Stocks,Gold,Money

Traits of a Successful Trader

2007-07-07T07:21:00.000-07:00

Mastering fundamental and technical skills of trading appears to be quite easy to most people when compared with mastering the mindset of successful trading. Let us examine some of the traits that make a person a successful trader. They are in no particular order.

Have clear trading objectives. Do not just throw money at short-term trades and sit back expecting to ‘make it rich’. Map out exactly how much of your total investment capital you will risk in short-term strategies and spread that risk over many different trades instead of ‘putting it all on red’.

After setting your objectives, believe you can achieve them. If you don’t believe in your plan, how can you possibly expect to have that plan succeed for you?

Prepare plan for each trade before the market is open. Always do you analysis and map out entry and exit points when the market is closed. If you try to jump on ‘hot stocks’ during the trading day, you are not a short-term trader, you have become a day trader. Day traders must operate under much different rules, so it is best for most of us to stick to well planned short-term trades.

Regularly review your trades. Pick them apart, both good and bad. Look for what could have been done to make the trade better. Honest self- evaluation is the single best way to improve your performance.

Focus on the positive, but deal quickly and correctly with the negative. Do not dwell on your mistakes, but do not gloss them over either. Have a fair and balanced view of how you are performing and keep a positive attitude to keep yourself on track.

Please also visit http://options-diary.blogspot.com

Profiting From a Stock You Don't Even Own

2007-04-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Many people even in this "enlightened" era, do not realize that you can make a lot of money if the market is falling. Well the fact is that you can, and there are 2 good ways to do it. One is to "sell short" and the other is to buy options called "puts". Today we want to look at the short selling game and try and give you some advice on how it works.

Selling short is not a new idea. It has been an acceptable practice since the beginning of the market. In fact after the crash of 1929, there was a remark people would use quite commonly. Have you ever heard the old term "hey don't sell him short"? Its a very old saying and the idea behind it is if you think someone is going to fall short of the mark, or miss the boat, or what have you, you would "short sell him". Why? Because if it comes true and the target did indeed fall or stumble, you were right. Well the term comes from the stock market. If you think the market or an individual stock is going to fall, you can short sell it and if you are correct and the stock falls, you will make money.

So, how can you make money on a stock that is falling apart? Quite easily, you simply sell it before it falls, and buy it back cheaper later. The difference between the two is pure profit. Suppose you think the XYZ company is ripe for a fall. They have been running up too fast and you feel that one of these days it's going to really see a pullback. You would call your broker and say something like this: "I would like to sell 500 shares of XYZ short please". Now let us suppose that XYZ is trading at $75 when you "sell it". Now lets also say you were right and it falls down to $65 the next week. At that point you would want to "cover your short sale". How? By buying the stock back at the lower price. So you call the broker and say: " I would like to cover my short sale in XYZ at this time." The broker would then buy back the shares you sold on the open market and the difference between where you sold the shares at and what you bought them back for (in this case $10 per share) is your profit on the trade. Thats it!

Where did we get the shares to sell in the first place?? Your brokerage literally "loans" them to you. When you called to say I want to sell the shares, they take their own stock holdings and loan them to you. So when you sold them, you were selling something you did not own. But because you borrowed them, eventually they will have to be replaced and that is what happens when you "cover". Basically you are replacing them. So the way to look at short selling is this: You borrow the shares at the current market price and sell them, basically saying to the brokerage, IOU 500 shares of XYZ. In our example XYZ was at $75 when we sold them so we took in $37,500. Then when XYZ fell to $65 a share we decided that was as far as as it would fall so we literally "bought them back" on the open market. So it cost us $32,500 to buy them back and replace what we borrowed, but there is a difference of $5,000 dollars between the two transactions and that money is yours! You sold shares you did not own, took in money, bought them back lower and made a very healthy profit doing it.

Well like everything there is risk involved. The risk in shorting a stock is that it might not fall like you thought. In fact it could go up! That is the problem. When you borrow the shares from the brokerage, they have to be replaced, and if the stock rises instead of falling, you are going to have to buy them back for replacement to the broker at a higher price than you sold them at meaning you lost money. This has to be avoided so it is important that the stock you short has every reason to fall.

Shorting is indeed a useful tool. Every day, stocks go up and stocks go down and only playing the upside limits your profit potential. To keep your risks at a minimum, remember these points: First, keep your short sales very quick in duration, do not sell a stock short and forget about it like its a long term hold. Try and align a poor market day with your short sales. In other words do not short a tech stock when the NASDAQ is gaining 50 points every day. Wait for the overall market to go into a dive and chances are your individual stock will fall too. If you can align a stock that has a "reason" to fall with a very poor market day, its possible to put many dollars in your account even on a one day trade.

With a run up in the market there are definitely going to be days when traders lock in profits and the market will be pulling back. Going short on a day like that, in a stock that is weak, or just missed earnings or what have you, will net you very good returns. Learn how to use this tool, and if you are not sure abut it, try "paper trading" for a while. Write down what price you sold at and what price you "covered" at and as you get better at the mechanics, then try your first one using real money.

Now we want to explore the other most common method of capturing profits in a falling stock.

There are options available that are called "puts" and puts are used when we think a stock is going to lose value. First what are they? They are options and you do need to know a bit about what they are. In their basic form, an option gives you the right but not the obligation to do something. In the concept of buying a put option, we are buying the right to sell a stock at specific price, within a specific time period. Why is that important?

Lets look:

Suppose you think the XYZ company is going to fall like a rock. They are trading at $50 a share now (say January), but you think they will be about $45 in no time. Well we can buy a "put" option against it. In our example lets say we buy the January $50 put and they cost us $2 each. (options are bought and sold in blocks called "contracts" with 100 "shares" to the contract, so we would be buying one contract of puts, for $200) that means we are indeed betting the stock will fall and if it does we will be rewarded. So how do we get rewarded? Like this: Remember with a put option you are buying the right (but not the obligation) to SELL a stock at a particular price. We have bought the right to sell XYZ for $50 per share until the 3rd Friday of January (all options expire on the 3rd Friday of the given month). Well, if we are right and XYZ is only trading at $44 by that Friday, we have an interesting situation here. We can sell XYZ for $6 more than they are trading for on the open market. We bought the right to do so, but that isn't the fun part. The fun part is that those options that we paid 2 dollars each for could be worth $7 or $8 each at that point! This is the beauty of option trading, the huge returns you can get if you're correct in your assumptions.

So, buying a put on a falling stock is a very good thing to do because if it keeps falling, your put option that you just bought is going to be worth a lot more shortly. Then you simply sell the option that you bought and pocket the profit. We know that one day there is going to be a pull back and knowing how to short the market or buy puts becomes extremely profitable.

More on Shorting

When the market is going through some major convulsions, the concept of shorting individual stocks naturally comes to mind. One thing that must be kept in mind and that is, you have to be very very careful when you are going to short something simply because companies are so aware of their stock prices now. Years ago a company could let their stock "ride" but now shareholders are quick to instigate lawsuits if a stock underperforms. So we like to see long trend down turns in the overall market before we short individual stocks simply because a company can and often does release news just to prop up its price. If the news is significant enough, it can quickly turn a falling stock into a rallying stock and that gets ugly if you are short. So, one thing to take into account is that you should monitor your short sales very closely.

One thing that often works as a timing indicator for when to short a stock is the exact opposite of the "10AM" rule, Or "gapout" rule. Here is how it works: If a stock opens weak and falls for a while, at some point it will settle out and probably turn back up for a while. Then if it is indeed going to be weak on the day, it will start falling again. We have found that if the stock falls below the price level it fell to during that first half hour, it will probably fall further. For example, let's say we think ABC is going down today and sure enough it opens at 50 and slides to 47 by 9:45. then it bounces up a bit to say 48 1/2 , but it cannot hold and back down it goes. If it falls below that first half hour low of 47, even by 1/2 a point, chances are great that it will continue to fall on the day. If you were considering shorting ABC that would be about the safest time to try it because it obviously couldn't even hold the first plunge price.

Does this method always work? No, nothing in the market is ever a guarantee, but as far as a "safe" way to try, it's as good as it gets. One other note we would like to express is that we often like to do short sales on a "daytrading basis" or in other words, if we are profitable on our short sale, we take the profit home that same afternoon. Again the thinking being that overnight they can brew up a decent press release and the next day the stock could gap up a bunch and leave you with no profit. Years ago, CEO's didn't take nearly as much notice of their stock price, but things have certainly changed. Now they need a strong stock price for a multitude of reasons. One is lawsuits, but they also leverage their stock price as a way of generating usable capital for expansion or rebuilding. So, we find it safest to treat shorts as a daytrade or a very short term hold at the very least. Naturally there are companies that just swan dive and keep going down, but if you watch, for the most part you will see them doggedly try their best to reverse back to the upside. Play your shorts quick and consider the downside "gapout" as a good entry point, we think you will find it useful.

By Larry Potter

Adsense Ways to Make Money that Every Writer Should Know About

2007-04-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

Top Adsense earners usually jealously guard their Adsense ways to make money and the secrets they might want to reveal, they will only sell at the maximum possible price – like valuable keywords.

You cannot really blame them because most of have gone though hell and lots of difficulties to arrive at their highly successful and effective ways to make money, which give them thousands of dollars on a monthly basis from AdSense.

This writer has been using his journalistic investigative and research skills to continuously find some of these closely guarded secrets that are being used by top Adsense earners. And even as they help me multiply my Adsense earnings, I do not mind sharing them out to others. Let me be quick to add that you can be sure that I still end up profiting in many ways, so this is really not an entirely selfless thing I am doing here. That’s the really wonderful thing about the net, if you take your time to figure out stuff, you’ll always be able to find a ways to make money from virtually everything you do.

1. Ways To Make Money In The Power Of A Safe list To Get You Clicks

The first time I tried distributing articles through safe lists and article announcement groups to pull in traffic to my AdSense sites, my daily revenue shot up three times. Recently I stopped for a while just to test the impact since I had introduced a lot of other ideas and ways to make money from Adsense, since. My daily clicks and earnings fell like a stone back to where they were.

Yahoo groups is a good place to start. Ensure that you join groups that are as relevant as possible to your subject area. This is easier said than done because most groups are fairly general. My advice is that you carefully view recent articles and submissions at each group before you join.

Do not make the mistake of using your main email address for this because you’ll get tons of emails. Instead register a totally new email address for this. Do take time to quickly glance at the email headings you receive and maybe to open one or two that strike your fancy. This will give you new ideas and also remind you how competitive safe lists are and the sort of headlines you need to get your mail opend by as many people as possible.

You should remember that you will have to churn out articles fairly regularly to keep your safe lists well fed and the traffic flowing to your Adsense sites. You will need a minimum of 5 articles a week.

2. Ways To Make Money By Generating Traffic Using Referral Marketing

Most people do not have any long term or medium term strategy for building up traffic to their Adsense sites. While valuable keywords are important, the truth is that the vast majority of clicks will earn you a couple of cents and maybe a dollar once in a while. So the only way to dramatically increase your earnings is to increase traffic.

Despite what people say about viral marketing sites, I still find that they make a lot of sense as far as the principles of effective online marketing go. The net is really a very powerful tool for viral marketing where you can do only a little and trigger off a viral effect that will give you millions – more so when you are talking about traffic and hits to your site.

At my blog I have listed the name of my favorite viral marketing site.

Even if you do not like my viral site idea, please ensure that you have a medium term and long term strategy for building up the traffic to your Adsense site.

3. A Valuable Keyword That Is Not Relevant Is Not One Of The Ways To Make Money From Adsense

There has been a lot of emphasis on valuable Adsense keywords in recent times. In my opinion many folks have gone overboard with them. It is important to note that the only keyword that will help you are the ones that are closley related to your site. The more relevant the valuable keywords are to your site the better.

Finding a clever way to use a valuable but irrelevant keyword at your site is not one of the ways to make money with Adsense. The reason is simple. The visitors you attract will not be interested in the keyword as a subject and are therefore unlikely to click on it.

So what is the secret the high Adsense earners use here? They actually narrow the focus of their valuable keywords search to keywords that are as closely related to their subject as possible.

By Christopher Kyalo

Good to Know Stock Trading Information

2007-04-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

Stock trading is a complex process that may be quite confusing and deceitful to a new trader. Therefore, if you plan to start investing your money in shares, you should first choose a stock trading strategy that is most suitable for yourself.

The major difference between stock trading strategies is based on timeframe. It means that an active day investor will act and react differently than a long term trader. Any stock trading strategy has its own pros and cons so analyse them carefully before starting investing your savings in stock shares.

The day trader is an active player; he is always buying and selling shares inside the timeframe of a day. This kind of stock trading has to advantage of saving you the trouble of facing any overnight risk. If a shareâ€™s price is experiencing a sudden rise or drop, he can immediately take advantage of the situation. A day trader is usually targeting to get quick profits while facing small risks. The bad thing about this type of stock trading system is that it is very time consuming, you have to be permanently alert and focused on the stock trends. But the trading costs represent the worst thing. The commission tends to be very large when you sell and buy several times a day.

