Investment Strategies - Shaping Your Future



It's so easy to do, it will surprise you. The excitement of joining the world of investing, the opportunity to turn your $500 into millions, and the chance to impress your friends make it irresistible. You don’t know many stock market terms and you have no clue about a productive investment philosophy, but you are ready to go. Are you really? Even if you're an investing veteran, it won't hurt to refresh your memory. We’ll start with the basic types of investment strategies: growth investing, income investing and value investing.

Growth Investing

The name says it all; growth investment is the investment strategy of looking for the big winners in the stock market. Growth investors are looking for companies that traditionally have high growing earnings. In theory, high growth equals high stock prices and in turn, high profits. People involved in growth investing take their risks wagering that young, upcoming companies will break through and become leaders in their industry. When you think of this investment strategy, think Google. Google stock is a perfect example of a growth stock, as were many of the technology stocks in the 1990’s.

Many growth companies applicable to this investment strategy started with a dream, an idea and very little operating capital. They were able to overcome the obstacles and become strong profitable companies. Companies like this can achieve initial success but tend to be limited by capital. As they start attracting investors, the results can be very good. This investment strategy offers risk reward ratios that are quite drastic. While the rewards can be very high in growth investing, the risks are high as well.

Income Investing

Income investing is the most conservative and easy to understand investment strategy. Income investors target companies that consistently pay high stock dividends. This is a preferred stock market strategy for those around retirement age. This investment strategy looks for companies that tend to be large and well-established. There is always risk in stock market investing, but income investing is the most conservative investment strategy; in fact it is also known as defensive investing because it tends to protect the trader.

Value Investing

This investment strategy is a search for one thing; investors try to find stocks that have been overlooked by the rest of the market. While this doesn’t necessarily mean they are low priced stocks, it does mean that for whatever reason, the market has undervalued a particular stock. Many times, a stock gets overlooked while investors chase profits in another company in the same stock sector or a similar company that is perceived differently by investors. Technical analysis is important with such companies since an investor doesn’t want to confuse undervalued with underperforming. A value investor can look at the price to earnings ratio as one guide to the value of a stock. The hope of the value investor is that the market will recognize the worth of the company and its stock will be bid up to true value, realizing a profit for the successful trader.

Conclusion

These investment strategies are all beneficial to the successful investor. The significant difference between them is their level of risk. Part of formulating your stock trading plan is identifying your current risk tolerance. It is likely that a younger investor will have a greater tolerance for risk due to a greater time to make up for any losses, while an investor close to retirement might choose a conservative approach to make money yet better protect his or her investments.