© Copyright khedmeh Wall
Over the years, several investors, no matter beginner or experienced, have gained significant profit by planning and investing in stocks.
However, there are investors whose success formula didn't work at all that makes every people think twice before entering the stock market and investing in stocks.
When an investor makes the right and correct decisions, there are higher chances of booking profits from those investments.
After all, stock market is truly unpredictable. However, investing in stocks has several major benefits than other investments.
Ownership Stake in the company (All Benefits will be H2)
An investor who buys a particular company's stock essentially means getting an ownership stake in that specific company. Thus, it will give the investors a feeling of ownership after purchasing stocks.
Having ownership means that they will become shareholders and play a vital role in a company's decision. Investors will also have the power to vote in decisions taken by the company.
They also receive annual learn reports to get detailed insights and learn more about the company. Owning a particular company's stock will be a way to express their loyalty towards a company and the business's success as a whole.
Investors who put their hard-earned money into multiple types of investment, a stock market investment delivers a major advantage by providing diversification.
The investments in the stock market change its value independently of other investments such as bonds and real estate.
Holding stocks for a longer period will help an investor to forecast losses to other investment products. Adding stock in their portfolio creates a greater risk and delivers large and rapid gains that help investors avoid overly conservative investment strategies.
A dividend refers to a reward which the company gives to its investors. In simple words, it is an additional income of the company for investors that is paid yearly by every company.
No matter if the stock has lost its value or representing profit coming from the stock, the dividend payments will arrive.
Dividend income can help an investor to fund a retirement or pay for another investment to grow their portfolio over time.
One of the major benefits of investing in the stock market is that investors get the chance to earn more money. Over time, if the stock market rises in value, the prices of a particular stock can rise or fall.
However, investors who have put their money in stable companies will see profit growth. Likewise, investing in several different stocks will help investors build their wealth by leveraging growth in multiple sectors resulting in a profit.
Stocks are generally known as liquid assets because they can be easily converted to cash that consists of several buyers at any given point in time.
However, when compared to other assets, it’s more difficult to look for a buyer for some assets like property.
However, in the case of stocks, its much easier because the average daily volume of transactions on NSE and BSE is high. It means that there are several buyers and sellers paying attention to a single stock.
The biggest and primary advantage of investing in stocks is that it has the potential to generate high returns in a short period of time compared to other investments roads like Bank FDs.
The stock market of India is regulated by the Stock Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Security Board Exchange of India (SEBI) is majorly responsible for regulating the stock exchanges, their developments and mainly protecting the rights of all the investors.
When an investor puts their money in various financial products on the stock market, their interests are also protected by a regulatory framework laid down by SEBI.
This helps them in reducing the risks of several fraudulent activities by companies.
An investor is looking to enter the stock market can start their small investments in the stock market by purchasing stocks of small-cap or mid-cap companies but in smaller units.
Another major advantage of directly investing in stocks is that investor can buy as per their own choice, and it is not mandatory of investing a specific sum of amount every month.
Corporate earnings usually tend to increase as there is growth in an economy. This is usually due to several factors like increased job creation, leading to an increase in income and sales.
Thus, an investor putting its money in stocks of the businesses influenced by economic growth helps them grow better.
The process of buying and selling in the stock market is simple and easy for all investors. Buying of stocks is done with the help of a broker, financial planner, or online mode.
It takes hardly a few minutes to set up an account and start trading. An investor can also buy and sell stocks easily without going anywhere, and the profit is directly credited into their bank account
The last installment of our Fly Safe, Fly Smart series tells you how to pick between airlines when you don't recognize the names.
American, United, Delta. Yeah, yeah, we can debate, but they're peas in a pod. But if you find a cheap fare on Allegiant, or Porter, or Fly540, what are you supposed to think?
Smaller airlines come and go. Back in 2005, I wrote an article about flying on smaller airlines -- of the 13 companies mentioned, three have gone out of business and one now only flies charters. Meanwhile, new airlines keep cropping up, like Porter in Canada and VivaAerobus in Mexico. With an airline industry permanently in flux, don't worry if you've never heard an airline's name before -- rather, check it out. Here are some tools and tips for giving an airline the once-over.
Check the Blacklists
The U.S. and EU governments both keep lists of airlines they consider unsafe. The U.S. government actually blacklists entire countries based on assessments of the countries' airline-safety standards. The agency offers the results as an Excel spreadsheet with the unsafe nations listed as category 2. Right now, that includes Belize, Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Kiribati, Mexico, Nauru, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, Serbia, Swaziland, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe. Carriers from those countries aren't allowed to set up new service to the U.S. until they improve safety standards, although they can maintain existing service.
