forex fire

Are you trading forex and having issues with making the best pips possible? How much time have you spent doing technical analysis or lamenting over making bad trades that are draining your Forex Account, and the second mortgage you just took out for just trading forex?

Sounds like you are in a dilemma! You hear from all over the place that Forex is the rage, and that Forex is ripe with over Three Trillion in Liquidity and that there is plenty for the taking. Who in the hell told you that? Some late night infomercial wanting to rob you thousands of dollars just to tell you the same thing someone on a forum could tell you?

Yeah, unfortunately, just like with business and life, forex does have a failure rate. Except Forex trading has a very steep 95% failure rate for new traders! Why do so many traders fail? Well, for one, they don’t feel like spending 10 hours a day investigating the different currency pair charts and doing the exhaustive calculations to see where a likely entry/exit point is going to occur. Another reason, is because there is so much to learn, and so little time. Being the case where some traders have family and friends, and a life, and even a full time job, Forex trading is just not going to work out for them.

Don’t fret, as there is a new way to trade the ever growing currency trading markets. Trade with an automated system! Automated Systems are not exactly a new wave of culture in the Forex end of trading, but have been around for quite some time. Almost all trading systems started out as a private system, making their owners very wealthy. Some of these systems the owners have decided to sell to the general public.

One system, the Forex Backlash system works by pinpointing the price action in the Forex Market, and calculates the previous actions and historical data to make a decision: Should I trade or not trade? Now, the automated trading system trades for you and doesn’t even need any level of human intervention. The autopilot systems make it easier for the trader, as now, you can spend lost time with family, friends, and have a life. You can have a day job and not need to do life consuming amounts of technical analysis.

Want to see detailed results? click http://www.forexbacklash.info/

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The Credit Secrets Bible Course

Lisa and I walked 5 miles around Boston to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The Swan boats, Italian food in the Northend, a new “doo” for Lisa on Newbury Street, and new summer sweaters for me(”About time you got some sweaters with bright colors!”, Lisa said).

At Fanueil Hall Marketplace we watched “Formerly known as ‘Jim the Juggler,’ now known simply as “Jim, from The Jim Show.” Jim does daffy juggling as children giggle and parents laughed (we laughed and giggled). Jim balanced on a large beach ball while juggling.
I cannot stand on a beach ball nor can I juggle. Yet every morning my brain attempts the economic juggle, a dance registered investment advisors do in their office (privately). No need to mention the balls required, but here is an outline of what each ball lofted represents.

Each subject has current relevance, especially when the market movers sell more stock than they buy. I will define and explain the relevance in my opinion.

• Interest Rates
• Bond Rates
• Inflation

Other influences driving the stock market have aggregate affect, but individually lack market-moving clout. So, let’s look at what each subject means to the market.

Interest Rates: Lisa’s grandmother laments about the Bush administration while she longs for Jimmy Carter. “Those were the good ole days when the banks paid you for investing!” She remembers a call from a Florida stock broker offering her a 15% return on her $25,000 deposit. Of course, she and “Pa” never calculated their real rate of return (The inflation rate from June 1986 to June 1989 was 13.33% leaving 2.67% pre-tax real-rate of return)

Interest rates and inflation are the horse and cart of the economy. High Interest rates do not guarantee low inflation, nor that Lisa’s grandmother gets a “good-return” on her money. However, higher interest rates manage economies by affecting borrowing, corporate expansion, merger/acquisition activity (notice it slowed down on June 5, 2007), and currency values (U.S. dollar versus the Yen, as an example). Finally, the stock market dislikes high interest rates because there is less risk when buying bonds. You still with me?

News Flash! “Tracy Withers reports that “New Zealand’s central bank unexpectedly raised its benchmark interest rate to a record 8 percent, saying housing demand and consumer spending are fanning inflation. The currency rose to a 22-year high”

“Skellerup Holdings Ltd., which exports rubber goods used in medicine and irrigation, this week said full-year profit will fall by 34 percent because of the currency’s gain. The company is planning to stop some local production and fire workers because it is cheaper to make goods overseas, it said.”

Interest rate increases control inflation and can instigate sector recessions.

2. OK. On to Bond values. The bond market is all about the “cost of money”. Cheap money means mortgages, corporate buyouts, and stock market opportunity.

How come the bond market does not control interest rates? Perhaps because there is no immediate consensus, and bond traders might not consider inflation’s nasty economic slaps the way Federal Reserve Bankers do. Federal Reserve Bankers line their jackets and underwear with fabric imprints reading “Inflation”. Nothing matters more. At the Federal Reserve Bank water cooler, it’s all about inflation.

Bond traders are not numb to economic indicators. Sell-off’s in bonds push interest rates up and bond values/prices down. Bond traders don’t take risks with an greater courage than you or I. No one wants to lose money.

Joseph Keating, Chief Investment Officer for First American Asset Management thinks bond yields are now giving “competition” to stocks. Investors are observing bond yields, and consider bonds the “safer bet”. Stock buyers need a “premium” when buying stocks due to stock risk. This is known as “stock risk-premium”. When risk premiums are high, bonds fly.

Supply and demand drives pricing. So when bond buyers are attracted to higher yields, pricing gets tighter (bond prices go up and bond yields go down). This bond buying brings lower yields or lower interest rates in the bond market. Lower interest rates in the bond market decreases the risk premium making stocks attractive. When risk premiums are low, stocks grow. Fascinating, don’t you think?

