Victory Investment

Archive for January, 2011

The introduction of a new type of investment fund in Luxembourg in 2007 may be of interest to well informed investors and professionals within the investment industry. The new Specialised Investment Fund (SIF) has been introduced in reaction to a strong growth within the industry and will provide an alternative mode of investment.

The SIF is a flexible Undertaking for Collective Investment (UCI) that provides more elasticity than common UCI or SICAV. However, the SIF will be more regulated than alternative non resident private funds that have been established in foreign jurisdictions.

Supervised by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF – the financial supervisory authority for Luxembourg), no promoter approval is required for the SIF. It is also important to recognise the difference between the SIF-Fund and the SIF-SICAV. The SIF-Fund is a fiscally transparent fund that is held in trust by a Luxembourg-established management company. The SIF-SICAV, on the other hand, is fiscally non transparent. It could also enjoy treaty benefit and enjoys tax exemption.

To qualify for SIF-SICAV is should be incorporated as a Private Limited Company or similar, although it is also possible to have a single member company.

It is important to remember that, while the SIF can invest in any type of securities – including hedge funds, real estates and shares, it will not offer shares to investors unless they are professional and well-informed. Those that have been deemed acceptable candidates for SIF shares include but are not limited to institutional investors, professionals and investors that have proven their credentials by, for example, holding a valued position in a bank or management company.

There are a number of restrictions and factors that must be taken into consideration when choosing investment schemes such as the SIF. For example, it must obtain approval for its legal documentation and activities from the CSSF within one month of its launch. Additionally, the supervision of assets and the deposit of securities must be undertaken by a Luxembourg bank and the Central Administration should also be based in Luxembourg.

The SIF must also ensure that an annual net asset value and a report are published in the six month period following the year-end. The minimum capital has been set at EUR 1,250,000 and this must be attained within one year. However, contributions in kind are permitted.

The success of the principle investment of funds is attributed as the driving force behind the Luxembourg government’s decision to introduce the SIF and a number of well-informed investors and organisations are testing its potential for themselves.

Let me pose a simple but important question. What really shapes the history? Is the main course of history determined by the decisions of governments,leaders or kings? Or is it determined by something else? Though we are accustomed to think in terms of the supremacy of politics in shaping the historical events; a deeper analysis may find another answer to this question. The hidden hand of technological change shapes the history more profoundly in the long term rather than the chaotic world of political bickering.

An end to medieval ages would not be possible without the gunpowder which brought down the castles of feudal seigneurs. Hitler may have won the Second World War if he was one step ahead of Americans in developing the atomic bomb. Industrial age was definitely impossible without the steam engine and the railways. Numerous more examples can be added to the list.

There is nowadays such a force in action which is quietly but conclusively shaping the future world. The name of this force is quite familiar. It is Internet. Think, for a moment ,a world without Internet. Would we be able to see Obama as president of U.S ?  After all; it was almost beyond imagination to think an African-American as president of U.S only a decade ago. It is a known fact that the most important element in a U.S presidential race is the ability to raise enough funds to finance the campaign. It is also not a secret that Obama’s presidential campaign was first of its kind in the sense that it was almost fully financed through Internet. Or consider the Wikileaks and that mighty blow  that instantly smashed the centuries old tradition of “behind the closed doors” foreign diplomacy.  Would it be possible to see a daily volume of trillion dollars in Foreign Exchange Markets in a world who does not know Internet?  Internet is a very novel and different kind of soft power which may even overthrow the authoritarian regimes as we recently witnessed in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. It is the new gun powder of this age demolishing the castles of today’s dictators.

Given these facts; it may be proper to ask if Internet is also changing the ways of trading in the stock markets. I think; it already started doing this and we may be witnessing now the very early steps of a trend that may transform permanently the business practices of the financial sector.

The dominant professional view in the financial sector stresses the importance of diversification and suggests that it is much better to invest your money in a portfolio of stocks rather than trying your chances in one stock. One needs a lot of money to do that properly. Then the golden advise follows. Given that you are only  a humble and most possibly unsophisticated small investor, do not  try your chances in the intricate and sophisticated world of finance. Just leave the job to the high paid experts and investment funds. Let them run your money for you. If you are a bit hesitant to do that; the professional sector and academic world (with all the force of science behind them) is ready to supply convincing evidence about the impossibility of picking up a good stock. You are told that the markets are efficient. The stock prices follow something called Wiener process. Its meaning in more daily terms is this. Nobody can tell if the price of a stock will move up or down even tomorrow since what will happen is a matter of pure chance. Do not waste your valuable time struggling with thousands or more indicators of technical analysis. It is an attempt whose futility is already proven by rigorous science.