The swing trader is an investor who is focusing on longer periods of trading, meaning a few days or even weeks. This method has the advantage of having few commissions to be paid and the opportunity to experience some important changes in shareâ€™s price. The main downside of this method is its higher risk due to the longer trading period.

The long term swing trader is an investor much alike the swing trader above. The difference between these two is the longer period of time, several weeks, he is targeting. This method has a good aspect: the long term swing trader is avoiding the inconvenience of being affected by minor trading swings. And the profit is bigger; experienced traders target even a 50% profit using this method.

But bigger profit brings bigger risks; you will be trading over a longer period of time, therefore you will be exposed to bigger trading risks. And it is likely for you to miss many short-term trend changes.

The buy and hold trader is the investor who is buying stocks and hold them for a very long period of time, even for years.

This type of stock trading can bring you a very good profit with a small effort. But be careful when you choose to use this method as it may turn against you if you donâ€™t have a good, strong investment strategy. This means that the secret to earn money out of this method is not just holding to the stock and hope for the best, but to analyse the stock trend, the market evolution and to set a profit target.

In conclusion, there are methods of stock trading for any type of person. You just have to analyse every type of method and use the one it represents you best. And remember that making profit on the stock market requires brains, instinct and luck!

For a Stock Trading system and investment strategy that is simple and easy to follow just visit http://www.mytradingsystem.net Portfolio management strategies that work in all types of stock market.

By Ispas Marin

Currency Trading: Create Massive Wealth From Currency Trading Program

2007-03-29T06:42:00.000-07:00

This article describes the secrets on how to create true personal wealth from safe currency trading online from your home or office.

What is currency trading?

How can you get rich and powerful from currency trading?
Who can do currency trading?

Can you do currency trading from any country of the world?
Until six years ago, when the United States Congress passed a law and made it possible for the small investors and average citizen to participate in this currency day trading, only large banks, financial institutions, millionaires and billionaires were doing currency trading.

Currency day trading is the best kept “Secret” of the rich and powerful, international bankers, the money elite, who own and control all the banks, companies, corporations and foundations in the world.

Currency online trading is when you buy and sell the foreign currencies of different countries online.

Through currency trading, you can put your money to work for you like millionaires and billionaires do, instead of you working for your money.

There is no large investment, hard work, technical training or big “risk”.

Currency day trading investment enables you to use $1 to control an investment worth $200, and $500 to control $100,000 and $1000 to control $200,000 and $5000 to control $1,000,000 worth of investment.

Currency trading is the most profitable and attractive internet investing opportunity because you can do it from home or office and from any country in the world.

In currency online trading, you don’t need to do any marketing or selling or internet promotion to succeed.

In currency trading, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to do any internet promotion.

In currency trading, you don’t need any stocks or warehousing.

In currency online trading, all that you’ve to do is open an account with one of the brokers with as little as $300 or $2000.

Then follow simple instructions to buy and sell the currencies.

When the price of the currency is low, you buy.

In a few seconds or minutes, the price may go up, and you may sell it and make a profit.

By doing so, in a day, you can easily make $500-$1000 by just buying, selling and trading these foreign currencies for about 3 or 4 hrs!

And get this:

You don’t even have to be stuck sitting behind your computer buying and selling these foreign currencies.

You can enter all your buy trades and specify the sell prices you desire and then log off.

Whenever the values of these foreign currencies rise and your selling prices reach, the currencies will be automatically sold for you and you make money!

You can put it into an auto-pilot and forget it, and it will keep generating fast easy cash for you daily, 365 days in the year like an “ATM” machine.

You can do currency trading and at the same time keep your day job, because in currency trading, there is no work to do.

In the future when you have made hundreds of thousands of dollars, you may then quit your job and just keep doing currency trading forever and go on permanent vacation!

To understand the beauty of currency trading, picture this:

In the morning, you get up from sleep at 6 am.

You go to your bathroom and have your shower.

At 7am, you hurry and eat your breakfast.

At 7.20 am, you login into your currency trading account on the internet and spend 10 minutes to buy about 3 or 4 different currencies, [for example British Pound, Euro, CHF (Swiss Currency) and Yen (Japanese currency).]

You can specify the price that you wish to sell each currency.

Then you can log off.

By 9 am, you’re at work in your office or business place.

You do your job as usual and by 5 pm, you’re finished and heading home.

When you get back home around 6.30 pm, you login into your currency trading account to see how much money you’ve made.

Holy Molly, there in your account it says you have made $750!

“Is this for real?”, you wonder…

Yes, it is. (Your eyes are not deceiving you…)

$750 in a day for just clicking your mouse twice and doing no work?

(Whereas at your job, you work 8 hrs, but make only probably $150)

This is how easy it is to make money from currency trading.

But before you use real money to open a live currency trading account, you have to open a free trial (demo) account (currency simulating trading) and practice first, to understand how it works and to acquire the right skills.

This free demo (trial) currency trading account (currency simulation trading) will help you to reduce a lot of risks that can lead to a loss.

In currency trading, you can choose how much money to invest, how much money to make and when to make it.

You may make money daily, 365 days all year from currency trading.

Your computer can be transformed into an “ATM” machine that cranks out cash for you daily (without large investment or hassles) from currency trading.

In currency day trading, you can choose what type of risk you can manage, when to invest and when not to invest.

In currency trading, you’re the boss. You may do as you please.

When currency trading is compared to other investment programs such as stock trading, bond trading, mutual funds, real estate and regular business, it is evident that currency trading is the fastest and greatest way to make money in the world.

Currency trading is a 2.5 trillion dollars daily business and it is larger than all the stock trading in the world combined.

These are some of the reasons why I believe that currency trading is the best online investing opportunity.

Perhaps from reading this article you’ll now come to know why currency trading is the secret behind the greatest wealth on earth and why it has been kept hidden from the average people of the world and therefore little known to the masses.

No matter who you are, be it a salesmen, doctors, office clerks, accountants, carpenters, actors, stockbrokers, small business owners, policemen, firemen, musicians, soldiers, housewives, technicians, attorneys, nurses, students, traders, cab drivers, engineers, you can get rich from currency trading.

No matter which country that you come from, such as USA, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, Greece, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, China, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand... you can create true personal wealth and success from doing currency trading.

Creating personal wealth on the internet from your home or office has never been this sinfully easy. (http://www.mscsrrr.com)

May these currency trading insights open your eyes to the possibility of infinite wealth and success that can be yours from currency trading.

Please feel free to print or publish this article anywhere and read and also send to your friends and well wishers and please preserve the author’s resource box below.

Warmly,

Ikey Benney

Penny Stocks - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2007-03-23T03:41:00.000-07:00

By S Sokol

Penny Stocks – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Penny stocks, in the most common terminology, are any stocks trading for less than $5.00 per share. While the official Securities and Exchange Commission definition of a penny stock is a low-priced, speculative security of a small company regardless of market capitalization or whether it trades on an exchange or an “over the counter” listing service, such as the OTCBB or Pink Sheets.

Penny stocks generally have small market caps, under $500 million and are considered more speculative than larger, widely held stocks. In most cases, that’s true.

However, penny stocks have huge potential. That’s both the good and the bad. For instance, our website (http://falconstocks.com) profiled Phazar Corporation (ANTP) when the stock closed at $5.00 per share. Less than two months later, it traded as high as $53.96 for a potential gain of over 975%. That’s the good. But for every stock that posts huge gains like this one, there are countless others that go nowhere or lose most if not all of their value. That’s the bad and the ugly.

We love penny stocks. Penny stocks are our business. The world of penny stocks is full of exciting small companies that are working hard to become the next Microsoft. It’s also full of hypesters, scammers and cheats. The trick is to find those stocks that aren’t the fly-by-night companies or the over-hyped shell that will only make the owners rich while leaving you holding the bag.

There are plenty of stocks out there that are truly good, growing companies that post a profit, but happen to have a low stock price. Some penny stocks were previous high-flyers. Gateway, Inc. (GTW) for instance, traded above $80 per share in 1999 but now trades just above $2. It seems improbable that Gateway could ever reach $80 again, but it could reach $4 or $6 if it can get its act together and make some headway. That would be a 100% or 200% gain. A gain like that would make holders of Wal-Mart envious as its stock is down from 2000, a full seven years ago, while the company was growing. Could Wal-Mart gain 100% or 200%? It’s possible, but it would take an enormous effort, like moving a mountain. Not so with smaller companies. In many cases it takes nothing more than good news, a switch to profitability or a new product to see these small companies post huge gains.

Everybody loves penny stocks, even if they don’t invest in them. We typed “penny stocks” into Google and it came out with 1,850,000 hits. That’s almost twice as many hits as we found typing in “blue-chip stocks”. Face it, the world of penny stocks is exciting, the world of blue-chips is, well, boring. Its amusing to us when the big news of the day is when a Microsoft or IBM moves 2% in a day. Yawn.

Our team looks for small companies with share prices under $5 that have a clean balance sheet, growing revenues and income, experienced management and a promising business outlook. Then we perform an extensive technical analysis to the basket of companies that we like and we pick the one that is acting the best that week. We post that stock for our readers every Tuesday before the market opens.

We’d like to invite everyone to stop by our site and see what we have to offer. While we do more than just penny stocks, that’s our main focus and our true love.
Visit us at http://falconstocks.com

How Compounding A Simple Monthly Investment Will Make A Millionaire - Guaranteed

2007-03-15T18:41:00.001-07:00

by: Alex Dale

It's a fact - a simple $1500 investment can make you a real millionaire, in dollars, in less than 20 years. Of course, this won’t happen over night, or over one year, but it will happen in less that 20 years, if you have the discipline needed.

It really is a simple process, and all it takes is:

1. A paycheck, or any other kind of steady income. Most people have that.

2. Discipline. This is where most people fail. In order for this plan to work, you need to make monthly deposits into your "millionaire fund". Many people will fail to make that commitment and stick with it. If you are ready to do it, your future as a millionaire is secured!

Are you ready for this simple plan?

Here's how to do it:

Step 1 : you need to find $1500/month to deposit into a special fund.

How do you get those extra $1500/month? You can take a second job, start a small business online or off, give up a few magazine subscriptions, work over time…whatever way you can find - you should be able to come up with $1500/month that you can save. Of course, you can start with less (maybe $1000/month), but this will slow things down.

Step 2: After you got those $1500/month, invest them with a conservative mutual fund that gives you a %10 yearly growth, on average.

Step 3: Repeat this process, EVERY month. Almost every month, a new "good" reason will arise, requiring you to give up the $1500 for another cause. This could be an unexpected bill, a vacation, a new appliance you "need" to buy. Don't be tempted. Keep depositing $1500 a month into your fund! This is the only way to make it to the millions. If you start skipping monthly deposits, your growth will suffer, and you will take years longer to get there.

OK, let's take a look at the yearly growth of $1500/month deposited into a %10 yearly growth fund:

End of year 1: 19,005
End of year 2: 40,000
End of year 3: 63,195
End of year 4: 88,817
End of year 5: 117,123
End of year 6: 148,393
End of year 7: 182,937
End of year 8: 221,098
End of year 9: 263,256
End of year 10: 309,828
End of year 11: 361,276
End of year 12: 418,112
End of year 13: 480,899
End of year 14: 550,261
End of year 15: 626,886
End of year 16: 711,535
End of year 17: 805,047
End of year 18: 908,351
End of year 19: 1,022,473

See? Over 2 million dollars in less that 20 years!

Of course, if you keep depositing for 30 or 40 years, the amounts will be much higher:

After 30 years: $3,418,987.99 (!)
After 40 years: $9,565,170.37 (!!!)

Building wealth is not rally hard. All you need is a paycheck and a commitment. If you start today, imagine where you'll be in 20 years!

Remember - the older you get, the more important money becomes (imagine being old AND broke…NOT a good thing).

Start early - and you will enjoy the rewards when the time is right.