Bond traders tend, in my opinion, to give weight to economic growth rather than to the value of the dollar. Dollar values may tell us more about inflation than any other indicator. Every commodity in America (and the dollar is no longer a commodity) is dollar-priced. If the dollar is down in value against other currencies, does it suggest that prices are inflated? Does this mean that someday, holders of the dollar will want more for what they can get with their lower-valued dollars? It seems so.

Inflation: No wonder the “Fed” worries about inflation. The insidious affect gets little attention from the public, but the result devastates buying power.

Tracking inflation started in 1914. Not much relevance tracking inflation from 1914 to now. However, we could try it from January 1997 to January 2007. From then to now, the inflation rate is 27.14%.
Now, let’s calculate what that means to your spending power. We can calculate the affect of inflation: $1+($1 x .2714)= $1.2714 or $1.27. This means your investment account per thousand must earn at least $270 more per thousand just to keep up with inflation.
The current Inflation Rate is 2.57%.

“Inflation causes reduced consumer spending, it squeezes profit margins,” said John Kornitzer, who manages $6 billion at Kornitzer Capital Management in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. (Bloomberg.com, U.S. Stocks Retreat on Inflation Concern…, Michael Patterson)

What do you prefer? High interest rates or low inflation? Juggle them if you can; for me, logic recommends asset allocation.

As a registered investment advisor, Ray Randall provides clients with tools to manage risk control as clients work toward investment goals. You may read more about him at Ethos Advisory.com Ray also manages the article bank and resource directory found at Echievements.com. Would you like to know how much risk your temperament permits? Fill out a request for a no-cost report on the Ethos Advisory Services contact page.

FINANCES: CREDIT CARDS AND LOANS

1. Create a budget and be realistic about all your incomings and outgoings. Make sure you know exactly what money you have and when you will have it. This will help you plan for events such as birthdays or holidays when you may need a little extra cash saved up.

2. Make sure you are getting the best possible interest rate for your savings, opening an online savings account could receive a higher interest rate than a regular current account.

3. Missing your credit card minimum payment dates will hit you with a big charge, so set up a direct debit payment to make sure you never miss the date by accident.

4. Lots of credit cards now offer cashback or points on your purchases or gift vouchers when you first sign up, so make sure you shop around before choosing your credit card. However don’t just choose a card because of a one off benefit, you have to look at the overall package.

5. Don’t be scared to transfer to another credit card with an interest free promotional period as lots of credit cards offer this now. However make sure you transfer to a different one before the promotional period is over as you could be charged with a higher interest rate once it has ended.

6. Keep your credit history healthy- this will make it easier to transfer to different credit cards when you need to.

7. Don’t sign up to department store credit cards even if they do offer you 10% off your first purchase, they charge you a very high interest rate, high late payment charges and are too tempting to have in your wallet while you are out shopping!

8. Don’t get yourself into a mess with paying your mortgage. If you are struggling to pay your monthly payments, speak to your provider about taking a mortgage payment holiday which is better than simply defaulting on your payments.

9. If you have a little extra money, pay more on your credit cards or loans instead of spending it on a treat. If you can pay your debts off quicker, you will pay less interest.

10. If you have been stung in the past by large bank charges, try to reclaim them by writing to your bank. If you think your bank charges are significantly higher than other banks, think about transferring your account.

11. If you travel a lot, use a credit card which doesn’t charge you for using it abroad. Some credit cards charge 2.5% for using it in a foreign country, however there are some that do not charge this fee if you shop around.

12. If you are worried about your finances, get free help from your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau, they understand what troubles you may be facing and are trained to help you think of solutions.

13. Make sure you are claiming any benefits that you are entitled to such as Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit. The forms can take a while to fill out and it can be confusing about what you are entitled for but you can go to your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau to help with any queries.

SHOPPING

14. Do you shopping online, this will stop you having to pay for buses or parking and you are more likely to buy what you need when you are online.

15. Join Internet Cashback to earn cashback while you shop online and get access to discount codes which aren’t available in the shops. Earn cashback on a variety of products including your food shopping, clothes shopping, credit cards, insurances etc. Download the Cashback Detector and you will never miss out on cashback while shopping online again!

16. Don’t buy everything from the usual high street shops; use a price comparison website before you buy anything to make sure you are getting the best prices, which could point you to an online shop you have never heard of before with the cheapest products.

17. Try not to impulse shop! Don’t buy something as soon as you see it; give yourself time to think about it so you can see if you really need it. This will also give you chance to shop around for the best price.

18. When buying your groceries try the supermarket’s economy range. You’ll find most of it tastes the same but is half the price, so don’t be put off by the packaging. Supermarket economy ranges are also good for toiletries, medicines and cleaning products.

19. Have a spring clean and sell anything you don’t want or use anymore on Ebay- it is really quick and easy to sell on Ebay now.

20. Do your grocery shopping at night if you can, as supermarkets such as ASDA or Tesco often reduce the price of food like bread, milk or cakes at the end of the day to make sure they sell it.

21. Before you go shopping, make a list of what you need and then stick to it, if you don’t know what you need, you’ll be more likely to overspend.

22. Don’t buy your daily cup of coffee from expensive coffee shops because they are too expensive. A £2 cup of coffee every day will cost you approximately £60 over the whole month! Take a flask out instead!

23. Take a packed lunch to work instead of buying it everyday, it will work out much cheaper especially if you’ve managed to get your bread reduced for your sandwiches the night before.

