Should You Worry About Terrorism Before You Invest?

You may remember that following the 9/11 attacks, the stock market closed for respective days. It re-opened on 9/17 with the Dow down 7%.

That was it for one couple I know, Virgin Mary and Frank. The attack on the country, coupled with the attack on their personal finances, was too much. They were worried terrorism would drop our economic system and stock market like the Titanic, so they sold all their market investments.

Was it the right move?

Nope. In less than two months, the state of affairs changed drastically: Within 53 days, the market recovered all it had lost. And by the end of the year, the market was 12% higher than it had been when Virgin Mary and Frank had bailed out. Now their top problem was not having a strategy to get back in. In their uncertainness and confusion, they became paralyzed by fearfulness of making the incorrect move again.

You’re well aware that September 2001 was not the first clip the U.S. weathered calamity that directly impacted investors. Among other events, we’ve been through a depression, World War II, the Cuban missile crisis and an assassinated president.

Yet the stock market have continued to thrive.

Despite market resilience, a batch of people lost a batch of money. It might be alluring to believe that if investors had been more than informed about what was happening geopolitically, they could have got headed off personal financial devastation. But that’s A chump punch. Now that we can be acutely aware of every bend and turn in the world, makes it do sense to put based on international political and military posturing? Not if you desire to do money.

Here’s another example. Shell-shocked, Janice met with her financial advisor in March of 2003. She’d seen the market army tank through the hideous bear market from 2000 through 2002. She’d read sordid narratives of corporate theft that cost investors millions and, in many cases, their retirement. She was worried by accounting scandals. And, of course, there was this problem in Iraq.

Janice was convinced that any 1 of these events could intend catastrophe for her investments. In her mind, all of these things happening at the same clip meant certain financial catastrophe. Demoralized, Janice sold all her holdings. And from an emotional standpoint, you couldn’t incrimination her.

But from March of 2003 through the end of 2003 the Dow rose 32%. Janice missed out completely.

Our market have survived everything thrown at it. Unfortunately, we’ll most likely always have got a crisis to overcome. The current terrorist problem could be with us for many years, and that’s certainly a human tragedy. However, no 1 can revoke the business cycle. There will always be companies that do great merchandises and high profits. Those companies will expand, and the value of those companies will grow. If you have shares in those companies, your wealthiness will expand.

Even though the human race can be a scary place, history uncovers that calamities end up as just blips on the investment microwave radar screen. Political and military catastrophes have got never dealt a death blow to our financial markets. In fact, the longest clip they ever took for recovery from a military attack was nine months, back in 1941 after Pearl Harbor.

People lose money in tough modern times when they don’t have got a coherent, predetermined strategy for entry to and issue from the market. If you desire to turn your assets safely, disregard military and political events. Establish a program for purchasing and merchandising based on what the market states you, not the nightly news. Then allow that program order your determinations rather than be swayed by your emotions, which will be understandably strong in modern times of stress. But if you desire to endure any storm, you must remain the course.

In sum, listen to the market, not the mass media reports. Develop what I name a “safety-net strategy,” where the impact of human race events is diminished, yet those events never order your strategy. Such a strategy assesses existent instead of perceived hazards in the market. In future columns, I’ll be sharing what those existent hazards are and how to make a safety-net strategy that volition give you safe seaport in any economical climate.

What I Learned About Money from Million Dollar Baby

In Clint Eastwood’s award-winning movie, Million Dollar Baby, we see a positive, respectable, hard-working immature adult female physically destroyed when her dirty-dealing opposing lands a chump poke after the bell.

It happens to me that the same thing can go on with investments. The admirable combatant inside you seeks to do your financial dreamings come up true. That’s the interior voice that states you to work hard and put smart. Your opposition is the portion of you ruled by your emotions. Those emotions look for every chance to set down a chump poke and convey you down.