The EU keeps a blacklist of individual airlines, which you can find at Air-Valid. These specific airlines aren't allowed to operate in the EU, so you can pretty much assume they're not the best of the global array. The vast majority of the airlines are smaller African and Asian airlines, but there are a few more prominent players on there such as Iran Air and Philippine Airlines.
Ignore the Boards
Don't turn to boards like TripAdvisor or our own forums for good advice on airlines. People on forums tend to draw wild conclusions from single events -- saying, for instance, that you should never fly United Airlines because of one incident involving a rude flight attendant or a poorly-handled cancellation. Every airline has made mistakes, and you need to take a longer view.
How About Awards?
Skytrax, Zagat, Conde Nast and JD Power and Associates all take that longer view. Of the bunch, Skytrax (a UK-based consultant to airlines) has by far the widest range of airlines listed, rating them from one to five stars and giving them sub-ratings based on everything from food quality to "assisting parents with children." Skytrax's set of hundreds of traveler reviews is also a great exception to the "don't pay attention to forums" rule, as their reviews are mostly from experienced road warriors.
According to Skytrax, the finest airlines in the world are Asiana, Cathay Pacific, Kingfisher, Malaysia, Qatar and Singapore. Among the lowest-rated airlines is one very popular European one -- Ryanair -- chosen in large part because of its famously, abysmally poor customer service.
Hedge Bets With Alliances
The major U.S. airlines are members of three alliances: OneWorld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance. If you're flying on a foreign airline that makes you a little nervous -- say, Aeroflot -- see if you can get a seat on that flight using its American partner's code (in this case, Delta's), which makes the American partner partly responsible for getting you to your destination.
Scope Out Safety
If your airline hasn't won any awards, but it isn't on any blacklists, you might want to scope out the airline's safety record. For more than a decade now, AirSafe has been tracking air crashes and other safety-related incidents. They can tell you the rate of fatal events per million flights, and when the airline had its most recent incident.
You have to be smart about this data. Midwest Airlines, for instance, appears to have a high fatal accident rate -- but that's just because of one accident back in 1985. That said, a combination of a high fatal-event rate plus recent fatal events might give you pause.
Make Note of Fees
Smaller airlines, especially low-cost ones, may have different baggage allowances or fees than larger carriers. If you're assembling a multi-airline itinerary, pay attention to those fees. The most notorious culprit is Europe's Ryanair, which has very low base fares but also very low allowed baggage weights. It doesn't make sense to book an itinerary which would force you to re-pack your baggage when you change planes.
Compare Seats
If you're trying to decide between two airlines which are "just fine," you can easily see which one has comfier seats, better food and in-flight entertainment. Seatguru gives you seating charts and details of in-flight entertainment for many popular airlines and aircraft.
Someone once said, “if you want something done well, do it yourself.” Today, this couldn’t be farther from the truth, especially when it comes to the world of digital marketing. There is no better way for brands to expand their reach than by virtual word-of-mouth through their own affiliate programs.
Affiliate marketing programs are an effective way for businesses to expand their reach. Who is better at promoting your product than those who love it and know your verticals, after all?
Real talk; by working with affiliate partners, you aren’t “doing it yourself.” And while we’re getting others to sell your products, why not get some help to collect and track every customer interaction and data from all touchpoints?
And why not a bit of hand-holding from marketing tools to turn that data into business growth, too? For all that, look no further than affiliate tracking software!
What is affiliate tracking software?Affiliate tracking software helps you manage and track the performance of your programs and partnerships. These platforms streamline the process of monitoring traffic and conversions. Your marketing partners can be bloggers, influencers, or any other content producers. Whichever, you’re kept in control thanks to accurate tracking.
Essential features of any affiliate tracking software include:
Affiliate tracking platforms make it easy to manage everything from one place. Dashboards give you customized views in real-time with just a few clicks.
Save time with automationAutomation of offers, payments, and much more saves your valuable time. Spend that time elsewhere, like on your other marketing campaigns. Affise’s CPAPI solution saves businesses even more time with automated offer pulling.
Gain a deeper understandingLike SEO, affiliate marketing optimization requires lots of data. Customizable and detailed reporting lets you take a deeper dive into the statistics. You will gain a better understanding of your target audience and ad networks.
Optimize your marketing campaignsLive reporting and analytics tools boost campaign optimization. And your team will be better equipped to leverage insights and find the right marketing partners.
