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Blockchain Technology – Is There Future For It

2 min read

Blockchain technology provides transactions and transfers online without the use of an intermediary.

The Blockchain is a new name in the world of technologies but it is definitely the one to last. Even in the early stages, the technology has gained huge popularity starting with their very first application of cryptocurrencies. More areas of applications are being discovered and tested with each passing day. Once the technology is adopted and accepted on a global level, it’ll transform the way we live today.

Blockchain technology simply means a decentralized trusty network. It works by having a native asset, a decentralized ledger and some algorithms based around a game theory model. It allows everyone on the network to reach consensus.

Let me try to explain what blockchain technology is

The traditional way of sharing documents with collaboration is to send a Microsoft Word document to another recipient and ask them to make revisions to it.

The problem with that scenario is that you need to wait until receiving a return copy before you can see or make other changes. This because you are locked out of editing it until the other person is done with it. That’s how databases work today. Two owners can’t be messing with the same record at once.

That’s how banks maintain money balances and transfers. They briefly lock access (or decrease the balance) while they make a transfer. Then update the other side, then re-open access (or update again).

With Google Docs (or Google Sheets), both parties have access to the same document at the same time. And the single version of that document is always visible to both of them. It is like a shared ledger, but it is a shared document. The distributed part comes into play when sharing involves a number of people.

Efficiency and effectiveness

Imagine the number of legal documents that you can use that way. Instead of passing them to each other, losing track of versions. And also not being in sync with the other version. So, why can’t *all* business documents become shared instead of transferred back and forth? So many types of legal contracts would be ideal for that kind of workflow.

You don’t need a blockchain technology to share documents, but the shared documents analogy is a powerful example.

Far from a short-term trend, blockchain technology is revolutionary. It is a new approach to transactions that major companies are beginning to implement.

In a market saturated with new and innovative business strategies, it can be difficult to decide which to adopt. On one side you don’t want to fall behind when it comes to the latest technology.

On the other, you don’t want to waste your money on a “cutting-edge” fluke. If you’re looking for a new, efficient way to carry out transactions, blockchain is a technology that your company might find helpful.

What Blockchain technology requires

You might ask why blockchain technology seems so cryptic. The challenge is that it used to be almost exclusively connected to tech circles. And was not widely used by the general public and non-tech businesses. This history is part of why it seems so mysterious today. Because it’s relatively new to most of us, and the way it works can be difficult to explain without going into confusing and complex concepts.

Blockchain technology was originally developed for bitcoin, the base of other cryptocurrencies. But the blocks in a blockchain might contain information about identity, dates, or most anything.

Marc Andreessen from VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and American entrepreneur, investor, and software engineer called Bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology a “breakthrough in computer science”.

“The practical consequence (…is…) for the first time, a way for one Internet user to transfer a unique piece of digital property to another Internet user, such that the transfer is guaranteed to be safe and secure, everyone knows that the transfer has taken place, and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer. The consequences of this breakthrough are hard to overstate.”

Comparisons

In a 2014 New York Times op-ed, Marc Andreessen, likened Bitcoin to personal computers and the Internet in their early days. Each of which depended on the high expectations of their success to make them actually successful.

“This is the classic ‘chicken and egg’ problem with new technology: new technology is not worth much until it’s worth a lot,” he wrote about blockchain technology.

By allowing digital information to be distributed but not copied, blockchain technology created the backbone of a new type of internet. It is originally developed for the digital currency, Bitcoin. But the tech community is now finding other potential uses for the technology.

The short version of it:

Blockchain technology provides a way to make transactions and transfers online without the use of an intermediary. Instead of trusting a third party to keep the transaction history safe and accurate, blockchain technology lets you seal “pages” of transactions with a key code for security.

With blockchain technology, many people can write entries into a record of information. And a community of users can control how the record of information is amended and updated. Likewise, Wikipedia entries are not the product of a single publisher. No one person controls the information.

But a feature that Wikipedia does not share with the classical blockchain is encryption. Because ownership and anonymity is an important feature of blockchain technology. Encryption of information is necessary so that no one can steal data or duplicate them.

Individuals and businesses use blockchain technology for a variety of reasons. Though some “shady businesses” might use blockchain technology to avoid leaving a paper trail, it’s more often employed to gain improved assurance and privacy. It also allows users to exchange money without the backing of physical currency. This is one of the qualities that has made Bitcoin famous and makes it sometimes controversial.

Bottom line

There’s a wide variety of blockchain technology-based services on the market.

One of the most relevant reasons that many companies are adopting blockchain technology is efficiency. We can all realize how exchanges can become quicker. And simpler too, when they don’t have to go through a third party. It’s also beginning to move document authentication toward obsolescence, removing a step in the transactional process.

Blockchain technology can also make companies feel like their information is safer and more secure. In an age where hacking banks cannot always resist off attempts to attack people’s financial privacy. Therefore, blockchain technology is a way to feel a greater sense of control over transactions.

Major companies are adopting blockchain technology because they don’t want to miss out on what could become. And it is already extremely popular and efficiently.

