Archive for Personal Finance

Dec
20

Cash In On Bailouts With Index Trading

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by Doug West

President Bush has been on the TV a lot lately. Too late for him to go down in history as a good president, but we will give him credit for trying. The Pres. has assured us all that we can grow our economy by spending more money. He even sent us each a few hundred to help us do that. One has to wonder if that was a set up for what was to come.

Next came the BIG bailouts for the banks and boys on Wall Street. Hey, where do we apply for some of that 700 Billion dollar pie? Well, don’t hold your breath on that one (in a moment we will show you how to cash in on the bail out actions with simple mini-dow index trading)!

Let’s see, if you are already in debt up to your ears – like the US government is, how is sending out free money going to stimulate the economy? And, how is that going to help the US government?

OH, don’t forget our friends over at the FED. The Reserve! The agency that is owned by the bankers. That masquerades around like they are part of the government. What many folks still don’t know is that they all pulled a fast one on us by sticking that word Federal in front of their name. The same thing the guy at Federal Express did when starting his company.

Frederick W. Smith founded FedEx. I clearly remember years ago when he was on 60 Minutes, he said that by the time folks figured out that he was not part of the government his company was already well on it’s way to success! Can’t blame his reasoning? What a PLAN! IT WORKED for the FED why not FedEx too?

Let’s quote right from the FedEx web site:

“Federal Express was so-named due to the patriotic meaning associated with the word “Federal,” which suggested an interest in nationwide economic activity. At that time, Smith hoped to obtain a contract with the Federal Reserve Bank and, although the proposal was denied, he believed the name was a particularly good one for attracting public attention and maintaining name recognition.”

I’m sure Smith did want a relationship with the Federal Reserve – who wouldn’t! These guys have the legalized right to print money! Think about it. It does not matter if it is a $1 bill or a $100 bill, it cost them about the same to make it (a few cents each). Then they “LOAN” that money at full face value to the US government. Full face value PLUS INTEREST! So now you know where the national debt comes from. We now owe that money – Plus Interest – to the FED. A private corporation controlled by international bankers.

So if you are thinking that Bush’s plan to grow the economy by handing out $100 bills won’t cost anything – Think Again! Where is that money going to come from? That’s right – the good ol boys at the FED. These mystical folks seem to be able to pull money out of thin air! Just think, with today’s high-tech world, the FED can just punch a button on a computer somewhere and release new funds to the world. Most of which never represents new bills being printed, but just credit in some bank or financial institutions account. Electronic numbers moving through nanoseconds of time and space.

Not only does the FED create money, they also have the ability to set their own interest rate!

- The Fed’s Open Market Committee (FOMC), announces their interest rate decisions. This is NOT the interest rate that you and I can get money for, (why don’t we all meet at the Fed Discount Window – wherever that is) but what the BIG boys who keep the whole world flowing receive. They in turn pump up the volume and pass the savings on to you and me right – WRONG! It could take weeks or even MONTHS after a cut to see any savings at the consumer level. So why do the markets get so active after an FOMC announcement?

The BIG boys are the ones who really move the market right (and they CAN line up at the FED window for a bailout). We just want a small slice of it. That’s all. Remember that when you are trading (or practicing the FED move trade -after an FOMC announcement).

So how do you cash in on the bailouts without getting a slice of the pie? Index trading! With all these bailout moves, the FED buying stock and giving away billions of dollars, it has caused some GREAT moves in the market. Not so good for stock traders, but Wonderful for those of us that just trade and follow the overall index.

No matter what happens, we can all do well with Simple Mini-Dow Index Trading. I look for GREAT times ahead for Index traders. We might have to pay more for the things we need, (because of the FED printing out bailout money like candy these days) but at least we can stay home and earn the money to get them!

Remember those FOMC announcements mentioned earlier? Many times after an announcement, the market moves and moves BIG. Much like the market moves we have all been seeing here lately with the bailout manipulation of the markets. The FED won’t give you a partnership deal like FedEx was looking for, but you can capitalize on their dealings.

Just follow an index and stay away from stock!

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by Mark Richardson

I can think of fifty or seventy-five reasons a person might need to take borrow some cash for a short period of time. Think through this scenario – it’s April 5th, and in just ten short days the government is going to be looking for a rather large check in the mail from you. Your previous fiscal year went better than expected, which is turning out to be both a blessing and a curse now that you’re staring at your obscenely large tax burden.

