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Resources


Securities and Exchange Commission

The Securities and Exchange Commission, also referred to as the SEC, was created back in 1934 by section 4 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It was created to regulate the securities industry, protect investors from fraud, as well as to enforce federal securities laws. Some of the federal securities laws that are enforced by the SEC include: the Securities Act of 1933, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

The Securities and Exchange Commission requires public companies in the United States to periodically file a variety of financial reports with the SEC. In addition to filing these reports with the SEC public companies must also make these financial reports available to the public. Investors can then use these financial reports to determine the soundness of potential investments in the company. Some of the most common SEC filing types include: F-1, 4, S-1, POS AM, 13D, 144, 20-F, ARS, 6-K, 10-Q, 10-K and 8-K. These reports cover proposed sales of securities, transfers of ownership and management, quarterly reports and annual reports.

If you are interested in learning more about the SEC and the laws that it enforces then you should read through the following United States Securities Laws: the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970. These acts can be requested from the SEC or from the federal government printing office in Washington, D.C.


Preventing Securities Fraud

Investment fraud is not limited to stock frauds and securities fraud. Instead it spans a wide spectrum of scams that include invention scams and rare item investment scams. The scope of investment scams has reached epic proportions with millions of dollars being fraudulently stolen from consumers each year. If you want to protect yourself from investment frauds and scams that you need to learn how to identify the warning signs of a potential scam. The first warning sign is that the offer sounds too good to be true. The second warning sign is that the seller of the offer is using high pressure sales tactics such as forcing you to make a decision to invest right now. Another warning sign is that you are contacted via phone without requesting information about the investment opportunity. The scam artist may also ask for your social security number or credit card information over the phone. These are all signs that you are being targeted by a scam artist. There are several federal documents and pamphlets that you should read through that tell you what to look for and what scams are currently circulating. You can request fraud education materials from the Federal Trade Commission, the SEC, and from your state’s securities regulator. If you find that you have been victimized by a securities fraud or some other type of investment fraud then you need to take immediate action to correct the situation. First you need to report your victimization to the authorities. Try to provide them with as much information as you can about who contacted you, how they contacted you, how you funded your investment and any other information that you have. You will also want to contact an SEC lawyer, a securities fraud attorney or an investment fraud lawyer. They will be able to help you develop a case against the company or person who victimized you, they will be able to answer your questions, and they will help you to win your lawsuit against the perpetrators of the fraud in question.


Best Stock Investments

Investing is a complicated process that involves both skill and luck. Picking the best stock investments is difficult to do even if you have years of experience and training. However, if you educate yourself on your investing options as well as seek out professional advice you can take calculated risks that will hopefully pay off. The first step in selecting the best stock investments for you is to learn what your options are. Your first option is to invest in the stock market. You can research and buy stocks online or your can trade stocks via a stock broker. Your second option is to invest in mutual funds. Mutual funds are a great way to diversify your investment portfolio without having to conduct a lot of research on several different investment products. Your third investment option is otcbb investing. Otcbb investments are equity securities that are not traded on the typical stock markets like the NASDAQ. Instead they are listed on special OTC bulletin boards. OTCBBs include a number of different types of investment products including: equity warrants, issues, DPPs, ADRs and units. Your second step in selecting the best stock investments for you is to develop a stock investment strategy. There are several ways to do this. However, the most commons ways of developing a stock investment strategy is to solicit the help and advice of financial planners, family members, and close friends and colleagues. Some people also utilize investment texts and software to help them develop an investment strategy that will meet their investment and capital accumulation needs.


