trading volume of $2.8 billion over 24 hours. The traders wanted to gain profit and quick exit the markets because of declining prices.

Moreover, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies experienced a $20.1 billion loss for 24 hours. It is one of the biggest losses in one day. The same happened on June 27, 2019.

In the short term, volatile will continue.

Sebastian Sinclair in his recent article for Coindesk wrote:

“…so BTC could experience a bounce on today’s momentum, but that will need to be accompanied by strong levels in growing (bullish) volume in order to end the recent sell-off still being felt from July 10.”

15th July 2019
The stock market trading for beginners – It Shouldn’t Fright You

If you’re afraid to start trading stocks, here are some sure ways on how to do that

By Guy Avtalyon

The stock market trading for beginners can appear somewhat terrifying. Trust me, I know that.

Before you begin to trade stocks you need to know the costs. Invest the money you can cover if failed. The tricky part of the stock markets is that you can’t expect any guarantee you will get big returns.

But there is a big advantage when trading stocks. It gives you an opportunity to preserve your savings in circumstances of rising inflation. If you work smart and catch the experienced traders’ performances, you may have the chance to hit big returns.

How to start trading stocks?

As first, you have to pick a broker. That broker must be licensed and regulated. This matter is crucial for all stock market trading beginners.

The chosen broker will provide you access to its trading platform. For instance, you would like to join the stock market. You have to know better what are you dealing with. If you want to become friendly with the platform you prefer, the general advice is: begin with small sums of money.

You are a fresh participant in the arena of online stock market trading.

You have to read the financial news. That is helpful when it comes to which stock to buy. News is very important for stock market trading for beginners. Also, you can participate in a number of forums. There you can find some advice.

Truly, you can get a lot of helpful free data in public places for stock market trading for beginners. And study a business you prefer before you stock market trading.

The reasons to start the stock market trading

Say, you got some stock. And the time goes by as always. Assume that after several months the price of the stock goes up. So, you may trade your stock, sell them, and earn a profit. Of course, you can wait longer. If you were smart enough and done well research you picked a worthy company and your stock will rise more.

The stock market trading for beginners is full of chances. But here we come to the importance of news. The value of your stock depends on a large variety of circumstances. As you are a beginner in the stock market trading, you have to know that socioeconomic impacts, geopolitical topics, inflation, and so many others may have an influence on the value of your stock.

You have to know that all the time, all of them, are acting cooperatively. Sometimes they are operating in reverse courses, but they are working. And all of them may have influenced the price of the stock. That is necessary to know for stock market trading for beginners.

But possibly the highest influence on stock prices create the people. If there is a crowd that assumes the price is going up, the price will go up. It will take some time to learn how to trade stock but it worth your effort.

Stock trading strategies for beginners

When you start a stock trading and you are beginners one central question appears. Which trading strategies for beginners to implement?

This question isn’t without purpose.

Some stock trading strategies are very complicated. You should not implement those as the best stock trading strategies for beginners. As a beginner, you should rise with simple strategies. With something smooth and comfortable. This rule fits every novice. It is very important to understand how markets work, so it is highly recommended to follow the trends.

Following the trend is an excellent strategy for stock trading for beginners. Just set it and open the position in the course of the trends. There are various ways created to identify when a trend begins and finishes. An easy stock trading strategy for beginners has simple rules. Follow trends and you can gain large profits. But there are also some disadvantages. Actually, large trends develop rarely.

This strategy can generate losing trades. “The trend is your friend, UNTIL THE END,” said some very smart and experienced once. The end is when the trend sinks.

It is very important for stock trading strategies for beginners to be executed with risk management. Find more about stock trading and investing in stocks with a little money HERE

Don’t waste your money!

28th May 2019
Buying Stock Without a Broker – Ways to Do

Is it possible to buy stocks without a broker? Why shouldn’t be? Here is how to do that.

By Guy Avtalyon

Buying stock without a broker offers some advantages and disadvantages. Young investors are worried about investing in the stock market.

The financial crisis of 2008 strongly disturbed our formative professional years. We can still feel its specter lingers a decade later. Only 33% of millennials own stock, according to a 2016 Bankrate survey.

The other survey, a 2015 Harvard University survey found that just 14 percent of millennials trust Wall Street.

As any good stockbroker or experienced investor can tell you, you can find bad brokers more often than the good one.

Being “bad brokers” means those who put their own interests above that of their clients. We have a list of bad reputation brokers here on Traders Paradise’s wall of shame.

So, we must consider how to buy stock without a broker.

However, that worst brokers do this in a perfectly legal way, by causing desire and weaknesses to their clients’.