So far, so good. This story however does not tell you an important detail. These theories are nothing but an extension of Neo-Classical world view. Most of the arguments of Neo-Classical approach are based upon a perfectly competitive world where none of the producers or consumers can affect the market price. Consumers or producers have full information meaning that everyone in the market knows everything that needs to be known about the factors that may affect supply or demand. It is a nice theory but unfortunately no one has ever seen a perfectly competitive market in the real world so far.  In a similar vein; efficiency hypothesis says that none of the players in the market can exert a perceptible effect on stock prices and the expectations of market participants are independent of each other.

I would say that this is a bit naive approach in the real world of finance with all these funds around with billion dollars at their disposal and we are expected to believe that they cannot exert any effect on prices with all that  power. Let us close our eyes to the possibility of secret collisions between these funds or the secret collisions between fund managers and financial analysts whose one word is enough to cause a jump in stock prices. May be we may also forget the disastrous performance of most funds in the big 2007 crisis despite diversification and the professional expert teams.

One fact however shall not be forgotten. The financial world is a jungle where everyone is trying to earn money out of the pockets of others and it is perhaps the best strategy for a small investor to walk alone in this jungle. However it is also true that small investor needs a strong stick in his or her hand to walk alone through the dangerous pathways of this jungle. Internet enters into the picture exactly at this point.

Given the fact that almost every adolescent has an internet connection nowadays; suppose that there are internet sites around which provides you with this stick by correctly identifying the buy opportunities and also telling when to sell whose access is just one button away. Does it seem to be a dream?

No, not really. I have already found one. It is called www.americanbulls.com. The site scans more than 15 000 stocks from NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ and OTC on a daily and weekly basis. They generate daily and weekly buy and sell signals  based on  Japanese candlestick pattern identification. I particularly liked the two features of the site. First, they have a rating system which ranks the stocks according to the conformity between the stock’s historical movement and their signal system. Second; they provide a fairly transparent history table which tracks the gains and losses in the last two years of an 0 initial investment if the investors act according to the signals of the site. Some of the results they reported were staggering.  There is, for example, a stock called Financial Bull 3X (quoted as FAS) from NYSE. This stock currently (on Dec.22,2010) trades at .95. It was trading at .69 on March 12,2009. A simple buy and hold strategy would yield a gain of @0. However the site signals after allowing for commission costs were powerful enough to increase the initial investment of 0 to 51 today (a gain of 2250% or 22.5 times of the initial investment). A more careful analysis brings forth another interesting aspect. This stock was trading at a price of .34 on April 16,.2010 which means that the stock lost almost 30% of its value since then.  Despite this; an investor acting on site signals was still capable of increasing an investment of 72 on that date to 51 today (more than doubling his/her money).  I must also stress the fact that the site’s reported performance for stocks do not include the possible short sale gains. The site’s domain of interest is not limited to U.S. The same buy and sell algorithm is used to track the stocks of 35 different countries  which gives the investor the chance of creating a  global portfolio.

Turning back to the main issue in this article; I think it is proper now to ask what may be the long term impact of such sites on investment funds in the long term? The technological innovations rendered the unthinkable to daily reality in the past. Do the future hold a similar promise? Will there still be a need for investment funds after one or two decades when the small investor learns to cope with the challenges of financial world by the support of sites like the one mentioned above? Will Internet eventually demolish the castles of finance establishment in the future?

You’ll need all the need that you can muster like other people when it comes to investing money. And, chances are you’re deluged with personal investment advice from just about all sides! Your friends, family, coworkers, and boss all have advice on where to put your money and on what stocks to buy or sell. The internet has a lot of services featuring this types of advice.

What is the difference of personal investment advice from other advices? It is not always necessary to ask for professional advice since it is enough to help you make decisions about your personal investment.

There is no easy way to answer this as investments will always be risky no matter what, and even professionals can give the wrong advice at times It is not reason enough to avoid the question of where you get advice for how to invest money.

When you hear some people said about a great investing source. it’s good to question its source. Your boss or friends may be knowledgeable and good at handling money, but it does not always mean they are also knowledgeable of money market accounts or bonds Do they know the difference between these things and how to predict which will do better over time?

Financial factors and investments are known in great detail by professionals. Being able to determine how investments will react to future market trends is a topic that professional are very well knowledgeable of They got this kind of personal investment advice from formal education rather than an shallow understanding of the market.

The most obvious reason why professional advice is chosen is because of its credentials, but it is not always an indication that the investment will be a success.

