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If you’re someone looking for a secure and low-risk type of investment with potential in the long-run, the best thing that you can do is invest in real estate. As opposite to other forms of investment, real estate is not that volatile. Contrary to popular belief, property investment has helped lots of people make a fortune in a very short timeframe. However, you shouldn’t treat is as a short-term form of investment because you risk losing money rather than winning.

Generally speaking, long-term real estate investments span over the course of 5+ years. These are carefully pre-planned and they feature crystal-clear objectives. Buying house of property at an affordable price with the goal to sell it after restoring it, is an excellent form of investing in real estate. However, you have to take things one step at the time, and really know what you’re doing for your initial investment to pay off.

Tips for achieving good returns investing in real estate

A property is considered an investment when it start offering a capital appreciation of 10% per year (at a minimum). This means that investing in real estate with the purpose to get sizable returns needs to focus on a fundamental factor – location. Your ROI (return on investment) is directly proportionate to your property’s location. Some things to consider:

• Promising locations – it’s best to focus on investing in a location with potential to grow, not in an already popular area. If you want to buy in an area that’s already well-known, you may have to compromise and settle for a smaller-sized property. You may not be able to afford to buy a bigger property, because it may be well over your budget.

• General amenities for added value – it’s best to invest in properties that have general amenities nearby. In time, this will increase its value; everyone wants to live in a house with parks and playgrounds nearby, supermarkets, schools, and more. In case your preferred property doesn’t have such facilities, check with the government officials to see if there’s an expansion plan pending for the next years.

• Easy access to public transport –before even considering to buy a property for investment, you have to make sure that the area is well-connected to the public transportation system. Keep in mind that your buyers or renters will want to travel for daily needs; not everyone owns a car.

• Easy access to school and hospitals – families, in particular, look to buy houses in areas with schools and hospitals nearby. They want to feel safe, and at the same time, they want to make sure that their kids are well-taken care of.

Reasonable cash-on-cash returns

Buying property means that you’re taking money from a tangible financial asset – stocks or bonds – and then investing that money into an illiquid asset – property. With financial assets, your return on investment is roughly 5%. With real estate, you can make more provided that you can spend some time getting to know more about the industry, and really mastering its core strengths. It’s very important that you focus on properties that are cash-flow positive. These will render decent returns, and not those types of properties that only look good on the outside.

Sensible time management

There are properties that demand too much of your time, and no matter how hard you try, you just can’t turn them into smart investments. The best examples are low quality properties in sketchy areas, vacation rentals, college rentals, and more. The least risky properties that those that you rent to tenants with a decent credit profile. But to make the most of your investment, you have to treat your tenants right. Show them respect and keep a good relationship with them.

Real estate is one of the most privileged and profitable forms of investment because even if you fail, you still have a tangible property that you can either sell or rent later on. However, before doing anything you have to research, work really hard, read a lot, and eventually make reasonable, educated decisions in order make the most of your initial investment. Sure, kalkan villas for sale may seem extremely tempting, but then again you can’t really play with money, especially if you don’t have enough.

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Ever wondered what the impact of a few drops of wasted water could be ? Or what about a bit of wasted food ? We are talking about waste today – how these small bits of waste affect us and how we can help build a better environment.

We will take a close look at 5 common things we waste in our daily lives and attempt to assess the real worth of the waste, and what could possibly happen otherwise. While most of these things go unnoticed, we will see in a short while that a drop of concern from all of us could add up to a lot, both for our own selves and our surroundings as well.

Think Before You Buy

How often have you purchased something off the departmental store stands which you didn't need ? Stores these days are designed in a way so as to lure customers with objects that they do not really need. This concept is helpful in a way since we sometimes tend to forget what we need. But at the same time, we need to be careful. It is for this very reason that some consumables are even stacked at the payment counters – to tease your impulses and get more sales.

The best and the only way is to list out your requirements before you land up at the store. Make a detailed list along with the quantity required and once you are inside, let that list govern you. It is not that a bit of indulging is harmful, but try out this method and save significantly on each of your store visits.

