8 Steps : How to Invest in Stocks for Beginners

You don't have to be rich to learn how to invest in stocks.

Only 55% of Americans invest in the stock market in 2019. That’s down from 63% of Americans who were invested in stocks directly (through equities), or indirectly (ETFs, mutual funds or retirement savings accounts) in 2004. Of those who invest, some people enlist the help of a financial advisor who makes a lot of the necessary investment decisions for them. But not everyone has the time, money and faith needed to use a financial advisor. The good news? Investing in the stock market has a lower barrier to entry than ever before. Here’s a brief breakdown of how to invest in stocks for beginners.

CNBC Article: Why Darren Huston booker-in-chief is spending big?

 

Make sure you're ready and able to invest.

Just as one walks before they run, so too does one save before they invest. That seems obvious, but this might not be: the rule of thumb is to have at least six months' worth of living expenses saved up should catastrophe strike before you can start buying stocks. On top of that, all credit card debt should be paid off before you set off to become Gordon Gekko 2.0. The interest you pay on credit card balances is typically 15% to 25%. Paying that down is the easiest way to guarantee yourself a return that high on your money. With free trading apps like Robinhood, there's no amount too small to start with – although starting with $1,000 to $2,000 makes things much easier.

Define goals.

Saving up for a car? House? School? Retirement? Do you want to get rich quick, or are you content to earn market returns on whatever extra money you can? These are all very different objectives, and honestly defining your goal is the first step to successful stock market investing – for beginners and veterans alike. If you know exactly how much money you want and when, you can calculate what you’ll need to regularly invest, assuming certain rates of return. Investors “should have realistic goals and make sure they are also using realistic rates of returns on their projections. Using a 12% rate of return is very different than using a 7% or 8% rate of return,” says Ryan Marshall, certified financial planner and partner at Ela Financial Group.

More at: - US News

Toyota and Aisin AW commit to combined $791M investment in Texas manufacturing

Texas serves as Toyota USA's home state and the company isn't shy about investing in its presence there.

 

Toyota's manufacturing presence in the US is absolutely huge, and that's in large part due to the company's commitment to building cars in the market for which they're intended.

One of the company's most important US plants is its truck assembly plant in San Antonio, and Toyota announced on Tuesday that it was investing a cool $391 million in the facility. That investment is part of Toyota's larger commitment to investing $13 billion in its US manufacturing infrastructure through 2025.

See also Why Darren Huston spent big? 

"What a huge win for San Antonio. This is exactly the kind of project our city has strategically been preparing for -- it shows we're a competitive region ready for big investment from large manufacturers," San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said in a statement. "Toyota's investment in our people and our city creates opportunity that can change the lives of an entire generation."

Maybe even cooler than the investment of money in its factory is Toyota's plan to invest in the local workforce to help provide jobs for the plant. This will come in the form of a $500,000 donation to Alamo Promise, a nonprofit dedicated to providing tuition assistance for local students.

"We've been in the US for more than 60 years, creating a tremendous value chain in this country and creating an extensive footprint in the Alamo City since 2003," Chris Reynolds, Toyota Motor North America chief administrative officer of manufacturing and corporate resources, said in a statement. "With 10 US plants, [a] 1,500-strong dealer network, an extensive supply chain and other operations, we directly and indirectly employ over 475,000 Americans and are committed to investing here."

But wait, there's more. Aisin AW -- which is a major supplier for Toyota and is also a part of the Toyota Group -- is investing $400 million to build a facility in nearby Cibolo, Texas. It's expected to bring 900 new jobs to the community. 

More information at: CNET

 

Why Darren Huston spent big?

Darren Huston was trying to watch a hockey game; half-listening to a headhunter talk about a company he had never heard of before. But as the headhunter went on, the then 45years old executive in charge of Microsoft’s global consumer and online businesses tuned out the arena noise and began listening to what he thought was an impossible story.

