Tencent is the world's largest games publisher. It's both an internet and entertainment giant in Chinathe equivalent of Facebook or Googlebut gamers worldwide are probably more familiar with Tencent's investments into a growing number of game developers and publishers.

But with over 300 investments in its portfolio, staying on top of every company that Tencent has a stake in can be a little daunting.

That's why I've created this reference listing each of Tencent's public investments in foreign gaming companies (basically, companies outside of China), including, where possible, how much of that company Tencent owns. As part of our ongoing coverage of PC gaming in China, it's also important to understand the growing influence Chinese gaming companies like Tencent have on the global market.

In 2011, Tencent went from being Riot Games' publishing partner in China to its majority stakeholder after paying $400 million for a 93 percent stake in the League of Legends developer. Four years later, Tencent scooped up the remaining 7 percent equity for an undisclosed amount, taking full control over Riot Games just as League of Legends was exploding as an esport around the world.

Tencent's purchase of Riot was nothing short of prescientLeague of Legends is the most popular PC game in the world, pulling in an estimated $1.4 billion in revenue last year. Riot Games remains largely free to steer the game how it pleases, but that relationship has some ugly downsides. Wanting to cash in on the mobile gaming boom, Tencent tried to get Riot to make a mobile version of LoL. When the developer refused, Tencent went ahead and made their own mobile clone of LoL called Arena of Valor that became one of the most profitable mobile games in Asiaand Riot wasn't very happy about it. That is now mostly water under the bridge now that Tencent has abandoned Arena of Valor in the West and Riot is now making a mobile version of LoL. Squabbles aside, Tencent's purchase of Riot has cemented it as the king of esports.

Tencent's $330 million investment in Epic Games back in June 2012 triggered one of the most dramatic shifts in PC gaming of the last decade, ushering in a new era of free-to-play games as a service. Seeing that "the old model" of selling games wasn't working, Epic founder Tim Sweeney decided to join forces with Tencent to better learn about operating live-service games. It paid off.

With Tencent's investment, Epic scrapped Unreal Engine 4's monthly subscription in favor of a free version where Epic earned royalties on sales. Though developers might pay more for a successful game in the long run, it opened Unreal Engine up to an enormous community of indie developers and helped fuel intense competition between rival engine, Unity, which up until then was considered to be the best technology for small developers. At the same time, Epic began experimenting with live-service games like the Paragon and Fortnite: Save the World. While both games were failures, Save the World put Epic in the perfect spot to jump on the battle royale bandwagon andalmost by accidentcreate the biggest gaming pop culture phenomenon since Minecraft and Pokmon. Last year, Fortnite made $2.4 billion, making it the most profitable game that year.

(Image credit: PUBG Corp)

Yes, Tencent a piece of both Fortnite and PUBG, the two dominant battle royales. What's even more amusing is that Tencent also has rights to publish both games in China, meaning it's actually in competition with itselfnot a bad place to be in. Tencent's investment into Bluehole first began in 2017 with Tencent first acquiring 1.5 percent of Bluehole before increasing that investment to an undisclosed amount rumored to be around 10 percent. That's probably just the beginning, though, as Tencent is rumored to be seeking a complete acquisition of Bluehole.

Tencent was one of several investors that helped Ubisoft survive a hostile takeover last year from Vivendi, who at the time was Ubisoft's largest stakeholder. For years, Vivendi had been steadily acquiring more stake in Ubisoft in hopes of ousting founder Yves Guillemot and seizing control for itselfputting thousands of jobs in jeopardy in the process. The situation looked grim until Ubisoft struck a deal with Vivendi that saw the French conglomerate divest its stake to a variety of investors that included Tencent.

As part of the agreement, though, Tencent is just a silent partner who cannot increase voting rights or ownership stake in Ubisoftmaking a hostile takeover by Tencent impossible. The acquisition of Ubisoft shares also heralded in a strategic partnership where Tencent would publish Ubisoft games in China, which caused its own flurry of backlash over censorship.

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Years before Ubisoft, Tencent helped another company escape Vivendi: Activision Blizzard. Activision fell under Vivendi's control way back in 2007 when it merged with subsidiary Vivendi Games in order to join forces with Blizzard and benefit from the enormous success of World of Warcraft. Five years later, the merged companies of Activision Blizzard announced a deal to buy back Vivendi's stake in the company and become independent, and Tencent jumped at the opportunity to buy 5 percent of the company for an undisclosed amount.

