Ideal Investments for Beginners: What Will Make You the Most Money?

For many, the word “investing” stimulates up ideas of men in suits and ties, monitoring the exchange of millions on a stock ticker.

I’m here to tell you that with so many different options, investing for a beginner is simpler and more straightforward than ever before.

Even if you only have a little money to spare, your money will grow with compound interest. The secret to building wealth is developing good habits.

Sometimes what you earn is not even enough. I agree! It’s barely enough to budget for your feeding and other expenses yet, we are here talking about investing?

Personally, there is no minimum amount to my mind, as investing is a habit that should be inculcated early. Soon you’ll see how addictive growing your money can be.

Getting Started

As a newbie, before you take a deep dive, there are some thinks you have to consider.

Risk Appetite

Know your risk appetite. This is paramount! Once you know you risk tolerance level, you can be able to cater your investment choices and also consider company stocks that blend your financial goals.

Diversification

Just like Halloween costumes, investing comes in different forms. If you’re reading this, you’re already thinking like an investor. Never put all your eggs in one basket.

Diversification is precisely that, you need to spread out your money into different investment options, which will collectively make up your portfolio.

Compounding

Compounding is basically reinvesting the returns from the investment. In other words, the amount you make from your initial investment helps you earn even more.

4 Ideal Investments for Beginners

So the million dollar question “If you’re just getting started, where should you invest your hard-earned money?

Here are 4 Investments that are well suited for beginner investors.

Stock

A stock is also known as a share in the financial market. It gives the buyer the opportunity to own part of a company, while the company gets money in exchange of the stocks bought.

It takes money to make money right? When it comes to investing in the stock market, cost is the major barricade to entry. But not anymore, the internet has helped investors to get started with little money.

People buy and sell shares based on the company’s performance, price movements, historic trends and by looking at charts. One can buy and sell shares from either banks or individuals.

Investing in stock is one of the most popular types of investments for beginners because it yields better returns in lesser time than others.

Bonds

Investing in bonds is less risky than stocks. It goes like this; you loan money to a company and in return you’re being paid interest periodically depending on the agreement.

Interest rates play a very vital role in determining the bond’s value. Unlike stocks, you can’t trade bonds through the exchanges, they are bought and sold by brokers.

Bonds value will either rise or fall depending on the direction of interest rates. They are identified as debt instruments, once they hit their maturity period, you get the initial amount loaned to the company back.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETF)

ETFs are traded like stocks on the stock exchange and brokers usually charge a commission to buy or sell them.

If you’re planning to invest in an ETF, you should choose a commission-free ETF so you wouldn’t have to be paying a commission each time.

ETF is basically pooled investments that pool investor’s money into stocks, bonds and other investments.

Investment Apps

There are several investing apps designed specifically for beginners. Most of these apps teach beginner investors how to build their own portfolios.

A good strategy is to keep depositing money from time to time so you can keep earning interest. Investment apps are really good for emergency purposes.

Wrapping Up

Maybe you’ve been keeping your money in a savings account, it’s a cool idea, but a better way to reach your financial goal is to invest.

Investing helps you make your money work for you, for instance; you can combat inflation by being able to afford the same amount of goods and services in the future that you can presently.

Also, compounding; the returns you earn are reinvested to earn more. All you have to do is start somewhere. Please share your thoughts and leave a comment.

    Mfreke Akpabio is a Writer, Speaker and a Communicator dedicated to the advancement of women in Fintech. Her key mission is to sensitize and support women dig deeper, discover themselves and illuminate the world with it.

    4 Ways Data Analytics Can Boost Your Business Growth

    As a Fintech writer, I’ve always been a fan of data analytics and big data. The Edward Demming quote “In God we trust, everyone else bring data” is one of my favorites.

    The digital wave has hit every industry by storm and they have been flooded with numbers and figures.

    Each business emerges with the belief that their idea can change the world but gathering facts and figures to convince their audience becomes much easier with an effective data strategy in hand.

    The data analytics concept has been around for many decades. It involves examining large amount of data by using advanced software systems.

    As a business owner, the challenge with all of this is not how do I gather the data, how do we structure it, or which tools will we use to analyze it, but what are the problems we are looking forward to solve.

    4 Ways Data Analytics Can Help Business Grow

    Maximize Customer Acquisition and Retention

    Building a long term relationship with your customer is very vital in your business.

    There’s no business that can claim success without first having to establish a solid customer base (aside from your strong team, of course).

    If your business isn’t learning how to satisfy customers, then it’s very easy to begin offering poor quality products, which will result in losing customers.

    Customer loyalty is built over time and it’s determined by little factors which help to win and sustain customers.

    To be able to attain high customer retention, you have to understand various customer behavior and satisfy customer’s wants.

