Energy Secretary Ed Davey Insists UK Will Meet Its Carbon Emission Reduction Targets

By Tsveta Zikolova

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey has today called on energy ministers from around the world to step up efforts to make "the business case for going green," meaning to boost renewable energy, sustainability and carbon credit investments in the private sector. Regardless of environmental experts' warnings, Davey insists that meeting UK carbon emission reduction targets is possible. Opening the Clean Energy Ministerial in London, Davey told the audience of more than 20 energy ministers from the world's leading economies that governments should work more closely with businesses to drive the necessary investments for low-carbon, sustainable future.

The meeting has brought together energy ministers from 23 countries, including Brazil, China, India, Russia and US, who are seeking solutions for power sources that do not fuel climate change. The UK government hopes the two-day gathering will enable them to "showcase" what it is doing to promote energy efficiency and low-carbon development. In the context of the summit, the UK government is also expected to announce a series of agreements on clean technology development with Brazil, Germany, South Korea and the United States. This comes in line with the International Energy Agency (IEA) recommendation for ministers at the summit to help create a level playing field for all clean energy technologies, accelerate clean energy research and support energy efficiency and carbon credit investments. These are necessary measures in order governments to meet their 2020 carbon emission reduction targets.

With many clean energy technologies available, but not being deployed quickly enough to avert potentially disastrous consequences, the world's energy system is being pushed to breaking point. IEA warned that governments were failing to deploy available clean energy technologies quickly enough to avert "disastrous" climate change of up to 6C by the end of the century. In response Davey said that he expects the UK to meet its target of sourcing 30 per cent of all electricity from renewable sources by 2020, with the "clean energy" sector having attracted nearly £5bn in private investment last year. "We started off from a very low base. When we came to government, we were right at the bottom of the league," he said. "But we really have now begun to turn that round and we are moving fast".

Despite his positive expectations, citing recent research from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, that was presented to ministers, Davey warned that clean energy and carbon credit investments during the first quarter of this year fell and urged governments to step up attempts to drive private sector investment in the sector. Davey urged governments to create the right frameworks for low-carbon investment to encourage private financing as states do not have the balance sheet to fully support clean energy growth.

Every day that goes by without action means higher costs down the road. Fortunately, the ministers gathering this week in London have the power to encourage clean energy and carbon credit investments, innovations and reforms. Hopefully the governments worldwide will act to seize the security, economic and environmental benefits clean energy transition can bring.

Investing in Forestry, Energy Efficiency Among Priority Sectors for New Russia-China Fund

By Tonka Dobrev

Igor Shuvalov, first deputy Prime Minister of Russia and Li Keqiang, executive vice-premier of the State Council of China, announced at the recent China-Russia Investment and Trade Forum that the two countries will be launching a joint Investment Fund in the summer of 2012. Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said in a press release that the Russia-China Fund is expected to receive initial capital in the amount of $4 billion. The China Investment Corporation (CIC) and the RDIF are to contribute $1 billion each, and the remaining $2 billion will come from other Chinese institutional investors. The launch date of the Fund is planned for the end of June.

The Fund's capital will be managed by a designated company, which is in the process of being established. The founders of the management company are the RDIF and the CIC. The former stakeholder will control 60 percent of ownership while the latter will take on 40 percent. Most key executives at the Fund management company will be nominated by the RDIF. The Russian investment corporation is also expected to take the lead on most of the project selection process, including overseeing project research, analysis and evaluation.

In terms of geographic location of the investments, as much as 70 percent of the Fund's capital will be invested in projects and businesses in Russia and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

"The Russian economy might see hundreds of millions of dollars in joint investments from Russia and China as early as the end of 2012," promised Dmitriev.

The remaining 30 percent will be allocated to Chinese businesses and projects that also have Russian involvement.

Investing in forestryand timber, engineering, transportation, agriculture and logistics are the sectors that top the list of investment priorities for the Fund. Dmitriev also noted that special attention will be paid to energy saving and energy efficiency initiatives.

For China, investing in forestry initiatives domestically can offer particularly appealing business opportunities. According to the latest Global Tree Farm Economics Reviewpublished by RISI, a US information provider for the global forest products industry,China's imports of logs, lumber, woodchips and pulp hit record highs in 2011. At the same time the country's timber supply deficit increased by more than 30 percent, reaching an estimated 152 million cubic metres.

In addition, the authors of the Review noted that increased forestry preservation efforts worldwide have led global timber markets to become overly dependent on man-made forestry plantations and tree farms. This means planted forestry is likely to enjoy increased attention from private and public decision makers in the foreseeable future.

