Category: Investment

When it comes to finding affordable health insurance plans, it can be a challenging task. However, it is one aspect of your life that you cannot ignore or put off. It would determine the level of care that you would receive if your health takes a wrong turn. In addition, not choosing a health insurance plan or even choosing the wrong plan can have a major impact on your life. You must know that majority of bankruptcies are a result of heavy medical bills and illnesses.

A term life insurance is another important insurance policy that you cannot ignore from the perspective of long-term investment. If you follow the given tips, it would be possible to find a cheap term life insurance. If you live a healthy lifestyle, youwould be able to reduce the premium of your insurance. This wouldinvolvekeeping your body weight under control and getting a regular checkup and keeping yourself healthy. If you can avoid alcohol and smoking, it would further help in getting a cheap term life insurance. The reason is that the insurance company would then see you as a low-risk consumer.

Another aspect of your overall financial planning is choosing the best investment options. The first option is in the form of equity. Common stocks or shares are the most common types of equity. Regular shareholders would be able to claim the assets and income only after the stockholders are able to get payment.

A mutual fund is a relatively safer investment option where a group of investors pool their capital with ainvestment goal. Mutual funds are one of the best investment options as there is more diversification that ensures your investment is relatively safer. An investment company would manage the mutual fund and invest the pool of money into particular bonds and stocks. Therefore, when you invest in a mutual fund, your investments would be held indirectly. Usually, mutual funds are ideally suited to small investorsbecause of its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

Bank fixed deposits are also one of the best investment options. Here, you would hold a certificate of deposit that would pay you a fixed interest rate for a specific period of time. It is not possible to withdraw the money held in a fixed deposit before the maturity date. However, with certain penalty charges, it is possible to withdraw it prior to maturity. Typically, 15 days is kept as the minimal tenure of a fixed deposit. Such an investment option gives you higher rate of interest compared to a savings account.

Anothertype of investment with good promise of return is in the form of real estate. In the recent times, infrastructure bonds in india increasingly becoming popular because the cost of real estate keeps growing. When trying to invest in real estate, you would want to get the help of an investment consultant because the right choice of portfolio can make all the difference. These are some of the best investment optionsthat you can consider when creating a financial plan.

As a boutique investment bank, we expend a lot of effort providing high quality advice and service to our middle-market investment bank clients. We understand the need to align our investment banking services and fees with our clients’ interests, because ultimately, we act as our clients’ advocate. Completing transactions is difficult; we need to be working together. The following is a brief primer related to investment banking fees.

Retainer A credible middle market investment bank will charge a non-refundable retainer. There are two primary reasons for the retainer: (1) it covers the time and expense incurred in preparing the client to go to market and (2) it serves as a screening mechanism to ensure that the client is committed to the transaction. This retainer may be paid as a lump sum, over time or based on achievement of certain activities associated with the transaction process. This retainer should represent a minor portion of the overall fee. Sometimes retainers or portions of retainers are credited toward the success fee.

Success Fee The success fee, representing the majority of compensation, is tied to successful completion of a transaction and is structured as a percentage of the deal size. For capital raises, a fee percentage is applied to the amount of capital raised. The fee percentage increases as one moves from raising senior debt (perceived as less risky and ranges from 1%-2%) to junior debt (more risky) to equity (perceived as most risky and ranges from 5%-10%). Some fee arrangements include an “equity kicker” in the form of warrants. The size of the deal may also influence the fee percentage; the larger the deal the smaller the percentage. For merger and acquisition services, the fee percentage is applied to the overall size of the transaction. Although many business brokers refer to the Lehman formula, few mid-market investment banks use this structure. Instead, they may quote a straight fee percentage or a performance based progressive fee, which increases based on achieving a certain valuation target. The higher the companys valuation (the more dollars the seller puts in his pocket), the higher the investment bankers fee percentage. Progressive fee arrangements provide a strong incentive for the investment banker while aligning the parties’ interests in maximizing the value of the transaction to the client’s owners.

