WHY YOU SHOULD INVEST IN THE STOCK MARKET?

The stock market is one of the many investment vehicles where you can put and grow your money. It offers better rewards than simply putting our money in the bank in a savings account or time deposit. However, along with the rewards that it offer there is also the element of risk. The higher the risk, the higher the reward as they say. So how can we earn money in the stock market? There are two possible ways.

1. DIVIDEND

It is a portion of the company's earnings distributed to shareholders on the regular interval e.g. quarterly, semi-annually or annually. Dividends may be given in the form of cash, stocks or even property and is decided by the board of directors of the company. Say for example you bought 100,000 shares of stock of a company that pays 0.30 per share cash dividend, you will receive 30,000.00 at the payment date.

2. CAPITAL GAINS OR CAPITAL APPRECIATION

It is the increase in the value of your invested capital as a result of increased market price. If you buy 100,000 shares of stock of a company at 5.00 per share your investment is 500,000.00 (let us not include the tax, commissions etc. for simplicity). If the market price of the stock reach 7.00 per share and you decided to sell all your shares, the market value of your investment would be 700,000.00. The difference of 200,00.00 is your profit from capital gain. You have to sell the shares in order to realize your gain.

Between the two, the more popular means to earn is through capital appreciation. A lot of traders, individual and institution alike trade in the stock market everyday. Online trading platforms and mobile applications makes it even easier for traders to buy and sell stocks anywhere in the world with internet connection. Some buy and sell stocks on the same day for quick profit, some hold their stocks for a few days, weeks or months for a bigger gain. Their buy and sell decisions are based on technical analysis. They study charts, price patterns, volume and other indicators to time the market in order to minimize the risk and maximize their profit. On the other hand, others consider themselves as investor who buy stocks and hold it for years for a bigger profit. They buy stocks based on the fundamentals and future growth of the company to fulfill their long-term goal. 

Whether you choose to be a trader or investor, stock market offers a very high potential of growing your money. 

   

How to Withdraw Funds From Your COL Financial Account

If you wish to withdraw funds from you COL Financial account, you may ask fellow investors or traders from different groups in facebook. There are a lot of kind and helpful people out there who are very willing to answer your question. But to make life easier for those who has not experienced withdrawing funds from their COL accounts yet, I prepared this step-by-step procedure for you.

1. Log-in to your COL account. From the HOME tab, click FORMS as shown:

2. From the FORMS tab, download the "Request for Withdrawal of Funds Form" PDF file.

3. Print the form and fill in the all the required information. If your COL account is a joint account, only one signature either by the primary or the secondary account holder is enough.

4. Under the "Special Instructions" column, make sure to select the payment option whether by "CHECK PICK-UP" or "DEPOSIT TO REGISTERED ACCOUNT" This is very important because in my experience during one of my withdrawal request, after sending the request email to COL, I noticed that I forgot to check my preferred method of payment but since I have the registered bank account and I have made two withdrawals previously, I thought that it will be automatically transferred to my account. But when I received their confirmation email, the payment option stated was "PICK-UP". So don't forget to choose your preferred payment option. 

5. Once you're done filling out the form, scan it and send to their email at withdrawals@colfinancial.com. Once you receive their receipt confirmation email, check all the details and notify them immediately for any corrections like the one I mentioned above. If everything is correct, you will receive your money within 3 banking days.

I hope you find this simple presentation helpful.

Happy trading

Low-Light Photography Experience

It is said that it is easy to take photographs during daytime where there is ample light to illuminate the object that you want to take pictures of. The challenge to photographers, professional and amateurs like me alike is taking photographs at night or during hours where there is low-light. My first attempt in low-light photography was a real mess. I went to the park at night and started taking photos but when I looked at the pictures, it was nowhere close to what I expected to see. Dark pictures, blurred and ghost-like images are the result of my first crack at low-light photography. 

When I got home that night, I searched on the internet and watched videos and asked some friends about the basics of photography especially night and low-light. As a result of my search, below is the basic settings and requirements that use for my low-light photography.

1. Slow down the shutter -  Slow shutter speed allows the light to enter the sensor for a longer period of     time. 

2. Use tripod -  If you are shooting without tripod at slow shutter speed, the result will be blurred or ghost-like image. Shutter speeds slower than 1/60th of a  second requires a tripod to hold the camera in place. You may also need a remote release or to set the timer to prevent the camera from shaking. 

3. Use higher ISO - Higher ISO setting can help so as to make the sensor more sensitive to light reaching it. Keep in mind however that using a high ISO can generate noise to the image. Be careful not to crank up the ISO too much but if you do, you may need to filter the noise in post-processing.

4. Higher aperture - The smaller the F-value, the larger the aperture meaning the larger the opening of the lens to allow more light to reach the sensor. I just have a little reservation in using the aperture to in taking photos at night or in low-light. In my experience, there are images that I took using a smaller aperture but I still get the result that I want as long as I slow down the shutter long enough to somehow get the correct exposure. Whenever I use large aperture with slow shutter speed, the image is too bright so I still have to compensate by adjusting either the aperture or the shutter speed. But for sure professional photographers has a better way of doing it.

Here are some photos that I took using the basic requirements mentioned above. These photos are not as stunning as the images captured by professionals and other beginners like me but they are far from my first attempts in low-light photography.

I would like to thank the NIKON D5100 gorup in facebook. I learned a lot from the members who share their photos and settings used.