When I first met Bill, for example, he was deserving $10,000,000, yet he was miserable. Because he’d grown up during the depression, he was convinced that he was always one measure away from being broke, hungry and homeless. Keep in head that Bill was taking only $150,000 a twelvemonth from his $10 million nest egg. If you make the math, you’ll see that his backdown rate was barely 1.5%. So Bill really didn’t have got to worry about money … but he worried anyway, and he was ruled by his fearfulness and greed.

Because Bill was convinced that he was going to run out of money, he continued to do high-risk investments in the hopes of having more. He often lost a great deal of money with these chancy ventures, and this behaviour made his fearfulness a self-fulfilling prophecy. As his losings grew, his emotional need to do up for those losings grew, too. He took ever-greater risks and continued to delve himself into a suffering hole. It was a classic emotional smack-down.

Others dance the antonym direction. People who endure great investing losings understandably go gun-shy. They are afraid of getting pounded again, so they curse off investing forever—and lose out on securing their financial future.

Are your emotions whipping up your investments? Bash you take risky opportunities for no good reason? Or is your anxiousness making you afraid to come up out of your corner fighting? Let me state you something. In the sphere of investments, your emotions are always in the dorsum room workings the velocity bag just waiting for the opportunity to flooring you. You need an edge if you desire to remain in the ring.

How would you like to have got the financial equivalent of Elijah Muhammad Muhammad Ali as your trainer? Here are a few tips that tin give you that sort of an edge.

First, acknowledge that you’ll never totally eliminate emotions from your financial decisions. You can’t knocking them out. Second, cognize that you can neutralize them.

How? Remember the trainer’s advice: Always protect yourself.

One manner to maintain your guard up is to utilize stop-losses on all your investments. If you’re not familiar with A stop-loss, it’s a simple tool you utilize to reduce risk. Let’s state you purchase a stock at $50, and you are convinced the stock is going to $80. Put a halt of $45 on the position. If the stock travels all the way, the halt doesn’t ache you. But if you’re wrong, and the stock hits the mat, the stop-loss goes very important.

Once the stock driblets to a terms of $45 or less, the place is sold. What haps if the stock later regenerates its strength and climb ups back to $80? Too bad. You sold at $45, and you no longer throw the position. This is the downside to using stop-loss orders.

What haps if the stock goes on its downward spiral and falls to $15? You don’t care because you sold the place at $45. Could this happen? It haps every day. Just inquire people who bought technical school pillory in the early portion of 2000.

You can effectively utilize stop-loss orders to restrict your downside hazard on all your stock and common monetary fund investments. If you make this, you’ll be able to travel the 10 units of ammunition without getting knocked cockamamie by your emotions.

The Dangers of Buying and Holding

Maggie and Sam called my office last week, and I could hear the desperation in their voices. They’ve lost more than $1 million in the stock market since 2000 by “investing conservatively.” Their broker assures them that buying high-quality mutual funds and holding onto them through rough markets will grow their money safely. Yet they can plainly see it isn’t working. In fact, they’ve watched a serious decline for a while now, and they’re starting to panic.

Their problem is not earning money to fund their retirement dreams. Both Maggie and Sam are smart and successful: She is a heart surgeon and he is a well-heeled attorney. Yet they’ve lost a fortune, and they can see that no matter how much they earn, it can’t possibly offset the damage done by listening to the advice of their broker, so they’ve turned to me to stop the bleeding.

These two aren’t the only intelligent, affluent investors I’ve met who are frustrated and frightened by their investment results, and 2000 wasn’t the only bear market investors had to face. Based on 60 years of evidence, a bear market ravages investors every 3.3 years, and the average loss is 27%. That’s enough to scare anyone. According to AARP, 35% of all retirees go back to work after they retire. Could it be because the market cracks and scrambles their nest eggs?