Turning Off Your Engine

Wikipedia states that in the United States, about3.8 billion litres of fuel is consumed by idling heavy-duty truck and locomotive engines each year. That’s a significant amount of waste. So one can imagine how much those idle minutes at the next traffic signal could mean. If all vehicles could stop wasting fuel while idling, the following can be saved/reduced :

Fuel cost
Pollution
Engine depreciation
Countless man hours and industrial resources spent in drilling and refining

As a nation, all this could mean a huge saving in terms of resources. So the next time your engine idles, its not only your money that you are wasting – you are wasting everything that brought those drops of fuel to your tank. Time to think !!

Leaking Water Taps

For those who do not pay to use water, it is difficult to realize how much it costs to bring clean water to our homes. Water treatment is expensive and there is scarcity of clean water. If just 10,000 homes with one leaking tap each dripping at 1 drip per minute could be eliminated, we could save 3,600 litres of water everyday !! Time to think again. For many of us, it doesn’t cost money to use water, but imagine the plight of those countless unfortunate people, who have no access to potable water. There are millions of them in a country like ours and its time we cared this much about them.

Do you use RO water filters at home ? Have you ever cared to find out how much water they waste ? And then there is mineral water. Ever wondered how much fuel is consumed just to transport those bottles ? I hope you all know that water stored in plastic bottles is not really safe. So let us not buy health risks for ourselves and buy mineral water only in emergencies.

Eat Well Feed More

How do you dispose wasted food ? In the garbage bin ? Couldn't that feed a hungry animal ? I mean, we humans are supposed to take care of other living beings. That is one of our sole responsibilities.

A group of friends were dining at a restaurant and when they finished, they were leaving behind a lot of food. Another guest came up to them and asked, “Why are you wasting so much food ?” One of them replied, “That is none of your business, we paid for it and can do whatever we want with it.” The other person replied, “Though you pay for it, you cannot waste it. The nation’s resources grow this food and no one can waste it. Your money gives you the right to use, not to waste.” When will all of us start thinking on these lines ?

Light Up a Few Lives

While you read this article on your PC / laptop, just close your eyes and imagine a home where the sun is the only source of light. Yes, it is still true after 67 years of independence. There are countless homes which are yet to be electrified. Now think about all the comforts that electrical power gives you. They have none. And what would happen if we could save a bit ? The power thus saved could lighten up their lives. Switch to solar panels and reduce wastage wherever possible. Watch the world get nicer.

Share your views with us and let us know how you played your part. We love hearing from you.

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SM Energy Company stock prices have been tanking since early September and have left investors wondering. We will now delve into its charts and try and find out what promise the stock holds for the coming few weeks.

We can see a clear bearish butterfly formation on the stock chart which preceded the fall in prices from around 90 levels to its current closing price of 73.16. This was definitely one of the major technical factors causing the huge drop in the last month. What we now need to find out is what to expect from the chart at this juncture. Is it time to go long ? Or should we wait for prices to drop further. We take a look at another popular analysis technique, the Camarilla Pivots.

Take a close look at the last bar on the chart. The close at 73.16 is below the L3 pivot level of 74.41, which is a major support line for the entire month of October 2014. Though it is usual for stocks to bounce from these levels, it is likely that prices will tank further since it has already entered strong bearish territory. Depending on the strength of the downward move, SM Energy could drop till the next Camarilla support level of 70.82 or even further till 64.83.

Wolfe Wave patterns as depicted in the above chart also depict a gloomy picture. With stock prices clearly below a major trend line (shown in yellow), we can expect major drops in SM Energy stock prices in the coming trading sessions. It may also be noted that there are no major supports to hold the prices from dropping further.

On a larger scale, a look into weekly charts for SM Energy again depict that a Bearish bat formation is already in place and could be a major driving factor for pushing stock prices further down for the next few weeks.

Clearly, the days ahead are not very bright - it is definitely advisable to avoid long positions at the moment although one could keep accumulating the stock at various support levels. Lets keep a watch on SM Energy and wait for the right time to pick it up.

