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PLANNING RETIREMENT STOCK - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO MAKE A FORTUNE WITH YOUR INVESTING

When it comes to planning retirement, stock is very important helping you achieve your retirement goals. The stock market is one of the main avenues of revenue for many investors today, and it can be a great source of revenue for you. Combined with real state, the stock market is probably one of the most famous investment vehicles there is today.

Unfortunately, most people never make a significant amount money in the stock market. In fact, many people end up losing a great deal of money instead with their retirement planning money. Why is this?

Quite simply, most investors will never bother to look at the financial situation of the company they are investing in, and instead they focus on the stock price a particular company. For instance, they might see this certain company has gone up 10 bucks over the last couple weeks, and they will simply jump aboard because a stock price is going up.

They won't even bother to look into the fact that the company hasn't made any money for the last five years. This was a big factor in the dot.com crash.

The stock prices were skyrocketing in these internet based companies because everybody was jumping aboard with investing, but there were no profits behind any of the companies. Once people start finding this out, the market crashed significantly.

Therefore, with your planning retirement stock investing, don't be fooled because a company stock price is going up. Always check the financial situation of a particular company before you invest. For instance, if you're looking into investing Coca-Cola, you would look at the financials statements, income statements, balance the, statement of cash flows, etc.

Think about it: when you invest, you are essentially buying part of the company itself. Would you buy into a company in which you have no idea how the financial situation was? Of course, this is exactly what most investors are doing: buying part of a company without even checking into the financial health.

This may work for some investors who are constantly checking the market and monitroting trends, but the vast majority of them will lose with this strategy. Therefore, whenever you invest for your retirement planning, make sure that there is the financial numbers are there, and you'll make a lot of money with your investments. When planning for retirement, stock investing can be your greatest source of income, but only when done properly.

FIXING CREDIT REPORT ERRORS

After taking the first step of obtaining a free credit score report, the next most common step to improving your credit score is to correct any errors that might be present. Strangely enough, errors do occur, and it is well worth taking the time to dispel such inconsistencies. You must carefully scrutinize the report in order to correct things like account numbers, names, wrong information, as well as items that are out of date. The last error type is the most common mistake and when corrected can have an important impact on your score.

There are guidelines that regulate how long certain kind of information can be recorded in your credit score. For example, most undesirable information that is over seven years old may be removed. This includes lawsuits, judgments, paid tax liens, accounts dispatched for collection, records of criminal activity (other than convictions), late payments, and even child support and many other pieces of possibly adverse information. This is great news for those that have blemishes on their credit report from years ago. These things will not show up forever. Even insolvencies that are older than ten years can be dismissed from your score. Getting rid of this outdated undesirable information can have an immediate impact on your score, especially depending on the severity of the problem.

It may seem silly, but it is just as important to check things like your Social Security number, name, address, phone number, and information concerning your occupation. These mistakes might be outdated or simply entered incorrectly. These errors actually do occur. In the same way, errors also occur concerning your involvement with certain accounts. It is possible that suits or credit accounts that do not belong to you show up on your credit report. This is also true of accounts that have been paid in full. Sometimes these accounts may not have been updated and still show an outstanding balance.

By filling out a request for reinvestigation form or writing a letter, you can correct these errors that are detrimental to your overall credit score. You should, as carefully as possible, reference every inaccurate or outdated piece of data that appears on your report as well as describe why that information is incorrect. The reporting agency will then investigate those items and contact you within 30 days to notify you of any changes. This process may also be expedited if you are trying to qualify for a mortgage or car loan. This is known as a rapid rescore.

Once you have rid your free credit score report of any incorrect information, you can then begin to add positive information. This might be through a new loan, a secured credit card or simply making responsible payments on the accounts you already have. By double-checking your credit report for errors you might save yourself a great deal of time in the task of recreating your credit merit.

WHAT YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAY HAVE NOT TOLD YOU

Independent Financial Advisers are professionals who offer unbiased advice on financial matters to their clients and recommend suitable financial investments.

It is a financial advisors obligation to look at a client's entire portfolio. Per "know your customer" rule, advisors should take the time to understand the client's existing portfolio as well as risk tolerance, time horizons and financial goals and objectives. In a pure, Modern-Portfolio Theory sense, it is accepted that diversification and asset allocation have been proven to increase long-term rewards and reduce short-term risk. Additionally, clients who achieve their goals with limited or manageable risk are happier clients. Therefore, it is important for financial advisors and investors to think outside their routine "box" of investments and be aware of ALL the ways to offer their clients true diversification.

Advisors should recognize that true diversification extends beyond a portfolio that holds even a carefully balanced array of market-traded assets. There are a wide variety of "alternative" investments that include things like mortgage deeds or notes, real property, liens and foreclosures, hard-money lending private equity investments, start ups, to name a few*

Typically, the vast majority of institutions offering IRA services do not allow for their clients to invest in alternative investments, and therefore do not promote the fact that clients can choose from a wide variety of investments options outside of traditional markets for their Retirement Account. Be aware of the large brokerage firms that claim to offer clients "self directed" IRAs. These accounts are typically only self-directed in the sense that clients make the investment decisions and choices independently (e.g. without the advice or discretion by the provider). In these institutions they restrict the "type" of investments to publicly traded investments. Prudent advisors and investors should be aware of the opportunities outside of market-traded assets, opportunities that are available within a self-directed retirement account (SDRA). These assets typically have no or low correlation to the financial markets. This means that they can provide more diversification in a portfolio while giving the client more investment options overall. Many investors have a better understanding of alternative investments and, therefore, may feel more secure in "investing in what they know".

To better serve clients needs and put client's best interest first, if an advisor doesn't actively offer their clients the opportunity to invest in alternative investments, they should at least be aware of other investment options and ideally be able to refer the client to someone who does.

*Some restrictions apply. It is important to consult with a professional regarding IRC Pub 590 regarding regulations before investing.**Securities offered through USWA, LLC, Member SIPC, and advisory services through USFA, LLC, a registered investment advisor.

Capital Market Solutions, LLC ("CMS") is a full service Financial Service Firm who is bridging the gap between traditional and non-traditional investing. They advise investors on ALL the investment opportunities that exist today for their retirement accounts. At CMS (through USWA), clients have the option to invest in tradition investments such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds to name a few. But CMS takes it one step further by also advising clients on non-traditional investments-something most banks, brokerage firms and other IRA sponsors won't permit you to do**.

SEASONAL PRICE TRENDS IN A STOCK

Market fluctuations fuel the speculation that drives stock markets around the world every day. Both internal successes and failures within a corporation and external events sway the preferences of stock buyers; sending prices either up or down. These minor fluctuations day in and day out can often focus analyst's attention on recent trends and daily or weekly analysis. As a result many analyses of stocks in the markets or markets themselves on the whole are focused on the short term. This is helpful for your active or pending trades but of little value for your future investment decisions.

The traditional approach to longer term assessment has generally been to turn to more fundamental analysis styles. Traders often review corporate structure, assets and the attempt to assess the general health of a company, the industry and sector it operates within as well as the general market and economic conditions of the country. These assessments require a great deal of work to complete properly and have no better success rate on average than throwing darts blindly at the stock section of a news paper which has been proven time and time again. The trouble with this sort of analysis is that there are too many factors in play to accurately assess all the possible influences on the future price trend of a stock. It just isn't possible to account factor.