Financial Alchemy: How to Be a Money Magnet

2007-03-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

by Morgana Rae

Financial Alchemy: Changing Your Relationship with Money By Morgana Rae, CPCC, MRC, MPNLP Your current financial situation is a direct reflection of your inner relationship with Money. If you don't like your finances, something needs to change in your relationship. This is where Alchemy comes in. Alchemy is the art of transformation. With roots in ancient Egypt and classical Greece, Alchemy comes from a time when there was no distinction between science and magic. The mysteries of matter and consciousness were inextricably linked (as they are again, in today's quantum physics). These ancient studies gave birth to modern medicine, psychology, chemistry, and even Sir Isaac Newton's work on gravity. The ultimate pursuit of Alchemy was the "Philosophers' Stone," a substance believed to turn worthless metals into gold. While Alchemists through the ages slaved in the laboratory, their metalwork concealed a spiritual process, a Philosophers' Stone which had to be kept hidden from the Church: this was the process of inner transformation. Two principles are involved here: 1) turning lead into gold was an outer demonstration of inner transformation, and 2) the seed of the solution (the gold) was hidden in the problem (the lead). I invite you to use this chapter to discover your own Philosophers' Stone--your key to wealth and inner transformation--hidden in your relationship with Money. Before we proceed, let's review some guidelines I adapted from Alchemist tradition: Rule #1: As it is above, so it is below. What shows up in your head is going to show up in your life. This chapter will be using fundamental Relationship Coaching skills to help you transform your relationship with money from a dead seed into a flowering garden. A seed comes to life as a living, thriving, fruit-flowering plant...in the right environment. So, too, your own prosperity. Your potential for financial abundance is there, waiting for the necessary environment within you. Your relationship with money is like the soil that feeds or starves your economic growth. As long as you have hidden beliefs that cause you to unconsciously repel money, perhaps "protect" yourself from wealth, your garden will not grow. Rule #2: There is no scarcity. A wealthy client once explained to me how he had overcome poverty. "The amount of money out there in play every day is limitless, beyond our comprehension. Money is everywhere," he explained. And it's available in proportion to "how big your funnel is to take it in." He had learned to tap into the Source. This relationship supported him. Rule #3: Consciousness gives you choice. I assert even a small change in your relationship consciousness can have a huge impact on your material life. You get what you choose, but first you need to know what you're choosing. How do I know this? I experienced this transformation myself. My story: For years I was struggling as a life coach. I had trouble attracting clients who would pay the fee I wanted. I found myself avoiding discussions of money as long as I could. The whole subject embarrassed me, and my discomfort translated into making clients uncomfortable too. I was "doing" all the right marketing things--networking, newsletters, sample sessions--and getting nowhere. I was not making a "grown-up" living. What was in my way, I wondered? My coach and I took a look at my relationship with Money. What were my stories about Money? What is this entity I'm in relationship with? What's going on with this relationship? Two discoveries popped out: money didn't feel safe or reliable, and money caused separation. (My family would swing between being rich and poor over and over again, and money was a "reason" for family members not to talk to each other for decades.) If my experience of money were given personhood, he'd look like an unkempt, unappealing, Hell's Angel biker type I didn't want to be around...someone untrustworthy who liked to cause fights. No wonder I wasn't bringing Money into my life! This was not the relationship with Money I wanted to have. (And it wasn't the relationship I wanted to model for my clients either.) So I created a new paradigm. I fired the Biker persona and put a romantic, clean-cut, soft-spoken suitor in his place. I chose a new Money "person" to relate to. This Money was like a sweet boyfriend who wooed me with gifts. He even wore a tux! Whenever I received a check, signed a new client, came across some unexpected income, I would graciously thank Money for the lovely gift. And this version of Money was valued and invited into my life. From then on my business and income kept growing. Within six months I had accrued such a waiting list of clients that I had to add group coaching to my services. I didn't have to look for my new clients; they were finding me. And all I had changed was my inner dialogue with money. Now it's your turn: If you want to improve your financial situation, you must first uncover the beliefs that shaped your relationship with Money. Get out some paper and respond to these questions. (Writing creates clarity and speeds your change.) What did you hear about money when you were growing up? What beliefs get between you and prosperity? What have you heard about women with money? Next, look at how Money has shown up in your life and in the lives of those around you. Give Money personhood in relationship to you. If Money were a person, what would your version of this Money "person" be like? Who is Money? How do you feel about Money? Do you trust Money? Does Money trust you? How does Money operate in your life? How does Money feel about you? Is Money someone you'd want to have a relationship with if you didn't "have to?" Now, take a step back and imagine looking at this relationship between yourself and Money-as-a-person from the outside. What shift needs to happen in this relationship? Now, as yourself, negotiate with Money: Does Money have a request for you? Do you have a request for Money? What's going to be different? How do you want to be different in this relationship? What is the next step to making this change real? Money is like any other relationship; it comes where it's invited and appreciated. It rarely comes when it is chased. It can be your partner if you listen to it. The more you care for this relationship, the more money you will attract. HERE ARE FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO BE A BETTER MONEY MAGNET

1) Appreciate money. Appreciate even the smallest denomination. Think of how good you feel when you are valued for even a small gesture. It's the same with money. Every time you practice receiving and appreciating, you train the universe to send you more.

2) Strengthen your boundaries. Have the courage to say "yes" to what you want and "no" to what you don't want. Clear the clutter and energy drains in your life. Strong boundaries build your self esteem and free you to focus on what is important to you. This is very attractive to money.

3) Make a wish list. List one hundred things you would buy if money were no object. The items on your list put what you want on your radar. Through a mental process called reticular activation, your mind will start to discover opportunities to manifest the items on your list.

4) Manage your money. The better you manage what you have, the better able you will be to manage more. Get in the habit of diverting a percentage of your income into a wealth-building account, even if you are paying down debt. And set aside something for your favorite charities--nothing builds a sense of abundance like the ability to give to others.

And finally,

5) Surround yourself with successful people. You take on traits of the people you spend the most time with. If you want to be financially free, spend your time with financially successful people who share your values. Identify rich people you admire. Pick up their mindsets and practices for enlightened wealth building.
About the Author

Morgana Rae, CPCC, MPNLP, is president of Charmed Life Coaching, a life and business coaching company that guides clients to market creatively and inexpensively, to attract more than they chase, and to enjoy success without sacrificing their humanity. A popular speaker and frequent television and radio guest, Morgana was featured in the new movie "A Millionaire Mind- Awaken The Secret" with Christopher Gardner ( As portrayed in "

Gold – The Celebrity Of The Metal World

2007-03-02T19:12:00.000-08:00

by: John Gibb
The most iconic precious metal of all time, gold is a valuable and widely used metal for jewellery, currency, computer parts, dentistry, satellites and various other applications.
Gold occurs naturally as nuggets or grains in rock; in fact the gold nugget is an iconic symbol of frontier America when prospectors would ‘pan’ for gold, sifting through rivers and streams for traces of a gold mine. Gold gets its chemical symbol Au from the latin ‘aurum’ which means ‘glowing dawn’, due to it’s distinctive yellow metallic glow. The purity of gold is measured in carats, with 24 carats being pure, though this was originally for measuring the weight of the gold. Merchants from the Middle East would weigh items with carob beans and this is still used for gems.
Gold is known for its practicality. It is very malleable meaning that it can be made into various shapes with relative ease; it conducts heat and electricity (this being a reason for its use in electronic components) and does not react to most corrosive chemicals which makes it better for jewellery. It also forms alloys easily, allowing other properties to be found and the colour to be changed. One such alloy, platinum with gold, makes white gold which has become massively popular in jewellery, because it has the elegance and stature of gold while being new and distinct
Gold is so malleable that it has been used as thread in clothing, wiring in computers, in dentistry for crowns and bridges and even actual gold teeth. It is used on satellites and astronaut’s visors because of it’s reflective properties. Gold flakes are even used in expensive gourmet dishes is come countries. It has no taste and is merely a delicacy and status symbol, thought some people believe that gold has medicinal properties. The symbolism of gold as a token of wealth has been used throughout history; the negative of golden pocket watches in Communist propaganda and the positive of ‘gold cards’ or golden tickets employed by credit card companies and promotional marketing. It has been used by civilisations all over the world to decorate religious artefacts and temples. This contributes to the steadfast place that gold holds in our society as a symbol and a practical tool, giving it a permanent place in our history.

How to Pick Hot Stocks in 2007 Good Growth Stocks to Buy - Top Technology Stocks

2007-02-23T18:27:00.000-08:00

By Bill Carter

The stock market should present you with a lot of hot stocks in 2007. Many of them are going to be new technology stocks that come from the nanotech, biotech, voip, healthcare, homeland defense or internet sectors.
Most of them might seem promising, but the truth is that a good number of these trading & investing opportunities could be extremely risky, while others are simply not as good as they look. That's why it's very important to know how to choose among the best especially if you want to day trade them.
When you know how to pick and approach the best hot stock trading opportunities, you are able to generate a consistent and respectable amount of money in a very short period of time.
Experienced day traders recognize that trading hot stocks on momentum can be the fastest way to make money in the stock market.
You don't necessarily have to trade momentum hot stocks all the time. But you can learn how to take advantage of them when you encounter the best opportunities for going long or for shorting them to make money when they are poised to fall down.
If You decide to day trade stocks just keep always in mind that for a trader to survive and be consistently profitable, its necessary to keep things as simple as possible. To much confusion and technical indicators will most of the time make you slow in your decisions and froze you up when a good opportunity is right in front of your screen.
In the end, stock market day trading is all about picking the best daily stock opportunities and following your buy and sell signals with ease and simplicity. Once you learn to master your trading decisions, you can aspire to produce consistent profitable results.

Do-it-Yourself Retirement Plan

2007-02-16T20:22:00.000-08:00

By Rex Truman

For your retirement plan, do you have to rely on financial advisers? Or can you build your own retirement plan? Yes, it is possible to run your own retirement plan, and in many countries you are allowed to do so.

But building a retirement plan takes time and effort – it is no good just putting your money into one thing like a group of equities and leave them alone. You might scan the financial pages of the paper one day to find your retirement plan had lost 30-50% of its value!

To build your own retirement plan, you will need to spend, say, an hour a week managing it, and more time reading.

How does the Big Picture affect your retirement plan?

The reason you need to keep in touch with what is happening in the investment world is that you need to see the Big Picture well to make your retirement plan work. What do I mean?

You need to know:

1. Whether the economy is growing or flagging or in recession.

2.

What is expected to happen with inflation over the next two years or so – and keep getting it right.

3.

Is the stock market in an uptrend, going sideway, or going down – these trends can last from one to 10 years.

4.

How high are interest rates relative to inflation.

Here are some examples. If real inflation was zero, and interest rates were 10% - you might just stick bonds in your retirement plan. It would be that simple.

Alternatively, if you knew that the stock market had just embarked on an uptrend that would last ten years – then you might put good quality stocks in your retirement plan.

If inflation is growing, and likely to grow in the future, then you might want to put lots of property, gold and/or silver coins or bullion and collectibles in your retirement plan.

These are just extreme examples. However, life is rarely like that, while investment advisers – who are mostly salesmen – will tell you that the outlook is good for stocks whatever is happening. Generally, it is necessary to have some of your retirement plan invested in government bonds, some in stocks and some in property bonds. If the stock market is weak, then a Bear Fund may be appropriate.

If you are prepared to study the stock market, and follow the long trends, it may be worth managing your own retirement plan. However, you should seek professional advice whatever you do.

Disclaimer: This information is not intended as investment advice, but is intended to show how things can behave differently at different times. Do not use this information as investment advice for your retirement plan or anything else – consult a professional advisor.

Gold Investment Versus Alchemy – Turning Dross Into Gold!

2007-02-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

by: Charles Goodwin

I’m often asked if Gold is a good investment and I invariably answer that gold may well be a good long term investment for an investor but I am a wealth creator and the very word “investment” is simply not part of my wealth creation vocabulary.

This statement usually results in a very perplexed look on my questioner’s face.

And so it was with Walter. Walter is a financially struggling bank employee and came to me to learn about wealth creation. (Yes I assure you, there are tens of thousands of financially struggling bank employees out there.)

‘Charles, so you are saying that if you had a spare $25,000.00 you would not even consider exchanging it for gold bullion?’

‘My dear chap, why would a wealth creator swap one asset (money) valued at $25,000.00 for another asset (gold) also valued at $25,000.00? Rather pointless exercise don’t you think?’

‘But gold may rise in value and your money might devalue – isn’t gold a hedge against such occurrences?’

‘Yet equally, gold could go down in price and the currency strengthen – surely what you are contemplating is just a form of gambling, is it not?’

‘On that logic all investment is a form of gambling, as prices of any share or commodity can go down as well as up. That is why one needs to weigh the risks.’

‘Exactly so – and that is why I am a wealth creator and not an investor or speculator. Investors and speculators hope and pray for some future event to occur, whereas a wealth creator insists on increasing one’s wealth at the point of purchase.’

‘But Charles you can’t buy gold bullion at wholesale rates – as you well know the spot price is fixed daily.’

‘Who said anything about paying wholesale price for it – I would prefer to be an alchemist and turn dross into gold.’

Walter’s young moon face went red with frustration. ‘Oh come Charles, please be serious with me and stop toying. I truly want to be wealthy one day and on a bank teller’s salary alone, I can’t see that happening.’

‘Oh but I am being serious. Turning dross into gold is a very enjoyable hobby – the challenge is not whether one can accomplish the task – merely how quickly one can accomplish each stage of the goal one sets for one’s self.’

‘An enjoyable hobby! … But how on earth do you do that?’

‘Simply by making the conscious decision to become a wealth creator – develop your own part time wealth program and stick to it. Besides my book The Secrets Of Wealth Creation Revealed, I’ve written many free articles that are now all over the web. Study them and then begin your wealth program ASAP! There are a thousand and one ways to accomplish the task of turning dross into gold. It’s a matter of first knowing the principles, secondly establishing an easily managed workable plan - then thirdly, having the fortitude to stick at it.’

‘You mentioned setting “goal stages” could you give me an abbreviated example of how one goes about the process?’

