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Archive for April, 2008

The 7 Best Sites For Trading Stocks Online

April 29, 2008 By: Randy Category: Invest Money 1 Comment →

The myriad of online brokerage sites can make it difficult for a trader to choose which site to use for trading stocks online. There’re tons of factors to consider when choosing an online broker: What features do they offer? What do they allow you to trade? What is their minimum deposit, and of course, what are their fees?

It’s tough to decide with so many choices, so I’ve put together a brief review of my top seven choices for trading stocks online:

Scottrade

Scottrade is one of my favorite online brokers for trading stocks online. They have great prices all around at only $7 for market and limit orders and options are only $7 + $1.25 per contract.

Scottrade also offers free streaming quotes and has no inactivity or maintenance fees and they only require a $500 initial deposit to get started.

ShareBuilder

With market and limit orders costing $9.95 per trade and options costing $9.95 + $1 per contract, ShareBuilder is by no means a bargain for the frequent trader, but that’s not what ShareBuilder is all about.

ShareBuilder has no minimum and allows you to have a diversified portfolio with very little money. For example, let’s say you have 10 stocks you’d like to invest that would usually cost around $25,000 for you to be properly diversified but you can only spare $200 a month. ShareBuilder will automatically invest that $200 a month for you and spread in out to the stocks you choose. It will even buy fractions of a share to keep your asset allocation plan in line and they only charge $4 for automatic investment trades (you can lower the price if you’re planning on investing more frequently by using one of their monthly fee services).

ShareBuilder is right choice for anyone who is using a buy and hold strategy of trading stocks for the long term.

Etrade

I figured Etrade deserved a nod here. They have a range of incredible services (for a fee) and they have very competitive rates (if you’re an active trader with over $50,000 in your account). Their margins also get down to as low as 4.24% (if you’re trading with over a million dollars).

Etrade is a great choice for the professional (and obscenely successful) trader. However for the majority of people, Etrade’s rates aren’t competitive with other options for online stock trading. Still, for the affluent professional trader Etrade is far and away the best option on the net.

Zecco

While they only offer the most basic stock analysis options for free, Zecco does offer stock trades for only $4.50 per trade and if you have at least $2,500 in you account (there’s no minimum to open) you get your first 10 trades free! In addition, option trades are only $4.50 +$0.50 per contract. Zecco also offers some great free tools to screen and execute complex option strategies making this site a great choice if options are an important facet of your online stock trading strategy.

Marsco

Marsco offers an impressively low $3.95 per stock trade for an unlimited number of shares and $3.95 +$1.25 per contract for option trades with no inactivity fees. They offer streaming quotes and a couple other basic services and they require a relatively hefty $2,500 to open an account.

Trade King

Trade King offers many more free research tools than your average deep discount broker in addition to their admirably low trading fees: $4.95 stock trades (even for broker assisted trades!) and $4.95 + $0.65 per contract for option trades. The cheap broker assisted trades alone Trade King a great choice for trading stocks online.

Options Xpress

Options Xpress may not be the cheapest option on the web, but it is definitely the most comprehensive. With this site, you can trade stocks, options, futures, or even options on futures. It truly is a on stop shop for online trading.

Their pricing structure is depends heavily on how much you trade, so rather than list everything in this article, you can just click here to check out their commissions.

There’s a lot of options for trading stocks online. Above are just a few of my favorites. Check them out and good luck in your trading!

Like what you read? Why not buy me a beer?

Popularity: 36% [?]

How to Brainstorm Money Making Ideas

April 25, 2008 By: Randy Category: Creativity 1 Comment →

The word “brainstorming” has lost a lot of its meaning over the years. Ask someone to define brainstorming today and you might get a description like: Writing down a list of ideas of possible solutions to a problem. Solving a problem may be the goal of your brainstorming session, but confining yourself to “relevant solutions” defeat the whole purpose of a brainstorming session.

The whole point of brainstorming is to figure out a solution to a problem when orthodox solutions aren’t working or aren’t performing adequately. In order to do that, you have to give your thoughts free rein. In the initial stages of your brainstorm session there should be no censoring.

Think of the branches of a tree. Tree branches don’t go in a straight line, they branch off into several other branches, then those branches branch off again, then again, then again. Your brainstorming session should be a lot like that. Start with a central idea or problem, then branch off with using other ideas or solutions, then branch of those ideas and solutions.

Here’s an example…

Let’s say you want to develop a new stream of passive income for yourself. You start with your primary idea- passive income. From that, you move on to two sub-ideas: licensing, and affiliate marketing. From licensing you move on to: patents, copyrights, and trademarks. From affiliate marketing you move on to: residual commission programs, pay-per-lead, and pay-per-sale.

