Christopher Best - What You Need to Know about Problematic Market Practices

Christopher Best is very interested in finance, stocks, portfolio management and market practices.

Some individual investors choose to purchase stocks through brokers who make a living from the commissions they get from selling the stock. Such brokers will usually tell you that they have an extensive in-house research department and that their recommendations to buy come from the department. While it may sound good, in reality this model has significant flaws.

The biggest problem is a huge conflict of interest. If a broker makes money from selling you stock, they are interested in selling you as much stock as possible, not in you reaching your financial goals. In many cases, brokers do not have to disclose such conflicts of interest. You want to research the laws of your state to find out about different categories of brokers and advisors that you are dealing with. Some brokerage companies may have very impressive names, when in reality, the names mean nothing. Oftentimes such companies are not liable for the advice they provide. They also do not have to get certified or tested to provide their recommendations. This is why it is always a smart idea to know who you are dealing with, what kinds of certifications they have and what they are liable for.

Sometimes a business can hire a brokerage or an investment bank to help sell its stock. The brokerage then needs to create an aura of positivity around the company and its offerings. Many studies of brokerage companies show that their research isn’t worth anything. If you are looking for reliable research just like what Christopher Best gets while earning his degree in finance at Florida International University, find companies that just do research and do not make a commission from selling stock.
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Christopher Best - Different Kinds of Stocks

Christopher Best is studying graduate-level finance at Florida International University. This article explains different types of stocks that finance students learn about.

                                            

Blue Chips

Blue chip stocks are the stocks from well-established, giant, most prestigious companies with stellar reputations. Many of these companies are household names. These stocks include Intel, General Electric, Visa, Wal-Mart, and McDonald’s. Many blue chip companies have been in business for over twenty-five years and have been the leader of their industries for decades. These businesses are a great investment for people looking to stay conservative in their stock picks.

Growth Stocks

Growth stocks consist of businesses that show growth potentials. Many enterprises in this category have sales, growth or market share that are growing extremely fast. Companies that fall in this category usually invest heavily in research and development. Growth stocks are riskier than blue chips, but they also come with potentially bigger rewards. These stocks perform best when stock prices are on the rise. 

Income Stocks

Just like growth stocks, income stocks do exactly what the category name suggests. They provide a stable income for investors. Income stocks come with regular payments of dividends that do not depend on the stock price. Sometimes the dividends are big enough so that the investors can completely cover their living expenses with dividend checks. Many of the stocks in this category also fall in the blue-chip category. 

Preferred Stocks

These stocks are very similar to both stocks and bonds at the same time. Usually, a preferred stock has a dividend and a redemption date. Investors get their dividends regardless of how the company performs. When a company is underperforming, preferred stock holders get paid first. When a company is doing extremely well, certain preferred shares may get more than one dividend payout. However, preferred stock owners usually do not have the same rights as common stock owners. 

 

If you want to learn more about other types of stocks, you can do so by studying multiple books on the subject just like Christopher Best of Miami did.

Christopher Best - Pros and Cons of Mutual Funds for Portfolio Management

Christopher Best is pursuing his Master of Science in Finance Degree at Florida International University.

Great investors, such as Warren Buffet, recommend very strongly investing only in the stocks and companies that you know a lot about. If you are very busy, have no time to research businesses, and are unwilling to take unnecessary risks, you may want to look at mutual funds.

Investing in mutual funds is very easy. You can do it from your computer or from your phone. Mutual funds pool together the money that they receive from ordinary working people. They then invest this money in stocks, bonds, and other securities. Because there is a pool of money, mutual funds can hire investment professionals to manage the money. Some mutual funds invest primarily in stocks. Others specialize in bonds. There are also certain mutual funds that have a combination of stocks, bonds, and other investment vehicles.

Mutual funds provide a lot of advantages to investors. They can afford to diversify the stocks that they buy. Diversification is quite expensive for individual investors because of their transaction fees. These are only worth it if you buy, on average, more than one hundred shares of a stock. In the latter transaction, size may become a problem. If an average stock price is fifty dollars and you want to invest in a dozen companies, you’ll need over sixty thousand dollars to buy one hundred stocks in each company. This is not something many individual investors can easily afford to do, yet for mutual funds, this issue is not a problem.