One factor in market places around the globe which is predominant at every economic level from micro to macro is seasonal trends. From the fruit peddler on the street to the largest corporations in the world seasonal trends affect business. The traditional market segmentation of the year loosely correlates to the seasons: the first quarter beginning in the winter, the next spring, and then summer and finishing in the fall with the last quarter. Seasonal trends do not only refer to weather systems which for instance may create demand for more heating oil in the winter which then tends to push prices up but it also encompasses social seasonal trends such as school terms, holiday seasons and others. Most traders are familiar for example with the seasonal anecdote regarding the Dow Jones index where purchasing the index every year in September from its inception then selling it every spring would return hundreds of times the investment while buying in the spring and selling in the fall would only multiply the original investment a handful of times.

Repetitive seasonal trends can be found in every type of financial instrument, you will see these trends form in indices composing particular sectors or those comprised of stocks within a particular market cap. You will also see the trends emerge within particular companies, especially those which rely on a seasonal sales cycle. We were quite surprised when we first built the Quarterageous tool at stockrageous at how similar and clear some price trends were in so many companies. Prior to building the completed version of the tool we tested the concept on a random set of symbols and indices and found enough trend patterns to go ahead with the completion of the development. After we completed the system and tested the trends with much wider samples we were amazed at how often trends were clearly evident. You can test for yourself at the website once you become a member; there is no charge though for a delayed membership.

Repetitions of seasonal trends are not a given for any stock or index however it isn't that great of an assumption considering how much seasons affect every structure within our economy. We used the quarterly concept as the period basis in part because so many companies report according to the traditional market quarters and also because those quarters are analogous to the traditional seasons.

You might be surprised at how often you find trends repeating year after year in the same quarter and how these in turn correlate to the seasonal affects on the company. It's free to try and it might just give you a fast and effective means of forecasting both entire markets through the indices of the market as well as individual stocks.

HEDGE FUND MANAGERS & PEDIGREE - WHO KNOWS YOU

In the hedge fund industry t is not what you know, it is not who you know. It is who knows you.

MPC Investors is a $3B hedge fund based in London. Last month they raised $900M to launch a pan-European directional long/short fund. This was while a higher than usual number of funds were losing assets or struggling to gain as much progress as they had during first two quarters of 2007. To launch this fund they closed two Asian-based hedge funds that had failed to reach critical mass assets under management(aum) levels and went shopping for the best hedge fund talent they could possibly fine. "I wanted to be able to look our clients in the eye and say this is exceptional," said Peter Harrison currently the Chief Executive Officer of MPC Investors. After hiring them he has also said, "you have to give your portfolio managers the best chance to outperform. That gets lost in many firms where they are trying to do a bit of management but also spending their time on strategy, or beating up their sales team, or the sales team is putting pressure on them to launch new product. Our sales team meet clients so the fund managers don't have to. Our objective is fund performance - it's all that matters."

This $900M was raised for a fund that didn't have a track record yet and it supported a portfolio management team that did not even exist three months ago. MPC Investors didn't have the option of shopping around a three year track record and 20%+ gains since inception.

I am writing about this because it communicates two details about how hedge funds are raising assets. The first is that assets are raised based more off of current relationships than past performance. The investors you are approaching must be familiar with who you are, what you stand for, and what your competitive advantage is. The second is that pedigree and a hedge fund's positioning and story behind its team can trump almost any other asset gathering barrier. Harrison went out to hire the very best of the best and now he has has a structure in place that allows the portfolio management team to focus just on bringing in performance. Some would say this is a cover for bringing in great talent that's not great at speaking with investors but I think the message that portfolio managers should be focused on the market and not sales meetings resonates with many people and it is not the status quo.

If you are a large institutional investor or family office you see more hedge funds approaching you every quarter. How do any of the hedge funds stand out? I think the four ways are past relationships, pedigree of the team, competitive advantages realized through the investment process (could include manager expertise - see pedigree) and performance

I list performance last within the list above because it is really becoming a commodity. There are thousands of firms out there with great performance. It is a given that if a hedge fund is committing a lot of resources to marketing that they probably have great performance. With the exception of a 7 or 10 year plus track record of it, high performance alone does not excite institutional investors, they see it Monday-Friday.

THE INVERSTOR'S CREED AND YOUR INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO

Growing up at Lake Hopatcong in Northwest Jersey, the most popular entertainment around was the rickety old Roller Coaster at Bertrand Island Park. The excitement would build as you ascended the first peak, anticipating the breathtaking plunge; eyes wide open (or shut), screaming from the thrill with a white-knuckled grip on either the safety bar or your date's hand, as she pretended to share your fear. Three times through the process, hoarse at the finish, but ready for more!

The "shock" market is the adult version of childhood thrill rides, but with no predictable beginning or end, and no way of gauging the size or duration of the peaks and valleys. This is one of the very few things that can actually be known about The Market, security groups, and sectors. With individual securities, the ride's direction may end abruptly at any point along the track, positive or negative! An appreciation of this admitted over-simplification is vital to your financial future... the temporary distress (or euphoria) in your portfolio Market Value is not. The thrill (remember?) is in the plunge; the fear should be building up during the ascent.

Wall Street analysts and investment commentators squander millions of words in their daily explanations for, every movement, every turn, and every bump along the ride. Many insult our intelligence with predictions of future rallies and corrections... but why? None of this microanalysis can provide a reliable answer to the question you ask yourself most frequently: What's going to happen next? Will those (pick a sector) companies survive? Will the market rebound to new highs, or sink even lower?

The solution is to operate your investment program within this known, volatile and unpredictable, thrill-ride environment that is the reality of investing. The whys, wherefores, and whens being much less important than the decision-making model you put into place to deal with them. What you do next is always in your hands (or heads) alone and you should be prepared to do something nearly every day. Doing nothing must be a decision to do nothing. A realistic, thrill-ride, decision-making model need not be thrilling at all, but it must include these two action decisions:

(1) Buy decisions that are made along the downward path of the cars as they glide, tumble, or free-fall on the (undefined by calendar partition) track of time. It's probably smarter to ride in the ones that provide warranty protection in the form of dividend payments, a history of profitability, a low P/E, and high fundamental quality ratings. Even such stalwarts, in spite of their intrinsic value, will occasionally become available at fire-sale prices; so don't even think of buying them until they have started down the hill by at least 20%. As every experienced Storm Runner enthusiast knows, not all of the hills are steep, and many will involve a variety of twists and turns before the next ascent. So don't do your buying all at once, shop slowly, diversify properly, and be patient... the ride has no reliable schedule.

In Your Money and Your Brain, financial columnist Jason Zweig observes that Wall Street obsesses on price while it ignores value. This is as deep as it is simple, and of nearly Eureka proportions. Price changes are more a function of knee-jerk reactions to current events. Value is a whole 'nuther issue, that rarely changes on a day-to-day basis!

