Category: Investment

There is more to life than just owning materials. After a while, you have to decide what things you would need to discard and what things should be kept. However, that is something that you have to take a long time to think of before making a decision. You do not want to own something expensive and have it be something that is not worth it. Instead, you should take into account the various aspects that you have to consider when making large purchases.

One of the most important things that you will purchase in your life is none other than a car. There is nothing more jarring than having to look at your expense reports and finding out how much you spent on a car. Times like those, you would need to make sure that you are always getting the most bang out of your buck on the car. This should be the case until it is of old age and the repairs are becoming more frequent and expensive. In moments like those, you should consider taking it to a vehicle recycling in Coventry.

Recycling Plant for Vehicles

One thing that people do not often think of recycling is their old vehicles. This is often a result of why people would just settle selling their car for a hefty price to make some of their profit back. That way they can claim that they at least made some of their money back.

The problem here is that they do not actually make much of their money back from selling it to strangers. That is usually because most strangers would negotiate people into going for a lower price than normal. In addition, there is no way for them to guarantee that the car is in great condition when it is posted for sale.

That is why the best way for both the buyer and seller to get the best bang for their buck is to simply have your vehicle recycled for parts. This is not only helpful for you, since you will be getting paid by the recycling plant. You are also making the process of saving the environment all the better due to your car’s reusable spare parts.

Your one recycled vehicle can help save another person’s car when they need some parts for cheap. Not only that but some major companies can just purchase your scrapped parts to be used as extra junk material for their projects. This would result in them needing to dig up precious resources by simply reforging your old metal or aluminum car parts. Lastly, your scrapped car would leave less pollution compared to it being driven with a bad muffler. All those benefits for you and the world can be had by simply choosing to recycle your vehicle instead of selling.

Smart investors are always looking to hold commodities that offer a good return in the long run. In recent years, we have seen businesses and governments diversify their holdings from US dollar and move towards other options including precious metals like gold and silver.

Another metal that can be a good investment option is Platinum. The gold to platinum exchange rate has risen steadily in the last 5 years. In 2014, the platinum to gold ratio was at 1:1.16. It is currently trading at 1:0.69. It means that Platinum has become significantly cheaper to buy with gold today than it was 5 years ago.

Here we will review the rationale for investing in Platinum under current market circumstances.

Reasons for Platinum’s Depreciation

Platinum’s depreciation is caused due to a number of factors. First, investors are in general moving towards new or long term investments. A lot of capital has moved into digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum in the last two years. The real estate market has also seen a boom in prices due to low interest rates. Investors believe that real estate is a relatively safe investment right now. This has had an adverse effect on metal prices overall and platinum is no exception.

Another reason for the drop in Platinum price is the negative sentiment. When gold prices rose sharply between 2010 and 2013, many investors also bought platinum as it was seen as a good store of value and similar to gold. Since gold is no longer in demand, the price of platinum has also gone down.

One of platinum’s main uses was as a catalytic converter in automobiles, particularly in diesel engines. Around 44% of annual platinum demand was from the auto industry. After the Volkswagon diesel vehicles were discovered to cause much higher pollution compared to other manufacturers, demand for diesel engines completely dropped. Many believe that diesel is dead now and platinum will see a drop in prices.

The third reason why the metal is down is because platinum jewellery is out of fashion with people preferring gold and silver to the metal.

The Case for Platinum Investment

One of the biggest rationales for investing in platinum is because of its supply. The metal has a limited supply compared to gold and silver. Even though more platinum is being found around the world, it is still much rarer compared to other metals. More than 90% platinum mined every year comes from two countries; Russia and South Africa.

Getting the metal out of the ground requires intensive energy and miners would be reluctant to extract it if the price is not above a certain level. The limited supply means the prices could soar if there is enough demand for platinum.

While the demand has declined in the auto and jewellery industry, new demand is growing for platinum in consumer goods. Platinum is resistant to corrosion, has a very high melting point, offers excellent electrical conductivity and very durable. Many investors believe that currency price will explode once technical innovation leads to new applications for platinum in a variety of industries.

The price of platinum against gold is at an all time low since the last century. While further dip in exchange rate is not out of question, it wouldn’t be surprising if the metal maintains its value or recovers in the next couple of years.

Infrastructure debt has been defined as fixed income component of the infrastructure asset. This type of investment has been categorised into multiple investment categories. Nevertheless, this investment is also considered as long-term investment. Building infrastructure takes a particular time.

For example, building roads, fetching electricity grids, establishing internet connections and other latest modes of communications, etc. are complicated processes. A Certain time has been required by state or government to finish such projects. After completing projects, the state has to invite the investors or business owners to expand their businesses in such areas. As the process is time-consuming, infrastructure investment is considered as fruitful on the long-term basis.

Use of Infrastructure Debt

People want to invest money in various infrastructure development projects, and through such investment, they want to increase their wealth. Instead of investing in share trading, investing in infrastructure is considered as a safer choice. It assures steady return on investment. Moreover, on the long run, high return on investment is also confirmed. Insurance companies and pension funding companies mainly invest money in infrastructure development sectors these days. For pension funding, people seek for the options that are safe to be invested. Pension funding has not been spent in share trading for this reason. For secured investment, infrastructure has been chosen.

Mechanism of Infrastructure Investment

In various government infrastructure development projects in the UK, the government allows private funding in the projects through investment debt funds which is also denoted as IDF. Investment debt fund companies are ratified to collect money for investment in various ongoing as well as upcoming infrastructure projects of the nation.