“In the mid-to-late 2000’s, big companies missed the social media train,” marketing and business strategist Clay Hebert said. “They couldn’t see how Twitter or Facebook would immediately impact their business, so they were slow to adopt these technologies. They don’t want to play catch-up again.”

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

25th October 2018
Who are the most successful investors in India?

2 min read

All those who enter the stock market in India has the same dreams. They all want to become absurdly wealthy like few of the known richest investors in the world. These guys made a success! It is never easy to make money by investing or trading in stock markets. The stock markets are highly volatile and your investments can be at high risks. Many people have lost all their savings in this market. Yes, the rules are the same for all, but the story is not the same for all. Many have gathered good wealth. In India too. We found some beautiful stories about successful investors in Indian stock market.

We want to introduce some of the most successful investors in India. How was their journey, what principles they follow, how long they have been investing? Who knows, maybe these examples could be an inspiration to all of us. For you too!

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala – Stock market investor

He is one of the most successful investors in India. His portfolio is worth over Rs. 20,000 crores / 3.2 billion dollars. His top holding is CRILIS but he holds stocks of Titan and Lupin too. He is known as Indian Warren Buffet.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala entered the Indian market in 1985. His father was interested in the stock market and boy-Rakesh was very carefully listener during the long conversations among his father and his friends. He attended the Chartered Accountancy course to gain a professional degree and completed in 1985.

After that, he joined the Stock Market and started trading. His first biggest bet was 5000 shares of Tata Tea which he got for Rs 43 and sold for Rs143 in just 3 months. This gave him Rs. 5 Lakh which was a big deal at that time. His next big hit was Sesa Goa. He bought 4 lakh shares and gathered huge profits on it. After that first successes, a lot of stocks made large sums of money for him like Lupin, Crisil, etc.

Porinju Veliyath – CEO of Equity Intelligence

He is one of the most well-known investors and fund manager. Equity Intelligence stock picks like Emkay Global Financial Services and BCL Industries has raised by 200% in their share prices and IZMO and Vista Pharma raised by 100% at their share prices under his hand. But it wasn’t so easy in the beginning.

The story of his life isn’t exactly ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ but he had a lot of struggles in his early days. Porinju Veliyath was born in the lower-middle-class family in Kochi. During his student days, he had to work many different and hard jobs to support his family.

When he moved to Mumbai in 1990 in search of a job, he became a floor trader at Kotak Securities there. He was clever, learned quickly and he became an expert trader. He worked for 4 years there and got a lot of knowledge. In 1994, he joined Parag Parikh Securities as a Research Analyst and fund manager. In 1999, he returned to his hometown Kochi and decided to make money on his own from the stock market. He made his first major investment in ‘Geojit Financial Services’. The stock was trading at a very low value at that time. Proving everybody wrong, this investment gave him multiple returns. In 2002, he started his own portfolio management service firm in the name of ‘Equity Intelligence’.

Vijay Kedia – a successful investor with the origin

He describes success on the stock market: ‘knowledge to find out quality stocks which one can acquire only by reading. If one doesn’t have reading habits, he can’t be a good investor.’

Vijay Kedia was born in the family of stock-brokers. He started his career in the stock market in 1978 not by his own choice but by force after his father died.

He joined the family business of trading and stock-broking. At the start, he was not doing well. But, he did not lose hope. He realized that trading didn’t suit him well and decided to start with investing. But learned a lot about the fundamentals of companies. In the beginning, he owned Rs 35,000 and by his own study, he invested the entire amount in a stock named Punjab Tractor. In 3 years, the stock multiplied 6 times and his Rs 35,000 grew into Rs. 2.1 Lakhs. Then, he invested in ACC at the rate of Rs. 300. After a year, the stock multiplied 10 times and moved to Rs. 3,000 in the second year. He continued to make successful investments in various stocks to create a wealth of 500 crores.

Vijay Kedia is betting now on Everest Industries and Vaibhav Global as multi-bagger stocks for 2018. And still is one of the most successful investors in India.

Nemish Shah – top 10 retail investor

His net worth is Rs 1,300 crore.

Nemish Shah is the co-founder of ENAM, one of the most reputed and respectable investment houses. He keeps himself away from media and publicity. His investment ideas are most sought after. He invested in Asahi India and multiplied his funds to 3.4 times in 3 years. He does not invest in too many stocks. His focus is on limited stocks and highly sector-driven.

Ramesh Damani – well-known investor

Ramesh Dhamani is well-known as Warren Buffet follower as much as because of his investments in listed and unlisted companies. He is picking high-quality stocks and retaining them for a long time. He follows the model for investing that favors companies with strong management credentials and processes. And it is Warren Buffet’s model. That affords him millions of rupee. Also, one of the most successful investors in India.

Raamdeo Agrawal – Founder of Motilal Oswal Group

Raamdeo Agrawal is one of the founder members of Motilal Oswal Group and MD and co-founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services. He started buying stocks in 1980 and till 1994; he made a portfolio of about Rs. 10 crores. Then, he read Warren Buffet’s tips and worked upon his portfolio to pick quality stocks instead of accumulating bad sticks. In a span of one year time, his portfolio doubled. He has amassed a net worth of over Rs. 6,500 Crore /1 Bn dollars.