    Improve Advertising and Marketing Insights

    Let’s face the truth here, businesses have lost millions spent in running advertisements that are not fruitful.

    Data analytics can help change this by ensuring that the market survey and research phase isn’t skipped and also that the marketing campaigns are powerful.

    Every advertisement is A/B split tested. From the opt-in page to the landing page, including product images are being effectively assessed for proper marketing by collecting and analyzing customer’s data.

    Advertising can be expensive and it’s important to know how to get the best return on investment.

    Knowing Your Competitors

    Data can be gotten from your competitors, that’s right! Their customers leave feedbacks and suggestions on their different social media platforms regarding the ways their products and services should grow.

    Analyzing this kind of data will give you room for improvement, learning, avoiding similar mistakes made by your competitors and enlightening you more about customer wants and how to satisfy these wants.

    Increase Decision Making

    Owing to a large amount of structured and unstructured data, it would be difficult to manage and infer relevant information from them.

    In an unpredictable world, data analytics help business owners make calculated decisions that yield productive results later in the long run.

    This asset also helps galvanize a derailed business back on track with objective insight which can be used creatively in executing a call for action.

    Data analytics also helps business owners in identifying potential opportunities, pinpoint areas that yield best results and maximize profits.

    Also, it helps in recognizing problems and eliminating the process of waiting for them to occur.

    Rounding Up

    As you can see, using data analytics isn’t the privilege of international corporations anymore.

    Through the implementation of data analytics, businesses can achieve customer retention, see better results in their advertisements, competitive advantage and increase decision making.

    If you think data analytics is something you can put on the back burner until your business is well established, getting to that point could be a lot more difficult.

    If you’re looking for an excellent improvement in all areas of your business, then data analytics is the tool that can help you with that.

    As always, let me know if you have any questions in the comment section and I would be glad to answer them.

    Happy Analyzing!

    Personal Financial Management Tools.

    Finding the right tool can make any job easier and even enjoyable. It’s as true in carpentry as it is in personal finance.

    Personal Financial Management (PFM) Tool is any application that helps you with all aspects of your personal finances.

    It’s designed to help individuals manage and track their finances more effectively and efficiently.

    You can choose different software for different goals. Some software is for budgeting, others are good for investing and others are good for debt tracking and savings.

    How Does Personal Financial Management Tool Work?

    PFM typically works by collecting your personal data, linking the software to your financial institution, investment accounts and credit cards.

    Once it has access to your accounts, it can monitor your credit, help you create a budget, offer tips and investment advice, track your savings and spending habits and send out bill pay and savings goal reminders.

    4 Software To Manage Personal Finances

    Some PFM software is completely free, while others charge a monthly or annual fee.

    Quicken: Best Overall

    Quicken is the grandfather of budgeting tools. It is one of the most established personal finance software.

    It’s designed to handle all of your finances, including budgeting, debt tracking, savings goal and investment coaching.

    Pros

    • Bill paying.
    • The software features Excel exporting, which enables you to perform additional calculations on your data.

    Cons

    • Mac Versions: The Mac version is not as robust as the PC version.
    • Portability: Quickens data stays on your computer, users who seek financial software that operates across their personal computer, mobile phone and tablet should look elsewhere.
    • Upgrades: Each year, it gains only a few new features. Therefore, it doesn’t justify the upgrades.

    YNAB (You Need A Budget): Best for Habit Building

    For those who just want a budgeting tool, YNAB is my top pick.

    If you’ve been struggling with bad financial habits, YNAB can help you break them through a few basic financial management rules.

    As you create your budget and manage your daily finances, the software provides you with tutorials that will assist you tackle some of the tougher financial topics.

    Pros

    • Tracking your monthly budget and take action if you’re overspending.
    • Designed to encourage you create budgets based on income you’ve already earned, rather than creating budgets based on future income.
    • Familiar spreadsheet layout that’s easy to use and understand.

    Cons

    • It doesn’t include investment tracking capabilities.
    • It doesn’t automatically connect to financial institutions to download transactions. Users do it by themselves each month.

    Personal Capital: Best for Investors

    Personal Capital is ideal for those who want to track both their budgets and investments.

    It offers robust budgeting software and provides a retirement and savings planner with tools to keep tabs on investments all in a single platform.

    Pros

    • Free to use
    • Retirement planning and investment features that enables you accomplish financial goals.

    Cons

    • Some app features are more limited.
    • Some users report connectivity problems with bank accounts.

    Mint: Best for Budgeting and Beginners

    Mint is owned along with Quicken by Intuit, Inc., it is the online version of Quicken.

    Mint is regarded as the best option for beginners because it helps you make budgeting easy.

