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The key aspect for maintaining an excellent investment portfolio is investment analysis and monitoring. These processes are generally defined by the portfolio valuation service, which may also cater to fund managers, shareholders, limited partners, beneficiaries or holding companies.

All stakeholders are very demanding these days and they are constantly requesting for reports on the development of the portfolio companies. This often includes sporadic assessments and NAV (net asset value) calculations. When you are selecting a valuation service, you will have to check out their frequency of checking the NAV. Some services may offer monthly analysis, whereas others may offer quarterly or annual NAVs. There is an urgent need to identify the best valuation service because there are many services that may not give the desired reports in the manner that you need them. Independent and trusted analysis is the need of the hour these days—mainly in the corporate world. When you are investing your money in various companies through a fund manager, you will find that they can be biased in their valuation. In such instances, getting the valuation done by third-party services is really a good idea.

Monitoring the portfolio is always based on the analysis and evaluation of the different portfolio companies. There are two key aspects that a valuation service should look out for — the financial aspects and the soft factors. The financial aspects of the valuation are important, but the soft factors or the qualitative factors are also equally important. During monitoring or evaluation of the portfolio, you may have come across some very important terms such as the market environment, which generally comes under soft factors or the qualitative factors. When you sit face-to-face with the valuation service executive for the very first time, you will have to make sure that you are interested in the product.

Valuation and reporting go hand in hand, but there are different methods used for valuation and reporting. Look out for portfolio valuation services that provide your quarterly and annual reviews. They should also be providing you with summaries and overviews of evaluated companies. Valuations generally follow strict guidelines so that there is no ambiguity what so ever. Typically, the valuation follows the IPEV valuation guidelines. IPEV stands for International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines. Some valuation services may also adhere to the AIFM Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive guidelines. When the valuation firm adheres to the IPEV and the AIFM guidelines, the company will surely meet all independent valuation needs.

Since valuation is a very important process, selecting the right valuation company or individual is paramount. There are thousands of valuation companies and individuals, but all of them may not have the expertise and experience. For most valuation companies, efficiency and competitiveness go hand in hand. So, you will find that rates are very competitive these days. Valuation experts who have decades of experience in valuation are always preferred to do the valuation of your portfolio. Also, valuation experts who provide an entire gamut of valuation under one roof are always selected these days.

In October 2014, the personal saving rate, the ratio of personal income saved to personal net disposable income, was only five percent in the United States. Americans are not known for being savers; the all-time high for personal saving ratio was 14.60 percent in 1975 which is lower than many developing countries.

The truth is, life happens and it can often be expensive. By building your savings into a nest egg, you will be better prepared for these developments.

A Nation of Spenders

Almost half of American households (44 percent) have no more than three months of expenses in a savings account, leaving them unprepared for medical, legal, or other emergencies. Many rely on credit which accumulates expenses through interest rates and in some unfortunate circumstances, late or missed payments.

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling conducts a survey every year on consumer financial literacy. According to the latest survey, 16 percent indicated that their emergency fund was insufficient. The same percentage also admitted to not having enough in savings to retire.

Saving Is Necessary

Relying on credit instead of stashing away money is a risky game. As your balances rise, so do interest rates and fees. Many people file bankruptcy because they do not keep up with servicing their debt.

As this pattern continues, credit scores drop but life does not stop happening. If a car needs brakes, a water heater blows up, or you get sued or face legal charges and need to pay criminal defense lawyer fees, this means having to find money quickly. A household that is liquid asset poor is also vulnerable to predatory lending that only deepens financial insecurity.

Get Started

The economy is unpredictable and only a healthy savings account ensures stability. The time to develop this habit is now. Here are suggestions to get started:

• Start Small. Even if you only transfer $5.00 from every paycheck into savings account, it is better than nothing. The trick is to make this a habit and putting aside a small amount will accomplish that. You will likely increase this amount later, due to the satisfaction of saving.

• Set a Goal. A $1,000 emergency fund covers most every day emergencies like car or home repairs. While legal fees and medical bills could easily wipe out a fund of this size, $1,000 is a good goal to start saving. Break it into two $500 goals if that seems more feasible.

• Schedule Automatic Transfers. Some employers offering direct deposit will allow you to split your paycheck into two accounts. If that is possible, arrange a certain amount for your savings account. Otherwise, set up an automatic transfer from checking to savings at each pay period so the saving process occurs despite any lapses in discipline.