Dolly Khanna – the Value investor

Women in the top 7 the most successful investors in India. Value investor Dolly Khanna has been investing in the Indian stock market since 1996. Her portfolio is managed by her husband Rajiv Khanna. She made debut through the fertilizer sector by homing in on a top-quality small-cap stock which enjoys a monopoly position. She has a knack of spotting multi-bagger stocks and knows exactly when to book profits. Emkay Global Financials, PPAP Automotives, IFB Industries, Thirumalai Chemicals are some of the picks form her portfolio.

Bottom line:

If you want to become successful in the stock market, then you should learn from the lives of these iconic stock market investors. How was their journey, what principles they follow, how long they have been investing?

Everyone who enters the stock market world knows about Warren Buffet. The greatest investor of all time and one of the richest person in this world who made his fortune by investing in stocks. But you have to know these guys and their life path.

Both you and they deserve this to know.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

22nd October 2018
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
India Could Treat Unregulated Crypto Assets as Illegal

2 min read

According to Moneycontrol, a report which is being prepared by a committee headed by India’s Economic Affairs Secretary, Subhash Chandra Garg, may propose amendments to the existing laws with a view of making it illegal to hold crypto assets that are not approved by the government.

Does it mean that could soon be illegal to hold cryptocurrencies that lack the government’s seal of approval in the world’s largest democracy?

The panel will propose legislative amendments and recommending punishment for those holding unapproved crypto assets and also will penalties for those who flout the law.

This move is the result of the government’s attitude that crypto assets which are unregulated should be kept out of the Indian financial system to prevent them from being used to aid illegalities. Under this formulation, they mean evading taxes as well as in Ponzi and multi-level marketing schemes.

According to the same source, holding unregulated crypto assets like bitcoin in India could attract punishment.

India treats crypto as illegal.

Why this isn’t surprising?

The Subhash Garg-committee was placed last year and have to submit its report in December. Besides the Economic Affairs Secretary, the other members of the committee come from India’s central bank and the country’s securities markets regulator.

It is expected the Subhash Garg-panel report be adopted. Having in mind their previous attitude, there will not be a surprise.

Anti-Cryptocurrency opinions have various government agencies in India. This spring, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred banks and financial companies dealing with virtual currencies and banned these financial institutions from allowing their clients to buy cryptocurrencies. They were given three months’ time (ending June 2018) to exit from any such services if they were offering.

“…with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs [Virtual Currencies],” read part of a statement issued by the RBI as reported by CCN. “Regulated entities which already provide such services shall exit the relationship within a specified time.”

The consequences after the ban are still felt today.

In September one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, Zebpay, announced that it was shutting down after it found itself unable to operate without access to banking services. That is the indicator that India treats crypto as illegal.

The negative consequences of the ban have not been limited to cryptocurrency exchanges, however, and have spread to the wider blockchain ecosystem. As CCN reported in September, this was leading to a ‘blockchain brain drain’ as well as ‘blockchain capital flight’ to jurisdictions with more conducive environments such as Malta, Estonia, Switzerland, and Thailand.

What can be expected from these last stages of deliberation?

The government view is that unregulated crypto assets should not be allowed to move into the financial system. In short, India treats crypto as illegal. So, it is expectable that the Garg-panel is likely to recommend appropriate amendments in existing laws, defining the punitive measures for those found holding illegal crypto assets.

In his budget speech for 2018-19, finance minister Arun Jaitley had pointed that cryptocurrency was not legal tender in India, but hinted that the government was open to adopting the underlying technology, called blockchain, to bring in more efficiencies in India’s digital payment systems because it allows keeping a record of a chain of transactions, eliminating the need of intermediaries.

According to Moneycontrol, officials of the capital markets watchdog, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have also organized tours to Japan’s Financial Services Agency; the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, and Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority,

The study tours “help engage with the international regulators and gain a deeper understanding of the systems and mechanisms,” SEBI said in it’s in the annual report for 2017-18.

And December is near. The trail of the devastation of cryptocurrency exchanges is visible.

But despite these moves of various governments, which are understandable in some sense because they have no control over the crypto, cryptocurrency will survive. We will be witnesses.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

18th October 2018
Ways to Earn Bitcoin

2 min read

After Bitcoin become one of the hottest new investment assets it has surprised many who once believed the blockchain-driven cryptocurrency would never have real-world value. It has also produced huge interest. This interest, as the nature of this digital currency as well, cause great opportunities for making extra money.

Traders Paradise wants to present you several ways how to make money with Bitcoin and several different ways to earn Bitcoin.

How to earn bitcoin?

There is a huge amount of money to be made in this market, and many of the ways of earning with Bitcoin may result in small amounts. It shouldn’t dishearten you. Even small amounts of Bitcoin can be useful assets.

How?

The rapid growth of the value of the cryptocurrency gives possibility. If you want to accumulate larger sums of Bitcoin, that’s also entirely possible. It requires some initial investment of course.