In 2018 Tencent snatched up a majority stake in the New Zealand developer of Path of Exile, Grinding Gear Games. The purchase alarmed Path of Exile players who feared the Chinese publisher would start implementing more aggressive microtransactions or changes to Path of Exile's delicate in-game economy. But, like many of Tencent's acquisitions, Grinding Gear Games has supposedly kept its independence over Path of Exile's operation. In the year since, little has changed about Path of Exile's economy or microtransactions despite the game's continued growth.

(Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

Supercell - 84.3 percent: Tencent's $8.6 billion dollar investment in this Finnish mobile developer is one of the biggest purchases in videogame history. But considering 60 percent of Tencent's $19.13 billion in gaming revenue last year came from mobile games, and Supercell's enduring hits like Clash of Clans, the acquisition makes a lot of sense. Like Riot Games, Supercell reportedly retains most of its independence and is still located in Finland.

Frontier Developments - 9 percent: Tencent invested 17.7 million into the developer of Elite Dangerous and Planet Zoo in 2017 as part of a strategic partnership to capitalize on increased interest in space and "themepark" games in China.

Kakao - 13.5 percent: Kakao is a South Korean internet and entertainment company whose games subsidiary is responsible for the mega-hit Black Desert Online, which surpassed $1 billion in gross sales last year, and also publishes PUBG in South Korea.

Paradox Interactive - 5 percent: When Swedish grand strategy publisher Paradox first went public in 2016, Tencent swooped in to buy 5 percent for $21 million. Part of the sale was motivated because Steven Ma, the head of publishing at Tencent Games, is a big fan of Hearts of Iron 2.

Fatshark - 36 percent: Warhammer: Vermintide 2's success led Tencent to acquire a large minority stake in Swedish developer Fatshark in early 2019 for an estimated $56 million.

Funcom - 29 percent: Tencent's most recent purchase was 29 percent of Funcom, the makers of Conan Exiles and The Secret World.

Sharkmob - 100 percent: This new studio comprised of ex The Division and Hitman devs was fully bought by Tencent in early 2019, though it hasn't announced its first game yet.

Discord: Discord has received $158 million in funding last year, including an undisclosed amount from Tencent (among many other investors).

That covers most of the companies that PC gamers will care about. It also owns a 39.7 percent stake in Sea, a South-East Asia esports and publishing company, an undisclosed majority stake in web game publisher Miniclip, and about a half a dozen minority stakes in a variety of mobile game companies to boot.

The rest is here:
Every game company that Tencent has invested in - PC Gamer

Responsible investment (RI) surged in importance for all types and sizes of institutional investor around the world in the last year, a new survey has found, with the biggest gains in positive sentiment towards the approach recorded among respondents in the UK.

Of the UK respondents toAons 2019 Global Perspectives on Responsible Investing survey, 42% indicated RI was very important or critical to their organisation, up from 19% in 2018, and 87% answered that they believed the approach was at least somewhat important, up from the 66% who gave that response in 2018.

In continental Europe, those percentages were 85% in 2019, up from 80% in 2018.

In the US, meanwhile, the percentages were 78% compared to 57%, and in Canada the proportions were 78% up from 66%.

Tim Manuel, head of responsible investment for Aon in the UK, said: In the UK, where regulations in favour of responsible investing continue to strengthen, we see investors taking more concrete steps to implement responsible investments within their funds.

The fact that Aon had a high response to the survey in the UK, with 43% of overall respondents being based there, was indicative of this frame of mind, Manuel said.

Meredith Jones, author of the report and global head of responsible investing at Aon, said the consultancy was also observing significant investor-led RI efforts where regulation was not driving activity, however.

Year-on-year change in responsible investing attitudes by geographic region

Source: Aon, Global Perspectives on Responsible Investing 2019

The survey polled nearly 230 investment professionals internationally.

Corporate pension funds were revealed to have undergone a sea change in their attitudes to responsible investing, with the share of investors expressing a positive sentiment toward the approach growing from 56% in 2018 to 86% in 2019. Public pensions saw similar growth, according to the poll, but from a different departure point, with positive sentiment spreading from 70% of respondents last year to 92% in 2019.

Year-on-year change in responsible investing attitudes by investor type

Source: Aon, Global Perspectives on Responsible Investing 2019

The most popular primary motivation for pursuing RI across all investors was the belief that incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) data leads to better investment returns, Aon said.

However, the firm said many UK and European respondents indicated in the survey that they were motivated to engage in RI in order to have an effect on global issues such as climate change, diversity or social justice.