How do they do that?

Here are three main practices that bad stockbrokers practice. They claim to their clients that aiming for stability rather than growth. Wrong!

Usually, they force clients to obtain an income from two different sources, typically in an illicit way. Also, some of them are emphasizing low-risk, low-return, high-fee structured products in client accounts.

That’s why many new investors ask how to buy stock without a broker.

Because of the lack of confidence in brokers, many millennials don’t have the startup cash to fund an IRA or a brokerage account. That typically requires either automatic monthly payments or a minimum investment of around $1,000-2,500, plus commission fees of around $4-7 for every trade.

For those people who want to go down this path to business ownership, one option can be to check out direct investment plans.

But it is with varying degrees of success. Of course, there is no requirement that you have to work with a broker to invest in stocks or particularly equity funds.

Buying stock without a broker offers some advantages and disadvantages.

You will need to measure them based on your personal situation. But our goal is to provide you a good handle on how to invest without a broker.

But it’s up to you to make a decision about whether such an approach is appropriate for you. You have to know your unique circumstances and preferences. Because there is no unique solution for everyone.

Let’s say, you had a broker but you noticed that your broker sometimes uses unfamiliar words and phrases to describe investment concepts. Some of this stockbroker jargon is simply a shorthand that brokers use amongst themselves. They use them to refer to familiar situations without having to go into any detail on the underlying concept.

Your head is going to explode hearing every time some strange words that cause suspicions.

But investing can be simpler if you buy stock without a broker. Just by investing in shares through a company’s direct stock purchase plan.

The first and easiest way to buy stocks without a broker

It is when companies, often blue chips, fund a special type of program. It is called a DSPP or Direct Stock Purchase Plan.

The main goal of these plans originally was designed as a way for businesses to let smaller investors buy ownership directly from the company. In the beginning, they were working through a transfer agent or plan administrator. They still do the same. Most plans allow investors to buy stock without a broker if they agree to either have an amount taken out of their checking or savings account every month for six months. Often $50 is the acceptable minimum. The other way is to make a one-time purchase, which will cost you $250 or $500.

These plans are surely not as comfortable as getting a broker. You can’t just buy and sell a variety of company stocks at any time, for instance. Plus, you won’t have a diverse portfolio if you only own stock from a few companies. Moreover, with some plans, you won’t even escape fees. So, you have to be careful about what you sign up for.

This means trades without commission

But we have to say, direct stock plans are a good way to experiment with the stock market without putting too much money into the game.

Ordinarily, the plan administrators use your cash to buy shares of the company. It can be on the open market or freshly issued from the business itself, on predetermined dates. The average cost of the purchases is weighed out.

Also, they can use some other methodology to equalize the cost among investors. And the direct stock purchase plan statement arrives quarterly. All with a listing of the number of shares you own and dividends you receive.

Some direct stock purchase plans trades without commission. Others charge small fees. Usually $1 or $2 plus a few cents per share, for each purchase. A larger fee, about $15 and a few cents more per share, for a sale. This is a lot lower than what you have to pay at a full-service broker.

Buy stock without a broker by taking advantage of the dividend reinvestment program

In this way, you can add additional shares to your holdings.

This means to enroll in a stock’s dividend reinvestment program or DRIP. DRIPs provide you to take cash dividends, paid out by the company you partially own. And you may plow them back into buying more shares, charging either nominal fees or nothing at all. It depends upon the individual plan.

Have this on your mind. For a typical stock, that’s a lot of transactions over 25 or 50 years on which you aren’t paying commissions. The typical stock may pay out a dividend four times per year. So, count! DRIPs usually come with cash investment options that resemble direct stock purchase plans.

This opportunity means you can regularly have money withdrawn from your account, or send in one-time payments whenever you like.

A lot of long-term investors have become skilled at building wealth through these types of accounts. Buying stock without a broker for years, even decades is a very nice way. You must be heard stories about some housekeeper who left behind $5 million opulence.

They did it just on the way we said above.

You can buy stock without a broker by obtaining a single share through a specialized gifting service

Unfortunately, the financial industry’s decision is to move away from paper stock certificates. And this has become a bit shaky.

But, up until recently, you could use companies that allowed you to buy a single share of stock to get your name on a corporate shareholder list.

Hundreds of companies offer these plans, but each has its own rules for eligibility. It’s normal to be careful about investing in stocks. But some estimates that the average millennial would lose about $3.3 million in retirement savings by avoiding investing completely. Direct stock plans are an easy way to learn the basics and establish a portfolio.