‘Well if your desire is to amass gold then if I were you, I would have a clean out boot or yard sale of all superfluous items in my possession (dross) to raise some initial capital. I would take that small amount of money and taking my time (because time is virtually immaterial to the success of this endeavor) haunt charity shops, other peoples yard and boot sales, auctions etc and buy items that I know I can resell at several times the price I paid.

I would keep a list of the expected realizable value of such items (wealth total) and keep buying and selling till that list total becomes about $9,000.00 in value. Now I know to you that may sound difficult to achieve right now but please understand, if you are working on 200% minimum mark up, this can be accomplished so quickly. That is $150.00 in sales becomes $450.00 which becomes $1,350.00 which becomes $4,050.00 which becomes over $12,140.00 and so on.

Now as I said, once that total of goods on hand passes $9,000.00, stage 2 of my wealth plan would come into effect. That is, I would then save the proceeds of the next approx $3,000.00 of sales (depending on current spot price) and purchase a 5 ounce gold bar.

The realizable value of the remainder of stock would still be a minimum of $6,000.00. My next task would be to quickly increase this total back up to $9,000.00 and then repeat the gold purchase. You can continue this process until you feel you have amassed enough gold.

You will find as you learn and gain experience, wealth creating will become your second nature. Opportunities will materialize all around you. Soon you will be running in and buying gold bars at least twice a month. People will think you have the Midas touch and you will be able to say ‘No it isn’t that at all – It is all the result of Alchemy and my dear old friend Charles Goodwin!’

Do not worry about the spot price fluctuating. Merely stay detached and consider that you are simply turning dross into gold and of course that is exactly what you are doing. If you have any doubts in your own abilities divide all the figures by 5 and initially buy an ounce of gold at a time. I can assure you the journey is both exciting and interesting. You will learn so much upon this journey and then one day the penny will drop and you will suddenly realize that the world is now your oyster. You can create as much wealth as you desire.’

‘Charles, forgive me – but may I ask the obvious question. You have shown me a fool proof way to amass great wealth, what do I do about taxation?’

‘I am a wealth guru as well as a mystic! Would I leave you floundering without a tax plan equally as simple and equally as effective? No of course I wouldn’t. But at some stage you will simply have to beg, borrow or steal a copy of (or dare I say it – even buy a copy!) The Secret Of Wealth Creation Revealed and truly – all will be revealed!’

The Importance Of Making A Will

2007-02-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

by: Benedict Rohan

Please note: this article applies to residents of England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is provided for general information only. It does not constitute financial advice.

It’s not something that anyone likes to think about, but deciding what happens to your estate when you die is crucially important for ensuring that your loved ones are looked after when you’re gone and that your assets are distributed as you would have wished.

Many people think that wills are only necessary for people with a great deal of wealth, but this isn’t the case. There are certain laws governing how a person’s estate is divided if they die ‘intestate’ (i.e. without a will), which might not be what you would expect or intend. For example, if you’re not married or in a civil partnership, even if you co-habit with your partner, they will not be entitled to inherit anything from you unless you specifically mention them in your will. Even if you are married, without children, your spouse will not inherit your entire estate – other living relatives such as your parents and siblings will be entitled to a share. Also, if your circumstances change, for example if you get married, divorced or remarried or have children, this could make your estate more complicated to settle. Another important point to bear in mind is that if you don’t have a will, you won’t have a named executor to carry out the administration of your estate and the responsibility will fall upon your beneficiaries, whom you may deem unsuitable to handle your affairs.

Making a will has other advantages too – planning your estate and who will inherit may help you to minimize the impact of the inheritance tax laws.

To make a will, you must be 18 years of age or older. You must be considered to be of sound mind and it should be written without pressure from any other party. A will must be recorded in writing, and it needs to be signed by yourself in the presence of two witnesses, who must also sign. Beneficiaries of the will and married partners of beneficiaries cannot act as witnesses. If they do, the will won’t be invalidated, but their inheritance will be. The completed and signed will can be kept anywhere you want – at home, at your bank, at your solicitor’s office, at a Probate Sub-registry, a District Registry or the Family Division Registry of the High Court.

The big question for many people is whether it’s necessary to employ a solicitor to set up a will. The answer is no, but it is certainly recommended, particularly if your estate and personal circumstances are rather complex. It’s also easy to make seemingly simple mistakes which could end up having significant consequences. Common errors are not understanding what has to be done to make a will legally valid, changing the will without having it signed by witnesses, failing to make alterations in the event of a change in personal circumstances, forgetting about parts of your estate, or not taking into account that the beneficiary might die before inheriting.

Solicitor charges for setting up a will can vary between solicitors and will also depend on how complex your estate is. If you’re a member of a trade union, your membership may entitle you to a free will-writing service or free legal advice. You can bring down costs by considering in advance what your assets are and to whom you would like to leave them – whether family, friends or charity. This will include property, possessions, bank accounts, insurance policies, pensions and shares.

Also think about who you want to appoint as executor of your estate and who you want to look after your children should you die before they reach the age of 18.

You should certainly consider using a solicitor if you have complicated personal circumstances, for example if you live with someone who isn’t your spouse or civil partner, if you have a dependant who is unable to look after themselves, if you have a business or own property abroad, if you don’t live in the UK or aren’t a UK citizen, or if you have lots of family members who may make claims on your estate, such as ex-spouses or children from previous marriages.

If you don’t want to use a solicitor, it’s possible to purchase ‘DIY’ will kits from many high street stationers and bookshops or online providers, which will provide basic guidance.

Remember to make amendments your will any time you have a change in circumstances such as marriage, remarriage, divorce, civil partnership or the birth or adoption of children. You’ll need to be careful in how you amend your will to ensure that it remains valid. It’s not possible to write alterations onto an existing will. Instead you must either write what’s known as a ‘codicil’ or draw up a new will entirely. A codicil is like an addendum to your will. It doesn’t replace the original will, but makes alterations to one or more of the sections.

Only the person who created the original will can make a codicil, and it must be signed and witnessed in the same way as the original will (although not necessarily by the same witnesses). It’s only suitable for making small and uncomplicated changes such as increasing or decreasing the amount of money left to a beneficiary, adding a new beneficiary or changing the executor. You can add as many codicils as you want to your will, but if you have lots of amendments or complex changes it’s best to start afresh with a new will altogether. When you draw up your new will, you should insert a clause at the beginning to explain that this new will revokes all previous wills and codicils. Your old will is no longer valid after you do this (and have your new will signed and witnessed), and you should therefore destroy it. You must destroy it yourself too, or have it destroyed in your presence – otherwise it may still be considered valid.

Your will may be challenged if a person feels that it hasn’t left them with adequate provision or they don’t believe it to be valid – for example, if it hasn’t been drawn up in line with the legal requirements outline above.

What's The Fuzz About E-Currency Trading

2007-01-26T18:47:00.000-08:00

You keep hearing about this money making system that requires no selling, only an hour a day (max) and no special skill.

Yeah right.

At least that's the first impression for someone who has been in the internet for a while.

Enter E-Currency Trading.

What if you were able to provide the liquid capital for "Internet Money" so that it could be used with as a backup or “real money”?

You can make around 1.5% to 4% in daily interests on your capital for doing that. My eyes almost popped out. You can gain coumpounding interest for a starting investment as little as 50 bucks.

Depending on your background, it may be a little hard to believe that you can take $100 and turn them into $800 in less than 45 days. I'm 21 years old and it was tought for me to believe it. You're actually putting your money to work. Yep, it happens. And it takes no special skill. After all, your money is the one doing all the hard work.

There is a downside, of course. It’s a very complex system to grasp at first. In fact it can be overwhelming if you don’t know what the heck you’re doing. Open an account here, another one there, buy some stuff here buy some stuff there. You could go insane trying to figure it out by yourself.

I was lucky enough to do it the simple way. If someone guides you step by step, with a visual image of how he uses the system Every-Step-Of-the-Way,

“do this, open this account, then open this other account, put your money here, transfer it here, and see how it grows”

When someone takes you by the hand like that and teaches you, it just become too easy. All I did was watch a video, do Exactly like on the video. Watch the next video, do exactly what you see on the video. Watch the next video and... well you get the point.

The great thing about E-currency Trading is that you and I and everyone else does the same thing to make money. We all take the same path. If you’re heading this way, if you’re interested in learning about e-currency trading, I can recommend you take the smart way and learn the system instead of trying to figuring out for yourself.

When you decide to learn currency exchange the smart way, the rewards are higher in a shorter time frame, without really having a learning curve because you are learning it directly from a source that is already generating income for themselves.

Remember the law that says that the shortest path between two distances is a straight line.

About the author:
Charles Cruz CEO of Currency Trading Center. Teaching you how to set you income on fire with Currency Exchange.

Portfolio Management Art Of War

2007-01-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

by: Jason Ng

It’s been a long and hard decade…

Having been managing investment portfolios and accounts for the past decade both professionally and personally, me, like an army of other portfolio managers out there, are not only looking for the perfect trading system, but also the perfect way to manage an investment account.

Indeed, there are whole bombardments of theories of risk management and portfolio management out there that it is mind boggling. There are risk management concepts that attempt to govern each investment trade and position sizing based on complex probability calculations and there are even concepts that were born in Las Vegas, claiming what high stake poker gamblers do. The problem with these concepts is that they are mainly mathematical concepts that took the human factor out of the game completely.

Let’s face it, if you have ever managed a portfolio or an investment account, you will know that it is never as simple or left to chance as a game of poker and it is never as mechanical and emotionless as the mathematical calculations claim.

After a decade of thinking along these lines, I realized that these portfolio management concepts are important but there must be something on top of these that must govern the mind that executes these concepts. This “Meta Program” must be the “Operating System” in the mind of the portfolio manager and rule the way the portfolio manager or trader looks at a portfolio or investment account. With such a “Meta Program” in mind, the portfolio manager will be able assess changes in a portfolio or investment account in the right light and to behave in ways that are appropriate to the prevailing situation.

Here I present my personal “Meta Program” called the Portfolio Management Art of War.

Every Investor, Trader, Fund Manager or Portfolio Manager is an Emperor or King of his or her own trading Empire. Your Empire exists in a world that is engulfed and consumed in an eternal warfare. This world is called the Exchange (stock, forex, commodity or whatever exchange you are involved in.).

The boundaries and resources of your Empire are defined by the size of your Fund. Some Kings have bigger territories and some have smaller ones but all are driven by the common need to survive in the Exchange by expanding their territories and boundaries.

As a King, your mandate in the Exchange is to find ways and means to expand your Empire over time. If that cannot be done, you will soon find that you might not be the King of this Empire for very long.

In order to expand one’s territory, one must lead one’s Empire into war against the rest of the Exchange. Some Kings are more aggressive and some, more conservative. Regardless of level of aggression, every King’s resources must be committed in various ways into battle against the Exchange. Every winning battle expands the King’s territory and every losing battle loses part of the Empire and the boundaries shrinks. Some King has a target boundary size but know that as long as you remain a King, you will one day be drawn into battle against the Exchange again. The war in the Exchange is eternal.

In order to battle in the Exchange, every King must have a Strategy. Some splits one’s army up into many squads which fights independently and some engages in a total war against the Exchange with the whole Empire leaving only very little backup. Some organizes one’s army into many functional squads, with some squads fighting more aggressively and some squads fighting more conservatively. This Strategy is called the Portfolio Management System that the King chooses to adopt. Each squad then fights using specific Tactics called Trading Systems.

How a King chooses his Strategy and Tactic depends largely on the part of the Exchange that a King chooses to fight in. Every part of the Exchange (Forex or commodity or equity etc..) has its own unique characteristics and rules of engagement which the King must be thoroughly familiar with.

Every time a King sends forward a squad to do battle in the Exchange by drawing upon his Empire and placing a position in the Exchange, it must always be held in mind that there is no guarantee that you will ever see that brave general that was being sent forth again. If the squad loses, you lose a part of your Empire to the Exchange. Therefore you must take very frequent look at the overall map of your Empire (which should always be pinned up prominently in your war room.) and monitor how far back the Exchange has taken your Empire before thinking about and making your next move. If the squad wins, that general expands your Empire farther into the Exchange. That gives you more resources and more troops to wage your next battle. The King must then decide how these new resources are to be deployed… shall he assign the new troops into his existing squads? Should the King hold the new troops and resources back as backup for future battles? Should the King expand on the number of squads using the new troops? Strategic deployment of these resources could turn the tide of the entire war.

Before a King sends a squad forward, he must first assess the capability of the General that is to lead this assault. This is your Research. If you are highly confident that this General will win the battle, should you give him more troops so that he can claim more territory? If you are slightly less confident of that General, should you cut back on his troop or hold back the assault altogether?

Finally, if your Empire has been compromised and the Exchange has claimed a significant portion of it, is it time you consider a change in Strategy and Tactics? Even if the Exchange has claimed a large portion of your Empire, you might still be able to wage a series of battles so successful that you could probably claim the Empire that you started with and maybe even more, like so many famous Kings and Generals in the world. So, even if your Empire has taken a rough hit, it is not time to surrender yet. You are the King. If you give up, the whole Empire falls.

