Items in italics are direct quotes from the articles below
http://www.investopedia.com/university/peratio/
Investors often want to compare how the share price of one company compares to that of another. But just looking at the stock price is like comparing apples to oranges since companies have different numbers of shares outstanding, and even if they had the same share float, companies operate in different industry segments or are at different stages in the corporate life cycle. Fortunately, financial analysts have developed a number of tools for such purposes of comparison. The price-to-earnings ratio, or P/E, the most widely used metric. Although it is quite a simple indicator to calculate, the P/E can be difficult to interpret. It can be extremely informative in some situations, while at other times it is difficult to parse. As a result, investors often misuse this ratio and place more evaluative power in the P/E than is sometimes warranted. This ratio measures the company’s stock vs its earnings, which can be measured against other companies. As a basic rule of thumb, a high P/E means the stock price is high compared to earnings which means the company is overvalued and the opposite is true. The link above is an introduction into an in-depth look at the P/E ratio and if you’re interested in learning about how to calculate it and how to and how not to use it in stock price analysis then please follow the link at the bottom of the article. For the sake of brevity, I included just the introduction.
http://www.investopedia.com/university/become-your-own-financial-advisor/
“If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” – Yogi Berra If you build a house without a plan, what sort of results would you expect? Theoretically, you could get lucky and end up with the house of your dreams. What’s more likely, however, is that the house wouldn’t be anything like what you had wanted. You might need to move the doors and windows, build new walls and take down others – or worse. Investing isn’t any different. Without a plan, you could (again, theoretically) get lucky, but the odds are against it. Without goals – and a well-thought-out plan for meeting those goals – you probably won’t end up where you want to be financially, in either the short- or long-term. You have to make goals to meet goals. Historically investors have tried to beat the market or tried to get the highest rate of return possible. A new approach is goal based investing. This type of investing involves achieving certain life events such as saving for your retirement or buying your first house. The theory is that:
- Setting goals makes it more likely that you’ll save for – and achieve – every goal.
- You’ll be more motivated to reach a goal since you can gauge its progress.
- You can consider the time horizon and risk level separately for each goal, and invest accordingly
Most people work with financial advisors to help achieve their financial goals, but the author advocates that you can be your own financial advisor if you are willing to put in the time and work. Due to the content of this article, I suggest you read the article in its entirety, and I’ve included some more content from the article:
Next, arrange your goals by the time horizon for achieving them:
| Short-Term Goals | Mid-Term Goals | Long-Term Goals |
| Pay for a wedding | Buy a vacation home | Build a nest egg for retirement |
| Take a vacation | Have the funds to start a new business | Income stream for retirement |
| Save a down payment for a home | Leave a financial legacy to your family | |
| Save for your children’s education |
Rather than just doing all this in your head – write it down. Putting your goals on paper makes them more “real” and you’ll be more likely to think about them. Plus, you can share your goals with your spouse, family or friends – which can give you a little motivational push.
The next step is to attach a dollar figure to each goal. With some goals, it’s easy to say how much you’ll need: for example, you plan on giving your daughter $5,000 (and no more!) to help pay for her wedding, or you want to save $10,000 for a trip to Antarctica. With other goals, it’s a bit trickier to nail down a specific amount, so you’ll have to spend some time crunching the numbers. There are lots of online calculators that can help – just search for the type of calculator you need, such as “retirement calculator” or “college savings calculator” to get started.
Once you have a list of goals and financial objectives for each, it’s easier to plan, budget and choose the right investments. In the next chapter, we’ll look at different retirement and tax-advantaged accounts you can use to meet your goals.
Like anything in life, if you want to become an expert at something, you need to practice your skill and learn from others better than you. Personally, I wouldn’t call myself a financial expert. I’m someone that cares about the financial health of myself and others and I share what I know in the hopes for a better future generation. What is your why?
If you need are interested in creating a budget, then contact me for a financial checkup in the contact me section. Also, learn more about the self-lending principle in the mustard seed section.
For this week, I’ve included FIRE WITHIN – Motivational Speech On Success from Motivation Archive YouTube channel.
“If you think you know it all, you’re a fool for sure; real survivors learn wisdom from others.” Proverbs
28:26 MSG