Let’s begin exploring the different ways in which you can start making money and earn Bitcoin.

Selling Bitcoin-related products

It is the fact that there are ways to make money from Bitcoin without actually owning any. For instance, you can sell products and services and be paid in Bitcoin.

The easiest way to get into being an affiliate marketer for Bitcoin products is to promote Bitcoin mining devices through some affiliate program. Point is that you can send visitors from your website and receive a small commission on any products they buy there. For that, you’ll need a website on which to post your affiliate links. The good news is that, since Bitcoin miners are generally priced at $100+, you don’t need to sell too many of them to start making some decent money from your marketing efforts.

The same concept can also be applied to Bitcoin services. Many services surrounding Bitcoin offer generous commissions to marketers who refer customers to them. If you’re going to create a website, integrating promotions for services can be helpful to your readers and profitable to you. This is one way to earn bitcoin.

Do freelance jobs and get paid and earn Bitcoin

A huge online marketplace for freelance services exists to connect freelance workers with customers. A new twist has come in the form sites that send payments to freelancers in Bitcoin. If you are freelancer already or have a skill that businesses would be willing to pay you for, you may be able to render services in exchange for fairly significant amounts of Bitcoin.

Freelancing in exchange for Bitcoin has two advantages: first, unlike mining or investing, there is little or no initial cost for most forms of freelance work and the second, some freelance jobs can pay amounts of Bitcoin worth dozens or even hundreds of dollars. If you want to earn Bitcoin at a reasonably fast rate without investing a large amount of money at the outset, freelancing can be your best option.

You’ll just need to sign up for a freelance marketplace that pays in Bitcoin.

Invest in Bitcoin and Bitcoin derivatives

Investing in Bitcoin, indeed still not as common as investing in stocks and bonds, but is fast moving into the financial mainstream. To be honest, investment is one of the profitable ways of making money with Bitcoin.

Basic Bitcoin investment is the simple buying and holding Bitcoin until its price goes up enough to gain a profit. Bitcoin has produced some incredible gains for investors in past years. If you had invested just $200 into Bitcoin when it was worth $1 in early 2011, your investment would be worth millions today. This is an ultra example, which demonstrates how profitable Bitcoin investment has been for some traders who have been willing to hold their investments for long periods of time.

High-risk investment

In the past Bitcoin exchange was easy to hack, like Mt. Gox exchange which was hacked 2014. But now the new generation of more secure exchanges come onto the market to supply Bitcoin services.

A less known way of investing in Bitcoin is to trade it as a CFD, or contract for difference. In core, a CFD is a derivative instrument that is based on the price of an asset, in the case of Bitcoin.

Unlike standard investment, however, CFDs don’t involve actually buying the asset they mirror. Instead, traders open positions on the movement of an asset’s price with a CFD broker. CFDs typically have high leverage rates. Meaning that both gains and losses are higher than they would be in a more traditional investment environment.

Used properly, Bitcoin CFDs can be fairly profitable. If you’re too careless with them, they can be high-risk investments. It depends on your personal level of risk tolerance.

Bitcoin mining

Mining refers to the use of computer hardware to automatically perform a set of mathematical operations. That, in turn, creates new Bitcoin. Bitcoin is set up that only 21 million can ever be produced. At this moment, more than four million are on the table for Bitcoin miners.

You have to know one important fact about Bitcoin mining before getting into the difficulty increases over time, which means, it will take more time and more computing power to generate each following Bitcoin.

At the beginning of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency enthusiasts were able to use graphics processing units on regular computers for mining. But nowadays the difficulty has gone up so much that much more specialized equipment is needed.

To start Bitcoin mining, you’ll need to invest in external devices called a Bitcoin miner. That provides the necessary computing power to produce Bitcoin. The price of a Bitcoin miner will vary based on its processing ability.

Small USB miners start at under $100, while larger, more powerful mining devices can cost thousands of dollars. Although the initial investment of buying a Bitcoin miner can be fairly large, it allows you to produce your own permanent flow of new Bitcoin until the full 21 million has been reached.

Start mining

If you decide to start mining yourself, you will have the peripheral costs too, like electricity costs, for example. If you have a large miner that produces a large amount of heat, you may have to install a cooling system.

These costs can eat up much of the profit margin in Bitcoin mining. Fortunately, if Bitcoin continues to grow in value, these costs will be compensated later.

But there is another way you can get in on the action. It is known as contract mining. In contract mining, you’ll pay a fee in exchange for a company to employ its Bitcoin mining equipment on your behalf. This contract will last for some period of time. And all Bitcoin mined during that time on the equipment you’ve contracted will be sent to your Bitcoin wallet. Contract mining is an easy and passive way for you to accumulate Bitcoin. But it will cost more over the long period than having your own Bitcoin mining equipment.

What else you can do to earn Bitcoin?

For example, you can do micro-tasks small, simple actions, such as viewing an advertisement or engaging with a post on social media. Though the pay is usually very low, micro-tasks are the simplest way to get into Bitcoin.

