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2 Cryptocurrencies For Easy Gains

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It is no secret that crypto is have difficulties, with the total market’s value going down 13% to $1.9 trillion this year. That said, cryptocurrency has a history of bouncing back over time. And some of the assets will likely be better performers than others.

Let’s explore why Ethereum and Solana fit the bill and might make top picks for the long-haul.

1. Solana 

Often called an “Ethereum killer” due to its super fast speeds, Solana is the ninth-biggest crypto with a market capitalization of $31 billion. The network is able to maintain its long-term edge with growth into financial services and fintech.

According to data released from coinbase.com, Solana is able to handle around 50,000 transactions each second compared to ETH’s 15. And this makes it an ideal decentralized application (dApp) development.

So far, Solana hosts about 500 dApps, which is well under rival Ethereum’s 3,000. But Solana seems poised to gain ground on ETH because of its technical prowess. And it is not limiting itself to only dApps.

In Feb., the platform’s creator Solana Labs announced its new payments system Solana Pay, which is designed to help merchants accept crypto payments directly from their customers. Solana’s fintech growth highlights its potential for having real-world utility, which is great news for any long-term investors.

2. Ethereum 

Never underestimate a strong brands power. ETH’s staying power comes from the first-mover advantage as a platform for the dApp development, providing this functionality since 2015. And planned upgrades could help the platform continue to be relevant in the highly competitive blockchain sector.

It is not yet clear when Ethereum’s upgrades go into effect. But the platform has a history of implementing their improvements, so changes such as this are not really unprecedented.

In the meantime, ETH has continued to attract most of dApp development, with around 3,000 of the roughly 4,000 total projects in play. And this means that its shortcomings aren’t scaring away users. ETH’s reputation as a well established and trustworthy blockchain network will be the key to its success in the long-term.

There is room for many similar blockchains

While Ethereum and Solana compete as a platform for dApp development, crypto isn’t a zero-sum game. History shows us that there is room for many other similar assets to benefit from this as the overall opportunity grows.

For instance, Ethereum improved upon Bitcoin but did not kill it. Likewise, Solana will not necessarily kill ETH, either — despite its technical advantages. Both assets seem poised for success in the long-term because of their active development teams and strong brands.

Author: Steven Sinclaire
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Billionaire Warns: Sanctions Against Russia Will Collapse America

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Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan CEO is concerned that the West’s move to get Russia out of the SWIFT global payments processing system might have some “unintended consequences”, including possibly hurting some economies throughout the world.

Dimon, during an interview, told some investors that they should strap in because the volatility in financial markets is probably here to stay, after a calm year in 2021 that saw US stocks consistently hitting record highs.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States and its allies have started to cut certain Russian banks out of SWIFT, a messaging system that processes large amounts of financial transfers around the globe.

Analysts have stated the move is a big blow for Russia’s economy. Russia’s currency has crashed to a record low this week after the sanctions had been announced during the weekend, while the nation’s stock market is still shut down after an effort to limit the drops in asset values.

However, Dimon said the sanctions have brought up “a whole bunch of problems” that Western governments should work through.

“I think some people are more concerned about the unintended consequences of this — what nations you hurt, how you fix that.”

Some analysts have said China might benefit from doing the SWIFT ban, by stepping in with a payment messaging system of its own and gaining even more power in global finance sector.

Dimon said that he believes the recent increase in volatility in financial markets will be sticking around. As for the reasons, the JPMorgan CEO has noted the war in Ukraine is ongoing as the Federal Reserve is about to withdraw the support for the economy, and as politics in the United States is increasingly deadlocked.

Investors will need to get used to this, he says. “You will inevitably have much more market volatility, both from the reversal of QE and the lack of bipartisanship.”

He added that the markets have been already “kind of high.”

QE is referring to quantitative easing, the Fed’s policy of injecting money into the markets by purchasing bonds.

When asked about high inflation, which hasn’t been this in 40 years, Dimon said that the United States had probably done “too much quantitative easing and fiscal stimulus.”

He said the Fed can raise interest rates over seven times as it attempts to cool the red-hot price increases.

Author: Blake Ambrose
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4 Tax Deductions Most People Don’t Know About

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Your top goal when paying taxes should be having to pay the IRS as little as possible. And to be able to do that, you will need to use all the tax deductions you can.

As a fast primer, a tax deduction can exempt a portion of what you earned from taxes. Your actual tax savings come from the tax bracket that you fall into, which is based on your salary.

