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On January 14, you must have seen the skies filled with colorful kites soaring high up. Makar Sankranti falls on the day when the sun leaves the tropic of Cancer towards the tropic of Capricorn, which is called Makar in India.

In other parts of the country, this festival is referred to as Poush Sankranti, Pongal, and Uttarayan. Farmers celebrate this day as it marks the end of the winter and ushers in the harvesting season.

Significance of kite flying on Makar Sankranti

Sankranti means movement and kite flying represents the thankful attitude of humans for this movement. It also has a scientific significance. As the sun commences its journey towards the tropic of Capricorn, it emanates useful rays. When you fly kites on this day, you expose yourself to the beneficial sunrays that have medicinal advantages.

Although Makar Sankranti is over, it is essential that you know about several important lessons this auspicious festival teaches as these teachings may prove to be beneficial during financial planning. Listed below are six important lessons this festival teaches you.

1. Be ready for movement

When you undertake investment planning, you have to understand that it is not a static one-time procedure but requires constant movement. You need to continuously monitor the performance of your long-term investments and make modifications when necessary. Additionally, you need to review and analyze market conditions to identify good opportunities that offer economic advantages to your investment portfolio. When you consider different financial instruments, it is crucial you consider your investment objectives to make the right decisions. This customization of your investment portfolio is comparable to personalizing your kite that has the perfect string which allows it to soar high in the clear skies.

2. Keep your eyes on your portfolio

When you fly your kite on Makar Sankranti, it is important to keep your eyes on it at all times. You must always be aware of how your kite is flying and in which direction. Similarly, prudent financial planning requires that you keep an eye on the performance of your investment portfolio. The performance of the various financial instruments must be in line with your short, medium, and long-term goals.

3. Maintain flexibility

As you fly your kite, you need the string to be kept flexible. This allows your kite to continue soaring amidst gusts of strong winds. This is true even with your short-term and long-term investments. Their performance will not always be the same and there may be ups and downs. Furthermore, the investment environment is not always conducive because conditions are never perfect. There is a possibility that your portfolio may be in the red. You need to ride out the difficult times and remain patient. It is crucial you are flexible and willing to bear temporary losses in the short-term to reap long-term benefits. However, you must never lose sight of your investment objectives and make modifications that become necessary under changing environments.

4. Adequate safety

To ensure you do not injure yourself, you cover your fingers with tapes and bandages while flying a kite. Similarly, you need to ensure adequate security when investing in any financial product. You must protect your investments from significant market conditions.

5. Remain invested

When you fly your kite on Makar Sankranti, you stand the entire day to make gains. Similarly, when you invest in different financial instruments, it is important to remain invested for a longer period. It is said that time in the market is better than timing the market. Therefore, to maximize your gains through investments, it is recommended you hold these for a longer time.

6. Strike the right balance

During winters, days are short and nights are long and vice versa during the summers. However, on Makar Sankranti, the day and night are of an equal length. Just like that, when you invest, you must aim for the right balance between your risks and returns. You must choose financial products that suit your risk appetite while delivering decent returns on your investments.

Striking the right balance between risk and return requires adequate research and effective planning. You need to study the market conditions and understand the features of different financial instruments. This may not be an easy task especially if you are new to investing or have no experience in conducting such analyses.

Through the proprietary ARQ investment engine in Angel Wealth’s mobile application, you can achieve this balance. This engine uses algorithms and quants to analyze a billion data points and offers recommendations that suit your financial objectives and risk appetite. There is no human intervention in the entire procedure ensuring the recommendations are completely unbiased.

Download the Angel Wealth mobile app and apply the lessons learned from Makar Sankranti into practice.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are a great way to build an effective retirement portfolio through your Roth IRA or IRA contributions due to their low expense ratios. ETFs offer investors exposure to a diverse set of assets. They are currently one of the fastest growing investment products in the world due to the low expense ratio and their high diversification. ETFs can be traded through virtually every big-name brokerage available. Brokerages oftentimes will partner with ETF providers to offer free-commission on ETF trading, which helps you save even more money on expenses!