Bitcoin faucets are a bit like micro-tasks in the sense that they pay very small amounts of Bitcoin in exchange for a small amount of your time – often around 1 Satoshi, which is a hundredth of a millionth BTC. In the case of faucets, though, Bitcoin is usually available to be claimed by users at a set interval, such as every five minutes.

Or you can create content to be monetized with Bitcoin-based ads. Maybe you can lend out the Bitcoin you already have and generate passive income. But if you have respectable knowledge you can make a decent amount of money form helping other people learn about cryptocurrencies.

Bottom line

The easiest and fastest way to have Bitcoin is to buy instantly with a credit card or debit card. You can acquire $50 or less for Bitcoin, fast and usually within 10 minutes. However, you may be new to the entire cryptocurrency concept and for that we recommend you learn these few things above.

Bitcoin is extremely empowering but also different than the currency you know and use every day.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

17th October 2018
Carry trade and how does it work?

How to capture the difference between the rates

By Guy Avtalyon

In this post, I’m gonna explain what is carry trade, how to trade this strategy, how to use it in Forex trading.

Niels Bohr, the famous Danish physicist, once joked that “prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” No words could better express the difficulties associated with exchange rate forecasting. As anyone involved in the business of currency forecasting can attest, it can be a humbling experience.

‘Having endeavored to forecast exchange rates for more than half a century, I have understandably developed significant humility about my ability in this area.’ said Alan Greenspan, former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman. Some may think writing about the fortunes of the stock market is tricky, but try to observe currencies. That’s the challenge.

What is a carry trade strategy

A carry trade is a trading strategy in which a trader borrows money at a low -interest rate to trade the asset that is possible to generate a higher return. This strategy is very popular in forex trading.
This strategy counts on relative stability in asset prices. You know how an unfavorable exchange rate movement can easily wipe out the returns from the difference in the underlying interest rate.

This motivates some people to describe the carry trade as similar to picking up pennies in front of a fast-moving car.

What is the goal of the carry trade

The goal of this strategy is to make a profit from the interest rate differential. Sometimes that difference can be large. So adding leverage can literally tremendously multiply profits.

In currency trading, a carry trade is a strategy in which a low-yielding currency (one with a low-interest rate) is sold. And the funds raised are using to purchase a high-yielding currency. The purpose of this type of trade is to profit on the interest rate differential of the two currencies. In this strategy, traders use leverage to dramatically increase the profits earned through the carry trades.

Up to 2007 many traders borrowed in Japanese yen or Swiss francs. They were actually taking advantage of very low-interest rates in Japan and Switzerland and used the borrowed money to take long positions in other currencies that were backed by high-interest rates. For example, the Australian and New Zealand dollars and South African Rand were that currencies.

BTW, Japan has kept low-interest rates for quite a long time now. Australia and New Zealand have one of the highest interest rates in the developed world! In 2011 interest rates in Australia were as high as 4.5 percent!

Economists theories

Economists have developed a wide range of theories to explain how exchange rates are determined. Most studies conclude that for short- and medium-term horizons, up to perhaps a few years, a random walk characterizes exchange rate movements. But still better than most fundamentals-based exchange rate models. That studies find that models that work well in one period fail in others. They also find that models that work for one set of exchange rates fail to work for others.

A strategy that has attracted a lot of interest among international investors is the so-called foreign exchange (FX) carry trade.

FX carry trades entail going long a basket of high- yielding currencies and simultaneously going short a basket of low-yielding currencies. The empirical evidence suggests that the excess returns on this strategy have been fairly attractive.

Yet, investors need to be mindful that carry trades are prone to crash when market conditions become volatile. Hence, investors need to overlay simple carry trade strategies with well- thought- out risk management systems to help protect against downside risks.

How does a carry trade work in Forex?

Let’s assume that you went long on AUDJPY and kept the position open overnight until the next day. Basically you are buying AUD and selling JPY.

What happens the next day is that your forex broker will either debit or credit you the overnight interest rate differential between the two currencies. This rolling over of your current position is the carry trade.

Say, if the interest rate earned on AUD is 4.00% and JPY is 0.10%. Your profit from the interest rate differential is 3.9% per year! This is considered a positive carry trade. But there is also s negative carry trade. It happens when you, for example, buy JPY and sell AUD. So, you could end up with a negative interest rate differential.

This example is based on 1:1 leverage and assumes exchange rates remain constant for the whole year. Try to imagine applying leverage.

In the example above, if you had the leverage of 100:1, your return would now be 100 x 3.9% = 390% on just the interest rate differential!

When are carry trades successful?

We are still on the example of AUDJPY. If the central bank in Australia were to raise interest rates, then you would make even more gains. Therefore, you have to be mindful of the economic conditions in Australia. If the Reserve Bank of Australia is optimistic about the economy, then they will likely raise rates.

But, if the economy is slow and the RBA believes it needs to lower rates to stimulate the economy, then the AUDJPY as a carry trade would not be that successful. Meanwhile, if the AUDJPY exchange rate moved higher, in addition to higher interest rates, your long position on the pair would gain even more!