(2) Sell decisions, therefore, just have to be made during the ascent, because unlike the local amusement park Vortex, the top of the hill is covered with darkening clouds of speculation as the altitude numbers accelerate. The Sell trigger (The single most important investment thought that people fail to think about most frequently.) must be determined carefully to assure that it is always a reasonable number. It also must be thought about in profit-taking, not loss-accepting, terms. Here, again, there is no need to think about thrill-ride numbers... there's no such thing as a bad profit (except in the purgatory of hindsight). On the way up, smaller numbers work well so long as buying opportunities are plentiful. Three quick fives are better than a long-term ten, but never look for more than ten and you will always have plenty of spending money when this particular ascent unravels, as they always do. It's always OK to take less, and never allow the greed monster to make you hold out for more. Oh, one other thing. Don't delay the profit taking because the buy list has shortened. The shorter it gets, the closer the top of the hill.

The Investor's Creed (Google it) summarizes this operating system in terms of available portfolio "smart cash". During Stock Market rallies, cash should build up in your portfolio because there are simply more opportunities for profit taking than there are new lower priced investment opportunities. Cash will dry up during corrections because new opportunities abound, AND, because prices fall while value remains intact. Consequently, it is often wise to add shares to value stock positions (and dollars to investment portfolios) when it seems really stupid to do so! Interestingly, interest rate sensitive securities can be viewed in the same manner, further supporting the use of CEFs for the Income portion of the portfolio. When the going gets tough, the numbers get ugly, and the tough go shopping for under-priced values.

If you can make yourself operate your portfolios in this manner, your long run investment success will become child's play and the Wall Street Medusa will become your favorite ride!

PUT OPTIONS EXPLAINED

Put Options make you money when the underlying stock price falls. The easiest way to define puts is to compare them to shorting stocks, except the risk is a lot less. So in a nutshell, put options allow you to profit from depreciating stock prices for a fraction of the shorting costs.

The 3 things to know about put options are:

Break-Even Point - It's simply a fixed price level on the underlying stock, comparable to a watermark in a bucket.

Strike Price - Like a waterlevel in a bucket, plus also determines the premium paid for the put options contract.

Movement in Underlying Stock - changes the value of your put options dynamically.

Types of Put Options

There are naked puts, which means you don't own the underlying stock, and covered puts where you actually own the underlying shares. Each type of put option varies in risk based on the quality of the underlying shares, the strike price which the options are held, and the options expiration date.

Put options degrade in value over time as the puts reach expiration, so it's best to buy long put options at least 3 months in advance to avoid quick losses. As the expiration date nears, the value of your put options depreciates fast.

Making Money from Overvalued Stocks with Puts

Put options is how corporate executives and hedge fund managers make so much money when stocks dive in value. They bet big on the puts, in hope that the stock price will fall. You make the most money on puts when the underlying stock is grossly overvalued, allowing you to profit from a selloff.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEDGE FUNDS AND MUTUAL FUNDS

I saw a question within another online hedge fund community regarding the differences between hedge funds and mutual funds and figured I would copy my answer to the individual here in my blog. For those of you in the hedge fund industry this is obvious stuff so please just let me know if I missed something glaring.

Mutual Funds

Their performance is marked against a relevant benchmark which they try to beat in up years with superior performance and protect their investors with less losses in bad years- Pooled investment vehicle similar to a hedge fund.

They can use some securities that have returns traditionally uncorrelated with the overall market but in general they are limited to stocks, money market accounts, and bonds

Anyone can invest in mutual funds

Mutual funds calculate the price of their vehicle daily based on the number of investors and the market-rate or cost for a mutual fund goes up as it becomes more popular- You can find mutual fund of fund products and they have been rising in popularity in the past 5 years- Average cost of a mutual fund is 75 basis points or .75% per year

Hedge Funds

Contrary to what Investopedia will tell you hedge funds do not always invest in publicly traded securities. They often invest in art, futures, PIPE deals, real estate and other investment vehicles that aren't highly correlated to the general market.

Depending on who you ask there are around 12-14,000 hedge funds competing against each other- Hedge fund have developed (the media has developed) an image of hedge funds as being ultra risky employing dangerous levels of leverage- Hedge funds may invest in art, website domain names, stocks, bonds, options, futures, Foreign Exchange, or wind power farms

Hedge funds manage their portfolios aiming for absolute growth targets and they don't usually compare themselves against any stock exchange-based benchmark such as the S & P 500 or Russell 3000 Most hedge funds are attempting to invest their money that is uncorrelated with the overall market .

You have to be an accredited investor (if you live in America. This means meeting high net worth standards) to invest in a hedge fund or hedge fund of fund product- There are several hedge fund of funds. These are investment vehicles that invest in other hedge funds. This way if someone has $2M to invest they can place it into a hedge fund of fund and they will create a portfolio for your funds so that it fits your specific appetite for risk- While fees are starting to come down the average hedge fund manager charges a 2% base fee and a 20% performance fee. Note: America is one of the only places where you have to be an accredited investor to invest in hedge funds.

HEDGE FUND SEED CAPITAL

Seed capital is the money a hedge fund tries to raise to launch or within it's first year of operating to try to "get it off the ground" and hopefully raise enough assets to appear respectable to initial investors and provide initial momentum towards breaking even as a business. Hedge fund seed capital is in high demand, there are literally hundreds of investment groups looking for it right now and only three or four handfuls will receive any significant amount of it. Some hedge funds are seeded with as little as $500,00 while others receive up to $350M. From my experience I would guess that 68% of first year hedge fund seed capital levels range from $3M to $25M.

Hedge Fund Seed Capital Sources

Hedge Fund Seed Capital Source #1: High Net Worth individuals (accredited investors) who are familiar with your trading skills, past portfolio management experience, or clearly understand your competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Hedge Fund Seed Capital Source #2: Family & Friends who are accredited investors.

Hedge Fund Seed Capital Source #3: Private Equity Firms. Many private equity funds have jumped into the space of seeding hedge funds and many will in turn work on raising assets for your fund once it will benefit both your fund and themselves.

Hedge Fund Seed Capital Source #3: Hedge Funds. Some hedge funds have huge amounts of free cash flow and are looking for ways to re-invest it within strategies they understand and do not directly compete with products that they plan to create on their own

Hedge Fund Seed Capital Source #4: Associated banks or investment networks will often seed new hedge fund products they are launching with significant levels of capital.
Hedge Fund Seed Capital-Related Trends

If you read hedge fund news every day you will notice several trends emerging in the area of hedge fund seed capital. The most prominent is as mentioned above many private equity firms are aggressively placing seed capital with emerging hedge fund managers. The second is that most of hedge fund seed capital is coming from established hedge funds and private equity groups or investment banks. I believe that the banks are succeeding in convincing a small fund to give up 20-40% of equity in return for the funds because they also come with marketing and distribution resources that will make the total pie of available fees much higher. Many hedge fund managers have become millionaires after accepting outside seed money or an equity investment.

THIS IS GRAT GUIDE TO HOME REFINANCING

Refinancing your home lets you apply for a secured loan in order to repay your other loans against the same real property. Taking a second loan gets you the benefit of a decreasing mortgage interest rate on your original loan.

Is refinancing a better option?

The declining interest mortgage rate makes refinancing your home quite lucrative. Let us assume that you have already mortgaged your property are steadily repaying your loan. If the interest rate plummets, you take a second loan to pay off the first loan. However, when you are going for the home refinancing option, you consider the fact that whether the amount you save on the interest equals the amount you pay during the time of refinancing.