By using portion of the joint Fund's capital for investing in forestry projects and growing sustainable timber in China, investors can not only capitalise on meeting the demand deficit at home, but can also cash in on timber sales globally. Moreover, timber investments have proven to be a smart choice especially in challenging economic times. The value of timber products has historically risen above global inflation and timber has been the only asset class in existence to have risen during three out of the four market collapses of the 20th century.

A First, And Last, Hurrah For Dividends?

By Larry M. Elkin

Corporations are pulling out their checkbooks and paying shareholder dividends at the fastest pace in years, putting money in the hands of investors who can use it for debt repayment, holiday presents or anything else they choose.

Enjoy it while it lasts. This happy state of affairs, so long in coming, may not go on much longer.

For most of the past two decades dividends were largely ignored. Money managers and their clients focused on share price appreciation, which historically has been the larger component of a stock's total return (the sum of price appreciation and dividend payments). But price appreciation has been hard to come by during the largely flatlined decade since the dot-com bust.

Bloomberg reported this week that corporations are paying special dividends, on top of their regular quarterly distributions, at four times last year's pace. Commerce Bancshares Inc. reported a lot of happy shareholder feedback in the wake of its $1.50 per share payment in early November. IDT, a telecommunications company in New Jersey, pulled planned dividends from 2013 into 2012. (1) Across the board, companies are giving excess capital back to shareholders. Other companies, including Apple as of earlier this year, have instituted regular quarterly dividends or have raised their payout rates.

It would be nice to think that companies are trying to share the success of the business with its owners, or enabling shareholders to take advantage of more promising investment opportunities elsewhere. However, what we are seeing is mainly a temporary burst of payments to take to take advantage of the current tax law, under which dividend income is taxed at 15 percent.

If President Obama gets his way and tax rates on dividends rise sharply, it seems likely corporate payouts will dry up again. Not only will Americans lose this source of income on their savings and investments - and income is something they can't get on their savings almost anywhere else these days - but corporations that cannot return cash to their shareholders effectively will look for other places to deploy it. Many of those places will be overseas.

Instead of collecting more tax on dividends after rates go up, the government is likely to end up collecting less, since there will be less money distributed as dividends to tax.

Dividends that qualify for the current 15 percent federal rate (lower for some taxpayers) represent business income that is taxed twice. The first tax is paid by the corporation itself, at rates up to 35 percent. With the government taking 35 cents of every dollar of profit, dividends must be paid from the 65 cents left over.

Apply a 15 percent federal tax rate to the shareholder who receives the dividend, and the total tax bite is about 45 cents of every dollar of profit. Additional taxes in many states take even more. And that is under the current system, which Obama and fellow Democrats see as unfairly biased toward the wealthy.

Under the president's proposal, the top individual tax rate on dividends would rise to 39.6 percent, plus the additional 3.8 percent tax to support Medicare that takes effect next year. Thus, Uncle Sam could claim more than 43 percent of the 65-cent share of corporate profits that shareholders receive as a dividend. Add something for state taxes, and the total tax bite on dividends for shareholders rises to around 50 percent, more or less.

The net result: Federal and state taxes would consume around two-thirds of every dollar of corporate profits that is distributed to shareholders. Business owners would get to spend only the one-third that remains.

This will be an enormous deterrent to paying dividends at all, and it explains the rush to pay dividends before rates rise. As David M. DeSonier, a senior vice president at Leggett & Platt, a diversified manufacturer based in Missouri, told The New York Times, "If we can help our shareholders avoid taxes and keep more of their dividends, we'll do it." (2) Leggett & Platt moved its fourth-quarter dividend payments from January to December to be sure its shareholders locked in the 15 percent rate.

There is an alternative tax scenario that Democrats might accept and that would still encourage corporations to pay their shareholders. We ought to let corporations deduct dividend payments, just as they now deduct interest on capital that they raise by incurring debt. This would eliminate the double taxation on income that is distributed to shareholders, while income retained in the corporation would continue to be taxed at corporate rates. If we eliminate double taxation on dividends, it becomes easier to justify applying to top individual income tax rate to dividends that shareholders receive, rather than a preferential rate, such as the current 15 percent.

I hope something sensible, maybe along these lines, emerges from the fiscal negotiations that are just getting underway. Otherwise, the efforts toward fiscal responsibility and tax fairness may easily backfire and send American capital overseas in search of more fertile places to work.

