A well-planned investment strategy is essential before having any investment decisions. A business strategy is generally based upon long run period. Formation of business strategy largely dependent upon the factors such as long-term goals and risk on the investment.
As the return on investment is not always clear, so the investors prepare the strategy so as to face the ongoing challenges in investment. A balanced investment strategy is generally required in the process of investment, which possesses long time period and some risk tolerance.
In the case, when a strategy is aggressive the chance of attaining a higher goal is higher. An efficient strategy can be obtained from portfolio theory, which shows good estimates on risk and return.
Strathclyde Associates Investment Guide: Investment Strategy is usually considered to be more of a branch of finance than economics. It is defined as set of rules, a definite behavior or procedure guiding an investor to choose his investment portfolio. For example, investing in mutual funds has recently emerged as a very favorable investment strategy.
An investment strategy is centered on a risk-return tradeoff for a potential investor. High return investment instruments such as real estate and mutual funds usually have more risks associated with it than low return-low risk investment opportunities. Return on investment can be calculated on past or current investment or on the estimated return on future investment.
Symbolically, it can be expressed as: Vf/Vi -1 where Vf denotes final investment value and Vi is the initial investment value. (“f” and “i” should be noted as subscripts)
Strathclyde Associates Investment Guide: Return on investment (ROI) is profitable when Vf/Vi-1>0 and the investment is deemed to be unprofitable when the value of final investment is less than that of the initial investment. ROI is calculated to be 1 or 100% when the value of the final investment is twice the value of the initial investment.
Types of investment strategies can be defined as follows: A passive investment strategy attempted to minimize transaction costs.
An active investment strategy guide used to maximize returns based on moves such as proper market timing. This usually mean, “buying in the lows and selling in the highs” or buying investment instruments when they are cheap and selling them off when their price appreciates. This strategy, however, is not very beneficial for small time investors.

Small time investors can adopt the buy and hold investment strategy to invest in equities, which although volatile in nature, give favorable long run returns. Investing in equity markets for small time investors is associated with the investors holding on for very long periods. In the case of real estate, the holding period extends the lifespan of the mortgage. Notably, in case of this strategy, indexing or buying a small proportion of all the shares in market index or a mutual fund is a purely passive variant of the above strategy.
The strategy of value investing, a classic investment strategy propagated by Benjamin Graham simply concentrates on the strategy that an investor buys shares of a company as if he was buying off the whole company without paying any attention to the stock market scenario or any exterior conditions such as the political climate. At the end of the day, if he can buy the stock at less than that its actual future worth to the buyer, the person is said to have discovered a “value investment.”
Investment strategies can also denote the investment strategies a national or federal government should follow to bring about economic growth in a country. This can only be achieved by domestic investment as well as significant FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) flows to particular sectors of countries, especially the less developed ones of Asia and Africa.
In case of India, infrastructural problems, excessive government intervention, rigid labor laws and corruption are stifling the flow of FDI in the critical sectors. Less developed countries such as those in the Asia- Pacific region and Africa can bring about much needed development in these economies.
An investment strategy in mutual funds is probably the best bet for a profitable investment. Mutual funds is defined as a pool of money supplied by different investors and in turn used by the mutual fund company to invest in various assets such as stocks and bonds. However, a detailed research has to be conducted for choosing the mutual fund companies and only those should be considered which have a professional investment manger. This will ensure that the funds get channeled towards the right investments. This also applies for investing in stock markets where a decision to invest should follow a through research about the past and current trends of the stock prices and their Net Asset Values (NAV). Analyses from market researchers about the predicted future trends should also be considered otherwise gains from capital appreciation; capital gain distribution (in case of mutual funds) and dividends might not be realized.
Lastly, investment strategies leading to green investments or investments in renewable sources of energy will be the next big thing in the investment spectrum. From Economy Watch. Economy, Investment & Finance Reports.

Strathclyde Associates is a full service brokerage firm with many years experience in providing a wide array of services globally to a vast group of clients that include private individuals, financial institutions, governments and corporations.

Did you know natural rubber can be a good income source or, as some would say, a gold mine? That’s because the usage of rubber is so ingrained in our lives that a lot of things individuals and society take pleasure in might vanish if we were to remove the natural rubber facet.

Natural rubber, that you may possibly also know as India rubber, is cultivated in South East Asia, in nations like Thailand and Indonesia. The weather in these areas is ideal for the growth of India rubber. By all means, this resource has what it takes to be referred to as new gold for developing Asian countries.

There is a range of explanations why natural rubber could be your brand-new cash cow later on. Many people may think that there’s no real cash to make when you buy rubber, however they are simply wrong. This is simply not the case at all. The marketplace for natural rubber has witnessed a great deal of growth over the course of the previous 10 years – specially in the previous few years. This outstanding growth is the reason why many people are starting look for investment advice.

From a business point of view, you actually don’t need to spend an excess amount on developing your own plantation of natural rubber; though should you truly want the best you will want to shell out large sums of money or capital for everything to operate adequately.