If you invest on your own, you have to spend your own time researching businesses and markets. Mutual funds hire professional full-time management for that. Mutual fund managers research financial statements, competitors, business strategies, and market positions before deciding on making an investment decision. The best managers have graduated from the top schools in the world, work long hours and have a lot of experience in the field. While some mutual funds do charge high maintenance fees, these funds usually have an impressive reputation and track record. There are also a lot of funds that operate using a commission-free structure and may charge somewhere between twenty and one hundred dollars to manage ten thousand dollars or even more.

As with most things in life, mutual funds come with their own drawbacks. The first drawback is the matter of funds control. When you invest in a mutual fund, it may seem like a black box to you. You will have managers investing your money and they will not ask you for your permission or opinion when choosing companies to invest. If you invest in a mutual fund outside of your retirement allocation, you may end up with a relatively high tax bill. Students of finance such as Christopher Best learn a lot about money management and tax implications during their years in school.
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Christopher Best - Tips for Financial Professionals in the Field

Christopher Best is a musician, a teacher, and a business owner who has been working hard for his future. He is currently earning his Master of Science degree in Finance from the Florida International University, and he hopes to graduate later this year. He already has experience in the financial field, is optimistic about his career. Here are some tips for financial professionals.

 

You need to be organized. As a financial professional, organizational skills are a must if you want to be successful. Financial professionals, especially those at the executive level, will be dealing with a variety of numbers and figures that can be overwhelming at times without a system in place. Make sure you develop an organized system in order to stay ahead of your responsibilities.

You also need to understand the business world, as well as the financial world. In order to be successful working for a major company as a financial professional, you need to have a firm understanding of what it is your company does so that you can work more easily. Understanding how your job fits into the company as a whole will make it easier to be successful.

Learn from the people who have been there before. When you’re working in finance, experience is essential for success. Learn from the higher ups that are willing to give you advice, show you the ropes, and even help you out when your workload gets to be heavy.

Christopher Best is on track to becoming a successful financial professional, and his Master’s degree in the field will certainly contribute to that success.
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Christopher Best - Tips for Musicians Learning the Saxophone

Christopher Best is a music instructor who is currently operating his own tutoring business out of his home office. He has been teaching students how to play the saxophone for eight years, and he understands what it takes to be a successful music teacher. Here are some useful tips for new players looking to learn the saxophone.

 
If you have the means, find a good teacher. Learning an instrument on your own is difficult, especially if you can learn more easily through auditory instruction or demonstration. When you’re trying to learn the saxophone, which requires certain breathing techniques to create specific tones, it’s much easier if you have an example who can show you what you’re being taught.

Try to focus on your breath. Instruments like the saxophone are based on a player’s breath, and how well they are able to control it for future notes. Part of learning the instrument means learning how to anticipate certain notes, and controlling your breath in the process. Work on breathing techniques on your own or with your instructor in order to improve.

You also need to work on your finger movements. Like most other instruments, the saxophone requires the ability to move your fingers to different positions at the same time, and quickly. You need to work on your dexterity, and your ability to do multiple things with your fingers at the same time.

Christopher Best is a dedicated saxophone teacher who has been teaching students for nearly ten years. He also has a Master of Science degree in Music Education from Florida International University, which he received in 2014.
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Christopher Best - Tips for Budgeting Your Finances on Your Own

​Christopher Best is a business owner who has a knack for understanding and working in finance. He operates his own business out of his home as a saxophone instructor, but he’s also going to school full-time in order to earn a Master’s degree in Finance. He understands that taking control of your finances can be difficult, but here are some tips to help out.

 A great way to start managing your finances better is to take an accurate account of how much you make, how much you spend on essentials each moth, and what you have left over for savings and other expenditures. Taking a frim account of your current financial situation will give you a better understanding of how you need to handle your money.

Another good way to handle your finances is by saving receipts from all your purchases. This will allow you to keep track of how much money you spend every week or month, and it will keep you from being surprised when you get your next credit card bill. This could help you catch discrepancies between your purchases and you statement, which could end up saving you money.

In addition, limit yourself to only a couple credit cards. Although it is good to have multiple cards in your arsenal in order to boost your overall credit score, it’s easy to get lost in the ease of making charges on your cards. This is dangerous because it could keep you from remembering your personal budget.

Christopher Best is well on his way to a promising career in finance, and he already has professional experience in the field.

