4 Types of Investment Asset You Must Know

1. Cash

Cash is the most liquid and flexible asset of all. It is said that "Cash is King", as you will have the agility to invest in all other types of asset class using the cash when opportunity arises. You can save the cash in saving account to gain interest. The downside of keeping plenty of cash is that inflation will devalue your cash as saving account interest in most place of the world cannot cope with the inflation rate.

2. Bond

Bond is a form of  "I Owe U". The issuer sell bond and There are two main categories of bond issuers in the market - corporate bond and government bond. The issuer pay interest (can be fixed or variable) to the bondholder over the period of the bond, and the principle must be returned to the bondholder at the maturity date of the bond. The bond is a good form of regular income and your may have a chance to hedge against inflation if you manage to buy a bond with good yield. However, the risk is that the bond issuer can default the payment if they got into financial problem. In that case, you may lose part or full sum of your money.

3. Share

Share, or stocks, is a ownership to a business. Being a shareholder of a company, you are entitled to get dividend as at when the company announced dividend payout. You are also entitled to vote in their annual general meeting and extraordinary general meeting for company policy and resolution changes. You participate in the growth of the company overtime. When you invest in a good company, you can anticipate regular dividend income and long term appreciation of the share. The possible risk is that share price fluctuate from time to time. If you get caught in the wrong cycle, you may actually lose money.

4. Property

People buy property to collect rental and to keep for long term appreciation. Property investment are stable in nature and it provides stable income and potential future growth. However, Property is the least liquid asset of all. the process of selling off a property can be time consuming. On top of that, there are many ongoing cost as property has to be maintained from time to time. Property prices can fall depends on the location and economic situation. Make sure you have enough holding power when you invest in a property, otherwise you may end up losing more money than you invested.

Wealth or Health?

Wealth or Health?

Some people says the answer is so straight forward - Health. But, remember, none of us want to come to this world to suffer. Living with a sick body is not pleasant, living a poor life where you are forced to work like a machine for the rest of your life, and not getting a chance to enjoy the abundant beauty of the world is not pleasant either.

Many young people striving for their own dreams are faced with this dilemma today. We work hard and get ourselves involved in so many things - work, networking, investment, society, clubs, relationships, part-time jobs, and worst of all, we only have 24 hours/ 7 days a week to do all those. It seems like time is never enough.

As young entrepreneurs today, there are so many competitions around us (this is especially true when you are not born with silver spoon), and the reality is shouting at us : " rest is a privilege, not an entitlement. If you want to be rich, you must offer something to the society. In this case, your have to give up your health." , "if you are born poor it is not your fault, but if you die poor, it is."

Now, you are being confronted by reality. "Yes, I know health is the most important, but i'm starving. I want to be successful. I want to make the most out of this world before I die. If i die mediocre, i might as well never born."

I believe many have come across this crossroad. Health vs Wealth.

Here is the idea, "why not both?"

Without health, you do not own wealth. Without wealth, you can't sustain health. Too much of wealth is bad for your health, and extremely health-concerned will discourage you from pursuing wealth too. There is a point called balancing both.

This, is why Bread and Butter is here today. We share ideas and tips to balance the both elements. We learn and we grow together. While you are learning about financial knowledge, we are sharing health related knowledge with you, reminding you remain healthy is the only way to create sustainable health. Your net worth is your score board, but don't forget your intangible assets as well. Your wisdom, health, goodwill etc counts too.

Subscribe now, and grow with us!

Investing 101: When Is The Best Time To Start Investing?

When Is The Best Time To Start Investing?

Yesterday.

Yes, you are right, the best time to start investing is yesterday. Just like you always have another tomorrow, there is always a yesterday. The sooner you start investing, the better it is. You will realize how true it is when you come to understand the power of compounding interests.

Let's start with some simple calculation. Ben is 20 years old. Let's say Ben started his investment today with $10,000, and he manged to get a 10% return every year out of his investment. How much money would you think he would have 30 years later? Is your answer $ 40,000?

WRONG!

His portfolio would worth $ 174,494! How could this happened? This is the power of compounding interest! for this case, the calculation should be (1.1^30)x $10,000  = 17.4494 x $ 10,000 = $ 174,494.

Now, this is not all yet. What if Ben persist for another 15 years?
(1.1^45)x $10,000  = 72.8905 x $ 10,000 = $ 728,905. Surprise? An investment with mere 10 grands invested carefully and persistently for 45 years could turn into 729 grands. IF Ben started the investment with $ 50,000, he could have $3.65 million worth of asset when he turn 65. With that amount of money, he would be able to retire comfortably.

So, time is the most best friend for any investment. The earlier you start, the better your return will be.

I'm sure many people will be counting back the time they have lost not investing in the past. No point looking back on yesterday, it will never come back. So, the second best time to start investing is TODAY.

Start up your investment right TODAY, it is never too late!

"But I know nothing about investment!"
Come on, it's OK that you do not know. We are all born knowing nothing. If you do not know, just learn. Do not let your fear beat you down. B&B investing will be sharing investment tips from time to time. Just stay tune, and you will be a savvy investor one day.