Sources:

1) Bloomberg, "Special Dividends Surge Fourfold as U.S. Tax Increase Looms"

2) The New York Times, "Investors Rush to Beat Threat of Higher Taxes"

For more articles, please visit the Palisades Hudson Financial Group LLC newsletter or subscribe to the blog.

Three Ways to Invest

By Raymond Dominick

There are many concepts and techniques for investing in the markets, but in a sense they come down to three basics concepts: conservative investments, aggressive investments or simply, safe investing.

Most folks will say that conservative investing means not taking any chances as you grow your portfolio very slowly over time.

At the same time, aggressive investing would seem to mean taking risks and possibly losing money while in the process of building the value of your investments.

Safe investing is most often confused as being strictly another way of saying conservative investing. This is a major mistake. In fact your key to successful investing should revolve around investing safely.

The keys to safe investing apply to all purposes for investing, including:

• Managing a retirement account

• Building wealth

• Growing an education account

The principles revolve around a few basic concepts that can be implemented by anyone and most easily if you are using investment software. The concepts and the features to look for in an investment software program include:

• Market Exit signal

• Analysis of a ticker symbol (stock, ETF or fund) in comparison to others and to the market as a whole

• Buy/Sell signals

• Charts for visual verification

• Back testing to find the best strategies

The value of a Market Exit signal may sound obvious but one based on facts versus headlines or gut feelings will tell you not just when to sell and move your money to safety in either a money market or bond fund (or bond ETF) but just as importantly the signal will also tell you when it is time to jump back in. Many people missed the signal for when to get back into the market when the recent recession was ending and missed substantial gains. Of course those who followed a Market Exit signal avoided major losses when the recession began.

Charts are great is showing you trends and can even be used to analyze a particular ticker symbol. But by performing analysis, especially a type of relative strength momentum such as alpha, you can not only know how a symbol may perform but how it compares to others and to the stock market itself.

Buy/Sell signals based on different criteria such as when a symbol starts to decline as compared to both itself and others can trigger a sell signal and a complimentary buy signal for another symbol that is moving up.

The ability to back test a group of funds or ETFs to find the best set of buy/sell rules and when to use a Market Exit signal will result in investment strategies that will lead you not just to safe investing but to safe and profitable investing.

Author Raymond Dominick is the designer of Dynamic Investor Pro investment software for stocks, ETFs and mutual funds. He has been investing in the markets since his teenage years. An experienced business manager and journalist, he is a former registered investment advisor representative, also a professional photographer who loves escaping to the wonders of Glacier National Park in Montana.
View his software at: http://www.dynamicinvestorpro.com

Why Choosing the Right Broker Is Essential for Binary Options Trading

By M. James Dickens

The thought of binary options trading can make you salivate at the extent of money you can earn. Provided, and it is a big "provided", you win. In order to profit you must have the requisites. These are: knowledge, tools, experience, and funds and of course the right broker.

Sound Technical Side and Support

Do not be influenced by percentage of brokerage, proximity or other factors. When you start trading, choose the right broker because a lot will depend on him for your success. Prompt services and sophisticated trading platforms are necessary. In addition to the basics, the right broker will provide excellent connectivity and handle all technical issues within a safe trading environment. You need to move with lightning speed to take advantage of an opportunity and if, at this critical moment, you have connectivity issues, you lose the chance. Further, expect the broker to give detailed information on all traded stocks, commodities and currencies as also a window to live external factors impacting global trade decisions. It is also a given that the broker you choose should have a safe and convenient money depositing and withdrawal system in place.

Learning Resources

It takes much effort, time and money to develop and deploy educational resources that target newbie to experienced professional. Choose a broker who has the resources to deploy fresh content all the time based on in-depth research. The text and multimedia based informational content will keep you abreast of latest developments and trends as also educate you on trading strategies as you refine your skills. Choose a broker who goes out of his way to "break in" newbie to the binary options trading process through learning and demo trading accounts. An established broker should have a huge archive full of knowledge resources a newbie can access to learn the techniques and for established traders to refresh their knowledge base. Brokers know how newbie operate and will usually have "template" style predetermined trading strategies and automation to increase chances of profits and to minimize risks.

Reliability and Trust

If you are in the starting stages, you will tend to rely entirely on what a broker suggests or recommends and as such it becomes all the more important to have a broker who is concerned about his clients. Expert suggestions and right guidance help build reliability and trust for a long-term arrangement. Such brokers may offer additional support and you can seek clarifications through online chats or in the forums.

You should be happy paying higher brokerage or service charges if you come across such a broker.

