forex fire

The forex market has several advantages, which make it an
ideal trading market for many people who do or do not have
any knowledge of other markets. It takes only a short
tutorial to have you playing like a pro. In addition, the
forex market is fast. The prices can go up and down several
times a day, and there is no end to the combinations that
you can get. In addition, in time, with the proper
training, you can become a professional Forex trader and
even help other people come into the exciting world of
Forex. What is best of all is that the Forex trading market
is today the biggest market in the world, and there is no
end to the number of trades and transactions that you can
make. Advantage of the Online Forex Spot Transactions

The Forex spot market has a huge advantage because after
you see a price of a certain currency on your computer
screen, you can immediately buy or sell that currency and
get the current price for your trade. This gives you a spot
on connection to the online Forex market, and you are sure
that you are not missing anything, because it’s real time.

The fact that the online Forex spot market is concurrent,
allows for the many trades to take place each day, and
eventually is one of the reasons why the online Forex
market is a very quick option to make money. Unlike the
regular stock market, the Forex market is much more
dynamic, so you don’t have to sit and wait for changes in
your stock. You can view your currency on the spot, and if
you don’t like it from one minute to the next, you can go
and sell it immediately and not suffer any unnecessary
losses.

Accordingly, once you have noticed that the currency you
invested in has risen enough, and is saturated, you can
decide to sell it and reap the profits. The Forex spot
market is seen in it’s real time glory through the charts
offered by technical analysis, so you can view the dynamics
by yourself.

Trend lines

The basic trend line is one of the simplest of the
technical tools employed by the chartist, but by any
standard the most powerful and valuable tool in trading.
The trend line is constructed when there are three higher
or lower points to be connected. This forms a channel which
the price action can be monitored. As discussed, one of the
obvious presumptions derived from chart studies is that
prices have a prevailing tendency to move in a particular
direction. This trend frequently assumes a definition
pattern which evolves along a straight line. This ability
of prices to adhere extremely close to an imaginary
straight line is one of the most extraordinary
characteristics of chart movements.

Drawing a Trend line

The correct drawing of trend lines is an art like every
other aspect of charting and some experimenting with
different lines is usually necessary to find the right one.
Sometimes a trend line which appears to be correct may have
to be redrawn. With practice, the art of drawing trend
lines becomes easier, but initially there are some useful
guidelines in the search for the correct one. There must be
evidence of a trend. This means that, for an up trend line
to be drawn there must be at least two reaction lows with
the second low higher than the first. Once two ascending
lows have been identified, a straight line is drawn
connecting the lows and projected up and to the right. Once
the third point has been confirmed and the trend proceeds
in its original direction, the trend line becomes very
useful in a variety of ways. One of the basic concepts of
technical analysis is that a trend in motion will tend to
stay in motion. Therefore, once a trend assumes a
particular slope or a rate of speed, as identified by the
trend line, then it usually maintains the same slope. The
trend line then helps not only to determine the extremities
of the corrective phases but also importantly, when that
trend is changing. Very often the breaking of the trend
line is one of the best early warnings of a change in
trend.

The Significance of the Trend line

It is very important to discuss how to determine the
significance of a trend line. In every market and on every
chart you see there are many trends in motions, short term,
mid term, long terms, hourly and so on. However, not all
these trends will be significantly strong. If they are not,
a trader runs the risk of entering or exiting the market at
the wrong time. The more significant a trend line, the more
confidence it inspires and the more important its
penetration. There are two factors that determine the
significance of a trend line. Firstly, the length of time
it has been intact, and secondly how many times it has been
tested. A trend line that the market has tested 8 times for
example, but keeps pushing the price away, is obviously a
more significant trend line than one that has only been
tested twice. As a rough estimate after the third bounce
off the trend line will be when the market will start to
offer trading signals. Similarly, a trend line that has
been intact for the last 9 months is of more importance
than one that has been intact for 9 weeks. There is no
standard as to what duration one needs to wait before
relying on the trend, as some trends will only stay in
motion for short periods of time. To catch these, you have
to use the time in conjunction with the testing of the
line.