So you owe the government some money, and you have one big problem – you spent all your cash reserves (which were supposed to take the fear out of tax day) on a trip to everyone’s favorite gambling town in Nevada. You’re wishing the government were in favor of such trips, so they’d give you a break on your bill, but no such luck. Yeah, right – it’s either pay the bill or pay the interest and penalties.

A lack of cash isn’t the only problem you have to resolve before you can pay off the Feds – you’re also facing your poor credit history. Remember when you purchased an almost new Ford truck because they were having a year-end blowout sale? You borrowed the money for the truck even when you knew you’d have no real ability to keep up with the large monthly payments, and not much time had gone by before the truck had to be repossessed.

You have yourself in a serious quandary – how are you going to get the government’s money to them when you have no cash and really bad credit? There is an answer, although it’s not ideal. Certain types of lenders will give you a signature loan for people with really bad credit.

What exactly is a signature loan? You go to your local bank, fill out their forms, smile, shake their hands, and head home with a wad of cash to help you survive tax day. It’s an uncomplicated process, but their going to want more than a big smile from you if they’re going to give you the money.

The first requirement your prospective lender will be looking for is a steady income. They won’t mind your terrible credit as much if you can show them your earnings will easily cover the repayment of their funds. There are a number of ways to verify your income, including canceled paychecks, check stubs, or last year’s tax forms.

And what about collateral? Collateral is defined as some valuable article the lender could sell on the open market if the borrower decided not to fulfill the obligations of the loan. It’s a classic risk-minimizing tool for banks who want to be able to recover all or part of their lost money when they loan to flaky people. Be careful – if you use something you actually care about for collateral, you run the serious risk of losing your valued item.

If you can convince the bank you’re not a major loan risk, you’ll end up getting the loan and surviving the day. Next time you should probably be more prudent about the use of your emergency cash reserves and your tax planning. Don’t let your financial situation become a vicious cycle!

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Dec
04

Getting Help With Bankruptcy Repair

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by Mark Allan

For the people that have declared bankruptcy, you should already be aware that doing this is the worst thing that can happen to your personal credit report. Most creditors would consider it to be a “deal-breaker” if you apply for a new credit card.

Chapter 7 and 13 are the most common types of filed bankruptcies. Chapter 7 stays displayed for creditors to see for 10 years, no questions asked. Chapter 10 is a little more forgiving. It shows for 10 years however, it can be removed after only 7 years.

Either way, bankruptcies stay on your record for at long time. If you want to improve your chances of getting credit in the future, you should consider trying to do some bankruptcy repair.

Regardless of how flawless your credit may be, if it shows that you have gone bankrupt, it’s going to show up, and turn off different companies. If you ever want to have a decent credit score again, you will need to collect information on different ways to repair your bankruptcy.

When attempting bankruptcy repair on your credit history, you will want to engage the services of someone who specializes in this area. Often, you will find some of the top experts who can help you are lawyers that represent clients who go through bankruptcy proceedings.

Even though it is a challenge to completely rid your credit score of any bankruptcy information but there are companies who can help. The majority of the time, information like this can be cleaned off of your record and can be explained.

You can find legal firms that specialize in bankruptcy repair and other credit repair agencies advertised online and they are also listed in the yellow pages. They will be happy to talk with you by phone and many of the first appointments will be free.

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by Walter Fox

The current global financial crisis that began in the United States banking industry has sent shock waves around the world. Many different things came together to create this world crisis. There have been many who have lost in the recent plunge of the DOW Jones. Other investors have found that this is a great time to make money. The stock market is a complex system that can be the small investoras most profitable tool as shown by many who have become millionaires of the past few years.

This was an extremely profitable moment for some, but a painstaking loss for many workers and their corporations. Many retirement plans rely primarily on the stock market. The traditional theory is to buy stock when it is low, hold for the long term, and sell when it is high to make a profit. Things have rapidly changed over the past few years and stocks tend to have big gains in the short term and low gains in the long term. These fluctuations in price have required people to learn to day trade, and people have even learned to make money when the market is going down.