All without spending money, time, and nerves on brokers. Anyway, buying a stock without a broker may be a clever move for investors.

Learn how to trade in the financial academy.

23rd January 2019
The 5 best blue-chip stocks in 2019

2 min read

This article is about picking good stocks by using microeconomics. This means that you look at the stocks of individual companies. Traders Paradise explains how to evaluate a company’s products, services, and other factors so that you can determine whether a company is strong and healthy.

And finally, how to pick 5 best blue-chip stocks.

We want to drive you toward those segments of the stock market that show solid promise for the coming years. That would make your stock portfolio thrive. Putting money into solid companies in thriving industries has been the hallmark of superior stock investing throughout history. It’s no different now. Everything is the same.

Where do you turn to find out about a company’s financial health? When you find the information, you’ll discover how to make sense of that data as well.

We compare buying stock to picking dog. If you look at a group of dogs to choose which ones to buy, you want to make sure that you pick the healthiest ones. With stocks, you also need to pick companies that are healthy.

This article can help you do that. To find 5 best blue-chip stocks.

The 5 best blue-chip stocks as ranked by expected total return.

AT&T (T) is one of the 5 best blue-chip stocks

They are among 5 best blue-chip stocks. AT&T is a global provider of communications and digital entertainment services with 34 years of consecutive increases. They are offering internet access, wireless cellular, and TV services. The company was founded in its current form as a spin-off in 1984. Today, it creates $173 billion in annual revenue, driving a market capitalization of $234 billion. When they reported second-quarter earnings in July 2018, and investors were disappointed. Revenue was down 3% in comparison with the same quarter last year. But the new moment is that earnings-per-share increased by 15%. The company boosted its customers by nearly 4 million. Primarily from prepaid customers in the United States.

DirecTV Now (stylized as DIRECTV NOW, also known simply as DTV Now) is a subscription streaming television service owned by AT&T. As of July 2018, the service has 1.8 million subscribers.

Also, WarnerMedia as part of AT&T has strong growth.

The revenue expanded from $7.3 billion to $7.8 billion year-over-year. All of its segments continue to grow subscriber revenue with special strength coming from HBO.

The WarnerMedia is a significant growth catalyst for AT&T. Second quarter results last year showed that WarnerMedia is growing much more quickly than the rest of AT&T and thus, the acquisition has a bullish development.

AT&T’s competitive advantage is in its enormous participation in the United States and parts of Latin America. The company uses that scale to push wireless, TV, and internet services to millions of consumers in order to expand relationships that are existing. This diversification of AT&T’s legacy businesses and the content library of WarnerMedia is a core advantage AT&T possesses over its rivals.

The dividend is a significant draw for investors as the yield is in excess of 6%. We expect the large yield will be safe for many years to come. Moreover, we are certain that it will continue to grow as well.
AT&T looks attractive from a value and yield perspective.

Owens & Minor (OMI) is among the 5 best blue-chip stocks

Another 5 best blue-chip stocks are Owens & Minor, a healthcare logistics company specializing in contracting packages of healthcare products for hospitals. The company produces $10 billion in annual revenue from more than 200,000 customers. Besides that, the stock has a current market capitalization of just over $1 billion. They had some share price drops in 2017.
The company reported second-quarter earnings in 2018 and results in disappointed investors once again. Revenue grew 8.5% year-over-year as the Byram Healthcare and Halyard Health acquisitions boosted the top line. Adjusted operating income rose 13% but adjusted earnings-per-share fell by 25%.

But the company is solving its issues in a variety of ways. That includes cost rationalization programs and acquisitions. By the way, the acute care setting provides an enormous market Owens & Minor can grow into in the coming years. This should enable the company to continue to grow revenue. Also, it should improve its margin profile over time.

Owens & Minor’s competitive advantages include its established position with hospitals, as well as its recession-resistance.
Owens & Minor sells necessities that are used in high volumes regardless of economic conditions.

So, Traders Paradise sees this as a great advantage.

The stock is yielding in excess of 6% today. We can see modest dividend growth moving forward, but the payout is reasonably well-covered by earnings. Thus, Owens & Minor should be attractive to income investors for this year.

Owens & Minor as producing mid-20% total annual shareholder returns. It is consisting of the high current yield, high single-digit earnings-per-share growth and a double-digit tailwind from a rising valuation. We, therefore, rate Owens & Minor a strong buy for investors seeking growth, value or high current yield. So, they are 5 best blue-chip stocks for 2019.

YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ The Benefits of Blue-Chip Stocks

Cardinal Health (CAH)

Cardinal Health services more than 24,000 pharmacies across the USA and nearly all of its hospitals. In addition, Cardinal is present in more than 60 countries. It employs 50,000 people. And it produces $140 billion in annual revenue. Cardinal Health has a market capitalization of $16 billion. And has 32 years of consecutive increases.

The company’s results in 2018, were mixed. Revenue rose 7%, as did gross profit, but adjusted earnings-per-share fell 23% compared with the same period in 2017.

Cardinal struggled with some negative margin impacts. They announced mail-order customer’s contract, investing in its IT platform. But margins in the company’s generic business continue to fall.

Management is sitting for nothing. However, some of the initiatives it is undertaking to combat these troubles. The management is working on controlling costs as well as successfully integrating the Cordis business. The best side of everything, Cardinal remains committed to returning capital to shareholders over share repurchases and dividends. The dividend yield is 3.7% today. It makes Cardinal a strong choice for investors.

Traders Paradise expects total annual shareholder returns in excess of 20% moving forward. We rate Cardinal as very favorable for long-term investors.

YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ How stocks act in the period of the inflation

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)

They have 42 years of consecutive increases.

Walgreens is the largest retail pharmacy in the United States and Europe. The company is present in 25 countries around the globe, employing almost 400,000 people. They have a wide and deep customer base. The company is servicing more than 200,000 pharmacies, doctors and other healthcare centers annually, along with its more than 13,000 retail stores.

The company reported third-quarter earnings last year and results were strong. Revenue rose 14% and earnings-per-share increased by 15%. But, operating income rose just 5.5%. Walgreens announced a new $10 billion share repurchase program and boosted its dividend by 10%.

The company is already in a dominant position in the United States and Europe, and the Rite Aid acquisition should serve to support that position. Walgreens’ business continues to grow in the developed world. So, Traders Paradise takes a stance, it should hold up well during economic downturns.

The dividend was raised last year, and the yield is now 2.6%.

The payout currently makes up less than one-third of total earnings. Traders Paradise expects continued growth in the dividend for many years to come. Indeed, Walgreens has at least 50 years of consecutive dividend increases.

We forecast very strong total shareholder returns for Walgreens in the coming years to 20% annually. This stock is highly undervalued as well as high single-digit earnings-per-share growth. We rate Walgreens a buy for its combination of growth, value, current yield, and dividend growth. Yes, they are one of the 5 best blue-chip stocks.

Altria Group (MO)

Altria Group has long been a source of high rates of dividends for shareholders. It has boosted its payout for 48 succeeding years.

The share price has fallen significantly in 2018 because of the company’s exposure to cigarettes. It caused some angst among investors. However, new products, such as its heated tobacco and E-Vapor products are driving new growth.

The company’s earnings for the first half of 2018 grew by 24%. Yes, revenues were down slightly. Volume declines in the core cigarette segment continue to be an issue but Altria is busy diversifying away in an attempt to mitigate the potential damage.

The worst year was 2017 with 9.4% of shareholders returns. But, the share price has continued to rise and today stands at 5.5%. Considering the yield has been increased for nearly 50 successive years and that the dividend is covered well by earnings, Traders Paradise sees the dividend as a primary source of total returns moving forward.
Altria’s competitive advantage is in its Marlboro brand cigarettes. Marlboro is near the top of global cigarette sales by brand.

Also, Altria is innovative each year.

The best example is its heated tobacco products.
We have to say, the cigarette volume is declining over time. More and more. So, Altria will need to continue to adapt to a market.

The IQOS and MarkTen products are producing strong growth but they are just a small fraction of total revenue. Altria’s story is still about a cigarette/tobacco.

Traders Paradise is forecasting those mid-teens investors have the unique chance for earnings-per-share growth. And for the mid-single digit dividend yield. We rate Altria’s blue-chip stock worth to buy. They are definitely among the 5 best blue-chip stocks.

The bottom line

The blue chips have the highest value in the poker game. But investing should be far removed from gambling. So, we can say that the term “blue chip” has stuck for a select group of stocks.

Why?

Blue-chip stocks are established, safe, dividend payers. They are often market leaders and tend to have a long history of paying rising dividends. Blue chip stocks tend to remain profitable even during recessions. Think about that!

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

22nd January 2019
The minimum amount of money you need to start investing in the stock market

2 min read

There are no rules that tell the minimum or maximum amount of money you need to start investing.

It may be less than you think.

Let’s say you have $1000 aside.

Is that amount enough to enter the world of stock investing?

Yes. Even $5 is enough to start investing.

But if you can invest more it is better. For you.

But before you jump head first into the world of stocks and bonds, there are a few things you need to consider.