I’m reminded of my Uncle Jim, who wouldn’t listen to me and retired in 1999 with $700,000. His plan was to create income from his retirement package and to live happily ever after. Interest rates were too low for Jim, so he decided to invest in growth mutual funds to create the income he wanted. By the end of 2002, his $700,000 had dropped to less than $400,000 thanks to an inhospitable market. His savings had lost 43% of its value. Then, instead of $700,000 working for him, he had $400,000 working for him. That meant less income--a lot less income. Faced with this disturbing reality, Jim sold his beautiful home to buy a small condo and had to go back to work. Jim didn’t have 70 years to “think long-term” as his broker and other financial “experts” suggested he should. Jim needed that income today.

What can Jim, Sam, Maggie and everyone else do to protect themselves from catastrophic loss in the future? Since we know that a crash comes every 3.3 years on average and the typical loss is over 27%, it is critical for investors to invest only when the risks of doing so are relatively low.

Of course whenever you invest in the stock market you take on risk. However, we know that certain times are riskier than others. Just as you check the weather forecast before you embark on a road trip, I’m suggesting that you check the market’s temperature before you hit the financial road.

There are a number of ways you can do this. The method I like best is watching the major indices, such as the Dow, S&P 500 and the NASDQ. Here are the specific steps:

1. I look for days when the volume explodes. For example, if the DOW trades 2 billion shares on average, and today the DOW trades 2.2 billion shares, that is a significant increase in shares.

2. When that happens, I pay attention to what happens to the price of the index. Continuing our example, if the DOW closes higher today to boot, I know that large institutions are falling over themselves trying to buy shares, which means prices are moving up.

3. We know that one sign of a healthy market is a big increase in shares traded, coupled with the index moving higher. In fact, there has never been a bull market stampede without a big increase in trading along with an increase in the index price. If I see two or more of these strong days, I’m more prone to invest.

I strongly suggest that you watch the major indices for clues on the market’s health before you invest. I’ll be providing more specific tips on how you can “take the market’s temperature” next month, most notably how you know when it’s time to stop holding and sell.

Top 10 Ways to Avoid Loan Fraud

Every year, misinformed homebuyers, often first-time purchasers or seniors, go victims of predatory lending or loan fraud. Below you'll happen the top 10 ways to avoid becoming a victim yourself.

1. Take your clip and store around. You should be able to compare terms and houses. If a lender or broker states you they are your lone opportunity to get a loan or owning a home, don't make business with them.

2. Bash not subscribe a sales contract or loan written documents that are clean or that incorporate information which is not true.

3. Be certain that the costs and loan terms at shutting are what you originally agreed to.

4. Bash not be talked into lying about prevarication about your income, expenses, or cash available for downpayments in order to get a loan.

5. Watch out for higher-risk loans such as as balloon loans, interest only payments, and steep pre-payment penalties.

6. Be careful about disclosing things like your need of cash owed to medical, unemployment or debt problems. You are very vulnerable in these cases.

7. Don't deprive your home's equity by refinancing again and again when there is no benefit to you.

8. Beware of false appraisals.

9. Bash not allow anyone convert you to borrow more than money than you cognize you can afford to repay. If you get behind on your payments, you set on the line losing your house and all of the money you put into your property.

10. Get respective quotes from multiple brokers or lenders so you cognize you're being charged a just interest rate based on your credit history, not your race or national origin.

How To Be the Ultimate American Consumer

Feel like a lemming lately? Ready to follow the crowd into the great plunge of Ultimate American Consumerism? Just in lawsuit you need a small help, here is a tongue-in-cheek look at how to go on the procedure of becoming the Ultimate American Consumer!

1. Always pass right at the degree of your after-tax earnings. Having surplus dollars is troublesome. It’s hard to cognize exactly what to make with them.

2. Forget having 3, 6, or even 12 calendar months of basic life disbursals tucked into a liquid account such as as a money market or CD. Why bother?

3. Purchase repeatedly, often, and preferably on credit, points that rapidly depreciate such as as cars and consumer goods. Why wage all cash for something when you can utilize OPM (Other People’s Money)?

