Citizenship by Investment Program - St Kitts and Nevis

St. Kitts and Nevis is one of the few places in the world to offer a government run Citizenship by Investment Program. This program ultimately grants citizenship to those who have made a significant investment in the country, namely in real estate. The Citizenship and Passport Program in St. Kitts and Nevis was established in 1984.
How does Citizenship by Investment Work?
In St. Kitts and Nevis, a significant financial investment must be made in real estate. Once this and other requirements are met, the government will grant the investor a Government Certificate of Registration as a Citizen as well as a passport. Once this process is completed, all paperwork is exactly as that of all other citizens. Investors can then choose to acquire a driver's license if they would like to drive.
The Requirements
There is first a registration fee of $35,000 for the applicant. Additional family (dependants) must be registered as well for an additional fee of $15,000 per person. A minimal real estate investment of $250,000 is required in order to gain the status of citizen. You are not required to pay the fees until your application for citizenship has been approved by the government. The real estate purchase is required to be completed once you have obtained the appropriate documents.
During the application process, you will be asked for identification. This will include a birth certificate for the applicant, and birth certificates and/or marriage certificates for the spouse and children (or in some cases grandchildren). Applicants over the age of 12 must complete an HIV exam and everyone should submit 2 passport sized photos of themselves.
Why Invest in St. Kitts and Nevis?
The landscape alone is gorgeous enough to make anyone want to stay there for as long as possible. Aside from that, the relaxing atmosphere, rich culture, and friendly natives only make it more tempting. Economically, if you wanted to live there only part time, it is a great investment.
There are real estate management companies ready and able to maintain your property in addition to leasing or renting your space when you are not using it. You can enjoy the property for yourself at your own leisure, and earn a return on your investment while you live elsewhere. There aren't any restrictions if you decide to eventually sell your property, and chances are that you will find an eager buyer quickly, just because of the neighborhood and the eye-catching views.
With the Citizenship by Investment program, you will also be able to enjoy Visa free international access to the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and more than 65 other countries around the world. There is also no personal income tax, so that is a freedom in and of it.
Nevis Real Estate is certainly a worthy investment that has many benefits. Citizenship is a great option, and you do not have to denounce your existing citizenship in order to obtain it there. It is a beautiful island and a good opportunity.

Investing Is Not Betting

All investing is a bet on the future. The difference is how you arrive at your bet. A review of the decision making methods may help you decide which works best for you.
Options for making your investment decisions include:
• Hunches - sometimes our instincts can be rewarding, but just as often they can cost us money because a hunch is based on what we think we know and not on what is possible to know with research or analysis. Do I sound like I don't recommend this method? You bet I don't.
• Tips - a suggestion from a friend, co-worker, cousin or uncle can come from something they heard (another tip), something on TV, the internet or just about anywhere. The question again, is the tip validated with research or analysis?
• The Press - TV shows, internet articles & forums, magazines and newspapers along with newsletters with 'buy' suggestions. Usually these are backed by some type of research so the question then becomes, "What is the batting average of the source, the person making the recommendation?" Without knowing the batting average these recommendations may not have any more value than an ordinary tip.
• Fundamental Research and Analysis - you can do it yourself or read someone else's reports about the management of a stock or fund, the industry and product trends and viability along with their financial status. Decision making based on fundamentals is primarily for long term investing because a thorough analysis can take days, weeks and even months.
• Chart Analysis - Reading charts can provide you with indications or indicators of future performance based on past performance of a ticker symbol. There are more chart types than it is possible to list in a short article. There are also free internet chart services plus chart programs that cost. Some software programs offer just the most popular or most relevant charts so the choice because yours and this choice relates to time: time to learn a chart program can be many months; and time to review charts on a regular basis can involve minutes or a full day depending upon how they are used.
• Technical Analysis - evaluating the data of a particular ticker symbol or group of symbols can produce either or both charts, spreadsheet results or reports based on the analysis. Chart analysis is a type of technical analysis but a true technical analysis program can go further by allowing you to evaluate the symbol or group data in additional ways and provide reports "in plain English" that make decision making easier. Depending upon your objectives and time frame these software programs can involve as little as 30 minutes a week and provide reliable investing recommendations.
In other words, investing need not be a bet. You have choices based on your preference for doing things and how much time you want to spend at it to make sound investment decisions.
Personally I like to use technical analysis that gives me an easy to read report coupled with key charts that can confirm recommendations. Key charts like moving average and full stochastic can be especially helpful when the markets are volatile and jumping up and down from day to day or week to week.

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.

Best Investment - How to Find the Best Investment

Do you know the best investment? You'll know after you read this article. It's easy. The best investment is the one whose profits you keep. If your profits vanish because you -

• Hold until your profit turns into a loss.
• Hold until a small loss turns into a big loss, and then a huge loss.
• Hold so long your annual return turns small even when you do profit.

Then you're not making the best investment. So what can you do? You need to know about Exit Strategy and Position Sizing.
Exit Strategy
Never make an investment without knowing when and how you'll get out. That's called an Exit Strategy.

• You should have an Exit Strategy before you invest in anything.
• You should be able to write it down. Nothing fuzzy allowed.
• Know what will trigger your sell order.
• Good Exit Strategies let you keep your profits and cut your losses. That's your best investment.
• Wall Street Wisdom - "Cut your losses, but let your winners ride."
• A few big wins and many small losses can equal a win overall.