B2B Business Investments

A b2b business is basically a buying and selling relationship between businesses. If this is the type of business that you are interested in setting up then there are several different ways that you can finance your b2b business investment. If you don’t have any assets to offer as collateral for your b2b financer then you can utilize venture capital. If you have some assets then you may want to consider utilizing subsidized business loans such as the SBA small business loan. If you have assets to use as collateral for financing your b2b venture then you can utilize these financial strategies to raise capital to launch your b2b business: traditional asset financing and leasing, private business loans, or invoice discounting. One type of b2b business that is currently growing in popularity is b2b e-commerce. B2b e-commerce is basically on website that offers businesses a marketplace where they can buy and sell their products and services to other businesses. These sites are typically moderated by a single company who offers members of the site a place to list their raw materials, wholesale products, etc. to other businesses, as well as the technology to initiate and complete transactions online. These sites are a great place for businesses within a specific industry to share information, discuss trends and customer demands and to share industry related news. There are two different types of b2b e-commerce exchanges. There is a public exchange which is open to any company that wants to join the exchange, and there are private exchanges which have restrictive membership policies. Public exchanges are good for companies that deal with commodity products, or for companies that are trying to find customers to buy their excess inventory. Private exchanges are typically used by businesses that prefer to deal within a more controlled environment. This type of exchange is also used by companies that want to preserve their profit margin by dealing with contracts and relationships with specific buyers instead of relying on lowball pricing wars driven by competition with a public exchange or within a local economy.


Stock Market Timeline

The history of the stock market begins back in the 11th century in Cairo, Egypt. It is believed that during this period of time Jewish and Islamic merchants established a trade association that incorporated most of what we consider modern day credit and payment methods. By the 12th century agricultural debts were managed and regulated by French courratier de change. The courratier de change could technically be considered the first “stock brokers” because they not only managed debt and payments, but they also traded in debt products. Another century passed and the development of the modern stock market continued. At his point merchants and financiers in Venice added governmental securities to traded debts and investments. Many other major cities soon followed this example and began to trade in their own government securities. The first official stocks and bonds to be issued and traded were for the Dutch East India Company and they were traded on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in 1602. Today there are several stock exchanges in just about every developed country. Each of these exchanges has its own listing of stocks and bonds that it trades, and each is subject to its own economic cycle. These cycles include periods of growth, staleness and recessions. The health of each stock market will depend on the health of local economies, national economies, and in some cases international economies. Before you select a stock market to use for your investment activities make sure that you understand the types of investments that it offers, and make sure that you understand the investment rules, policies and procedures for that stock market.


Stock Investment Guide

How does the stock market work? This is a question that most novice investors ask their financial advisors. If you want to know the answer to this question then you should first learn what the stock market is. The stock market, simply put, is a market where companies and entities can finance their operation by offering shares of company stocks, bonds and derivatives to the public. Currently there is a huge worldwide investment market valued at over $350 trillion U.S. This market is made up of about $300 trillion in derivatives, $45 trillion in bonds and $22.5 trillion in worldwide stocks. The next thing that you will need to learn about when you learn how the stock market works is how stocks, bonds and derivatives are offered to the public. There are several national and international markets that you can find investment product listings. One of these markets is the nasdaq. When you view the listings of a particular stock market you will see that each stock, bond or derivative will be represented by a trade symbol. Next to each symbol will be the products current share price and a number that represents its movement for the current trading day, and possibly its movement for the week or year. You can use this information to make decisions on what stocks to buy and what stocks to sell. The final step in this stock investment guide is how to buy and sell stocks, bonds and derivatives. First you will need to set up an investment account with a stock broker or with an online investment site. After your account is established you will need to fund it. After your investment account has been funded you will need to place your buy order. This order will need to include how much money you want to invest and what stock, bond or derivative you are interested in. Your stock broker, or investment site manager, will take your purchase order and try to purchase as many shares as possible with the amount of money you have allotted for your investment. You should note here that you will need to budget for commissions and transactions fees when you are writing out your purchase orders. To sell a stock you simply place a sell order with your broker. They will then try to sell your shares for the highest price possible.