With this “Meta Program” in mind, you will be able to apply many of the famous art of war and their centuries of wisdom on top of the modern finance techniques that you have learnt in order to have even more certain survivability for a long time to come.

Every King needs a tactical map. I have made one such map which you can use for free in order to have a strategic overview of your Empire and help you keep the metaphor in mind at http://www.mastersoequity.com/metamap.htm

For everything you want to know about option trading, please visit http://www.optiontradingpedia.com

Forex: Benefits of Trading the Forex Market

2007-01-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

Trading the Forex market has become very popular in the last years. Why is it that traders around the world see the Forex market as an investment opportunity? We will try to answer this question in this article. Also we will discuss come differences between the Forex market, the stocks market and the futures market.

Some of the benefits of trading the Forex market are:

Superior liquidity
Liquidity is what really makes the Forex market different from other markets. The Forex market is by far the most liquid financial market in the world with nearly 2 trillion dollars traded everyday. This ensures price stability and better trade execution. Allowing traders to open and close transactions with ease. Also such a tremendous volume makes it hard to manipulate the market in an extended manner.
24hr Market
This one is also one of the greatest advantages of trading Forex. It is an around the click market, the market opens on Sunday at 3:00 pm EST when New Zealand begins operations, and closes on Friday at 5:00 pm EST when San Francisco terminates operations. There are transactions in practically every time zone, allowing active traders to choose at what time to trade.
Leverage trading

Trading the Forex Market offers a greater buying power than many other markets. Some Forex brokers offer leverage up to 400:1, allowing traders to have only 0.25% in margin of the total investment. For instance, a trader using 100:1 means that to have a US$100,000 position, only US$1,000 are needed on margin to be able to open that position.
Low Transaction costs
Almost all brokers offer commission free trading. The only cost traders incur in any transaction is the spread (difference between the buy and sell price of each currency pair). This spread could be as low as 1 pip (the minimum increment in any currency pair) in some pairs.
Low minimum investment
The Forex market requires less capital to start trading than any other markets. The initial investment could go as low as $300 USD, depending on leverage offered by the broker. This is a great advantage since Forex traders are able to keep their risk investment to the lowest level.

Specialized trading
The liquidity of the market allows us to focus on just a few instruments (or currency pairs) as our main investments (85% of all trading transactions are made on the seven major currencies). Allowing us to monitor, and at the end get to know each instrument better.
Trading from anywhere

If you do a lot of traveling, you can trade from anywhere in the world just having an internet connection.

Some of the most important differences between the Forex market and other markets are explained below.

Forex market vs. Equity markets

Liquidity
FX market: Near two trillion dollars of daily volume.
Equity market: Around 200 billion on a daily basis.

Trading hours
FX market: 24hr market, 5.5 days a week
Equity market: Monday through Friday from 8:30 EST to 5:00 EST

Profit potential
FX market: In both, rising and falling markets.
Equity market: Most traders/investor profit only from rising markets.

Transaction costs
FX market: Commission free and tight spreads.
Equity market: High Commissions and transaction fees.

Buying power
FX market: Leverage up to 400:1
Equity market: Leverage from 2:1 to 4:1

Specialization
FX market: most volume (85%) is made on major currencies (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD and AUD)
Equity market: More than 40,000 stocks to choose from

Forex market vs. Futures market

Liquidity
FX Market: Near two trillion dollars of daily volume.
Futures market: Around 400 billion dollars on a daily basis.

Transaction costs
FX market: Commission free and tight spreads.
Futures market: High commissions fees.

Margin
FX market: Fixed rate of margin on every position.
Futures market: Different levels of margin on overnight positions than day time positions.

Trade execution
FX market: Instantaneous execution.
Futures market: Inconsistent execution.

All this makes the Forex market very attractive to investors and traders. But I need to make something clear, although the benefits of trading the Forex market are notorious; it is still difficult to make a successful career trading the Forex market. It requires a lot of education, discipline, commitment and patience, as any other market.

About the author:
Raul Lopez is a full time Forex trader and founder of http://www.straightforex.coma high quality Forex training and Forex trading course provider.

The Importance Of Making A Will

2007-01-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

The Case For Complementary Currencies

2006-12-28T22:09:00.000-08:00

by: Martina van Dongen

Over the past few years we've seen that many local currencies have come into existence.

Let's first take a look at what a local currency is, and then follow the story why they mushroom now.

A local currency or a complementary currency is used as a medium of exchange among participating of a local group. The members of the group share the same economic interest: they wish to broaden the economic basis of the region they live in, and they wish to broaden the basis of the businesses they run. Local currencies may come in the shape of coins and notes just like the ones issued by the Central Bank, or they may be completely virtual, like credit and debit entries of a barter exchange. Also, they may be digital, like for instance digital currencies, backed by precious metals.

The common feature of all the local interest groups is to find ways and means to overcome the flaws of the monetary system in existence.

In the current monetary system there are two flaws.

First of all, the current monetary system allows private individuals or private companies to charge interest on loans to others.

Today there are huge inconsistencies in the value of global production, debt and assets.

In an environment of tougher competition prices drop. With falling prices risks are on the rise that borrowers will default on loan repayment.

Another feature of the current monetary system is the fact that it is not cash flow safe. The bearer of an amount of cash may prefer to hoard his cash. There is even a premium on this strategy: any local bank will pay interest on deposits of money. However, there is no guarantee that the bank will grant loans to the local community.

Local (regional) currencies are not in use as a substitute for legal tender. Hence the name complementary currency. Complementary currencies are used anywhere where a group (local, regional, or special economic interest) finds that adverse economic trends need to be responded to.

The focus of groups that adopt a business strategy to use a form of complementary currency is to broaden its economic basis. The local economy will grow because it is active, open, and diversified. Sustainable economic growth is not expected to come from a rapid sale of assets, like local resources.

Benefits

The introduction of a complementary currency is successful if participants of the system have at least one product or service to offer to the community using that currency.

From the point of view of each individual participant in the currency system, the system provides a marketing tool at virtually no cost.

Ever since the end of the experiment in the Austrian township of Woergl in 1934, chances are slim to none that the monetary system in existence (a National Bank that is responsible for the issue of money; private individuals and companies are allowed to charge interest on loans to others) will ever be replaced by a system that handles these issues in a different way.

For this reason, complementary currencies that perform a function of deferred payment in one way or another have the best chances in the marketplace.

Best choice

Entrepreneurs have a wide variety of complementary currencies at their disposal.

Your best options are with the ones that provide easy access. So many people are expected to join; this feature makes a complementary currency a real marketing tool.

Your choice should also be for the ones that are closely linked to the existing monetary system. People who go with the tide succeed in the marketplace. People who go against the tide don't.

Deferred payment poses a risk to the party that accepts this form of payment.

Parties who take risks obviously deserve to be rewarded. Complementary currencies in the shape of credit and debit entries in the books of a barter exchange have a role to play here.

In a barter exchange participants may be eligible to a line of non-cash "credit" against collateral. The credit is granted in form of purchasing power with other participants to buy goods and services. Accounts are settled with the line of credit. The participant has the option to repay the line of credit by selling products and/or services for complementary currency within the group of participants, or to settle the account with cash within the time frame agreed upon. This option makes the system sustainable, and it protects the participants against the risk of default of one of their peers.

The combination of the features: easy access and numerous participants, and linkage to the current monetary system as a form of deferred payment make for a solid, sustainable system.

One of the opportunities today (November 2006) is http://threepointeightmillioncash.blogspot.com.

Especially if you are a small business owner, you should plan ahead and develop a strategy to stand out from other small business owners. The use of one or more complementary currencies and the organizations that stand behind them provides a low cost and time efficient means to put your product on the market, before somebody else does.

To take things a step further, you will stand out in a positive way by packaging seemingly unrelated business transactions, making use of offers of surplus production of various goods, standard currencies, and complementary currencies. The latter may be freely replaced by: the services of a barter exchange.

You will stand a better chance starting your small business following this strategy than focusing on selling your product for cash, which is always in short supply.

Along with this strategy, as Frits Visscher points out in his brochure "How to be a successful corporate consultant", there are tons of opportunities for small start up businesses and for consultants, business promoters, middlemen, intermediaries, finders, business developers and commercial agents. In your home town there are people who plan to start a business, who have started a business, who are buying an existing business, who are selling a business. All are looking out for cash that is in short supply. You can earn substantial fees if you make use of one or more complementary currencies. Incidentally, Frits Visscher's brochure is for sale by referral only.

Resources:
Finder's Fees; Special Report by J.F. Straw
http://www.barternews.com
http://www.complementarycurrency.org

Learn About Equity Index Annuities

2006-12-24T19:34:00.000-08:00

by: Scott Walker

‘Save for a rainy day’ is a wise old saying and there are many ways you can prepare for the sunset of your life. Investing in an annuity is one way. An annuity is a long-term, interest-paying contract offered through an insurance company or financial institution. An equity indexed annuity is an annuity that earns interest that is linked to a stock or other equity index. Depending on how those stocks fare will determine what you gain. The equity index annuities, as in any kind of investments, have to be kept untouched for a long period. The typical time is a minimum of 7 years. This will ensure that you get the full benefit of having invested in an equity index annuity.

The equity index annuities are basically an option of investment that is offered by insurance companies. They actually provide you with the benefit of investing in the stock market without the associated risks of losing your money. So, in an equity index annuity, your principal is never lost and even in a worst case you may take some interest back home. The flip side of this however is that even if the stocks that the equity index annuity is invested in gives high returns, you will not receive the full returns but just a percentage. So you do not get the maximum returns for your equity index annuity but just a part.

This is however the compensation that the insurance companies who offer you the equity index annuities receive, for providing you with a safety net throughout the term of the annuity. The percentage of returns (i.e. the gain of the index) that your equity index annuity brings you is determined by the participation rate. This rate is pre-decided and varies and to know this you have to read the fine print prior to signing on the documents. The general participation rate offered for most equity index annuities is between 70 to 90 percent.

The equity index annuities are therefore seen as a conservative and prudent investment.

They became quite popular during the previous bullish run in the market and insurance companies saw them as an excellent means of combining the security of a guaranteed return with the boom of the stock market. All equity index annuities offer a minimum interest rate and its value also does not fall below the guaranteed minimum percentage of the premium paid i.e. 90 percent at least.

However to achieve maximum benefits, your equity index annuities should not be withdrawn before the term. If you do even a partial withdrawal it will definitely affect the interest you receive. Like all investments, this is best kept for a long term. This will also help your equity index annuities even out and recover if the index plunges. As we know the stock market is volatile and this needs to be kept in mind when investing. Also there are definite withdrawal penalties that you would have to pay as well.

How then do the insurance agencies benefit from offering equity index annuities? The insurance companies reinvest the premium amounts that you pay and this is usually invested into bonds. Since the participation rate is fixed, they have to pay only those set rates of interest to the investors of the equity index annuities and the insurance companies profit the balance.

Equity index annuities are generally affiliated to a particular stock market index such as the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average. However as the equity index annuities combine features of a typical insurance product with the traditional security they do completely fall into each of those specific categories.

As a typical insurance product you are guaranteed minimum return and in terms of securities your investment is linked to the equity market. However it all depends on the features that your equity index annuity provides and it may or may not be a security. The typical equity-indexed annuity is not registered with the SEC.

So then how does one know which equity index annuity is best for oneself? The only way is to find out as much as you can about the equity index annuity before you decide.

Ask a lot of questions like which stock market index does the equity index annuity use? What participation rate is being offered to you? Are there any hidden charges in terms of any fees or deductions payable? You have to run through a number of equity index annuity offerings before making your decision.

So save for a rainy day and do it the equity index annuity way!

How To Avoid Bankruptcy & Get Out Of Debt Faster Using Debt Negotiation!

2006-12-20T06:26:00.000-08:00

Has credit card debt got you thinking about bankruptcy?

You’re not the only one these days. Even with the new bankruptcy laws, credit card debt continues to climb. Unfortunately for most of us, our paychecks don’t climb as quickly.

If you’re on the verge of bankruptcy, you may have another alternative.

Debt negotiation is a process where you negotiate with your creditors to pay off your debts at a reduced amount – for example, if you owe $12,000, you can negotiation a payoff of $5,000. The benefit for the creditor is that they get more money than they may have through bankruptcy, and they get the money sooner. The benefit for you is obvious – you get out of debt faster, and save lots of money in interest.

Where do you get the money to pay off the debt?

Take the money you would have normally used to pay your credit card bills, put it aside, and when you accumulate enough to pay off the debt, send in the reduced amount you agreed to.

If this sounds confusing, that’s ok. It’s really not.

There are many professional companies that will do all the work for you, and charge you a percentage of the savings.

I can speak from experience (I built up a lot of debt trying to start a sporting goods business, which didn’t quite work out) that even with the fees, this is a good deal – plus you save a lot money by not having to pay the high interest rates on your credit card bills.

Sure, it is a more aggressive approach to getting out of debt than making minimum payments, using credit counseling, getting a debt consolidation loan, or borrowing from a friend or relative. But in the end, you’ll get out of debt faster…

And avoid bankruptcy!