Final Comments. As with most things in life, keep the fee arrangement simple. Haggling over unique, low probability circumstances or creating complex fee structures generally backfires. Complex arrangements tend to cause uncertainty and can result in lack of motivation and focus from the investment banker, not what the client desires. You get what you pay for. Expect to pay a reasonable, market fee. Receiving an engagement letter containing a low fee (potentially with no retainer), indicates a low level of sophistication. Conversely, an engagement letter quoting an out-of-market high fee indicates someone wanting to take advantage of a client. These are not investment bankers you want handling your important deal.

About Wilcox | Swartzwelder & Co. Wilcox Swartzwelder and Co. based in Dallas, Texas, is a boutique investment bank providing merger and acquisition services and corporate finance advisory services to middle market companies in the energy, industrial and infrastructure sector. The Firm delivers a high level of personal service, in-depth industry knowledge, rigorous transaction execution and superior results. Principals have successfully completed almost 100 transactions with aggregate value in excess of $3.6 billion.

Mr. Jason Wilcox 433 E. Las Colinas Blvd. Waterway Tower, Suite 1200 Irving, TX 75039 972-831-1300 www.ws-ibank.com

Securities offered through Petro Growth Energy Advisors, LLC., member FINRA/SIPC.

If you’re like most people, you want your financial future to be better than your present, or at least not worse. So, you set money aside and think of ways to make it grow. The options seem endless, but you’ve selected real estate as your investment arena, and you’re considering condos.

Condos have several advantages over single family houses or 2-4 unit buildings. And several disadvantages. In my conversations with people who’ve invested in condos, few were aware of all of them. So here they are.

Advantages of buying a condo as an investment property

Maintenance

Maintenance needs to be done on all properties. Condos, especially condos that are professionally managed, offer some relief to condo investors.

You don’t have to worry about roof, stairs, landscaping and such. The association takes care of them. For a price, it’s true, but you don’t have to do them.

Some of the problems inside the unit can also be taken care of by the complex maintenance crew. That varies from condo association to condo association. And they charge you for it, but you don’t have to drop everything else and run to your condo because the sink’s leaking.

Price

Some condos are very expensive. However, houses of similar size in the same neighborhood cost more. So, you can buy an investment property in a better neighborhood. Also, in most areas, there’s no such thing as a 1-bedroom house, but there are 1-bedroom, or even no bedroom, condo units. And, usually, there are people willing to rent them.

Amenities

Amenities vary from condo association to condo association. But it’s possible to invest in a condo located in a complex that has swimming pool, 24-hour security, and such things.

The disadvantages of buying a condo as an investment

Rules

You have to follow rules that are not yours. Each association has its own rules. And the rules can change. One of the rules that can change is whether tenants are permitted or not. If you own a condo and the association votes no more tenants, when your lease is up, you either move in or sell. Your association might decide to go with the ‘no more tenants’ rule at a time when selling is not a great option.

Or, worse, they decide to allow too many rentals. Too many tenants can make getting a mortgage difficult (FHA and others do not like condo associations where more than 10% of the units are rented.) which makes reselling your investment difficult, not to mention refinancing it.

Shared decision making

Yes, you could make sure you have something to say about decisions and get yourself elected on the board of directors; still, you are not the only decision maker.

Association fees

You have to pay the same amount whether your unit is rented or vacant. In other words, you get to pay the same amount whether you use or not the services (for instance, the water bill portion of your assessment).

Special assessments

When you bought your condo unit, there were no special assessments and none were being considered. Six months later, the association decides it’s time for a new face and there’s not enough money in the reserves. They decide to go ahead with the face lift and pay it with special assessments. Your share is going to be twice your profits for the next 20 months. Can happen.

Yes, things can go wrong with a single family investment or an apartment building investment. But there you have more control. Because there you can have a home inspector inspect the whole structure. Because there there’s no board of director’s member whose boyfriend owns a construction company that could use a few thousand dollars.