Christopher Best - The Best Reasons to Learn the Saxophone

Christopher Best is a music instructor who operates his own business out of his home teaching students. He has been a saxophone tutor for the last eight years, and he has Master of Science degree in Music Education from Florida International University. Here are some of the best reasons to learn the saxophone if you’re looking to learn an instrument.

One, the saxophone is very versatile. This is one of the few instruments that has the ability to comingle with a variety of sounds, other instruments, and even the human voice with general ease. It can be a great supportive instrument inside the melody, or it can act as the lead in a wide range of musical genres.

Two, the saxophone can be paired with technologies that allow it to reach notes that take its sound even further. With the updates in modern musical technology, reaching new sounds on any instrument is a great deal easier, but this is true for the saxophone especially. Even the simplest of upgrades can take your abilities to the next level.

Three, the saxophone creates musical opportunities for its players. Due to how versatile the instrument is, the people who can play it well are offered a variety of professional opportunities musically. Saxophones have been featured in rock bands, classical ensembles, and so much more; professional players have a lot of options.

Christopher Best enjoys being able to teach his students the instrument he loves to play the most. He can also play the flute, the clarinet, and the piano. He hopes to continue teaching for many years to come.

Christopher Best - Director of Bands

Christopher Best is enrolled in a graduate finance program at Florida International University in Miami, and is looking forward to a career in the finance industry.

It is, in a sense, a second career for him. He already holds a Masters degree in Music Education from FIU, and spent five years in the Miami-Dade County public school system as a music teacher and band leader. He also plays saxophone in the Greater Miami Symphonic Band, and with the Kendall United Methodist Church.

As the Director of Bands in M-DCPS, he was responsible for organizing all band-related activities and events. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays not only saxophone, but also the flute, clarinet and piano. A sound knowledge of multiple musical instruments is of vital importance to a band leader, since the more instruments they can play, the better they can teach. Music teachers also need to have a good foundation in music history and theory.

Christopher Best also served as the Assistant Treasurer for the Florida Band Masters Association District 16, where he was involved in the management and verification of several different treasury roles. Before completing his first Masters degree in late 2014, he was already working in the Miami public school system, thereby demonstrating his ability to balance a full time job with a heavy academic workload. He is on track to complete his Masters degree in Finance at the end of 2016. He is currently serving as a finance intern at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

Sources: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chirstopherbest
http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/career-spotlight-band-director
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Christopher Best - About Financial Analysts

Christopher Best is a graduate student at Florida International University, where he is enrolled in its Master of Finance program and on track to receive his Masters Degree by the end of 2016.
                                                  

A Masters of Finance degree opens many doors. One profession Christopher Best will be qualified for is financial analyst. Generally speaking, a financial analyst is someone who collects and analyzes financial information on behalf of an employer or clients, whether they are individual or corporate. There are many different kinds of financial analysts, such as investment analysts, ratings analysts, and securities analysts. Each type of financial analyst performs different functions and has different responsibilities.

Financial analysts are commonly divided into two distinct categories: those on the “buy side” and those who are on the “sell side.” Buy side analysts work for institutional investors, including insurance companies, hospitals, colleges and universities, or funds. They work for any organization that has money to invest, and needs the guidance of a skilled professional to develop their investment strategies. Sell side analysts work with investment banks and securities firms, and help them to price and sell their products.

Finding work as a financial analyst is no easy task, whether it is in the buy side or sell side. Aspiring financial analysts are usually advised to get some kind of financial services experience while they are still students to help them stand out from the crowd.


Christopher Best is working as a finance intern at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, working exclusively with its finance and accounting department. Before that he spent five years working full time as a high school music teacher.

Sources:

http://talentegg.ca/incubator/2012/10/04/financial-analyst/
http://www.onlinefinancedegree.org/what-does-a-finance-degree-teach/

Christopher Best - Band Master

Christopher Best spent five years in the Miami-Dade County public school system as a Director of Bands at the high school level. He holds both Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music Education from Florida International University.

As Director of Bands, he was responsible for organizing a wide range of band-related activities and events. Music instructors have received intensive training in music theory, which studies the structure of music and how it works. They must also have highly developed aural skills, which is the singing part of music theory that trains the ear. A multi-instrumentalist, Christopher Best plays saxophone, flute, clarinet, and the piano.

