8 Ways to Reduce Stock Investment Risks - By John S Kiing

Let us compare stockholders with motor-vehicle drivers. Every year automobiles, trucks, and their drivers cause a fantastic number of deaths and personal injuries, not to mention property damage. The great majority of drivers are careful at least nearly all of the time! Most accidents are caused by a comparatively small number of careless and reckless drivers. A cautious citizen, knowing that he or his family may be the victims of the next accident, could conceivably protect himself by refusing to use motor highways. But the trouble is that motor vehicles save us so much time and energy, and give us so much pleasure when used sanely, that we know their good qualities far outweigh the bad. So we continue to drive, and to hope that the wild drivers will behave, while in our vicinity! In Wall Street, the speculators, in spite of the commotion they raise, are only part of the community, the same as the reckless drivers on the highways. And in contrast to the highway problem, a cautious amateur can invest in such a manner that he runs low risk of having his finances wrecked by the gambler mindset.
 
Traditionally, being an equity owner of business involves serious risk, sometimes complete failure. An investor, knowing the instances of bad results in small business ventures, may assume that in buying corporate stock he must expect to run somewhat comparable risks, and so he makes no attempt to learn how to reduce the danger. Apparently a great many shareholders have attitudes more or less like this. They may not want to gamble, but they don't bother even to inquire how Wall Street investment risks could be lowered. A serious market investor, wanting to avoid gambling in stock investments, must do some serious investing thoughts. The 8 main ideas for reducing the risks are mentioned below:
 
1. Avoid Investment Egotism. Realizing that there are several million stockholders in this country, admit to yourself that probably quite a lot of these people are just as smart as you are. Be satisfied with results a little better than average. Don't let your ego runs for 50% if the market average is performing 25%.
 
2. Avoid Prophets, especially the positive ones. The stock market reflects events and rumors from all over the world, and no man or any group of men can be sure of what is going to happen, or when. Some prophets are paid to write for some companies. They do not always deliver genuine opinion. I would refer to their comments and analysis, but rely on your judgment of market sentiment and stock fundamentals for investing decision.
 
3. Don't Borrow on Stock. Market price might drop and wipe you out. You do not want excessive interests to incur, and in the worst case, you do not want a lender's call back that affects your key assets like home or business ownerships. Maintenance of your personal and family's stability is a priority over stock investment.
 
4. Diversify your Stock Portfolio. Don't put all of your capital into one investment, or into just one type. Put part of your savings into common stock, the other part into fixed-price items cashable at any time, to preserve the dollar value. Own stocks in a good number of companies. The larger the number, the better the chance of getting average results. And for real diversification, the companies should be in several different industries. For instance, pick a steel manufacturer, an oil refiner, an electric-power company, an electronics manufacturer, an IT firm, a department-store chain, and so on.
 
5. Check stock Marketability. Before you buy, make sure that you can sell or redeem it easily and promptly. Stocks of big blue-chip corporations like Microsoft, GE, Google are more liquid and hence easier to be transacted in the market.
 
6. Choose Skilled Management team. Find out how to pick a stock with great management level of proven competence. Warren Buffett investigates into a company's leadership, credibility in its past performance delivery and the management's capability to propel further growth.
 
7. Time your Buying and Selling. Adopt rules on timing of your buying and selling stock. The time of action is a major risk in owning stock. After you buy, maybe the price drops; and after you sell, perhaps the price rises. Maintain a standard ratio between the current market value of your stock and your reserve. Also, buy and sell stock only in small installments, never moving a large portion of your capital within a short time. By spreading installments over many months, you obtain a fair average price per share. Patience has a big factor in success of stock investments. If you could sit and wait for the correction times to buy quality stocks, you are on your way to success!
 
8. Review periodically. Don't put stock away and forget it. At regular intervals, as for example after the close of each week, check back to see how well your stock has performed during the past few weeks or months in comparison to other stocks you might buy.

Added by:Kajol,Name of Sweets.

What is diversification?

Simply put, diversification is not putting all your eggs in one basket. Or not putting all your money into just one type of investment. All investments are subject to some level of risk. Some more than others.

Improving Your Job Performance – 10 Ways to be a Good Employee

Improving Your Job Performance – 10 Ways to be a Good Employee

1. Prioritize your “to-do” list at work. Yes, you have a million things to do and a hundred clients to please and at least one difficult boss to placate, and everybody’s screaming “Give me attention now!!” To improve your job performance, prioritize your tasks from the most to least important. This doesn’t mean you have to do the most important tasks first; in fact, taking care of the smaller ones, such as filing or watering the plants, can be an excellent way to take a break from your more stressful job responsibilities.

2. Be as positive as possible, no matter what. Being positive is a characteristic of a good employee that may seem obvious or boring, but it’s so important. Negativity drains energy, makes it difficult to negotiate conflict at work, and decreases your job performance. Avoid slandering difficult coworkers or gossiping about your supervisors. Be slow to criticize your clients, employees, or couriers – whether it’s to their faces or behind their backs.