Support and Resistance

Support and resistance levels are ones of the most basic
but essential components of technical analysis. Support and
resistance are price areas where an abundance of trading
has taken place and where considerable buying or selling
pressure exists. Underlying support (buying pressure) keeps
a market in an uptrend, and overhead resistance (selling
pressure) keeps a market trending lower. Once a trader can
accurately determine where these levels are, they can be
used very effectively to manage risk, and identify profit
opportunities. By entering trades at price levels at which
a significant move is likely, the probability or reward
over risk is improved. There are support and resistance
levels that are applicable to every traders time frame.
Observing how the market reacts when encountering these
levels is a very good barometer to measure the strength of
the underlying trend. They are also key points for breakout
moves. Large quantities of stop loss orders will usually
accumulate at key support and resistance areas and will
often contribute to a dramatic surge in the market in the
direction of the breakout once these areas have been
penetrated.

Support Levels

A support level is a price area at which there should be an
increase in the demand for that product. A support area is
not difficult to find in a chart. When the market is in an
uptrend, any previously established congestion area is the
uptrend is usually an area of support. To draw a support
line you need to find at least 2 points on the chart that
adhere to this criteria. This then forms a line that can be
extended across the chart.

When a support area is penetrated on the downside, it then
may become the nearest resistance area to a subsequent
advance.

Resistance Levels

A resistance level is a price area characterised by
increased selling pressure or increased supply of a
particular investment product which tends to level off
advances. If the market is in an uptrend, any point at
which new highs are reached or any congestion on the upside
will act as resistance. To draw a resistance line you need
to find at least 2 points on the chart which adhere to this
criterion. This then forms a line which can be extended
across the chart.

When a resistance area is penetrated on the upside, it may
become then the nearest support area to any subsequent
decline.

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I’m going to share with you some of my real time currency trading advice that can really help you improve your trading experience and profitability. This market is quite unique because it has over three trillion dollars being traded each day and it’s open 24hrs a day. That makes it such a powerful market for a lot of people to trade in. If you have a full time job, you can easily come home in the evening and make some trades. It’s the easiest way for a person to make a second income for themselves. I’ve been trading in this market for a few years now and I’ve learned a lot in that time that I’m going to share with you.

Real time trading requires you to be aware of any volatile behavior in the market or that may come to the market while you’re in the middle of a trade. It isn’t the most enjoyable trading experience when you move into a trade right before the market goes chaotic. This is why I suggest you start watching the news. Just regular news. The reason is that they talk about the economy and you should be able to dig up what will cause the market to have issues. Pay attention to the central bank and the general economic indicators. The central bank changes its interest rates to change the supply of money. Obviously this changes the price. A raise in interest, will raise the price. A decline in interest, will decline the price. It’s very simple.

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The main function of the foreign exchange market is to support the trading of assorted global currencies. Although the majority of trades concern only a small number of currencies, including the U.S. Dollar, Yen, Euro, Swiss Franc, Pound Sterling, Australian Dollar, and Canadian Dollar, many other different types of currency are exchanged on a smaller scale. Over 90% of all exchanges on the forex markets involve the U.S. Dollar.

The forex market is, despite the popular impression, a composite of several contrasting markets, each of which sustains its own rules and regulations, with no one centred market in which all currency trading takes place. Because of the different time zones the major markets, which are located in the U.S., London, and Tokyo, open during different hours. When the New York market opens, and while the European markets are still operating, is when trading is heaviest and nearly two thirds of the trading action happens during this convergence.

An Individual exchange rate for a given currency does not subsist since there is no centred market. Whilst they are normally reasonably close to each other, the bid and ask rates for a currency can deviate among dissimilar geographic markets and market makers because of the over-the-counter (OTC) nature of the markets.