It is essential to find a reliable, veteran and professional infrastructure debt fund company to invest hard earned money to the infrastructural projects. Different kinds of infrastructure projects can be found. It is essential to invest in various projects on long term basis to make a healthy return on investment.

Benefits of Infrastructure Investment

Investing in infrastructure brings a few major advantages for the investors. The most important thing is spending money meticulously. People seek risk-free options for spending money and for this purpose investment in infrastructure is a perfect choice. People also look for the investment options which commit to cater steady as well as high return on investment. For all these purposes, investment in the infrastructure development sector is considered as crucial or important.

Another notable benefit is that investing in the pensions funds that put money into various ongoing or upcoming infrastructure projects by the government or any private companies will give you the convenience of enjoying tax benefits. It means you shall get income tax exemptions, as per the norms or rules of the government.

So, investing in infrastructure is beneficial from striking aspects. It gives the convenience of enjoying a high return on investment without facing the risk of losing money. The only thing is that investment should be made on a long-term basis. This is why this type of investment is suitable for insurance term investment and pension funding investment.

In recent years, more and more consumers have turned to mutual funds in order to save for retirement, or to help them reach other financial goals. As with any investment, however, there are risks associated with mutual funds, so it is important to consider both the advantages and disadvantages of them prior to investing one’s hard earned money.

Advantages of Mutual Funds

• Managed by Professionals – One of the key advantages to mutual funds is that they are run by professional money managers whose job it is to actively research, select and monitor every security that the fund purchases in order to maximize returns for the fund’s investors.

• Diversified – As the old saying goes, “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. ” Nowhere is this truer than when building an investment portfolio. These funds are popular because they allow investors to spread their risk over many different companies and industries, which minimize the fallout when any one particular company or industry suffers losses.

• Affordable – Many mutual funds are affordable even for smaller investors thanks to low initial purchases or subsequent monthly purchases.

• Liquid – Anyone that invests in these funds can quickly redeem their shares whenever they want, unlike other investments where their investment cannot be touched for 5 years, 10 years or more.

Disadvantages of Mutual Funds

• Costs Even When Returns are Negative – One distinct disadvantage to these funds is that investors must still pay annual fees, sales charges and other related fees regardless of how well or how poorly the fund is performing. In worst case scenarios, investors may find that they are paying fees to keep money in funds that are losing money.

• Little or No Control – With individual stocks and bonds, the investor is in control of what they purchase. But with funds, this is rarely the case. The fund managers are responsible for what securities make up the fund’s portfolio, and when they are bought or sold, not the investor.

• Uncertain Prices – Investors can easily obtain real-time pricing information on individual stocks, but it is a different story with mutual funds. Legally, they must calculate their NAV (net asset value) once per day, but this may not occur until after the major exchanges in the U. S. have closed for the day. In other words, when a fund investor decides to redeem or purchase shares, the NAV of those shares may not be calculated until hours after the order has been placed.

If you happen to have investment property in Chicago or you’re thinking about purchasing a home and renting it out to college students, here’s what you should know:

The Pros of Renting to College Students

As an investor, having a property located in a college town of Chicago offers unique opportunities:

1. Torrential and steady flow of tenants– A college town is home to a massive population of renters, even if only temporarily. At the start of each school year, new students start college and must find a decent place to stay for their studies.=
2. Low Vacancy– In a nutshell, vacancy rates of college housing are relatively low, especially in Chicago, which is the third mostly populated city in the United States. Chicago college towns are also the third most populous in the US, housing more than 500,000 students, based on a 2016 survey by the CityLab.
3. Stable and strong rental price– In college towns, rental demand is consistently high, thus making rental pricing equally consistent and strong. And more often than not, off-campus housing is covered by either the student’s college or his parents. In other words, you have a steadfast opportunity to demand a higher price for the property.
4. Student-friendly area– College towns in Chicago are self-selling due to the attractive conveniences they provide students, such as:

• Accessible food establishments and shops, most of which are usually within walking distance.
• Convenient public transportation and pedestrian-friendly community.
• Student leisure. Aside from providing basic survival necessities like food and transportation, college towns are also host leisurely activities perfect for unwinding, such as museums, art exhibits, theater presentations, musical acts and concerts, as well as baseball, basketball and football games.

The Cons of Renting to College Students

While your Chicago property may be strategically located to avail of wonderful opportunities unique to college towns, it has corresponding disadvantages that you should know about:

1. High tenant turnover- Students tend to stay only for short-term. You’re lucky if a tenant signs a 12-month lease, but usually they opt for a month-by-month deal.
2. Vacancies during vacation season-Expect students to leave come summertime. Only a relatively few students will choose to attend college during this time, so you’ll have a three-month vacancy per year. One option for you is to ask your tenants for a twelve-month lease agreement, regardless of their intention to leave or stay during vacation months.
3. Proneness to property damage-Undoubtedly, college life is the phase wherein young adults, fresh from puberty, experience freedom to explore and experiment on an almost hedonistic scale. Although not all, most college students are still immature and binge on alcohol and partying. This indifference and lack of responsibility in maintaining their living space may also be attributed to their affluent parents’ covering the rent. Unfortunately, the security deposit you have agreed on usually doesn’t come close to the actual cost of damage incurred. When dealing with college students, expect floors to get damaged, walls punctured or cracked, and doors, cabinets and windows broken.

As a landlord, you should learn about the Rents Right, which is mediation assistance for resolving disputes between landlord and tenant. For your knowledge and protection, do read Chicago’s Residential Landlord and Tenant (RLT) Ordinance.