Position Sizing
Never risk more than 3% of your portfolio in any one position. And that's on the high side.

• Why so small? Look at what it takes to recover from a loss -
• Lose 50% of your portfolio, and you've got to make 100% on what's left to recover your loss. Is 100% profit easy?
• Lose 25% of your portfolio, and you've got to make 33.3% on what's left to recover your loss. Is 33.3% profit easy?
• Lose even 10% of your portfolio, and you've got to make 11.1% on what's left to recover your loss.
• Small losses leave you with enough capital to keep investing.

Control risk by controlling position size. The less you invest in any one thing, the less you risk. That's your best investment.
Your Exit Strategy affects your Position Size.

• If your Exit Strategy were to sell after a 25% loss, you could put up to $12,000 of a $100,000 portfolio into one investment, because -
• $12,000 X 25% = $3,000 = 3% of $100,000
• If your Exit Strategy were to sell after a 10% loss, you could put up to $30,000 of a $100,000 portfolio into one investment, because -
• $30,000 X 10% = $3,000 = 3% of $100,000
• You risk only what your Exit Strategy will let you lose, not your total investment.
• Mechanical Investment
• Emotion is the investor's enemy. People hold too long because of greed and fear.
• Greed for even bigger gains. Fear of realizing a loss.

The best investment is mechanical.

• Follow your Exit Strategy like a machine. Automatically. No matter what your feelings scream.
• Place exit orders with your broker in advance.
• Acting when the time is right makes your best investment.

Exit Strategies Explored

• So what do Exit Strategies look like? Stop Orders are the best known.
• Tell your broker to sell if the price falls to some specific point.
• Some people use 8% below the purchase price. Others use 10%, 15%, or 25%.
• Stop orders don't always do their job.
• The price can fall way below your stop point before your order gets filled.
• Market makers sometimes sell to force a stock price down.
• They want to trigger other people's stop orders, so they can buy their stock cheap.

Stop Orders can also be used to sell when the price rises to some specific point.

• Decide in advance on a good return -
• Two or three times the amount you put at risk.
• If you use technical analysis (if not, don't worry about it),
• sell near strong resistance, or
• when the stock looks over-bought, or
• when the trend changes, etc.

Stop - Limit Orders limit the price you'll accept after a stop order is triggered.

• You might not get out at all, if the price falls below your limit.

Trailing Stop Orders automatically raise the stop price if a stock price rises.

• If you bought a stock for $50, and used a 10% trailing stop -
• You'd sell if the price fell to $45.
• But if the price rose to $60, your stop price would rise to $54. ($60 - 10%)
• The stop price never falls after it rises.
• Trailing Stop Orders are good ways to hold on to profits, but
• Trailing Stop Orders may push you out of stocks sooner than you want.

Put Options work like insurance policies.

• Buying a put lets you sell your stock for a safe price of your choice.
• The cost of a put reduces your profit, but -
• You're safe, no matter what happens to the stock. That's your best investment.

How Inflation Affects Investments

For the past few years, the US government has increased its deficit spending by more than a trillion dollars a year. This amount of spending is unprecedented. For the current year, our elected officials are talking about a budget which includes approximately 1 ½ trillion in deficit spending. Pumping dollars into the economy at this level is similar to adding a gallon of water to a can of orange juice. As more and more dollars are poured into the economy, the dollar's value is diluted. This dilution increases inflationary pressures which in turn have an impact on your investments.
In an inflationary environment, people who live on a fixed income are typically hurt the worst. As prices increase, they are not able to buy as much as they did before. Creditors with contracts which include fixed interest rates are also negatively impacted. Suppose you were a creditor and you made a loan. The loan has a fixed annual interest rate of eight percent. Inflation was five percent when you made the loan. This means your real rate of return was three percent. If inflation increases to 10 percent next year, your real rate of return would be negative two percent. On the other hand, if you're not the creditor but the borrower, inflation allows you to pay your fixed debt payments with cheaper dollars. You'll be able to pay off your debt faster with diluted dollars.
Investing in stocks may not be as bad as you might think. If a company is run by competent managers who increase prices as costs increase, the company's revenues and earnings should increase as inflation increases. Be sure to invest in stocks that have returns higher than the inflation rate. You can also purchase inflation protected investments like inflation indexed bonds and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). These investments are impervious to inflation risk because their rates move with inflation. An investment portfolio with fixed income securities that are not protected against inflation will see a deterioration of value. If your portfolio has fixed income securities that aren't inflation protected and you expect higher inflation in the future, I recommend moving your money out of these fixed income securities.
In a high inflationary environment, investors look more for investments with a short-term maturity horizon. Investors tend to shy away from investments with long-term maturities due to the increased uncertainty. Because inflation makes it difficult to predict future expectations, investors are unwilling to enter into long-term contracts. Over time this unwillingness has a negative affect on economic growth.
Investors also utilize "stores of value" to hedge against inflation risk. Throughout history precious metals have been used as stores of value. People purchased metals like gold and silver. They have also used other stores of value like real estate, works of art, precious stones, and livestock. Eventhough the value of these commodities change over time, they have shown to retain some value in almost any situation.

Author: Joseph is a certified and accredited business appraiser with Hyde Valuations, Inc. He has performed appraisals and valuation services. He also writes and speaks on business and valuation topics. For more information please visit: http://www.superiorvaluations.com