Paul told me he decided to quit his job. He enjoyed his job, his colleagues and took pride in what he did. Paul was enjoying work so much that he was giving all of his time and energy to the company.

So why did he decide to quit? To start with, he was feeling he wasn’t being recognized fairly for his hard work. His raise wasn’t proportional to his effort. His influence was limited as well. Besides that, he was even more upset because he realized that he didn’t make such a difference to the company in the grand scheme of things. He realized everybody is replaceable, regardless of dedication.

Paul was expecting me to tell him that the company was unfair to him and he should have gotten a big raise or promotion.

Instead, I told him he shouldn’t dedicate energy and time to the company outside his working hours. He should work for himself in his free time. “Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that’s why I work for me in my free time”, I said.

From the company perspective, it would be wonderful if all employees chose to dedicate their free time to the company itself all the time. However, from the employees’ perspective, that’s not fair and it’s unlikely that companies will reward proportionally all these dedicated people.

Paul was speechless for a while. In the past 15 years he has been working full time, he never thought this way.

But I Love My Job

Paul told me how much he loves his job. Giving all his time and energy to his job is just the way he is and he couldn’t imagine any other option. He would feel bad otherwise.

Well, first of all, we are all changing. Are you the same person you were 5 years ago? Or even 1 year ago? Hopefully, you’ve been learning from your life experiences, you’ve been influenced by people around you, by new habits.

Furthermore, you shouldn’t set the expectation that you will be working on company stuff during your time off. Unless, of course, your incentives are aligned with that behavior. Are your incentives those of a founder? Or are your incentives aligned with all that extra time you are putting on? Do you own meaningful equity in the business you work on?.

Unless you have repetitive work where you need to do the same thing every single time without thinking, it can be counterproductive to do nothing else apart from dedicating to your job. By doing other things for yourself, you will learn new skills, you will have a mind shift and you are likely to be happier.

You might even find a way to make extra cash outside your job while doing something else you enjoy and perhaps even achieve financial independence earlier. You might continue loving your job and find other things you also love doing.

Also, there might be a limit on how much reward you can get for your hard work. There might be budget limitations, fairness between employees, etc.

Finally, although we are all unique, we are almost all replaceable in a business context.

If you love your job, do your very best while you are working. Work smartly, learn as much as possible, do what needs to be done, get involved in the projects with high impact and build your connections. Whatever you do, no matter how small a task is, do your best.

And always remember, the boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that’s why I work for ME in my free time.

Work for Yourself in Your Free Time

After a long chat, Paul agreed he should change his perspective and should start working for himself in his free time. Paul was so used to only work for his boss that he had no idea where to start. We discussed a simple framework that can help: explore, invest in yourself, define a goal and make it a habit.

1. Explore

Explore the options you have around you for working for yourself. The Internet makes our life so much easier. There are lots of options, the hard part is to choose one that is appealing to you and that goes inline with your goal.

2. Invest in yourself

Investing in yourself is one of the most rewarding activities. Learning a new skill is a great achievement which can be useful not only for a project you want to do for yourself, but also in a future job.

3. Define a goal

While working for yourself, it is good to have a goal you are working towards. The goal will help you keep motivated. Take small steps by defining simple and achievable goals. With a goal, you want to challenge yourself, but not make it so impossible that you quickly end up giving up. Also to keep motivation high, remember to yourself regarding your day to day job – boss makes a dollar, I make a dime.

4. Make it a new habit

If working for yourself is something new, start by sticking with a regular and realistic schedule. As you get used to it and feel ready, you can increase the time you dedicate to working for yourself.

Make Cash in Your Free Time

If you work for yourself, it is rewarding to earn cash while you do it. You might have an initial period where you are investing in learning, but sooner or later, you can make a profit. Below you can find a few ideas.

• Sell the stuff you don’t need anymore
• Build an audience of like-minded people online
• Start a blog
• Run a consultancy on the side
• Write a book and sell it to your audience
• Invest in ETFs
• Invest in stocks
• Real Estate
• Peer-to-Peer Lending
• Collectibles
• Cryptocurrencies
• Crypto Interest Accounts
• Equity Crowdfunding
• Private Equity Funds
• Treasury Securities
• Certificates of Deposit
• Agriculture and Farmland
• Income Annuities
• Commodities
• Online Businesses

Conclusion

Do your best while you are working for your boss. But once your working hours finish, turn off from work. If you have energy and time to work, work for yourself. If you feel tempted to work for your boss, just think to yourself “boss makes a dollar, I make a dime”.