IntelliTraders is a free Binary options trading community to help traders to learn and start trading with best brokers.

Importance of Binary Options Trading Tools

By M. James Dickens

The digital binary is "0" or "1". Binary options' trading mimics the digital with a full pay off if the option is in money and if below the designated value, the trader gets nothing. The returns, if you are in the positive, are huge and this makes binary options tempting. However, approaching it without knowing how it works and underlying technical details is like casting your line on the waters in the hope of hooking something. At the very least, you need to have knowledge base, money and if you are smart, some of the trading tools. Inherently complicated due to the details, a newbie may feel lost in the terminology.

Technical Analysis

Start with technical analysis. Charts, trends, signs of breakouts, volumes traded and amounts traded can be charted and used as tools to help you make a decision.

Charts, Indicators

Technical things and fundamentals each are involved and have many variables you have to integrate in order to come up with an informed decision leading you to profit. If you do not have a full grasp of those two, you can turn to charts and indicators. Your broker's websites or independent websites will give you access to charts and explanations to help you be productive in a short time.

Reading, E-Books and Signals

There is no substitute for knowledge you gain through reading, whether it is printed books or e-books. Before you explore complex e-books available online, it helps if you have a thorough understanding of trading terminology otherwise even expert's advice would go over your head. Meanwhile, you can use the experts' advice in e-books and follow signals to make interim profits.

Binary Options Trading Tools

Technicalities and fundamentals give you competence to trade in stocks, currencies and commodities. A shortcut to success in binary options is to opt for binary options trading tools. Complex yet highly targeted, they save valuable time and indicators tell you what needs to be done. These tools give you access to historical data and also channel live information in real-time. You will find that indicators can become your chief guiding tool in binary options.

As you proceed from the simple to the advanced there is increasing complexity and the variables can confuse you to a large extent. Knowledge gives you clarity of thought and experience shows you the way. Combine the two with effective binary options trading tools to come out winning-most of the time.

IntelliTraders is a free Binary options trading community to help traders to learn and start trading with best brokers.

Binary Options Trading Facts to Keep In Mind

By M. James Dickens

In binary options trading, as in stock or forex, a sound knowledge of technical aspects and understanding of fundamentals as well as what is going on around you, makes you an informed and productive trader. Knowledge helps and the more you have of it, the better. What complicates binary options trading is the number of variables. Technicalities may give you signals but then these are never 100% proved right. All said and done, knowledge can never be enough. The more you know, the better you can be at achieving accuracy in predicting movements and thus gaining instead of losing.

Learn

Think of your money as your fingers. Would you be happy if you lost one? In Binary Options trading, haphazard and guesswork based trading leads to losses. You can take the long route and learn all about charting, trends, averages, volumes, breakouts and other technical aspects while trying to understand fundamentals and global political, weather and other occurrences as factors that might influence markets. On the other hand, you could log on to a broker's website where you can learn or simply gain tips to profit in the short-term even as you pursue acquisition of knowledge.

The Broker

The journey starts with the choice of a binary options broker. Top brokers usually offer the standard trading platform, reasonable brokerage and timely payouts plus research based facts and guidance. Brokers earn regardless of whether you gain or lose but a caring broker does his bit to educating you so you end up winning.

Dry Runs

Try demo or practice or dummy binary options trade before you commit money. Maintain a log of your decisions and outcomes along with notes on the causes and effects and you will know where you stand and whether you are ready to commit money.

Swim with the Tide

Subscribe to services of "experts" who give you signals and help you profit. However, the variables are so many that even their signals can be distorted. You swim with the tide and sink. If you spend hours studying and understanding market movements, you know exactly where it is going and when to be wary of following the herd. Remember, it is a system where a few are manipulating the herd.

Spice it up

Dummy runs can be fine but once you have learnt enough to be of practical use, take it to the next level by committing money. Unless there is risk you will not act responsibly. The gains or losses can spur you to keep on learning. More is never enough in binary options trading.

IntelliTraders is a free Binary options trading community to help traders to learn and start trading with best brokers.

Asking The Right Investment Questions

By Mark H Lister

There are never any certainties in anything, and investment is no different. There is no way that you can be totally sure that an investment is totally sound - though obviously there are some investments that are far safer than others.

One question you should ask about any investment is - How well have you covered yourself? Too many people look naively into the future and dream: "what if I am right" - and forget to ask the commensurate question: "what if I'm horribly wrong." That's not being negative about things; it's being realistic. You should always ask questions to find out if you know what the risks are, and whether it's a realistic proposal.