By contrast, only 10% of US investors and 8% of Canadian investors indicated global impact as a motivator, Aon said.

According to the survey, lack of agreement on key issues, such as terminology and materiality, was a hindrance for fewer investors this year than last: 14% of those polled in the 2019 survey, down from 26% in 2018. However, Aon said the industry continued to struggle with what constitutes ESG, socially responsible investing (SRI), and impact investing.

In its view, imprecise terms have been applied on a wide variety of investment products, with a number launched over the last 12 months under an ESG label when they included features that fell more under the headng of SRI and/or had impact goals as well.

Aon said it continued to advocate for the apt imposition of names when it comes to all things RI.

It also said it planned to launch an impact fund and a low carbon factor fund for its discretionary asset management clients.

More:
Chart of the week: Responsible investment surges in importance - IPE.com

Investment was supposed to boom after the tax cut.

First-quarter economic growth exceeded even the most optimistic expectations, expanding at a 3.2% annualized rate. The Trump administration was quick to take credit for the continued strength in the U.S. economy.

At a rally in Green Bay, Wis., Saturday night, President Donald Trump again declared that his leadership and policies were delivering what he refers to as the best economy in history.

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, got more specific.

The gross domestic product report confirms our view that the momentum from last year was not a sugar high but a serious response to long-run policies that have made the U.S. a more attractive place for business, Hassett told the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Theres just one problem with Hassetts assessment.

The unexpected strength in the GDP report came from inventories, trade, and state and local government spending, not from business investment, which is where one would expect to see the response to the kind of long-run, supply-side policies Hassett implied.

Private final demand, which is known in the GDP report as final sales to private domestic purchasers and which should be the beneficiary of tax cuts and deregulation, rose an anemic 1.3%, the smallest increase in six years.

At the same time, net exports (exports minus imports) and inventories accounted for a combined 1.68 percentage points more than half of the first quarters GDP 3.2% growth and the largest contribution in six years.

So wheres the tax-cut-driven boost in capital expenditures?

Real nonresidential fixed investment business spending on structures, equipment and intellectual property rose at a 2.7% rate in the first quarter, half the fourth-quarter pace.

Yes, there were two back-to-back quarters of solid capex growth in 2018 following the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Business fixed investment rose 11.7% in the first quarter of 2018 and 8.7% in the second before slumping to 2.5% in the third.

However, investment posted solid, back-to-back quarters in the middle of 2014 as well, with real GDP averaging 5%.

Also read: Manufacturers grow at slowest pace in April since Trump elected, ISM finds

Whats more, investment in structures posted a third consecutive quarterly decline in the first quarter, while spending on equipment rose a paltry 0.2%. A key barometer of future capital spending, new orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, has seen a deceleration in year-over-year growth since its recent peak in September 2017.

Also read: Construction spending tumbles in March as housing takes it on the chin

Meanwhile, housing, or residential investment, posted its fifth consecutive quarterly decline and seventh in the last eight quarters. Fixed investment, both residential and nonresidential, contributed a combined 0.27 percentage points to first-quarter growth. Not exactly a supply-side endorsement.

Mondays Outlook column in the Wall Street Journal begs to differ. The Supply Side of the Economy is Flashing Strength, reads the headline. The article by Jon Hilsenrath cites a consensus-estimate 2.3% jump in first-quarter productivity growth (which was reported on Thursday as a 3.6% increase) and nascent signs of a pick-up in labor-force growth.

That would certainly be welcome news. An aging population and a 15-year slump in productivity are limiting the economys capacity to expand without creating inflationary pressure. Faster potential GDP, of course, would mean that the economy can run hotter for longer without triggering a response from the Federal Reserve.

If you take the Fed at its word, policy makers would like to see a bit more price pressure after years of undershooting their 2% inflation target. It remains to be seen what will happen if and when inflation pierces that barrier and heads higher.

It is always possible that measured productivity growth will show a lagged response to technological innovation, as it did in the 1990s. Economist Robert Solow famously remarked in 1987 that you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.

As if on cue, productivity growth then exited its two-decade slump in the mid-1990s to exceed 3% over the next 10 years.

If you believe, as I do, that much of todays technology is distracting, addictive and productivity-sapping, then Solows prescience may not come to fruition anytime soon.

Now, the first quarters odd distribution of growth was probably a fluke, or just plain weird, as economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, called it. The government shutdown in January may have dampened consumer spending and prompted businesses to delay planned investments. Strong retail sales in March support the idea of deferred consumer purchases.

