Category: Finance

Common Investment Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

On September 6, 2024

Investing is a great way to grow your savings and keep pace with inflation. The first step is understanding your financial situation. Set attainable investment goals and prioritize paying off debt.

Market-based investments like stocks require more knowledge than savings accounts. To understand stocks, you must analyze a company’s products and competitive landscape, study its finances and much more. For more information, click on where to invest.

Do Your Research

A successful investing journey begins with a thorough understanding of the investment landscape. There are many important things to consider, such as the economy and your risk tolerance. A good starting point is to familiarize yourself with key investment metrics like earnings per share, price-to-earnings ratio, and debt-to-equity ratio.

Aside from this, you should also make a habit of reading industry news on financial websites, stock blogs, and newsletters. This will help you stay abreast of industry trends and gain an understanding of the competitive environment of the company.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the benefits of investing typically show up over the long term. This is why it’s crucial to have a clear goal in mind, such as purchasing a home or retirement. This can keep you grounded during periods when stocks experience market dips. Jumping ship on the first market dip you see can actually hurt your returns in the long run.

Set Goals

When investing, it’s important to set clear investment goals that reflect your time horizon and financial objectives. You may also need to review your investment goals from time to time and make sure that they still align with your lifestyle plans and ability to take risks.

Generally speaking, investment goals need to be realistic and achievable within a reasonable timeframe, and it’s worth considering whether you could reach your goal through a tax-efficient account such as an Individual Savings Account (ISA), a pension scheme, or even a property portfolio.

Setting goals can help you stay focused on your long-term financial future, which can prevent you from making impulsive decisions based on short-term market fluctuations. However, it’s also worth noting that your goals will change over time – perhaps you need to save more money for a certain retirement date or you’re planning to buy a new house, and you may need to adjust your investments accordingly.

Diversify

Diversification reduces your exposure to risk, but it doesn’t eliminate it. For every wildly successful investment, there are plenty of duds that drop in value for a variety of reasons.

It’s important to consider your goals, risk tolerance, financial situation and timeline when setting up a portfolio that balances risk with the potential for growth. It’s also helpful to divvy up your investments into different asset classes, such as stocks and bonds, based on how much you’re hoping to earn and how soon you’d like to see returns.

Within each asset class, it’s wise to diversify further by investing in assets that differ by market capitalization (small, mid and large-cap stocks), industry and geography. Similarly, for bonds, it’s advisable to invest in a mix of investment grade and below investment grade, as well as credit quality and durations. Investing in real estate investment trusts and commodities can be an additional means of diversifying your portfolio as they tend to have lower correlation with stocks.

Don’t Ignore Risk

Regardless of how much you invest or your investing style, all investments carry some risk. This is why it’s important to not ignore risk and stay disciplined throughout your investment journey.

Ignoring risk can lead to significant financial loss. It can also result in a lack of diversification and missed opportunities. Additionally, it can cause emotional stress as you watch your investments fluctuate in value. Finally, it can lead to inconsistent decision-making and regret.

When it comes to managing your risk, it’s important to set clear goals and invest frequently over time. Additionally, it’s wise to prioritize paying off short-term debt before making any investments. Lastly, be sure to stay focused on your long-term goals and don’t panic during market dips. Remind yourself that these short-term fluctuations are normal and that by staying disciplined, you will be well on your way to meeting your investing goals.

Easy Honeypot Detection With Varonis DatAlert

By Melinda

On June 18, 2024

In Finance, Technology

A honeypot is a trap system designed to lure hackers into exposing their hacking techniques. A honeypot is often set up in a VM or cloud server that’s connected to the network, but isolated and strictly monitored by systems and security teams. The system is configured to appear legitimate, running processes and containing seemingly important dummy files and folders. It also has weaknesses that the attacker will look for and attempt to exploit such as unnecessary open ports, old software versions, weak passwords and more. The attacker will attempt to gain full control of the machine in order to exfiltrate data or steal credentials to access other sensitive systems.

Many different honeypot configurations exist, but they all have one thing in common – they look like real data and potential pathways to sensitive data. This can take the form of servers, but it can also be folders in SharePoint that contain fake data and conversations or even a Microsoft Teams channel with fake data and messages. The point is to draw attention, so any type of system that looks like a pathway to critical data will do the trick.

While some attackers will fall for a honeypot because of simple curiosity, other attackers who know what they’re doing will notice the telltale signs and be aware that they’re being targeted. They can then adjust their attack strategies accordingly. Detecting when a honeypot is accessed is crucial for alerting your Incident Response team to investigate and stop attackers from exfiltrating real data.

Detecting when a honeypot is being accessed is easy with Varonis DatAlert. Using Varonis’ robust audit data and forensics capabilities, DatAlert can trigger custom real-time alerts whenever there’s activity on your honeypot. This will give your Incident Response team the head’s up to investigate the alert and stop the threat before it can spread across your core network.

Varonis can also identify the cause of the alert and the attacker’s location, giving your Incident Response team a complete picture of what’s happening in your environment. For example, if someone has a high risk token rating, we can see where they’re coming from, how long they’ve been on your network and what they’ve been doing in the past. Get you honeypot check right now!

This information will allow you to understand what the threat actor is looking for in your environment and how they’re getting into it. It will also help you develop better countermeasures and a proactive strategy to keep your company safe. To learn more about how you can use Varonis to protect your business, contact us today. We’d be happy to show you a demo and answer any questions that you may have. Sign up for a free trial and get started on your risk assessment with our team of cybersecurity experts. It only takes minutes! No credit card required.