Save moneyYour team will get more done in less time. And automatic fraud detection means you only pay for authentic performance metrics.
Increase revenueAffiliate tracking tools make it easy for you to get a better ROI. You can discover your best customers and affiliates to streamline your campaign growth.
Must-have features of affiliate tracking softwareAffiliate marketers need to use software with the best features.
Variety of trackersAffiliate tracking software is mainly about, well, tracking! And no matter how new and shiny a piece of tech looks, you don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket!
Regional compliance and third-party browser tracking protections are here to stay. The best affiliate marketing platforms feature tracking methods like pixels and postback URLs, among others.
CustomizableThis should go without saying. Customizability is very important in any partner tracking software. First, this helps you find the right fit for your affiliate program as you hit the ground running. And it also allows for you to tailor your platform as your network grows and becomes more successful.
Intelligent reportsThere’s no point in using an affiliate tracking solution if you can’t have intelligent reporting. Customizable reporting options help your team connect the dots and find hidden gems.
Fraud detectionMany businesses are blind to the black-hat tactics within the affiliate industry. Using an affiliate platform that cannot detect fraud is the blind paying out of pocket to be led by the blind!
Any affiliate tracking system should have up-to-date fraud detection functionality. Your business cannot afford to be paying out for clicks and views that have no potential ROI.
Stellar supportMost affiliate tracking platforms are designed to be intuitive and user-friendly. But many times, they require more technical knowledge to set up properly. A business like yours should opt for an affiliate tracking service with a smooth onboarding experience and a 24/7 customer support team.
6 Recommended affiliate tracking software alternativesThere is a sea of options when it comes to affiliate tracking software. Don’t get tossed around by the waves of industry noise and hype. Here are six of the best affiliate tracking solutions available today.
AffiseThe Affise platform encompasses a wide range of affiliate marketing software. Affise’s Tracking and Attribution Software product has everything your business needs. From one platform you can manage, track, analyze, and optimize online advertising campaigns in real-time.
In terms of tracking you get:
Affise records attribution at each customer touchpoint and credits the correct sale channel. Choose from a range of models including last-click/last touch and first-click/first touch attribution. But you also get models like probabilistic attribution, which is better suited to measure mobile attribution from iOS.
Affise has a streamlined onboarding experience with smooth migration. And the automated offer pulling service, CPAPI, makes transitioning even more of a breeze.
Other features include:
Affise is perfect for SMEs and larger enterprises looking to level up or get a head start in affiliate marketing programs. Plans start at $499 per month. Contact Affise for plans that include Affise Academy and pain-free migration services.
iDevAffiliateiDevAffiliate has been a mainstay in partner marketing solutions for over 20 years. Their affiliate plugin is a flexible solution for affiliate tracking and management.
Source (idevdirect.com)
The iDevAffiliate plugin can help businesses create and launch an affiliate program within an hour. With that being said, maximizing the iDevAffiliate toolset can have a bit of a learning curve, making it a less attractive option to Affise. But subscribers do get access to over 40 hours of video tutorials (if you’ve got time for such things!).
Other features include:
iDevAffiliate is a decent option for businesses on a tight budget. And for those with good technical knowledge or willing to spend time learning the platform.
Pricing plans range from $39-$79 per month, depending on what options you require. The base package includes unlimited affiliates and commissions. Premium options include larger click-based traffic per month and custom subdomain parking.
OSI AffiliateOSI Affiliate Software offers a range of tools for affiliate programs. The platform emphasizes customer referral programs as part of your affiliate network.
The customer referral program is driven by website popups, forms, and auto-signups. These features target website visitors and new customers. You can also incentivize brand advocates with a customizable Smart Rewards program.
OSI Affiliate boasts many, but not all, of the must-have tracking features, including:
OSI Affiliate Software is a fair choice for businesses looking for simplicity and flexibility. And it is useful if you are looking to focus on customer referrals with your affiliate network. The service pricing starts at $47 per month, but you can try it for free with a 15-day trial.
TapfiliateTapfiliate is a service aimed at those dealing principally in ecommerce and SaaS. Tapfiliate focuses a lot on playing well with your existing business applications. The software integrates with your website whether it’s built around Woocommerce, Shopify, WordPress, or 30 other platforms.
The platform also comes with many tools for affiliate recruitment and ad promotion, including on social media.
Besides affiliate reporting and tracking, other features included are:
Tapfiliate is a sensible choice for businesses running on ecommerce or SaaS platforms that want minimal setup. If you have more diverse needs, though, you may need to look elsewhere. Pricing for Tapfiliate starts at $89 but you can try it out with a 14-day risk-free trial.