In 2016, 2017, and 2018 the dominant source of growth was households and businesses, which had contributed more than 100% of growth on average, Holtz-Eakin writes. That compares with 43% of the growth in final sales in the first quarter.

Even a reversal of the first-quarters contributions to growth in the second quarter wouldnt settle the question of whether last years 3% GDP growth was a tax-cut-driven sugar high or a supply-side miracle.

It would take a consistent improvement in productivity growth from the 1.4% post-2004 average and sustained 3% growth in real GDP compared with the sub-2% estimate of potential, before we can extrapolate a new trend, not to mention a new normal.

Read more:
Investment boom? What investment boom? - MarketWatch

IFC is seeking Investment Analysts to support investment teams to develop new business, execute transactions and actively manage portfolio projects in any of the following industry areas: Financial Institutions; Infrastructure and Natural Resources; Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services; and Telecommunications and Venture Capital.

Positions will be located in IFC Headquarters (Washington, DC), Asia (e.g. Beijing, Singapore, Delhi, or Mumbai); Europe and Central Asia (e.g. Istanbul or Vienna), Middle East and North Africa (e.g. Cairo or Dubai), Africa (e.g. Dakar, Nairobi, or Johannesburg), and Latin American and the Caribbean (e.g. Mexico City, So Paulo, or Bogota).

Responsibilities

Qualifications

IFC recruits investment analysts globally on two-year term contracts extendable to a maximum of four years. Upon completion of their contracts, investment analysts typically leave to pursue a graduate degree or additional work experience, while a select number are promoted to Associate Investment Officer positions.

Application and Selection Process

Expressions of interest will be reviewed by our recruitment experts on a rolling basis, and you may check the status of your application(s) online at any time.

We will place the profiles of short-listed candidates in a database accessible by interested IFC hiring managers. Individual hiring managers will then contact selected candidates directly for interviews. IFC departments hire investment analysts on an as-needed basis throughout the year, so applicants may remain in the database for up to six months after application. Applications will be received until June 30, 2019. Not all short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.

We also encourage interested candidates to visit the Current Opportunities section of our Careers website to view and apply for open Investment Analyst positions in specific locations.

Link:
Investment Analyst Program - IFC

dd5115f1-f7ef-4729-babe-e5ddc26e18d0_div

Sound corporate governance helps businesses attract investment on better terms. Clients are more accountable to investors and responsive to stakeholder concerns. They also operate more efficiently and are able to better manage risks.

As understanding of the business case for CG grows, our clients seek to take advantage of our global knowledge and experience to help them identify needed improvements. Many of our partners are planning IPOs and understand the need to build their reputation in this area if they are to have a successful listing. Others are growing family businesses with a need to formulize their CG structures.

Research shows an increasing correlation between good CG policies and practices and the ability of companies to attract reliable business partners and expand their access to capital. Better risk management, internal controls, financial disclosure and a well-functioning board working together with management all contribute to the stability and sustainability of an enterprise.

See the original post here:
Investment Services - ifc.org

FY

Grant type

Country

Activity

GP

Grant Amount

Project Size

FY17

Just-in-time

Argentina

Support for the Preparation of ToRs and Early Implementation of the Salado Integrated River Basin Management Support Project

Water

$ 70,000

300,000,000

FY17

Just-in-time

Bangladesh

Enhancing Quality of Municipal Infrastructure in Bangladesh

Social/Urban- Rural/Resilience

$ 70,000

410,000,000

FY17

Just-in-time

Ecuador

Quality Infrastructure Investment Partnership (Ecuador Manta)

Water

$ 70,000

100,000,000

FY17

Just-in-time

Ecuador

Ecuador Ibarra Transport Infrastructure Improvement Project

Transport

$ 70,000

52,500,000

FY17

Just-in-time

Mexico

Quality Infrastructure Support for the Mexico Urban Transport Transformation Program

Transport

$ 70,000

150,000,000

FY17

Just-in-time

Tuvalu

Implications of Sea Level Rise on Coastal Infrastructure

Transport

$ 70,000

2,880,000

FY17

Standard

Argentina

Preparation and Implementation of Management and Results Plans (PGRs) for main Water Supply & Sanitation Operators of Northern Provinces

Water

$ 275,000

125,000,000

FY17

Standard

Bangladesh

Bangladesh - QII Enhancement to Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (CASE) Project

Transport

$ 450,000

87,200,000

FY17

Standard

Egypt

Support for the Implementation of Infrastructure Aspects of the Upper Egypt Local Economic Development (UELDP) PforR a US$ 500 Million Flagship Operation in the MENA Region