Can you see how the branches are developing? Each branch gets more and more specific until you get to the fruit (a specific, actionable money making idea).

Your thoughts don’t have to be linear. Let’s say you’re thinking about licensing trademarks when it hits you that vending might be a good stream of passive income. Just start a new branch!

This method of brainstorming doesn’t restrict your creativity and it provides you something actionable (as opposed to a list of ideas).

Try it for yourself. Start with one idea (the seed) then grow your tree until you have a bunch of branches that all lead to individual, actionable money making ideas (the fruit). Who says money doesn’t grow on trees?

Popularity: 28% [?]

Get Paid To Earn Passive Income

April 22, 2008 By: Randy Category: MLM, Passive Income 1 Comment →

It’s been said that it takes money to make money. Even I’ve mentioned that you need you can’t start developing passive streams of income unless you’re willing invest a lot of time and money in the beginning.

Don’t have any money to invest? Don’t worry! The internet is full of ways to earn extra cash. If you’re willing to put in the time, you can easily earn over $300 in your first month. Sure it’s not a fortune, but it’s a nice start.

For those of you who want to earn your fortune from scratch, “Get Paid To” sites are a great way to build your bankroll. A couple cents here and there may not seem like much, but when it only takes you a minute to complete a task, it can add up fast.

In addition, the programs presented here all have multi-level referral programs so can turn them into sources of passive income once you grow out of your “get money now” phase.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to building your bankroll using “Get Paid To” sites:

SET UP

There are a few tools you’ll need set up before you start earning money. In the world of “Get Paid To” sites, there are four things you need to deal with: Filling forms, Spam, Spyware, and Getting Paid. Here’s how you get around all three:

Filling Forms

Most of the work on “Get Paid To” sites involves filling out forms so it makes sense to save time by automating the process. To that end, here’s a free tool called RoboForm.

All you have to do is fill in your information once, then RoboForm will fill in any form for you with the click of a button. This software will take most of the work out of your “Get Paid To” sites. The link looks like it’s a paid program, but click the download link at the top. It’s free.

Spam

This one’s easy enough to deal with. Go to Hotmail and set up a new email account. This will be the email that you use when you sign up for all the free offers that “Get Paid To” sites want you to sign up for. All of the spam from these sites will go straight to your new email account and you can delete them all with the click of a button.

Spyware

Some of the websites that you’ll visit to complete tasks will attempt to load spyware on to your computer. Some web browsers have measures to prevent this, but here’s a free tool to remove any spyware that gets past your usual protection.

Ad-Aware is one of the best tools available for removing ad-ware and spyware. Not only is Ad-Aware free, but web updates are free too!

Getting Paid
Most sites will mail a check to you, however it helps to have a PayPal account so you can get your money fast. Some of the “Get Paid To” sites will even pay your PayPal fees for you!

After you set up a Hotmail account, a PayPal account, download and setup RoboForm, and download Ad-aware, you’re ready to begin earning money.

SIGN UP AT “GET PAID TO” SITES

Now that you’ve set yourself up, it’s time to sign up at “Get Paid To” sites. Here’s a list of my top four sites. These sites were chosen because the meet three criterion: They actually pay when they say they will, the tasks don’t require you to buy anything, and they have great referral programs (providing an opportunity to earn passive income).

Cash Crate

Cash Crate is my favorite “Get Paid To” site. Once you log in, you see an easy to use list where you can easily see what tasks are available, how much they pay, and what you have to do to get paid. Once the task is complete, you simply hit the submit button next to the task and collect your money. JOIN CASH CRATE

Cash Lagoon

Cash Lagoon uses a point system for completing tasks. All tasks have some point value attached to them, but since 1 point = $1, it might as well be money. The good thing about Cash Lagoon is that you can get paid when you have as little as 2 points ($2). They also pay all of your paypal fees so you don’t lose any money when you’re paid! Some of the offers require you purchase something, but Cash Lagoon is good about disclosing the cost so you can easily avoid offers you don’t want. JOIN CASH LAGOON

Gangster Greed

Gangster Greed has and easy to use list of tasks with good descriptions. It also has a daily survey worth $1 that you can take every day you log on. Gangster Greed also has an instant cash out systems so you can get your money when you want it. JOIN GANGSTER GREED

Fairy Tale Treasure

Fairy Tale Treasure will give you $2 just for signing up here. This site takes a little getting used to. It’s a bit harder to navigate than the others but once you get used to it, you can easily search through surveys, free trials, paid offers, or whatever. JOIN FAIRY TALE TREASURE

TELL YOUR FRIENDS

All of these programs offer referral programs so you can earn money by helping others earn money. After you register with all four sites, send an email to all of your friends with your referral links. When sign up and start completing tasks, you’ll both earn money!