There are a lot of services online where you can ask them about how to investing, there are sites dedicated to nothing more than personal finance and investing and sites where you can subscribe so as to get regular and updated advice As with all other sources from which you might be told, it’s good to question the qualifications of those who run these sites as well.

If you are trying the find out the credibility of someone, it is worth remembering that an extensive education about banking and finances is not necessary to give a sound investing advice for you, You might also consider their years of experience and their results when it comes to choosing avenues of investment.

Gold prices are stable and tend to follow oil prices make gold one profitable investment instruments for the long term. Well if you are interested to invest in gold to increase your wealth, what to watch out for? The following are tips in gold by Safir Senduk Invest.

1. If you invest in gold for the short term, will usually be difficult to be profitable if the shape of gold jewelry. This is because if you come to the store and buy gold jewelry, you have to pay the price of gold plus the cost of manufacture. Well, when one day you sell it back, then the store will not pay the cost of manufacture of gold jewelry. He will only pay the price of gold alone. Therefore, gold jewelry investment is more profitable if stored for long term because the jewelry prices have gone up much compared to when you bought it. Gold jewelry is available in a variety of rust, ranging from 18 carats to 24 carats. However, if want to invest, it would be nice if you choose 24-karat gold jewelry worth. This is because the possible values ​​of gold jewelry will be much bigger when you resell it, compared to a 18-karat gold jewelry.

2. Gold investment is a pretty good investment in the form of gold bullion. Whoever does not deny that gold bullion is easy to resell. In addition, gold does not ask the cost of manufacture as well as gold jewelry. Thus, there is no harm if you are considering an investment in the form of gold bullion.

3. You also can invest in Gold Coins ONH (Cost of Pilgrimage). That is, gold coins is expected to be as an investment alternative for those who want to save money to prepare for the cost of the pilgrimage. They cost the same as the gold price following the price of foreign currency (U.S. dollar) as well as secure against inflation.

4. Before investing in gold, you should consider its own cash flow needs, whether you have a big enough cash and can be invested in the long term. Do not let your funds are invested in gold, sudden short-term needs arise in the middle of the road forces you to sell gold. This can be disadvantageous.

5. If you want to buy gold (bullion) in its physical form, then the best option is to buy gold of international production, such as products of South Africa, Switzerland, Russia, China, Australia, and so on. Reputable manufacturers usually have a seller’s agent scattered in various places. If you rarely travel abroad, you can buy gold bullion in the PT. Antam Tbk, Pulogadung, Jakarta. Transactions at this company can be cash, transfer, or by debit or credit card.

6. There’s a good idea to buy gold that looks not too small, but not too big. If the amount of gold you have not too much, you can buy your own bankas to be stored at home. You can also add insurance if at any time a theft, fire, riot or other protection to ensure that your deposit is fine. If you are feeling less secure, you can also rent a safe deposit box (SDB) in the bank with a relatively low annual fee. If you keep the gold in the form of coins, you also be careful because even if wrapped in a protective pouch, a coin you can experience the oxidation that causes discoloration

But if you feel this investment has not been possible in view of your budget…., maybe you can start with  investing . Selling knick knacks made ​​of sterling silver is also quite profitable for you. Who knows if the next business selling knickknacks from sterling silver can be the most profitable investment fot  you 

If you are a woman that needs help with a business investment, then read on. can help in many ways. If you need to find resources to get grants or money for your business, they have that.  If you do not have a business but are looking into starting a business, they can help also.  You can obtain a lot of valuable information with this.

can also give you a list of businesses that take very little money to start as well as keep going. Most women cannot afford to throw their money down the drain so any way they can save is what they have to do.  If you are unsure of what type of business to get into then you need to research as much as possible so that you are going to be able to afford it but also so that you will be happy and content in that type of business environment.

If you like working with animals you might be interested in walking dogs or investing in a doggy daycare.  The internet has endless opportunities just waiting on you. The first step in a is finding the right business to invest in. The second step is to know how much money you need to get started. The third step is getting money whether it is your money or grants from the government. When you have your startup capital, then you can start get the materials you need to be able to start the business.

Make sure that you have all the kinks worked out before you even get started so that you do not have to stress out over the little things that might come up while you are trying to invest. Make sure you research your state laws on starting and owning a business. can help with this as well.

Most of the time people not just women can jump in and get overwhelmed and make tiny mistakes in investing in a business. You will succeed as long as you play your cards right and learn everything you can about the type of business as well as the customers that need the product or service. You want to make sure that not only is this business going to be needed but also that you are going to have enough customers to keep the business open and running, With you can do this and much more.