ETFs are effectively mutual funds, but trade like any other stocks. When you purchase a single ETF share, you gain access to an entire index such as the S&P 500 or the Dow 30. Or, investors can purchase market segments (e.g., financial, industrial or healthcare sectors) within a given country. Thus, making them a highly efficient investment tool. The substantial growth in the ETF market has led to a number of new, distinct ETF products such as the MSCI All Country World Minimum Volatility Index or the Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index. The Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index provides great dividend growth income and that can be reinvested or used as cash flow for other investment products.

Here are main benefits in investing in ETFs:

1. Flexibility: With a number of distinct indexes and options, individuals with retirement accounts can trade commission-free AND can obtain exposure to countries all over the world. If you choose, investors are able to gain exposure to the entire world if you sure please. In addition, ETFs offer the flexibility to be traded as a stock for a market price.

2. Cost Efficiency: ETFs based on indexes are in one transaction that trade all components of the underlying index. Investors are usually not charged any entry or exit fees and management fees are substantially lower than mutual funds. For example, ETFs expense ratio are usually around 0.1 – 0.8% whereas mutual funds are about 1.40%

3. Transparency: ETFs are transparent due to the fact that they list on regulated markets and track transparent indices. The ETFs are traded through the day and there are highly competitive bid/ask prices provided by market makers ensuring ample liquidity.

ETFs are really a simple form of mutual funds and can be used in a variety of ways. If you start investing early in a set of 3-4 mutual funds that offer differentiating diversification, you will be in a great position for retirement. Investors should set aside a predetermined amount of capital each month to purchase ETFs. Given their low expense ratios and flexibility, investors can sleep well at night knowing that their money is being put to good use and is generating income while they are enjoying life.

ETFs are not a guaranteed investment. Be patient with the market and continue to purchase additional ETF shares regardless. The old saying is: “I would prefer my time in the market rather than timing the market.”

Millionaire Mob is a former investment banker that hopes to offer fair value on Wall Street while traveling the world. I enjoy helping others in achieving financial freedom whether that is through dividend growth investing, passive income techniques or travel rewards strategies.

While it is hard to imagine, a crime that we see committed over and over, are crimes against elderly people by way of fraud and other forms of exploitation. Not only is this illegal, but it is also immoral and it is hard to imagine something like this happening to someone we know and love. At Freedom Debt Relief, we want to help caregivers and loved ones to avoid the older people in their lives from becoming victims of elder exploitation.

Sadly, a recent study Freedom Debt Relief reviewed shows that almost $3 billion is fraudulently exploited out of seniors each year. That is each and every year. This is a huge loss of money for people who generally live on a fixed income and this reduced income can spell disaster for the person’s ability to meet their daily needs. While it would be nice to think that this is rare, the numbers just don’t bear that out.

As Freedom Debt Relief found out, 1 out of every 5 people over the age of 65 has or will suffer from some form of elder fraud. This is a huge number and it means that, chances are, you or an older person you love could also be a victim of these predatory processes. What follows are just a few tips and hints on how to manage your own, or help the older person in your life manage their finances in a way that reduces the likelihood of becoming a victim.

Cognitive Decline and Finances

One thing that Freedom Debt Relief found is that those who are of advanced age (80+), as well as those who are suffering from some form of cognitive decline are far more likely to be victims of fraud than those who do not. If you start to notice that your memory isn’t what it once was, or if you are a caregiver who notices this about a loved one, you might want to turn over control of the finances to someone who can manage it. This will reduce the likelihood that your finances or your loved one’s finances are compromised as a result of someone taking advantage of their decline.

Avoid Scams

While Freedom Debt Relief knows that we want to be able to trust in the kindness of others, the sad fact of the matter is that there are people out there that are looking to scam people. You need to be wary of anyone who is selling something that seems to good to be true or that comes along, promising that, for a fee, they will be able to solve all your problems. Older people are far more likely to be targets and victims of such scams as they tend to not be as technically savvy and are more likely to trust other people.

Freedom Debt Relief notes that being open with your finances with someone you trust as you get older is just a smart way to help avoid becoming a victim to fraud. Being willing to turn over your finances to someone you trust if you start to notice some memory slips could ultimately save you your entire savings. Be skeptical and wary of anyone who is trying to sell you something that seems way too good to be true or anyone who thinks they can solve your problems (for a fee, of course) and make your world as good as new. Maintain a high degree of skepticism and enlist the help of someone you trust when making big decisions.