The Ultimate Guide to the Best Gold IRA Companies

By Melinda

On June 18, 2024

In Finance

Investing in precious metals is an excellent strategy for diversifying a portfolio and decreasing its exposure to stock market volatility. Those seeking to open a gold IRA can find several reputable companies that adhere to IRS regulations and offer an extensive range of precious metals.

Consumer ratings and gold IRA reviews can help investors choose the best company to manage their retirement investment assets. This article offers a comprehensive review of the top-rated gold IRA companies.

1. Augusta Precious Metals

Augusta Precious Metals is a company that believes in transparency. Their website is a wealth of information on precious metals and the IRA process. They also offer a weekly blog to address current economic topics.

They have a dedicated team to help you with the paperwork and IRA requirements. They also have a custodian that oversees your account. You’ll pay a one-time set-up fee and a recurring annual fee that covers the storage costs of your precious metals.

Unlike other companies, Augusta has a full-time director of education. Devlyn Steele has 30 years of financial savvy and is willing to share it with potential investors in 1-on-1 teleconferences.

They take a client-centric approach and promote the idea of empowering their customers through knowledge of the gold IRA industry. This is why they have excellent customer reviews and high ratings on consumer watchdog websites such as TrustLink and BBB. Their reputation for excellent service is why they have a paid corporate ambassador who supports their mission.

2. Goldco

Goldco is a popular choice for those looking to invest in precious metals through their retirement accounts. They prioritize education with a free gold investment kit and extensive resources that benefit new and seasoned investors alike. They also have a strong focus on customer protection, earning high marks from the BBB and a 4.8 rating on Trustpilot (as of April 26, 2024).

Their dedication to transparency sets them apart from other companies in the industry. It’s a theme that is frequently echoed in their customer reviews, with many customers applauding the thorough attention they receive from their account representatives and a personalized approach that empowers them to make confident investments. They also offer easy account setup, streamlined buying and rollover processes, secure storage options and a buyback guarantee to provide a comprehensive, convenient experience for anyone looking to diversify their retirement portfolio with physical precious metals. Their approach has earned them the endorsements of prominent figures such as Sean Hannity and Chuck Norris.

3. Birch Gold Group

Birch Gold Group (BGG) is a leader in the precious metals industry. They have a long history of helping investors diversify their retirement accounts through gold IRAs, and their customer service is unparalleled. They also offer a wide range of educational resources for new and experienced precious metals investors.

BGG has a clear fee structure and works with certified depository storage companies. They also provide a comprehensive insurance policy for stored precious metals to protect investor investments. Additionally, they have a dedicated team to help new investors with the rollover process. Find the best gold IRA companies right now!

They have thousands of positive reviews on dozens of review websites. They are a highly trusted company that helps investors diversify their retirement accounts with gold and silver IRAs. In addition, they can also assist with traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, and 401(k) rollovers. Their IRA metals menu includes all four of the major precious metals: gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. This is a major benefit over competitors that only sell gold and silver products.

4. Noble Gold

Founded in 2016, Noble Gold is a newer player in the precious metals industry but has quickly established itself as one of the top gold IRA dealers. The company offers a full range of investment products and works closely with three depository locations to provide convenient storage options. Their customer service is available by phone or email, and they strive to respond to any concerns within a reasonable amount of time.

The Noble Gold website provides a wealth of educational resources and makes it easy to open an account online. The company also offers a free gold IRA kit that helps investors understand the investment process and how different precious metals work.

CEO and founder Collin Plume spent six years working at another gold IRA provider before launching Noble Gold in 2016. The company has since become a trusted name in the industry and has been featured in Forbes, Fox News, Kitco, Kiplinger, and Seeking Alpha.

Gold Investing 101 A Guide for Beginners to Excel in it

By Melinda

On May 4, 2024

In Finance

Gold has been held by many investors for centuries as a way to diversify their portfolios or protect wealth. The precious metal’s price stability can offer a hedge against inflation and geopolitical uncertainty, but it hasn’t been without its own volatility.

Deciding whether or not to invest in gold as a part of your overall investing strategy depends on your goals and risk tolerance. But understanding the various ways to buy gold can help you choose the option that’s right for your needs.

Many investors choose to purchase physical gold because of its transparent pricing and global demand. However, that route can be costly due to recurring fees for storage and insurance. Additionally, the gold market can be highly volatile over shorter time frames, so you may find yourself selling at a loss.

If you’re looking for a more liquid alternative, you can invest in gold via mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These funds track the price of gold, making them easy to buy and sell at a much lower cost than purchasing physical gold. Investing in a gold ETF can also provide more diversification than buying physical gold, as these funds are often comprised of a basket of different mining companies.

For those interested in speculating on the future direction of gold prices, futures contracts are available. These standardized trading agreements allow you to buy or sell a set amount of gold on a future date at a specified price. These contracts can be purchased and sold through a commodities broker, but they are typically geared towards more sophisticated investors.

Investors who choose to buy physical gold typically purchase bars or coins. This allows you to get a better feel for your investment and can be an ideal option for those who want to see their purchases physically. However, the large size of some bars can make them difficult to transport and illiquid. In addition, some bars require special equipment to saw off and sell.

Find out more on how gold can be purchased through a number of bullion dealers. While these can offer a similar experience to other buyers, they usually charge higher dealer fees than the spot price of gold. Furthermore, many bullion dealers will not accept certain types of coins, so you’ll need to be sure that your specific investments are acceptable.

Finally, you can purchase shares in gold mining companies through a stock brokerage. While this route can be more complicated, the major gold miners have expansive global operations and business factors that play into their success. This can allow them to continue generating profits even in the event of flat or declining gold prices. However, it’s important to note that these companies often face a high degree of volatility as their share prices fluctuate. Regardless of the method you choose, be sure to do your research before investing in any type of gold.