The post Boss Makes a Dollar, I Make a Dime, That’s Why I Work for ME in My Free Time appeared first on FinMasters.

Here’s a small tip: the sooner you start learning something, the sooner you’ll master it. Every successful forex trader you read about online or in magazines had to start somewhere. Lucky for you, a lot of them wrote books about their experiences, failures, and forex trading strategies.

These books on forex trading can guide you throughout your journey, right from the basics to becoming an expert.

Best Books to Learn Forex Trading

Here are our recommendations of the top seven forex trading books you can read to start learning forex trading from scratch.

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1. Technical Analysis For Dummies

by Barbara Rockefeller

Do you know the secret behind the success of most savvy traders? They don’t wait for an expert analysis of the market to make investment decisions. They instead depend on their knowledge and perspective of the real-world market. This book will teach you all the basic principles, theories, and formulas in the world related to forex market trends. But it doesn’t end here. It will also give you tips to apply these theories in actual life to make practical decisions in the world of investment. Are you a young businessman or investment enthusiast who has just entered the field?

If so, it is most likely that you are quite overwhelmed with all the investment tips and techniques. There is plenty of free resources online, but many of them might appear confusing and are not reliable. This book is an excellent option for you if you are willing to learn all the fundamentals in-depth to understand the market. The topics are varied, starting from trading risk management, future currencies, equities to interpreting financial charts and graphs. Overall, this book can be a great place to start for any newbie in finance.

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2. The Black Book of Forex Trading

by Paul Langer

“Financial Freedom” seems like a dream for the millennial generation. But it isn’t something you can achieve just with your monthly salary and a few extras here and there. It would be best if you had a proper investment plan to actually become financially independent. You need to plan every penny right from the beginning. But how do you do this taking no major financial risk? This book deals with that. It will open up to you all the winning strategies, money management techniques, and surprisingly, it also deals with trading’s emotional aspect.

All the forex traders who are well-established experts right now spent their years testing, trying, and learning all the systems and tactics of this field. This book results from these experiences of the author. Don’t waste your money on third-party systems you know nothing about. If you are continually struggling with the market or losing money, you will find this book very useful. Sitting in front of the television watching the market will not make you feel as much confident as reading this book will. Once you have read this book, you can start making profit in your investment.

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3. Currency Trading For Dummies

by Kathleen Brooks

If you are a newbie in this field, the first thing you should do is learn about the foreign exchange (forex) market and how it works. Don’t get attracted only by the glamorous lifestyles of people who have succeeded in it. It’s a fast-changing financial trading avenue, and it’s always wise to know about the downside of it. The market is enormous and continuously expanding. This book will explain the size, opportunities, and current players in the market. You will be able to predict the market and the changing currency values only when you are well aware of all the economic factors that influence these things.

This book will teach you how to study and interpret data and financial events right from scratch. Do you want to peek into the financial habits of successful currency traders or know all the financial risk management methods that the pros follow? This book has it all. It covers all the currency trading conventions and tools and can make you organized and prepared to enter the forex market. If you are someone who doesn’t believe in shortcuts and wants to explore the different trading styles and options to prepare a customized game plan that suits you best, this book is your perfect pick.

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4. A Three Dimensional Approach To Forex Trading

by Anna Coulling

No matter how complicated it seems, forex trading is all about making money, and it all boils down to common sense. You can almost never hit the aim if you shoot in darkness. You need to know about how and why the money moves. This book will give you a basic understanding of how changes in the market in commodities, stocks, bonds, and equities affects the currency market. The market is tough to analyze, but once you know all the concepts, be it market risks or the people’s motives in the market, you will enjoy the process.

Every topic in the book has explained the various aspects of forex trading in layman’s language with logical illustrations and graphics. The book basically uses a three-dimensional relational, technical, and fundamental analysis approach to explain the forex market. Do you want to feel confident enough to be a full-fledged trader who invests money without thinking twice? The secret to such confidence is knowing everything about money flow and risk. Forex is a risk game, and the higher you put the stakes on, the faster you grow. This book is the right choice for you if you genuinely want to know the game with no shortcut techniques.

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5. Forex For Ambitious Beginners

by Jelle Peters

Do you want to choose the business of a forex trader as a career path or maybe just create an extra income source for yourself out of the profits you earn for it? Either way, you will find this book useful. Don’t turn blind by all the glitter of the Forbes magazine covering stories of young, ambitious entrepreneurs turning millionaires before 25 with the help of forex trading. You know nothing about their backstories. This book is not some get-rich-quick scheme that will teach you to earn money in no time. You will have to be patient and treat this as a new subject to learn. The book will teach you a reliable system to earn money in the market, the key strategies, and capital management.