The Advantages of Home Refinancing,

The major advantage of home refinancing is that the process is very lucrative and allows saving extra bucks. At the same time, the monthly mortgage budget will tend to decrease letting you have access to extra cash.
When you purchase the house of your dream, the financial environment actually decides the interest rate, such as credit rating, amount of down payment and the most important of all, the prevailing market rate. However, the interest rate tends to fluctuate and therefore the interest rate may plummet significantly rendering you the urge to seek a second loan. Hence, at the time of home refinancing, you can exchange a higher rate for a lower one, which will enable you to lower your monthly payment.

The most important benefit of home refinancing is that it gives you the ability to reduce the tenure of your loan. If the mortgage period was 40 years, then the home refinancing will help you to shorten the term to 15 or 20 years. Another benefit is that, you can add extra money to your pocket. For example, you can refinance an amount much higher than the current principal balance. Firstly, the amount conjugated with lower interest rate will help you in the future. You can also use the extra amount to remodel your house or for miscellaneous expenses.

Refinancing your home is tax deductible. In other words, even in times of bankruptcy, you get a tax advantage for the closing cost associated with your home refinance mortgage.

Important procedures of refinancing,

First, you have to understand, why you want to refinance your home. There can be thousands of reasons for refinancing your house like for home improvements, debt consolidation, or shortening of your loan term. Hence, first get it clear, what are the reasons and purpose of refinancing. Then, decide what type of loan you want, whether for ARM (adjustable rate mortgages) or a fixed rate and what will be the loan term.

However, prior to seeking the loan, you need to fill up a form that will decide whether you qualify for having the loan. Once your eligibility is established, you will need to submit all the requisite documents.

When you are contemplating for a home refinancing, it is important to have your home appraised. As part of the process of refinancing, you need to appraise your home, as this will enable the lender to know your property's worth.

As part of the formality, you need to sign with a notary, to fund your home mortgage refinance loan. This part of the procedure ensures that an official bears witness to yoursigning.

Upon completion of the documents and the notarization process, the lender releases your home refinance loan.

WHERE'S THE MONEY ? WHAT'S NEXT FOR REAL ESATE INVESTORS

Investors who have previously been able to qualify for 100% purchase financing to acquire investment properties are now facing much different conditions in the investor loan market place. Programs for investor loans have literally evaporated under the pressure of the subprime mortgage debacle. Many investors who formerly depended on subprime mortgage programs and ARM loans, are now seeking hard money loans for real estate purchases and rehabs. Demand for hard money loan programs nationwide has steadily increased. Real estate investors are discovering that hard money lenders are funding both residential and commercial investments.

According to Wikipedia: A hard money loan is a species of real estate loan collateralized against the quick-sale value of the property for which the loan is made. Most lenders fund in the first lien position, meaning that in the event of a default, they are the first creditor to receive remuneration. Occasionally, a lender will subordinate to another first lien position loan; this loan is known as a mezzanine or second lien. Hard money lenders structure loans based on a percentage of the quick-sale value of the subject property. This is called the loan-to-value or LTV ratio and typically hovers between 60-70% of the market value of the property. For the purpose of determining an LTV, the word "value" is defined as "today's purchase price." This is the amount a lender could reasonably expect to realize from the sale of the property in the event that the loan defaults and the property must be sold in a one- to four-month timeframe. This value differs from a market value appraisal, which assumes an arms-length transaction in which neither buyer nor seller is acting under duress.
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke who testified Before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives on September 20, 2007 regarding subprime mortgage lending and mitigating foreclosures stated, "Markets do tend to self-correct. In response to the serious financial losses incurred by investors, the market for subprime mortgages has adjusted sharply. Investors are demanding that originators employ tighter underwriting standards, and some large lenders are pulling back from the use of brokers. The reassessment and resulting increase in the attention to loan quality should help prevent a recurrence of the recent subprime problems. Nevertheless, many homeowners who took out mortgages in recent years are in financial distress."

Tighter underwriting standards for investors mean that fewer investors will qualify for loans without substantial down payments, generally in the 20% to 30% range. These strict underwriting requirements for real estate investors will also lead investors to pursue more creative real estate funding options such as seller financing, carry-back, and hard money funding for purchase or rehab "fix and flip". While the markets are correcting, real estate investors are already gravitating to programs where they can obtain readily available funding to purchase investment property.

Many hard money lenders are willing to loan up to 100% of the purchase on a property, given the fact that the property LTV is approximately 70% or lower. These lenders are also willing to loan money for "rehabbing" the property and even structuring the loan so no monthly payments are required for 3 to 6 months. These features make hard money loans very attractive to the investor, especially during times when property inventory is increasing and properties can be purchased at substantial values. At the present time, rates for hard money are in the 10% to 16% range and hard money lenders are charging "points" typically, 1-3 more than a traditional loan, which would amount to 3-6 points on the average hard money loan. Commercial hard money loans range from 4 to 10 points. Investor credit may or may not factor into a hard money loan due to the fact that the funding is based on the "hard" asset value of the property collateralizing the loan.

THE LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE IN THE STOCK MARKET AND OUR SOCIAL CONTRACT

The strength of the American society and free economic system shows that persons coming from different cultures can coexist peacefully while having ample opportunity to be upwardly mobile. This faith in our system of government and in our form of capitalism draws immigrants from all over the globe to participate in our democracy. Over the 200 plus years of our country, we have survived recessions, depressions, World Wars, and even a Civil War, when the political consensus was broken - and our democracy has persisted.

I came of age during the interesting period of the Vietnam War era, where society was divided between the supporters of the war, and many young people, who exited from society by "dropping out" and joining the growing "hippie" counterculture. The confidence that many young people had in their government's policies and its supporters was strained. In 1966, the stock market had passed 1000; a level which would not be seen again for 16 years afterward. Inflation was beginning to brew from keeping a foreign war going. Government had had a guns and butter policy - in other words, our society was rich enough to support a war and domestic spending - at the cost of the inflation racked 1970's, when stock returns were quite poor and the Dow fell under 600 in mid decade.

I was only thirteen and very impressionable when the movie "If", directed by Lindsay Anderson, starring young Malcolm McDowell, premiered in London in 1968. A friend of the family escorted me to the box office for the movie, rated X in those days in New York City, and we sat down to watch the film, which was the telling of a repressive British private school. I don't want to spoil the movie for you, (parental guidance strongly advised) but the social contract was broken in the movie between students and their elders - and the results are at the end of the film. Of course, the film is called "If." The contract, the confidence in their system, could not keep these British schoolboys, at least in the film, from uprooting the institutions with which they were surrounded.

There is also a definite factor of the influence of confidence in our economic life, and specifically the level of confidence underlying the stock market. Breaks in the market like the ones we have experienced recently stir up fears among investors that their economic life will be impaired - that if you are in the stock market you will lose a lot of money because the stock market is declining: a perceived truism. The break in the market causes a loss in confidence. Of course, one might say the stock market is merely reflecting the health of our domestic economy and the rest of the world's level of economic activity. So a loss of confidence in the market might reflect an ongoing recession, surging inflation, bank failures or mortgage defaults, etc., or the market drop might be a financial event, where the drop simply feeds on itself (such as the Crash of 1987).