$ 500,000

500,000,000

FY17

Standard

Ethiopia

Support to Establishment of Effective Pperation and Management Model for Sanitation Facilities in Addis Ababa and 10 Other Selected Cities

Water

$ 300,000

445,000,000

FY17

Standard

India

Urban Infrastructure for Amaravati City Development

Social/Urban Rural/Resilience

$ 700,000

300,000,000

FY17

Standard

Mexico

Technical Assistance to the Water Utilities of the MAS Oaxaca Program

Water

$ 275,000

55,000,000

FY17

Standard

Peru

Supporting Measures to Develop New Management Models and Improve Efficiency of Water Supply and Sanitation Service Providers in Peru

Water

$ 275,000

100,000,000

FY17

Standard

Tunisia

Read more here:
Quality Infrastructure Investment (QII) Partnership

Commissions and Fees

Services

Best Investment Companies Overview

Some of these top 10 investment companies allow opening an account with no initial deposit requirement ($0 down) and no obligation (customers can close non-retirement account with no fee with all of these firms; and some brokers, such as Scottrade and Charles Schwab, also don't charge retirement account closing fees). This is a great opportunity to open a few brokerage accounts, and see first-hand which one you like better.

All of the top financial investment firms in the list above do not charge account maintenance fees for non-retirement accounts (except IB). Some of the companies have retirement account fees: we suggest to check our Fees pages for a complete information (links to these pages are available in our brokerage reviews). IB is the only broker in the list above that might charge account inactivity fee in some instances.

As you can see, commissions on stock and ETF trades range anywhere from $0 charged by Firstrade all the way up to $6.95 at TD Ameritrade and Etrade. Some of the investment firms have lower pricing for active traders. TD Ameritrade will also give traders better pricing but they don't advertise this ability - customers that can show that they are active traders can call the firm and negotiate lower rates.

Mutual funds commissions have even wider range of prices: the rate is anywhere from $0 at Firstrade and all the way up to $76 for purchase transaction at Charles Schwab. Many of these investment firms also offer no transaction fee mutual funds and that allows their clients to buy and sell mutual funds without paying commissions.

On the surface it may seem that some of the brokerage firms mentioned are expensive (TD Ameritrade or Etrade) while others are very cheap (Ally Invest and Firstrade). Generally speaking it's true. But for many clients there is a way to invest with some higher priced brokers basically for free. TD Ameritrade is the best case: the firm offers 296 commission free ETFs, thousands of no transaction fee mutual funds, and a promotion that offers 60 days of trading for free. With all these perks most customers could essentially create a diversified portfolio at the firm without paying any commissions.

Each of the 10 top financial investment companies has its strengths and weaknesses, and not every firm is right for a particular investor. We encourage readers to take a time to read the reviews, to see if a specific firm is a good fit for them.

The top investment companies are not shy to offer new customers promotional deals and incentives for opening a new non-IRA or even a retirement account: anything from reimbursing account transfer fees charged by an old broker; free trades for a period of time (usually one or two months); and up to significant cash bonuses (where amount of bonus often depends on the amount of initial deposit). Investors should definitely take advantage of these offers!

The Bulls and Bears of Investment Firm Advice

Besides selling funds, there could be other conflicts of interest. For example, a stock investment company could benefit from placing trades in a managed account. The firm could also receive compensation by recommending a certain custodian for client assets.

Investors who elect to turn over their assets to an investment advisor also lose the incentive to educate themselves about financial topics. There's a certain level of blind trust when clients simply turn their money over to an advisor.

Despite the disadvantages of investment broker advice, there are certainly benefits. A financial advisor is an excellent choice for beginners who aren't confident enough to make decisions with their own money. Financial planning could also benefit older people who are in retirement or approaching retirement. People who simply don't have enough time to manage their finances could also benefit from the services of a professional money manager. Many of the above top 10 investment companies offer such investment advice.

Read this article:
Best Investment Companies: List of 10 ... - brokerage review

Investments are assets which represent a companys right to receive cash from its stake in another company, government, etc. Investments are made through purchase of bonds or shares or other financial instruments of the investee. The intent behind making such investments is to generate investment income (interest and dividend) and to benefit from expected capital gain.

Investments are reported by the investing company on its balance sheet, classified into current and non-current portion. Investments which are expected to be sold within next 12 months are called short-term investments while investments other than short-term investments are called long-term investments. Some investments, which are can be easily converted to cash with negligible fluctuation in its value, are classified as cash equivalents.

