Safe High Return Investments Baltimore – - Socially Responsible Investing for Idiots

Socially Responsible Investing for Idiots

Sí, Money! (http://simoney.us) By Michael Grodsky

If I have to be an idiot, at the least I’m a green idiot. I believe in clean air, corporate responsibility, community activism, licorice, pizza and Thai food. And healthy living, freedom, and of course freedom raisins.

Shiny happy raisins

I love trees, sky, and ah, the OXYGEN! But I’m worried about the dismal state of health care, education funding, the ozone hole, the Medicare donut hole, and your little dog too! Did you know the North Pole is melting? That really scares me. Plus I need to cut down on my Chunky Monkey intake.

In everything I do, in every move I make, it seems that I’m part of the worldwide web of production and consumption. So I pertly place my recyclables in the blue bin, our family uses reusable grocery bags, and I vote. What more can a light-switch thumping, gasoline-pumping 21st century fox do?

C’mon, baby, light my SRI fire…

It was only a couple of years ago a friend remarked to me that real estate was the only investment that made any sense, as if his seat on the Ferris Wheel of investments, propelled by an invincible source, would forever be going up, up, UP! Instead, what happened was “up, up and away.”

The first Ferris wheel, from 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago

The desire for a sure thing is hard to resist. Albert Einstein, succumbing to pressure to support the idea of a static universe, in his 1917 paper added an adjustment number called the “cosmological constant” to his equation for general relativity. In 1931 he publicly renounced this static cosmology and endorsed the Big Bang expanding universe model, ditching the cosmological constant and returning to his original equation. He later called his bowing to peer pressure the greatest blunder of his entire life. You can read about the adventure in author Simon Singh’s “Big Bang – The Origin of the Universe.”

Many philanthropic foundations have long drawn a wall between their socially conscious mission statements that drive grant making, and the investment holdings of their endowment. There is a truism that investing for social benefit results in lower returns. But just as scientific peer consensus eventually embraced the Big Bang theory, so has the thinking of philanthropic foundations changed. The reasons are twofold: A recognition that corporate responsibility and societal concerns are valid parts of investment decisions, (1) and a growing number of academic studies have demonstrated that socially responsible investment (SRI) mutual funds perform competitively with non-SRI funds over time. (2)

For example, according to University of Maastricht and Erasmus University Rotterdam economists in their prize-winning paper, “we find little evidence of significant differences in risk-adjusted returns between ethical and conventional funds for the 1990-2001 period.” (3)

Foundation investment choices seem to be increasingly guided by effect upon society as a whole, not just financial gain, according to a recent Los Angeles Times article. (4) Fresh thinking in the nation’s largest foundations may be driving the impetus ever faster: The $8.5-billion William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Menlo Park), the $6.1-billion John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Chicago), the $7.8-billion W.K. Kellogg Foundation (Battle Creek, Michigan) all have made recent changes to improve the social effect of their investments. (5)

SRI assets are also growing faster than assets as a whole: according to the non-profit Social Investment Forum’s 2005 biennial report, SRI assets rose more than 258 percent from $639 billion in 1995 to $2.29 trillion in 2005. Over those ten years, SRI assets grew four percent faster than the entire universe of managed assets in the United States. (6)

Some have already been on the SRI track: the nation’s second largest foundation, the Ford Foundation, along with others such as the F.B. Herron Foundation, the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation and the Nathan Cumings Foundation, have for a long time aligned their charitable and investment practices.

What is Socially Responsible Investing? Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is a broad-based approach to investing that now encompasses an estimated $2.3 trillion out of $24 trillion in the U.S. investment marketplace today. (7) The release of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment–subscribed to by some of the world’s largest institutional investors, asset managers, and related organizations representing over $9 trillion in assets as of mid- 2007–underscores the widespread acceptance of the principle that investors cannot, in the long run, achieve their goals by investing in corporations that externalize their costs onto society. (8)

How do I research SRI funds? A good place to start is the Social Investment Forum (http://www.socialinvest.org). Look at the resource list at the end of this article too.

How do I start investing? If you participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, there may be SRI funds already available to you. If you manage your own IRA or other plan, look into what’s available. But don’t just go adding a fund without considering the entire makeup of your portfolio.