Say you are able to claim a $500 tax deduction, and you are in the 22% tax bracket. That means you will not pay taxes on $500 of your income and you are saving yourself about $110 as a result. Tax deductions are not the same as tax credits, which pay 100 percent reduction of your tax liability.

With that out of the way, here are 4 tax deductions you might not know about.

1. Medical expenses

Some people use a lot of their money on medical bills — even people that have decent health insurance. For the tax year of 2021, which is the tax year that you are submitting a return for in 2022, you are allowed to deduct any medical expenses that are unreimbursed and happen to go over 7.5% of what your adjusted gross income is. What this means is if your AGI is $50,000 and you have to pay $5,000 in medical bills, you are able to deduct $1,250 of that.

2. Educator expenses

It is common for some teachers to spend their own personal money on materials for the classroom. As an educator, you are allowed to have a deduction of up to $250 in supplies for the classroom. And the best part of this? This is a deduction you are able to take even if you do not itemize it on your tax return.

3. Self-employment taxes

Though there are some benefits to being self-employed, one drawback is that you have to pay 15.3% of your income towards Medicare and Social Security taxes. Salaried workers only have to pay half that amount because they split the 15.3% cost with their employers. But on the bright side, you are able to deduct half of your Medicare tax and Social Security bill on your tax return, so you can effectively get some of that money back.

4. Donated goods

You might be aware that if you were to give money to charity, you could deduct your contributions on your taxes. But you could also claim a deduction for any donated goods. All you will need to do is keep receipts that document your donations and deduct the what fair market value is for those goods — not their original value. If you were to donate a used furniture piece that you purchased for $800, that piece might only be worth $300 now because of its condition and age– and so $300 is the write-off you would take.

Author: Scott Dowdy
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3 Stocks With Long-Term Staying Power (One Is The Amazon Of South America)

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The market’s making some big moves recently, and you do not need a lot of money to take advantage of this volatility. With so many different trading platforms offering a commission-free move, it has never been cheaper to invest in stocks even with modest amounts. With even more brokers being open to trading fractional shares, you also do not have to limit your small investments to stocks that have smaller price tags.

Here are three stocks that look great right now. Investing your next $500 into any of these might be a smart move.

MercadoLibre

Latin America’s top online marketplace operator is only getting larger and better, but the same cannot be said about its stock value. It just had another amazing quarter, but it is somehow still trading 44% under the all-time high it reached 14 months ago.

There are about 82.2 million unique active users throughout the MercadoLibre ecosystem, and revenue has soared 74% for its latest quarter. There was around $8 billion in gross merchandise volume that was transacted through its flagship e-commerce marketplace in the last three months of 2021, but the main story is fintech. MercadoPago, its faster-growing payment system, raked in $24 billion for the last three months of 2021.

With its stock price valued over $1,100, $500 will not be able to buy you one single share of MercadoLibre. But as more brokers are letting their customers purchase fractional shares, it is making it possible for any investor to purchase a portion of the top player of Latin American fintech and e-commerce.

Twilio

Your cell phone has now become a smartphone, and Twilio gets much of the credit for making that happen behind the scenes. Twilio is a top provider of the in-app communication solutions, the platform of choice for a lot of your favorite applications. When your takeout-delivery service sends you a notification that your delivery driver is getting close or when you get an almost instant confirmation on a newly available vacation villa, that is Twilio in action.

Twilio is seeing healthy growth. Armed with powerful retention rates and an ever-growing client base that trusts Twilio’s new offerings, this is a great play on the smartphone revolution.

ZIM Integrated Services

This past year was a good time to be an international container shipping specialist. Businesses paid a premium to get their stuff imported, and the Israeli-based business was a beneficiary of all the panic buying and supply chain issues that pushed transportation prices so high. ZIM is trading at just 2.5 times trailing earnings. It also pays a variable dividend that is based on earnings, and that payout consists of 20% of quarterly its earnings and another 30% that is distributed based on the entire year income.

This can sound too good to be true, and the caveat is that business is not likely to come close to where it was in 2021. Business will probably normalize in 2022 or be disrupted by warfare in Eastern Europe. Net incomes will see a decline, the earnings multiple will go higher, and the yield will decrease. I still think ZIM is an attractively priced stock, and it is hard to beat the large payout as we wait for business to slow down. ZIM reports financial results next week, offering us a better glimpse of how the near-term is going.