Business Plan for Real Estate Investors

If you are considering starting a real estate investment company then you need to put together a business plan for real estate investors. This business plan will be your blueprint for success. It will not only help you to identify the pros and cons of different real estate investments, but it will also help you to identify financing options, successful investment strategies and real estate investment resources. Your real estate investment plan should also be used to focus your investment activities and goals. Now that you know what a business plan for real estate investors is you should next learn what it is used for. A real estate investment business plan can be used for several things. First it can be used to help you focus on one or two specific real estate investment activities. Secondly it can be used to help you repeat investment successes. Finally it can be used to navigate your investments around sink holes and problems. Before you start writing your business plan you should create an outline and gather your information. To start with you will want to write an overview of your real estate investment goals and objectives. This will help you to keep your business plan focused on the areas of real estate investing that you are interested in. The next section will be a market analysis. This analysis should include information on your target properties, what current properties are selling for or renting for, etc. This section should also include information about local commercial listings agents and a local residential listings agent that you can use to find properties or to market the properties that you buy. Other resources that you will want to list in this section include the contact information for professionals that you can call for appraisal and inspection services. The remaining sections of your business plan should include a section on how you should respond to different problems, a section on sales projections and estimates, a section for your financial plan, a section on how you will manage your investments and a final section that will summarize your goals and objectives.


Reverse Mergers

A reverse merger, also referred to as a reverse takeover, is a business transaction that converts a private company into a public company without having to go through the traditional paperwork and initial public offering processes. A reverse merger starts by a privately held company establishing a public shell company. The shareholders of the private company then sell their shares in the private company to the public shell company for shares in the public company. By going public in this manner the shareholders of the private company are able to maintain their ownership and control of the company after it goes public. There are many reasons why private companies go public. The first reason is that it gives them more financing options to choose from. To raise money a public company can offer investors a secondary stock offer or they can exercise warrants. In addition to providing the company with additional funding opportunities going public also has many other business benefits. First it increases the liquidity of the company’s stock, secondly it allows the valuation of the company to increase based on the performance of the stock, next it allows the company to acquire other companies via stock transactions and finally it allows the company to attract new employees by offering stock incentives. There are several ways reverse merger funding can be accomplished. The first way is through an all shares deal. This funding process basically uses company shares to complete mergers and acquisitions. The second method of funding reverse mergers is to use cash. The final method is to use a combination of cash and company shares to finance the transactions needed for the merger or acquisition.


Stock Market Terminology

1 Year Target Estimate: An estimated value of a particular stock that has been calculated by an investment expert who has been tracking the performance of the stock or investment product. 12(b)1 Fee: A fee charged by a mutual fund to cover the fund’s promotional expenses. In order for a mutual fund to charge this fee they must disclose to investors that it charges a 12(b)1 Fee and they must also register it with the SEC. Common Stocks: An investment product that allows an investor to purchase a share of equity ownership in a public company. Deleted: When a security is removed from the NASDAQ. Dual Listed: This term is used to describe several things, however, it commonly is used to describe companies that have listings on both the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. Family of Funds: This term is used to describe a group of mutual funds that are all managed by the same financial investment company. Held: When a security is temporarily taken off the market. IPO Date: IPO stands for initial public offering. This term refers to the date that the public was first able to purchase shares in a company. Long Term Gain: A long term gain is a profit that is made on an investment that is held longer than 12 months. Short Term Gain: A short term gain is a profit that is made on an investment that is held for less than 12 months. Maturity Date: A maturity date is the calendar date that a bond matures and will pay the holder its full face value.


Make a Living Investing in Penny Stocks

If you are interested in making a living in penny stocks then you will first need to ask “what are penny stocks?” The answer to this question is going to vary depending on who you ask. Some people say that a penny stock is any stock that is sold for under $5, while others claim that it is a stock that sells for under $1. No matter which definition you subscribe to penny stocks will generally be offered by small cap companies. The attraction that penny stocks offer to investors is the potential to make a large profit in a short period of time. Unfortunately, people who are attracted to penny stocks don’t take into consideration the high risk rating of penny stocks. Penny stocks are generally rated as high risks because most of the companies that offer this type of stock are new to the stock market, and because of this they have limited liquidity, they may not offer financial reports for potential investors to review and there is a high risk for fraud. If you are ready to accept the risks involved in investing in penny stocks then your next question should be, “where can I purchase penny stocks?” You have several options for buying penny stocks. First you can buy penny stocks online via an online stock broker. Secondly you can buy penny stocks through a stock broker. After you have established where you can invest in penny stocks your next task will be to decide what type of investor you want to be. Most people who invest in penny stocks are day traders. This means that they will buy a penny stock one day and sell it as soon as it passes a certain value. This can be as quick as one day. Short term penny investors will typically hold on to their penny stock for less than a year. If you are looking for long term gains then you can develop a long term investment strategy and hold on to your penny stock for more than a year.