What is a Law of one price in a carry trading

The principle of “uncovered interest rate parity” states that the exchange rate of any two currencies should adjust in a way to exclude any chance of making a profit from an interest rate differential.

Furthermore, the Law of One Price states that the real carry cost of an asset should be the same in each country, meaning doesn’t matter from where you’re trading forex.

Carry trades can be greatly tough. Because the FX element of a cross-currency carry trade requires selling the low-interest-rate currency. But also, buying the high-interest-rate currency. In the core of the carry is the intention to make the exchange rate of the low-interest-rate currency fall relative to the other. If carry trades are enough large in volume they can remove any trend for exchange rates to equalize. That is exactly what generates profits in the longer run.

This directs us to believe that carry trades work best when risk aversion is low and investors are willing to invest in high yielding (risk) currencies.

You might be interested to find Leading Stock Exchanges In The World

11th October 2018
Alternative Investments Role in Diversified Investment
Investors should pay attention to several issues when adding alternatives to their investment strategy.

By Guy Avtalyon

Alternative investments, which have been used by large institutions and foundations for quite some time, have become more mainstream in the last years. They are more popular among individual investors. Also, there are more available products, which makes investing in alternatives possible for an increasing number of investors.

Alternative investments are a non-traditional approach to investing. They give the ability to invest in sectors and access to assets that traditional investments cannot provide. Investors should understand alternative investments as the potential to improve the overall risk-return ratio of your portfolio. Even a small allocation to alternatives may be reasonable and profitable now for more investors. Previously it wasn’t the case.

However, the non-traditional approach and structure of these investments bring with them unique risks of which investors must be aware of.

Alternative investments have a different approach

Alternative investments use a different approach to investing than do traditional equity or fixed-income investments.
This approach may require holding both long and short positions in securities. Also, it may require to hold private securities instead of publicly-traded investments. And there may be derivatives or hedging strategies as well. Also, investors that use alternatives have a goal to achieve a distinct level of total return. The other investors’ goal is the opposite, they usually pay more attention to relative performance versus an index.
Alternative investments have the potential to magnify the risk but also returns of an investment portfolio. They can possibly improve diversification and reduce risk. This approach is more flexible, investors have a chance to invest in a more extensive set of investments, so the possibility of enhancing returns is obvious.

Different risk

Alternative investments have risks different from traditional investments. They are less liquid, especially in periods of high pressure in the markets. Also, they are more complex and less transparent. These characteristics make it difficult for inexperienced investors to understand and they are more subject to investment manager failure.

The successful implementation of an alternative investment strategy relies largely on the investment manager’s experience and skill because of the wide range of investment opportunities.

Satellite asset classes as Alternative Investments

Satelite asset classes are very suitable for portfolio diversification. They cover everything that traditional investors and funds managers don’t even think about. They are more interested and specialized in asset classes such as real estate, commodities, any that can give high-yield fixed income. Satellites are non-traditional and have a low correlation with traditional assets. But their performances are driven by exposure which represents the similarity with traditional investments.

Types of Alternative Investments

We highlight several types of alternative investments but this list is more illustrative than exhaustive because new approaches are constantly being developed.

Private equity

Private equity is an investment strategy. Its goal is to take part in the growth of the private company. Hence, this strategy is long-term investments all in private securities generally and globally.
Private equity investment strategy covers illiquid asset classes with potentially greater long-term capital appreciation. The diversification doesn’t include public markets.
Only to higher-net-worth individuals use this strategy because it requires more investment experience, hence they are often accredited investor at high minimums and often has liquidity restrictions.

Hedge funds

The hedge funds are an alternative investment. They are designed to protect investment portfolios from market changes, so they will generate positive returns no matter if the markets are up or down.
They could protect the investment from market risk by adding alternative investments to the portfolios to decrease loss and protect capital.
The term “absolute return” is broadly used in connection with hedge funds. This explains how investment strategies are created to generate returns in any market condition. Actually, these funds are “hedging” the markets.

Managed Futures

An investment strategy that seeks to participate in trends in a large variety of global futures markets. Strategies include the use of the stock index, interest rate, currency, energy, and commodity futures. Many managed futures traders apply sophisticated software designed to invest in a disciplined, unemotional fashion, which often results in a lower correlation with traditional assets.

Alternative investments – mutual funds

These funds are not forced by traditional portfolio management systems. They have varying approaches, ranging from the absolute return, long/short equity, a broad mandate, or “go-anywhere” funds, and hedge fund-like strategies. Many of these funds also have a total return or an absolute return objective. They provide access to non-traditional investment. But they also provide investors daily liquidity at fair investment minimum.
Alternative investments can be useful tools to improve the risk-return of an investment portfolio. They can increase diversification and reduce volatility, given low correlations to more traditional investments.