24. Don’t buy ready made meals; they’re expensive and not very healthy. If you get yourself organised you can cook a meal from scratch in about 20 minutes. It’s healthier and much cheaper.

25. Only buy what you need to eat, buying too much food means it’ll go out of date fast and you lose money on it.

26. Use the leftovers from your evening meals for your lunch the next day, as long as you keep in the fridge it will still stay nice and means you won’t need to buy your dinner out.

27. Always look out for special offers, coupons and discounts. Bulk buy if there is a special offer on something you regularly use, for example a BOGOF on toothpaste however don’t just buy something because it is reduced!

28. Don’t feel you have to be the first person to get the latest products, for example a mobile phone could cost £300 when first launched but could drop to only £50 in the next year.

29. Plan your family and friend’s birthday and Christmas presents in advance by buying them during the sales. If you have enough storage, you could buy your Christmas presents for the following year in the January sales.

EVENING ENTERTAINMENT AND LEISURE

30. Stop eating out at restaurants at evenings and weekends so often. It’s easy to get lazy and head out for dinner but you’ve got to remember that your meal will cost a lot more in a restaurant than it will cooking for yourself.

31. If you do eat out at a restaurant, try to skip the starter and only have two courses which will save you money without ruining your evening. Also, try to resist the coffee at the end of the meal, you can get one at home for much less.

32. Find a restaurant where you can take your own bottle of wine! These are quite common and will mean you are not paying restaurant prices for your drinks.

33. Take it in turns for you and your friends to throw a dinner party. This is much cheaper than going to a restaurant and is often more fun especially if you have themed evenings.

34. If you are going out for the evening, don’t go too early and have a few drinks before you leave. You will spend much less money but will still have fun!

35. If you have an expensive gym membership and do not use it then cancel it as it is a complete waste of money. Try walking instead or using your local leisure centre which will be much cheaper than a gym membership.

36. If you pay to go to a slimming club, consider starting your own with your family, friends and neighbours instead. You will still get the same motivation but will save on the weekly cost.

37. Don’t pay full price for cinema tickets as most cinemas offer cheap weekend or daytime prices, and if you know someone with an Orange mobile phone you can get 2-for-1 tickets on Wednesday’s with their Orange Wednesday promotion.

38. During summer holidays most council’s have free or cheap events for families and children to take part in, so make sure you hunt around to make the most of what is offered.

39. Libraries are a great place to take the children on a rainy day and are great for adults too as many now stock not only books but CDs , DVDs and magazines.

40. Share the cost of events with your family and friends, for example if you love football then buy a season ticket with your friends and take it in turns to go to the matches. This way you might miss out on some matches but that’s better than missing out on all of them.

41. Try and find a market research group in your area which will pay you very well for telling researches what you think of specific products or ideas. These are enjoyable to do and you are provided with refreshments while you are there.

FASHION

42. Aim to build your wardrobe up with classic pieces that match. This way you will be able to interchange everything, so you won’t have to buy as many new pieces.

43. Go to the factory or clearance shops; they’re much cheaper and give you big brands at low prices and chances are, nobody will know where you bought them from!

44. Try to save your shopping trips until the sales are on. Although make sure you don’t buy things just because they are cheap if you don’t actually need them and take them back if they don’t fit as many shops do not open their fitting rooms during busy sale times.

45. Go to your local charity shop for cheap clothes! Remember, the majority of celebrities shop in charity stores because that’s where all the quirky stuff is so you will be in good company!

46. Don’t splash out on designer clothes for your children. Hand-me-downs and supermarket clothing ranges are a great way to dress your children cheaply and they probably won’t even notice the difference.

47. Learn how to sew and fix your clothes, not only will you be able to sew any holes or rips, you will also be able to customise your own clothes to make one off pieces.

48. Return clothes for a refund that you have bought and then realised you don’t like, don’t just let them sit in your wardrobe with the tags on.

49. Don’t avoid the cheaper shops such as Primark, they are great to stock up on your simple wardrobe necessities such as t-shirts and nightwear.

UTILITIES

50. Only buy home appliances that have been certified as energy efficient, they may cost more to start with but you’ll save more over time on running costs.

51. Replace your old light bulbs with energy efficient light bulbs as they last longer and save you money.

52. Lower your heating thermostat. If there are rooms that you don’t use in your home then turn off the radiator and close the door. If you live in a 2 storey house, you can turn the thermostat down even further upstairs because heat rises. By turning your heating thermostat down 10-20 you will be surprised at how much energy you will save per year.

53. Install more insulation in your attic, replace old curtain liners with new insulating curtain liners and seal any draughts. If you have a big enough budget, install double or even triple glazed windows, these are very efficient means of insulating your home, saving you money on heating costs. They also boost the value of a property significantly.

54. Turn off the lights if you aren’t in the room and make sure everyone in your house does the same. There’s no point in being charged for light that you don’t use. Simple as that!

55. Don’t leave electrical appliances on standby as they still consume electricity. Turn them off at the wall and you could save up to 10% off your electricity bills. According to reports, the UK government is bringing in legislation that will make it compulsory for all new appliances to not have a standby mode because of the huge waste this brings.

56. You can save a lot of money on your water bills very easily, always shower rather than bathing and spend as little time in the shower as possible.

57. If you have a big home with few occupants you could halve your annual water bill by installing a water meter.

58. Turn your washing machine down to 40. Unless your clothes are heavily soiled a wash on 30-40 will still bring them out sparkling clean!