One of the biggest considerations for investors with a minimal amount of funds is how to go about investing.

Here are some questions to answer before hitting the “buy” button.

First of all, what are your goals?

You have to define what you want your investments to accomplish. It will help guide you in the right direction. That’s advice from investors and experts.

What does it mean? You have to create a kind of road map. Like you are traveling to some unknown area and you need Google maps to show you the road.

So, let’s go back to the main question.

Do you want to save for retirement? For a new home? Or for a kids college fund? The answer will determine how risky you want to be with your money.

There are some very low priced stocks available.

You can begin investing in the stock market with a lot less money than many people think.

Here’s how much you need.

The minimum amount of money you need to open an account

Some online discount trading platforms have account minimum requirements. Minimums for several popular ones range from as little as $0 to $2,500.

It is for the self-directed account.

If you want to open a traditional full-service, broker-assisted account, you will need several thousand dollars.

However, all financial institutions have minimum deposit requirements. In other words, they won’t accept your account application unless you deposit a certain amount of money. With a sum as small as $1,000, some firms won’t allow you to open an account.

If you really want to start with the small, minimum amount of money you can use an app.

They will allow you to begin investing with just $5. Some apps offer you a choice of several funds to invest in. You basically end up owning part of the stock.

When you get to $5, the app invests that money for you into a diversified portfolio. In essence, it is a mix of stocks and bonds.

The other question is the minimum amount of money you need to buy stocks.

The minimum amount of money to buy stocks

If you want to buy a stock, you’ll need enough money to buy one or more shares of that stock. And you have to add the cost of brokerage commission.

Yes, we know you would like to start your investing with little money. But you must be aware. Stocks trading below $5 per share can be extremely speculative and dangerous. Usually, it is not worth dabbling with them.

Truth is that a single share can trade from pennies for some companies to hundreds of thousands of dollars for an A-class share.

But many companies’ shares cost, say, between $10 and $100 individually.

There are some very low priced stocks available. But before investing in the share market you should know some basic financial ratios.

Check valuation of stock’s price

It is equally important to buy shares at the right price points.

To earn money in share market, buying stocks at its right price is necessary.
What does it mean by the right price?

Estimating the intrinsic value of stocks requires a special skill. It isn’t quite as simple as it sounds.

There are several methods you can use to estimate the intrinsic value of stocks. Different methods will give different values of intrinsic value.

This itself is enough proof that how complicated it is to estimate the intrinsic value of stocks.

People who have the real art of estimating the right intrinsic value of stocks has become Warren Buffett’s.

You have to use financial ratios to value stocks

You can start by checking how the stock price has behaved in the last 2-3 years.

Suppose in the year 2012 the stock price was $35. After three years it has climbed to $50. That means the company has a growing tendency.

But it is also important to check if the stock price has touched overvalued levels?

You can know this in a variety of ways.

Start by comparing the stock price with its book value. If the Price to Book Value ratio is less than 1.5, we can say that stock has not touched overvalued levels.

If the book value of a stock is $100 and it is the market price is $160, it means its P/B ratio is 1.6.

This is a hint that stock price has touched its overvalued levels.

The amount of money a broker requires to open an account is the answer to the minimum amount. For a host of reasons consider opening an account with one that has a local office.

Here is a more expansive look at things to consider when beginning investing.

If you want to begin investing, consider reviewing at least some of the major tenets of personal finance.

For example a multiple-month living expense safety net and paying off high-interest debt, e.g., credit cards, before beginning investing.

You don’t have to invest all amount at once or in one stock. Rather diversify your money in different companies and different time of purchasing stocks.

YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ How to Become A Trader or Investor in Just 10 Minutes

How to collect the minimum amount of money

Begin to set aside a sufficient amount of money to open a brokerage account. Consider $1,000 or more as a minimum amount of money to do so. Lesser amounts, e.g., $100, 500, are insufficient to invest effectively.

Investing is a lifelong learning experience.

Consider investing only the money you can afford to lose.

Consider investing in stocks as part of an overall strategy that may include participation in employee retirement plans, payroll savings plans, and IRAs. There may be tax advantages to be had.

You have to recognize the differences in philosophies and approaches to investing versus trading.

Investing means long-term, but trading is short-term.

Be aware that trading stocks as a novice are most likely a recipe for disaster. Day trading is not recommended.

The literature is filled with evidence that the vast majority of those new to the market quickly lose significant money.

Do take the time to read and study first.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

9th January 2019
Cannabis VS Bitcoin Both Are the Two “Sexiest” Plays.