Risks of Alternative Investments
- Higher fees. – Alternative investments can have higher fees. They may also charge additional management fees. While higher than traditional investments, these fees may or may not be excused when comparing returns net of fees.
- More complicated. – Alternative managers invest in a broad variety of investments, such as derivatives, and can use short selling. Understanding that can be difficult for many investors.
- Less transparent. – There can be limited to the underlying holdings of these investments. They use many tools that are not always the best choice for alternative investments. That makes a manager’s investment ability more difficult to assess. Also, some alternative investments are largely unregulated.
- Less liquid. – This is due to holding illiquid investments that can restrict the investor’s ability to offset money invested. For example, some hedge funds do not allow redemptions over the first year of investing. Most of them will allow annual or quarterly redemptions. Moreover, private equity may not allow redemptions for more than seven years. Here is also exposure to a notable lack of liquidity in some trading environments.
- Less tax-friendly. – Most alternative investment strategies aren’t focused on minimizing taxes.
- May disappoint in strong up markets. – They use short sellings to generate absolute returns. That may deter some investors.
- May not diversify risk in extreme down markets. – During the dislocation, the relationships of many different types of investments may increase notably. Investors hold that the more profits of alternatives is connected to the added risk.
Is this suitable for every investor?

Alternative investments can potentially magnify the overall risk-return of an investment portfolio. There are benefits but also risks in these non-traditional investment strategies. The most important is that investors have to be comfortable with alternatives when adding them to their investment strategy.
It is important also to discuss alternative investments with a respectable financial advisor. If you choose this strategy you’ll first need to determine how suitable it is in relation to your current investment approach.
5th October 2018
What is Diversified Investment
2 min read

Nothing more represents the term diversified investment than proverb “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Instead, invest in many baskets and hold a substantially diversified portfolio based on your long-term asset allocation strategy.

A diversified investment is exactly that.

A diversified investment represents a portfolio of various assets that earn the highest return for the smallest risk. This kind of portfolio has a mixture of stocks, fixed income, and commodities. These assets react differently to the same economic occasions and because of that, diversification works. With diversified funds, you can access financial markets while spreading your investments across several asset classes and geographic regions. In this way, you reduce the impact of market fluctuations while maintaining an attractive potential performance.

In a diversified portfolio, the assets don’t match each other. When one rises, the other falls. It drops down overall risk because some asset classes will benefit, no matter what the economy does. They equalize any losses of the other assets. There is also less risk because it’s difficult the entire portfolio would be destroyed by any single event. A diversified portfolio is the best protection against a financial crisis.

How does Diversification work?

Stocks do well when the economy grows. Investors want the highest returns, so they bid up to the price of stocks. They are willing to accept a greater risk because they are optimistic about the future.

Bonds do well when the economy slows.

Investors are more interested in protecting their holdings. They are willing to accept lower returns for that reduction of risk.

The prices of commodities vary with supply and demand. Commodities include wheat, oil, and gold. For example, wheat prices would rise if there is a drought that limits supply. Oil prices would fall if there is additional supply. As a result, commodities don’t follow the phases of the business cycle as closely as stocks and bonds.

Diversification typically has low correlations to, or do not move in lockstep with, more traditional asset classes. As such, their inclusion in an investment portfolio tends to result in lower overall volatility. Because they have a wider universe in which to invest (public and private) and do not have some of the same investment constraints (can short and hedge), alternative investments have the potential for higher long-term performance than traditional investments.

Investing in diversified funds can, therefore, be an effective tool to:
- Seek growth in your savings with a medium-term outlook and moderate risk
- Benefit from exposure to several markets (equity, bonds) that is adjusted to match current conditions in order to both take advantage of market rallies and cushion against the impact of declines
- Manage your portfolio simply with access to turnkey management: the manager adjusts the make-up of your portfolio over time.
Where can you execute the diversified portfolio?

A diversified portfolio should contain securities from the following six asset classes.

Stocks. Different sized companies should be included. Company size is measured by its market capitalization. Therefore, include small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap in any portfolio.

Fixed income. The safest are savings bonds. These are guaranteed by the government. Municipal bonds are also very safe. You can also buy short-term bond funds and money market funds that invest in these safe securities. Corporate bonds provide a higher return with greater risk. The highest returns and risk come with junk bonds.

Foreign stocks. These include companies from both developed and emerging markets. You can achieve greater diversification if you invest overseas. International investments can generate a higher return because emerging markets countries are growing faster. But they are riskier investments because these countries have fewer central bank safeguards in place, can be susceptible to political changes, and are less transparent.

Foreign fixed income. These include both corporate and government issues. They provide protection from a currency decline. They are safer than foreign stocks.

Commodities. This includes natural resources such as gold, oil, and real estate. Gold should be a part of any diversified investment because it’s the best hedge against a stock market crash. Research shows that gold prices rise dramatically for 15 days after the crash. This is why people invest in gold. Gold can be a good defense against inflation. It is also not correlated to assets such as stocks and bonds.

Maybe you should include the equity in your home in your diversification strategy.

If your equity goes up, you can sell other real estate investments in your portfolio. You might also consider to sell your home, take some profits, and move into a smaller house.

Most investment advisors don’t count the equity in your home as a real estate investment. They assume you will live there to the end of the time. They saw it as a consumable product, so that encouraged many homeowners to loan against the equity in their homes to buy consumable goods. When housing prices declined, they owed more than the house was worth. Many people walked away from their homes while others declared bankruptcy.