A nest egg means an emergency becomes an inconvenience instead of a disaster. If you are relying on credit or living between paychecks, take it as a sign to change your financial habits. Rather than mull over your mistakes, take action today to start a good savings plan.

According to recent reports, India’s GDP grew up by 5% in the financial year, 2012-2013, which was the lowest since the last decade. It seems that the 2008 recession still looms large on the daily lives of the Indians. While the lawmakers are there to take larger and bigger decisions about the nation’s GDP, the common man can’t do much about macro-economic indicators. As we’re about to step into 2015, we need to organize our finances and revisit, learn and imbibe some timeless personal finance lessons from the maestro Warren Buffet so that we can overcome the financial shocks that may be in store for us in 2015.

1. Review 2014 before you start: Before taking any step, start off with a review of 2014. How did you fare? What points did you miss? Which financial tasks are still pending? Where did you commit some of the biggest blunders? Were all your investments on track? By evaluating your strengths and weaknesses that you’ve portrayed in 2014, you will easily be able to deduce the steps that you need to take to improve your finances. Write down everything in points so that you don’t forget anything while planning for 2015.

2. Create a frugal budget: Budgeting is a basic but important tool. When you know what you earned and where your money went, you can be aware of your current financial situation. Often times, when your expenses are high, a large part is accounted by all those unexpected and unplanned expenses like entertainment, eating out, coffee shop bills, which are difficult to control and restrain. So, you should first know the excess outgo and then analyse the spending habits so that you can limit each expense. Live within your means and check yourself whenever you see that you’re outdoing your budget.

3. Spend wisely and live thriftily: Warren Buffet says that if you buy things that you don’t need, soon you will find yourself sell things that you need. Most of us suffer from the urge to splurge and most often we justify our expenses using the pretext of special occasions, lifestyle, family emotions and even smart decisions. Most marketing companies understand this urge and they try to exploit by giving us offers on products. Unhealthy carbonated drinks are sold with promises of adventure, youthfulness and happiness. You may also take the example of EMI options on expensive smartphone. Little do they understand that through the EMI option, people tend to pay more in the long run.

4. Save money for the financial odds: Remember that someone is sitting under the shade today as someone planted a tree long time ago. All of us are aware of the fact that saving money is important to have a better future. But it is indeed an alarming fact to observe that most of us don’t even save enough money for the emergencies. This happens due to our extremely myopic view of our personal financial condition. Today, instant gratification matters more than saving for tomorrow. In fact, saving is considered as sacrifice by most people. Follow the “pay yourself first” principle. Set aside some money for your future.

5. Plan for the long term and be patient: No matter how great are your talents and effort, there are some things that just take time. Can you ever produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant at the same time? Money is also a part of nature and it can’t grow overnight. However, we always overestimate money that we can make in a year and underestimate what we can make in 10 years. People should make money by staying invested for the long-term instead of dancing in and dancing out of the portfolios and changing them constantly. According to India’s growth, you can benefit only if you invest for long term and stop panicking for short-term fluctuations. Based on your risk appetite and financial goals, make a diversified portfolio. Pick right financial instruments recommended by your financial advisor.

6. Borrow within your limit: Remember that you can never become rich by living on borrowed money. Initially people think that borrowing is manageable and to later on repay the previous borrowings, they take out yet more loans like the debt consolidation loans. This is more like fighting-fire-with-fire approach towards debt reduction. Borrowing should never be done without an objective assessment of future cash flow and other financial needs. Have a solid plan to pay the debt back and not become its slave.

A debt-free life is indeed the best life. In spite of knowing this, there are many who hardly take the required steps to stay on the right track. If you’re not willing to spend a life immersed in debt, take into account the above mentioned financial tips by Warren Buffet.

Image Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/14460750-4835-11e3-a3ef-00144feabdc0.html

With the world leaning significantly towards all things tech, technology companies are seeing rapid growth by the minute. In 2013, the US witnessed bulk IPOs from the tech industry, a marked improvement since the temporary dip during the 2009-2010 recession.

Much has been written about who came out as clear winners amongst tech IPOs. But, if you pay less attention to the success stories of individual companies and take a step back, you’ll see how tech companies are taking over the bigger picture.

Out of the 222 companies that went public in 2013, 45 were tech companies.