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BSDA. Yes you heard that right - Basic Services Demat Account. Did your stock broker come up and tell you that something like this exists ? I don't think so. And why would they ? After all, they will not make money out of it.

For the multitude of investors who are not aware, here is a brief about BSDA. The Securities and Exchange Board of India, has introduced this facility for small scale investors to promote equity investments in the country, by providing demat services at nominal costs. No Depository Participant can charge a client any Annual Maintenance Charges if the value of his holdings are less that Rs 50,000/-. For investors whose net worth is above Rs 50,000/- but below Rs 2,00,000/- the AMC would be a maximum of Rs 100.

There are thousands of investors in our country who fall in this bracket, but how many actually know about this ? Here is how I handled this. I hold an account with a country renowned stock broker and have held this account for almost ten years now. I get loads of emails with "Investment Advice" every week, but not one did mention the introduction of BSDA facility which was introduced by SEBI on August 27, 2012; here is a link to the SEBI circular. As soon as I came to know about this, and since I fell in that bracket, I sent an email to my broker asking for a clarification as to why I am not getting this benefit.

To this, they replied that I would have to apply for this facility which would change my account type. In a few days, I asked them for an application form. The first surprise came when I was handed two forms, one for BSDA and the other was an ECS mandate, which would allow them to deduct fees automatically from my bank account as and when applicable. I said that I always paid all my fees on time, and the ECS mandate was not necessary. To my despair, I was told that it their "policy" that binds them to do this and unless I submitted the mandate, I could not avail BSDA facility. I studied the SEBI circular once again to find out if it ever mentioned anything about such a policy - obviously, it didn't.

I wrote to the broker asking for a clarification and they did not care to reply. What could they say ? They were doing something against the law !! I sent several reminders marking copies to top officials, and still no one replied. Then I got a call from the local office and I was told that I would not get any reply since they will not be allowing BSDA without the ECS mandate. And that's when I decided to give them a threat.

I wrote one final email, stating that if no one replied within 7 days and if I was not given a satisfactory justification for asking for the ECS mandate, I would complain to SEBI - since the SEBI circular never mentioned anything about BSDA. That risked their whole business, thanks to bodies like SEBI who protect investors like us.

Soon enough, I was allowed BSDA facility without any strings attached. They are cold towards me these days though, but I hardly care. The money wasn't much, but this was a matter of principle where the broker failed and that too one with a big big name in the industry.

So don't sit back, find out about the fees your broker is charging and apply for a BSDA today. It will save a bit of your money. And I am sure you will share this article all over so that many others like you and me can benefit from what our laws have to offer.

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Dividend Investing is a well known long term strategy that is employed by investors worldwide. With recurring tax free returns, this strategy can develop into a very safe method if used wisely and hold the potential for delivering higher returns on investment compared to traditional bank deposits.

Today we will look into the prospects of Oil India Limited and how investing in this stock can yield good returns over extended periods of time. Oil India Limited is traded on both the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange, India. Currently trading at 587.90, the dividend prospects of the stock look attractive. Here's why one should consider investing in this stock.

Current Ratio of 3.37 depicts excellent financial health of the company and goes a long way in saying that the company is virtually debt free. This obviously means that the company will be able to convert a larger portion of its profits into dividends for its investors. In the investment perspective, this could mean higher dividends and higher dividend yields for investors in the long run. A company with such good financial health is unlikely to ruin its stature and more so in any short time frame. This creates a safe haven for investors assuring them that their money is in safe hands.

When investing for dividends we generally do not think of bailing out since the ideal holding period of such investments is "forever". If for any reason the stock fails to meet its expectations, a bail out option is always available by selling the stock in the market.

The latest dividend yield for Oil India Ltd is 5.10 % which is simple fantastic. This goes a long way in speaking of the financial health of the company since it has been able to pay its investors a good return on investment. The company has also maintained a healthy dividend payout ratio of above 30 % for the last 10 years, which definitely means that they care for their investors. Not only are they sharing a healthy chunk of profits, they have been dong this for a decade. A firm dividend policy in the hands of good management can be the only route to such consistency.