We always try to increase our assets. If we are earning more than we also save more. Sometimes we are investing in gold; we are purchasing new bonds even we are investing in stock market. But I have observed that people love to purchase new land or will increase their property. Here a real estate agency takes place.

Now many business houses expanding their business in real estate so we are finding more real estate projects everywhere. Even these real estate agencies are giving more offers to their clients. Every country has their different real estate laws. While choosing your real estate company you can take guidance from your financial advisor regarding where to go & how. Following are the points which you need to keep in mind & I am sure these points will help you.

1. Market reputation

While choosing your real estate agency for new apartment or property you need to check what market reputation your agency has. If that real estate company is very new in the market try to avoid those companies. Go with the experienced one.

2. Previous completed projects

When you will select the experienced agency then check their previous completed projects. Check how many clients they have got for the same. Is all their created properties have been sold or not. If possible go to that completed projects & check how those are.

3. Take existing clients feedback

When you will visit to the live completed projects try to talk with their existing clients who has purchased from that real estate agency. Existing customers can give the actual views about their business because they have experienced their created properties.

4. About their competitors

Every business does have their competitors. Real estate business does have more competitors in terms of this. So, check your agencies competitors, if they are also big then go for this company. It means your agency do have some good position in this field.

5. Your specifications

While searching for your property you can set your specifications or expectations earlier. This will help your real estate agency to find the ideal property or apartment for you. If you want beach properties then specify your requirements. Here I can strike an example, recently I have visited Florida, USA & there I have found many rich beach side properties like Icon south beach, Aria on the bay, Santa maria brickell, Icon brickell etc. If you are the citizen of Florida & looking for beach property then you can search in this manner. I am sure you will get the ideal one as per your needs. In the same way you can search in the other countries also.

Before concluding the matter would like to tell you that think twice before you just jump for any real estate company because this would be a long term investment for you & the investment amount is also huge here. So, take proper assistance from your financial advisor & then go ahead. These real estate investments not only increase our property/assets it also includes more comfort in our life if your property or apartments are like that. Finally good luck from my end I hope these information will help you somewhere.

With so many startup companies, the competition is fierce. It doesn’t matter what field you’re in. It’s likely that there are many other entrepreneurs in your niche. The trick is finding a way to make your company stand out above the rest. For some companies, that means working with a startup accelerator.

What is it?

A startup accelerator is an experience that supports the growth of an early company. To accomplish this growth, they provide education, mentoring, and financing. They give you a way to build your company from the ground up. The accelerator only lasts for a certain amount of time; it’s a rapid growth process. While the time period might be short, you can see a great deal of growth in the process. In only a few months, you can see the same growth that you would expect in years of hard work.

Start-up accelerators work for almost any type of industry you can imagine. For example, new insurance companies can benefit from Insurance accelerators. An insurance accelerator would specifically focus on growing a start-up insurance company. Meanwhile, a new clothing brand could find an appropriate accelerator to give them intense growth. There’s something for every company.

What makes them so special?

There are many different ways to cultivate a start-up. However, an accelerator is particularly effective. There are a few reasons for this. For one, there’s the fixed time frame. Instead of having an open-ended agreement with no true end date, you have a set time frame. It’s easier to analyze your results and predict your company’s future when you have strict time frame. You get results, and you get them before your time is up.

There’s also the fact that an accelerator uses mentorship to get results. Unlike crowd-funding campaigns and other types of investors, accelerators give you advice. While that advice helps your company in the present, it also helps your company in the future. You can learn invaluable business skills through mentorship. Additionally, you can gain insight into your industry and use that insight for years to come.

Finally, accelerators are cohort-based. For years, educators have seen the benefits of an education cohort-based environment. Those same benefits translate to business education. Being part of a larger group is a great way to grow your company.

Do accelerators really work?

While the concept of accelerators is sound, it’s important to ask yourself if they really work. It seems so, considering that many entrepreneurs would be happy to relive the experience. About 90% of entrepreneurs in a survey said that they would do the accelerator program again. Similarly, 95% of them said that the accelerator was worth equity stake that they lost. The time and equity lost in an accelerator program seems well-worth the gain.

An accelerator program might not be the right option for everyone. However, it could be the right option for your company. If you’re looking for a way to gain insight and knowledge while gaining momentum in your business, an accelerator is a great option. You could see huge business growth in only a short time.