If you are someone who knows nothing about forex markets literally, you won’t find a better read than this one.

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6. Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom

by Van Tharp

As told by the experts, finance is not just math, it is also psychology and art. You have developed a certain mindset and notions about money from your early adulthood itself and how it works. You have your own set of beliefs and traditions about how much to save, how much to spend, and what part of the savings to invest. Can you suddenly unlearn these strategies and start following a trading system you read about somewhere that has been developed by someone who knows nothing about your financial status and goals? It will always be hard to do so.

This book emphasizes exactly this psychology. It helps you figure out the trading method that makes sense to you. The entire book is based on the fact that you don’t trade the market but only your beliefs about it. If you are someone who is frequently in a mental conflict with what the market trends suggest because your thought process is different, you must read this book.

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7. Investment Psychology Explained

by Martin J. Pring

This book has been written by one of the most respected independent investment advisors globally, who believes that there are no shortcuts or magical tricks to succeed in the forex market. He thinks finance is more of a lifestyle than calculations. The book teaches you the core values one must have to become a successful trader. It highlights the importance of hard work, patience, self-discipline, and overcoming emotional restraints to freely take investment decisions.

This book will break all your delusions and myths regarding the market and teaches you how to deal with brokers and money managers skillfully. If you are someone who wants to make an independent investment plan and stick to it, this book is your go-to guide.

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Conclusion

Learning finance is difficult, and forex trading is one of its most complex branches that few can analyze and interpret. After reading these forex trading books, you’ll soon be ready to start trading fx currencies and making profits.

If you are looking for tools to help you with forex analysis, we recommend reading our reviews of TradingView and Finviz to get started.

The post 7 Best Forex Trading Books for Beginners in 2023 appeared first on FinMasters.

About YouTube

According to YouTube’s mission, its main goal is to give everyone a voice and show them the world. Their values are based on four essential freedoms: freedom of expression, information, opportunity, and belonging.

YouTube was not the first online video-sharing platform to offer high-definition content to users. That was Vimeo, which launched in November 2004. Although Vimeo was the first, its growth was much slower than YouTube’s.

The public was able to test YouTube in May 2005. Sequoia Capital invested $3.5 million in November 2005, and the YouTube site was officially launched in December 2005, nearly one year after Vimeo was launched.

YouTube was receiving only 8 million views per day when it was launched. In July 2006, more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day, and the site was receiving 100 million video views per day. The number of views increased more than 12 times in around 7 months.

In October 2006, it was announced that Google was acquiring YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock. In November 2006, Google and YouTube finalized the deal. Google restructured in 2015 to create a holding company, Alphabet Inc., which now holds YouTube as one of its subsidiaries.

In 2021 YouTube grew by 37%, and it generated $28.85 billion in revenue in that fiscal year. From 2021 to 2022 growth slowed to 1.4%, possibly as a result of market saturation and competition from platforms like TikTok.

YouTube represented roughly 11.35% of all Alphabet revenue in 2022.

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What Is YouTube’s Stock Price and Ticker?

YouTube isn’t a publicly traded company, so there is no stock price or stock ticker for YouTube. YouTube is owned by Alphabet Inc., which has two tickers: GOOGL and GOOG.

How Can I Buy YouTube Stock?

As we mentioned earlier, YouTube is owned by Alphabet Inc., so it isn’t possible to buy just YouTube stock. Instead, you can invest in its parent company.

Alphabet Inc. is listed on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbols GOOGL and GOOG. The difference is that the GOOGL ticker is associated with Alphabet’s class A shares and GOOG with its class C shares. The difference between the two is in voting rights. GOOG shares have no voting rights, while GOOGL shares do (one-share-one-vote).

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Conclusion

Even though it’s not possible to buy just YouTube stock directly in the stock market, investors can instead purchase stocks from its parent company, Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL). That way, you get to partially own YouTube along with other great products and companies in Alphabet’s holding. And remember, it’s always a good idea to learn how to research and choose stock before you start picking stocks on your own, even when it comes to safe bets such as Alphabet.

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1. Rich Dad Poor Dad – by Robert T. Kiyosaki
2. The Essays of Warren Buffett – by Lawrence A. Cunningham
3. Beating the Street – by Peter Lynch
4. The Intelligent Investor – by Benjamin Graham
5. Think and Grow Rich – by Napoleon Hill

5 Must Read Books for Investors

We picked five books that are certified investing classics. These are the books that show up time and again in lists of books recommended by both individual and institutional investors.