Sometimes an investment that sounds logical may not be good, just as taking a risk on something that might not look that profitable could pay off. So it's best to cover yourself with more than one option, rather than hoping something will pay off and regretting it later. Balance things out - or in other words, make sure your investment has insurance of sorts. This is where an investment adviser is always a good option, as they will help you cover your bases and talk you through the risks of each type of investment.

Diversify
Investment advisers will often give advice to make sure your portfolio isn't focused on one investment type. Always beware of people who tell you that you should put all your financial eggs in one basket.

In general, houses are a good investment in New Zealand. However, Kiwis are occasionally over-enamoured with houses to the point that it is their only form of investment. In reality, it's normally best to make sure you have some different investment options. Even within your portfolio of houses, it's good if you can diversify; having every house situated in Auckland, for example, may not have the same gains as having a house in a few different cities.

Having a share portfolio actually works in a similar way. It's best to diversify so your investment grows and you can balance your losses with your gains. It's often said that buying a good house has a lot to do with finding a good location. Investment, on the other hand, is a lot about timing. Just because shares are performing badly doesn't mean you should sell them all at the first opportunity. But it's also possible to hold on too long. This is where a good investment adviser is worth their weight in gold. They will help you with a long game mentality and strategy. It will profit in the end.

Get the right advice
In general, it's good practice to check any advice you're getting; reading this, for example, is a good starting point, but you should always check things against your financial needs and situation. If you're not sure about the advice you're getting, check it elsewhere. There's no point sticking with an investment adviser just to be loyal. Your main objective should be to get good advice so you can make sound financial decisions.

Mark Lister is the Head of Private Wealth Research for Craigs Investment Partners (formerly ABN AMRO Craigs), which is one of New Zealand's largest independent investment firms.

Can The New Zealand Market Continue Its Stellar Run?

By Mark H Lister

The New Zealand sharemarket has had an outstanding year. Most markets around the world have had a good run in 2012, but New Zealand's has been exceptional. The market has risen 22.6 per cent so far, compared with Australia which is up 12.7 per cent, the United States 12.6 per cent and European shares 8.9 per cent (all including dividends).

These are all excellent returns, especially when you consider how bad economic news has been all year, but New Zealand's market has provided almost double the return. The NZX50 has even trounced the booming Auckland housing market, where prices have risen 10.9 per cent this year according to the Real Estate Institute.

So what's caused such a stellar run and can it continue, or has New Zealand gotten a bit overheated and are we about to see a correction?

There are several key reasons why New Zealand's market has been so strong. For a start the economy isn't in bad shape compared with many other countries. There are issues, such as the high currency making life difficult for parts of the manufacturing sector and the unemployment rate being higher than they would like. But government debt is low, they haven't resorted to printing money and they export twice as much to Asia and the developing world as they do to the United States and Europe.

Many New Zealand companies are doing all the right things as well. In just the last week, it was announced that the Christchurch rebuild is gaining momentum, a retirement village operator increased its growth projections and a major exporter posted an 18% profit and upgraded its earning guidance for next year.

But perhaps the most dominant reason is the persistent low interest rates they've had in recent years. The floating mortgage rate was 10.3 per cent five years ago and now it's 5.7 per cent, which is great for all the mortgage-holders out there because their monthly payments have fallen by a third. If people can manage it, hopefully they've left the payments constant and are now paying their loans back much faster.

But consider the retired folk who are counting on the interest from their nest eggs to supplement the income they get from their national super. They quite liked those high interest rates from a few years back. For them, the 8.2 per cent they were getting on their bank deposits in 2007 is now sitting just below 4.0 percent. While their living costs and other commitments have continued to rise, they've had a 50 per cent pay cut with no sign of a reprieve on the horizon.

These investors have been forced to look elsewhere to get those nest-eggs working for them again. Enter New Zealand shares and listed property trusts, paying dividend yields of 6.5 per cent and 9.0 per cent respectively, and we can see why the New Zealand market has been so popular this year. Forget about whether the share prices go up or not, as long as the dividend cheques keep rolling in every quarter they are beating the bank by a pretty wide margin. While it's been more of a bonus for many, the capital growth has actually been quite impressive too.

Trying to forecast where things go from here is, as always, the hard part. On traditional measures the market looks a likely pricey, but not ridiculously so. Even after a 22.6 per cent rise most shares are still offering dividend yields of between 5.5 and 6.5 per cent, more than investors can find anywhere else.