Investments can be made in debt securities, equity securities, commodities, derivative securities, etc. Debt securities are financial instruments that represent right to a determined stream of cash flows for a definite period of time. For example, government bonds, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, notes receivable, etc. all have a pre-determined payout for a specific period. Equity instruments are securities that represent residual (ownership) interest in a company, for example, shares of common stock, etc. Derivative securities are financial instruments which derive their value from other financial instruments. They are contracts whose value depend on another variable, for example, price of a common share of a company or its bond price or on price of a commodity, etc.

Traditionally debt securities have been classified into three categories:

However, new accounting standards (IFRS 9) require classifying debt investments into two categories: (a) investments carried at amortized cost and (b) those carried at fair value through profit and loss.

Accounting for equity investments depends on the extent of ownership:

Where the ownership is anywhere below 20%, the equity investment can be classified into any of the following categories:

New accounting standards have introduced a new classification framework for equity investments representing less than 20% ownership in companies. They require such equity investments to be accounted for either as (a) fair value through profit and loss or (b) fair value through other comprehensive income.

You are a Treasury Accountant at Flow, Inc., a futuristic technology-enabled financial services company. Its cash and cash equivalents at 1 January 2015 stood at $2.2 billion. A newly appointed Treasury Manager embarked on an aggressive investment spree. During the year, the company entered into the following transactions:

At the year end, i.e. 31 December 2015, investment in Dots, Inc. dropped to $290 million, investment in Air, Inc. rose to $500 million while investment in Fiber, Inc. was valued at $350 million. The company earned dividends of $2 million from Dots, Inc., nothing from Air, Inc., nothing from the equity mutual fund and nothing from Fiber, Inc. Fiber, Inc. net income for financial year 2015 amounted to $15 million.

Classify the above investments into different traditional investment categories and outline the accounting treatment of related gains or losses.

Solution

Read more:
Accounting for Investments | Types | Examples

Its the dawning of a new year and you finally have some money to invest. Perhaps you just got a raise. Or, maybe an end-of-year bonus is burning a hole in your pocket. Either way, you need to be smart about investing if you want those extra dollars to count.

The problem is, you have no clue where to invest your cash. While youre aware of the myriad investing options available, the sheer number of possibilities is overwhelming.

In the investing world, this is called paralysis by analysis. You spend so much time analyzing your options that you wind up putting it off and never investing at all. And eventually, the extra cash you set aside gets consumed by bills or unexpected expenses. In other words, life happens.

If you want to make sure your extra cash doesnt disappear, you need to invest it right away. A certain amount of analysis is fine if it helps you find the right investment options for your goals, but you still need to act fast.

With that in mind, I wanted to share what I believe are the four best ways to invest your excess funds in 2018.

While invest in the stock market is some of the most basic advice youll ever read, please hear me out on this one. While everyone knows that investing in the stock market has historically paid off, there are far too many people who dont trust the financial markets and choose to sit on the sidelines altogether.

Then there are people who think the stock market is so overvalued right now that they would be crazy to jump in. But, heres the thing: Instead, Im suggesting you invest small sums of money over time using a method called dollar cost averaging.

Dollar cost averaging requires us to trickle our money into investments over any length of time. It could be 12 months. It would be 18 months. Heck, it could be five years.

Colorado financial advisor David Henderson of Jenkins Wealth goes further to explain how dollar cost averaging works: When the market is high, you buy fewer shares and when the market is low you buy more shares, he says. This means that, over time, you will have a lower average share price using this method. Obviously, its easy to see why this would be beneficial.

Now that weve talked about the importance of investing in the stock market, lets talk about exactly where to invest your money. What are the best tools and vehicles we can use?

This is yet another situation where the options are overwhelming. Still, I typically suggest people get their feet wet with mutual funds or ETFs.

If you have a financial advisor working on your behalf, they may be able to weed out the well-performing actively managed mutual funds from the ones that arent doing so great. Otherwise, you can invest in index funds, which are not actively managed but have a long history of solid returns.

If you have a brokerage account already, then you may want to stick with it. Otherwise, youll need to find a new place to help you invest your funds. One company I always suggest is Betterment. With Betterment, your money can be invested in ETFs and they dont charge a fee for managing these for you. Plus, they actually pick the ETFs you invest in based on your appetite for risk, investing goals, and other factors.

What does that mean? That means that you can invest your hard-earned money, then sit back and enjoy the returns and let them do the hard work.