Fear causes many investors to lose confidence and act in a manner that may be contrary to their economic interest in the market - for example, selling stocks when they are at bargain levels. In that case, the investor loses "confidence" in the market as it falls, and does not believe that it will continue to be a good store of value and continue to appreciate - so he may sell his stocks while feeling fear. I write about the idea of not being led around by one's emotions when investing in my article, Stock Market Investing and the Power of Contrary Opinion.

The exception to the rule of the viability of long term investment in the stock market is in the hands of our elected officials, who if they are not enlightened, may enact policies which cause the economy to fundamentally falter for an extended time, as in the 1930's and 1970's - or for the Federal Reserve to miscalculate and cause an ordinary recession to get deeper or to cause the economy to overheat. In my article, Hedge Funds, Derivatives, Debt, China, and the Risk of Systemic Market Panic, I write a bit of the systemic risks out there that could cause a economic breakdown in the economy and stock market.

So just as the social contract holds the bonds of our democracy together and permits its citizens the possibility of living full lives, the level of underlying confidence in our free market system keeps our stock market from a catastrophic breakdown. Only terrible miscalculation by our government officials or by the Federal Reserve serves to threaten this bond.

This article contains the opinions and ideas of its author and is designed to provide useful information to the reader on the subject matter covered. The author may or may not have current positions in the investments mentioned in this work, and the author may from time to time make investments in a manner that is not described here. Past performance is no guarantee or prediction of future results and any investments made, based on the opinions and ideas contained in this work, may or may not be successful. The strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation, and the author is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, investment advisory or other professional services.

MAKING CENTS OF WALL STREET

Did I spell that wrong? Nope! Everyone wants cents, millions of them from Wall Street. Wall Street lacks the neon and "diadems of electric" Norman Mailer ascribes to Las Vegas. Wall Street does offer risk and allure.
One distinction separates the two cities; what happens on Wall Street does not stay on Wall Street. Wall Street tells all (most of the time). This is the reason we describe our markets as "efficient". News travels faster than gossip at the local hairdresser's shop.

Investors hear what happened, and wonder how to react. Sell or Buy? Large cap or small cap? Foreign or domestic? Stocks or bonds? Market news triggers investment hopes or kills investment expectations.

What strikes me as odd is the frequent changes investors must make to keep up. Most of us have instinctive-change disease; we don't like change. When someone suggests change, we feel suspicious. Better to leave a portfolio "as it is" than to head off toward the unknown. Maintaining some diversification (stocks and bonds) with a percentage (weighting) in bonds and the balance in stocks seems consoling and reasonable.

Investment advisors don't like recommending change either. Why risk the rapport between advisor and client by suggesting change? Often, the decisions made between advisor and client come from mirrored views. I am conservative; my client is conservative. I am aggressive; my client is aggressive. Does client/advisor rapport serve investment decisions effectively? Like-minds matter when both challenge their safe-havens.

Investment firms offer straightforward assessment questionnaires with scoring to make the asset allocation decision easy. Too often the recommended investments reflect subjective views about marketing and people. I asked an executive of a major investment firm, "How come your firm has so many asset allocation models?" His reply, "Marketing...This is what our clients want from us, choices."

Too often, investors, based on investment questionnaires, choose investments that are too conservative. I can presume rightly that a conservative portfolio eliminates more asset classes than it includes. An aggressive portfolio includes more investment choices than it excludes. Too much choice makes some investors nervous. "KISS" works wonders (keep it simple for me). But world markets are neither simple, nor predictable.

The greater number of asset classes included in a portfolio, the more likely the investment return will remain stable over-time. Most of us want consistent returns from our portfolios so we can reach and maintain investment goals. "Just keep the portfolio growing, or the income flowing. I don't want my portfolio to force me to change my lifestyle."

The greater number of asset classes included in a portfolio, the more likely the investment returns will remain stable. When One asset is down, another should be up. Investors always look for a place to invest. As long as global markets function, at least one global-asset class will be attractive. Will your investment choices exclude or include that asset?

Asset allocation is more than keeping your eggs out of one basket. Asset allocation recognizes and embraces multiple asset classes structured to manage returns while minimizing risk or volatility.

PLACES TO BUY PENNY STOCKS

It is known that the stock markets have a specific place where people invest their money as they are regular. For example, New York Stock Exchange that having rules for companies which trade on it so companies that trade with penny stocks must be traded elsewhere. You can find what you are looking for by your broker who helps you to find information for you.

Penny stocks are not traded on a stock exchange market but are traded in the part of OTC market. OTC means over-the-counter which can be part of the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ).

So if you want to purchase penny stocks, you can find them in:

" OTC market. " Some parts of the NASDAQ market (NNM) which is made up of part of the OTC market.

New York Stock Exchange is not the only stock that has rules for companies which trade on it, NASDAQ has also rules but it is changed several times. So, we'll find that the number of penny stocks on the NASDAQ in any given time changes readily.

Now, what do you need to start investing in penny stocks?

To start trading or investing in penny stocks you need only three things:

1) Money.

2) Broker.

3) Information.

You need the money to invest it in penny stocks. Beside the money, you need a broker who helps you to improvising your money with the best outright agreement.

The last and the important thing you must have is information which may help you to understand many things about penny stocks or other stocks. Learn how to increase your money with real time information and not enough actual information but accurate information.

By the way, your broker can find some of this information; beside this you must make a lot of searches to find the rest of this information.

PENNY STOCKS EXPLAINED

When you search for the meaning of penny stocks on the internet, you will find many definitions which could leave you confused. It is difficult to find one definition for penny stocks. So we are here to give you one definition that includes the majority of definitions.

Penny stock means a communication device between the risk and profit and we can say it is low-priced issues, often highly speculative, selling under one to five dollars and traded either on pink sheets (over the counter) or on the NASDAQ according to the United State definition.

This definition is very important for you to understand the penny stocks before you invest your money in it.
Can you find a way to know that your stocks go the right way is right for you?

Unfortunately, there is no sure fire way to make millions dollar by dollar as we said before. There is a risk when you investing in penny stocks and this risk may be a good thing or a bad thing.

People who invest their money in penny stocks have skills which make place them in the top of penny stocks. You can reach to them by some of these skills such as being patient, smart, investing less money in the beginning and getting a lot of information about penny stocks by choosing the best broker to be able to invest your money with less risk and making profit from it.

As we said before that if you have a little information, you will face a high risk and losing all your investments so you have a lot to gain by getting more information to make big bucks in penny stocks.

Time, information, willing, and the ability are necessarily to invest wisely in penny stocks. To be more efficiency, you have to get real time information and not enough actual information but accurate information and this can be easy if you choose the best broker.

SMART BROKERS

If you want to find out as much as you can about penny stocks, you should search for the right one who will help you to find more and more information in order to find the correct way to make money with penny stocks so the essential question here is "who is the good person for that?"

You have to depend on smart brokers to reach your investment in easy and success way. So brokers are the best ones for you. But it's very difficult to find the best one that you can trust him of your money and support you with a lot of information that provide you to make good connection with penny stock investing. That will be useful for you to be sure that your money will be invested in the correct way.