So, overall, buying a condo as an investment is not the way to go. That is, if you can afford a single family house. A single family house is not the best way to go if you can afford a 2-unit building. A 2-unit building is not the best way to go if you can afford a 3-unit building and so on. Because of 2 reasons: when a condo is vacant (or a single family house) the whole income source is gone but the expenses are still there.

In any case, if you’re buying a condo as an investment property, you should know what you’re getting into.

The trend has changed a lot in the past few years when the foreign students have arrived in the country to get the higher education as well. The Student Housing Investment UK has become one of the most reputed and profitable business since the number of students has increased.

The heads at the Knight Frank have suggested that there are considerable opportunities for the ones who are waiting to plunge in this pool of opportunity. The researches have also shown that the students prefer to have better environment for the student accommodation and are willing to pay more in the sector too. The students so forth go for the places that are more comfortable and have better facilities for them even if they are not in the university campus. This calls for a greater chance for the Student Housing Investment UK offers for the students.

The investment returns have also shown positive recommendations for the people who are searching for opportunity of growth in the sector. The sector thus explains a lot of significance for the future yields for the investors. The analysis of September 2013 showed that the returns were around 7.8 percent, which are expected to get better by time. This gives another greater opportunity for the Student Housing Investment UK.

The rental growth that has charged in a great way is expected to go over 3.0 percent that is anticipated to go at least until 2.7 percent. This gives many chances to invest in the part of property that is used by the students. The student accommodation has become a great kind of return in this area. The unavailability of the students has shown a great response in the area as well. The growth in the sector has increased a lot in comparison to the year 2011. The rise in the student market was seen by 13 percent in the recent years that accounts for major investments in the area as well.

The Student Housing Investment UK thus has proven itself a great manifestation as well. The recent growth shows that the yields in the student population will keep on increasing many folds in the sector by a great percentage. The investors have believe in the fact the lack of purposeful buildings for the students and the increased number of students in the hare will also lead to many fantastic opportunities for the students. This is in turn a great revenue and yield building possibility for the investors. This confidence is evidently seen through the construction that is done on the broader level by the biggest construction companies in town and the ones funded by the foreign investors as well.

Making an investment is an extremely important decision, not just for business houses but also for individuals. It is crucial that investors consider a few things before they make their investment decision for certain. Market factors are very important and they should be given prime consideration, as they define the future of your investments.

As the global markets are still recovering from the hard-hitting subprime crisis of 2008, taking market factors into consideration have never been so important ever before. It is also necessary that investors consider their long-term goals and not just short-term interests before making an investment. This helps with avoiding a bad or rash investment decision. Let us have a look at some of the important points that demand consideration at the time of an investment:

1. Having an emergency repository of funds: It is a given that all investors must compulsorily have an emergency fund of sorts to help them cope with future exigencies, such as sudden falls in the market, unemployment, and so on. This emergency fund can be built using a portion of the monthly salary over a considerable period of time or alternatively, channeling a large part of the same towards building the fund over a lesser period of time. This would depend on personal choices and financial ability, etc.

2. Assessing ones financial position: Before entering the world of investing, it is extremely important that potential investors take time and conduct an assessment of their financial position. This step is mainly to help potential investors understand their financial risk-taking capacity and also their plan-goal compatibility, while taking the market conditions into consideration.

3. Pre-caution from fraud: Given that the markets are still only just recovering, it is not rare to find fraudulent practitioners in the world of finance and investment. Therefore, it is always advisable to be on the alert for fraud. One way to avoid entering into deals with fraudulent companies is by investigating their authenticity through research, and also checking with friends and family who are also aware of and are engaged in investment.

4. Types of assets and spreading investment risk: Out of stocks, bonds and cash, seldom does one see the simultaneous rise of all three types of assets at the same time. Therefore, it is best if the investor spreads his or her risk and decides to invest in more than one type. That way, in the event that the value of your investment in one type falls, the investment in the other is still available to compensate or fall back on.