"I'm afraid of losing money!"
You are already losing money to inflation every year without you knowing it! If you never invest, you will always lose money. We will be sharing about simple concept of inflation in the next few articles. Take the risk, and measures to manage your risk to be a successful investor. We don't abstain from driving just because so many accidents everyday, we take safety measures. B&B investing will also share some risk management tips in the future.

"I do not have money for investment!"
Well, save and invest should come first for all your income. If you never take the first step to save and invest, you will always have no money. You have no money for your first house, you have no money to feed your family, you have no money for your retirement, have no money to see the doctor when you fall sick. It's all about priority setting and fund allocation.

"I don't know what to buy!"
Subscribe B&B investing for more tips for investment. Just submit your email address above the page view meter and verify your email address in you inbox will do, You may find the verification in junk mail sometimes, please exclude the feeder from the junk mail list to ensure the updates are delivered timely.

Combating Stress: Why Stay Peaceful is Important

Why Stay Peaceful is Important

When we are stressed,

1. Our body goes into fight or flight mode, adrenaline and cortisol rise, so as the glucose level, heart rate and the blood pressure. 
2. Our muscles tense up, over long term, muscle produces a load of lactic acid and this not only turns our body acidic, also adds burden to our liver. Muscle knots may be form depends on the muscle group that got tensed up. Range of motion could be limited. 
3. Uneven muscle tension in the muscles, especially the muscles around out spinal cord and shoulders, causing improper postures that may result in long term health effect when the flow of nerve is interrupted.
4. We hyperventilate, causing low CO2 content in the blood that result in vasoconstriction in the brain and extremities. In milder cases, restricted blood flows to the brain means less oxygen and less nutrients.In another word, it make the brain dumb. while in extreme case, hyperventilation could cause dizziness and black out. 
5. Cardiovascular damages - heart pumping at high beat rate and high pressure will add burden to the cardiac muscle. If stress persist without taking a rest, heart damage may occur.
6. We are overclocking our body system, we burn our energy sources and nutrients faster than normal unnecessarily, 
7. We may find it hard to control our temper, a malicious cycle that make us even more stressful.
8. Have low self esteem & confidence. We may overthink and be pessimistic. Under stressful situation, our brain triggers the survival instinct to focus on the worst scenario for the things happen around us. 
9. We feel thirsty and lethargic due to dehydration.

By having peace with ourselves, 

1. We will have lower blood pressure, lower heart beat, and lower breathing rate. This will give ample room for our cardiovascular and respiratory system to recover. 
2. Our muscles are relaxed, our skins become more sensitive and our senses are become sharper, as we are able to receive more stimulus from our surrounding. This is because when we are at fight or flight mode, we tend to focus our senses to that particular one thing that we perceive as threat. When we tell the brain that the threat is gone, the senses are released from such signal, so colors become more vibrant, you become more mindful to the sounds around you, and the food taste better.
3. We have proper posture that allow proper movement of diaphragm. With that, more air can be breathed into the lungs every inhalation and the exchange of gases become more effective. Muscles will be relaxed, less lactic acid is produced and less fuel are burn, meaning your organ do not have to work in excess to produce the energy that we don't need and then spend more energy to get rid of those metabolism by-product.
4. We are able to see the "big picture". We will have the patience and open mind to interpret information without prejudice. We can better control our emotions, and we are more self conscious. 
5. We become more energetic, because when our body is in harmony, we have enough energy reserve to be tapped into whenever needed, and all our hormones are functioning more effectively. We digest better and rejuvenate better.

USA Federal Rate Hike - How is it Going to impact the Market?

USA Federal Rate Hike - How is it Going to impact the Market?

1. The coming December Federal Open Market Committee meeting is said to be a critical event on global market, with hints from their recent meeting that the FOMC has a strong desire to increase the interest rate in December.

2. Many people has reduced their exposure in the stock market, to keep themselves out of this uncertainty. China economy growth is seen slowing, from double digit growth to single digit (let's assume all their economic data report are 100% reliable, despite the president Xi himself has earlier mentioned that the numbers could be distorted to meet the targets set).

3. The US unemployment rate has dropped to 5% in October report, and the inflation has firmed up too. It is seen as the United States economy has gotten herself ready for the rate adjustment. To study the impact of the rate hike, we will have to identify the motive of the rate hike.

4. After the sub-prime crisis, the united states has undergone 3 QEs and the interest rate was near 0%, to stimulate the recovery of the economy. Traditionally, a country increases the interest rate when the economy is running too hot, as a cooling measure to prevent asset bubble. However, this round, the united state economy is not booming that wildly that it really needs a rate hike. In fact, the interested is planned to be increased gradually so that the united states has the margin to "stimulate the economy" by reducing the interest rate if economy outlook goes unfavorable.

5. It is believe that the FOMC has faced a lot of dilemma in deciding whether to increase the rate or not, that's why the decision has been postponed several round. The employment data, CPI, and inflation numbers are just part of the factors they take into consideration when making decision for the rate. Most importantly, the necessity of rate adjustment rely fully on the readiness of the market to absorb the shock and whether the companies and consumer are prepared to cope with the monetary tightening. Increasing the interest rate at average-performing economy to find room for future rate cut when economy turn bad, could be a bad idea. The move that was suppose to prepare for unfavorable time, could in turn cause the feared scenario to happen.



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