If you’ve never heard of debt negotiation (also called debt settlement), that’s ok too, not many people have. I didn’t until I began to seriously consider bankruptcy.

One reason many people are hesitant to consider debt negotiation is that it goes on your credit report. Sorry to tell you, but having lots of debt (even if you pay on time), making payments late, even credit counseling – all go on your credit report and can negatively effect your credit. And (of course) bankruptcy is a big negative!

In my case, getting out of debt, removing all the financial stress, and being able to live a normal life were well worth it. With so much debt, having good credit was meaningless anyway.

Plus, I was able to get all but one of the negative items off my credit report (that’s a topic for another discussion), and my credit is now back to normal. In fact, I now get more credit card offers than I can handle – and fortunately, I can now throw them all in the trash!

When money is tight, and debt is high, there aren’t many simple answers.

But if you are already considering bankruptcy, then debt negotiation might be the right alternative to help you get out of debt faster!

About the author:
Kris Bickell is the owner of Debt-Tips.com, a helpful site for consumers struggling with credit card debt. For tips on getting out of debt, repairing your credit, saving money, and making extra money online, sign up for the free “5 Simple Steps To Getting Out Of Debt Faster, Fixing Your Credit Problems, & Saving Lots Of Money!” email course at: http://www.Debt-Tips.com/.© 2005 Debt-Tips.com

Understanding The Money Market

2006-12-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

The money market is one of the safest financial markets available. It is commonly used by large corporations, financial institutions and governments to secure their money resources for a short period of time. They are often compared to the bond. They are secure investments that are specialized. The main difference, though, in a bond and a money market is that the money market is usually for a very short period of time, usually under a year. You may hear them referred to as cash investments because of this short turn around.

In the most basic of form, the money market is a borrowing of money by a government institution or other large corporations. They are very liquid and are very safe. In fact, when your next bull market falls off, this may be where you plan to put your money. But, with this safety also comes a lower return, as it rightly should.

You can also compare the money market to the stock market. Because the process if virtually the same, you can see how these two elements can be compared. But, the largest difference in them is that the money market is dealing with much larger funds. While in the stock market the individual investor is able to get into the game rather easily, the money market is dealing with such a large amount of money that it is much too high for most. Also, it is a dealer marketing in which companies and governments buy and sell within their own accounts and at their own risk.

If this all sounds too good to not get into, the best way for the individual to get into the money market is to look into money market mutual funds. These funds pool together money from several sources so that they can compete for the money market shares. You can also look into treasury bills as a way of getting into it. The money market is a complex place and you can learn quite a bit more about it, how it works and why it works and see how well you can get into it!

About the author:
For more information please see http://www.money-market-info.co.uk

A Synopsis Of What It Takes To Trade The Forex Market With Success!

2006-12-06T22:17:00.001-08:00

by: Stavros Georgiadis

This is the first article of a series whose purpose is both educational and practical.And above all they aim to be interactive meaning that any comments suggestions or ideas are more than welcome.

Lets start from the basics.The first thing someone needs is very good education.And this requires a lot of thorough research as there are many sources but not all are worth the money for their services.So in this sense an online forex course could be a good idea along with some books.But here comes the first major problem.Which course and which books,which aspects to cover?The technical analysis issue?The maxim go with the trend?The candlesticks analysis?And which system to use and follow?There are thousands of them!So before we even begin a trader is confused.And confusion is a very bad enemy but it can be arranged.How it can be arranged?With some simple steps.Such as simplicity.The more you know the better chances you have to succeed trading forex and it all comes down to probabilities.

Education is a must to all trading aspects from stocks to futures to forex.But forex has two unique features.High liquidity and extremely high leverage.And although the liquidity is a very good feature high leverage is not.At least not until you know what you are doing.Here we focus again on education.Besides a participation in a forex course either online or not,an amount that will be put away as an investment for education is the first thing a trader must do.Some ideas are to focus on analyzing the current conditions of the market and to have a bias for a specific currency pair.A system such as following the trend could be the core of a trading strategy.And a demo account with many virtual trades as many as possible for a long period of time is the next step.

Now the most important part of the trading action is to make a plan,stick to it and apply very strict money management rules because if the capital is finished and it very easy this to happen then our trading career will finish within a few days,months or even hours.

Lets face the truth that trading is not easy.It is unfortunately far more easy for someone to lose all his account rather than make wild profits beyond each expectation.That is because emotions and psychology are very crucial for success.Some of the most important emotions are fear,uncertainty,euphoria and revenge.Revenge comes into play very very often as when someone loses an amount wants desperately to get it back and often the outcome is that more loses come simply because the trader is on the wrong side of the trend!

Discipline and patience are virtues that distinguish a good trader from a mediocre trader.Without specific goals and a written procedure a trader is like a cargo ship that has sailed without any destination.Someday the fuel will be exhausted and many dangers from the weather to the potential physical damages may happen.Risks exist all the time.The point is how to deal with them.

One of the most useful phrases is taken from the movie Forrest Gump.Life is like a box of chocolates,you never know what you gonna get!

It is true.Be as prepared as possible.Do not let the brokers excite you promising very high returns and extremely high leverage.Do some very thorough research before opening an account funded with real money.Compare the bid-ask spreads and technical support to name only a few aspects.

Be very skeptical to previous results as offered from many signal services.The major aim should be to learn to trade and make your own decisions and not blindly follow some others decisions and opinions. Confidense and experience come with the passage of time.

So we mentioned simplicity before.Being realistic and having a controlled life balance is very important.One major goal should be consistency so as to have the ability to make profits each month and keep them.

Fundamental news are another important issue and in essence the technical analysis is the mirror of fundamentals.Expectations change rapidly and emotions also.And if you think about it emotions and expectations mainly move the forex market.Most times like the recent Fed rate hike decision a move is under way but the danger is when it will be finished and certainly not getting in at the wrong time after all the move is completed.

The best approach for a trader would be to set specific goals and if achieved then stop trading.The worst idea is to trade in a choppy market where random noise will make it difficult to get specific profits.

So a tested system with very precise rules such as entering exiting and having stop-loss orders may not be a holly grail but is surely one very good approach to start with and focus on it.Pivot points are such a system.At least it is a good start.They encompass education,discipline,strict criteria,targets and are a proven system that major players use.They are not foolproof always as nothing is certain but they deal with high probabilities and this is very important.

Also a very practical way is to act as organizes as possible.Meaning that :

1.Develop your own trading journal where you will be writing down your trades and a brief explanation of what made you place a particular trade so as to evaluate performance.Note each day the major economic releases if any because it is often wise to be out of the market before the release of the news and trade only after having a much clearer opinion of what price action may be.Remember it is all about high probabilities.

2.A risk/reward ratio of 1:2 meaning that you risk an amount to get at least the twice if all go well is suggested but sometimes it is best to be conservative and even apply an 1:1 ratio by applying very strict risk management risking no more than 2-3% of total capital per trade.Survival is everything.

3.It would be a good idea from time to time to have breaks from trading.Opportunities exist always so stopping trading when losses of 10-20% maximum of trading capital have accumulated is a good way to revaluate what is going on before a large amount of capital is lost.Trading is not gambling it is a way of investment.The philosophy should be to define realistic goals such as a number of pips per day and if achieved then stop trading.Greed is another bad enemy of traders.On the contrary the notion of compounding profits and retiring a portion of them each month is a good way to build a solid account and keep monitoring its growth.

So in this first article we touched briefly many ideas from education to psychology to a proven trading system etc.Each idea will have more in depth analysis in the very near future.Your comments and suggestions will help us a lot to focus on what you need or want to analyze.Above all interactive communication brings the best results.

What's Your Money Style?

2006-12-03T02:35:00.000-08:00

by: Jeanna Gabellini

We all have a different style when it comes to our relationship with money. I'm not talking about your fears or stories about money. Your fears are a whole other box of worms. When I refer to style, I mean how you would relate to money if you had never been influenced by another persons style or fears.

Dominant type of people are really driven to make money and use it to please themselves. They like to buy nice cars. They go after money and success with intense passion. When they set a money goal they know they'll get it. Once they get that money, they are reaching for more. They are generous with money but do not like people to take advantage of them. Competition is fun to them. Dominant styles think it is easy to make money and can't understand why everyone else doesn't think this way, too. They are willing to take risks and do not hesitate very long when making decisions about investments. When they desire a certain price on something they will negotiate down. Watch out, they may not bend. Give them the bottom line price up front and you'll save a lot of time and frustration for them and yourself!

Influencing and promoter type of people are excited to make and spend money. If the path to the money is not fun, they will take a right hand turn. When they are in the zone, they will seem to magnetize money in very interesting ways…ways that other people would doubt. They don't think before they buy. They see something they want and they usually go for it, even it breaks the bank. They make a plan but many times they completely forget about when a bright shiny object in a store window catches their eye. Details, details, yuck! Have you ever heard of the terms "shop-o-holic and impulsive"?

Steady and supporter type people like to be slow to their decisions. They will usually let their mate make investment decisions if they are a different style. They are very consistent with their practices and are not thrilled with big risks…they'd rather be patient and watch their money grow over time. Their purchases are more on the practical side.

Analytical type people are very calculated about what happens with their money. By the time they choose to do something, whether it's a purchase, creating a business or an investment, they have created a very thought out a plan. If the choice seemed like a risk before they did their research, it is now a safe bet. They've checked out all the possible down falls of their choice and have a back up plan. Spontaneous with their money? Not! If they are making a purchase, it will last them a long time.

Which style are you? None of these styles is better than another. Each of them does, however, have a shadow side. For instance, an analytical style might get in so much fear about losing their money that they never make a move or go after a dream. A promoter style might spend every penny they have with no money in savings. A dominant style may use their money as manipulative tool. A steady person may get stuck in a rut and fear change that is to their benefit. It is important to know your natural style and work with it, not against it. It is good to implement some traits from other styles, when you see that yours is hindering you. But always stick to your values, no matter what advice you get or read. Remember that everyone has their own style and what works for you may not be tolerable for your mate or business partner. This is where blending styles becomes important. Stay compassionate to other's needs when communicating or taking action with money. If you want to know more about maximizing your authentic money style check go to http://www.masterpeacecoaching.com/disc.htm for info on a one-one coaching sessions and an assessment.

Understanding Futures Trading

2006-11-29T04:15:00.000-08:00

by: Joseph Kenny

The practice of trading commodities is known as futures trading. Experience combined with patience can make such a transaction very lucrative. It involves the trading of tangible items, like silver, gold, oil or even crops. This practice is based on your ability to predict the future price of a commodity. Companies and individuals alike make investments in futures trading. The wisest way to begin futures trading is to set your financial goals and conduct a well-planned research, before you get into it. Consider hiring a professional broker because even though it may be initially expensive, the expertise of the broker will help you to avoid the common novice mistakes.

Future trading endeavors can either be very beneficial or utter failures. Everything depends on how smart your moves and decisions are. You can be on your way to success, once you get an idea of the operations involved in this trade.

These are a few points to keep in mind:

- Remember that the prices at which the commodity futures are sold is not determined by the commodity exchanges. Prices are established on the demand and supply conditions. If the sellers are more than the buyers, the prices will decrease and vice versa. They are also determined by the buy and sell orders.

- Futures markets are considered clearing houses for the current demand and supply information. Buyers and sellers of financial instruments, agricultural commodities, petroleum products and metal meet in these markets.

- The primary purpose of a futures market is to provide an efficient method to manage the price risks.

- Hedgers and Speculators are the two groups of futures traders.

- Hedgers: They place their interest in underlying commodities and try to avoid the risk included in the change of the commodity prices. You can be protected against the fluctuations that take place in market prices by hedging. Transferring the risk to a professional risk taker is involved. For instance, if you are a manufacturer, you can protect yourself from the fluctuations in the price of raw materials by hedging in the futures market. Hedging includes hedge sale and hedge purchase. You can buy and sell futures of the same quantity, as a protection against the risk in price change, while you still hold the stocks.

- Speculators: They predict market moves and buy commodities of no practical use to them. They purchase these commodities ‘on paper’ and make a profit out of it.

- If you do not have the required experience or resources, it is advisable for you not to attempt speculating or predicting the market. Future performance results cannot be based on the results of your past performance.

- Futures contracts are traded on a futures exchange. They are standardized contracts that help in the buying and selling of a certain commodity, at a certain pre-set price and date. This contract gives the right to buy and sell, unlike the options contract that does not.

The advancement in technology and electronic communication has introduced new and better tools for futures trading. However, you could end up losing thousands of dollars if you do not execute the procedures involved correctly.

Hold ‘em Or Fold ‘em: Tips On Managing Foreign Investments

2006-11-23T05:44:00.000-08:00

by: Stephen McLaughlin

A successful baseball manager knows when it is time to pull his starting pitcher out of the game and bring in his ace reliever. A good poker player knows when to get up and leave the table with his winnings after the cards start going against him. A top boxing trainer knows that sometimes it is better to throw in the towel and save his fighter for another night, rather than having him go on all 12 rounds and risk serious injury. In the world of sports, the top people know what to look for, and know the actions that need to be taken to give them the best chance for success.