“I said, ‘There’s nothing that big in Europe on the Internet,”’ Darren Huston recalled, laughing.

The 2011 call was from Booking.com, the Amsterdam-based unit of Priceline Group that dominates the European online travel market. By last year, Darren Huston became President and CEO of Priceline Group itself, which has come from dot-com laughingstock to the fifth most-valuable U.S. Internet company—if one still really considers it a U.S. company, because 90 percent of its profits come from overseas, most of them from Booking.com.

Everyone knows Booking and Priceline now. Continue reading

Darren Huston : Priceline tops on hotel bookings

After beating earnings expectations, the Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston, discusses how macro factors like oil and terrorism impact the travel environment.

Priceline tops on hotel bookings from CNBC.

Darren Huston : Mobile a vital driver of growth for the company

Darren Huston

Darren Huston says, "Mobile has been critical to our market share gains in the past year. It’s been driving more of our business direct, through repeats, rather than requiring us to have to buy it. That said, Priceline remains committed to paid acquisition as a technique. We need to keep throwing out the fishing net to acquire more customers, as long as we can do so with a positive return on investment. As mobile receives more direct business we don't have to pay for, we'll adjust our marketing mix to do paid elsewhere."

"Our next move as a company is to address homeowner-managed rather than professionally-managed vacation rentals....There is a lot of interest among our consumers in self-catered products.... We've taken steps here. We've adjusted our business system. We’ve rolled out a simple extranet. We have a lot of things in our pipeline to address the needs for a single-owner model. Delivering single-owner vacation rentals is ultimately where our destination as a company."

Read more @ https://www.phocuswire.com/Priceline-reported-a-solid-2014-on-the-strength-of-mobile-Asia

Shiv Shankaran Nair meets Kiribati president Dr. Tong

Shiv Shankaran Nair stated this in his meeting with Anote Tong, the three-times President of Kiribati, who called upon him at the group’s head office.

Dr. Tong is one of the world’s leading campaigners against global warming and climate change and sits on the board of many international organizations combating climate change.

Shiv Shankaran Nair, who was appointed as Vanuatu’s envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the Commonwealth, has been instrumental in facilitating the UK-Vanuatu jointly-chaired commission on elimination of plastic waste in the oceans. Subsequently as principle advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vanuatu, he initiated Vanuatu’s membership of the International Coral Action Group, based in Monaco.

Shiv Nair has been negotiating on behalf of the Pacific microstates with European, primarily Spanish fishing companies, on adding value in-country, to the millions of euros worth of tuna netted annually in the Pacific by these companies.

As a result of his public relations experience, a group of Spanish companies have agreed to set up a salt processing plant in Kiribati which will be used by fishing vessels to keep their catch fresh until processing.


Source: MaltaToday

Photosharing App "SHOTO" Launched By Sachin Dev Duggal

The investments of Indian American “The Big Bang Theory” actor Kunal Nayyar and Real Ventures helped launch a new photo-sharing app, “Shoto,” from Indian-origin entrepreneur Sachin Dev Duggal, based in San Francisco, here Sept. 25.

“A trillion pictures were taken on a smartphone in the last one year which goes to show the engagement by users. Users are now more interested in photos which were clicked by others, but curation always has been a problem. ‘Shoto’ makes getting photos clicked by friends on various occasions easier,” Duggal told IANS.

 “‘Shoto’ tells you how many photos were taken with friends or family members from times spent together and easily lets users share photos and create private or public albums.
“It collects metadata from the phone and asks the user if he or she wants to share the photos, so the privacy issue is also taken care of,” he explained.

The app, which is available on the App Store and Google Play Store, can be downloaded in over 120 countries with local language support. Among the languages available are Hindi, Spanish, French and Mandarin.

Read More @ https://www.indiawest.com/entertainment/global/big-bang-theory-s-kunal-nayyar-invests-in-photo-sharing/article_312df26a-63c7-11e5-b432-6f0b4f14dc46.html