4. Keep at least $7,000 to $12,000 of rotating credit card debt – preferably on shop credit cards – and avoid reading the monthly statements.

5. Eventually rotating debt goes a spot of a burden. Once that happens, take out a Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC) to relieve monthly payments.

6. Seek out, and take advantage of get-rich-quick opportunities. They offer simple, easy wealthiness accretion programs – with small effort, of course. Leave honorable hard work to others. They don’t cognize any better.

7. Spend at least one-half of your allowable individual retirement account part each twelvemonth on Christmastide and holidays, preferably on credit.

8. If you have got an investing or plus plan, don’t reappraisal it too often. This tin be tedious, deadening and rather dull. Once every 6-10 old age should be fine.

9. Where possible, avoid the toilsome undertaking of creating plus accretion strategies. Instead, have got more than dinners out with friends, or merriment vacations. After all, you only travel around once!

10. Invest in insurance. Wrap yourself in insurance protection from disability, death, dismemberment, accident and sick wellness – you just never cognize when you’ll need it. See your pets as well!

11. Only purchase new automobiles for their quality and reliability. Used vehicles can cost as much as $150/ calendar month in long term average maintenance.

12. Regular financial program setting? Don’t make it!

13. If you have got a home mortgage, refinance every couple of old age to capitalize on low rates. Just think, you too can have got your house for 20 old age – and still have 20 to 25 old age remaining on whatever debt is there at the time.

14. Don’t trouble oneself with financial managers and truly nonsubjective advisors. They may help you with your money plans, but those nosy-parkers should happen something better to do.

These 14 stairway are a certain manner to attain the rank of “Ultimate American Consumer”. Along with the title, you will harvest all the privileges and benefits that this provides. All the best in your quest!

A Personal Loan And Your Rights

You can use a personal loan for many different things including, but not limited to, paying off bills, taking a vacation, buying a car and much more. Interest rates on a personal loan will vary, depending on your credit rating and the institution you are choosing to get your personal loan from. It is highly recommended that you get multiple quotes and rates before making a final decision on your loan. This way you will know if you are getting the best deal possible.

Take the time to compare rates and save money. Even if a lender is offering you better rates than the competition, find out how much money that would save you. Ask about all of the fees associated with the loan. Some lenders hide their fees and make money off of innocent people who don’t think about asking.

There is some valuable information you should know about Fair Debt Collection laws. The more you know about loans and lenders, the better consumer you will be.

If you use credit cards, owe money on a personal loan, or are paying on a home mortgage, you are a "debtor." If you fall behind in repaying your creditors, or an error is made on your accounts, you may be contacted by a "debt collector."

You should know that in either situation, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires that debt collectors treat you fairly and prohibits certain methods of debt collection. Of course, the law does not erase any legitimate debt you owe.

This brochure answers commonly asked questions about your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

What debts are covered?

Personal, family, and household debts are covered under the Act. This includes money owed for the purchase of an automobile, for medical care, or for charge accounts.

Who is a debt collector?

A debt collector is any person who regularly collects debts owed to others. This includes attorneys who collect debts on a regular basis.

How may a debt collector contact you?

A collector may contact you in person, by mail, telephone, telegram, or fax. However, a debt collector may not contact you at inconvenient times or places, such as before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., unless you agree. A debt collector also may not contact you at work if the collector knows that your employer disapproves of such contacts.

Can you stop a debt collector from contacting you?

You can stop a debt collector from contacting you by writing a letter to the collector telling them to stop. Once the collector receives your letter, they may not contact you again except to say there will be no further contact or to notify you that the debt collector or the creditor intends to take some specific action. Please note, however, that sending such a letter to a collector does not make the debt go away if you actually owe it. You could still be sued by the debt collector or your original creditor.

May a debt collector contact anyone else about your debt?

If you have an attorney, the debt collector must contact the attorney, rather than you. If you do not have an attorney, a collector may contact other people, but only to find out where you live, what your phone number is, and where you work. Collectors usually are prohibited from contacting such third parties more than once. In most cases, the collector may not tell anyone other than you and your attorney that you owe money.