A look into the progressive annual dividend yields will reveal an astounding feature of this stock in a moment.

Year	Divident Yield(EoY)	% Growth
2010	2.8	-
2011	2.7	-3.57142857
2012	3.8	40.74074074
2012	5.7	50

The last two years have seen excellent growth in dividend yields which could mean even higher returns on investment with progression in time. A cumulative growth in dividend yield, which is basically a measure of how much return the investment is earning could mean exponential growth in earnings. Such growth can only be expected from companies which have firm policies on dividends and for whom investor interest is of prime interest.

Oil India Limited looks like a good choice for dividend investors - a firm payout history and strong financial health hold the promise of a bright financial future for dedicated long term investors.

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The internet is flooded with information about the stock market and I will add no more. Whatever be your investment objective and approach, there is more information on the web that you can possibly digest. in this post, I will point out to you one simple question and its answer. A question that all investors and traders need to ask themselves, and answer. One cannot do without this. Of course many seasoned traders already know this, but this is for anyone who has not yet realized the true trick to making money in the markets.

The General Belief - Back Testing Works

A very popular term used by marketers for technical analysis software, trading strategies, trading algorithms, Expert Advisor systems and what not - back testing. This term is so widely used, rather misused, that we generally tend to believe that if something has been back tested and it has given satisfactory results, there is good reason to get our hands on the system. False.

Why False ?

It is true that history repeats itself but it is not only history that keeps repeating. New things do happen, right ? Even so in the financial markets. New research leading to new products, new products creating newer customer profiles, newer needs, newer diseases, newer medicines, new laws, new policies, new environmental issues and new ideas - everything is evolving and so are the markets. Believe it or not, that stock market is virtually a living being that breathes. Doesn't it react to news, just like you and me ? So some strategy that works well today, may not necessarily work well forever. So evidently, back test results do not really validate any strategy.

I remember using a software that scanned years of historical stock market data and claimed to find seasonal patterns in stock price movements. Apparently, it looked brilliant and using the filters built in, I could get myself a list of stocks that have been either moving up or down in a particular month every year for the last 10 years !! I thought I could depend on this; but alas. What i just described in my previous paragraph happened almost with each stock I tracked. I did not trade any thankfully. History did not repeat and back testing with more that 10 years of data bore no fruit.

What Qualifies As A Good Strategy ?

Plain and simple - One that generates profits consistently. And the most important part is in the last word, "consistently". There are hundreds of strategies and systems available, but one that is not sustainably profitable is worthless. We don't invest with a month in view. We think of a lifetime, and that is long term. Hence a strategy must be able to generate profits over and over for a very long time.

The 15 Second Test

Did your strategy turn profitable for 10 consecutive trades ? The answer to this question and this question alone is the sole determinant of the acceptability of any trading system. Whatever be the time frame and the instruments traded, if several consecutive trades have not meant profit for you, of course with minimum draw down, then rest assured that in the long run, your system will not stand. I am yet to come across a short term strategy that meets this requirement. Marketers claim that consecutive profits are not practically possible, but it is possible. Usually in long term strategies. They say it is not possible because if they don't, themselves and brokers don't make money off you and me.

I have personally traded stocks with good long term strategies that have given me good profits on every trade. Put your hard earned money only after you have taken the 30 second test and rest assured, you will be happy that you read this post.

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This has happened to most of us - the month passes by and suddenly we ask ourselves “Where did all the money go ?”. Did you ever face a time when you asked yourself - “Oh! How could we spend so much ?” Yes, it happens to all of us and today, I will share with you a simple tool that I personally use to optimize my finances.

There are only two things that we essentially do with our money - earn and spend. And the art of making the most of our money is multifaceted. Not only do we need to increase our earnings and reduce expenses, but we must also invest all the remaining money properly so as to get the most of it. In this series, I will share some ridiculously simple techniques that will definitely help you get more out of your money.