59. Don’t be lazy by sticking with your current utility company, shop around and make sure you are getting the best deal; you can use utility comparison sites to help you see which company will be best for you and use Internet Cashback to earn up to 37.50 pounds for switching utility companies.

TRAVEL

60. Book flights early and save money. While many of the budget airlines will fly to a regional airport, it may actually cost less to fly into an airport closer to a city center (if you are going on a city break) as you won’t have to pay for a taxi to your accommodation.

61. Budget airlines such as Ryanair are now charging per bag checked into the hold in an effort to speed up their turn around times. If you can, pack what you need (minus scissors, liquids etc) into your hold baggage. This also means you don’t have to wait round to pick up your baggage at arrivals.

62. Book hotels online rather than walking in unannounced and being hit with the typically higher walk-in rate.

63. Buy your car rental online rather than arranging for it when you arrive. Car rental is a competitive market and there are plenty of money-saving offers available.

64. If you are planning a journey by train or bus then book early, look for offers and do not travel in peak times. If you buy your ticket on the day of travelling it will be significantly more money than if you book in advance.

65. If you are on a long train or plane journey, buy your refreshments before you board as drinks and snacks are always over priced once you are travelling.

66. There are lots of websites which will send you free samples or money off coupons so find the best one and keep checking it for the samples you want to receive. Shampoo and body lotion samples are great to take on weekends away!

COMMUNICATIONS

67. If you don’t use your landline phone often then change to a pay as you go mobile phone, it is silly paying for line rental if you don’t use it.

68. If you don’t use your internet broadband often then cancel it and make use of free wireless internet in most restaurants, cafes and bars. You simply take your laptop and connect to their wireless for free (although it might cost you a cup of coffee!). You can go to your library and use their computers for free and even have access to their printers and photocopiers for a small cost.

69. If you are on a monthly mobile phone contract, think about going pay as you go instead. You will have much more control over what you spend, and you’ll be surprised at how many people will call you instead of you calling them!

70. Send an email instead of phoning or texting people. Most customer services departments will answer emails now if you have a problem with a service such as your utility bill which means you won’t have to ring their premium rate customer services phone number. You can also send your family and friends emails instead of calling them and even send birthday cards by email to save on postage.

71. There are lots of websites which let you send text messages to mobile phones for free so you won’t use up your credit texting while you can get online and use a messenger service such as MSN Live to talk to your family and friends over the internet for free.

72. Get a Freeview digital box and cancel your SKY or cable TV package. Freeview has lots of free channels and you can now watch the majority of TV programmes on the internet, so you won’t be missing out on your favourite shows.

AROUND THE HOUSE

73. If you have a spare room, advertise for a lodger. There are lots of people who just want a room during the week while they are at work, so you would still get your privacy at weekends. If you live on your own a lodger can provide you with great company and will help pay towards your bills.

74. Don’t be wasteful with products such as toothpaste, body lotion or foundation. When you can’t get anymore out of the tube, cut it open and you will be able to use the bits you couldn’t get to.

75. Re-use old ice-cream tubs or take away packaging, you can use them for freezing food or taking your packed lunch into work.

76. If you have a pet, don’t go out buying expensive bedding from the pet shop, recycle the waste paper from your office or buy your own shredding machine at home and shred up your old newspapers.

77. Only fill the kettle with the amount of water you need, filling it up full wastes energy and takes longer to boil so you’ll have to wait longer for your drink!

78. When you use your washing machine, make sure it’s full every time, if you just have a few items to wash then hand wash them in the sink.

79. Instead of drying your clothes in the tumble dryer, hang them outside or in rainy weather hang them over a clotheshorse. This will also keep your clothes nicer for longer as tumble dryers tend to shrink your clothes!

80. Learn how to make your own cleaning products which are as effective as the products you buy in the shop and you can often use the ingredients you already have in your kitchen cupboards.

81. Grow your own fruit and vegetables in your garden or rent an allotment, especially if you give the vegetables to your pets. Seeds cost virtually nothing compared to the actual products themselves.

MOTORING

82. Downsizing your car could save you 100s of pounds each year in both fuel and road tax so if you are just making journeys to and from work you should seriously consider getting a smaller, more efficient car.

83. Don’t renew your car insurance without shopping around first. Use a price comparison site and you could save £100s every year by changing to a cheaper provider.

For a price comparison service go to CompareTheMarket.com.

84. If you travel to work on your own, try and start a car pool with colleagues who live in your area, not only will this save in petrol costs, it will also keep your car miles low.

85. Don’t jump in your car for all journeys, if you can, walk or cycle and you will save money and get fitter.

86. Start a school run with other parents in your area if you drive your children to school or consider walking them there instead if it is in a walking distance.

87. Don’t drive too fast, the RAC claim most car engines run far more efficiently at 60-70 miles an hour, compared to 80 mph or over.

88. Check your tyre pressure regularly; if your tyres are under inflated by 20% then you’ll use 10% more fuel.

89. Don’t pay to get your car cleaned as it is a waste of money, set aside 30 minutes each week to wash it yourself.

MISC

90. Instead of buying a daily paper, read the news online. Most newspapers have regularly updated websites which have all the news stories for free which could save you approximately 15 pounds per month.

91. If you smoke, try to stop or cut down. The NHS has lots of free services to help you do this and it will save you £100s each year.

92. Monitor how much alcohol you drink. If you are having a few glasses everyday, try to cut back and only have it for special occasions.

93. Don’t spend money you don’t have on gambling sites, especially ones online. It is easy to lose track on how much money you are spending and more often than not, you will lose this money. Try premium bonds instead if you want to try your luck as this way you will not lose your money.