AnytrackAnytrack.io provides an affiliate tracking platform for your existing marketing stack. The platform is essentially a tool to connect your data streams. You will have a consistent and up-to-date view of your affiliate marketing activities and statistics.
With just a few clicks, the platform automatically sends all tracking to Google Analytics. This allows your team to view all types of traffic performance. And they can quickly glean actionable insights. The tracking automation works similarly with the Facebook Conversion API. Having to rely on various different platforms and outlets, though, isn’t exactly intuitive or user-friendly.
Other features include:
Anytrack is a decent option for larger businesses with a proven marketing stack looking to raise their affiliate game with real-time insights.
ShareASaleShareASale has earned a reputation as one of the most trusted performance marketing networks. The network boasts over 225,000 active affiliates. And network publishers include companies like Forbes, Business Insider, and CNN.
ShareASale offers affiliate management software for merchants that streamlines partner marketing.
Features include an intuitive interface and automation tools for things like marketing emails, as well as:
ShareASale is an option for those looking to tap into their powerful partner network, but also want an affiliate tracking solution.
Boost your affiliate marketing with AffiseEffective affiliate tracking is only one part of a greater whole that is your partner marketing program. With Affise, you get robust features to boost your performance marketing across the board.
Affise Analytics and Business Intelligence tools let you dive deeper into the data. You will gain insights and make more accurate forecasts by relying on an simple interface with an easy-to-use dashboard.
Powerful reportingHighly granular customizable reports with affiliate reports, customer reports, fraud-related reports, payment reports, and so on. It allows you to make unique correlations with all data viewable on one page. These reports are easily shareable with partners.
Fraud preventionAffise includes several options to protect your affiliate marketing campaigns from fraud. It has a complete security system with fraud detection, general internet security, and data privacy; This includes click-level fraud prevention, third-party tools, IP monitoring, and many tracking metrics.
Seamless offer pullingCPAPI makes it a cinch to transfer offers instantaneously between all sources in your system.
AutomationAffise helps to eliminate the time spent on repetitive tasks. You can automate activities like opening offers to publishers, partner communication, and billing.
Billing and accountingBesides invoice generation, you can automate partner payouts with Affise. And you can choose from a list of different currencies and payment providers
CustomizationAffise provides plenty of connection options with multiple integrations. But the platform has a feature-rich API that also allows you to conduct any needed custom integration yourself to ensure your networks are always perfectly in tune.
Find out other features to maximize the opportunities that you can find on the Affise ecosystem:
If you’re not effectively tracking and collating data from your partner program, you’re already losing the battle. You can’t afford to wait any longer. Connect your business affiliate tracking solution today.
With a robust platform like Affise that helps your affiliate program reach for the stars, you gain insights to optimize your campaigns and grow your partner networks like never before.
You can make discovering somewhere new even more exciting in just the right rental car. Find out how to pick your ideal wheels for your next road trip.
It might take months of meticulous planning, but there are essentially only three things you need to guarantee an amazing road trip: the right car, the right route and the right companion/s. Here's how to choose the right car for your road trip – the rest is up to you.
If you're going on a family holiday, there's no point hiring a two-seater convertible – no matter how tempted you are to leave the kids at the airport after a stressful flight. So, make sure your hire car has enough seats for everyone who'll be travelling (having passengers sat on knees is never an option, even for really small children).
If you're booking your car online, it should show exactly how many seats the car has – smaller cars tend to have only two seats in the back whereas larger models will have three, for example. If you have passengers in the back, it's worth booking a car with at least four doors, so everyone can get in and out easily.
Consider how much boot space you're going to need, bearing in mind that everyone's luggage will have to fit in the trunk as roof bars and boxes are rarely, if ever, an option when hiring a car. The only exception to this is if you're going skiing – you can get a rental car fitted with a ski rack.
Leaving luggage on view on the back seats isn't a good idea either, as it can attract thieves and may compromise your travel insurance.
Although the idea of hitting the open road in a V8 gas-guzzler is undoubtedly tempting, you might not want to blow half your holiday budget on fuel. So, working on the assumption that smaller cars are generally more fuel efficient, map out how far you'll be travelling, then calculate roughly how much fuel this will use in your preferred type of car.
Specific models can't be guaranteed at the rental counter, so think the class of car instead, such as compact, economy, luxury, SUV, etc. Also keep an eye out for the rental car company's fuel policy, a 'full-to-full' fuel policy is the most common, and often the best choice, especially for road-trippers.