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1. Rich Dad Poor Dad

by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Are you a young investor trying to understand the market? Let’s be honest, none of us wants to work till we die. Many of us desire to reach financial independence by a certain age. But how will you reach your financial goals without enough financial education? We know that investment is the key to growing money. But do you know exactly where to invest and where to not?

In this book, which is often recommended as one of the investment books to read, Kiyosaki points out the misleading educational system of America that is designed in such a way that people just cannot escape the Corporate race. Schools don’t teach how to create enough wealth so that you don’t work anymore.

Real assets always add cash flow into your pocket. In his book, Kiyosaki suggests that investors must only invest in those assets that generate a yearly or monthly cash flow while providing upside in terms of equity value. Investors must always prefer real estate investments and stocks that provide dividends. There are many other interesting observations about investment in this book, like tax planning.

Read our full book review | Read key ideas on Blinkist →

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2. The Essays of Warren Buffett

by Lawrence A. Cunningham

Whether you are still a newbie in the investment world, or you think you know it all, this book will benefit you by improving your investment patterns. Do you want to grow your company’s enterprise value? You first need to learn the interrelation between a company’s management and its stakeholders.

Buffet’s essays address many financing topics like corporate governance, investing, mergers and acquisitions, accounting and valuation, accounting policy, tax matters, and alternatives to common stock. These essays are relevant to the environment of Corporate America. He tries to give us an insight into his business mindset and the basic principles he follows in finance through them. After going through his book, you will understand how much he hates blindly following investing trends.

Buffet hires talented managers at portfolio companies and lets them do what they do best. In this book, he has also suggested purchasing shares of businesses when they are being sold out at a price lower than the inherent price, i.e., at a discount. Investment and finance are not all about your common sense. With expert tips and suggestions, you can grow a lot faster, and who can give you better suggestions than one of the most successful investors in modern history?

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3. Beating the Street

by Peter Lynch

Peter Lynch, the writer of this book, has seen immense success in stock market investment and hedge fund management. He was first an intern at Fidelity Investments, and later, he was managing the Magellan Fund, where he raised the assets up to $18 million. Just within 19 years, the funds had risen to a shocking $14 billion in assets.

He almost managed to bring in financial returns of more than 29.2% every year. This book is a sneak peek into his genius investor mind. Are you not curious to know what was his thought process when he made such huge investment decisions? How did he decide whether to buy or sell a stock?

Lynch’s core belief is that investors should always know everything about the assets in which they choose to invest. He feels that a single, individual investor can explore better market opportunities than even Wall Street. There cannot be a better book if you are really interested in understanding the investment mentality and psychology.

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4. The Intelligent Investor

by Benjamin Graham

Do you want to learn investment from the father of value investing himself? This is one of the most comprehensive, well-written investment books you will ever come across. Even Warren Buffett has said this to be the best investing book in history. The financing rules discussed in this book are very basic and yet really wise.

Graham suggests us to purchase stocks that appear relatively underpriced compared to investment value, which can be judged by fundamental analysis. He gives us the depth and knowledge of stock markets through this book and teaches us how to conduct a stock’s fundamental analysis.

Do you know the ways in which you can manage your portfolio? He discusses both defensive and positive approaches to do so and explains using illustrations of comparison of stocks of several companies. All the knowledge in this book has been backed by real-life scenarios and it is easily understandable.

Read our full book review | Read key ideas on Blinkist →

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5. Think and Grow Rich

by Napoleon Hill

This book is one of those best-selling copies that sold almost a million copies during the “Great Recession.” The author Napoleon had great connections and networks with some of the finest investors and wealthy individuals. He always had conversations with them regarding their money growing strategies, and later on, he used to research the authenticity of these strategies extensively.

Every great investor has said that investment is not just numbers; it is a mentality. To be successful like your role models, the first thing you need to do is understand their psychology. Do you want to develop an investment mentality and understand the rules that successful people swear by? In this book, the author gives you 13 principles that one must follow to achieve personal achievement and success. All of these suggestions are based on his own practical experiences, observations, and research.

All these principles are not just what you have to do but also the way you have to think. They include desire, faith, specialized knowledge, organized planning, persistence, as well as “sixth sense.” His basic thought that he has conveyed through this book is that you should always brainstorm with people with the same financial mentality as yours to always bring out something better from the entire discussion.