    If you’ve set up budget categories, Mint will give you real time information about the amount you can spend on things like: food, fuel.

    This software pulls in your bank and credit card information to analyze your spending and help you see if you’re on track when you’re just starting your budgeting process.

    Pros

    • No monthly fee.
    • The financial dashboard tracks your net worth and provide access to your credit score.

    Cons

    • Account syncing can be slow.
    • Goal setting options are limited.
    • Lots of advertisements.

    Rounding Up

    Creating a budget can take time and it can be difficult to know where to start.

    PFM tools aims to streamline the process so you can make your finances work for you instead of simply spending it as it comes in.

    Trust me Personal Financial Management Tool is typically worth the relatively low cost if it helps you meet your personal financial goals.

    All you have to do is choose the right one that’ll help you stick to a budget, save money and track your investments.

    As always, let me know if you have any questions or need any further information and I would be glad to steer you in the right direction.

    Happy Budgeting!

    Career Path: Jobs in the FinTech Industry.

    Financial services are among the most heavily regulated sectors in the world.

    Financial technology, (Fintech) is used to describe the integration of technology into offerings by financial services companies, in order to improve their use and delivery to customers.

    Fintech is utilized to help companies, business owners and consumers manage their financial operations and lives with the help of specialized software and algorithms that are used on computers and smartphones.

    Fintech began to flourish in the 21st century. Since then, Fintech has grown explosively, from applied technology at the back-end systems of financial institutions into different sectors of financial activities such as: cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, money transfers, depositing a check with your phone, RegTech, cyber security and big data.

    Careers in Fintech

    The Fintech industry is thriving. In the first half of 2018, companies invested $41.7 billion in Fintech worldwide, surpassing the total record spent in 2017.

    Here are Some of the Top Fintech Careers

    Blockchain Developer

    According to PwC, 30% of finance companies expect to incorporate blockchain technologies into their strategy.

    The recent peak in cryptocurrency and blockchain interest continues to fuel job demand as companies require programs to improve efficiencies.

    App Developer

    Nick Szabo, the developer who coined “smart contracts”, notes that there is a high “dollar-to-knowledge” ratio in the blockchain space, where capital greatly exceeds talent.

    Demand for blockchain talent is rising, with salaries to back it.

    App developers who are skilled in more than one programming language enjoy great success in financial sectors.

    According to report, millennials are more likely to use their increased ability to make payments on their smart phones.

    Therefore, financial technology application developers continue to be in high demand.

    Data Scientist/Analyst

    Data is being generated yearly by trillions of online transactions ranging from transfers, payments, subscriptions, purchases, etc, through the global banking system.

    This is where data science comes in. Data scientists take raw data, clean it and analyze it in order to get information.

    Data scientists are being offered very lucrative packages from the tech world.

    Cybersecurity Analyst

    Financial institutions are targeted by cyberattacks 65% more than the average business.

    This is why cybersecurity is now more important than ever. Companies are willing to spend more money to protect themselves from increased vulnerability to malicious cyber threats.

    Cybersecurity ventures estimates that cybercrime will triple the number of job opportunities in the next five years. Therefore, the Fintech domain needs experts in this field.

    Quantitative Analyst

    Quantitative analysts also known as “Quants” specializes on researching, analyzing and forecasting market trends to make modeling decisions.

    Quants also build strategies and interpret big data that help maximize profit and minimize risk.

    As big data grows, so will the demand for quantitative analysts, especially in FinTech.

    Rounding Up

    The world of finance has transformed tremendously in recent years with the rapid evolution of technology birthing the new domain of Fintech.

    These new technologies are predicting more customer behavior and allowing organizations to make better decisions that contribute to redefining our lives.

    Blockchain technology, application development, data science and quantitative analysis are hot areas with a significant shortage of talents.

    Job seekers eager to build a career path in the field of Fintech can start learning and looking for opportunities in these fields.

    Let me know if you have any questions or contributions in the comment section.

    Investing in Gold, The Four Best Cryptocurrencies.

    The world may seem scary presently, but about the last thing you want to do when it comes to investing is trust your own emotions.

    You may feel some type of way investing in cryptocurrency, but you can’t just leave money sitting in the bank. That’s a different kind of risk, because your money won’t keep pace with inflation.

    According to CFP Stacy Francis, President and CEO of Francis Financial in New York, gold is a Godiva chocolate of an investment in that it is very tempting.

    In June 2018, stocks were beating gold. Then slightly more than a year later, gold was outperforming stocks.

    Whenever the economy is not certain, you’re likely going to get recommendations to invest in gold because of the hedge against inflation.

    The best cryptocurrency to buy is determined by your familiarity with risk tolerance and digital assets.