Increasing earnings and reducing expenses - this is what we will talk about now. Fred owns a restaurant and from his earnings from his sales, he invests in blue chip shares. He also saves a lot of money in his bank account. Fred also has a website for his restaurant, from where he fetches online orders for home delivery services. So Fred earns money from :

Restaurant Sales
Website Sales
Dividends from shares
Bank Interest

His brother gifted him some money on his birthday, which is also income, but we will ignore it for the time being since that is not a regular source.

One day, his accountant sends him a chart like this :

And Fred immediately realizes that or the last 11 months, his sales have been dropping !! He also found that October 2011 and October 2012 have been great when both physical and online sales soared but 2013 hasn't been as good. So he knows that October is a good time to sell and he can now prepare for this October, so that he makes the most of the season.

Fred thanks his accountant and the accountant immediately tells him that he can drill down to daily data as well and trends can be analysed to as much detail as required.

What if you too had a tool like this ? Where you could virtually see where your money comes from, when it comes, how frequently it comes and so on - so that you can possibly tune the conditions in order to make more money flow in. And imagine a table like the one below for your expenses.

And a chart like this one !!

You are immediately told by the chart that electricity expenses have been increasing for the last 4 years and hence you must switch to renewable sources of energy to save on these costs !! And the possibilities of data interpretation are endless.

This is the power of visibility. It makes us aware of things that we already know but are not aware of. To have a clear vision of where your money is going, and where it is coming from empowers you with clarity of purpose - you can optimize money flow, i.e. make improvements so as to increase your net worth, day in and day out.

Where can I cut expenditure ?
Where am I wasting money ?
How much did I spend on food in the last 5 years ?
Which are my highest earning areas ?
What is my average annual fuel expense ? Should I switch to public transport ?
How much taxes have I been paying ? Should I think of tax saving investments ?

Questions like these and many more can be answered in a flick; if and only if you have a tool at your disposal that analyses this data for you. This is definitely the very first step to managing your money better.

At MoneyPlanters, we have developed such a workbook, which does exactly what we have described here. What you will need to do is set it up for one time which is as easy as anything and then record your transactions daily. With a tutorial that comes along with the purchase, you will see how you can get all your questions answered in a few clicks. To get your copy, Contact Us Now.

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Indian real estate has been on a surge for the past month and realty stocks have gained 48 % on an average while investors accumulated these stocks heavily.

CNX Realty, the benchmark index for real estate stocks traded on the National Stock Exchange, India was trading at around 154 during the first week of March 2014 and has gained over 30 % since then after closing at 201 on Friday. The Index has been outperforming NSE's Nifty 50 benchmark throughout the month of March. Lets take a look into the stocks that caused this and try and develop a trading view.

DLF Ltd
Contributing a staggering 57% of the CNX REALTY index, DLF Ltd has been a winning outperformer throughout March 2014.

A steep rise from 138 to 178 in a week's time made it a sure winner during the first half of March, which is when the stock outperformed the CNX REALTY index. A close look at the relative Strength indicator below the price pane reveals that the stock has been underperforming since 27th March 2014.

As we can see on the charts, prices for DLF Ltd are facing severe resistance due to two factors : first of all, Camarilla pivot level H3 is at 190.31 which is a very strong resistance. The stock is already within the proximity of that level and hence is being faced with severe resistance. Secondly, Wolfe wave trend lines (the green diagonal line seen on the chart) is also a strong resistance level. We can expect gains on the prices only when these resistances are overcome.

For such accurate analysis of price action of stocks you could try out our chart analysis services.

Unitech

Since the end of March, Unitech Ltd has been outperforming CNX REALTY. The stock rose from Rs 12 to almost 17, a staggering 54 % rise in a matter of just 15 days.

Charts depict that there still is a lot of steam left in the stock. It could easily hit the 18 mark, which is the H5 resistance level for April 2014. Once crossed, it could herald another bullish breakout.

Sobha Developers

After a bullish run from the end of February, Sobha finally seems to have lost some steam as it gradually underperforms the CNX REALTY index.

Resting in a in trending zone where there is no strength of trend in any direction, its is unlikely to see any strong moves in the stock unless it crosses the 400 mark.

HDIL

Another sure winner is HDIL which has been outperforming CNX REALTY since early March.