Author: Steven Sinclaire
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How To Make Money From NFTs

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NFTs have continued to be a popular trend within the entire crypto space. According to NonFungible.com, NFT sales have risen every year since 2017, while peaking in 2021 with total NFT revenue of over $15.3 billion.

In Jan. 2022, the biggest NFT marketplace within the world — OpenSea — had a record-setting month of sales logging over $5 billion worth of NFT sales. The main driver of this trend is that NFTs are the most recent intangible status symbols for wealthy people, joining the physical prestige flexes which include Lamborghinis, Rolexes, yachts and all of the other material possessions of the rich and famous.

While you can make profits off of NFTs if you know what you are doing, there is a certain level of risk if you don’t have a clue what you are doing. If you would like to join the ranks of the NFT owners, here are some cautionary steps that you may want to consider.

Do your own research on any NFT project

After you have identified a possible NFT project that you are interested in, the next thing you should do is locate the website of the project. That is where you will discover its overarching mission statement, the utility and vision of the project — if any — as well as who the founders, designers and financial backers are.

Once you know who the team members are, Google their names so you can learn about their expertise, backgrounds, as well as cryptocurrency and technical track records. You could also enter their respective names with some Boolean search terms like “scam, lawsuit, fraud, crime, theft, etc.” to see if any negative news coverage comes to light. If so, read them and factor them into your decision.

Back on the project’s website, make sure to check if it has a whitepaper or roadmap to get additional information about where it is on its development path and what the future plans may be. It is also a good idea to go on Twitter and enter in the name of the project as well as the founder and developer’s names. That could help provide some social sentiment regarding the NFT you’re looking at.

Use a solid NFT trading platform

There are many NFT platforms where users are able to buy, sell, and trade their digital collectibles. The biggest in the world is OpenSea, however, the larger the NFT marketplace is the more it attracts thefts and scams anecdotally. The easiest and best platform for a newcomer– or anyone really– to explore or purchase an NFT is the VeVe Collectibles app that can be found on the iPhone app store.

VeVe has a lot of proven NFTs from big brands that include Star Wars, Marvel, Disney, Star Trek, DC, James Bond, Universal and more. Also, you do not need a crypto wallet to use VeVe as it connects to a credit or debit card or PayPal, and it is very easy to use.

Investing in NFTs might be risky at times and this is not financial advice, however, this might provide some useful information for you to start exploring and get grounded in this popular trend.

Author: Steven Sinclaire
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2 REITs That Could Boost Your Portfolio This Year

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There are some different ways that you can earn money within the realm of investing in real estate. One option is to purchase physical properties, and then rent them out, maintain them, and let the properties appreciate in value. You could also purchase homes in disrepair, and fix them up, then flip them at a profit.

But if you would rather take a more hands-off approach to investing in real estate, you might prefer to put your money into a REIT instead. REITs are businesses that derive revenue from properties that are in their portfolios. And here are two REITs that might really take off this year.

1. Public Storage

The need for having self-storage has been heightened in the wake of the Covid pandemic. Over the last two years, living arrangements have changed for many, and work setups have also shifted. In fact, the number of individuals working remotely has created a higher need for at-home space available. And that is where self-storage comes in.

One leader within the self-storage space is Public Storage. With facilities throughout the U.S. and Europe, Public Storage has enjoyed large growth and is poised to build on that consumer demand in 2022.

For the three-month span ending December 31, 2021, Public Storage saw its core earnings from operations rise 20.8% compared to the same time period in 2020. The company has also acquired 232 self-storage facilities with about 21.8 million net rentable square footage.

2. Prologis

The Covid pandemic has changed the ways in which a lot of consumers are doing their shopping. Over the last two years, digital sales have really taken off. Consumers have been ordering everything from groceries to apparel to medications online, and e-commerce has gotten so big that the demand for warehousing space has started to exceed the available supply.

That puts businesses like Prologis in a great position for this year. As more and more retailers are ramping up their e-commerce platforms, Prologis will have no problem getting more business.

In its newest earnings report, the business projected an avg. occupancy rate of 96.5% to 97.5% throughout its global facilities this year. And as the biggest player within the industrial sector, the company is in a great spot to capitalize on what will most likely be a permanent shift in how consumers buy goods.

Sit back and make profits

The beauty of investing in REITs is getting to enjoy a steady source of passive income without having to do anything. That is because REITs commonly pay bigger-than-average dividends. These two REITs might reward investors generously this year and beyond, so it might be worth carving out a space for them in your portfolio.