If you want to have more control on your investments, online brokerage firms like Ally Financial, TD Ameritrade and E-Trade make it easy to stay in charge with low fees and easy-to-use platforms. Plus, there are a multitude of other "robo-advisors" to choose from.

As a final note, theres one more simple way to invest in the stock market with even less effort boosting how much you contribute to your work-sponsored retirement account. Arizona financial planner Charles C. Scott says this may be your best option yet especially if youre not contributing enough to get a match from your employer.

Every dollar you contribute could get a dollar match, says Scott. Thats a 100% return on your investment.

If youre not making the most of your 401(k) or contributing enough to get a match, then youre probably best starting there.

A second place to stash some of your excess cash this year is in peer-to-peer lending platforms like Lending Club and Prosper. With these companies, youre able to loan money to individuals in small increments as if you were the bank. The best part is, you get to earn a pretty decent rate of return usually upward of 6% or more.

As an investor in peer-to-peer lending, youre investing in other people and their goals. It's comforting knowing you arent lending people you dont know large sums of money. Instead, the money you invest is split up into increments as small as $25 over hundreds or even thousands of loans.

While it may seem strange to hear a financial advisor suggest people invest in peer-to-peer lending, Im not the only one who sees the value in these platforms. Kansas City Financial Advisor Clint Haynes told me he supports peer-to-peer lending as an alternative to the stock market for a few reasons. First, these companies make it easy to sign up and get started. Second, your rate of return can range from 5 7 percent for safer loans and even more for riskier loans. Last but not least, you can typically open a new account with as little as $1,000.

In addition to the stock market and peer-to-peer lending websites, a third investment strategy to consider this year is real estate. The thing is, Im not suggesting everyone run out and buy an investment property. After all, not everyone is cut out to be a landlord.

Im certainly not. I tried investing in physical real estate seven years ago and almost lost my shirt. I learned a lot of lessons from my foray into becoming a landlord, the biggest of which was that I dont need that kind of stress in my life.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to invest in real estate without dealing with a physical property. One option to consider is investing in real estate notes. I got started investing into real estate notes because a really good friend of mine was crushing it with real estate and offering his friends the chance to invest.

He would buy a pool of real estate properties, and then investors like myself would invest money into his project. From there, he would manage the properties and pay me a dividend or interest off that money. For me, this has been an attractive way to invest money without having to be a landlord or deal with tenants.

Obviously, there is a ton of risk in a situation like this. You have to have a lot of trust to invest in real estate notes offered by an individual.

The good news is, there are other ways to invest in real estate outside of real estate notes. One option Im really excited about is a company called Fundrise. Fundrise offers an investing scenario similar to the one above. They buy commercial properties and allow investors to invest small sums of money. Obviously, this is yet another hands-off investment. You may own part of a commercial real estate project, but you dont even see or deal with the property itself.

Like Lending Club, Fundrise requires an upfront sum of around $1,000 to get started. Once you invest, however, Fundrise mostly lets you set it and forget it. Even better, you may receive a pretty hefty rate of return through this platform. On the company website, Fundrise claims its returns have averaged between 8.76% up to 12.42% over the last five years. Not too shabby.

Obviously, there is risk investing in a platform like this one, too. First off, the company is newer so it doesnt have decades of data to share. Second, youre letting a third party choose buildings and investments on your behalf, which means youve given up all control.

Regardless, I think its pretty cool that technology has allowed investors to get access to commercial properties in a way we havent been able to in the past.

This last investment option might sound cheesy, but its one of the best investments anyone can make.

Believe it or not, there are a ton of ways to invest in yourself that dont cost a ton of cash at all. One of the best ways to improve yourself could even be free if you have a library.

Thats right; read a ton of books! But, how many should you read? Minneapolis Financial Planner Morgan Ranstrom says that reading three to five books on successful personal finance strategies or leadership skills will absolutely make you smarter over the course of a few months.

If you have more time, you could read even more than that. If youre not sure what to read, you could even consider signing up for Leaderbox a monthly subscription service that includes books and leadership strategies curated by thought leader Michael Hyatt.

It's been stated that CEOs of major corporations read 60 books per year on average. These guys and gals are managing businesses worth millions or billions, and they can still read 60 books a year. Imagine how busy they are. Now, ask yourself how busy you are.

If you dedicate yourself to reading just one book a month 12 books per year I promise you will be amazed at the results.

Of course, reading isnt the only way to invest in yourself. Another investment you can make into yourself is in courses or investing into material that you can learn from other people. Trust me; everyone has something to learn.