COMPLETE OFFERS

This step should be obvious but it’s the step most people neglect. You have to actually complete offers to earn money. Set aside some time every day to complete offers and complete as many offers as you can on one site before moving on to another one (consolidate your earnings). I’d move through them in the same order I presented them to you. Start with Cash Crate and end at Fairy Tale Treasure. If you can commit to earning $10 a day, you’ll have a little more than $300 a month to invest in your passive income ventures.

PUT YOUR EARNINGS ON AUTOPILOT

Get the word out about your earnings and help others earn money too! The beauty of these sites is that you can earn money by helping others earn money. Once you get enough people to sign up, you’ll be making $300 a month without completing a single offer.

In the end, it’s all about developing streams of passive income. It’s true that you need money to make money. These “Get Paid To” sites will help you earn the money you need to start your wealth building. They also have the potential to become a source of passive income for you. Don’t take your eyes off your goal and don’t be afraid of a little work. There’s always a way to achieve your goals.

Popularity: 35% [?]

How to Manage Your Risk on Prosper.Com

April 19, 2008 By: Randy Category: Invest Money, Passive Income No Comments →

If you haven’t read my first article on Prosper go back to get a little background first.

For those of you who are reading on from the first article, you can already see the potential Prosper has for earning passive income. Of course there’s still risk involved in loaning money to strangers, so here are some tips to help you make smart lending decisions.

Know Your Default Rates

If you’ve been reading my blog recently, you know that I believe in exploiting probabilities. That’s exactly what you’re doing when you loan money. For example, people with B credit will default 1.80% of the time. So if you make 100 loans at $50 each to A credit borrowers, you’ll lose $100 on average (rounded up to 2%). Here’s how we use that information:

APR Desired: 15%

Money Invested: 100 loans @ $50 ea. =$5000

Money Invested: $5000

Default Rate: 2%

Annual Income: $750 = $5000 x .15

Effective Money Invested: $4900

Then we figure out what interest rate we need in order to earn $750 annually with $4900 invested.

750/4900 = 15.31%

Here’s a table of historic default rates on prosper.

Know Your Borrower’s Debt to Income Ratio

Debt to income ratio is determined by dividing a borrower’s fixed monthly expense by their gross monthly income. Ideally your potential borrower should have a debt to income ratio of 20% or less. The higher a borrower’s debt to income ratio, the higher the lending risk. You’ll need to take that into consideration when determining what interest rate to accept.

Follow the Money

Where are all the seasoned members of Prosper putting their money? That could be a good indicator of where the good bets are. Look for loans that look like they have a good chance of being fully funded.

Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

No matter how careful you are, you will have loans default. It’s a statistical certainty. The good news is that if you followed my advice, your portfolio is prepared for it. In fact, your portfolio is expecting default.

If you’re not properly diversified you’re gambling. You need to spread your money around to as many loans as possible that meet your criteria. For example, $1000 should be divided into 20 loans at $50 each rather than one loan of $1000.

Prosper.Com offers the average person the opportunity to make money in lending. As in all investments there is some risk involved, but with proper risk management you can earn returns far above the market average.

Ready to start? Join Prosper.Com and get a $25 bonus!

Popularity: 37% [?]

Prosper.Com: Make Money Lending Money

April 19, 2008 By: Randy Category: Invest Money, Passive Income, Recommended Products 1 Comment →

Lending money can be a great way to earn passive income. Take credit cards for example. If you’re like most people, credit card companies are earning passive income off you right now. How much interest do you pay on those credit cards of yours? 8%? 10%? 21%? Not a bad return for the credit card company.

But how can you capitalize on lending money? I’m willing to bet that you don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to properly diversify a debt portfolio nor the resources to properly collect payments. That’s where Prosper comes in.

Prosper.Com helps potential lenders make money by matching them up with potential borrowers and the minimum required to invest is only $50.

Here’s how it works:

Borrowers sign up for an account with Prosper.Com
Prosper verifies their identity and grades their credit on a scale that ranges from AA to HR (High Risk)
Lenders bid on loans by stating what rate of interest they’ll accept
Prosper combines the money from all the successful bidders to fund the loan
Borrowers have the money automatically withdrawn from their bank account every month
Lenders have the money deposited into their bank account every month

Prosper takes care of all billing and collections if necessary. All you have to do is diversify your portfolio to minimize your risk..

In addition, you can earn a great rate of return. I’m watching a loan now for someone with AA credit. It’s almost completely funded and the lenders are getting 18% interest!

If you’re interested in learning more about investing with Prosper.Com, you can read more about how to manage your risk on Prosper.

Popularity: 45% [?]