The key to earning decent long-term returns and limiting overall risk is to have a proper asset allocation, meaning you don’t have all your eggs in one basket. For do-it-yourself-ers, check out the government’s website about asset allocation (http://tinyurl.com/2825hw), or purchase “All About Asset Allocation” by Richard A. Ferri ($13.57 at Amazon), a great introduction to the topic. Your personal financial advisor or company where you have your investment or retirement accounts can help.

How do I know which funds will produce the highest returns? You don’t, you can’t, and you won’t, so just forget about it because past performance doesn’t predict future results. The day-to-day ups and downs of the market receive the media attention, but the daily, quarterly, or even yearly returns are largely irrelevant in constructing an individual’s portfolio whose objectives are long-range.  What you want to look for are funds that perform well over the long run within their particular sector, as compared to the appropriate benchmark indices. Various areas of the economy are always moving up and down and sideways, and so far no one has ever been able to know ahead of time what the pattern will be. Asset allocation, I’ll say again, may be the key to long-term success in building a financially secure future. Not panicking helps too!

What makes an SRI fund different? If a prospective company is a fit according to a fund’s stated objectives, research is performed to determine whether or not it’s a good idea to buy stock at the current offering price. It boils down to the question “Within the guidelines of the stated objectives of the fund, will this purchase help to achieve the highest possible return for the fund’s shareholders?”

The three core socially responsible investing strategies are screening, shareholder advocacy, and community investing. Screening means a fund will include or exclude companies based upon criteria such as alcohol, tobacco, animal testing, and human rights, among others. These screens can be positive (e.g., including companies that treat employees well) or negative (e.g., excluding companies who do business with disturbed musicians).

Keep in mind that, as with all mutual funds, SRI funds have no guarantees of future return.

In any case, you’d better take this lad’s offering of raisins!

If you use electricity, drive a car, and participate in many other activities of daily living, in a very true sense you are already investing in the companies that allow and encourage your consumption. In other words, you are part of the “market” whether or not you actually own stocks or mutual funds. Socially responsible investing can be a way to make your dollars work toward something in which you believe, and support those companies you believe have a vision in line with your own.

Resources and suggested reading

1.    “The Mission in the Marketplace: How Responsible Investing Can Strengthen the Fiduciary Oversight of Foundation Endowments and Enhance Philanthropic Missions.” Social Investment Forum Foundation’s resource guide for foundations to manage risk and leverage their investment assets more fully with their core philanthropic purpose, while creating lasting value. http://tinyurl.com/35t49h 2.    “10 best” list of companies. Corporate Responsibility Officer magazine rates the citizenship disclosures, policies and performance of large-cap, public companies in the following industries: Auto & Vehicles, Paper, Technology Hardware, Technology Software, Transport, and Travel & Lodging industries, Chemical, Energy, Financial, Media and Utilities industries. http://www.thecro.com/node/580 3.    Social Science Research Network. http://www.ssrn.com/ 4.    United Nations’ “The Principles for Responsible Investment.” An investor initiative in partnership with UNEP Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact. http://www.unpri.org/ 5.    The Social Investment Forum; national membership association dedicated to advancing the concept, practice, and growth of socially and environmentally responsible investing. http://www.socialinvest.org/ 6.    Social Investment Forum’s 2005 biennial report. http://tinyurl.com/258794 7.    Sristudies.org, a resource for quantitative aspects of socially responsible investing. Includes an annotated bibliography of studies of socially responsible investing. A project of the Moskowitz Research Program, which is affiliated with the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. 8.    Socially Responsible Mutual Fund Charts of Financial Performance. http://www.socialinvest.org/resources/mfpc/ 9.    SocialFunds.com, an advertising-driven website with information on SRI mutual funds, community investments, corporate research, shareowner actions, and daily social investment news. 10.    “Handbook on Responsible Investment Across Asset Classes.” For asset allocation junkies, individuals and institutional investors the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship created this work. http://tinyurl.com/2ffqbu

Footnotes

1. The Maturing of Socially Responsible Investment: A Review of the Developing Link with Corporate Social Responsibility by Russell Sparkes and Christopher J. Cowton. Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 52, Number 1 / June, 2004. 2. SriStudies.org 3. International Evidence on Ethical Mutual Fund Performance and Investment Style, paper by Rob Bauer, Kees Koedijk, Rogér Otten. Limburg Institute of Financial Economics, November 2002. (socialinvest.org/resources/research) 4. Foundations align investments with their charitable goals by Charles Piller, Los Angeles Times, December 29, 2007. Section C, p 1. 5. Ibid. 6. 2005 Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States. Social Investment Forum. (www.socialinvest.org) 7. Socially Responsible Investing Facts. Social Investment Forum. www.socialinvest.org 8. PRI Report On Progress 2007. PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment), United Nations. (www.unpri.org)