94. It may be cheaper for you to pay for your prescriptions in advance with a pre-payment certificate if you pay for more than five prescription items in four months or 14 items in 12 months.

95. Buy generic medicines when you can, a 16 pack of Anadin costs approximately 2.99 pounds however a Sainsbury branded pack will only cost approximately 33p.

96. Cut and colour your own hair, or get your friends to help you. There are lots of great DIY colour kits out there to give you a new look for under 5 pounds and a pair of clippers won’t set you back much. Be careful though!

97. Pretend it’s your birthday on a night out and you might get a free birthday cake or glass of Champaign.

98. Don’t lose all of your loose pennies, save them up in a jar and at the end of the year you will be surprised at how much money you have collected.

99. Make saving money fun! Saving money doesn’t have to make you miserable! You can still see your friends, buy yourself treats and go on holiday; you just have the added advantage of feeling proud of your finances instead of hiding away from them!

The author of this article is a keen blogger regarding cashback deals for retailers’ such as for ASDA and affiliate marketing programmes.

It’s been a big year for my husband and me. We had our first child and recently closed on our first home, since our town home was feeling a bit snug with our new addition. Given the current state of the housing market, we were very fortunate to be able to make a profit on our town home and receive the financing necessary for our dream home.

Signing the dotted line and receiving the keys was a fantastic feeling; after all we now had 5000 square feet and one acre of gorgeous property that belonged completely to us. However, along with that “high” was the sobering reality that we now had a thirty year mortgage to contend with. During our first year of marriage, we made the goal to live debt-free and within three years, we had all our student loans and credit cards paid off. So to have a debt as massive as a mortgage was slightly disconcerting, despite the fact that the majority of Americans have to get a mortgage. How disheartening to think that by the time the thirty years is up, we will have paid nearly twice as much in interest as the original purchase price of the home.

I had heard from friends and acquaintances about different early mortgage payoff plans that were available. One such program that we came across that seemed to have rave reviews was the Money Merge Account, offered by United First Financial.

In the simplest of terms, the Money Merge Account system empowers homeowners with the ability to reduce the principal amount of their mortgage, thus reducing the interest that accrues on the total loan. The driving force of the program is an advanced line of credit (ALOC, also known as a home equity line of credit or HELOC). In order to qualify for a HELOC, homeowners must have equity in their home. My husband and I purchased our new home during the first phase of a residential building project. Since the value of the homes have increased, our house subsequently appreciated through the duration of the second and third phases. Once a homeowner has been approved for the line of credit, they are ready to use the Money Merge Account system. The HELOC must also be able to operate similar to a checking account.

Anytime you deposit income into your primary checking account, you transfer it to the line of credit and tell the Money Merge Account how much was deposited. Over time, the system will instruct you to put a certain amount of additional money towards the primary balance of your mortgage, permitting the interest rate to drop. Based on the deposits you make, the Money Merge Account uses advance algorithms to compute how much extra you should pay and when. The end result is to create the greatest interest rate savings possible.

United First Financial provides seminars for individuals interested in learning more about the Money Merge Account. My husband and I attended one and would highly recommend it to any of our friends and family; we found the seminar to be informative, educational, and helped us realize that the Money Merge Account is a system apt for us and our situation.

http://www.unitedfirstfinancial.com

We receive little if no information from our public school education about managing money. Even if we have, most of us are not aware of the public policy changes that have been made that influence our current money management.The most recent change dates back to President Nixon, who in 1971. took us off of the gold standard. It has to be one of the biggest monetary changes that has occurred in world history. Many people alive today are not aware of the large impact that this move has made on our current world economy. After this move, the dollar was no longer money, but became currency.

What is the difference between money and currency?Currency, in order to survive, has to keep moving. If it quits moving, it loses value and then the people stop accepting it. The result is that the dollar will approach a value of zero. Before this move to eliminate the gold standard, the United States was one of the richest nations in the world. Now after this move, the U.S. government is in debt.

Another change that occurred in 1974. That was the move from the defined benefit retirement plan and to the defined contribution plan. The defined benefit plan guaranteed the retiree a paycheck for as long as he or she lived. This proved to be too expensive. The defined contribution retirement plan depends on how much you and your employer contribute. This contributes to one of the greatest fears of the current retirees. That is whether they will run out of money before their demise. Typical defined contribution plans include IRAs,Keoghs, 401[k]s.etc.

There are many of us who want to rely on the government to solve their financial problems. But how can they rely on an entity that is in debt and cannot solve its own financial problems. Thus, it is important to educate yourself as to how to actively solve your financial problems. Unfortunately, the poor and middle class tend to avoid or pretend that they don’t have financial problems. After all if the government is in debt, why isn’t okay for them to be in debt.

The trap to avoid is the scenario that begins with the ease of overspending your available budget. Because credit cards are so easy to use and can delay the responsibility of payment, one unpaid credit balance can lead to another unpaid credit balance. And then one has to take out a mortgage on his house to try to get out of debt. This is a vicious circle and one to best avoid in the first place.

The important lesson from all of this information is to learn to stay within your budget. Then at the end of the month you might have some money left over to invest for the future and retirement. You will find that you will begin to learn how to solve money problems rather than to be a victim of poor money management.

http://www.astewart37.com

Word verification for the day: What is the origin of the term “boogie-woogie”? A “boogie” is a hobglobin or anything majic. “Boogies” like to dance to weird music. Music with the beat of the toms-toms in the bass is “boogie” music.”Woogie” was a later addition.

