Dividend stock--- low risk investment in stock market

Dividend is a payment made by the company to the share holders. When a company earns more profit, they can either re-invest that in business or distribute it among the shares holder as dividend. It can be either or both. Means, a corporation can re-invest half of the profit in business and distribute the other half. The dividend offer by company is usually paid out quarterly.

There are different forms of dividend payment.

Cash: In this case you will receive a check for your dividend amount form the company.

Stock: Here you won't get cash, but get additional stock shares as per your dividend amount.

When you get dividend in cash, it's taxable, but in the case of stock tax is charged only if it get sold.

There must be a declaration date on which the Board of Directors announces dividend. On this day, the Board will also announce the dividend's size, ex-dividend date and payment date. Once the dividend is declared, the company is legally liable to pay it. The declaration date in U.S. is on the third Friday of the listed month, however it may fall on Thursday, in case there is a holiday on Friday.

As a beginner we should look for the stocks with minimal risk of dividend cuts and other negative factors with high probability of dividend getting increased. Always looks for stocks which has more than 3 percent dividend yeild and also look for the companies with low-debt.

If you are looking for a low risk investment in dividend stock, check the companies record for last 5 years if they are paying dividend every year. Also pay attention to companies earnings growth.

Insure security of your family

Insurance is all about insuring security of your family and belongings in case something happens to you or your assets. It's very important to buy insurance in order to maintain a healthy financial position. Insurance is not only beneficial after your death, but it is to support your living. You can take it as your personal investment.

What you are required to do to get insured?

All you need to do is pay a premium amount that you can afford for a long term such as 15,yrs, 20 yrs.....etc. It can be paid on monthly, quarterly or annual basis, as per your convenience. The maturity benefit amount will depend on the premium amount that you will pay. In the meantime if something happens to you, the full maturity benefit amount is given to your beneficiary.

There are different policies which can be beneficial in different ways. So please check with an insurance agent to buy a policy according to your requirement. Today, there are many insurance companies available. So before buying an insurance, also check for interest rate offered by different companies.

There are many types of insurance you can purchase:

Auto insurance
Home insurance
Health insurance
Disability insurance
Casualty insurance
Life insurance
Property insurance
Liability insurance
Credit insurance
Business insurance
Travel insurance.

So what are you thinking of? Go and get insured as per your need...........good luck.

Managing your credit report

Do you know that over 36 percent of American consumers weakened with a low credit score? This is due to high hospital and medical bills. In today's world of finance you must manage your debt to maximize your buying power.

People with bad credit are charged high interest rates by banks and other finance companies. It's very important to maintain a good credit report to get any financial help. Sometimes even the good credit score is shown bad in the report due to some error. So you must obtain a copy of your credit report at least once a year.It will help you in two ways. First, you can check for identity theft and second to check if there was any mistake in the report. A report by U.S. Public Interest Research Group(PIRG) show that nearly one-third of all credit reports contain "errors".

Do you know what to do when you find a error on your credit report?

When you find a error in the report, first check to make sure that the mistakes are in fact errors. Then you will need to contact the credit bureaus. The bureaus have a specific procedure for dealing such mistakes. You will need to follow their instructions. Also you need to contact the companies that reported the error and ask them to correct your credit report. They will send a written notice for correction to the credit bureau.

After that keep contacting them to get updates on the investigation.

Investing in shares

If you are planning to invest in share market, you need to have a proper planning and strategy, so that you can make profit. As a beginner you may lose some funds, but make sure that you don't lose much. So the first thing I'd personally suggest is to keep watch on stock market for few days so that you can judge for a profitable share. Check the ups and downs in the face value of shares for different companies. You can also invest on dividend stocks.

Dividend stocks are those which pay a yearly dividend apart from profit that you make by selling. Generally, on holding a share, you can advantage from profit of the company and dividend. Dividend is a part of a profit distributed by the company. Say a company distributed 50% of the profit as dividend. So if the profit of a company is 1 crore in 2006-2007, Rs 50 lakh will be distributed as dividend and will be divided by the number of shares that the company has.

Now the question is how will you start buying shares? There are two ways to purchase share.

1. Using a brokerage: The is a most common method of buying share by using a brokerage.

2. DRIPs & DIPs: Dividend reinvestment plans or direct investment plans are plan by which Individual companies allow shareholders to purchase share directly from their company. Its a great way to invest a small amount of money.

Now you can go ahead to check stock market status and plan to invest in shares.

Personal bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a way of handling debts that you cannot pay and can get a new start with legal process. All bankruptcy cases are handled by federal court. You need to file a petition to commence bankruptcy including a statement of your assets and liabilities. Also you need to add your creditors list. Until your debts are sorted out by federal court, it stops your creditor to collect debts from you.

Personal bankruptcy can be filed under chapter 7 and chapter 13. Debtors filed bankruptcy under chapter 7 to encash their property and distribute it to creditors. And under chapter 13, debtors can make a 3 to 5 years plan to repay the amount to creditors.

Generally, your debts increases from:

* Medical bills
* Credit cards
* Mortgage payments
* Tax obligations

Before filing personal bankruptcy, you should always consult an attorney who is experienced in handling such cases. He will be able to guide you on how you can get protection from bankruptcy so that you need not loose all your property.

Mutual fund.......investment at low cost and risk.

Mutual fund is just like a Mall where you get most of the things under one roof. The only difference is you don't need to visit each store or counter for different things. It's all done by the fund manager. It's a collective investment scheme where the funds of many investors are collected together and invested in bonds, stocks, short-term money market instruments, and other securities.The profit from these investments are then shared by its units holders in proportion to the number of units owned by them. In my opinion, Mutual funds is the most suitable investment for a beginner or common man, as the funds here are invested in a diversified and professionally managed way at a very low cost and risk.

Let me list the advantages of investing in a Mutual fund. Here it is:

. Proffesional management
. Convenient Administration
. Diversification
. Low cost
. Transparency
. Return Potential
. Liquidity
. Choice of schemes
. Flexibility
. Well Regulated
. Tax benefits

Now a days Mutual funds are becoming more popular. The main reason behind this is the disappearence of traditional pension funds. Workers used to depend on their employer to get certain amount for the duration of their retirement. Now it's their responsibility to manage their own money. Till last year (2007) approx 44 % of US households invested in Mutual fund.

Your money........our advice

Personal Finance is your monetary decisions of to make your money worth. It's an idea on how you can save and make your money grow, apart from all your expenses. In this article, I'll discuss the ways in which you can budget, save and spent monetary resources, talking into account all financial risks and future life happenings.

We should keep an account of our income and expected expenditures to manage financial status. For money to grow, the best way out is to invest them. The rate of investment should be more than the rate of inflation in order to make profit. Investment should be done as early as you can and at regular intervals. And both for the long and short terms. In personal finance you can use your funds for the purchase of shares or any other collective investment plans. It can also be used for the buying of assets. You can invest on Real estate. Here your fund is invested to purchase property, which you can use for your personal purpose or rent out to make it a source of income. This investment is subject to capital profit or loss as the value of property may vary. Investments can be done in money market securities, mutual funds, common stocks, and bonds, direct public offering (DPO) and initial public offering (IPO). One should try not to get in bad debts. Also one should keep track of his credit report.

In the family, death of any earning member gives a severe financial shock. Such situations can be covered by opting for a life insurance policy. Also commodities like cars, houses..etc can be insured as their accident destruction can be a risk. In this way also you can manage your personal finances. We should plan taxes at the beginning of current year to avoid be burden by investment load. One can save taxes by investing in mutual funds. Investing in real estate can also be very much profitable.