Cannabis stocks just like bitcoin stock can be hot investment choice these days

By Guy Avtalyon

If you have a dilemma in selecting the stocks, cannabis vs bitcoin, this exactly you have to read. Cannabis shares are a temporary hum. Wait! Didn’t they say exactly the same about Bitcoin?

Traditional Wall Street and media gatekeepers are late.

The fact is that Bitcoin lacks a time-tested business model and fundamental backing, and it pays no dividend. The other fact, marijuana is illegal in almost every country, putting the business model in jeopardy.

Pot stocks are more tangible speculative investments, traded and regulated on recognized stock exchanges, but still subject to a variety of market and regulatory risks. We know that advisors can caution their clients on the risks of investing in cannabis stocks, and the risks are there at current merits. It was the same in the case of Bitcoin.

Cannabis industry

But the cannabis industry may offer trace to the future of Bitcoin. Because despite their different paths, the crypto and cannabis are siblings. Why? Just spend a few minutes on Reddit pages committed to trading, Bitcoin, and cannabis and you will see similarities of the group. According to TD Ameritrade Inc., trading in pot stocks is superiorly done by millennial-aged males. The stats for crypto look almost the same.

We are witnessing an explosion of interest in cryptocurrencies, cannabis stocks, and ETFs. And particularly from millennials. What do younger clients need? They love technology. They want to be educated investors, that’s why they are in need of education. They’re younger in their investing and trading careers. But they know what they want. They want to trade 100 shares of stocks at the table in the restaurant using some bot. They don’t want to miss the boat.

Cannabis vs Bitcoin

If you’re a long-term investor type who’s not at all interested in trading, then you’re on the right track to becoming a wealthy investor over the long term. Sticking with such a reasonable investment strategy can be tough, however, especially if you constantly hear about how a friend of a friend of yours got rich overnight by investing in Bitcoin or Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED) (NYSE:CGC) stock.

You can ignore the hype, as it has nothing to do with you. It’s difficult to tell the difference between a bubble and an actual paradigm shift that could lead to massive riches over the near term.

Today, cannabis stocks and Bitcoin are the two “sexiest” plays.

While the word “bubble” has been thrown by some experts, other equally qualified, are on the other side and are thinking “opportunity of a lifetime.” Being on the right side isn’t a matter of how clever you are. You can find a lot of examples of how some very smart guy has fallen as a victim on the wrong side of the “sexy play” of his time.

When it comes to subjects like the rapidly emerging rising cannabis market or blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, it’s hard to know what you’re dealing with as an investor. Nobody really knows how much new entities will act in the public markets over a long period. Attempts to make comparisons to events that happened in the past can make some sense but can’t help a lot.

Neither cryptocurrencies nor cannabis are suitable for conservative investors. It is for visionaries, for those who can perceive the future and recognize the chances. Set a limit and stay within it.

There are many people in the crypto industry believing in a bright future. As well as there are supporters of the legalization of cannabis. Technology companies, for example, SinglePoint and POSaBIT, are working to create a payment method for dispensaries and consumers using bitcoin. Recently, some cryptos emerge specifically for cannabis transactions.
This isn’t the first time that stocks in a hot niche have risen. We all know what happened with bitcoin stock a year ago. The companies specializing in the crypto have had fantastic gains.

Some investors never look back at overhyped fields once they aren’t trending, but investors who invested hard-earned money into most popular stocks usually learn the harder way what results can be.

Currently, a limited number of marijuana stocks is accessible to most investors. We’ve seen some massive moves in marijuana stocks. Those gains stem from the fact that investors who want to invest in marijuana have limited options available to them.

Why cannabis vs bitcoin?

The same case we already saw with many Bitcoin stocks.

In 2017, the top-performing Bitcoin stocks have less liquidity than many others. They stood very low on that list. But it reversed. In 2018, bitcoin declined in its volatility.
Of course, speaking about cannabis stocks we can expect winners, but we can’t be sure where to expect. Maybe cannabis investors could learn something from the bitcoin incredible boost in the past. Perhaps the same could occur. Sometimes, success may occur in unexpected places. As an investor in cannabis stocks, just be ready to see the secondary effects. Try to recognize how they can influence the companies that are not always obviously related.

Investors want to get rich from cannabis stocks, but past investing crazes and experience with cryptos have often left people wishing they hadn’t fallen for the allure of these markets. You can avoid repeating those mistakes and improve your chances of being successful with your investments in the long run. Just get more knowledge, learn permanent, test, and measure everything twice.

21st October 2018
Should You Leave Crypto, Get into Cannabis and ‘ Buy high’?

This topic is a small semantic game with words. But it seems to be a serious business.