I am a recently retired general surgeon [ 40 years] living in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado at the foot of Pike’s Peak.

In some way, shape or form we have all been hit either directly or indirectly by the “credit crisis.” Moving the mortgage, loan and housing markets forward is now a top priority or the government to avoid any recession like slump.

In the UK, the Financial Services Authority, responsible for regulating the mortgage industry, focuses on treating customers fairly and ensuring that when you apply for a home loan brokers and lenders determine your affordability to service the loan payments from your disposable income, not just today but throughout the entire term of the loan.

When you apply for a home loan through a mortgage or loan adviser should take a detailed breakdown of your income and expenditure to make sure you are not exposing yourself the risk of the loan becoming unaffordable at some point in the future. If they do not then you are not receiving proper advice.

It is of the utmost importance that the industry makes affordability a top priority within the mortgage and loan market moving forward, to avoid another replay of the credit crisis which is still taking its toll on customers, lenders and brokers alike.

The best advice would be to always research the market and work out a reasonable budget based on your net income and overall outgoings before applying for a home loan or mortgage. Get comparisons from the top lenders by using a mortgage/loan broker and only when you are certain that the loan you wish to take out is affordable to you should you then apply.

You could also have a go at using some online loan calculators to see how much your loan may cost and how much you can really afford each month before applying.

This article was written by Gary Taylor, a representative of Rate Hunter Limited, owners and operators of http://www.searchandapply.co.uk a UK Secured Loan Comparison Site.

Online Loan Calculators - http://www.searchandapply.co.uk/calculators.shtml

I invite you to take the next few minutes to learn the truth about the real estate market, how it compares to other methods of building assets and why it is such a lucrative form of investing. Many potential investors will say, ‘I need to get into the Florida Investment Property market’, especially taking into account current stock market fluctuations and the HOT market for investment properties, but simply don’t know the facts about Orlando property investing and how to use sale and leaseback method of property management.

When is the last time your financial advisor or stockbroker tried to convince you that moving a portion of your assets into the Florida Investment Property market might be a good idea? Never Right? The ‘why’ is simple. They don’t earn commissions when you buy Florida Investment Property. It is also likely that you have probably never had an ‘apples to apples’ comparison of stocks versus Florida Investment Property quite like the one you will see here.

Reason 1:

Leverage: Banks will not typically loan money to buy stocks. Banks will however, compete fiercely to loan money to buy Florida Investment Property. Your first question should be, ‘why is that’? It has to do with risk management, which we will discuss later. The fact that banks want to loan you money to buy Florida Investment Property creates a situation which we will call LEVERAGE.

Let’s assume that you have $10,000 to put into some type of investment. If you choose to buy $10,000 worth of stocks, you will own exactly $10,000 worth of stocks. Pretty straight-forward. However, suppose you choose to invest that $10,000 into Florida Investment Property using a 90% mortgage (which in many cases can go up to 95-100% mortgages in today’s market), you will own $100,000 worth of Florida Investment Property. If both of your investments were to appreciate by 10%, your actual gain with your stocks would be $1000 where your actual gain with Florida Investment Property would be $10,000. That equates to an actual 10% return on investment vs. a 100% return on investment. That’s what we call leverage.

Leverage: Florida Real Estate vs. Stocks

The traditional argument against Florida Investment Property Investing (mainly from Stock Brokers) has always been ‘I can get an average of 10% from stocks with little effort so why would I invest in Orlando Investment Property that only appreciates 6-7% per year’? This point-of-view is not taking leverage into account.

If you take the above statement to be true and compare the REAL numbers, the stock investment gained 10% of the initial $10,000 value (or $1000) and the Orlando Investment Property investment gained 6% of the initial $100,000 value (or $6000). That is still an actual return of 10% versus 60%. It is not hard to see which investment provides a greater immediate return on investment. Additionally. these numbers do not take into account any income from your property during the course of the year, or the substantial tax advantages to owning property, which we will discuss later.

Reason 2:

Value: As we mentioned previously, if you invest $10,000 into purchasing stocks, you own $10,000 worth of stocks (a fairly obvious point). If you invest $10,000 into purchasing Orlando Investment Property using the leverage of a 90% mortgage, you own $100,000 worth of Orlando Investment Property right? Well, only if you paid retail for your property. Any savvy investor will tell you that there are excellent deals to be had in Orlando Investment Property, you just have to find them.

What if you purchased a $100,000 property that happened to be worth $110,000 the day you bought it? Does it happen? The answer is yes, all the time. If you have your eyes open and are willing to ‘go through the numbers’ to find good deals, they are all around you. You may be asking yourself, why would anybody sell a $110,000 property for $100,000?

Value: Making money when you buy.

The reasons are endless as to why a quick sale is desired, but just to name a few: job relocation, divorce, an estate is being settled or maybe a current appraisal on the property simply wasn’t done prior to selling. By ‘finding this deal’ you have accomplished two things.

You have added $10,000 to your asset column in the form of equity.

You have created additional LEVERAGE for yourself as the value of your property increases (a 6-10% gain on $110,000 is better than a 6-10% gain on $100,000!) Remember, you make money in Orlando Investment Property when you buy, not when you sell.

Reason 3:

Control: Let’s take our assumption one step further. When you buy your $10,000 worth of stocks, what can you do to increase its value? If we follow the previous assumption, you have invested $10,000 using a 90% mortgage to purchase a $100,000 property that has an actual value of $110,000 because you ‘found a good deal’. So what can you do to further increase the value of your new $110,000 property?