Image credits

Sun-Maid/George Bush composite image •    First Sun-Maid packaging to feature a likeness of Lorraine Collett as the “Sun-Maid Girl,” 1916. Designer unknown, incorporates painting by Fanny Scafford. Public domain in the United States. •    Photograph of Bush speaking. Brazil, November 6, 2005. Agência Brasil, a public Brazilian news agency, produced photograph. Published under the Creative Commons License Attribution 2.5 Brazil. Fox/Morrison composite image •    Foxes by Franz Marc, 1913. The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. Public Domain. •    Jim Morrison portrait, 2007, by Amadeu.taradell. Released by author into public domain. Ferris Wheel/Superman composite image •    The first Ferris wheel from the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The New York Times photo archive. Public Domain. •    Screenshot of 1941 cartoon Superman. Fleischer Studios. This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 with a copyright notice, and its copyright was not renewed. Musician holding Valentine’s Day raisins composite image •    Photo of musician Jeff Hawley, 2007.  Manager, Marketing Content Pro Audio and Combo Division, Yamaha Corporation of America. Courtesy of Mr. Hawley. •    Photo, August 3, 2005 by Mazbln. Halberstadt, Klosterkirche St. Burchardi, Ort des John-Cage-Projektes “As slow as possible.” Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. •    Original painting of Lorraine Collett by Fanny Scafford, 1915, later used on Sun-Maid raisin packaging. Public domain in the United States.

This column is meant to provide general information, and should not be construed as providing investment, legal, or tax advice. There is no guarantee as to the accuracy or completeness of the information in this article. There are no guarantees of future return for any fund, nor an endorsement of any investment product. Mutual funds are sold by prospectus only. For complete information on mutual funds including sales charges and expenses, call your financial professional for a prospectus. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. Links are provided herein as a courtesy, and no guarantees are made as to the accuracy of the content on the referenced websites.

Sí, Money! – Vol. 2, No. 1  February 2008 – http://simoney.us

Safe High Return Investments Maryland

Safe High Return Investments Baltimore – Day Trading Like a Pro

By.- http://www.StressFreeTraders.com

It’s no secret that online trading can be a very lucrative, yet highly competitive field, and the truth is that the stock market doesn’t care if you are an experienced or a beginner trader.

The rules and the opportunities are the same for everyone, so either you are going to make money when you pick a stock and make a trade or you are simply going to lose it in favor of the more seasoned ones.

As a stock trader your homework is all about studying and testing different market strategies that can help you take advantage of stocks while at the same time protect your gains.

Just always keep in mind that a good strategy is simple and practical. Complicated stock systems will always make you slow in your decision making process or confuse you from the start.

A trader must always read as much as he can. There is simply no other way to prepare one self for this difficult yet incredibly rewarding activity, but to read and put into practice as much ideas as you can, at least by paper trading first.

The are a lot of books on the subject that pretend to help you, however many of them where written 6 or 8 years ago and that kind of makes them obsolete in this constantly changing field.

Fortunately there are some practical stock trading sites on the web where you can access proven trading strategies that are easy to implement. One of those sites is http://www.StressFreeTraders.com

They focus on stock trading methodologies that can help you identify and take advantage of certain stocks with momentum, while limiting your risk.

Visit them today and improve your stock trading potential in 2009.

Safe High Return Investments Maryland

Safe High Return Investments Baltimore – Info On Renting Investment Property To Section 8 Tenants?

Looking to purchase properties in Detroit and Baltimore.

Safe High Return Investments Baltimore – Invest In Heavy Rail Subways?

Light rail for these two cities doesn’t make sense. Look at Atlanta, Miami, Baltimore, Cleveland, Boston, etc…all biggish cities with real subways

Safe High Return Investments Baltimore – How To Buy, Fix & Resell Investment Property In Baltimore

Do your research and be very careful. This is not the best of times to buy property and try and sell it. So be careful. Start by doing some serious research with people who are in the business.