3. Polish your job skills. If your biggest qualification for your job is that you’ve been doing it for ten years, consider taking a refresher job training course. Adult education classes or night school is a great way to improve your job performance and help you achieve your career goals. Added bonuses: you can network with other professionals, learn great career tips, suss out new job opportunities, and improve your self-confidence at work.

4. Sharpen your networking skills. If you’re planning to stay with your employer, learning how to negotiate a raise, or looking for a new job, keep networking. You’ll learn valuable information, both professionally and personally, if you stay connected to your colleagues and mentors. A characteristic of a good employee is bringing in new business, which is easier to do when you know how to network.

5. Dress professionally and formally. Take pride in your appearance; if you’re not into the current fashion, ask your partner or a salesperson to make sure you’re well dressed. Even if you’re in an entry level job in the service industry, make sure your hair, face and hands are neat and clean. Leaving the nose rings, lip rings and eyebrow rings at home may not improve your job performance, but it will increase your professional appearance – which will help you achieve your career goals. If you’re a businesswoman, you might find 10 Business Casual Clothing Tips for Women helpful.
6. Get good at the fundamental aspects of your job. An often overlooked but hugely appreciated characteristic of a good employee is getting to work, meetings, and workshops on time. If you can’t meet your deadlines, ask for support. Be reliable, consistent, and trustworthy. In other words, be the employee you’d be glad to hire, supervise, and promote.

7. Find work responsibilities that interest and challenge you. To be a good employee, ask for tasks that motivate you. If you’re interested in your work, you’re more likely to do a good job – which can lead to more, and more interesting, job opportunities.

8. Assess your accomplishments at work. When was the last time you accomplished something at work that you’re truly proud of? What was that project or task? If you haven’t accomplished anything you’re proud of, then maybe it’s time to go beyond finding responsibilities that challenge you…to considering a whole new career.

9. Find out who’s hiring in your field. It’s important to know what’s going on in your industry. This doesn’t mean you have to “cross over” to another job or organization. If, for instance, you find out that Business B is hiring New Employee X, and the job description interests you but you don’t want to jump ship at your current job, find out if you can bring those tasks to your current position. One way to be a good employee is to reevaluate your job description to match the industry trends and client needs.

10. Stay as healthy as possible. To improve your performance at work, take care of yourself. Get plenty of sleep, eat nutritious food, and exercise regularly. Deal with mental, emotional, or spiritual issues; don’t ignore your problems. Good employees are balanced in most, if not all, areas of their lives.

Added By: Kajol,Name of Sweets.

15 Tips on Choosing a Career

A friend’s son, recently graduated from college, has just moved back home. Surely this is a scenario being played out all over North America and beyond.
The son’s next task is to get a job, of course, but he faces a familiar problem: He doesn’t know what he wants to do.
It’s tough enough for new grads to find jobs nowadays. If the new grad doesn’t know where to start, it’s even tougher. If you are wondering “What do I do now?” here are a few things to consider:
1. You may not find the “perfect” career right after graduation. In fact, you probably won’t. This is normal.
2. You’ll likely have a number of different jobs and careers in your lifetime. In a very real and important sense, all jobs/careers are temporary.
3. Don’t be afraid to change your mind. You are allowed to adjust your course, to completely start over. Again, this is normal.
4. You can seek advice from others as to what line of work to enter but in the end it needs to be your decision. It will be one of your first decisions as an adult. Exciting! (It may not be a perfect, permanent decision. See Nos. 1-3.)
5. People want to help you. Really. Feel free to ask for advice. But be prepared to think critically about it. Not all advice is automatically good.
6. While you’re at it, be sure to ask more than one person for advice. Ask 10. Or 15! And then compare and contrast their answers.
7. The careers you already know about (the ones your parents are in, the ones you see on TV) are only a tiny percentage of the vast universe of career possibilities. You have more options than you think you have. Go out and explore.
8. Just because you are good at something doesn’t mean you have to do it for a living. You are probably good at many things. They are most likely not all moneymakers, or even desirable careers.
9. It takes a long time to truly master a skill, profession, or job. Don’t think you need to start at the top. What fun would that be? Very often the journey, the getting there, is the best part.
10. You have more resilience and energy than you think you do. Don’t be afraid to stretch yourself, or to take (intelligent) risks.
11. Money shouldn’t be your only criteria for choosing a line of work, but don’t completely discount it either. Money is important. It often becomes more so as you get older.
12. You may find that money and power, if you ever get any, can be addictive. But a career based only on the acquisition of money and power rarely fulfills people in the long run.
13. Everyone says to “follow your passion.” But if you don’t know what that passion is, don’t beat yourself up about it. Hunt your passion down. Actively look for it.
14. Don’t give up too soon. Finding your life’s work may take a surprising amount of persistence. Every successful happy person got to be that way by trying stuff that didn’t work and then trying something else.
15. In all your endeavors, always put together a Plan B. What would you do if the situation you were in fell apart? If a decision turned out to be a bad one, how would you back out of it? Usually we never need to implement our Plan B. But it’s always a good idea to have one.