Mergers and Acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions, also known as M&A, are corporate processes of acquiring new assets by buying taking over other business or by merging with them. Like any type of business activity there are pros and cons for both mergers and acquisitions. Some of the pros include: the potential to add value to a company’s bottom line, the potential to increase a market share, and the potential to add assets to a company’s holdings. While M&As have several pros, they also have several cons. Some of the cons include bad public reaction to hostile takeovers, resistance from the targeted company and the acquisition of additional liabilities and problems. While mergers and acquisitions are usually talked about together, they are different processes. There are two main types of acquisitions, a share purchase and an asset purchase. In a share purchase acquisition a company will buy shares of a target company from its shareholders. By doing this it gains equity in the target company merging the two companies together. The second type of acquisition is an asset purchase. In an asset purchase the buying company only selects specific assets to purchase. By doing this the buying company is able to select the assets that they want to acquire without having to take on the liabilities and problems of the target company. Mergers are also interested in acquiring assets, however, they fund their purchases differently. There are three basic types of mergers, all share deals, cash deals and hybrid deals. In all share deals the merger is financed by exchanging shares in one company for shares in the other. In a cash deal, cash is used to purchase company stock. In hybrid deals both cash and shares are used to finance the merger deal. The type of funding deal that is used will be up to the companies involved and the liquidity of the buying company and the target company.


Globalization and Corporate Finance

What is corporate finance? In the United States corporate finance refers to the strategies, techniques and financial processes used to acquire, manage, and utilize capital assets. Some of the financial activities that are involved in corporate finance include: fundraising for start up ventures, securing investors, merging with other companies, orchestrating acquisitions, and selling company stocks. As this list illustrates there are a lot of business activities related to corporate finance. In order to perform all of these activities a lot of financial professionals need to be involved. Some of the professionals that are involved in corporate finance activities include: private investors, venture capitalists, banks, brokers, corporate attorneys and corporate financial experts. What is globalization? Globalization is basically the merging of all worldwide markets. In the past most business was localized to isolated markets. However, with the advancements in technology and travel markets around the world have opened up and businesses have begun to serve markets outside of the company’s local area. Now a textile manufacturer in India can fill orders for people around the world and deliver the products within a matter of days instead of months. How does globalization effect corporate finance? Globalization has almost eliminated isolated markets, and because of this competition for companies has dramatically increased. However, corporate finance options have also increased as a result of globalization. Now companies can utilize the financial resources of international investors. In order to take advantage of international investment funding opportunities companies need to expand their understanding of international finance.


California Stock Fraud

California has been the target for several stock and investment frauds in the past. 2004 was a particularly devastating year for investment frauds. The biggest scam that was perpetrated was an insurance agent securities fraud. This fraud involved life insurance agents and their clients. The insurance agent sold their clients high risk investment products that they were not licensed to sell. In return the agent received a large commission while their clients lost their money. Other investment frauds that targeted California residents included: senior investment frauds, variable annuity scams, mutual fund business practices, Ponzi Schemes, Promissory Note scams, affinity frauds, viaticals, oil and gas investment schemes. This list of California stock frauds costs California residents millions of dollars. While these particular scams and frauds were listed as frauds from 2004, many of these frauds have been repackaged and redistributed to new victims after 2004. If you think that you may have been a victim of one of these investment frauds or of another type of stock fraud then you should look for a securities attorney in your city. If you live in a city that does not have a securities attorney or an SEC lawyer, then you can look in the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, or Los Angeles. When shopping for an attorney make sure that you look at their educational background, their affiliations, and their win/loss record. If you have a family attorney or an attorney that handles your business’ affairs ask them for a referral to the best securities attorney in your area.






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