Read key ideas on Blinkist →

Not ready to commit to reading a whole book about investing? That’s OK. You can learn more about the basics on our website:

• How To Overcome The Fear Of Investing
• Investing 101: Investing For Beginners
• How to Calculate Your Risk Profile?
• Asset Allocation: A Strategy to Protect and Maximize Your Investments
• Where to Invest as a First-Time Investor in 2021?

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Conclusion

You will never learn how to invest in a single day. It is a slow process of gradually increasing your financial knowledge and sharpening your skills. Learning proper investment requires a lot of research and practice. These are the best investing books, in our opinion, and they are a great way to start your learning process. But don’t stop there. Expand your knowledge further, and don’t be afraid to put it into practice!

The post 5 Best Investing Books Every Investor Must Read appeared first on FinMasters.

How Can I Buy Hulu Stock?

Hulu is a majority-owned business entity, so it isn’t possible to buy its stock. Instead, you can invest in its parent companies: Disney (DIS) and Comcast (CMCSA).

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Will There Be a Hulu IPO?

An IPO was planned in the past, but it didn’t go forward. It is also unlikely to happen in the future.

How to Buy Hulu Stock?

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On the 16th of August 2010, a report revealed that Hulu was planning an initial public offering. On the 21st of June 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported that an “unsolicited offer” caused Hulu to begin “weighing whether to sell itself.” Still, in October 2011, Hulu’s owners announced that they didn’t accept any proposed offers.

Disney could spin off Hulu to shareholders in a Hulu IPO if they wanted, but that is unlikely to happen given that Hulu aligns well with Disney’s content strategy. As Disney moves more into digital content in its streaming platforms such as Hulu and Disney+, it’s unlikely they would want to lose that revenue anytime soon.

What Is Hulu Stock Price?

Hulu isn’t a publicly traded company, so there is no stock price for Hulu.

Hulu is currently privately owned by Disney (DIS), owning 67%, and Comcast (CMCSA), owning the remaining 33%.

What Is Hulu’s Stock Symbol?

Since Hulu isn’t a publicly traded company, there is no Hulu stock symbol.

Because Hulu is owned by Disney (DIS) and Comcast (CMCSA), you can look those tickers up on your broker’s website if you want to check out how those two companies are performing.

Update: In Sept. 2022 CNBC reported that Disney is expected to acquire the remaining 33% of Hulu from Comcast, making Hulu a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney. It is possible that Disney could spin Hulu off in an IPO but there is no indication that Disney is considering such a move. A Hulu IPO remains unlikely.

Disney’s acquisition of Hulu will combine Disney+ and Hulu under the same ownership and make Disney America’s leading provider of streaming services.

Conclusion

Even though it’s impossible to buy Hulu stock directly in the stock market, investors can instead purchase stocks from its parent companies Disney (DIS) and Comcast (CMCSA). That way, you can partially own Hulu alongside the rest of the businesses owned by these companies.

Remember that even though both Disney and Comcast sound like safe bets it’s always a good idea to get educated and do research before buying any individual stock on your own.

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There is no one investing tool that’s best for everyone. Different tools are designed for different investing styles and your choice will depend heavily on your specific needs. This review should help you narrow down your options.

Technical/Fundamental Analysis Tools

Lending Tools

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General Purpose Tools

Portfolio Analytics Tools

Personal Finance Tools

Need help budgeting, investing, or doing your taxes? You can find the right tool for each of them in our collection of the best personal finance software.

Robo-Advisor Tools

Data Analysis Tools

Stock Brokers

Earnings Research Tools

Stock Research Tools

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Can you buy Stripe stock ahead of the IPO? It may be difficult, and there are real risks to any pre-IPO investment, but it may be possible.

Let’s take a closer look at Stripe, at the reasons you might want to buy pre-IPO shares, and at some of the ways that you may be able to buy stock in Stripe.

What Is Stripe?

Stripe: Fast Facts
Industry	Financial services, Payment processor
Key Competitors	Adyen, Square, PayPal
HQ	San Francisco, California, United States
Founded	2010
Key People	Patrick Collison (Co-founder, CEO), John Collison (Co-founder, President)
Employees	8,000
Website	www.stripe.com
Current Valuation	$74 billion
IPO Status	Private

Stripe is a technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet. Stripe’s payment processing solutions are used by companies like Amazon, Google, Shopify, Instacart, Zoom, Lyft, and many others.

Aside from payment processing, Stripe offers e-commerce APIs (application programming interfaces) that allow multiple systems and databases to communicate seamlessly. Other products include an in-store point-of-sale solution, subscription-based payments, invoicing, card issuing and lending services, and risk and fraud management.