Author: Blake Ambrose
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1 Crypto That Even Skeptics Are Buying

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I admit it. I have never really been on the crypto train. While I can still fully appreciate the potential of cryptocurrency’s underlying blockchain tech, simply creating an unlimited number of unregulated currencies out of thin air can set the stage for a disaster. Everything has prompted a reaction of some sort. Often, those reactions have unpredictable and undesirable outcomes.

However, there are some up-and-comers that have caught my attention of late. Of the two cryptos in question, I may end up actually taking a chance on Stellar Lumen.

A clear purpose

Ever since they have moved into the mainstream light, one of my main hang-ups with cryptos has been their limited degree of practical uses. For a cryptocurrency to have success as an alternative to fiat money, enough sellers need to be willing to accept it as a payment form, and there needs to be enough buyers that are willing to use it as a payment form. That has been the main reason so many cryptos and related stocks have been having difficulties lately: Not enough participants could agree on which of the numerous altcoins out there are the ones that should be utilized. Most of the first ones were established without have a particular usage in mind.

Stellar Lumens is not hampered by that philosophical flaw.

Established back in the year 2014 on its own built-in coin called the lumen, Stellar’s network is created from the ground up to let large organizations easily do cross-border, cost-effective business. And they have. Over the course of the last seven years, the platform has had over 450 million transactions, letting payers make their payments in their local currency and payment receivers to receive payments in their local currencies.

Cross-border deals are able to get done for dirt cheap in just minutes; users only have to own one lumen to do a deal, and transactional fees begin as low as 0.00001 lumen. It would not be out of line to describe this as the world’s most complete, fastest and most cost-effective foreign exchange. The lumen coin and its corresponding blockchain network make sure it all happens in the right way, squarely and fairly.

The best part of this is that Stellar works with any type of currency out there, fiat and any others. The stablecoin USD Coins, for example, is compatible with the Stellar Lumens network as well.

Stellar Lumens is in limited supply and good company

The Stellar platform’s has the right support to later become the platform of choice among the world’s main players though. Tech goliath International Business Machines which is better known as IBM, is partnering with Stellar to provide IBM’s corporate customers with cross-border payments, touting the network’s lower usage costs and speed. MoneyGram, Knabu Bank and Liquid Mortgage are also working directly with Stellar Lumens to make cross-border deals quicker and easier.

At the very least, would-be buyers are able to embrace the fact that there will be no more of this cryptocurrency mined, while diluting the float in the process. If a business wants to dive into the Stellar network to use its very impressive payment capabilities, it is going to have to purchase some in the open market. That is a bullish backdrop, not to mention a great start for today’s owners.

 

Author: Blake Ambrose
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2 Energy Stocks For Easy Long-Term Wealth

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The energy sector has been steadily shifting its fuel sources. It is moving away from greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels toward the cleaner options. This multidecade transition will need an enormous investment.

There are two companies that have emerged as the early leaders in the energy transition. That makes them excellent energy stocks to purchase and hold for the long term. Traders with $5,000 to put in the energy transition megatrend may want to spread that money around to two of the sector’s leading players: Brookfield Renewable and Clearway Energy.

Leading the renewable revolution

Brookfield Renewable is one of the biggest renewable energy producers in the world. It now owns a globally diversified portfolio of wind, hydroelectric, energy and solar transition assets. It sells this power as under fixed-rate power purchase agreements, which enable it to produce very stable cash flows.

Brookfield has a huge backlog of renewable energy development projects that will power its future growth in the sector. It has 62 gigawatts (GW) of projects that are currently under development, enough to power about 9 million homes for a whole year.

Along with increased power prices, this development pipeline will help push 6% to 11% yearly growth in funds from its operations. Also, Brookfield sees acquisitions that will add up to 9% to its bottom line every year. It sees a huge opportunity to acquire legacy energy businesses to accelerate their energy transition. Add in a 3.8%-yielding dividend that the company aims to grow by 5% to 9% each year, and it could deliver a powerful total return over the long haul.

A fully powered dividend growth engine

Clearway Energy is one of the biggest renewable energy producers within the U.S. Also, it owns a large portfolio of natural gas power plants that are environmentally sound. It sells the power that these facilities generate under long-term contracts to the electric utilities and other big power users. That enables it to produce a steady cash flow to help support its 4.4%-yielding dividend.

