Saturday, May 10, 2008

Why invest?

Why invest?

It really is nearly a rhetorical question. Investing is the best way to secure your future. In this world there are two ways to earn income; one is to exchange you labor for dollars and the other is to have your money earn money for you. The rich know this and the poor don’t. It’s as simple as that.
Money kept in a “savings” account is earning interest at rates that don’t even keep pace with inflation, so you need to find the best place to put your money to beat inflation by a substantial amount. Average interest rates on savings account are currently less than 2%. Average annual returns for mutual funds are over 10%. Don’t understand what a mutual fund is or where you can find investments that will serve you well? You are in the right place to learn how to earn.
There is always risk in anything you do, but with education and research you can minimize that risk. As you get more education you can better decide how much risk you want to take and conversely how much return you need to make. Understanding the risks is the first step toward minimizing them. In fact, it is possible to make 10-15% annual return on your investment with almost no risk, if you know what you are doing.
One strategy that investors have been using for years is that of diversification. You do this by having investments in a range of different companies from blue chips to tech stocks, while also having some investments in bonds. To get a nice range of stocks some people use mutual funds to spread their investments without having to do a lot of research on different companies. This gives you diversification, and also has a professional taking care of the research end of that part of your investment portfolio.
There are many paths you can go down when you get into investing in the stock market, but one thing you can be sure of. With education and research you will make money. You are already beginning your education here, that’s a great start. Continue on this road and make your money work for you.Offshore Investing Guide
First of all, I would like to explain to you what offshore exactly refers to. Offshore is an international term meaning not only out of your country (jurisdiction) but out of the tax reach of your country of residence or citizenship.
The main reason people usually invest offshore is to avoid paying tax.
So why might an 'offshore' investment be superior to an onshore investment?
The first answer is because it is less regulated, and the behavior of the offshore investment provider, whether he be a banker, fund manager, trustee or stock-broker, is freer than it could be in a more regulated environment.
A very important thing to consider, when investing offshore, is the political stability of the country. Basically, what can happen to you is to lose 100% of your money, while trying to avoid paying 40% in tax. However, fact is that today, over half of world's transactions take place offshore. Investments grow much faster offshore, because the gain on investment, that is reinvested is much larger, since not tax was paid on the gain.
There is good news for the US or Canadian person. Even though taxes are to be paid on worldwide income generated in a controlled foreign corporation, one's privacy can still be protected. To maintain one's privacy, the stock in the offshore corporation can be owned by a private Nevada "C" Corporation (or for a Canadian an Alberta Corporation). This way, the income produced in the foreign corporation is reported on the tax returns of the corporation and not the individual. This can also be a tremendous tax-saving strategy, because the "C" corporation pays lower income taxes in most brackets than does an individual.
Due to the recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and European Union regulations, many jurisdictions that have a dependence on Great Britain have decreased or eliminated their privacy laws. The offshore tax havens that have independence from Great Britain have retained their strong privacy laws. Many of these countries receive a majority of their income from offshore services so they have a financial incentive to keep the privacy laws in place on a long-term basis.

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