Each currency has an international currency code which is displayed by trio of letters and since the price of a currency must be given in relation to another currency, it is expressed in the form XXX/YYY. The price of Euros in U.S. Dollars is written as EUR/USD, for example. The strongest currency when the pair was created is generally the first in the pair and known as the base currency, and the other currency is called the counter currency. Typically rounded to the nearest ten-thousandth of a unit the actual prices themselves are displayed in decimal form.

Approximately $1.9 trillion changes hands every day in the forex markets and it constitutes the biggest marketplace in the world. With nearly 80% of trades lasting less than a week forex trading is largely a speculative, short-term market. With the many traders encompassing the globe and the very high daily turnover it is an exceedingly liquid market, much more so than equities.

Nearly three quarters of total dealing volume, however, involves the top ten most active traders. Known as the interbank market and made up of international banks, the trading activity that takes place between them supply the market with bid and ask prices that are far tighter than retail clients can anticipate.

Forex futures contracts, that are derivative instruments that are also actively traded was inaugurated in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and are responsible for approximately seven percent of the total foreign exchange volume. Another popular hedging strategy that has also taken hold is foreign exchange options. Investors often buy these derivatives, which are contracts to purchase currency at a certain price on a future date, to counterbalance the decline in the price of a currency and any possible losses they might endure.

An additional means traders are capable of mitigating risk is through an exchange, in which both parties agree to switch one currency for another for a set period of time, and will then reverse the transaction after the period runs out.

The foreign exchange market is a fast-paced, international currency exchange that is without competition amongst financial markets.

International companies, prominent banks and financial organisations will ensure its huge popularity continues and its growth is guaranteed into the future.

You can access more information about forex trading at http://www.forex-revealed.info, a popular website that provides tips and advice to achieve success in the forex market.

Are you an experienced or a novice trader?

How are you doing so far? Are you doing great? If so, that is freaking cool!

You happen to be one of the five percent of the currency traders that make it. You happen to have your stuff together and now make a decent living. You probably either do a daily scalp trading effort, where you wake up early in the morning, and trade the open intraday markets of Europe, england, and the US.

You profit off of the depressing decline of the dollar, and constantly hear the bickering of how your friend’s paychecks at their jobs are getting smaller.

OK!

Maybe you happen to be a long term position trader. You take a longer term bet, where instead of the previously mentioned scalp trader, you cast your bets on a currency pair that may have a movement in the longer term. You may either use more lots or less lots per position. You have decided that your days are better being spent driving your Mercedes-Benz, or Lexus to the Country Club, talking to real estate gurus twice your age, making fun of their horrible chip shots while eating some great club cuisine.

ALRIGHT FINE!

You are neither of the two previously mentioned, and maybe the other 95% which haven’t fared so well in their currency trading adventures. You probably have lost your shirt at least once, and you have either given up, or you are looking to keep your chin up and keep trying. You probably have another work-at-home income stream, or maybe working for another scumbag, making his egotistical self richer.

Believe it or not, there is one thing in common for the three of you… And that is all three of you are forex traders!

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As we have seen the commodity markets fall, we have been forced to ask the question, “Is this the end of the commodity bull market or, one more decline in a multi-year trend?” The opposing forces of global inflation and waning demand have led to a considerable state of flux. Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen very wide ranges and declining open interest in several commodity sectors. We believe that it would be too easy for this run to come to an end in such an orderly fashion. Adding to the confusion, many of the markets continue to hold their weekly trend lines while others have penetrated their trends even within the same sectors.

Given the mass confusion, it may be easier to create a long position in a commodity based currency, rather than looking at each market individually. The Australian Dollar is our favorite of the commodity based currencies due to the broad base of commodities they provide to the world’s markets. Going back to last week’s idea, we have seen the Australian Dollar penetrate its weekly trend on declining open interest.

Over the last three weeks we have seen open interest decline by almost 25%. This indicates a market that is unsure of its future direction. If this were the initiation of a new downward trend, we would expect open interest to remain steady to higher, as each washed out long position would be replaced with new short position of equal or greater size.