The same holds true with investing – and particularly in the area of foreign investing. Knowing when it is time to cash in your overseas investments is every bit as important as finding the right investments in the first place. The challenge, of course, comes from the fact that your foreign investments are affected by factors that, in many cases, your US investments are not. While it is certainly true that we live in an increasingly global economy, those trends and events that affect the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ – and specifically the companies that trade there – will not necessarily have the same effects on the businesses you have invested in South America, Europe or Asia. In order to maximize the profits of your foreign investments, it is necessary to monitor a number of factors within the specific regions you are doing business in and take these factors into consideration when making the decision on whether to stay with an investment, or get out. These factors include:

Regional Economic Stability: Despite occasional fluctuations, and upward and downward turns, the American economy has been remarkably stable for years. While, as any Venture Capitalist can tell you, this certainly does not make investing in American companies a foolproof proposition, devastating, fast moving economic downturns in the over all US economy are few and, thankfully, far between. This is not necessarily the case worldwide. War, natural disasters, changes in a specific nation’s economic policy and in some areas even revolution – all of these factors play a part in analyzing a region’s economic stability. To protect your investments, it is necessary to be completely familiar with the area in which you have put your money, and keep a close eye on both regional economies and the local economies of the areas in which the businesses you have invested in are located. By watching the economic trends in a specific region closely during the entire length of your investment, it is often times possible to accurately assess exactly the right time to pull your money out for maximum profit.

Regional Political Stability and Policy: In the United States, every two years national elections are held which influence the direction the nation as a whole will go. But regardless of whether it is the Republicans or Democrats who win, the essential stability of our governmental structure – and in most cases the nation’s foreign policies – remains basically unchanged. This, however, is most certainly not the case in many other parts of the world where you might have your investments. One need look no further back than Hugo Chavez’s election as President of Venezuela in 1998 – and the disastrous effect his government’s anti-American policies had on numerous investors in Venezuelan businesses – to understand the dramatic effect the political stability of a nation can have on your investment dollars. While it is probable that you will have a country or region well researched before you invest in companies located there, it is also critical that you constantly monitor the political stability of that nation while your money is there. It is equally important to keep an eye on the region as a whole as, particularly in Latin America and the Middle East, changes in some of the larger, more powerful countries in the region can have a dramatic effect on the countries you may have your dollars invested in.

Regional and Multi-national Trends: What is “hot” in the United States is not necessarily going to be a best seller in Argentina, or in Germany, or in Singapore. Whether due to economic considerations on the part of customers or general taste and preference changes that are influenced on a national or cultural level, each unique area of the world has its own trends that need to be watched. This is particularly true in the area of consumer goods and manufacturing where what customers are interested in purchasing can often times change on a monthly – or even weekly – basis. While it is certainly not possible to predict what any given market will do every time, all the time, by carefully monitoring economic and cultural shifts in a given region and keeping a close eye on the purchasing trends in that region, you will give yourself a much better chance of getting your money out at the proper time to maximize profits.

The above examples are just three of the many factors that need to be taken into consideration when making the decision to stay with a foreign investment, or get out when you feel that the getting is good. While ultimately the decision on whether to stay or go will be based on your basic belief in a particular investment’s continuing viability and profitability, it is critical that you not only have access to the most up-to-date information across a broad spectrum of economic and social trends, but also either have or hire the expertise to analyze that information as it pertains to your specific investments. Overseas investing can be among the most profitable things you can do with your investment capital, but also one of the riskiest. The best way to minimize that risk is to make sure you have the tools to allow you to get out with your profits intact, and not stay in the game one inning too long.

Author Bio: Steve McLaughlin founded Global Market Insights, with offices in Europe and the U.S., with his vision of giving clients two synergistic competencies: knowledge of the global marketplace and industry expertise in manufacturing, finance and information technology. Steve has over twelve years of international experience in three continents, having started in executive search as a Beckett-Rogers Associate. Steve is a graduate of Rice University, where he was student body president, and completed post-graduate studies in International Economics at the Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile.

How to Control Excess Volatility in Your Portfolio

2006-11-20T00:22:00.000-08:00

by: Mark Kramer

Successful investing is all about balancing the potential for gain with the risk of loss. However the ideal combination for a particular investor can be tricky. Read about what factors to consider to make better decisions when selecting your investment portfolio.

Affluent investors (which are likely readers of this article) probably already understand that diversification can reduce risk. But what if you own 20 different stocks and then a bear market takes them all down? To help cushion your portfolio against that kind of risk you can diversify into different “asset classes” that may hold up in value when the stock market goes down.

This kind of portfolio diversification is called “asset allocation” because it involves allocating different percentages of your portfolio into different types of asset classes.

• Bonds, cash and real estate are all different types of asset classes that may be expected to offer some protection during a serious bear market.

This is the traditional approach to designing a portfolio mix that will help to control excess volatility; and it involves setting unchanging, fixed allocations in the different asset types (such as 60% in stocks, 30% in bonds and 10% in cash).

• Then there is a newer, more active style of portfolio management that involves adjusting the allocations for the different asset types as market conditions change. The active style is generally referred to as “dynamic asset allocation” or “tactical asset allocation”.

Traditional Asset Allocation -- Balancing Risk and Reward

How do you design a portfolio mix in the traditional way that will maximize returns yet not expose you to more risk than you can handle? That’s the $64,000 question.

Stocks are the “growth engine.” So you want as much stock market exposure as you can handle in the form of mutual funds, index funds and diversified groupings of individual stocks. But you have to balance stocks’ higher growth potential against the risk of a “destructive storm” because the stock market has historically taken dives of as much as 40%, 50% and even 90% during bear markets.

• Since traditional asset allocation techniques are based upon a “buy and hold” approach, the trick is to decide what percentage of your portfolio should be in stocks so you get some of that growth engine working for you, but not so much that you can’t weather a destructive storm if it were to hit.

The right portfolio mix for you will be a reflection of very individual circumstances. The right mix should be consistent with your “risk tolerance”. If you could not weather a short-term portfolio loss of more than 25%, then you may not want stocks to represent any more than about 50% of your portfolio (if you assume that the next destructive storm wouldn’t be worse than a 40% to 50% drop in the market). In that event, a 50% loss in your stock market holdings would translate into a 25% hit to your overall portfolio (assuming the other half is invested in cash or money market funds).

You Can Take More Risk When You are Young

The conventional wisdom is that the younger you are, the more stock market risk you can take. The simple thinking behind this is that a younger person has many more years in which to recover from a “destructive storm” and reap the ultimate benefit of holding stocks in the long term. Clearly, a worker close to retirement could not easily recover from such a destruction of value because there isn’t enough time. By the same token, retired people may have the lowest tolerance for stock market risk since they may be living on a fixed income and can’t afford any loss of value.

• However, young people just entering the work force may have good reasons to avoid taking much risk in the early years. Just like someone approaching retirement, young workers likely have several important, near-term objectives for using their savings: (1) buying a home, (2) paying back school loans and (3) starting a family. Too much portfolio risk could be counter-productive.

At the other end of the age scale, retired people may need to introduce more stock market exposure into their portfolios to have some growth potential that can offset rising expenses during their increasingly longer lifetimes. The rising costs of medical care, combined with the general rate of inflation can do serious damage to a fixed income over 15, 20 or 30 years … and that’s how long many retirees can expect to live.

What to Watch Out For

Deciding upon the right portfolio mix for your particular situation is a delicate question and should involve careful consideration of a broad range of factors. There are a number of important caveats you should understand before entering into a traditional asset allocation exercise with a broker or financial planner.

Bonds Go Down Too: Don’t be mislead that bonds never go down. There is only one instance in which the value of a bond doesn’t change … that is when you hold it to maturity and, like a Certificate of Deposit, it will return the original, face value of the bond. At any other time prior to maturity, the market value of a bond goes up or down in response to the changing level of interest rates. If you own a bond mutual fund, the market value of the fund changes daily with the movement of interest rates. A mutual fund holding long term bonds has the potential to lose as much as 10% to 20% in value during a period of steeply rising interest rates.

Online Asset Allocation Tools are … well … “Canned”: Many brokers and mutual fund companies include an online tool on their websites that you can use to generate recommended asset allocation percentages for your portfolio. These tools can be helpful as you consider the different factors in your situation and what impact each should have on your allocation decision. But many of these online tools are too simplified and may not be able to take into account certain critical factors in your own unique situation. Suffice it to say that these canned tools don’t really substitute for an in-person interview with a good financial planner or advisor.

Maximum Downside Risk Should be Considered: When you seek guidance on the right asset allocation mix for you, be aware that you can get wildly different answers from different advisors, and from different canned online tools. There are various reasons for this; but one main reason you can get very different answers from the experts is the kind of measure they use to define risk. Many advisors use statistical measures of “historical market volatility” that do not effectively take into account the maximum loss potential of a major “destructive storm”. These advisors are more likely to recommend you put a much higher percentage of your portfolio into stocks. Before accepting such a recommendation, know that the stock market has lost between 40% and 50% of its value three times in the past 35 years, most recently earlier in this decade. And of course, the Great Depression was much, much worse.

Needed: Years of Patience

If you had invested in the stock market in 1964, you would have bought in just before one of those destructive storms rolled in. This storm was a monster and you would have waited 17 years before breaking even on your investment … actually about 27 years if you take the effects of inflation into account.

The drawback of the traditional asset allocation technique is its reliance on a “buy and hold” philosophy. The method is based upon the belief that you can’t successfully time the markets … that you just have to sit tight and collect your average historical return of about 7% per year on stocks over the long run. In fact, it can be the very long term. Studies show that in many previous years, going back 100 years, investors have had to wait 20 to 40 years to actually achieve that average long-term market return.

Stepping Aside to Avoid the Destructive Storms

This painfully obvious problem with the traditional approach has fueled development of a more active investment style that seeks to avoid most of the ravages of destructive storms, when they arrive. The active approach can reduce the risk involved with holding stocks; and can allow the average investor to tolerate a higher percentage in their portfolio. So if the “traditional” allocation approach says you can only tolerate 40% in stocks, the “active” approach might allow you to tolerate up to 75% when the market is bullish.

But it takes timing of the markets to be successful. While the timing success of market “gurus” has long been suspect, the reputation of market timing has grown steadily among sophisticated investors given the increasing reliability of computerized models that analyze a host of quantitative factors about the market.

The point of these computer models is to identify longer-term market trends and invest in them until the trend falls apart. A strategy for actively changing the asset allocation of a portfolio can be driven by this kind of market timing analysis. For example, such a dynamic strategy would have had you heavily invested in stocks during most of the 1990’s while the bull market was raging. Then it would have moved your portfolio out of stocks and into something else in 2000 after the market peaked and a new stock market downtrend became evident … thereby avoiding most of the damage suffered by the average buy and hold investor.

Active portfolio management is now accessible to the average small investor because there are a growing number of individual investment advisors, market timing services and investment newsletters that employ these techniques with success. Some of these services can even be used to help you manage a 401k portfolio. Now you can weather the destructive storms by moving your portfolio out of their way and sitting happily on a dry dock or enjoying better weather in some other climate

Stock Valuation - The First Step Towards Intelligent Investing

2006-11-16T05:48:00.000-08:00

by: Joseph Kenny

Stock valuation can be considered as a tool for picking out stocks that will bring you good returns. Imagine buying a car without knowing its value, or investing thousands of dollars in property with no potential. Sounds scary? Yet, this is exactly what it amounts to if you put money into deals without assessing their value.

Intelligent investment needs a lot of effort. If you want to invest in stocks, the first thing to look out for is its valuation. Valuation of a stock means the price or ‘actual’ value it holds. If you are doing stock valuation then you need not study the stock chart every time or worry about the trend in the market or the interest rates of the stocks. Never invest in stocks without knowing the value, because that is like going up a blind alley where you have no idea what you will end up with.

Investment in stocks without valuation is like risking your money deliberately. While the fluctuations in the stock market cannot be avoided, with the accurate valuation of a stock, you can minimize the risk factor. It will ensure that you not shoot in the dark, and make sensible investments. Use the valuation of stocks to serve as a guide for buying and selling stocks.

Instead of pouring your hard earned money into stocks without valuation, it is better to be patient and carry out a thorough research to determine the worth of stocks before buying. You do not have to be a math genius, or a stock market guru either. All you need is basic mathematical skill, and the perseverance to look for all the valuation information available.

You cannot make the most of valuation if you do not understand or appreciate its importance in the stock market. Spending a large amount in buying shares based on what others say may well result in losses. Neither should you buy based on media hype, as this may mislead you, and you may end up losing every penny you invested. Owning stocks of a company in the form of shares can be a very good wealth-building tool for you as it grants you claim on everything that the company owns. Hence, assessing the value of the company, the profit it is generating and how beneficial it can prove to you, is a worthwhile enterprise. Valuation can prove to be especially beneficial for middle class investors, as they have limited resources to overcome losses incurred in the stock market.

