Before you jump headfirst into any investing, there are some ground rules you must know and follow. There’s no two ways about it. Rules work. Pay attention. I’m about to give you some great advice that all successful investors use.

Let me say in this article that these are just three   financial investing rules of a handful. However, I’ve chosen these rules to give you today because they are very vital. Many other rules are more ideas and possible guidelines . The rules below, if not followed, are important to your financial investing success. Ready?

Only invest with money you can afford to lose

You’d think this would be common knowledge , but I know of many people who invest with money they can’t afford to lose. You need to realize that a loss potential exists. If you go into an investing scenario with the thought that somehow you’ll never take a loss , you’re setting yourself up for disaster .

Don’t use money you can’t afford to lose . I’m not talking about capital you’d hate to be without, that’s different. None of us wants to suffer a loss . Let me ask you, if you somehow lost 100 percent of your investment (stocks, bonds, whatever) , could you sustain your life? If so, proceed forward. If you said no, I’d caution you against going further

Have an action plan

Many investors who fail just jump into something and play it as they go. You don’t want to do this. Before you invest even a single dollar into any financial investment , you need to know where you’re going from here. As in flipping properties , you must have an exit plane in place before buying . You must have a profit idea in place and know how much loss you’re willing to take.

It’s not enough to just have an action plan though. You need to follow it. And you’ll probably need to revise it over time.

Wait for the perfect timing

It’s all about timing.   You’ve heard this before. The idea here is not just striking at the right time, but not creating the action. Just because the right time has come as far as your capital is concerned doesn’t mean there’s a good opportunity for you as an investor.

Look at stocks for example. You could have one million to use right now, but it’s possible that there are no solid stock plays for you at this moment. Maybe a stock opportunity presents itself in an hour from now or a week from now. Opportunity knocks, you don’t go chasing it down.  Let opportunity come.

These are just 3 investment rules to follow. These are a few great financial investing principles that I follow and they do work . Any solid investor will list these right up at the top.

There’s money to be had in forex trading, but it’s risky for a first-time investor

Forex trading is done on a much greater scale than any other kind of market in the world. Some 2.9 trillion dollars are handled every single day. About 73 percent of all forex trading is done by 10 international banks with names you’re familiar with: Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and so forth. National banks and other financial institutions account for another chunk of forex trading, and transactions by “day traders” — regular individuals, people like you and me — account for only 2 percent of all trading.

Nonetheless, many average investors do try their hand at forex trading, and there are many financials institutions who handle such transactions. It’s known as “retail forex,” and it’s handled much the same way that day trading of stocks is handled.

The downside is that unlike the stock market, the forex market is not particularly well regulated, and people inexperienced with it can be taken advantage of.

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In forex trading the pip is the basic unit. The acronym for pip is ‘percentage in point’. A pip is 1/100 of a basic unit of currency for a nation. For example 1/100 is a cent for dollar-based currency or the digit in the fourth spot following the decimal. For an exchange rate of 2.0041 the 1 equals one pip. A forex trader with active trades is either going to be long or short in the market. If he’s long or entered a long order, his trade needs the exchange rate in increase in order to make a profit.

The opposite term or long is short. This means the exchange rate needs to decrease in order for the trade to be profitable. This may seem complicated but it is better than using terms like ‘buy’ and ‘sell’. If a forex trader has shorted a currency pair, selling it in anticipation of a price decline, he will then buy the pair when the position is closed.

Bi-directional trading gives two meanings in forex trading. You can purchase a currency in anticipation of profiting when the exchange rate rises, and to purchase currency to cover a short sell. The bid is the asking price retail traders pay when they to go long on a currency pair. The ask (selling price) is always higher than the bid (buying price). The difference between the two prices is ‘the spread’. The spread is the house’s commission on the trade.

It’s good to remeber one simple fact – brokerage or online traders only make money from active trades. Companies have been known to move large amounts at their disposal to move the price on a currency pair a few pips higher or lower, to manipulate delayed-entry orders placed at a certain level. Once the trades are active, the house has earned its profit. The trades are closed, sending the currency pair back to its original position. This is known as forex market manipulation.