Learn how to increase your money with real time information and not enough actual information but accurate information. It can be very easy if you use brokers.

We can find the best broker, when we ask our self an important question which is: "Who is the broker? And what are his forces?"

We already answered the first question but we can say that broker is a person who: Helps you to improvising your money with the best outright agreement.

Provide you with a lot accurate information which is very important to invest your money in the correct stocks, whatever penny stock or any other stocks. As we mentioned, it's very difficult work to find accurate and recently information to help your investment.

Make sure that you in the right direction and your investment is growing up not down and going on in the correct way.

AN INTRODUCTION TO PENNY STOCKS

To be a good investor and make big bucks at penny stocks, you must know the good and the bad of penny stock investing and surround yourself with more information especially if you are new to investing. When you have this information, you will have plenty of great opportunities to be enjoy one of the more risky adventures in stock investing.

"What Are Penny Stocks?"

In fact, there are many definitions of penny stocks but the most popular definition is Low-priced issues, often highly speculative, selling at less than $1 a share.

Why many do people avoid the penny stock investing game?

Because there is a risk involved with penny stocks and that risk may make a lot of money and may not. So if you are a beginner and put your money into an unknown company, it is possible to lose 100% of your investment; that's why investors look towards other and more conservative types of investing.

On the flip side, more people become millionaires in penny stocks more than in any other investing so you can minimize the risk, and make some serious money.

Can you find a way to know that your stocks go the right way is right for you?

Unfortunately, there is no sure fire way to make millions dollar by dollar as we said before. There is a risk when you investing in penny stocks and this risk may be a good thing or a bad thing.

People who invest their money in penny stocks have skills which make place them in the top of penny stocks. You can reach to them by some of these skills such as being patient, smart, investing less money in the beginning and getting a lot of information about penny stocks by choosing the best broker to be able to invest your money with less risk and making profit from it.

OFFSHORE INVESTMENT BANKING IN SWITZERLAND

Switzerland has been the world's largest offshore tax haven for some time. For wealthier individuals there are guarantees and assurances that other offshore banking jurisdictions do not have. They are specifically designed for the ultra wealthy.

Swiss banks are also regarded by far as the most secure and stable as they have the safest asset holdings along with the asset prosperity provided to their clients. This makes opening an investment bank account with a Swiss bank all the more enticing for those who are privileged. When a Swiss bank account is opened, the individual opening the account will be privy to undisputed personal service and wealth protection which is unmatched by any other Bank in the world.

The opening of a Swiss bank account is far simpler than you might think. Even many of the most prestigious offshore Swiss banks have simple application processes. You will be able to do the all the same account transactions as you can onshore.

Indeed opening an offshore investment account in Switzerland is the most important step you can take for both wealth growth and wealth protection.

Opening a Swiss bank account with deposits in the range of $300,000 would be best to set up in person. Some Swiss banks will send out their own representative for large sums to deposit at a clients place of choice. If you are setting up a Swiss bank account through the mail, you will first be required to follow these steps:

Request the forms you will need to open the account.

Have your signature verified at a Swiss Consulate, or by visiting any affiliated banks in Switzerland.

The procedure to open a Swiss bank account is similar in nature to opening a securities account with a few

procedural policies in place, which is the same as what any financial institution goes through.

Swiss bankers have always had a solid reputation for managing many different investment portfolios and as such provide the following services:

Investment planning
Estate planning
Wealth management
Trust company establishment
Gold numismatics
Derivatives
Confidential brokerage accounts

To ensure your privacy and confidentiality, every Swiss banking employee must sign the bank act's secrecy portion as a condition of their employment. Of special note, the banking act also stipulates that it is a criminal offence, with a possible jail sentence imposed for any employee or agent of the bank, if they have been found to divulge any confidential information at any time. In cases put before the courts and in general banking practices, this portion of the banking law has stipulated it is a serious offense, punishable by both fines and jail time, to divulge any customer information to any third party. This includes official requests from foreign governments. This makes opening an offshore investment bank account in Switzerland all the more attractive.

To open a Swiss investment account, the following requirements must be met:by most Swiss banks:
$300,000 minimum opening balance in order to establish an account.

A notarized copy of your passport.

Reference letters from two different sources.

Every client is required to fill out a "know your client" form.

A signed 'Source of Funds' form must be filled out by each applicant.

Once these requirements are met by the individual or offshore company, the account can then be set up at the Swiss investment bank.

FINANCIAL PLANNING FOR BABY BOOMER'S - WOULD YOU LIKE TO INVEST IN YOURSELF ?

Here is a thought provoking question. If your family were a business would you invest in it? I never ask that question without getting that deer in the headlights look.

Stop to think about it. Your family is similar to a small business. Both have income, expenses and net worth. This may surprise you but your net worth is probably greater than many small businesses. I used to consult for the 'Small Business Administration'. Most of the businesses I consulted had very little or even negative net worth.

What criterion needs to be in place before you invest in a company, or hypothetically your family? You most likely want to see growing revenues with expenses under control and growing net worth. Surely you would need to be convinced a competent business plan was in place. A plan drives decisions that are made in the short term but resources are also allocated with an eye on future success.

A financial plan (or retirement plan) takes a lot of stress out of decision-making. For instance, if your family plan shows you need to save an extra $2,000 per year to retire by a certain age it is easier to accept cutting back in some spending areas. If you do not know you need the extra 2,000 you will not be motivated to save. On the flip side, if you have met your savings goals you should feel good about splurging. Having a plan in place and executing it can relieve you of some guilt and might reduce family arguments over finances. It is common knowledge that one of the major reasons for marital discord is financial issues like spending or savings habits. Knowing the details of you financial life (both current and future) makes it easier to set goals and have the confidence you will achieve them.

If you're net worth is growing, expenses are under control and you have the right percentages allocated to savings and investments your off to a good start. Once you understand your current standing you can incorporate where want to be in the future. You can determine where you need to be by a certain age and how you are going to accomplish it.

You would not take a long road trip to an unknown location without a road map. You're financial or retirement plan is the road map to your family's financial future.

Look at yourself as the 'Chief Executive Officer' or 'Chief Financial Officer' of your family. Take the responsibility seriously and challenge yourself to make sure your family is worth investing in. Put together a competent business plan and be determined to execute it... good luck.

A FOREX EXPERT ADVISOR SIMPLIFIES TRADING

With individuals having unprecedented access to the trading of foreign currencies (known as Forex trading), a new suite of tools has become available that serves to level the playing field. Although institutional investors and central banks have long traded in foreign currencies, individuals have only recently had access to an expert advisor system (known as an EA) that allows them to set the parameters for their trades and execute them automatically.

These automated trading systems consist of software that is developed by those who understand both the nuances of Forex trading and the necessity to keep up with the global markets, which when combined are open 24 hour a day during weekdays. Without EAs, individual traders would have to manually monitor the currency markets - which, given the various opening and closing times, is virtually impossible to accomplish.
By using an expert advisor system, a person can set trade signals, such as types of orders, limit orders, and stop loss orders. The critical benefits of such EAs are two-fold: first, the Forex signal reaches the investor's account almost instantaneously, and second, they take the emotion out of trading. Although there are many expert advisors on the market, what they have in common is that they run according to an object set of parameters and conditions. This not only takes the guesswork out of trading, but also prevents the investor from acting on a whim. The formulaic nature of EAs means that, once an investor finds a recipe for success, that recipe can be replicated to repeatedly achieve the same level of success.