Personally, I have found a lot of success via learning from others in my niche. Recently, I even paid $3,500 for a course on how to launch a successful YouTube channel. That might sound crazy to some people, but I have made investment back and then some already.

A third way you can invest into yourself is through personal coaching. I've done a few different ways. I went to a business and entrepreneurship coach for five years and spent a ton of cash that I could barely justify. The thing is, this investment paid off in spades even though it was expensive.

Youcan also hire a personal coach to help you with whatever your goals are. There are career coaches. There are business coaches. There are fitness coaches. There are life coaches.

While coaching is expensive, its amazing what you can accomplish when you have someone to be accountable to.

Last but not least, dont discount the idea of going back to school. Brian Behl, a Wealth Advisor with Bronfman Rothschild tells me he feels too many people overlook this option when it might be their ticket to long-term wealth.

Lets say you could spend $10,000 on a designation or advanced degree but it increases your annual income by $10,000 or more. Thats an incredible rate of return, says Behl, but it becomes an even better investment when you consider how much more youll earn over 20 or 30 working years.

While it would be great to invest these funds in your portfolio, there is no investment which is likely to pay off in this way, says Behl.

And if you think youre too busy to go back to college, dont forget about online degrees says, Orange County financial advisor Anthony Montenegro of The Blackmont Group.

Many of the countrys top-ranked schools also accommodate the busy professional by offering certificate and degree completion programs online, he says. If youre interested in becoming more marketable to your current employer or want to explore opportunities with a competing company, consider carving out time to study for a graduate degree or specialized designation for your industry.

Investing in yourself might sound clich, and it is, but its a bet that could absolutely pay off. And if you want to make the most of your investments this year, betting on yourself is one of thesmartest moves you can make.

See the original post:
4 Best Investments To Make In 2018 - forbes.com

What do Aggressive and Conservative mean?

The Investment Calculator uses two investment strategies that typically produce two different retirement scenarios. Aggressive investing indicates a higher financial risk with a higher potential reward, while conservative investing offers a lower financial risk with a more moderate potential reward.

Aggressive investing typically means that you will invest in more stocks than in bonds. This type of investment strategy is smart when you have a longer amount of time before your retirement. A longer amount of time can also, in theory, withstand all the volatility of the stock market. The other good news is that more time passing will compound your interest, resulting in significantly larger retirement savings.

Conservative investing is a more balanced strategy in which you invest in stocks as well as bonds. The return, or the amount that your money grows, is not as large as it can be when aggressively investing but the risk is lower. Conservative investing is best when your retirement date is nearby. Vanguard published a great article about these types of scenarios, showing the historic risks and rewardsin quantitative form. These table graphs will show the differentstrategies in terms of being growth or balanced oriented anddisplays the assumptions behind each retirement strategy.

The retirement calculator takes the Total retirement savings and calculates how much monthly income a 4% annuity would generate without drawing from the principal. This indicates the type of lifestyle you can expect without running out of money.

Inflation is inevitable. If that word is new to you, it simply determines how much purchasing power of your dollar. Historically, inflation has always increased with time. The average inflation is currently 3.22%.

These recommendations are correlated to a comfortable lifestyle. Comfortable lifestyle is a subjective term used to describe retirement savings that lets you be mostly free from financial restrictions or fears. A recommendation helps you know what your monthly investment and initial investment should be in order to achieve a comfortable retirement lifestyle.

The investment calculator uses three lifestyle terms to depict retirement scenarios: Frugal, Content, and Comfortable. Frugal describes a lifestyle where you will have to carefully monitor your spending to make sure your savings will last. A comfortable lifestyle describes a scenario where you can spend librally and enjoy retirement. Content is somewhere in the middle where you are able to enjoy retirement but still monitor your spending.

No, Social Security is not included in this retirement calculation. The investment calculator leaves out Social Security because it tends to vary too greatly from person to person. Social Security also varies depending on the age that you decide to collect. If you collect at age 62, you will receive 25% less. If you collect at 70, you can collect a check for 32% larger.

Social Security is important in calculating your retirement savings. It can impact your monthly retirement income greatly. The average monthly retirement benefit was $2,687 in 2017, or $32,000 for the whole year. The goal of this calculator is to help you define helpful strategies but not to give individualized investment advice.

Investment Calculator provides a generalized overview of your retirement situation, but it is not intended to replace a financial advisor. Our goal is to help you get a better understanding of your financial outlook and inspire you to save / invest more.

Go here to see the original:
Investment Calculator