It is amazing what a cleanup, a little landscaping and a paint job can do to increase the value of a property. Only a few hundred dollars well spent can result in huge value gains in Orlando Investment Property. Your $110,000 property with a little effort could easily be worth $115,000, $120,000 or more virtually overnight! Do you have to do any of this work yourself? Absolutely not! If you like to do that sort of thing then have at it, but if not, simply hire it done and accept a little lower net gain.

Reason 4:

Superior Tax Position: The tax code in the United States is geared to reward Investors who make housing and other property available to the population. When you invest in stocks, you are taxed at some of the highest rates in the tax code. When you invest in Orlando Investment Property, you put yourself in one of the best tax positions in the business world. Remember the wealthy that hold substantial portions of their assets in Orlando Investment Property? Tax advantages are one of the main reasons this is true.

Continuing with the above example, let’s say that you have completed your ‘deal’ with the $10,000 invested with a 90% mortgage to purchase the $100,000 property that appraised for $110,000 (because you ‘found a good deal’), which you improved to say, $115,000 by spending another $1000 on cleanup etc. Assume that one year passes and the Orlando Investment Property market grew by 6%, your property would now be worth $122,000. So far, so good right? If you are like most people, you may want to spend some of your hard earned money.

Let’s do the numbers. You have a mortgage at current rates that started at $90,000 and after a year worth of payments (the majority of which are tax deductible) you still owe approximately $89,000. However, your property is now worth approximately $122,000. If you were to refinance at 90% once again, you would take out a new mortgage of approximately $110,000. This will leave you with approximately $21,000 in cash in your pocket. Now, the BIG question; do you have to pay tax on that money? Absolutely Not! You have not sold the property or realized a ‘capital gain’. You have simply borrowed money from yourself. You are able to do what you wish with that money, free from any tax whatsoever. Obviously, a good strategy might be to purchase two more properties just like your first deal!

Also, we have not taken into account the fact that ALL of your interest payments on this property are tax deductible. In addition, you are also able to depreciate the property itself and all of its contents for additional tax advantages if you choose to do so.

Let’s be fair and compare the Orlando Investment Property tax position with the stock scenario. Assume that the $10,000 initial stock investment grew by 10% in the first year, creating a gain of $1000 and you wish to access it. If you draw it out, you will pay from 20-28% (or higher) in capital gains tax in order to have access to this money. This reduces your net gain to $800 (actual 8%) or less, depending on your tax situation. Compare that to Orlando Investment Property and you are beginning to get the picture.

Reason 5:

Limit Your Exposure To Risk

Risk Management: Do you remember at the top when we said that banks would compete fiercely to loan you money on Orlando Investment Property? The answer to the ‘why’ is very simple. Low Risk. Banks incur little if any risk when loaning money on Orlando Investment Property due to the steady, solid growth rate of the property market, as well as the fact that if you default on your payments they will simply sell the property to somebody else. This is in direct contrast to the volatile stock market, which can vary daily with sharp increases and decreases in value. Furthermore, banks realize that a property isn’t going anywhere, whereas many investors know all too well about .com and other types of companies that were there yesterday and gone today.

This is all not to say that Orlando Investment Property markets don’t go down from time to time, however the dips are much less dramatic than that which can take place in the stock market, proven out by the banks’ willingness to loan money on property.

Reason 6:

Protecting your peace of mind.

Finally, Now that we understand the value of leverage and risk management we realize that a 6% Orlando Investment Property gain ‘beats the pants off’ a 10% stock gain in actual return on investment by a wide margin (approximately 50%, not taking into account several factors that can increase this number such as tax advantages, income on property etc.) Owning good, solid Orlando Investment Property allows you to sleep at night, or go on an extended vacation without worrying about your asset column. This is directly opposed to holding a substantial percentage of your assets in stocks.

Lisa Carson
http://www.biminibayresortinvestment.com
lcarson@biminibayresortinvestment.com

Nothing ever seems to happen without causing some good. For instance, there seems to be a little uptick in analyzing our thinking, as a result of wading through this financial crisis.

Radicals are starting to say that simple cause and effect reasoning could have prevented the current financial crisis. You may remember cause and effect from school, where as a thinking skill it is second in popularity only to the skill of avoiding thinking completely. But could an understanding of cause and effect have made a difference in the financial crisis?

Undeniably, cause and effect has its uses. The neat thing about cause and effect is that it makes you look good without much effort. When you know that something causes a certain effect, you can easily impress your friends. You look up and see a bunch of dark clouds and you casually mention that you think it’s going to rain. Then sure enough, it rains. Clouds then rain: cause and effect. Just don’t tell anybody how you do it and you’ll get a reputation for being really smart.

Unfortunately, cause and effect can get tricky. After you start using cause and effect, you begin to believe that everything has a cause and that you can spot that cause. Not so fast; you’re getting a little ahead of yourself. Sometimes things just happen out of the blue, without warning or reason.

That’s the situation with the financial crisis. No matter what anybody says, the current crisis is just the result of bad luck. There was no cause. It just happened, like all those forest fires, droughts, 100-year floods, and mega-storms that people predicted would be caused by global warming. Get real; predicting something doesn’t actually mean that you know the cause.

Let’s take a closer look at the financial crisis. With something this large, which has created hardships for more than half of the US population, people will probably ask questions: Couldn’t something have been done to prevent it? Cause and effect reasoning might have put us on the right track, if only those government economists could have found cause for alarm.