Growth prospects aren't bad either for most companies on the NZX. More than 80 per cent are forecast to make a bigger profit this year than they did last year and to grow that profit again in 2014 - with double digit increases in both years. Would a property investor sell an investment property that was already paying a 5.5 per cent yield and was in line for a 10 per cent rent increase next year and the year after that?

To keep investors worried, there is the usual multitude of risks out there and the main issues are the same ones they've been worried about for some time - namely high debt levels in Europe and the United States. These risks cannot be underestimated, but there are also some positives.

China is improving and we are beginning to see signs of a rebound in its rate of growth. This has started to emerge in manufacturing data, retail sales and exports, all of which have looked better recently. This worst may have passed for China and we might just see a rebound early next year as the new leadership takes hold.

America is also making some progress, economically at least if not politically. The housing market is finally showing sustainable signs of life with even Las Vegas seeing house prices rise last month, the first annual increase for the city in over five years.

Looking forward to next year, New Zealand's market is expected to level off rather than fall back. They are unlikely to get another stunning performance like this year has provided, but modest dividend yields should at least underpin good quality shares at current levels. A bit of growth in economic activity associated with the Christchurch rebuild should also provide a small boost.

However, investors that are looking for opportunities across the world's sharemarkets for the year ahead might find more interesting prospects further afield than locally, particularly as some markets have lagged New Zealand by a fairly wide margin.

Australia, for example, remains completely out of favour with investors. But a recovering China might soon turn sentiment for the mining-dependent country and the Federal election next year could lead to some positive leadership changes. Interest rates have been cut aggressively over the last year in Australia, from an OCR of 4.75 per cent to just 3.25 per cent today. The impact of these hasn't completely flowed through to the economy but it will, and we've all seen what decreasing interest rates eventually did for the New Zealand sharemarket.

Mark Lister is the Head of Private Wealth Research for Craigs Investment Partners (formerly ABN AMRO Craigs), which is one of New Zealand's largest independent investment firms.

He joined Craigs Investment Partners in early 2004 as an equity analyst specialising in property and small cap research. In 2007, Mark was appointed Head of Private Wealth Research for Craigs Investment Partners.

Non Resident Indians Choose India for Their Investments

By Niyati Khanna

India occupies the fourth position for foreign direct investments (FDIs), with only the US, China and Great Britain preceding it. The government of India, of late, has started offering various facilities to non resident Indians, more commonly known as NRIs, for attracting foreign investments to the country. NRIs are being allowed to invest directly in both the primary and the secondary capital markets of the country via portfolio investment schemes. Under the said scheme, non resident Indians could acquire debentures and shares of various Indian companies that are listed on the stock exchanges of India.

The growth of a country consists of various amendments to policies and acts that have to be carried out from time to time. The government of India has taken up investment favourable taxation policies as well as other documentation processes to start a company. Human resources are also being offered to the non resident Indians. All these factors are attracting NRI investments to India. cost competitiveness that was ushered by the economic reforms in 1991 and the market for goods and services driven by a swelling middle class has given the Indian market a high potential.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allows a non resident Indian to open accounts in Indian banks as a business investor in India. NRIs are offered various deposit and savings schemes depending upon the type of the account. Joint holdings of an account are also being offered to the non resident Indians. This has helped those NRIs whose parents or other relatives stay in India.

The RBI has also given permission to non resident Indians to invest in shares of Indian companies. The NRIs also have the option for investing on fixed deposits, mutual funds and other financial instruments. The limit of the investments and the type of the company, however, are subject to the guidelines and amendments released by the RBI from time to time.

NRIs can also invest their money in government securities. They can convert their money to property. This takes the form of a long term investment, the value of which grows over time.

Benefits for NRIs

Non resident Indians can reap various benefits by investing in India. While loans are extended to the NRIs in lieu of deposit schemes for constructing homes in India, they are also being given tax relief when they send remittances back to India. With the progress in technology, the mode of financial transactions has changed with the advent of internet banking and online tracking of payments have made it easier for NRIs to invest in India. The country also has taxation arrangements with various other countries that help the NRIs to avoid double taxation. They are being encouraged more to invest in India.

India has a large section of its population working abroad. They are known as non resident Indians, more popularly, NRIs.

Fiscal Cliff - No Way! Or Maybe! Who Knows? - Time to Look at Dividend Aristocrats!

By Robert W Boyd

Everyone else seems to be commenting on the fiscal cliff so I thought I would put in my two cents worth as well. The recent see-sawing of the markets is indicative of the lack of confidence that the big players have in the ability of our congress to make an appropriate move to avoid falling off the cliff and throwing the country into recession.