Stripe offers a large number of third-party integrations that allow the platform to work with analytics, shipping, CRM, and accounting software. Stripe features a high degree of interaction with regulators, financial institutions, and payment networks, removing compliance and service burdens from clients.

This suite of financial services produced more than $12 billion in revenue in 2020, up 48.5% from $7.4 billion in 2020. We won’t know whether Stripe is profitable or not until the Company files financial statements, but the business is well established, has substantial sales, and appears to be growing fast.

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Financing and Growth

Stripe has held ten equity funding rounds since 2010, raising $2.2 billion from 39 different investors.

In the latest round, in March 2021, Stripe received $600 million, pushing its valuation to $95 billion, nearly triple the previous valuation of $36 billion in April 2020.

This valuation made Stripe the second-highest valued venture capital-backed US company: Elon Musk’s SpaceX recently moved past Stripe with its latest funding round. This makes Stripe the fifth highest valued VC-backed company in the world.

As of July 2022 Stripe slashed its internal estimate of its own valuation by 28%. It remains to be seen whether this revised valuation will be reflected by the market in a subsequent funding round.

When Will Stripe Hold Its IPO?

There’s no schedule for the IPO yet, and no initial registration documents have been filed. Most observers still believe that the Company is preparing for an IPO, and the 2020 hiring of CFO Dhivya Suryadevara, formerly Executive Vice President and CFO of General Motors, was widely seen as a step toward going public.

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An IPO is widely expected in early 2022 and promises to be a major entry in the year’s IPO calendar. That could still change if market conditions take a dramatic downturn.

How Can I Buy Stripe Stock?

Stripe is still privately held, meaning its shares are not available on the public stock market yet.

The latest private funding Stripe received in March 2021 pushed its valuation to $95 billion, nearly triple the previous valuation of $36 billion from April 2020. This valuation made Stripe the highest valued venture capital-backed US company at that time. Today Stripe is the fifth highest valued VC-backed company in the world, behind ByteDance, Ant Group, Shein (all based in China) and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

There are other possible ways to invest in Stripe pre-IPO. Let’s look at some options.

How to Buy Stripe Stock

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Invest Through a Pre-IPO Secondary Market

There are ways to buy shares in privately held companies before the IPO. The process may not be simple, and there’s no guarantee that you will be able to acquire shares.

Here are three pre-IPO markets that may have Stripe shares available for purchase before the IPO.

• EquityZen acquires pre-IPO shares from early investors, employees who want to liquidate stock options, and other insiders and makes them available to qualified investors. There’s a $10,000 minimum investment, which may be higher for some shares.
• Forge Global is the biggest pre-IPO marketplace in the world. The minimum investment is $100,000. There may be higher minimums for some shares and buyers may have to meet qualification criteria.
• SecFi links employees that want to liquidate their stock-based compensation with outside pre-IPO investors.
• ‎Nasdaq Private Market provides access to private company shares for investors who meet SEC accredited investor criteria.
• EquityBee is a marketplace that allows investors to fund an employee’s stock options in return for a share of the proceeds.

Stripe shares may not be available on any of these marketplaces at any given time. You’ll need to visit the websites and set up an account and log in to get information on currently available shares.

  See ALL the ways you can get in on pre-IPO investing: How to Buy Pre-IPO Stocks?

Invest in the IPO

Pre-IPO investing is not easy, and shares may not be available. Another option is to invest in the IPO. You won’t get the same price that you’d get in the pre-IPO market, but your risks will be lower. At least you’ll know that the Company will go public and you will be able to dispose of your shares.

Retail investors can participate in IPOs through several major brokers. You will have to meet requirements and you may need to supply information on your finances to meet qualification requirements.

• TD Ameritrade allows account holders to participate in IPOs where it is part of the selling group. You will need a minimum account balance of $250,000 unless you have made at least 30 trades in the last calendar year.
• Fidelity customers who are in the Private or Premium groups may participate in IPOs. Others may be able to join if they meet a minimum household asset requirement.
• Charles Schwab allows IPO participation for account holders with an account balance of $100,000 or at least 36 trades in their account history.
• E*Trade has no account balance or trading history restrictions on IPO participation. The underwriter of the IPO will supply a qualification questionnaire.

Companies holding IPOs are making an effort o make more shares available to retail investors. The recent Rivian IPO saw the Company offer shares to retail investors through SoFi. Follow the news on the upcoming IPO for announcements of IPO share allocations for private investors and the brokers that will handle them.

In any case, you will have to request IPO shares from your broker after qualification. There is no assurance that the full amount of your request – or any shares at all – will be allocated to you by your broker.