Therefore, valuation can be considered the key factor in buying stocks. Just as one assesses the value of anything one buys on the basis of a specified standard, stocks too need to be valued to determine whether the investment will bring you returns or not. Be aware, there are companies in the stock market that are making huge profits, but their stocks are of no value. Hence, spending time on carrying out your own research will help you pick up the right stock for your portfolio.

Due Diligence

2006-11-14T06:11:00.000-08:00

by: Branden Moskwa

Due diligence, what is it? According to a definition on investorwords.com due diligence is the process of investigation, performed by investors, into the details of a potential investment, such as an examination of operations and management and the verification of material facts.

Sounds easy enough right? Then why don’t more of us actually employ due diligence prior to investing our hard earned money (or for the lucky ones, pocket change) into stocks. I mean, it must be a rather large issue if the BC Securities Commission is launching a whole public awareness campaign based on fraud and how to help investors avoid getting scammed, to read the press release click here http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=4398.

Investing on emotions….

It is so easy to get caught up in the hype, you see a stock rising and think, I must get in that and before you know it, you are along for the ride. What we seem to forget is that, what goes up, must (almost always) come down. The ride isn’t all that fun when you ride it both up and then right back down to where you bought it from. The important thing to remember is to try and find the reason behind the spike in price. Investing in a company simply because you like the name of it or the stock symbol reminds you of something special, isn’t really investing for the right reasons.

Now, how to execute that fancy due diligence stuff? Well, it really doesn’t take too much time out of your busy day and should make you feel better about your investments or maybe even scare you off from investing all together. Some easy steps to take to decide whether a company is worthy of your dollars may include:

Website – see if the company has a website and visit it. Do you like what you see, does it make you want to rush to your brokerage account and purchase shares or do you shudder at how ugly and outdated it is? Is it easy to navigate and find the information you are seeking? Is the contact information easy to find and accurate? Does it contain any information on the company’s management? In this day and age, not having a website may raise a red flag as this is the easiest way for any organization to communicate with its shareholders, both current and potential ones.

Contact the company – what does it hurt to drop them an email or if they have a toll free number, pick up the phone and give them a call. Does a human ever answer your call? Or do you just float around in the computer que wondering if anyone actually works there? Talking to the president of a company (or, more likely, somebody in investor relations) should give you a better idea of what the company is all about, what direction they are headed in and so on. One thing to keep in mind when communicating with a company though is beware of empty sales pitches and grand things coming out of someone’s mouth that may never come to fruition. Go with your gut feeling here, if something is saying this sounds too good to be true, odds are, it probably is.

Research the company – if there isn’t any information on the company’s financial statements or news releases on their website, visit Sedar to obtain this information. Take a look at the company’s most recent financial statements and those for even the last year perhaps and read their news releases. Doing this research should give you some sort of idea of where the company stands financially, any future plans they may have that will benefit (or hurt) the organization, what they’ve done over the past year or more, etc. Do you feel there is any potential or is the company headed down a road you don’t want to journey down?

Word of mouth – do you know of anyone who currently holds shares, or who has held shares in the company? Talking to them doesn’t hurt, but don’t forget to do your own research, don’t invest simply based on what someone else has to say, it’s very easy to get caught up in someone else’s enthusiasm, so it’s always good to take some time to do your own research.

Forums – there are a multitude of investor related forums/discussion boards on the Internet. Visiting these and asking questions of other forum members may be helpful to you, just remember the old adage, don’t believe everything you hear and only half of what you read.

Watch and learn – maybe track the stock for a while prior to investing, see if you notice any trends that you could capitalize on and how news tends to affect/not affect the stock price.

These are a few of the techniques that fall under the umbrella of due diligence, in my world anyways. Everyone has their own tactics they employ for investigating a potential investment opportunity. The important thing is to actually employ them, if you don’t you may be left holding the bag…the empty bag.

One must always remember there are no guarantees when it comes to investing in the stock market, no sure winners all the time, risk is there and always will be. Perhaps if you do your own due diligence, you will be able to avoid some of the losers, heck, you may even make some money on your investments and you can take all the credit.

*Any information contained in this article should not be construed as investment advice, simply the thoughts and opinions of the author.*

Stock Investing – Midterm Elections Make Drug Companies A Sale

2006-11-13T05:22:00.001-08:00

by: Richard Stoyeck

Stock investing is tough enough when you have to deal with the specifics of a company and an industry. When you throw politics into the equation it becomes a whole new ball game. Now stock investing can be a crap shoot at best. Let’s take a look at what’s going on currently, and you decide. First let’s look at a little history.

For the better part of 50 years, the drug industry has been nothing short of a fabulous stock investment. Whether it was Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck, or any one of a dozen other drug companies that developed into giants, you would have made a killing with these stocks. One of these companies Johnson and Johnson is the best performing publicly traded stock of the last 100 years with a compounded growth history surpassing 15% per year.

It was a simple concept, but yet difficult to execute. These companies created drugs and then marketed them via advertising to a captive audience of doctors, and their captive audience the patients. As a stock investment, the industry was basically unsurpassed. The reason is that every other high tech investment as a rule had a longevity of about 7 years. Technology can obsolete technology very easily as you know.

This was not true of drug manufacturers, where it takes a long time to bring a drug to market. You then have a long patent life, and usually you can extend that patent life at least once. Big Pharma as the drug companies came to be called were making a fortune, and the stockholders with them. When it came to stock investing, you couldn’t own enough of these wonderful companies.

It all started to change in the 1980’s. A marvelous new, but small industry started to emerge called the biotech industry. Rates of growth for Big Pharma started to slow down. Something was needed to kick-start the drug industry once again, and the Federal government was more than willing to lend a helping hand.

By the 1980’s government had become big sponsors of drug research. Our government had poured billions of tax payer dollars into supporting basic and applied research at the college, and university level. Myriad PhD’s were hired, laboratories built, and graduate students employed to go find, and develop the next marvelous drug.

Congress then passed a law that mandated that the discoveries taking place in these government sponsored research labs (usually the top 50 colleges in the United States) would have to be given to the giant drug companies for final testing, and distribution. This meant that Big Pharma would be the recipient of all this largess bestowed on the government labs. The giant drug companies would be the direct beneficiaries of tens of billions of dollars of citizen sponsored research. It was the best of all worlds.

Throughout the 1980’s, and 1990’s, these actions sustained the growth of the major drug companies. Unbeknownst to the general citizen, the major drug companies come up with less than 5% of all the major drugs sold in this country. The real creators have been those government sponsored labs, and the small bio-tech companies that have been spawned everywhere.

Even with the giant government outlays, by the beginning of the 21st century, we started once again to see a slow-down in growth rates for Big Pharma. What was needed was a shot in the arm. In 2003, the federal government supplied the adrenalin, and the drug companies were only too glad to accept it. Congress passed a new part III to the Medicare law which meant that the government was going to start picking up prescription drugs for citizens 65 years of age and older. This program would cost tens of billions of dollars.

More importantly, the government would not be allowed to negotiate the prices of the drugs that they would pay for under the act. This meant that the drug companies would be able to charge BILLIONS OF DOLLARS more than if they had to negotiate. It was the ultimate bonanza for the drug companies, and their profits were inflated by billions. As an aside, the program also called for insurance companies to come in between the user which was the senior citizen, and the Medicare program. This was a successful attempt to also reward the insurance industry with billions in profits.

Democrats may have last laugh?

The problem is that it seems likely that the Democrats will take over the House of Representatives in November. If successful, they have already stated their intent to change the program immediately. The Democrats want the federal government to now have the right to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of the senior citizens. This will result in lowering drug company profits to the tune of billions of dollars.

Here’s the wild part of the whole deal. For decades the Democrats wanted to create a prescription drug coverage program as part of the Medicare Program. They couldn’t get it done. They tried, and tried, and failed, and failed. It took the Republicans to do it, but they only did it, to benefit the drug companies, and the insurance companies as well. Now that the Democrats may take control, they will have the opportunity to roll back the drug companies participation in the outlandish profits they are making. At the same time, the Democrats will be able to keep a program in effect, that they desperately wanted, but could never make happen on their own.

It’s fascinating how what seems to come around, always goes around. Our advice is don’t be caught dead owning drug stocks if the Democrats take over the House in the November election. They are in for some ride on the downside, as we all will be watching the granddaddy of federal giveaways get taken away.

Goodbye and Good Luck

Gold Investment Versus Alchemy – Turning Dross Into Gold!

2006-11-11T04:57:00.000-08:00

How To Invest Your Money Safely

2006-11-10T22:41:00.000-08:00

by: Joseph Kenny

When it comes to making investments, most people know that there is always room for a possible loss. Stock market investments in particular are rather notorious for taking a rather well funded portfolio and emptying it rather quickly. Of course, that does not happen all the time, otherwise no one would do it. If, on the other hand, you do not want to take what many consider to be an unnecessary risk, there are a number of other investments that are reasonably safer, can still bring a good return, and are definitely worthwhile. Here are a couple of them.

A common phrase that is often used these days to refer to the making of your investments safer is having a balanced portfolio. This means that you are not putting all of your eggs into one basket. You know that some markets are a much greater risk than others, such as trading on the stock market, and so you put some of your investment capital into some that are much safer and less likely to be lost. This "balance," created by placing some of your investment into a variety of potential interest bearing accounts, should result in an overall gain.

Investments Depend On The Person

If you are a young person, then it should mean that you would be willing to take a higher risk (assuming you have some capital that may be lost). The possibility of the highest gains, unfortunately, also come from the markets with the potential for the highest change. This means that there is a much greater likelihood of a real loss - especially if you do not know what you are doing. By using the services of an experienced trader however, a stockbroker that has been doing it for years, you minimize the possibility of loss. But you should only invest a portion of your finances into the stock market.

If, on the other hand, you are much closer to retirement age, then you do not want to take such a risk with your funds. Instead, you would want to place your soon to be needed funds into a much more stable growth account, where the loss can be minimized and yet still bring a return in interest.

Stable Investing In Trust Funds

If you are looking to stabilize your investments in the stock market with something that is relatively sure, then you need to consider mutual funds. This form of investing places your investment into the hands of investors that basically do the investing for you. They watch the market, manage the funds, and make the changes necessary in order to keep your account growing. After you inform them of what level of risk you are willing to take, then the rest is done for you. They take your funds and spread them over a diverse sort of investments, and it gives you a much more stable package.

The Most Stable Investment - Bonds

Probably the most stable investment you can make is to buy bonds. The safest, of course, are the US Savings Bonds. These are purchased at a set price and guarantee a set interest amount in a specified time period. You cannot get much safer than that - and probably not much is safer than the US Government - investment wise. If you are looking for the highest stability available, then you need to take some of your investment portfolio and add some bonds to it. Bonds are also available from other corporations, cities, etc., but their strength is limited to the financial strength of the company. The longer the time period of your investment - the greater the risk that the company may not be around.

In addition to creating a balanced portfolio, you need either to become very knowledgeable about financial investing, or you need to seek professional counsel. Many people lose a lot of money every year simply because of unnecessary risks. These risks would never have been taken if they had sought counsel from someone who knows much more than they did about the market and investing methods. A truly balanced portfolio will also have an expert to help guide you through the many potential hazards of the investment world.

Making Money Easily

2006-11-10T22:30:00.000-08:00

In my early, to mid-twenties I made money easily, recession or not. I never had any debts, except the mortgage and money just seemed to flow to me. But then it all stopped rather abruptly and for years I was left with one question…

Why?

In truth my life changed. It could be argued it completely fell apart. Perhaps the most challenging area of this - long term - was around money and career. In fact I've reflect on these challenges many times, i.e. why do they seem so difficult when all I want to do is do something I love or be spiritual.

Maybe you can relate to this.

More lately I've come to understand that my vibrational field changed. I began to attract and repel through this new spirituality (vibration) rather than my old. This meant that jobs and people and my experience of life began to change. At times I felt like my life was completely breaking down, but the truth is, I was actually breaking through.

I guess it's like a good spiritual healing. Your energy field is shattered and you can begin anew. And while you might feel like you're coming apart at the seems, you're actually reforming.

And what do we find on the other side of this reformation?

Most likely you'll find a person you like more. Someone more settled. Someone who appreciates much more than ever before. Perhaps someone who can tap into heartfelt love and laugh more easily.

Is it easy to do?

I didn't find it easy in the beginning. I'd also say I've been stuck in certain places for certain times. But the further along this spiritual route I've come, the more fun I seem to be having.

One of the areas we may fight with most is our careers or what we perceive to be our 'Life Purpose'. Here we seem to have a struggle with the physical need for money, verses spiritual way of being. It's a struggle that can go on for quite some time.

For years I read books on spirituality, but more recently I’ve been fortunate enough to find a wealth of teachers. As these teachers have passed on their knowledge to me, the financial gates seem to have reopened. It’s as if I had to get off the money path, in order to learn spirituality, so I could return to the money path, but with enlightenment.

My tip for you is to discover your life purpose - your true gift and talent and begin using it in ways that add value to the lives of others. I also suggest that a good teachers can help you, but you have to choose wisely.

Best
Neil