Every word that comes from Washington, be it from the White House, Congress, or the FED moves the market. If it is an optimistic word the market goes up, pessimistic, it goes down. Meanwhile the other signs in the market seem to be improving. Unemployment is edging down, housing starts are edging up, and the major corporations seem to be doing fairly well while holding onto a tremendous amount of cash.

From the standpoint of the long term investor interested in either current or future income from their portfolio, this is a time to really focus in on high quality dividend paying stocks. While I don't believe that our congressional leaders would be so foolish and stubborn as to allow us to fall back into recession, anything can happen in the current extremely polarized and partisan environment. It is possible that it may happen that they allow us to go over the fiscal cliff and, if so, we could see an immediate drop in the DOW of 1000 points or more. On the other hand it may not happen (probably won't) and when that becomes evident (announced) we could see a very substantial rally.

So, what to do? No one has a crystal ball, especially me, but my best guess is that if our leaders let the end of the year come and go without resolving the problem, and allow us to go over the cliff, the market will drop significantly... but then early in the first quarter they will pass legislation and retroactively save the day, and the markets will come charging back. This may prove to be an outstanding trading opportunity for those nimble traders who guess right, have gone to cash prior to the drop, buy at the bottom and then sell when the market surges. As for me, that is just too much guess work, crystal ball gazing and speculation. Rather, I believe that for long term income oriented investors that this is a time to evaluate your portfolio from a more conservative standpoint.

There are many "dividend aristocrats" and "dividend champions" (stocks with long term histories of raising dividends every year) out there that are currently undervalued. I believe it is a time to pare down any riskier stocks, or stocks that have fallen below your original buying criteria and to load up on fundamentally undervalued long term dividend growing stocks. They have been through many a crisis in the past and have continued to grow despite whatever economic adversity they may have faced. For lists of these equities to start your due diligence simply Google dividend aristocrat or dividend champion.

In the end, I believe that our leaders will not allow us to go over the fiscal cliff, but it is always best to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Stocks with a long term history of growing dividends through wars, recessions, catastrophes, etc. are not a bad way to go, no matter what happens.

Copyright 2012 Robert W. Boyd III,. All rights reserved worldwide.

Bob Boyd invites you to visit the High Yield Equity Stock Report for additional articles:http://www.highyieldreport.blogspot.com This site is dedicated to assisting investors with their due diligence in the highly volatile and often misunderstood category of high yield dividend investing as part of a diversified investment program.

Investing For The Beginner - Top Three Tips

By Kristian Ferguson

Have you ever wanted to invest in the stock market and had no idea where to begin? Many people start investing without doing any research and then tend to lose a lot of money. These tips below will help any beginner feel comfortable making investing decisions and will help to avoid costly mistakes when purchasing stocks.

Tip # 1 - Know what a stock is and how it works
Common stock is the class of stock that represents residual ownership in a corporation. Shares of a company are publicly traded on an open market, but the shares must be offered to the public at an initial public offering. (IPO) The IPO is to raise funds to help expand the business. Once shares are opened to the public they can be traded at any price determined by the buyer and seller. The price of a stock is easily determined. If there are more buyers than sellers, then the price of the stock will increase. If there are more sellers than buyers, then the stock price will decrease. When looking at a price quote for a stock, that represents the last agreed-upon trade that occurred.

Tip # 2 - Keep your emotions out of the stock market
Most people that follow their gut instinct when it comes to investing make bad decisions. They tend to buy high and sell low. When stocks decline greatly, they become cheaper and are less risky. On the other hand when stocks increase quickly they become more expensive and are more risky. However, many of us think the opposite. Don't let the stock market trends trick you. One of the biggest mistakes a beginner investor can make when the stock market dips very low is to sell off their investments. This is the time you should buy the stocks, not sell your stocks at a discount price.

Tip #3 - How to choose the right stock for you
When choosing stocks to invest in you must do some research first. Check out the company's financial records and return on net worth. It is important to see a growing trend of the return on net worth. Also look at the value of the stock instead of the price. Low priced stocks may be low for a reason. Take a look at the entire picture and see why the price is low and if there is a possibility it may rise in the future. Make sure to spread your risk out. Put your money into some high risk and low risk stocks. This is a good way to protect your money.

These quick tips will help get you started on the right track to investing your money in the stock market and help you feel more comfortable. Start small with your investments and expand your portfolio slowly as you gain more experience.