If you're used to driving a car with automatic gears/transmission and want to stick with what you're familiar with, look out for the type of gears each car has when you're booking. It's worth looking out for when you're choosing your rental car, particularly if you're travelling to a country where most cars have manual gears/transmission.
If you're travelling with children, check the child seat policy of the country you're travelling to, as it may be different to what you're used to. If you need child seats, it's best to reserve them at the same time you book your hire car, as they won't come as standard. The same goes for GPS/satnav systems. You'll pay for these when you arrive to pick up your car, and rental companies can't usually guarantee them. These extras are charged at a daily rate, so you can save money by taking your own. And, if you're travelling anywhere hot, make sure the car has air conditioning, or your road trip might quickly become too hot to handle.
Upgrading to the bigger or faster model can be very tempting, especially if it looks like it won't add much to the overall cost. But that little extra each day can quickly add up over the course of one, two or three weeks' worth of car hire. And then there are the added fuel costs, bigger security deposit and higher excesses that come with bigger cars. Once you've chosen a model that comfortably ticks all your boxes, you can happily resist hard sell at the rental counter, and stick to your budget.
Then there's just one final thing to bear in mind – not all road trips are created equal, so you'll have to match your car to the type of trip you're taking. Here are our top picks for specific trips:
Note: The cars below are just examples – you'll find different models available in different countries with different rental companies. And you won't be guaranteed to get the exact model you booked, when you come to collect your car. To find out more, see What does 'or similar' mean in car rental?
Stressed out drivers, congested roads, and baffling one-way systems mean city driving can be hectic – and that's before you consider everyone might also drive on the wrong side of the road. So, it's probably best to go for a small car that handles well on city streets and is easy to park, possibly an automatic, so you've less to think about in the stop-start traffic.
Try something in the Mini or Economy group, such as an eminently sensible and reliable VW Golf or Ford Focus, or a Mini Cooper or Fiat 500 if you're after something that's a bit nippier and more fun to drive.
If you're off on an adventure holiday, whether skiing, rock climbing, windsurfing, or whatever you fancy, there's a good chance you'll be lugging a lot of kit around with you, and maybe even driving on some rough roads.
You might be best off choosing an SUV, maybe even a 4X4 model, such as a Skoda Yeti or VW Tiguan, or a Jeep Grand Cherokee or Range Rover Sport if you're looking for a more luxurious off-roader.
VW Tiguan, Skoda Yeti, Range Rover, Jeep Grand Cherokee
Do check where you're allowed to take your hire car. Many rental companies don't allow their cars to be taken off-road.
All of the SUVs above come with loads of luggage space, and if you hire in snowy or mountainous areas, your car will come fitted with a winter safety kit. It's also worth swotting up on how to drive safely in snow, before you set off.
When you're travelling together, you'll want to make sure your car is not only safe, comfortable and spacious, with more than enough room for all passengers and luggage, but is also kitted out with any number of cup holders and USB ports.
People carriers are really roomy and ideal for families. Some have sliding doors for easy access – try a Ford Galaxy, a VW Touran, or a Dodge Grand Caravan, for example. There's no guarantee you'll get the exact model you booked, or that the car you get will come with everything you need, of course. For a comfy trip, it's worth keeping your drinks in resealable bottles rather than cups, and taking USB chargers that plug into the car's 12V/lighter socket, to keeps all those devices topped up.
If you can, it's also worth taking your own child seats and satnav/GPS to save money. For more tips on hassle-free family road trips, check out Enjoying family travel.
Road trips are all about driving long-distances and stopping off at places well off the beaten tourist track, which means you could spend large parts of your trip living out of your trunk. If you're embarking on a multi-location odyssey, you'll want a car that is comfortable enough for long hours behind the wheel, has loads of luggage space, and a great fuel economy. We recommend picking an estate car, about the size of a Ford Focus, Skoda Octavia or VW Passat - anything smaller might feel a bit cramped, while larger models might not be as good on the gas.
A honeymoon is a time in your life you can enjoy a little luxury and excess, so if you're planning a post-wedding adventure, why not splash out on a luxury car, or convertible? Rental companies offer luxury models like the Porsche Cayman or Mercedes Benz S-Class, or Jaguar F-Type and Mercedes E250 convertibles. Some car hire companies will even guarantee the exact model when it comes to luxury car hire, so if you want to be 100% sure what you'll get rather than go for a lucky dip, check before you book.