Clearway is expected to grow that payout by about 8% each year through 2026. Powering Clearway’s forecast is its large pipeline of investment opportunities. The company already has several new investments that are under contract. Meanwhile, it has a great relationship with a renewable energy project developer which gives it access to a lot of future opportunities. Clearway also has a lot of funding to complete its new investments after agreeing to sell its thermal company for $1.9 billion. These factors have provided it with plenty of power to see continued growth in the coming years.

A high-quality energy portfolio to hold through the transition

The multidecade transition to the cleaner energy sources will most likely have a lots of winners, so it makes sense invest in a basket of energy stocks that are positioned to prosper. The best two options are Brookfield Renewable and Clearway Energy. They are the top players in the sector, which should allow them to continue growing their operations, dividends and earnings. Those factors will make them seem like winning investments over the long run.

Author: Blake Ambrose
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3 Stocks That Could Pay Your Car Payment Every Month

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1. AbbVie

AbbVie offers both dividends and reliability. The company’s dividend now has 3.9%. A $20,000 investment would accumulate about $780 in yearly income. AbbVie is also a Dividend Titan and has a long history of yearly dividend increases.

Do not be concerned about the impending loss of their patent exclusivity in the United States for AbbVie’s best-selling drug Humira in 2023. The company should be in a good position to rapidly offset any revenue drops thanks to a strong upcoming product line.

2. Devon Energy

Devon Energy ( DVN -3.85% ) gives a twist with its dividend. The gas and oil producer pays a variable dividend plus a fixed dividend that is based on its excess free cash flow. Devon expects a dividend yield of around 8 percent. That is enough to give you $1,600 in yearly income with an initial $20,000 investment.

But can you depend on Devon’s dividend in 2022 because some of it is variable? I believe so. CEO Rick Muncrief said in the recent 4th quarter conference phone call that the company is in a good place to increase its free cash flow by more than 70 percent this year. With the market dynamics now in play for the gas and oil industry, that goal looks very reachable.

3. Enterprise Products Partners

This strength for gas and oil markets should also work to Enterprise’s advantage. It is a leading midstream energy company that uses pipelines for storing and transporting natural gas, crude oil, petrochemicals, and natural gas liquids.

An investment of $20,000 would give $1,550 in yearly income based on Enterprise’s current dividend yield of 7.75 percent. The actual total might be even more. Enterprise Products Partners has raised its dividend distribution for twenty-three straight years. Watch for this inspiring streak to keep going in 2022.

All of these companies could potentially boost your yearly income given their product quality, market penetration and overall strong leadership. But with all things, you should invest for diversification among industries and company sizes for the best chances of a large and plentiful cash flow.

Author: Scott Dowdy
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How To Turn Your Tax Refund Into $50,000

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Tax season might be a stressful time of the year, but it can also mean that your refund is on its way.

For a lot of people, its best to put tax refunds toward essential expenses, like lowering debt, paying off bills or saving for an emergency type of fund. However, if you are in good financial shape and can afford spending your refund somewhere else, investing it can be a smart move.

The avg. tax refund for year 2021 came out to around $2,827. If you invested the whole refund, it is likely you would grow that money to around $50,000 or even more over time. Here is how.

Choosing the best investments

The key to achieving longer-term growth within the stock market is to pick the right stocks to invest in. While there are many options to pick from, there is one that might be a great fit for a lot of investors: which is an S&P 500 ETF.

This kind of investment will track the S&P 500 index. It will include the same stocks that the index has (roughly around 500 stocks from the biggest U.S.-based businesses) and aims to copy its performance.

Despite the relative safety of an S&P 500 ETF, it is also great when it comes to its returns. For decades, the index has earned an avg. rate of return of about 10% each year. While your portfolio can experience many ups and downs in the near term, those yearly returns should avg. out to about 10% over time.

Getting the most from your money

If you were to put your tax refund money in an S&P 500 ETF and not touch your money for a while, you could earn a large amount given enough time. Say, for instance, you received an avg. refund of about $2,827. If you invested that now and are receiving a 10% avg. yearly return, that investment would grow to about $50,000 within 3 decades.

Remember, these calculations are assuming that you are not making any other contributions. If you were to keep investing a small amount of money every month, you could earn a lot more.

For example, say that in addition to you investing $2,827 right today, you also invest $100 each month. With all other factors staying the same, you would have about $247,000 after 3 decades. If you were to invest $200 each month, you would have about $444,000 in that same time frame.

Investing in stocks is a great way to build your wealth, and you do not need a whole lot of money to get started with. By investing just as much as you are able to afford and then allowing your investments to have the time they need to grow, you could earn more than you may think.

Author: Steven Sinclaire
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