How to Find Time for Your Retirement Account

By Raymond Dominick

Finding time to take control and manage your retirement account or have a regular account seems daunting. But there are solutions that will make it easy for you to invest safely.

Many folks, when thinking about investing in the stock market or handling their 401k account or IRA just kind of shiver and say "I don't have the time." The consequence is what happened when the recent recession started: most retirement accounts, most regular accounts dropped like a brick, losing anywhere from 40% to 60% of their value.

The solution to keeping your portfolio profitable is:

• Recognize how much time you have
• Know the key principles of safe investing
• Safe and profitable investment software

Taking control of your financial future is possible if you just think about how you pay your everyday bills. Most of us pay our bills once a week, or twice a month, maybe just monthly, but we pay them on a regular schedule that fits our life style, our personal time constraints.

I like to pay my bills on Tuesday mornings. Perhaps you do it Sunday evening. In any case it is a time that works best for you.

Managing your retirement or becoming an investor is just the same. What time works best for you? With the right flexible investment software, software that can bend and work with you, you can manage your account in just a few minutes each week or every few weeks. And you will avoid those 40% losses and grow your money on a steady if not star-climbing rate.

So the question is: How much time do you have? When?

Can you find 30 minutes a month or a week to safeguard and build your wealth? There is investment software that doesn't require any more time than this.

The key principles of safe investing are built into some investment software. These principles include:

• Diversification
• Buy/Sell signals
• Market Exit signals

There are many types of investment software on the market. Most focus on charts, but focusing on charts is like focusing on one tree rather than the entire forest and the complete environment.

Yes charts are important but your key to successful investing should involve getting recommendations on both when to buy and when to sell based on comparisons with the overall market, with other stocks or mutual funds. Knowing when to sell a position is equally important as knowing what to buy.

Safe investing with relative strength momentum as the primary means of analysis has been proven to produce the best results over both long and short time periods. This means finding a program that uses technical analysis, a program that doesn't require any special knowledge. The program should be able to analyze using relative strength momentum, alpha or many other similar means of analysis to give you simple to understand buy or sell signals.

If you can make the time, just like for paying your bills, as little as 30 minutes, and click the keys on a software program that will do the work for you, you cannot just avoid losing money, but watch your retirement account and regular wealth account grow to meet your goals, your dreams.

Author Raymond Dominick is the designer of Dynamic Investor Pro investment software for stocks, ETFs and mutual funds. He has been investing in the markets since his teenage years. An experienced business manager and journalist, he has been a registered investment advisor representative, also a professional photographer who loves escaping to the wonders of Glacier National Park in Montana.

Learning About Online Investment Opportunities

By Eko Y

The modern trend in investment is to take advantage of technology and the Internet to locate the best places to invest your money. Investing in this way to make money can be done full-time or part-time, and you can begin learning about the many ways by beginning with limited funds so as to reduce your risks that can be greater as you learn.

Often the first investment opportunity that comes to mind is the stock market. However, the market is rigged to give maximum profits to large investors, especially because the huge number of shares traded on a daily basis is traded by automated computer programs that can respond to changing conditions nearly instantaneously. So for a beginning investor, it may be better to look for other places to do online investment. However, the computerized trading is only done for high profile stocks. There are many smaller businesses whose stocks are publicly traded. One such area is the so-called penny stocks, firms whose shares sell for under a dollar per share. It is possible to make substantial gains since when a 40-cent stock jumps to $1.20 per share it has tripled in value. But whatever stock you select, be sure to research the company carefully and look at the trend of the stock price.

Before you select any online trading firm to purchase stocks, bonds or funds, take time to investigate the company's reputation. Use a search engine to locate consumer feedback on the company. You need to learn how you to deposit money with them, the speed in which they execute trading and what form of support they provide. You also need assurances that you can withdraw your money rapidly if it becomes necessary. Customer feedback can help verify claims about trading speed. You need assurance that they can deliver what they claim in their online promotion. Also, be sure you understand the jargon of investment. If you do not clearly understand terms or processes, go to a website such as InvestorWords or Investopedia where these topics and terms are clearly covered.

No matter where you plan to invest, a good technique is the make imaginary investments with make-believe money. Keep records of your imaginary transactions and watch the progress. Losses or gains are all imaginary and you can learn a lot from this technique before you commit real money. Look for brokers that have no minimum investment, so when you are ready to invest you don't have to start with thousands of dollars. Progress in a step-by-step way and learn from your small mistakes before committing more money.

Beginning to do online investment can be daunting, but with careful starting strategies, online investing to make money can be successful and profitable.