4 Tips to Build a Successful Portfolio

Walking through the financial maze of stocks, bonds and mutual funds can be quite a challenge. American Century Investments offers the following tips to give you the know-how on building a profitable portfolio.

* Know your goals. Consider how much money you'll need for your children's education or your retirement. Whatever your vision for the future might be, set your goals and develop a concrete plan for meeting them.

* Define your investment time horizon. If you're not planning on retiring anytime soon, you might want to have a portfolio that includes more long-term investments. If retirement is just around the corner, consider a more conservative approach.

* Determine your risk tolerance. Figure out your risk comfort level and compare that with what you can afford. In general, the longer you have to invest, the bigger risk you can take.

* Consult a professional. In order to avoid financial pitfalls later on, it is often wise to seek professional guidance when putting together a portfolio.

"Recent research shows that investors continue to grapple with some of the most basic investment concepts, suggesting a greater need for financial advice and guidance," said Doug Lockwood, a certified financial planner.

To help investors meet their financial goals, American Century Investments has developed On Plan Investing, a program designed to help investors build and maintain diversified investment portfolios - at no additional cost.

Combining educational tools, advice, market insight and investment products, On Plan Investing helps investors develop a personal investment strategy, whether they are new to investing, seeking guidance but still want control over their investment mix, need help positioning their portfolios with a long-term perspective or need help understanding how the markets work.

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How Can Fundraising Consulting Help Us Raise Money?

If you need to hold a fundraiser and don’t know where to begin there is help out there for you. It is time for you to seek fundraising consulting advice especially if your fundraising event is going to be on a larger scale. Fundraising consulting will help you organize and take you through the steps to ensure your fund raising efforts will be successful.

A fundraising consultant will advise you where to start and the process you will have to go through to get where you’re going. Usually you know what you need the funds for but don’t know where the money will come from. All fundraising events start the same way regardless of if they are already established or something new. Using fundraising consulting services will help you add a professional look to your fund raising campaign.

The first advice you will get from a fundraiser consultant is that to start asking those closest to your organization for help. Depending on the size of the fund raising and your organization you will need the following: a board of directors, staff, volunteers, vendors, community businesses and individuals and finally a foundation. The second most important bit of advice you will receive from a fundraising consultant is never lose sight of the ones that started this with you. Start with those that are the closest to you to ask for help and stay with them throughout your fundraiser, these are the people that will get you through. They are your donors and will be critical to the success of your fundraiser.

A fundraising consultant will tell you that if you approach a new person for help, the first thing they will ask is what other sources of funding do you have. They will check to make sure where your support is coming from. If you have a strong support group it can go a long way in convincing someone that the fundraising is worth it. Through fundraising consulting, you will learn whom you can do business with. You will learn what vendors give donations and which ones don’t. If they don’t care to donate to your fundraising directly, they may give you a discount on your purchases.

Fundraising consulting is the only way to go when trying to organize on a large-scale project. The advice you will get from your fundraising consultant will mean more dollars in the end for your project. Once you establish a connection with a fundraising consulting service, you can use them for all your fundraising needs in the future.