• Front Page
  • Arts & Culture
    • The Sounds of Shreveport-Bossier: Local Music Directory
    • Music
    • Visual Art
    • Theater and Cinema
    • Visionaries
    • Poetry
    • Pop Culture
    • DIY
  • Fantasy
    • Stories from the 318
    • His Agent
    • Lamia Song
    • Storytelling
    • Short Stories
  • Temple Life
    • Spirituality
    • Religion
    • Philosophy
    • Health & Wellness
    • Science
  • City Hall
    • Politics
    • Current Events
    • History
  • Kitchen
    • Recipes
    • Restaurant Review
  • Town Square
    • Sports
    • Why’s Everybody Laughing?
    • Viral
  • What’s Henry Harbor?
    • Wanna Write?
    • Who are we?
    • The Writers of Henry Harbor
  • Front Page
  • Arts & Culture
    • The Sounds of Shreveport-Bossier: Local Music Directory
    • Music
    • Visual Art
    • Theater and Cinema
    • Visionaries
    • Poetry
    • Pop Culture
    • DIY
  • Fantasy
    • Stories from the 318
    • His Agent
    • Lamia Song
    • Storytelling
    • Short Stories
  • Temple Life
    • Spirituality
    • Religion
    • Philosophy
    • Health & Wellness
    • Science
  • City Hall
    • Politics
    • Current Events
    • History
  • Kitchen
    • Recipes
    • Restaurant Review
  • Town Square
    • Sports
    • Why’s Everybody Laughing?
    • Viral
  • What’s Henry Harbor?
    • Wanna Write?
    • Who are we?
    • The Writers of Henry Harbor
Previous Next

4 Simple Steps to More Efficient Investments? ~Amy Hollister

Posted by: Reader Submission , November 30, 2013

Money

Are You an “Efficient” Investor?

Generally speaking, if you’re efficient at a particular task, you’ll get good results without wasting effort. As you’ve already learned from your life experiences, it’s usually far better to be efficient at something than to be inefficient—and that’s certainly true with investing. So,what can you do to become a more efficient investor?  Here are a few ideas:

1) Invest systematically.

If you put a few dollars in an investment, such as a stock, that you heard was “hot,” and then a few months later put some more money in another vehicle that strikes your fancy, and you continue this pattern indefinitely, you may not be maximizing your resources. By taking this type of haphazard approach, you could end up owning a bunch of investments without rhyme or reason—a motley assortment that may not help you reach your goals.

Instead of following this route, consider a systematic approach, sometimes known as dollar cost averaging. To do so, you’ll first want to identify some investments that are appropriate for your objectives, risk tolerance and time horizon. Then, automatically move the same amount of money each month from your checking or savings account into the investments you’ve chosen. When the price of your investments falls, your contribution will buy more shares, and when the price rises, you’ll buy fewer shares — in other words, you’ll be fulfilling the “buy low” part of the classic investment formula. Over time, this technique should result in a lower average cost per investment. Keep in mind, though, that dollar cost averaging does not ensure a profit or protect against loss — and you’ll need to have the financial resources available to continue investing, even in “down” markets.

2) Reinvest dividends.

Among your investments, you may own stocks that can pay dividends. You can take these dividends as cash, but if you don’t need the money to meet everyday expenses, you may be better off by reinvesting the dividends This is an efficient way to increase your shares — and boosting your share ownership in quality investments can be a key way to help build wealth. (Be aware that companies can reduce or discontinue dividends at any time.)

3) Look for tax-efficient techniques.

Another type of efficiency associated with investing is tax efficiency, which refers to your ability to defer taxes as long as possible. Tax-deferred accounts, such as a traditional IRA or a 401(k), can help you put off the tax bill until retirement, when you may be in a lower tax bracket.

4) Consolidate investment accounts.

If you have one IRA with one financial services provider, another IRA with a second, and a separate investment account with a third, you may end up paying more in expenses, fees and commissions than is necessary — and since these costs can eat into your investments’ “real” rate of return, this scatter-shot ownership method may be inefficient. You may be better off by consolidating all your investment accounts with one provider.

Seek to become an efficient investor.

You may be pleased with the results.

 

Comment Below via Facebook

Tags: advice, efficient, financial., investing, investment, money

Reader Submission

About the author

Henry Harbor is a state of mind. Here, ideas come to life and fantasy becomes reality. It is a boundless universe, a place full of possibility. Henry Harbor is a realm full of creative people—the crazy ones who see things differently and seek to transform their world. Influencing, creating, and inspiring genius. Unconventional wisdom is the power of Henry Harbor. It is a world governed, not by rules, regulations, or pre-conceived ideas, but by the power of the imagination, which can push humanity beyond the self-imposed limitations of our current condition. In Henry Harbor, imagination brings community to life. Henry Harbor is committed to transforming our readers into writers, our audience into the performers. If you want to participate, click on "Wanna Write" under the "What is Henry Harbor" tab at the top of the page.

Related Posts

jim-Crow

White Privilege: Liberal Fictional or Painful Truth?

It is easy to retreat into the comfort of simplified worldviews when confronted by complex and ...
dashboard crucifix

My Sanctified Range Rover ~ Debbie Hollis

I have a little cross It’s here for all to see; It dangles from my mirror, And sets my co ...
Down & Out in New Orleans2

Undercover Homelessness Uncovers the Pain of Being Invisible ~ Mary Thoma

Down & Out in New Orleans photo by Derek Bridges   On March 28, 2014 I went undercover ...
depression-unemployment

To Serve, or Be Self-Serving, That is The Question by Jennifer Wheeler

And now after some thinking, I’d say I’d rather be a functioning cog in some great machinery se ...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Order Finding God in the Body on Amazon
  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Today Week Month All
  • How the World Sees a Drug Addict How the World Sees a Drug Addict (1,786,180 view)
  • If The Skating Rink Was Your Stomping Ground This Video is For You {Adult Lang} If The Skating Rink Was Your Stomping Ground This Video is For You {Adult Lang} (18,343 views)
  • Creamy Roasted Garlic, Bacon, & Tomato Bisque Creamy Roasted Garlic, Bacon, & Tomato Bisque (17,340 views)
  • Learn How To Meditate in 300 Words. Learn How To Meditate in 300 Words. (14,823 views)
  • Phillip Seymour Hoffman just two weeks before his death Why Do We Care When a Celebrity Overdoses? (10,289 views)
  • Why I Will Not Be Celebrating Trump’s Inauguration (But Putin Will) Why I Will Not Be Celebrating Trump’s Inauguration (But Putin Will)
  • Local Church Evicts AA Group to Protect Themselves from “Constant & Aggressive Attacks from Gay & Lesbian Community” Local Church Evicts AA Group to Protect Themselves from “Constant & Aggressive Attacks from Gay & Lesbian Community”
  • White Privilege: Liberal Fictional or Painful Truth? White Privilege: Liberal Fictional or Painful Truth?
  • Clio’s Pen: Ravings of a Historical Female • We The People Clio’s Pen: Ravings of a Historical Female • We The People
  • Without Cover: Sportran & Pit Stains by Jennifer Griffin Without Cover: Sportran & Pit Stains by Jennifer Griffin
Ajax spinner
Copyright © 2013 Henry Harbor . Art Director and Web Jockey Shannon Palmer.
  • Advertising with Henry Harbor
  • Price Schedule For Henry Harbor Advertising
  • The Sounds of Shreveport-Bossier: Local Music Directory
  • Wanna Write?
  • What Is Henry Harbor?
    • The Writers of Henry Harbor