Expected return

Investors often focus too much on the expected return of their portfolio. While the expected return is important, you must also consider the amount of risk that you need to assume in order to achieve that expected return – the higher the expected return, the more risk you must take on to achieve it. When planning your investment strategy, it is important to be truthful with yourself in evaluating how much risk you can manage, and how long you are able to stay on the course through the ups and downs of the market rhythm. With other words, you should determine how much short-term volatility you are willing to accept.

A little bit of history.

An academic named Harry Markowitz introduced the research on what he called modern portfolio theory that people were able to understand diversification in an objective, mathematical sense. This research was so innovative and Markowitz earned a trip to Sweden to pick up a Nobel Prize.

The bottom line

In Shakespeare’s play, “The Merchant of Venice,” written more than 400 years ago, the character Antonio demonstrates his understanding of the concept. He says: “I thank my fortune for it – my ventures are not in one bottom trusted, nor to one place, nor is my whole estate upon the fortune of this present year.” That is a diversified investment.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)
3rd October 2018
Select Mutual Funds By Using Relevant Criteria

Examine fees and exit loads, read the offer document, analyze portfolio and holdings but here is a lot more.

By Guy Avtalyon

When starting to make the investment decision it’s important to know what criteria to use to know how to select the right mutual funds. If you don’t know anything regarding mutual funds and you are interested to invest in mutual funds, you are always confused about where to begin.

That’s the beauty of investing in mutual funds! You do not need to be an expert or even a finance freak to start investing in mutual funds.

One of the most frequent questions is how to select the right mutual funds to invest in.

Who manages mutual funds?

Mutual funds are managed by professional managers.

But not all funds are equally well. There are many funds that are not able to beat the index. That’s why it’s really important for you to select the right mutual funds that will fulfill your investment goals.

Most beginners just look at past performance while researching the best mutual funds to invest. But there are two equally important factors to be checked before selecting any fund: The objective of the fund matches your investment goals and what are the different risks associated with the fund.

Mutual fund investing is a long-term ratio. It’s different from the direct investment in stocks, where people can change the stocks fast, mutual funds are a long time task. Most people hold their funds for over 8 even over 10 years. Hence, it’s important that you choose the right fund and avoid ones that might result in you to lose both time and money.

How to select the right mutual funds?

I’ll show you, step by step.

Read the offer document: One of the most voluminous documents, also known as the prospectus. The first and the biggest step while choosing a mutual fund is to read the offer document. From the top to the bottom.

There you can find all the important details like the fund’s objective, scheme type, past performance, details about the asset management company, classes of the underlying assets, etc. It’s not difficult to understand these documents.

Match the goal of the fund with your own. Every mutual fund has a specific aim. And based on that aim, they decide different factors like asset allocation (equity to bond weight), risks, dividend payouts, tax benefits, theme/sector focus, etc.
You have to read the offer document of the fund in order to identify whether the fund aims to meet your investment needs. If their aims are not pertinent to you, it might not be the right option to invest in those funds.

Examine fees and exit loads. The mutual funds will charge a fee for their services and to meet different expenses. This expense ratio can be 2-2.5%. Some mutual funds may charge you a fee upfront when you invest (entry load), or a deferred sales charge when you sell your shares (exit load). As a value investor, you should stay away from mutual funds with high fees and loads to avoid unnecessary costs.

What criteria to use to know how to select a mutual fund?

Examine the past performance of the fund. The past performance of a fund isn’t a guarantee of how well it will perform in the future. But it will give you an approximate idea about the returns and expectations. You should compare the funds’ past performance to the benchmark because it will give you a better idea of its actual performance. Stay focused on long-term performance (3 years or greater) and compare it with its competitors and index.

What else can you do?

Analyze portfolio and holdings. This may be a little tricky for new investors. The main question is how will you understand whether the holdings are good or bad? The key point is to make sure that the fund is investing in the type of securities in which you are interested. Analyzing the portfolio will give you a good idea if the fund is the right fit for you or not. There is also another trouble while analyzing the portfolio and holding. The portfolio can be changed from time to time. The manager may choose to buy or sell securities because the managers are independent. And if you are not regularly reviewing the fund, the current allocation might be a little different from the time when you invested in the fund. That’s why you should always review your fund every six months after purchasing to confirm that fund achieves your goals.

Check your fund manager. The fund manager is the one who makes all the major buy/sell choices on your behalf. That’s why you have to find out more about the fund manager. Find how long this fund manager is handling the fund. Check if the fund manager has other funds for managing. If the other funds are also doing alike good, then it is a good sign. But if just one fund is performing well, while the other funds are struggling, then it might be a problem.

Check the credentials of the fund house. You do not want to get involved with a troublesome fund house which might bring you problems.

The procedure to select the right mutual funds to invest requires a careful study of the fund. To whom you can trust? Better make your own decisions based on examinations.

And a very important note: Do not rush with investing. There are hundreds of mutual funds in the market. Take your time to analyze them and find out the one that best suits your goals.

Happy Investing!

1st October 2018