Invest After the IPO

The easiest way to buy Stripe stock is to wait until after the IPO and buy it through your regular broker. You won’t get in at the lowest possible price, but that doesn’t mean you won’t make a profit.

Many investors compare the pre-IPO prices paid by venture capital investors to the IPO price and dream of matching those gains. That’s not always easy, and it may not be possible. It’s also important to recognize that many pre-IPO and IPO shares are subject to lockup periods and can’t be sold immediately.

If you are really convinced that a company has a bright long-term future, investing immediately after the IPO is a perfectly reasonable move, especially if you don’t meet the qualifications for pre-IPO or IPO investing. If you bought Telsa, Google, or Facebook on IPO day you might not have the same gains as the earliest investors, but you’d still have made a great deal of money!

Once Stripe concludes its IPO you can buy shares through any conventional broker.

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Are There Any Concerns About Stripe?

There are several online payment platforms, so Stripe is working in a competitive environment.

Although the company is growing worldwide, Stripe is only available in few countries compared to, for example, PayPal. That said, PayPal has been around for a lot longer, so there’s plenty of room for Stripe to grow and expand into more markets.

Finally, Stripe needs to catch up with its competitors and continue bringing unique value, or otherwise, it will risk becoming obsolete.

There are inherent risks in all pre-IPO investing if market conditions change the Company could postpone or cancel the IPO. If that happens it could be difficult to liquidate shares. Always consider the risks before making any investment, especially in a private company.

Read our guide on pre-IPO investing for more information on how pre-IPO stocks work and the potential risks and rewards that they present.

Conclusion

Stripe is a leading payments processing company with a strong growth record. The company has attracted major venture capital investments. It is the largest venture-backed private company in the US and one of the largest in the world.

Stripe is expected to go public in early 2022. The IPO will be heavily watched and shares will be highly sought after.

Pre-IPO investing is always risky, but if the IPO takes off early investors could see large gains. Shares may be available on several pre-IPO secondary markets.

If pre-IPO shares are not available, investing in the IPO or immediately after it are also viable ways to get an early piece of Stripe’s future.

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FAQs

The post How to Buy Stripe Stock in 2024: The Facts You Need appeared first on FinMasters.

How Can I Buy an Online Business?

Most smaller online businesses are privately owned. They can be sold through direct negotiation with the owner or through a broker.

If you know of an online business you would be interested in buying, you can contact the owner and try to agree on a deal. This approach requires some homework to ensure the business is healthy.

• Analyze online traffic by using a tool such as SEMrush;
• Analyze the profile link. Ahrefs is a great tool to help you.
• Examine business records to assess cash flow, growth, and costs.

It’s a good idea to consult an attorney and an accountant to advise you, especially if a substantial sum is involved.

If buying an online business without an intermediary scares you, there are other ways. The most common way to find and invest in online businesses is by using online brokerage platforms.

Flippa

Flippa is a platform where you can search and buy online businesses. They sold more websites than all of their competitors combined, with a total sales of $375m by the time this post was written.

It is also the platform where more businesses can be found: 5000 new businesses and domains are listed for sale on Flippa every single day. As a consequence of such high volume, some auctions will present a host of low-quality, uninteresting sites.

Finally, Flippa provides some information to the buyers, such as verified Google Analytics, due diligence from Alexa, SEOMoz, etc. to save buyers time in checking that data.

If you are willing to do the work of searching for deals, you can buy an online business in an auction using Flippa.

Alternatively, you can use the FlippaFinder service and Flippa will search for businesses that match your criteria.

They will also approach the business owners, assess their business against your criteria, and present you with new opportunities weekly.

Once you choose a business you would like to buy, Flippa will do due diligence by helping you uncover the unique selling proposition, opportunities for growth, and any operational gaps. They will also help to negotiate.

Empire Flippers

Empire Flippers is another platform where you can search and buy online businesses.

Furthermore, Empire Flippers curates their list of online businesses, so low-quality sites should not be found in there. The price is defined by the seller, but it is often negotiable.

If you find an online business you would like to buy, you can either click the “Buy Now” button or you can make an offer and the Empire Flippers team will communicate with the seller to work out a deal.

Until you decide if you want to make an offer, you can either send emails to the seller or schedule a call, but a member of the Empire Flippers will be on the call to mediate and help.

How to Invest in Online Business

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Why Buying an Online Business Could Be a Good Investment

Here are four reasons why purchasing an online business could be a good investment.