By Guy Avtalyon

I want to be a clear, cannabis business is serious business.

Marijuana is a commodity, and commodities markets are subject to boom and bust, amazing and caught.

Canadian marijuana company Aurora Cannabis Inc.’s shares rose about 4% Thursday, October 18, after it said shares have been approved for trading on the New York Stock Exchange starting October 23. Even earlier, the hype around cannabis stocks was catching up to the crypto craze.

There’s a huge new trend that is sweeping the investment world. The rise in the legalization of marijuana caused the development of a new investment opportunity. Cannabis Shares, for example, allows investors to buy shares in many legal cannabis-based projects, including the sale of cannabis itself, or products of cannabis.

Merida Captial Partners, a New York investment firm, said its cannabis fund had been approached by around 50 cryptocurrency investors. “They are looking at cannabis and crypto as an emerging sector,” said Merida managing partner Mitch Baruchowitz, “they might not be connected as industries but they are seen as outside the traditional investment field. High risk and high reward.”

On the market, the stock ACB ( Aurora Cannabis Inc.), +1.40% ACB, +1.40%, will trade under the ticker symbol “ACB”. The shares are also traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. This news came one day after Canada fully legalized cannabis for adult recreational use, the first G-7 country to do so, and only the second in the world to do so after Uruguay.

Canada changes the world following the passage of the Cannabis Act on June 19.

Which country first legalize recreational marijuana?

Canada became the first industrialized country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana.

In the process, it opens the door to possibly $5 billion in added annual sales. This industry is already generating from domestic medical weed and exports to foreign countries where medicinal cannabis has been given the green light.

Finance barons like to turn any commodity into an investment opportunity. This move was inevitable with the international changes in cannabis legislation. But, many are willing to see similarities between cannabis shares and cryptocurrencies. And they starting to worry that the cannabis industry could wipe out the need for crypto-investment.

Within the stock market, no asset class has been hotter than pot stocks over the past few years. Many of the largest marijuana stocks by market cap have doubled or tripled in value over the past year, and are up by more than 1,000% over the trailing two-year period.

Why cannabis stocks are so interesting?

The fundamental lure of marijuana stocks is its impressive sales growth potential. ArcView, a leading cannabis research firm, suggests that North American legal weed sales could grow by 28% between 2018 and 2021. That would lead to almost $25 billion in annual legal cannabis sales.

And the public all over the world is in favor of marijuana legalization. All major marijuana polls demonstrate strong favorability toward legalization.

All six-pot stocks have enjoyed outsized gains in the last few months as Canada legalization appears. These pot stocks generate quarterly and annual profit: Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB, +1.40% , Cronos Group Inc. CRON, +0.66% was up 3.8%, Canopy Growth Corp. CGC, -3.51% WEED, -2.77% was up 2.1% and Tilray Inc. TLRY, +2.89% was up 3.2%. GW Pharmaceuticals Plc GWPH, -1.30% was down 0.7% and Aphria Health Inc. APH, +0.26% was up about 2%.

Why people love cannabis stocks?

Tilray is a Canadian cannabis firm, one that announced in September that they traded around $6.5 billion worth of shares on United States exchanges, at the same period Amazon, traded around $7.6 billion on the same exchanges. Amazon has a stock 47 times the size of Tilray, therefore, we can truly appreciate the full scale of this as an investment opportunity.

Some skepticists are suggesting that the crypto craze is coming to an end, but we know that this isn’t the case. Markets are stagnant because of a transition period. Frankly, they should know that the crypto craze hasn’t yet begun. Cannabis shares are more like traditional commodities and traditional stocks, therefore they are more attractive to a high level and institutional investors. Because institutions are investing in them, the level of cash flowing into Cannabis shares is such. Cryptocurrency has not yet penetrated the mainstream and therefore, there can’t be a threat from Cannabis Shares.

Investment advice website. Proactive Investors has started a dedicated Telegram channel for investors interested in cryptocurrency, the blockchain, and cannabis. The SEC stated: “Fraudsters may try to use media coverage about the legalization of marijuana to promote an investment scam.”

On the social messaging app Telegram, some cryptocurrency forums, where users trade investing tips and advice on the anonymous network, have now turned their attention to shares in cannabis growers.

Cannabis Stocks vs Bitcoin

Why should anybody go to think that individual and personal Cannabis Shares investors, couldn’t also invest in cryptocurrencies as both are new and exciting ventures? Overall, it’s not fair to compare the two. They aren’t a threat to each other. A lot of investments can exist side by side. Because Cannabis Shares are big and popular for many reasons, it doesn’t mean people will stop investing in Bitcoin. Yes, their attention may be rerouted, but this will constantly change.

