Investing

Some Australian publicly listed companies provide incentives for their shareholders in the form of a shareholder benefits scheme or shareholder benefits package or shareholder discount schemes. Here is a list of benefits you may be entitled to when you purchase a share of a public company.

Shareholder Benefits List

In this article we will delve into the question whether research house ratings are helpful in investment decisions.

What Are Research Houses?

In the context to the financial industry, research houses are companies focused on collecting data on investment opportunities and interpreting that information to give a particular rating which can range from a positive buy to hold and negative ratings. The rating gives an indication to investors whether the investment has future growth return possibilities.

Shares are yet another vehicle by which you can invest your money. Like any investment, shares are not so much about making money for money’s sake as they are about helping you to realize your dreams, achieve your aspirations and secure your future. They could help you pay off your mortgage, enable you to take that long-awaited family holiday, ease the burden of retirement or help the kids secure their first home. Once shares start working for you the choice is yours.

Why invest? Why does anyone bother moving money around? Well because by investing your money you can have your money work for you. There are three main reasons to invest: to beat the inflation rate, to reach your financial goals and for retirement. This website is all about share trading, but trading is only a part of the whole investing game. To invest your cash in a way that is aligned to your personal goals and risk appetite will keep you financially ahead of the rest.

Want to take a break from share trading? Or want to extend your trading profits into a safer diversified sharemarket investment? Well here's how. The process to investing in shares is similar to trading but remember the end goals and the day to day actions are totally opposite to trading. Investing is for the long term. And in the long term the investor would be riding out the peaks and troughs: the volatility of daily, weekly and monthly market fluctuations. Being an investor means that you’ve got to step back and look at the bigger picture.

Take this as a lesson of being wary of what you read: the accuracy of the facts. I was reading an old investing article on news.com.au about the top 20 stocks on the Australian Sharemarket are a "rock solid investment". Something caught my eye:

HOW would you like a blue chip investment, with minimal risk, that could have some worrying moments but stands the test of time?

A non-residential construction boom is coming according to stock analyst Macquarie Research Equities (MRE). The number of upgrades to estimated major project construction work for 2007 has increased and in MRE's estimates that this could "reflect strong underlying demand and a freeing up of resources with the completion of a number of large projects. Major project work in 2006 increased 20% to $A20.7bn." According to the analyst, the main sectors driving these non-residential construction upgrades are mining, utilities and energy.

Telstra T3: You've got two days left to submit your T3 Application form (attached to your T3 prospectus)which is due by 4pm this Thursday. It's probably too late to rely on Australia Post to deliver your forms on time: play it safe and submit your forms to your nearest Commonwealth Bank or you can simply apply online. For many people investing in T3 is a psychological hurdle, especially those who bought into T2 at $7.40.

So you've got your Telstra T3 Prospectus? You've got until 4pm Thursday 9th November to decide - that is if the offer isn't closed early. There are people against buying Telstra again - especially those who were hurt from T2 and those who are keen to buy. So how do you decide whether or not to subscribe to the Telstra 3 float?