Passive Income and (Possibly) Low Effort

With the right skills, running an online business might require minimal effort. If an online business makes money with ads or affiliate links, you are making money while you are asleep. This is a great way to generate passive income.

Remember that many online businesses require substantial time to manage effectively. You’ll need to review and update your content and offerings continuously. If you treat an online business as a passive investment, you may not be able to maximize your returns.

Quick Investment Return

Some online businesses can be bought by paying 2.5 to 3 times their annual earnings. If you buy an online business that is growing, the earnings will likely increase.

But let’s see an example where we assume the earnings remain the same after you buy it:

• Monthly earnings: $2,000
• Buy the business by paying 3 times its annual earnings: $72,000 ($2,000 x 12 x 3)

Three years later, you get all your money back and then you’ll have monthly income.

Compared with rental properties, for example, this investment option may offer a quicker return on your investment.

Potential to Skyrocket the Revenue

An online business can skyrocket its revenue. An example is Blush and Bar. In 2017, it was acquired for $75,00 when it was earning $1,000 per month. In 2019, Blush and Bar reported annual revenues of $1.3m and it was sold again for $550,000, which is 7233% higher!

Liquidity

Another benefit of investing in online businesses is liquidity, as you can see in the example above. If you manage to make the business more successful, there is a high chance you’ll sell it for a higher price than you paid for it.

Your ability to sell a business may depend on the current economic climate, so don’t assume that you’ll be able to make a quick sale.

What Skills Are Required to Invest in an Online Business

Buying an online business implies that you’ll need to maintain it. There are several skills required to run an online business successfully. Therefore, you should either have those skills or be willing to pay someone to do the work for you.

Here are four main subsets of skills to be aware of.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

People should be able to find your online business in search engines. The best and most sustainable traffic is organic traffic. If you are not on the first page of results in Google, you won’t get as many visits as you could.

SEO skills will help you boost your ranking.

To achieve this goal, you should be familiar with keyword research, analytics, page authority, domain authority, responsive design, backlink building, clean code, load times, and many other concepts. Tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, and UberSuggest offer services to help with this.

Content Creation

Content is probably the primary driver of traffic to your online business. Most likely, you can’t just keep the content that is already there, or otherwise, users might lose interest. 

You need to be ready to add more content regularly, which requires time and knowledge in the online business topic. You also have to continue updating old articles, so they remain relevant. When someone searches for something, they want to make sure the article covering the topic is recent enough.

Finally, you’ll need writing skills if the main content is text. If the main content is video, recordings, or images, ensure you are comfortable in those areas.

That said, a lot of very successful online businesses outsource content creation to professional bloggers and writers. If the financials make sense, you too should take advantage of this.

Passion

If you don’t have a passion for the online business topic you’re investing in, you’ll have a hard time maintaining it. It helps if you are passionate about the topic, which most likely means you will build expertise, and the users will trust and follow you.

Remember that success demands work. True passive income generally comes after putting in the necessary work now, so we can collect the benefits in the future.

Tech

How is the online business built? Was it built with WordPress? Or was it built from scratch in Ruby On Rails? How easy is it to add and edit content? How easy is it to edit the menu or the website structure? In summary, are you able to maintain the website?

Make sure you understand both the maintenance costs of an online business, and what it takes to get assistance when things don’t work as expected.

Are There Any Concerns About Investing in an Online Business

Before buying an online business, you should ensure you tick all the boxes from this checklist:

1. It is important to ensure that the data is real. Are the number of visitors and the reported revenue real or did the owner manipulate the data?
2. Do you have an interest in the business topic?
3. Do you have the skills to maintain an online business? If not, did you check how much it will cost to have someone do the work for you compared with the revenue you expect? If you need someone to do the work for you, will they be able to help you if there is an emergency?
4. Will the business remain relevant in the future?
5. Besides maintaining the website, are there any other tasks to be aware of, for example delivering products?

If you’re comfortable with the answers to the questions above, then great! You might be buying a great business that will generate passive income for you.

If you would like to go through a more detailed checklist, download these 660 due diligence questions for starting, selling, or investing in a business.

Conclusion

Investing in online businesses can be very rewarding if you find a good opportunity and have the skills to maintain it. There are many different platforms from where you can invest, some helping you move along the process than others, including protecting you from scams.

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Invest in Online Businesses is a part of our guide Alternative Investments For Beginners. Read up on other popular types of alternative investments:

• Investing in Art: (When) Is Art a Good Investment?
• Real Estate Investing For Beginners
• Investing in an Online Business 
• Investing in Commodities
• Crypto Interest Accounts
• Investing in Collectibles

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