Monday, May 5th, 2008
The “opportunity fund” is a concept that I have used for many years now and, only recently, did I discover the name for it. Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity coined this term over at his site and it struck a chord with me.
What Is An Opportunity Fund?
An opportunity fund is simply a stash of money that I set aside for investment opportunities that are almost certain to be profitable, but come about unexpectedly. They also usually require that the cash be accessible in a short period of time.
Jim outlines the opportunity fund as akin to the emergency fund, which I have talked about as well. Many folks like to keep their emergency fund and “opportunity money” separate. This is probably the ideal situation for most. However, over the past several months, I have been raising cash awaiting investment opportunities. I have also sold a condo in March for a nice profit and needed to store the cash until another opportunity came along.
Instead of opening an additional account for this opportunity money, I simply added it to my ING Orange Savings Account 
where it earns higher interest as part of my emergency fund.
How Much Opportunity Money Should I Have?
That depends.
The amount of money in your opportunity fund should not be a significant portion of your net worth and it certainly shouldn’t be more than your emergency fund! My rule of thumb is that I like to have about 1-2 months of net salary in an accessible account for opportune investments.
For instance; after I sold a condo in March I kept the profits available and liquid while searching for another opportunity.
Normally, I would have invested the majority of those funds in dividend paying stocks. However, I didn’t like the way the market was performing at the time and I am overly invested in the stock market as a whole.
Why Not Use A Line Of Credit
While I do have a large line of credit on my home that I use for quick purchases of undervalued real estate, I don’t advocate that the average person do so. My home equity line of credit is used in the same fashion that my opportunity money is, but it takes on a lot of risk. I only use this type of financial leverage when I have done some serious homework and the asset is very undervalued.
My most recent purchase as an example:
I just purchased a 2BR condo in a growing community for $89,000. Comparable units have recently sold for between $104,000 and $124,000. As you can see the asset is at least 15% undervalued.
(More on this in a future article)
Using financial leverage like a line of credit or mortgage can be an excellent tool to building wealth, but it can also make you poor in a hurry if things go wrong. I have written an excellent example on this subject in the past and I strongly suggest that you read it if you have not already.
Here is the link to the article:
http://dividendmoney.com/understanding-mortgages/
For Assets Only
Opportunity fund money and money borrowed (credit) should only be used to purchase assets. That is, if the object purchased does not appreciate in value or put cash flow in your pocket, then it should not be purchased using a line of credit or opportunity money.
This is where the average person is steered wrong by the pressures of consumerism in our society. Many folks see money in their account as “extra” money that can be spent on anything. It is up to use to develop our own financial will power to make sure that we are investing our “extra” money for a more prosperous future.
How do you fund opportunity investments?
Posted in Investment News | 1 Comment »
Friday, January 25th, 2008
Yes, I used it…the dreaded “M” word.
To be honest, I am sick and tired of everyone and their dog running around spouting off about the housing market and sub-prime mortgages etc. Aren’t you?
The fact of the matter is that for the average person, the only mortgage that actually matters is their own!
A mortgage is a tool used for financial leverage. In fact, it is one of the best wealth creation tools available to the general public. It’s true…if you don’t believe me just try to go to your bank and borrow $100K to invest in the stock market.
Furthermore, the majority of the general public could not afford to “buy” a home without the assistance of a mortgage. A mortgage is a contract between you and your financial institution that says you promise to make the payments in certain intervals for a certain period of time and that you are using the real property as security for that contract.
It is really pretty simple when you break it down.
The key component of the mortgage lies in the fact that it is a financial tool of leverage. You are leveraging the power of your own funds (down payment) and the bank’s funds to purchase real property.
Leverage Can Be Good Or Bad
The leverage that a mortgage provides can be good for you when home prices are rising because if you sell your home for more than you purchased it for, the bank just wants the original mortgage paid off. In this instance you are left with a tidy profit (one that also has tax advantages…but we’ll leave that for another day).
Let’s say we purchase a home for $200,000 and decide on a 5% down payment. Our investment in the home is now $10,000 (plus some incidental closing costs etc.). If home prices were to rise by 10% and we decide to sell our home for $220,000 ($200,000 + 10%) we are left with a profit on the sale of $20,000. A 10% return isn’t that bad! But wait…we actually only put in $10,000 of our money to start with, so we actually doubled our money! This illustrates the positive power of financial leverage.
(please note that this is a very basic example)
Let’s take a look at the negative effects of leverage.
Supposed now that we purchased the same home for $200,000 and decided again on a 5% down payment of $10,000. In this instance home prices drop by 10% and we are forced to sell the home for $180,000. In this instance, not only have we lost the $10,000 down payment, but we still owe the bank $10,000! ($200,000 purchase price - $10,000 down = $190,000 mortgage)
As you can see, the mortgage is a VERY powerful financial tool and has the ability to create exponential wealth if used correctly. It also has the power to decimate wealth as well.
Margin Vs. Mortgage
Leverage can be utilized when purchasing stocks as well; this is called “margin”. Margin has the same basic effect as a mortgage, but is not nearly as much of a concern to the general public. Margin, as a tool of financial leverage is granted to those investors who have proven themselves to be worthy of such credit.
What makes mortgages so dangerous is that they are granted to most anyone in the general public regardless of any evidence of knowledge of the effects of financial leverage. Sure there is a credit check and the bank assesses your capacity to make the payments, but when banks start offering interest-only ARMs and other product to try to make homes affordable, there is bound to be trouble.
Know The Score
In fact, a lot of your ability to qualify for a mortgage and the interest rate you will pay is based on your credit score. The banks have access to your credit score and place a lot of faith on that number when making decisions. Qualifying for a mortgage and getting a great rate can be easy when you have a good credit score. However, the average person doesn’t even know what their credit score is - let alone how to improve it.
Do you know what your credit score is? If you don’t, you can access it here for no cost through Experian. I highly suggest that everyone identifies what their credit score is and learns how to maintain and/or improve it.
On The Other Hand
It is unlikely that large stock brokerages will offer enormous margin accounts to “Joe Common” because he decides it’s “time I started investing in stocks”. Why then should mortgage lenders offer up hundreds of thousands of dollars in “leverage” simply because Joe decides it’s time to buy a house. Or, to make this worse Joe decides…”Buying a house is a great investment”!
I’m not going to tackle the subject of whether or not one’s home should be viewed as an investment; that is best left for another day.
However, if you’re itching for some good discussion, you can read a great debate on this subject at Ramit’s I Will Teach You To Be Rich and a breakdown of the financial decision to Buy vs. Rent from Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Trent over at the Simple Dollar also unleashed a similar discussion while reviewing Rich Dad Poor Dad.
Posted in Investment News | 6 Comments »