Therefore, it may be time to act on last week’s idea. Place an order to buy the Australian Dollar at .9110 on a stop. This will force the market to begin to turn around and show some upward momentum before we get in. If the buy stop is filled, place a protective stop around .9048. Using the statistical analysis generated, we can expect the market to trade within boundary of .8929 and .9267 with a high probability over the coming two to three weeks. This is also provides option traders with the two essential factors for a successful trade - a price and time target. Please call for option details. 866-990-0777

Andy Waldock

http://www.commodityandderivativeadv.com

866-990-0777

A popular way to segment customers is by revenue or profit generated, with “A-list” customers receiving more perks and personal service than “lower” categories. There are right and wrong ways to do this.

Doing it right means cultivating customers so they all feel appreciated, by developing or improving products to meet each customer segments’ needs. Result: pleased customers and higher profit.

Doing it wrong creates risk of sub-standard service for “unimportant” customers, making them feel unappreciated and resentful. Result: missed profit opportunities and disgruntled customers.

Brand Image

When deciding how to service each customer segment, remember that every point of contact with a customer reflects on the brand, regardless of customer “importance.” Over time, this has an impact on brand image and company reputation.

With the Internet so prevalent today, each individual has more power to voice his/her opinion than in times past, which directly impacts brand image and goodwill associated with the name. Each mistreated customer has the means to tell the world of her/his experience on Web sites that allow reviews (such as bizrate.com and Amazon.com) and online discussion forums.

An Example of Bad Service From the Customer Viewpoint

The way each of my credit card issuers treats me is a prime example. I always pay my bill in full (often early) and belong to the “cash back” rebate programs, so I imagine I’m in a similar customer segment for each and would expect to be treated similarly by these three competitors.

Not the case. Two of the companies make me feel like a valued customer. The third made me feel so unappreciated I closed the account. How the three companies handle “suspicious” activity on my account demonstrates the varying degrees of service:

- Discover card has a fraud specialist (or customer service representative) call me in person to ask that I review recent transactions with her/him.

- Citibank’s computer calls me with an alert, asking that I call a number or go online to verify transactions through a computerized process.

- Advanta locks the account and sends a letter informing me they have done so. In my experience, the letter arrived a week after the incident and I was not notified by telephone (I called them when the “offending” vendor notified me of the decline). I asked customer service to allow future charges from that vendor, but they could not do so. Presumably, this meant an account freeze each time my authorized vendor attempted to process a legitimate charge.

All three of my card companies require that I take some sort of action to verify suspicious charges, which is to be expected. The approach, however, leaves a very different impression. Citibank and Discover both apologize for the inconvenience of transaction verifications and — while I have to go through an extra step with Citibank — both fall within my subjective definition of quality customer service. Advanta, however, does not apologize for the hardships of declined transactions and a frozen account.

To be fair, I do not know that my negative experience would have been handled differently if I were in a more profitably customer segment. It could have been result of badly trained customer service representatives, or perhaps this is standard procedure on all accounts.

Tips for Segmenting Customers Without Sacrificing Service

Customer segmentation is a good thing. It helps you recognize how customers are different and it should draw your attention to needs of different segments, prompting you to better meet those needs. Some ideas on successful segmentation:

- Segment by need rather than profit or revenue. A low-profit customer today could be high-profit tomorrow if you offer products and services that fill her/his needs.

- Look for ways some customer segments can effectively be more “self-service,” which cuts costs for the company while meeting customer service needs.

- Build in ways to create exceptions in automated customer service processes, so as not to alienate those with special situations (in my example, by allowing a way to pre-authorize account activity).

- If offering promotions, rewards, or other incentives to some segments but not others, “spell it out” for customer service representatives and structure your Web site and promotional mailings accordingly. By taking steps to assure customers receive consistent information across all channels of communication, you avoid customers being exposed to offers for which they do not qualify.