The stock is headed towards H5 Camarilla level of 83 after having crossed major resistances at 62 and 67.

Liked our post ? Share your views with us and don’t miss out our services page !!

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A 32- year old gaming Titan, one that many love to hate and others who hate to love- Is that one and the same thing? Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) has been nominated once again for The Consumerist's notorious “Worst Company in America” award and everyone is wondering if it’s going to be a hat-trick for the interactive entertainment software company. The final list has 32 nominees who have been filtered based on votes that have been cast by The Consumerist’s readers.

Grappling for top spot are companies like Microsoft, McDonalds, Bank of America and Ticketmaster. Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) won the award in 2012 and then again in 2013 after a series of turbulent game launches that could not be waived off to be a one-off occurrence. Server issues plagued the online-only reboot of the company’s SimCity series and paying customers could not access the game for days.

Another disastrous launch was Battlefield 4- technical issues hampered players from playing the game online and some of the glitches persisted months after the release. Eventually, Electronic Arts deferred the launch of many other games as it had to deal with these first and it definitely lost out on its chance to dethrone Call of Duty. But let’s swipe all the demons into the shadows for a bit and see what die-hard gamers of Electronic Arts’ games see in the company.

A Colored Past

Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) is the creator of some of the most stupendous interactive games such as The Sims, Plants Vs Zombies, Battlefield, Need for Speed, to name a few. A company that started out as a shine on the horizon has risen to be a dazzler in the gaming space and poses tough competition for companies like Activation Blizzard and Nintendo.

There is no doubt about the muscle that the company pulls in the industry. Its top-selling game, The Sims has sold over 175m copies and it is undisputedly the most successful computer game in history. The game has bagged 5 Guinness World Records Gamers Edition awards. And let’s not forget the hysteria that is attached to Titanfall, another blockbuster Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) game.

This game had been restricted only to the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) platform. But the rumor mills are working overtime and are saying that that its sequel, Titanfall 2 will not wear the Xbox One, Xbox 360 or the PC shackles. Respawn continued to be the IP owner for Titanfall when the deal for the 1^st game was signed. From a technical viewpoint, they could have gone to any other publisher for the sequel but they have stuck to EA.

The first game was Microsoft exclusive and the deal ensured that the game was not launched on the PS3 or PS4. That shield has been stripped from the sequel. But this launch too seems to be overcast by a shadow. The hot out-of-the oven news is that Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) has now deferred the Titanfall Xbox 360 version’s launch by two weeks. The company had launched the Xbox and PC versions on 11 March and this is the 2nd time the release is being delayed for the Xbox 360.

Azure losing Allure?

Another spot on the Electronic Arts eye-view lens is that Titanfall is an online-only game and this means it is “married” to Azure which is Microsoft’s cloud-computing infrastructure. Any turbulence in the cloud has the potential to lead to instability in the Titanfall- Azure “marriage”.

Add to that the fact that the game’s 11 March launch was saddled with certain glitches and several players couldn’t play the much-awaited game. This added fuel to the fire of ire and gamers were not amused. And in a classic chain reaction, Microsoft’s Xbox One has fallen back on sales while Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE)’s PS4 trots forth at a clipping pace. The last thing Microsoft needs is another troubled game launch.

Project Morpheus

Let’s go off on a tangent here and pan the landscape for some more industry news. Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) is developing a virtual reality headset for its PS4 via what they are calling Project Morpheus. Currently, this prototype has a 90° field of view, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, 3D audio and a 1920×1080 panel resolution to boot. Epic Games and Crytek officially signed in to develop games for this project and it’s anyone’s guess when others will follow suit.

When a Game is Business

Virtual Reality is not a new concept and biggies like Nintendo tried in vain to launch VR almost 20 years ago during the Virtual Boy launch. Since that time, Virtusphere developed its “locomotion platform” that makes VR an immersive experience. Last year, two Valve developers also created an AR (augmented reality) that was called castAR and VR system and Occulus Rift had created a VR device just prior to that.