He has also been teaching saxophone privately since 2008, working with students of all ages. Some of his students have been with him for many years. The level of proficiency on the sax, of course, depends largely on the time and effort that the student puts in to it. One of the things all students need to master is called embouchure. Strictly speaking, this refers to the way the mouth is applied to the instrument’s mouthpiece. Some consider this too narrow a definition, however, arguing that embouchure really refers to the whole system of making music: not only the mouth, but all the facial muscles, as well as the throat. Since everyone is physically different, each musician is going to have a unique embouchure.

Christopher Best is also a saxophonist with the Greater Miami Symphonic Band, a volunteer music ensemble that performs at venues throughout South Florida.

Sources: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090901190519AAbHf7I
http://www.gmsb.org/aboutcontactus.html
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Christopher Best - Why Play the Saxophone

Christopher Best is a private music instructor who teaches students in and around how area to play the saxophone. Though he can play other instruments as well, Christopher Best favors the sax and deeply enjoys the experience of playing it. If you’re considering taking up the sax, the following points might help you make the final decision in learning to play this beautiful instrument:

 

Versatile Sounds
A saxophone player will likely tell you that few instruments are as versatile. The sax can sound like the human voice and it can be used in any genre of music, to any degree desired by the player. A talented saxophone player can add the sound of his or her instrument to any music, regardless of accompanying melodies. Additionally, saxophones offer the ability to make near-limitless sound effects.

Sonic Possibilities
Though the sax can already produce a wonderful array of sounds and sound effects on its own, you can combine it with technology for unlimited sonic possibilities. A recorded saxophone song can be changed and enhanced using computer technology to make sonic effects that are beautiful, stunning and unrecognizable to the untrained ear.

Socializing
Saxophone players have a wide range of social opportunities because of the versatility of their instruments. Playing the sax can open doors, create opportunities and draw friends. Many skilled saxophone players even receive invites to record on albums and play live on a regular basis.

Christopher Best and other saxophone players will often tell you that there’s much more to the benefits than those listed above. Playing any instrument offers intangible benefits, and you’ll only be able to realize them once you’ve begun learning for yourself.
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Christopher Best - Benefits of College Education

Christopher Best is a passionate teacher and student who is devoted to furthering his education. He will soon be obtaining a Master’s in Finance from Florida International University. Christopher Best knows that a college degree could improve the rest of your life. The following are just some of the many benefits of pursuing a college education:

                                                       

• More Money – The ability to make a higher income is typically one of the key reasons for most college students to get their degrees. College graduates statistically make significantly more money during the course of their careers and often earn upward of $20,000 per year more than peers without college degrees. The earning potential varies by field and often increases with a higher-tiered degree.

• Better Career Choices – College degrees make prospect employees stand out to employers and many employers will not consider applicants that do not have at least a Bachelor’s degree. Employers and hiring managers consider college degrees to be indicative of talent, drive and trustworthiness.
• Happier Home Life – Couples and parents with college degrees often report a happier home life than families without higher education. This is likely caused by a higher income, more time, less stress and better job stability, all of which contribute to healthy home lives.

If you’d like to pursue an education similar to that of dedicated students like Christopher Best, consider balancing it with a full-time position to make it more feasible. Best successfully balanced his education with his work and the results were well worth the extra effort.

Christopher Best - Budget Like a Finance Student

Christopher Best is an experienced businessman who has managed his own business since 2008. In addition to his home business, Christopher Best’s aptitude for finances extended to becoming assistant treasurer from a past teaching position. Today, Best has entirely switched his career to finances and, in doing so, he has learned valuable industry skills. Among the most common skills for finances students and pros like Best is careful personal budgeting, and the following steps will help you do the same:

• Assess Your Fixed Expenses – Your fixed expenses are your bills that cannot be changed. These include mortgage payments, car payments and other monthly financial obligations. Look at your monthly bills and record their total as the first step of building your budget. This is also a good time to call insurance companies and credit card companies to ask for lower payments. 

• Assess Your Variable Expenses – Variable expenses are those that are subject to change each month and those that you can eliminate. These might include groceries, clothes, gas and more. Take this time to assess what you can cut down and set limits for each variable expense based on what you can afford to spend. This is the second part of building a simple, yet comprehensive, budget.

• Self-Assess Adjustments – Every month or every three months, sit down with your budget and self-assess any required adjustments. This will help you tailor your spending to your changing income and expenses so that you can continue to follow your budget.

Christopher Best uses the above tips to manage his personal finances as carefully as he manages finances in professional positions. Applying similar tips to your own finances can greatly improve your monetary management and improve your financial outlook.