There are ways to segment customers without lowering customer service. By doing so effectively, you nurture business growth and reputation.

Bobette Kyle draws upon 15+ years of Marketing/Executive experience, online marketing experience, and marketing MBA as inspiration for her writing. You can find more of her free marketing planning articles at her marketing plan site, WebSiteMarketingPlan.com

New figures from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) have shown that although the housing market in the UK is still performing well, buyers are adopting a more cautious approach to property investment.

The association states that during the month of April, there was a stable performance in terms of the number of sales, viewings and and the average house sale price. According to the NAEA, the average number of viewings before a house was purchased was said to stand at 14. It asserts that while this is indicative of consumers being cautious about which property they invest in, the figure stands just two viewings higher than results from 2007.

For those who have found a desired property and are looking to find backing for a down-payment taking out a personal loan might be of use in providing the funding necessary to make an offer. However, figures from the group indicates that there is a minor drop in the number of people who are looking to purchase a property. Looking at the average number of buyers on its members’ books, the NAEA notes that while in March there were 249, in April that figure dropped to 237. It attributes this fall in part to difficult market conditions as a result of the credit crunch and a reduced number of mortgage approvals.

The National Association of Estate Agents asserts that while this has likely dented consumer confidence, there are indications that market conditions will get better in the coming months. Although some analysts have predicted a sharp decline in house prices, the association insists that such a drop is unlikely because other strengthening factors such as low unemployment, high interest rates and sustained spending are still prevalent, which the group suggests will buoy the property market.

Chris Brown, president of the NAEA, commented: “Many, especially first-time buyers, will be feeling the results of the credit crunch and tighter lending, leading to them being unable to move onto the ladder or up the chain. Some agents are also finding it difficult to stop sales falling through as people get ‘cold feet’ or fail to secure mortgages but we must remember that this happens in the best of markets. However, what people need to remember is that the market is stable and we are not seeing massive price drops. There are still strong economic factors at play, such as high employment and low interest rates and sales are still taking place.”

The statistics also showed that sales in the market remain stable despite tightened conditions, with each NAEA member selling an average of seven homes during the course of April. Such a figure has remained relatively unchanged since January of this year, the association asserts.

For those who are keen to enter the property market but have experienced difficulty raising the cash to put an initial payment down, taking out a secured loan may prove an effective course of action. A cheap secured loan may also be of use to those people who were recently revealed to be struggling to meet mortgage payments. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has suggested that a growing number of people will be at risk of repossessions in the coming months.

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The collapse of mortgage lender and thrift IndyMac Bancorp in July may not have begun with letters of warning from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), but the financial services industry and the wealth management profession would do well to remember the subsequent events.

The senator’s letters to several banking oversight agencies, including the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), triggered an old-fashioned bank run on Pasadena, Calif.-based IndyMac. Eleven business days later, depositors had withdrawn $1.3 billion of the bank’s nearly $19 billion in deposits, before it was taken over by the FDIC.

That situation was just the beginning of a long weekend in the financial services sector. Mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, suffering from an ongoing crisis of investor confidence of their own, were given a lifeline from the federal government, in the form of a temporary increase in their long-standing lines of credit.

According to industry observers, the slow-moving storm wreaked so much havoc in mid-July that it should send a strong signal to wealth management professionals: Do not take the basics for granted.

Indeed, there is reason to believe that one investment strategy that has received attention lately-going it alone with no advisor at all-may get even more consideration now.

“In this market, everything is upside down,” says Michael Sonnenfeldt, cofounder of Tiger 21, a 160-member investment club for ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Financial advisors, he adds, have to maintain relationships with valuable clients at times like this. It’s one thing for wealthy entrepreneurs to lose money on their own bets in, say, gold or futures-or even on bets recommended by wealth managers-when those wagers come with well-understood risk. But with regard to what Sonnenfeldt says are structural issues-meaning holdings in cash or cash-like auction-rate securities or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-wealth managers are often as much in the dark as their clients.