“Crypto traders I know are getting into pot stocks,” Jeffrey Van de Leemput, founder of investing-education platform Cryptocampus, said in a message, reported Bloomberg. “But I don’t know if that’s a pattern or just coincidence.”

Who’s been behind the buying of pot stocks? I have a hunch that its investors tend to be young. It’s the millennials.
There is the potential for marijuana to be traded as a commodity, similar to how corn and other agricultural products are now bought and sold, or as asset-based security, similar to the way mortgages have long been bundled and sold to investors. Who knows, the cannabis futures market might be the largest futures market in the world.

But Bitcoin has no plan to become mainstream on the market, it isn’t in its nature.

Going in bitcoin’s favor, retail investors predominantly control the show. The most bitcoin trading occurs on decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges, and institutional investors usually want nothing to do with these decentralized exchanges, bitcoin is driven by the emotions of retail investors, rather than by fundamental reason. And emotions can be the most powerful tool in pushing Bitcoin’s valuations higher.

Which investment should you buy with your last $50? Cryptocurrency or marijuana stock? Both of these investment opportunities are like a plane, they are getting everyone on board and they are ready to fly with or without you.

19th October 2018
How to research and choose stock?

Here you’ll find a full explanation on how to research stock.

By Guy Avtalyon

This is the main question: how to research stock? Investors have a name for all types of research, one of them is fundamental analysis. Fundamental analysis involves looking at numbers and other measures in a company’s financials as well as assessing the less tangible aspects of a business.

This approach can help you decide whether a stock deserves a spot in your portfolio. Pick a company you’re interested in. Read current and past annual reports and letters to shareholders. Collect the numbers and financial ratios and compare the company’s performance history to the industry and its rivals. Then work through the list of qualitative questions.

How to perform a technical analysis

Technical analysis is a way to understand market psychology or what are investors’ feelings about a company, which are manifested in the stock prices. Also, technical analysts are mostly short-term holders, concerned about the timing of their buys and sells. If you can identify a pattern, you could have a chance to predict when stock prices will fall and drop.

This is useful in how to research stock because it can inform you about when to buy or sell certain stocks.

The technical analysis makes use of moving averages to track security prices. Moving averages measure the average price of the security over a given period of time. This helps traders to easily identify trends

Use patterns as a tool on how to research stock:

Patterns include known price boundaries in the market price of a stock. The high boundary is known as the “resistance.”

The low boundary is called “support.”

Recognizing these levels provide a trader to know when to buy (at resistance) and when to sell (at support). And there are some specific patterns that are also noticeable in stock charts.

The most usual is “head and shoulders.”

This shows a top price then drops, followed by a higher peak then drops. And eventually follows a peak alike in height to the first. This pattern indicates that an upward price trend will end.

There are also inverse head and shoulders patterns, which mark the end to a downward price trend.

What is the difference between a trader and an investor?

An investor search for a company with a competitive advantage in the marketplace that will provide sales and earnings growth over a long period. A trader tries to find companies with a price trend that can be utilized in the short-term.

Traders typically use technical analysis to identify price trends. Investors typically use fundamental analysis, because they are focused on the long term. The decision, will you be a trader or investor, will determine you how to research stock.

What orders do traders use?

Orders are what traders use to describe the trades that they want their brokers to make for them. There are a lot of different types of orders.The simplest type of order is a market order, which buys or sells a set number of shares of a security at the prevalent market price. A limit order buys or sells a security when its price reaches a decision point. For instance, placing a buy limit order on security will order the broker to only purchase the security if the price fell to a some defined level.

This allows a trader to specify the maximum amount willing to pay, a limit order guarantees the price the trader will pay or be paid, but not that the trade will happen.

Stop order tell the broker to buy or sell a security if the price rises above or falls below a certain point. But, the price that the stop order will be filled at is not guaranteed because it is the current market price.

What is short selling?

Short selling is when a trader sells shares of a security that they do not yet own or have borrowed.

It is typically done with the hope that the market price of the security will fall. As a result, the trader can buy the shares at a lower price than sold them for in the short sale. Short selling is useful to exit a trade in profit or to hedge against risk. But it is very risky.

This should only be done by experienced traders who understand the market thoroughly.

What matters is developing greater self-confidence and knowing the limitations of what you can really learn and find out.

Also, there is a combination of stop and limit orders called a stop-limit order. When the price of the security passes a certain level, this order specifies that the order becomes a limit order rather than a market order as it does in a regular stop order.

21st August 2018