Don’t fall into the trap of picking a stock at random or just because it is at a low and expect to make it big. Very few day traders are so lucky as to do it that way. You might as well be shooting into the dark at a moving target. If you want to be successful as a day trader you need to study the markets, know the stocks you are investing in and know how to use stock options to your advantage.

Stock options are bets that a stock will go up or down. You give a call option if you own the stock. Someone else agrees to buy the stock for an agreed upon amount provided the stock goes up to the amount you think it will reach. If the stock gets to that price, they buy the stock from you. If not, you keep the money they invested and the stock you own. The stock option strategy is one of the most lucrative methods of making money instantly in the stock market.

The other way you need to utilize stock options is to issue a put option. With this strategy, you are setting a loss limit. If a stock reaches the lowest you are willing to tolerate, you sell it at that reduced amount, but you do not continue to suffer losses on that stock share. In this way you limit your losses on a particular stock, even though you will suffer a loss from the initial purchase price.

Day traders often utilize these stock options to hedge their losses. The technique is known as a acovered calla. The investor sells a call option for a higher stock price and then sells a put for a lower stock price on the stock shares. In this way the day trader made money from the person who bought the call and on the person who bought the put. They made money on the investment both ways.

Next you need to look at how the stock is doing and monitor your investment’s performnance. Is it going up or down? You sell and buy options on stocks in increments of one hundred shares. Often investors buy many shares and sell options at the same time. You are hoping that the stock value will not work in either bets favor. If the stock does not reach either of the prices you set in the options, you get to keep the shares and the money.

You will become a money making day trader if you follow these key rules. First learn all you can about the stock you want to invest in, including the current trends in share prices. Then learn how to buy and sell as a day trader. Finally, learn how to best use stock options to your advantage. If you become skilled at predicting how your particular stock is doing, you will be able to make money in this abeara market, the same as the pros are doing.

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Nov
25

There is Life After Debt!

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by Caden Flynn

Should you find yourself in debt, in order to pay any creditors it is advisable to sell some of your possessions. Think long term regarding this – losing a few ‘precious” things now will get you out of debt and once you are back on track you can replace them. If things are a little more serious and it is a car loan or mortgage or indeed both that you cannot repay, think seriously about selling. You may find yourself in the fortunate position of not only having enough funds to pay off your debt, but there may even be some money remaining. If you don’t have anything worth selling it is advisable for you to investigate the possibilities available to help you repair your credit and then start over building your credit rating.

Another obvious choice is to reduce your spending to save money, putting these savings into reducing your debt. Most people buy things they really don’t need and there are plenty of others who are willing to buy these same things, so a garage sale can be a fantastic way to raise a few extra dollars towards the bills. EBay is also an excellent place to sell items you no longer need.

Another possibility is to negotiate with your credit providers. Many creditors are willing to reduce monthly payments for a period of time to help you get back on track as they view any payment, no matter how small, as preferable to receiving nothing. Nothing is really impossible. What can you do to reduce your expenses and start getting your life back?

How much are you spending on groceries each week? Do coupons help you to save? Do you choose items that are on sale or do you insist on paying for higher priced brands? Have you considered buying your groceries in bulk?

We know that to build credit requires money. Using coupons or buying sale items will help – the money you don’t use on these will go towards your credit bills. Gas is another expensive item. Do you really need to travel so much by car? Perhaps the car is using more gas because it needs a service. Have you thought about carpooling? Could you share the gas bill with one or two other people at work? Every little bit helps.

What can you do to reduce the bills at home? Are you careful with electricity, gas and other utilities? Can you sacrifice your cable or satellite TV for a few months to enable you to catch up on your bills? Think about borrowing books from the library rather than buying them – libraries also often have magazines as well, so you can save by cutting down on your subscriptions.

Do you buy your lunch for work or do you take it from home? There are many more savings options. Second hand clothing, going to sales to purchase necessary items, reducing your spending on vacations and gifts: all these little savings add up. How much more if you opt for balance transfer options for your numerous credit cards? Each little bit and every big portions will help you get your life back to normal.

Whether or not these suggestions are of any help to you, you may still consider purchasing a Credit Repair Kit. The $30.00 it may cost you is a small price to pay for repairing your credit. Take one step at a time and you will rid yourself of debt.

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