    Here are four of the best Cryptocurrencies to invest in now

    Bitcoin (BTC)

    Bitcoins were first mined in January 2009. There are three ways to obtain Bitcoins: buying on an exchange, accepting them for goods and services and mining new ones.

    Steven Smith set a limit on the number of Bitcoins that will ever exist, which is 21 million. Currently, more than 12 million are in circulation, which means that 9 million Bitcoins are waiting to be discovered.

    Bitcoin price was high in December 2017, it was at $20,000 before falling to the bottom at $3,234 in 2018 by the end of that year.

    As it is, Bitcoin has not always been smooth sailing, however, Bitcoin has risen to more than $40,000 in January 2021 making a market cap of more than $1 trillion.

    Bitcoin having the biggest name in cryptocurrency gives it an edge over other competitors, making it the number one crypto to buy for investors new to the asset market.

    Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

    Bitcoin cash is a cryptocurrency that is a fork of Bitcoin. It was created in August 2017 by some Bitcoin developers who proposed a solution to the slowing down of Bitcoin transactions and increasing transaction fees. This was as a result of the data blocks being filled up.

    Bitcoin cash is able to process transactions more quickly than the Bitcoin network. In November 2018, Bitcoin cash split into two cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin cash and Bitcoin SV.

    Bitcoin cash may be less popular than Bitcoin, but it has potentials for growth.

    Ethereum (ETH)

    Ethereum is Bitcoin’s strongest competitor. It was recently tying with Bitcoin for first, before dropping back down to second place. This cryptocurrency was launched in 2015.

    One of the major philosophies behind cryptocurrencies is the decentralization of currency, meaning that they are not issued or regulated by a central bank or a third party.

    Ethereum takes a step further, rather than decentralize money, Ethereum’s goal is to decentralize the internet by replacing servers with a worldwide system of nodes, creating one computer for the entire world.

    Ether is like the fuel for running commands on the Ethereum platform, it is used mainly for two purposes; it is traded as a digital currency as other cryptocurrencies and also used on the Ethereum platform to run applications.

    Litecoin (LTC)

    Litecoin was created by Charlie Lee in October 2011. In technical details, Litecoin is nearly identical to Bitcoin.

    It is a cryptocurrency and open source software project released under the MIT/XII license. The Litecoin network aims to process block every 2.5 minutes, rather than Bitcoin’s 10 minutes.

    The method of mining Litecoin are more complicated to produce than Bitcoin. Lee created a cryptocurrency that could play the role of “silver to Bitcoin’s gold”. It adopted many of the features of Bitcoin with little differences.

    Continue reading “Investing in Gold, The Four Best Cryptocurrencies.”

    Low Carb Diets, The Positives and The Negatives

    I was skeptical, but it turns out there is no exact definition of what constitutes a low carb diet, what is low for an individual may not be for another.

    A low carb diet is a diet that eliminates almost all forms of carbohydrate food. It is simply referred to as carb restricted diet. It is high in primary protein or fat.

    A person’s carb intake depends on various factors such as: age, body composition, food culture, current metabolic health, personal preference and activity levels.

    An individual on a low carb diet must avoid these six food groups: sugar, refined grains, trans fats, highly processed foods and starchy vegetables. While endeavoring to eat: meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds and fats and oils.

    Possible Benefits of Low Carb Diets

    Weight Loss

    Low carb diet is an effective weight loss strategy. Research has shown that low carb diets can reduce a person’s appetite, make them eating fewer calories and help lose weight, if they maintain their diet.

    Blood Sugar Control

    A low carb diet have a positive effect on blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes in the short term. Some studies show that a low carb diet is very effective in the reduction of blood sugar levels.

    Lower Risk of Metabolic Syndrome

    One of the functions of a low carb diet is to prevent some of the risk factors related with metabolic syndrome, which include: belly fat, high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar.

    Downsides of Low Carb Diets

    Lacking Some Nutrients

    Increased urination that results from restricting carbs may lead to deficiencies in potassium and sodium overtime. Sodium is a crucial electrolyte. Low sodium levels can become problematic when your kidneys dump too much of it.

    Also, it may not provide adequate minerals and vitamins, such as: vitamin B and C.

    Low Energy and Constipation

    When you remove the energy source from your diet, you must compensate it with something else. Failing to do so may lead to low energy and fatigue.

    Also, since a low carb restricts fruits, it can be very low in fiber and fiber is important for digestion since it helps maintain bowel regularity. Therefore, low carb diets may cause constipation and digestive discomfort.

    Unknown Long Term Effects

    Due to lack of research on the long term effects of low carb diets, it is difficult to estimate the long term effects.

    A low carb diet could have health consequences over time. Which make it inappropriate for pregnant and breastfeeding women, children and those with eating disorders.

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