Sure it was Oculus Rift and castAR that prod Sony to eventually bring Virtual Reality to its PS4 but the company has been developing 3D headsets for years now. This is where the VR plot thickens. It was just last week that Electronic Arts’ Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Wilson said that they are exploring development of VR and like bobbers, more VR news started surfacing from still waters.

Everyone Joins the Fray

The rumormongers said that Sony was also developing a Virtual Reality headset for its PS4. Just days later, there were reports in the WSJ that Microsoft is developing a VR headset for its Xbox One. Though no official announcement has come in yet from Microsoft, Sony has confirmed that the release will not take place in 2014. The 39-year-old Wilson took over the reins of Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) in 2013 September and is the company’s youngest CEO. Intrinsically a game developer, Wilson was the EVP of EA Sports & Origin before he moved into the Chief Executive role. He has an undying passion for the business and interactive entertainment.

The company’s fiscal Q3 earnings were a mixed bag so to say. They missed revenue projections which led Electronics Arts to issue a muted guidance for its upcoming quarter. Though there was a rise of 33% in revenue that came in at $1.57 billion, it still did not meet the $1.65 billion guidance that the company had previously issued.

This shortfall was attributed to the dipping demand for the latest PS4 and Xbox 360 titles. Resultantly, Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) has pulled-down its revenue guidance for the full-year, to $3.91 billion. Despite the drop in revenue, EA posted earnings gains with earnings per share of $1.26 that topped analyst projections by 4 cents/share.

A Change of Season

And even as the seasons change in 2014, more drama and action surrounds Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA). Just last week, there was news that the company’s servers had been compromised and that a new phishing page had been set up with the intention of stealing numerous Apple ID usernames, credit card information and passwords. Netcraft, the security firm exposed the phishing attempt on Wednesday.

The dust has still not settled on that issue and now Electronic Arts is saying that though its UFC franchise "feels" like it’s a biennial series, the final decision about the release schedule for the martial arts game has not been confirmed by the company. This is EA’s 1^st mixed martial-arts game.

Burning Bridges-Building Some

A large number of the EA Sports games are annualized, including Madden football, FIFA soccer and NHL hockey franchises. Whether the UFC games follow that pattern is yet to be seen. The company has seen numerous changes since the new CEO assumed his role. EA is also searching for a new agency to now handle the company’s media business in the United States. WK Media was in charge of this business since 2005, but that bridge is now burnt. Another shift has been that of ex- head of corporate communications at EA. After 14 years with the company, Jeff Brown, the sarcastic voice of the company has now moved on to being camera maker GoPro’s head of communications.

Whether EA will Weather the Changes

The winds of change are evident at Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) but the fact of the matter is that a business is about the people behind it, and Andrew Wilson is a veteran in the field. It is left to be seen whether he will be able to steer the EA ship through the varying currents and touch the 2015 port in good shape.

He understands what his people go through, to make these games and that is what counts.

The performance of the company’s stock is intertwined with its sales performance as well as the reactions of the market, to its games. The upcoming year’s biggest release is definitely The Sims 4 and it will play a pivotal role in the company’s 2014 stock performance.

If Electronic Arts is able to wear blinkers and not give undue credence to distractions of geographies and platforms and of business models, it will be able to channel all its energies and resources into making fantastic games that appeal to a global audience- there is no way it can go wrong. At the end of the day- Gaming is virtually the kernel of Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA)’s existence and no one wants to see a titan fall.

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Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) stock performance :

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Tips for achieving good returns investing in real estate

Reasonable cash-on-cash returns

Sensible time management

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BSDA. Yes you heard that right - Basic Services Demat Account. Did your stock broker come up and tell you that something like this exists ? I don't think so. And why would they ? After all, they will not make money out of it.

Soon enough, I was allowed BSDA facility without any strings attached. They are cold towards me these days though, but I hardly care. The money wasn't much, but this was a matter of principle where the broker failed and that too one with a big big name in the industry.

So don't sit back, find out about the fees your broker is charging and apply for a BSDA today. It will save a bit of your money. And I am sure you will share this article all over so that many others like you and me can benefit from what our laws have to offer.

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