“[Wealth managers] have a business to preserve and sometimes they are not fully disclosing what they know-or what they don’t know,” Sonnenfeldt says.

Members of Tiger 21 do not always invest on the advice of a wealth manager, he says. Those who go it alone rely partly on the club’s regular guest speakers and the collective knowledge among fellow club members. So as the troubles of mid-July unfolded, the reactions of Tiger 21 members were almost the same as they had been after two other recent blowups in 2008: They started communicating with each other directly.

One of those blowups unfolded over the spring, amid the freezing of the market for auction-rate securities. During that episode, some club members shared insights about the actions taken by their financial advisors to stabilize their portfolios. In some cases, Tiger 21 members received loans against those portfolios. Such information-sharing benefited the group because many other members were able to steer assets out of auction-rate securities before that market stagnated.

“A number of our members, in the last week or two, have been wondering whether the money-market funds that they had invested in were holding any Fannie [or] Freddie paper,” Sonnenfeldt reports. At press time, Tiger 21’s reaction to the current market woes was still unfolding.

Banking equity analyst Richard Bove, for one, was not quite ready to declare a material impact. “Wealth management is impacted by the markets, not bank-loan issues,” he says.

But even by that measure, things aren’t that great. By July 14, investors had spent a weekend digesting a diet of bad news about IndyMac, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-and watched that day as Treasury yields dropped on the 10-year notes and the 30-year bonds. Plus, investors were making a flight to quality away from volatility in other markets. Through mid-July, the S&P 500 Index had fallen 16% on the year; both the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had also dropped by between 15% and 16% each.

To be sure, not all high-net-worth investors will go it alone. Many of Tiger 21’s members, for example, have good working relationships with their wealth managers. But the club starts with the belief that wealth management is not a priesthood. “What our members are most concerned about is that the world has become more complex than ever before, more quickly,” Sonnenfeldt says. “Wealth managers who do not admit to that complexity and get on top of some of the core basics-and add transparency so their clients understand the risks-are in for some real trouble.”

One industry analyst explained the circumstances that connected the general-market downturns and the impact on the wealth management market by using history as a guide. In the wake of the devastating failure of the savings-and-loan industry in 1989, the Resolution Trust Corp. was formed, and ultimately purchased $125 billion in loans from the defunct banks and issued government-backed debt against them, Merrill Lynch economist Sheryl King wrote in a report dated July 14. That amount accounted for 2.25% of the prevailing gross domestic product.

In a worst-case-scenario of a bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government might end up fronting some $300 billion, or about 2.1% of today’s $14 trillion U.S. economy, King wrote, adding that more phases in the financial crisis have yet to unfold. The housing market, for one, remains tenuous.

“The market is still dealing with almost a year’s worth of excess supply,” King wrote. “Home prices remain 15% to 20% overvalued nationally, in our opinion, and few cities can boast they are even close to fair range.”

Noting the impact of a previous 15% decline in home-price appreciation, King wrote that the next 15% drop is “unlikely to be any easier to swallow.”

Donna Mitchell is an author with On Wall Street magazine. For more information about this article, please visit http://www.onwallstreet.com

To the average investor, “correlation” once seemed to be one of those “little known, less cared about” ideas. But in today’s increasingly connected global financial system, correlation takes on a whole new importance. Witness how our entire credit and financial system teetered on the brink of collapse when one market, the sub-prime credit market, started tumbling out of control.

Bear with me for just one short academic moment.

In the world of finance, correlation is a statistical measure of how two securities move in relation to each other. Correlation is computed into what is known as the correlation coefficient, which ranges between -1 and +1. Perfect positive correlation (a correlation co-efficient of +1) implies that as one security moves, either up or down, the other security will move in lockstep, in the same direction. Alternatively, perfect negative correlation means that if one security moves in either direction the security that is perfectly negatively correlated will move by an equal amount in the opposite direction. If the correlation is 0, the movements of the securities are said to have no correlation; they are uncorrelated.

