saving up for retirement late in the game

You may have heard that investing your money is risky, but investing is only risky when you do not make educated and informed investment decisions. Whether you invest in the stock market or in your local real estate market, you need the right tools to help you make your investments successful and profitable. Here are two types of investing and some tools that can help you earn a return on your money.

Stock Market Investment

Simulation Stock Trading Account

When you decide to invest some of your money in publicly traded companies on the stock market, you need to know what you are doing before you put your own money on the line. Don't open an online stock trading account, deposit your savings into it, and begin buying and selling stocks before you know what you are doing. You will most likely lose all your money. 

There are online services that will let you set up a simulated investment account for free. You can use fake money, but trade against real time stock quotes. Some of these simulated stock trading accounts will let you set up a specific stock or option transaction using past stock information to see how your investment would have fared over a specific time frame. This lets you try different investing techniques to see what works and what doesn't work without risking your own money. Then, when you feel ready, you can open a real trading account and invest your money.

Professional Trading Alert Service

Once you have a hang of using and understand the basics of the stock market, you can sign up for professional options alert services. A trading alert service helps save you time that you would have spent watching the stock market. For example, a trading alert services can watch a particular stock until its price moves to where you want to buy or sell. You can customize your request for an alert to including specifics such as the entry price, stop loss, and profit target. Then, you can go about your day job or other activities and get alerts on your computer or your smart phone when your requested event has happened on a stock or option and make your trade.

Rental Property Investment

Property Manager

Whether you have one rental property or several, using a property manager can make being a rental investor much easier. A property manager can take care of such things as getting the property ready for new tenants, advertising, showing the property to prospective tenants, processing rental applications, completing background checks, and collecting rents. They will usually notify you before making any major repairs and can even handle tenant evictions. 

The cost of hiring a property manager usually includes an initial set-up fee, which can be anywhere from $0 to $300 dollars. The monthly property management fee can be from four percent to twelve percent of the property's monthly rent. Read over the full management contract before you sign as you may also be responsible for paying vacancy fees and a leasing fee when a new tenant moves in.

Accountant

Having your own accountant to keep track of all your expenses and accounts payable can be an important part of being a successful property manager. Your accountant can keep track of all your receipts and documentation for tax deductions and help you prepare your tax filing. When you own one or more rental properties, expenses related to renting your property should be itemized so you can reduce your taxable income. Some deductions include the mileage you drive to and from your rental property, expenses for your home office, cost of your business license, and property insurance premiums.

When you use the right investing tools, your rental property or stock market investments can be more successful.