But nothing was obvious enough to cause concern. You can see that if we look at the major pieces of this crisis.

Cheap, cheap money - The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates, a lot. Who could know that cheap money would create a huge market of unsophisticated buyers and a huge industry of unscrupulous lenders?

Bait-and-switch loans, aka ARMs - Adjustable Rate Mortgage loans (ARMs) expanded the market and lender profits. And there was also something for consumers: low rates upfront and impossible rates to follow.

Inflated property appraisals - Lenders often worked with appraisers to inflate values and stimulate the market, creating what we now call “the housing bubble.” Sure the bubble attracted capital, but just because it was called a bubble, who knew it might burst?

Liar loans - Mortgage brokers from 2000 to 2007 routinely manipulated loan applications to let people get loans. Converting humbug into moolah is alchemy, not fraud.

Risk-free profits - Mortgage brokers quickly dumped new loans to avoid their default risk. Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac happily took on the debt with the backing of their rich uncle. Fannie and Freddie sound like the names of your slow-witted cousins; maybe if we called them Frances and Frederick they’d get a little more respect.

More profits - Weak loans were bundled, given blue-ribbon ratings, and sold to investors. Loan laundering is more important than money laundering because money has intrinsic value, while loans rely on a nice laundered appearance.

Reckless home buyers - People bought briefly affordable homes. Government economists didn’t see any problem at the time, but then they weren’t dealing with their own money. These economists now believe that home buyers should have known better.

This may seem confusing at first, because there were so many moving parts. Clearly, the government economists were perplexed. Were cause and effect signposts warning us of a crisis? Was danger lurking in harmless business activities? The economists wondered.

Once the crisis struck, of course, the wondering didn’t stop, but it changed focus. Now, the economists wondered if the economy was sound; everyone agreed it was. The politicians wondered how to bailout businesses, including Fannie and Freddie, whose lending practices were so outrageously unsound that they were on the verge of collapse.

As the focus shifts to working through the crisis, cause and effect is something of a hot potato in official circles. Politicians are looking for airtime to show us that they’re fully engaged after the fact. This may result in some cause-effect rhetoric, accusing the financial industry of causing the crisis. No doubt it will blow over after the November election.

In the short run, politicians do have a small dilemma. They want to convince us that they were smart enough to see the causes of impending problems, while avoiding the question of why they didn’t work to prevent the bad effects. Here is an example of why people in the know say that politics is a tough business.

You can see now that cause and effect reasoning fails to explain the financial crisis. There was no cause; the crisis was just bad luck. You can’t expect this thinking skill to fit in every situation.

In general, however, cause and effect reasoning could be a great tool for holding people accountable. Instead of telling each other to get over it and “move on,” we might start telling government to “hold on,” as in “we want to check this out.” This could cause unpleasantness in which responsible parties are held responsible, but it might have a cleansing effect.

Michael Durr is a marketer and writer. He publishes a website and blog on applied thinking, http://www.TheBusinessofThinking.biz

Visit the website to read an excerpt from his latest book, My Brain, My Future.

There seems to be so many ways these days for people to make money online. But do these ways work? If you search the internet for new ways to make money online, you will find thousands, and I mean thousands of search results. About six months ago, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired with my JOB. So I decided to take a look at what was out there. I thought what could be better than working at home in my comfy chair and making thousands if not millions a year. Well, that is what most of them claim isn’t it??

One day last winter, I decided to get really risky and quit that JOB that I was sick and tired of and put some of these ads to the test. First, I tried a brand new ground floor opportunity that they told me I would make thousands of dollars a month. Well, that didn’t happen. This company had some real well known internet gurus involved and they were bound and determined to make big bucks. The problem was that the little people (like myself) had to invest hundreds and hundreds of dollars to get started and put hundreds and hundreds of dollars into marketing only to find out months later that the gurus were the ones making all the money. Needless to say, I didn’t make a dime and put more money than I could afford into it.

I tried a couple other work at home gigs that I made a little money on, but once it was all said and done, I believe I spent more in advertising than I made. Then I thought for a second. Hmm! There has to be new ways to make money online. After all, the wave of the future is the internet. The younger generation (those plenty younger than myself) seem to always be online. I have younger friends that do everything online. They don’t even go to the grocery store anymore. They just order groceries online and have them delivered (for a small fee of course) but hey. They don’t even have to leave their home if they chose not to.

So I did some more research, read some articles, read some blogs and found that people really could make money online if they wanted but were they telling the truth? I decided that some could be lying but why would they? They don’t care if I believe them or not do they? And some people actually preferred to work outside the home to socialize, meet people, make new friends and so on. But I already am married, have plenty of friends and family to socialize with and I cannot even afford gas to get to the grocery store (maybe I should start ordering them online too).

After all the research, I decided to take one more crack at it. After all, I did not want to go back to working a JOB and driving the hour and a half to get there ever again. I found a couple different opportunities that cost very little to learn how to do and thought I have to make it or else I won’t be able to make the mortgage payment this month. Low and behold I did make it and I loved it. It took a little bit of work at first but not even close to the hours I was used to putting in. I am now on pace to make double my salary from my past sales job this month. I am so happy I did the research and decided to check into the new ways to make money online or I would still be miserable working that JOB.

Sarah is now working from home making the money she has always dreamed of making and the money she DESERVES! Go to http://www.sarahjacksblog.blogspot.com to find out how.