In real life, perfectly correlated or uncorrelated assets are rare; rather you will find securities with some degree of correlation. For investors trying to build diversified portfolios that improve returns while reducing risk, correlation is not a good thing. In fact, it is a very bad thing. High correlation amongst investments means that as one goes up (or more recently) down, all the others move right along with it.

Unfortunately, the interconnectedness of global markets has led to a very high level of correlation between assets, not only among equities, but across most asset classes that, on the surface, don’t seem like they should be all that correlated. According to The Economist, March 9, 2007, “Perhaps it should not be too surprising that, according to Merrill Lynch, over the past five years the Russell 2000 index of small American companies has a 94% correlation with the S&P 500, the main Wall Street index. More alarmingly, international stock markets have not offered any diversification either: they have shown a 95% correlation. Yet more startling are the figures showing that hedge funds have recorded a 94% link with shares. Even property has been following Wall Street 81% of the time.”

Why should investors be concerned about this? For a very large segment of the population, our jobs/incomes (and any defined benefit pensions) are tied to the state of our employers/companies, which are tied to the state of the economy, which is tied to the state of the financial markets. Defined contribution pensions, 401k’s, and IRA’s are most commonly invested in equities (through mutual funds or self-directed accounts) and are therefore tied to the same set of risk variables in the economy (interest rates, energy prices, geopolitical instability, natural disasters, currency fluctuations, commodity prices, illiquidity of credit markets, etc.) When the entire house of financial cards starts tumbling, only uncorrelated assets have the ability to be a lifeline to investors’ net worth.

Enter life settlements as investments. Life settlements are discounted cash settlements paid by investors to life insurance policyholders. In exchange, investors later receive the full amount of the life insurance policy upon the passing of the insured; a win-win transaction. Policyholders, who choose to sell their policy, receive cash now to enhance the quality of their remaining days. Investors receive an excellent return on investment, historically a double-digit return.

How does that solve the correlation dilemma facing investors today? The July 30, 2007 cover story of Business Week, Profiting From Mortality, states “Moreover, [life settlements are] ‘uncorrelated assets,’ meaning their performance isn’t tied to what’s happening in other markets. After all, death rates don’t rise or fall based on what’s happening to commodities, say. Uncorrelated assets like these are highly prized in an increasingly connected global financial system.” Life settlements bring a true measure of diversification to investment portfolios at a time when most other investment asset categories are increasingly operating in parallel.

“Investors are attracted to life settlements because insurance is seen as a noncorrelated alternative asset. Life settlements provide noncorrelated diversification because insurance policies are independent of the factors contributing to economic downturns, such as interest rate fluctuations and increasing fuel cost. As a result, life settlements are one way to reduce a portfolio’s exposure to sudden downturns in the stock and bond markets,” according to Conning Research & Consulting, Inc.’s 2007 study “Life Settlement Market: Increasing Capital and Investor Demand”.

Wall street firms have known this for years. Firms like Berkshire Hathaway and AIG have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into life settlement portfolios, to mitigate risk in all their other “correlated” assets. Institutional investors are using life settlements to shore up collateral for development projects. After all, unlike real estate, life insurance policies (logically) don’t decline in value over time. Each day, a life insurance policy is one day closer to reaching full value.

Options for individual investors to participate in life settlement assets had been few, but the investment picture is improving. Funds are on the horizon, although not yet here, and fractional ownership arrangements already exist, that provide the diversification necessary to achieve a predictable rate of return for an individual life settlement investment portfolio.

Financial advisors have preached diversification for years. What they were really trying to say and most of them didn’t realize it, was that investors need to uncorrelate their investments. Unfortunately for many of us, diversifying with a bunch of highly correlated assets achieved nothing, didn’t diversify, only “deworsified”. Life settlements, on the other hand, are one truly uncorrelated investment asset.