Make no bones about it: India rubber will always be remarkably significant. Take a glance around you and add up the amount of household items and devices which need the employment of rubber. Vehicles will need rubber and so does a great deal of devices as well as many pieces of equipment. Ponder, for a minute, how many tyres are created world wide every day.

Due to this huge demand for India rubber, there’s a lot of money to be made in meeting this demand. There have been studies that claim that unlike other organic assets like gas and fossil fuel, natural rubber will never come to an end provided that the resources are preserved properly. Owning an endless resource for natural rubber is a wonderful cash cow, and one which may with some luck make you, or some other trader, plenty of cash in the long-run.

In addition, making an investment in natural rubber is a great idea for people who like to know they’re doing something which is honourable. What I mean is you’re going to be helping out the local neighborhoods in South East Asia. Local manpower does more than just harvest the latex that will end up being the basis of the rubber. As an example, people may also be employed as security to help safeguard the farm. You might be empowering the local community by providing them something with which they can feed themselves and their households. Providing this tiny amount of happiness for your staff members is one thing which has been overlooked by other companies during the past and is one thing that you might want to consider when you invest in India rubber.

Matthew Edison is a freelance journalist with an interest in the alternative commodities market, including palm oil, gas and rubber investment opportunities. Read more by going to the Cedar Falls website.

The previous part of this article summarised what actually constitutes an investment trust, including how they are run, and provided an introduction into one particular type of investment trust, the REIT. In this second part, Split Capital Investment Trusts are introduced with a quick summary of how they may be used by investors.

Split Capital Investment Trusts

Also known as Splits, this variation of an investment trust strays from the more simple template in that it can offer a number of different share types within the one trust, each with a certain profile of risk vs potential yield.

Splits tend to be run across a fixed term and therefore have a stated closing date, known as a wind-up date. At this date the assets accumulated through the fund are distributed to the investors in a predefined order depending on what class of share they have purchased, with the low risk shares paying out first, but with limited gains, and the high risk shares paying out last, but with the highest potential gains if the fund were to perform well enough.

The share classes that pay out first usually have protection on the original capital investment which is then countered by the fact that they dont receive any income and during the life of the fund and the fact that the final redemption prices is predefined (so that the potential yield, if the fund were to grow sufficiently, has a ceiling). The series of share classes to pay out next will have diminishing protection on the original capital investment, but greater shares of the income payments and of the remaining asset growth if the investments were to perform very well. Therefore, with the last share class to pay out there is a high risk that there will be very low returns after the higher priority shares have been paid if the investment trust performs below expectations, but there is no limit on the potential gains if it does indeed perform well.

This choice allows investors with differing aims to invest into the trust in accordance with their own investment strategy. For example, pension fund managers running annuity funds may find that they can take up shares with higher risk (little capital protection as they will be redeemed after the lower risk share classes) but that have the potential to pay out more income if the underlying investments perform well. Contrastingly, private small scale investors who are after long term investment returns may be better suited to zero dividend preference shares (the first to pay out) which have the security of a fixed return/capital protection but miss out on the income payments along the way.

Even within these investment trust groups there will be a significant variety in the risk and potential reward profiles from one trust to the next depending on the stated strategy of the fund manager and the company sectors (geographical, industrial etc) in which they specialise. There should therefore be investment companies offering the right shares to meet any investors needs. If the price is right of course!

In the domain of real estate business there is no need to be apprehensive as yet for the Americans, are still recovering from the fear of debts which had controlled their finances until recently and it is only with the help of such resources as a low interest consolidation or the best debt management programs that the citizens could finally get respite from the trap of debts. But now when the economy has started to look up from the financial void, it is time for the citizens to change their views about some of the businesses which are capable of providing better returns in the long run. Gone are those days when businesses were looked with greater awe. Though there are persistent risks which are involved with this business, it is of more worth to calculate the advantages of being involved in this business.
Let us have an overview of the same in the next few lines:
If you have been comparing an array of business opportunities lately, you will be glad to know that a real estate investment is less risky than other businesses and they are in fact quite stable provided that you have actually been able to encompass the pettiest of aspects that are related to this business, and you have taken this opportunity seriously. However the lesser risks are associated with such factors as stability in the rate of mortgage followed by the appreciating value of the land and various other socio economic issues.
There is no need to have a huge capital at least initially to start off with the business. The property can be secured by negotiating a lower amount, and some money should be kept for holding the property as a security.
A real estate investment will not tale up a hell of all your time but only if you are calculating and clear sighted about the prevailing marketing conditions at that point of time.
As far as investing in real estate is concerned leveraging still remains as the best option wherein you can invest a portion of your money and the rest can be borrowed from a bank or any other financial institution.
If you are able to select the correct geographical location, you are likely to get a high value of appreciation over a period of time.
Along with paying your mortgage debts you will be creating a home line of equity which is to imply that you will be able to approach the original price of the property without any debt.
Unlike other investments where you may lose a lot of your money for paying the tax amounts, the tax exemptions on a real estate investment is much more than any other business.
Therefore a real estate investment is the best bet for the value of a property is almost always on the rise which provides a good impetus for the growth of this business, but you have got to treat it with the necessary vigilance and the required acumen.