That said, let’s take a look at why diverting your attention to tech IPOs can prove to be a good idea:

Tech Companies Are Storming The IPO Market

2015 Tech IPO Candidates

After Alibaba filed to go public in September 2014, the IPO market saw the technology industry chasing new horizons. The market is now bustling with news from a number of tech enterprises who are positive to go public soon. With leading companies like Palantir, Dropbox, Spotify, Cloudera, Good Technology, Airbnb, and Deem looking to go public in 2015, the technology industry will soon be making waves in the IPO market.

Tech IPOs Are The New Black

The growing need for cloud computing, database management, and software is helping companies build a strong client base. This, coupled with a fast-growing Internet, is sending technology concerns down the IPO road, expanding the market significantly. Add that to the growing dependency of other industries on the technology sector, and you have an exponential growth forecast for tech ventures.

A List Of Startups In The Top IPO List

A number of startups across the US and the rest of the world are rapidly climbing the industry ladder. Companies like Airbnb, Snapchat, and Square are slowly shedding their private skins and taking daring risks by entering the stock market. This can be beneficial to you, because these startups are valued at an average of $5 billion and tend to offer stocks at a relatively low rate.

Successful Tech IPOs In The Past

With Alibaba named the biggest initial public offering in the history of IPOs, the stock market has been showing a favorable inclination towards the tech industry. But, the Chinese e-commerce giant was not the only tech company to launch a grand opening.

Zendesk, a customer service software company, witnessed a swift shift from its initial share price of $9 to $20-$25 in no time. The IPO success story of Twitter is another that has been brewing a new wave of tech IPOs around the world. While all tech companies might not make history, it is pretty evident that tech giants like Alibaba, Twitter, and Facebook have set the ball in motion for technology-based enterprises. The success of these tech giants in the past is a clear indicator why you should pay more attention to existing and upcoming tech IPOs.

If you aren’t convinced yet,  consider this tidbit – if you had invested $1000 in the initial public offerings of Amazon, Ebay, Yahoo, Google, Linkedin, and Facebook, this is what you would have made by 2013.

Image Source – http://www.statista.com/chart/1602/internet-ipos/

Don’t miss out on making big bucks on potentially successful tech companies again. Pay close attention to the tech IPOs that are lined up in the near future, analyze the company’s growth, financials, and market strategy. And as always, invest wisely.

How often have you stared at something at whatever store, feeling that you want it, but you kept telling yourself ‘no ‘because the price is a bit too steep? You don‘t need the item, per se, but you‘d definitely purchase it if it didn‘t cost so much or if the budget at your disposal would be with a few more zeros. Quite a lot, I imagine. As a student, that happens to me a lot, and I‘ve heard other people complain about the same problems. Things are just too pricey nowadays, and there‘s nothing we can do to change that. Sometimes we just have to let go of something we want.

Though, I have a remedy for that. Ever hear about Overstock? Yeah, that place that‘s literally overstocked with awesome stuff? Well, it has these things called overstock coupons which will definitely make your day a bit brighter. Just picture this with me for a second – you‘re staring at let‘s say a new laptop. You have a laptop already, but the thing‘s so slow you feel like years pass by before your operating system loads, hence why you‘d love to get that hardware upgraded to something more recent. Alas, you figure the price is too high to invest in something you don‘t necessarily need. But oh, wait, a bright light starts shining from the ceiling on you like it‘s the Martians trying to abduct you. Yeah, Mars Attacks never gets old. Yet, suddenly and totally randomly, a 20% off overstock coupon appears in the palm of your hand. Huh, maybe now you can afford to buy the laptop after all.

Overstock has a large assortment of things that can prove to be useful in one way or another, and what makes the deal even more approachable are the available overstock deals at your disposal. Saving financially is something that matters quite a lot, especially if you‘re someone who has to support not only yourself, but others like relatives or family. You can‘t just put yourself in a position where you buy something for yourself and end up not being able to buy diapers for your kid. People depend on you. However, there are in fact loopholes to this, like the deals I mentioned. Buy what you want, and you‘ll have money to spare for others! Pampering yourself once in a while is always a good thing.

With Christmas and the New Years approaching, you might as well grab one or two overstock promo codes to buy those presents for your kids and wife (or husband). You don‘t want your wallet to be empty after the holidays, do you? And you surely don‘t want to buy something small and be called cheap by your colleagues or friends. Remember what I said about pampering yourself? Well, buying something extra special for your family works wonders too! Your son‘s in college, and he‘s about to rip his hair out of his head in frustration because his laptop is slower than a snail. Save him the trouble – buy him a new one. College is hard enough as it is without having to worry about a slow computer.