However, successful currency trading also depends upon an understanding of the types of events that affect currency markets as well as an understanding of how long-term trends influence Forex trading. For example, a variety of economic indicators can affect the value of a currency, and thus impact its value in the currency trading market. Government economic policies, trade policies, budgetary spending, the changing political landscape within a country or a region, and the level of inflation are all factors that can influence the supply and demand for the currencies of various countries. Similarly, the perceptions of traders - independent of facts - can influence currency prices.

Some Forex traders like to take EAs and put their own unique spin on them. For that reason, some expert advisors offer a feature that captures historical information. Using historical data, investors can test their theories and trading strategies. If they're successful, they can then use them as the basis for their day trades.
Most Forex expert advisor programs are developed using the Meta Trader 4 platform. According to Meta Trader 4, the platform provides reliable historical data, state-of-the-art security measures, multilingual support, customized user interfaces, and flexibility.

EAs are fast becoming the preferred method for individuals investors to set trade signals and to execute foreign currency exchange trades.

LAUGH YOUR WAY TO SECURE FUTURE WITH CONVENTRY LIFE SETTLEMENT

Money is something without which life becomes helpless and hapless and is constantly needed for leading a good and healthy life. However, there are times when one is financially crushed due to many reasons. However, not any more because insurance sector offers various reasons to live life accordingly and Coventry life settlement is one of them. It is a best suited loan for retired people who want to live life with a full jest.
Coventry life settlement is a loan that offers respite to senior citizens by buying or procuring their

undervalued or high net powered insurance policies. It can also be defined as the sale of an insurance policy to a third party in lieu of heavy amount. The policyholder gets money in a form of lump sum or can also opt for the monthly installments. In this, the firsthand owner is no longer responsible for paying up the premiums that are left.

Moreover, he or she will not be accountable for any amounts on the maturity of the policy. However, the benefit of this loan is that if the insurer wishes to keep the policy and yet wants financial aid then he or she can borrow a loan against the policy. It actually upgrades the credit rating of the insured person. Moreover, with the assistance of this program additional disposable income is created by eliminating premium payments. It has certainly become popular option for individuals who are ill and need cash for their treatments
In fact, life settlement helps policyholders to take a good review of the market that can fetch them a golden deal. The policyholder also becomes aware of the value for the underperforming as well as over performing policies. Thus, it will result in greater financial flexibility and stability for the insured. However, this settlement policy is little hard to understand in comparison to general life insurance products but it is the most affective during the needy times. Nevertheless, before opting for Coventry life settlement program, it is advisable to do research on the company or the provider just to prevent any trouble in the future. Hence, it is better to hire a good and reliable firm that can help.

In this loan, a policyholder gets a high value on the policy and also earns big bucks when compared to its cash surrender value. It is also taxable. Moreover, it provides lifetime security to the person investing in them. Life settlement has opened new vistas for senior citizens, as it optimizes the policy coverage by offering appropriate policy premium. As a result, the policyholder will get a paid-up policy based on market value. In addition, it enables the policyholder for guaranteed benefit in place of a non-guaranteed benefit. It is a new concept, thus many policyholders are unaware of it or those who are aware of it are not sure of all the details it offers. Thus, hiring a person for Coventry life settlement is a wise decision for the good life ahead.

AFTER HOURS TRADING

After-hours trading is the trading of stocks after the regular session has ended at 4 pm. Trading goes from 4:00 - 6:30 on the major U.S. exchanges. This activity was originally open to the wealthy and large institutions. However ,with the advent of the Internet, and Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs), the everyday trader now has the ability to post after-hours trades through their broker. Many times large investors take on these after-hour positions, because they are aware of some pending news and are quite certain that the stock will move in their favor. Most retail traders believe that some pending news or earnings release set for the next day will generate a move, so they will enter positions as well. Sad thing is, this is often a form of gambling and not truly investing. If you are a trader contemplating after-hours trading, here are a few tips for you before you get started.

Must Use Limit Orders

Most online-brokers will required you to enter limit orders when attempting to put on new positions. The problem with this is that the spreads after-hours often open up, and if you place the limit order out there, you have no shot of being filled at a better price. Also, advanced orders like trailing stops, and stop market orders are not available as well. So, the majority of the order execution is left up to you the trader.

Huge Bid/Ask Spreads

After-hours the spreads for stocks open up drastically. A $50 stock for example will have a spread of $50.18 by $50.46. What are you to do in this situation? Can you honestly buy the stock at $50.46? Well of course you can, but you better know some pending news, or have a very long time horizon for the trade, as you could be down over a half of a percent the second you execute the trade. Large Bid/Ask spreads are a breeding ground for pain. If you are a trader that finds yourself often getting emotional about each and every trade you are in, large spreads are not for you.

Light Volume

Light volume is not a good thing for active traders. The key to the game is being able to get in and out of positions as quickly as possible. After-hours trading generally has lighter volume than during the regular session. What will often happen is a huge volume spike on the news release, then the volume will dry up dramatically. So, you are not only faced with a large discrepancy in the bid/ask spread, but you are now faced with light volume trading. Are you beginning to catch my drift?

Price Volatility

So we've discussed the large bid/ask spreads and then the light volume. What do you think these two factors lead to? Well I hope you guessed it right, but crazy price movements. You will often see stocks rally and drop a number of points in a matter of seconds, not minutes. In summary, make sure you have your head on straight before you get in the game of trading stocks after-hours.

OPENING BELL - NOVICE TRADERS NEED NOT APPLY

Like many other newbie traders, I thought, "the money is in the morning!!". Well, yes and no. If you have a few thousand day trades under your belt, then yes you can make great money in the morning. However, if you are just starting out in the day trading game, you will want to paper trade the morning for an "extended" period of time.

Factors Creating the Volatility

Honestly, this trade was a turning point for me. When I put the trade on, my confidence level was so high. I just knew I was right. Then what happened, DVN rolled on me. I did the right thing today though and that is, after that first sell off, I took the first opportunity to get off the bus on the short squeeze. This allowed me to avoid a much larger loss and get out with my shirt on my back. I am working on a proprietary indicator, and this indicator did not give me a bullish setup. I used this indicator on the rest of my trades on the day , which faired much better.

Earnings

Overnight and in the morning there are a number of factors which cause the volatility during the morning session. Most Nasdaq stocks release their earnings after the closing bell, and many professional traders will actively trade these issues during the post market session. But, the majority of the public does not feel comfortable or even know how to trade stocks outside of the regular session. So, you will see a flood of public orders reacting to the news in the morning. While the Nasdaq stocks report after the bell, stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and American Stock Exchange (AMEX) report before the opening bell. These earnings reports are mostly released between 8 am and 9:15 am. So, again you have traders falling over themselves to react to the earnings report; however, unlike the Nasdaq, which you can trade actively during the pre and post markets, with the NYSE and AMEX, unless you are Goldman Sachs, you will have to wait your turn after the bell rings at 9:30 am.