Safe High Return Investments Baltimore – Is It A Good Time For Real Estate Investing In Baltimore?

Baltimore (Maryland in general) has not experienced much of the real estate bubble “burst” as much of the rest of the country. In fact, some ares are doing quite well.

Safe High Return Investments Baltimore – High Return Investments Simple Ones Are the Best!

Do you want a simple high return investment that you can understand, can invest in easily, pay no management fees and have the chance over the next 6 months to make 50 100%?
Then this article is for you.
This investment is one a commodity where demand is set to increase dramatically and the commodity is natural gas which we covered here in an article at the weekend.
An investment in gas is environmentally friendly, easy to do, diversifies your portfolio and can produce gains far in excess of your stock or mutual funds.
It’s a simple buy and hold strategy. Here is the background:
High crude oil will drive natural gas prices higher
Crude oil prices are expensive, natural gas prices are cheap.
Many utilities are making the switch now to natural gas. With oil prices high natural gas pick up the slack
Crude oil is affected by geo political concerns and the US is dependant on imports. On the other hand natural gas is produced domestically.
Supply will lag demand
Demand is on the move and at the moment supply exceeds it but not for much longer and this is hat will turn natural gas into a high return investment.
New fields are not coming on quick enough, to replace old fields that are being depleted.
In the short term we have the prospect of a very hot summer and increased demand for air conditioning as a result. We also have forecast one of the most active hurricane seasons on record.
These short term events could make gas a high return investment even quicker than expected.
Finally, this high return investment is ecologically friendly it’s clean and many people like this, so it is the fuel of choice for many.
Investing in gas is easy
At present prices are 50% below their recent highs, a bottom is forming and we expect prices to go higher.
Trading the move
You don’t need a fund manager here; all you need is to get in the market with options to take advantage of this high return investment.
Options offer you the prospect of unlimited gains with risk limited to just the premium paid. Investors therfore should buy at, or in the money options at current levels, with plenty of time value to expiry, to ride out short term volatility.
A simple investment
However, that does not mean that this one will not become a high return investment!
Consider the facts above and decide for yourself.
If you want a diversification away from boring under performing mutual funds and to have the prospect of gains that will make your fund manager green with envy, then consider doing it for yourself and a high return investment such as natural gas.
MORE FREE INFO
On finance including investments and becoming a succesful trader succesful trading visit our website for articles features and downloads at:http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

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Safe High Return Investments Baltimore – Angel Investment Opportunities for Entrepreneurs

During the current economic climate, there are factors that entrepreneurs look at more closely when it comes to starting up a business. The “where” and “how much” factors become a bigger part of the decision, as one looks to trim any unnecessary cost factors. Gone are the days where if you were technology based, you’d set up in Silicon Valley or if you needed to network with business contacts – set up shop in New York. Ironically, thanks to modern day technology, you can set up in a much wider range of locations.Entrepreneurs look at factors like the ease of recruitment, and as a result – have looked into the central states of the US, such as Colorado, where the workforce is well educated, quality of life is good, and cost of living is a big step lower than on the coasts. With hopes up about stabilisation of the economy, this is a great opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business start ups alike to take things to the next level. Over the last few years, several angel groups and individual investors have started to set up shop in cities like St. Louis (such as the Arch Angel Investor Network), again bucking the general trends. On the Central Investment Network – entrepreneurs in the Central states of the US get another chance to connect with angel investors. Members can get their business ideas and plans out to hundreds of local investors – and since Central Investment Network is part of the Angel Investment Network, members can connect with thousands of other investors from around the world. In fact the network grows continuously, with branches in over 40 countries and investments occurring both on a local and international basis. Of course, the plans have to be well thought out and organised, as while entrepreneurs may have less competition, the investors are also more choosy. Still, there are signs that more successful angel investment strategies such as venture capital investments are occurring within the central states. While some venture capital backed companies have gone bankrupt this year in the U.S, almost all of them are California based, and none of them are in the states that the Central Investment Network covers – which includes Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Utah & Wyoming.Find out more, by visiting http://www.centralinvestmentnetwork.com