Dave Yelken is a life settlement expert and the owner of Accelerating Wealth, LLC, a financial services agency specializing in life settlement strategies, based in Bedford, Texas. To contact Dave, or to add yourself to his mailing list, please visit http://acceleratingwealth.com/

Everyone has heard of, and most have indulged in some form of stock trading or the other. However, there is a new kid on the block and its name is Forex Trading.

Online currency trading is a fast growing market. The Forex Market never sleeps. A currency trader may take advantage of all market conditions at any time. There is no waiting for an opening bell as in the case of trading stocks. It is a 24-hour, continuous currency exchange that never closes (normal hours of operation are Sunday 1pm through Friday 2pm Pacific standard time). This is very desirable for those who want to trade on a part-time basis, because you can choose when you want to trade: morning, noon or night.

Trading Forex

The first currency in the pair is referred to as the base currency, and the second currency is the counter or quote currency. The U.S Dollar, as the world’s dominant currency, is usually considered the base currency for quotes, and includes USD/JPY, USD/CHF, and USD/CAD. This means that quotes are expressed as a unit of $1 USD per the other currency quoted in the pair. The exceptions are the Euro, Great Britain pound, and Australian dollar. These currencies are quoted as dollars per foreign currency.

As with all financial products, FX quotes include a “bid” and “ask”. The bid is the price at which a market maker is willing to buy (and clients can sell) the base currency in exchange for the counter currency. The ask is the price at which a market maker will sell (and clients can buy) the base currency in exchange for the counter currency. The difference between the bid and the ask price is referred to as the spread.

The most important Forex market is the spot market as it has the largest volume. The market is called the spot market because trades are settled immediately, or “on the spot”. In practice this means two banking days.

Why Trade Forex?

• 24 hour trading
  One of the major advantages of trading Forex is the opportunity to trade 24 hours a day from Sunday evening to Friday evening. This gives you a unique opportunity to react instantly to breaking news that is affecting the markets.
• Superior liquidity
  With $2.1 trillion changing hands daily, the FX market is extremely liquid. This means you can rapidly buy and sell currencies at any offered market price. You can even set the online trading platform to quickly close your position at your desired profit level (limit order), and/or close a trade if a trade is going against you (stop order).
• No commissions
  The fact that Forex is often traded without commissions makes it very attractive as an investment opportunity for investors who want to deal on a frequent basis. Trading the “majors” is also cheaper than trading other cross because of the high level of liquidity.
• 100:1 Leverage
  Forex investors are permitted to trade foreign currencies on a highly leveraged basis which could be up to 100 times their investment. An investment of US $1,000 controls US $100,000 of any particular currency. A small margin deposit can control a much larger total contract value. Of course, as with all leverage one must be very careful with it since it can lead to large losses as well as gains.
• Profit potential in falling markets
  Since the market is constantly moving, there are always trading opportunities, whether a currency is strengthening or weakening in relation to another currency. When you trade currencies, they literally work against each other. If the EURUSD declines, for example, it is because the US dollar gets stronger against the euro and vice versa. So, if you think the EURUSD will decline (that is, that the euro will weaken versus the dollar), you would sell EUR now and then later you buy euro back at a lower price and take your profits. The opposite trading scenario would occur if the EURUSD appreciates.

Forex trading for newbies!

Forex trading, like most forms of trading is highly competitive and most people would end up losing money by going in uninformed and unaided. However, thanks to the power of the internet and leverage offered by independent brokers the ability to trade forex has become much easier and is fast becoming the number 1 home based business opportunity.

Forex software allows even the most technically challenged among us trade forex successfully for a living. Pretty much all that is required is a computer and a connection to the Internet. Once installed the ‘forex tracer’ meticulously scans the market for trading opportunities and automatically picks off the trades with good precision. Now you may be a bit sceptical, I know I was, so why not put the system to the test on a demo account first? Once purchased you can download a demo account here http://www.forexmeta.com/freedemo.php which allows you to trade with play money. If it all goes well, then you could set up a real account and do some real trading!

http://www.frxtracer.info