Property - Still the Investors' Choice

Author: Yuri Brixenmortar

Don't be fooled by current media throwaway terms like "housing bubble" and "real estate slump" - the truth is, European property is still the most reliable long-term investment for your savings or retirement fund. A recent survey by the Association of British Insurers further underlined this fact - asked which investment they would consider the safest and most promising, property came out on top amongst the 2608 working-age respondents surveyed from all over Great Britain. Beating out shares, savings accounts and national savings products among other options, the survey proved property is still most people's go-to strategy when it comes to safe investing. ABI's Acting Director of Life and Savings, Helen White, agreed. "Despite a fall from favour, property is still seen by many as being their retirement nest egg."
Indeed, despite the many short-term booms and busts which, similarly to the share market, might cause a temporary dip in value, when taking a long term view it's rare that property investments don't yield fruit. Even allowing for inflation, the average person who invested in a property in the UK 25 years ago would have doubled their money with change to spare if they put that house on the market last year. Similarly, French property values have grown at an average of 10% year on year over the same period.
Of course, there are a lot of different options when you're talking investment. There's the safe option of buying somewhere you yourself want to live either now or in future, with the aim of paying off the mortgage and having an obligation-free home by the time you say goodbye to the working life. For those with more wealth to move around, there are also the options of a buy-to-let or commercial premises - for these, you'll be thinking less about the desirability of the neighbourhood and more about solid figures in terms of occupancy and rental yield.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/property-still-the-investors-choice-4115892.html
About the Author

Yuri Brixenmortar is the author of Eurobrix Blog. He loves real estate so when the guys at http://www.eurobrix.com asked him to join the team and help promote European property and real estate around the world, he couldn't say no. He finds it interesting to look at other peoples' houses, apartments and castles.

Financial Spread Betting Along With The Commodities Market

Author: Sharon Dawkins

Commodities trading has been another popular avenue that traders have been pursuing. This relates to trading in base metals, foods, precious metals and so on. The trading is performed in a similar manner to stocks and foreign exchange and the basis for trading is the demand supply fluctuations in specific commodities.

Just how does financial spread betting come into have fun with commodities?

The answer is simple. The high prices of certain gold and silver for instance like gold, platinum will make it hard for that common trader to purchase and stock them for trading. When they are finding stock prices expensive, one can imagine how difficult it might be to trade commodities in the physical market. Moreover, these aren't items that lend perfectly to physical trading if you don't are in the company of commodities and also have your own wholesale or retail set up. That can be one reason behind you to hedge positions by playing futures or spread betting on them.

For many traders however, commodity trading represents a chance to make quick money depending on fluctuations within the international market and it is the same advantage of leveraged trading that they can enjoy when doing financial spread betting on them. In fact the whole of this year has seen tremendous upsurge in gold, silver and platinum prices and all sorts of those who have gone long on these precious metals have made lots of money.

The volatility inside a metal like gold is also not so full of the sense that prices might not have a huge dip. This encourages traders to maintain wide stop losses to ensure that even if the price does drop, they aren't stopped out and may trade the upswing again when they do their margined trading about this metal. Oil was another commodity that was heavily traded within the futures plus the financial spread betting market towards late 2008 and that pushed up the oil prices significantly.

It has to be however mentioned that prices of commodities do follow events in the international space and it would help if you can follow those closely. In addition, local regulations also play operator with some governments increasing or decreasing duties on either import or export on certain commodities they perceive have been in short supply or perhaps in excess. This would come with an immediate impact on the market price and that's something traders need to be cognizant of.

Obtain the latest material and news on Financial Spread Betting and other thorough information today. Learn crucial facts on topics such as Financial Spread Betting FAQs.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/financial-spread-betting-along-with-the-commodities-market-3901155.html
About the Author

Obtain the latest material and news on Financial Spread Betting and other thorough information today. Learn crucial facts on topics such as Financial Spread Betting FAQs
.

Superior Gold Group - Investing In Gold Pays with Profits

Author: Superior Gold Group


An investor is supposed to be compensated for every level of risk he takes with a higher level of profit. This logic only holds water when it is assumed that the economy is stable, the political climate is stable and there is no social unrest.  In times when these assumptions do not hold it automatically follows that most investments will not even be able to compensate for the amounts that were initially invested in them. During war times and seasons of economic distress stocks, foreign exchange currency and also bonds will give a negative return. In such times investments in gold are the only investments that will be able to give positive returns. For the savvy investor, investing in gold is actually a clever and wise move.
Traditionally, investing in gold involved purchasing some gold bars and physically storing them in your premises.  However as time progressed, gold bars were seen as bulky and gold certificates were developed to represent ownership of gold. With a gold certificate an investor can buy and sell without having to be inconvenienced with the bulk of heavy gold bars.  Gold certificates were first developed in the 17th century by gold smiths in England and Netherlands. A gold certificate was issued by goldsmiths for every gold bar stored in their possession.  Gold certificates today are issued by the Treasury of most governments and central banks across the world.  The first gold certificate in the U.S.A was issued in 1863. Since then, various banks in the U.S issue gold certificates. Swiss, Australian and German banks do also give gold certificates for customer gold's they have kept for safekeeping.
Gold can also be held in form of gold coins.  Swiss banks do sell and purchase gold coins from over their counters.  The American eagle bullion gold coin is a popular gold coin and has apparently been in circulation for more than 160 years. This coin is normally issued by the American treasury and can be purchased from major banks in the U.S.A and from other parts of the world.  This coin comes in four denominations. In each coin is marked its stated value in pure gold.  A standard gold eagle coin has a face value of $50 and has 0.916 degree of fineness.  The eagle coin can also be found in Swiss banks, British banks and other major banks across the world. The price of a gold coin depends on its weight and the gold spot price.
Investing in gold can also take the form of Gold exchange traded funds (GEFTS). In the various stock exchanges like London and New York stock exchanges, GEFTS are usually traded just like shares.  The first GEFT was traded in the Australian stock exchange in March 2003. In the trading of a GEFT a commission is charged for trading the GEFT and also a commission is charged for the annual storage of the bar representing the GEFT.
In light of the above information it is apparent that investing in gold pays with profits.  The earnings to be expected from an investment in gold can be estimated and are certain.


Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/superior-gold-group-investing-in-gold-pays-with-profits-2867150.html

About the Author

The Superior Gold Group is an industry leader in the precious metals investment industry. With 1,000's of satisfied customers and a long list of highly respected industry partners, the Superior Gold Group can help individuals, corporations and broker dealers alike to satisfy their desire to add gold, silver and platinum to their portfolios