Safe High Return Investments Maryland

Safe High Return Investments Baltimore – Investment Bottelnecks Removed

Read the papers today, and you’ll feel like start-ups are a rare breed in 2009.  Many sources say less people are starting up companies, albeit successfully too – citing the lack of investors available as one of the top reasons. But perhaps they are not looking in the right places.  A paper in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News) recently did a story in which a start-up CEO almost seemed to feel like securing angel investment was easier in this market than before.  And it makes sense, since less competition combined with more places to look for funding make this a good time for companies to secure investment.  It is true that angel investors are becoming more cautious, and one will need a strong, convincing business plan (or some already existing activity) in order to secure such funding, but this has always been the case.  However, sites such as the Mid-Atlantic Investment Network help potential entrepreneurs and existing start-ups alike find more channels in which to reach these investors.  Many companies will look to raise “Seed Capital” from a wide variety of courses, including friends and family.  But the Mid-Atlantic Investment Network allows members to look beyond that, with the ability to broadcast your plans to other potential investors online. While technology remains one of the top niches in angel investment (such as the recent development by an entrepreneur in Maryland to develop software that uses facial recognition technology to determine who can see the content on-screen), other fields are also attracting entrepreneurs and angel investors these days.  Our network has active investors and entrepreneurs in fields such as Real Estate, Retail, Business Services, Transportation, Health Care, Entertainment, Agriculture and more.  A wide range of investors are members, including various angel investors from within Mid-Atlantic regions such as Delaware, Maryland (including Baltimore), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, etc), Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D.C, but also features investors located across the country and internationally. Join the Mid-Atlantic branch of the Angel Investment Network today and find someone to help get your business off of the ground.

Safe High Return Investments Maryland

Safe High Return Investments Baltimore – Which Offer the Best Returns?

If you want high investment returns you need to take a risk but the amount of risk you take for the reward you get is important. Which are the best high return investments in relation to risk?

Let’s find out and the answer may surprise you.

Let’s look at a variety of different investment sectors the facts show that there are good investment managers in all sections but lets look at them for the purpose of our analysis as a broad sector

1. Mutual Funds

Are these a good high return investment? Were told they are but do the facts add up. No they don’t. The overwhelming bulk of mutual funds cannot out perform the S & P Stock index and very few make double digit gains consistently.

Fact is, asset managers promote the ones that do well, then drop them when they don’t and find another with short term performance that’s good, then that’s dropped.

The fact is they make their fees anyway and most people just take the sales hype and end up disappointed.

Their a poor high return investment and best you can expect is double about 10 – 15% and with downside swings of up to 30% so the risk reward is not great.

2. Leveraged funds

These can include futures options and currencies but the facts show that while there are some great performers most put in mediocre performance.

You can get managers in this sector that only make on performance and this is the way to go should you wish to be involved in this sector. Normally you risk you entire investment and the best upside is normally 20% and this is a minority.

3. Real Estate

Although not seen as a high return investment, it beats mutual funds as an investment hands down in terms of risk – reward.

Most people who are careful with location and who hold longer term normally get good solid returns and low risk. Pick the right location and rewards can be stunning.

4. Land

Not as well known as real estate, but its cheaper to buy and can produce gains of similar magnitude or even greater.

Howard Hughes was a big fan of this high return investment as are most of the world’s richest families.

Land is a short supply their not making it anymore! and land bought in prime locations that gets developed produces spectacular gains.

Low risk investments can actually be high return investments

If you take the above 4 high return investments, it’s a fact that land and real estate produce far bigger gains on average than mutual funds or leveraged managed funds and they also do so with low risk.

If you want a high return investment forget the hype and the minority of mutual funds and leveraged funds that make stunning gains most don’t.

Hedge funds are a perfect example. Very few win. Their cloaked in secrecy, in offshore locations most of the time. So, you never know what’s going on and when you find out it’s too late.

High return and low risk

If you take real estate and land the way to turn these into high return investments is simply to pick the right location. If you do this you will have a high return investment with low risk.

Double your investment quickly with low risk!

There are many overseas locations in particular where you can buy easily, cheaply and have stunning potential rewards.

Costa Rica is a well known favourite of American and other foreign investors. Many savvy investors are making double or triple digit returns in just a few years with low risk.

It’s a safe country, investing is easy, its tax efficient and your investment is liquid i.e it can be bought and sold quickly to bank profits.

If you have never thought of land and real estate as high return investments you should.

You can get high returns and low risk in the right locations and Costa Rica is a perfect example of a location that gives you low risk and high reward.

Take a closer look and you may be glad you did.

Safe High Return Investments Maryland