News

Thank the folks over at CNBC, Wall Street Journal, and stock analysts for this one. Now, I'm not one of those traders bashing the news syndicates and investment firms, they are simply doing their job. It's how traders respond to this information which generates the moves. This is why I always stay informed of what's in the news, but I do not trade based on the news. Step back and think about it for a second. Does Cramer have any idea of your investment objectives? Has Cramer done a detailed risk analysis of your portfolio? Well, if you are unsure to the answers of these questions, it is NO!!! It really gets under my skin when people say Cramer said the stock would go up, I bought it, and it tanked. Well, this is the stock market, unexpected things happen, the bigger question is, why did you take Cramer's advice on blind faith without doing your own research? How can you buy a stock without knowing the price swings or how the stock trades? Cramer covers anywhere from 25-50 stocks everyday. Even if Cramer is a great trader, at least 30% of these calls will be wrong. While these are great odds, you nor Cramer, have any idea which "pick" is more likely to work out. But, the public loves to react to these "public tips" from television and stock analysts, which is a major contributor to the sharp moves as everyone is reacting to the news.

Economic Reports

Everyday there is some news release related to the economy. Unemployment rate, housing market, CPI numbers, etc. These numbers affect the bond market and treasury yields, which in turn affects equities. If you are day trading, it is a must that you know the economic schedule, so you are not blind sided by a 10 am existing home sales report. Visit yahoo finance to see the list of upcoming economic events.
Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Meeting

The FOMC meeting is technically part of the economic calendar, but it is such a huge event that it needs to have its own section in this article. The FOMC is responsible for the following monetary policies: open market operations, the discount rate, and reserve requirements. The FOMC holds eight scheduled meetings per year. The FOMC meeting minutes are released three weeks after each scheduled meeting at 2:15 pm. The days leading up to and the morning of the FOMC announcement, you basically have flat markets. So, you will want to cut back on the number of trades you put on prior to the 2:15 pm release, as you will get caught in the chop. Why Novice Traders should stay away from the Opening BellThe opening bell will provide great trading opportunities, but it also carries a great deal of risk. Let me provide you with a real-life example. Let's say you noticed the gap on MXIM on 8/17 in the morning. The stock was up over three percent and it appeared that it cleared a significant downtrend. Then the stock backed off of this resistance line, but not by much. So, it looks and feels as though MXIM is going to make a break for it. On the next 15-minute candle, MXIM had an inside bar. But this doesn't concern you as no highs or lows were penetrated. MXIM then produces three more down candles on the 15-minute chart, prior to rolling over filling the gap and dropping a point. This quick reaction to the morning gap would have represented a five percent loss in a matter of three hours. Often times new traders are unable to adjust to quick changes in trends and do not have the experience to know when to get on and off the horse. Remember, the opening bell is not going anywhere. The volatility will always be present, it is part of the game. So, take your time getting use to the setups, it is well worth the wait.

FOREX - RISK, LOSSES AND EDUCATION

Commodity Forex Online Trading

In commodity online trading, you must be kept in mind for few things. If you want to be a good trader you need to know what are you doing and have a very good education. Its very important, that you will take the time to research your commodity trading ideas deeply. Then, you will understand how your forex trading will working for you.

You are going to understand applications and technology which stick to commodity forex online trading. You will need to come up with goals and find out how achieve them by trading on the market. To become successful trader, you must know those basic things for start:

RiskIts important thing. You need to remember, that in commodity forex online trading is risk. Forex is not type of trading where you can involve in if you want to make money in order to buy things you want, rent a house or whatever. You will need to take some risk if you want to earn good cash in forex, but it could not be done with money, that you can't afford to loose. Also, if you will lose your first deposit in market, you may end up with emotional decision, that you will only lose more money if you will keep trading. Thats bad type of thinking.

Losses - how to deal with themYou need to keep your losses to a minimum in commodity online trading. Anyway, you will probably have some small losses. If you want to have your losses as small as it is possible. then you will need to come up with an amount of maximum loss you will take in one day. This will make you sure, that your money is manages good, and that you get out before you will deal with huge losses.

Education

When dealing with commodity online trading, education is most important thing. You have to take time for learning forex to make sure, that you are educated enough before trading. Good education will become you successful. Without proper learning, you could find yourself in bad financial point.

CD INTEREST RATES - WHERE THE GOOD ONES GONE ?

There are three main ways to find the best CD interest rates. All of them take a little time, but can certainly net you a good return. Many bank's rates are in the 3.00% to 4.00% range, but some have rates in the low 5.00%, and a few are little gems in the 5.50% range.

First, many people are using search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Matter of fact, you are probably reading this article, because of one of them. Using generic terms such as "CD Rates", may return too many results. Some ways to return fewer, more targeted results are to:

1) include the word, "Jumbo" if you have amounts larger than $50,000

2) include your state and/or city if you only want to invest your funds close to home

3) include the rate, current month, and year for the rate you want, such as "CD Rates 5.50% October 2007". Including the month and year should minimize expired offers.

Then make your phone calls or send your emails to see which offers fit your needs. Remember, it is your money; your in the driver's seat.

Second, go through your newspapers. Many banks and credit unions like to use print media to advertise special interest rate offers. This keeps their call volume and costs down since they won't be having to field thousands of calls from the internet.

Finally, call your local banks and credit unions, especially if they are smaller community institutions. Smaller institutions are more likely to be interested in you and meeting the needs of their community. You won't be just a number to them. This option will likely yield better results for larger depositors.

Before making any deposits remember to verify the institution is federally insured by the FDIC for banks or NCUA for credit unions. Please note that some institutions carry private and/or supplemental insurance through ESI (Excess Share Insurance) or ASI (American Share Insurance). Although both of these have been around for quite some time, they are private companies.

WHAT IS PRICE - EARNINGS RATIO?

Price-Earnings Ratio is calculated as (Current share price)/(Earnings per share). Price-Earnings ratio is also called price to earnings ratio (or price multiple), and we usually write P/E. P/E ratio can be calculated if we divide market capitalization with earnings after taxes for the previous 12 months. If earnings are 0 or negative then we cannot calculate P/E ratio. P/E ratio generally reflects how much the market is willing to pay for each dollar from earnings. For example, if P/E ratio is 15 then investors are willing to pay 15$ for each dollar of earnings.

P/E ratio gives us the connections between the market price and company's profit. If price is getting higher and profit is also getting higher, then P/E ratio stays the same (more or less). On the other hand, if price is getting higher and earnings stays the same (earnings change quarterly) then recent profit is not the main factor of price. That usually means that investors expect more profit in the future.

There are several aspects of P/E that should be considered when investing in a certain shares: historical P/E ratio of the company and average of P/E ratio for the industry. Also, projection of P/E for the following period is interesting. Raising P/E through recent history, for example, can show that there is increasing willingness of investors to buy shares of that company. On the other hand, if P/E is getting lower, that means that investors tend to avoid buying that company. Also, if P/E of a company is higher than average for the industry, that would mean that share is relatively expensive, and vice verso, if P/E of the company is lower then average for the industry then that share is relatively cheap. Of course, it is necessary to consider other fundamentals.