If you want to be really good at making money, you have to find lots of different ways to accomplish your goals, and practice all the time. That’s because financial skills are transferrable. An insight you gain by spending time investing your money in stocks might give you an edge when you buy your first rental property. Your experience playing amateur poker in college will give you good instincts about the motivations of sellers in different marketplaces. To maximize your learning, it’s important to put your money to work in a lot of different settings. This does more than create diversity and make you money — it’s a great education in all things finance!
Spread betting is one of the best ways to constantly be increasing your knowledge about the way money and profit work. For those who aren’t familiar, spread betting is a fast paced investment form based on the value fluctuations — not the ownership — of stocks, funds, commodities, and more. Spread betting brokers give users the opportunity to trade on the future value of these financial entities, without actually buying them. Here’s how it works in a little more detail.
When you open an account, you’ll see that they have real-time price records of thousands of different stocks and markets; all you have to do is pick one. When you actually put money on the line, you’ll decide on an amount you want to risk, and the broker will allow you to create a contract that expires at a chosen length of time; all you have to decide is whether you think your chosen asset’s price will be higher or lower at the end of that amount of time.
If your instinct is right, you’ll get earnings relative to how much the value changed in the direction you anticipated. If you didn’t get it right, losses will be counted in the same way, although there are stop loss and hedging options to limit losses for savvy users. As you get to know a lot about different assets, you’ll start to understand the global forces which contribute to their changes in value. This will allow you to cash in on your insight over and over, potentially earning for yourself a serious bit of extra income.
So the rewards of spread betting are two-fold. On the one hand, experienced users have a good chance to make extra money, very quickly, and without having to expend tremendous effort. At the same time, users will gain a wealth of knowledge about the complexities of global finance — at least as it pertains to their chosen assets. This knowledge can transfer to any other financial or investment discipline, where the shrewdness of the user can be transferred into profit in any number of settings.
It all starts with a free account and a minimal first deposit — and many brokers don’t even require an initial deposit. You can try the service for free, testing your knowledge against real world events to see how much you would gain or lose if you were to deposit real money. Of course, you won’t earn income this way, but you’ll be able to try your hand at a fast paced investment form that continues to grow.
So give spread betting a try. It’s simple and fast-paced enough that you can do it on your lunch break, or on the morning train to work. As your skill grows, you have the chance to earn some serious income too. And even if you give it up down the road, the information you learn will serve you well, no matter what investment path you decide to take up next.
Photo Credit: Search Engine People Blog
Ok, on a blog that promotes fiscal awareness and restraint I don’t think this an appropriate post.
Spread betting? If you want to lose money go it Los Vegas – there’s a lot more entertainment and food.
Disagree. It’s only gambling if you decide to jump in and commit money without doing any research!
That’s my take too, Booboo. But I respect Karen’s opinion.