What must the debt collector tell you about the debt?

Within five days after you are first contacted, the collector must send you a written notice telling you the amount of money you owe; the name of the creditor to whom you owe the money; and what action to take if you believe you do not owe the money.

May a debt collector continue to contact you if you believe you do not owe money?

A collector may not contact you if, within 30 days after you receive the written notice, you send the collection agency a letter stating you do not owe money. However, a collector can renew collection activities if you are sent proof of the debt, such as a copy of a bill for the amount owed.

What types of debt collection practices are prohibited?

Harassment. Debt collectors may not harass, oppress, or abuse you or any third parties they contact.
For example, debt collectors may not:

use threats of violence or harm;

publish a list of consumers who refuse to pay their debts (except to a credit bureau);

use obscene or profane language; or

repeatedly use the telephone to annoy someone.

False statements. Debt collectors may not use any false or misleading statements when collecting a debt. For example, debt collectors may not:

falsely imply that they are attorneys or government representatives;

falsely imply that you have committed a crime;

falsely represent that they operate or work for a credit bureau;

misrepresent the amount of your debt;

indicate that papers being sent to you are legal forms when they are not; or

indicate that papers being sent to you are not legal forms when they are.

Debt collectors also may not state that:

you will be arrested if you do not pay your debt;

they will seize, garnish, attach, or sell your property or wages, unless the collection agency or creditor intends to do so, and it is legal to do so; or

actions, such as a lawsuit, will be taken against you, when such action legally may not be taken, or when they do not intend to take such action.

Debt collectors may not:

give false credit information about you to anyone, including a credit bureau;

send you anything that looks like an official document from a court or government agency when it is not; or

use a false name.

Unfair practices. Debt collectors may not engage in unfair practices when they try to collect a debt. For example, collectors may not:

collect any amount greater than your debt, unless your state law permits such a charge;

deposit a post-dated check prematurely;

use deception to make you accept collect calls or pay for telegrams;

take or threaten to take your property unless this can be done legally; or

contact you by postcard.

What control do you have over payment of debts?
If you owe more than one debt, any payment you make must be applied to the debt you indicate. A debt collector may not apply a payment to any debt you believe you do not owe.

What can you do if you believe a debt collector violated the law?
You have the right to sue a collector in a state or federal court within one year from the date the law was violated. If you win, you may recover money for the damages you suffered plus an additional amount up to $1,000. Court costs and attorney's fees also can be recovered. A group of people also may sue a debt collector and recover money for damages up to $500,000, or one percent of the collector's net worth, whichever is less.

Where can you report a debt collector for an alleged violation?
Report any problems you have with a debt collector to your state Attorney General's office and the Federal Trade Commission. Many states have their own debt collection laws, and your Attorney General's office can help you determine your rights.

How Banks Can Help You Improve Your Personal Finance

If any establishment is known for managing finance, it is
banks. This is why many people seek advice about
personal finances from people at their
local bank. Banks can supply you with personalized
finance solutions. They can assist you better manage
your finances.

Talking to a bank advisor can often assist you
happen out what financial solutions are available
and how can these solutions can work to your benefit.

In order to hike your assurance in your personal
finances and your future, you need to understand your goals
and needs. When you thought through what you
really desire your personal finances to look like, you
can travel seek aid from your bank.

Even if you have got a concrete program that includes all
your desires and needs, but only a indeterminate thought about
what your financial hereafter looks like, you should still
drop in for help. They are there to steer you in your quest
for personal financial liberation. They are there to
assist you--and you should use their services: that's
what they are there for.

They are not the enemy. They are committed to helping
people who seekhelp in financial matters.

Look at your current personal finance situation. Are you
happy with it? Rich Person you tried everything to break it on
your own, to no avail?

If you have got honestly tried it all, maybe its clip you
entered your bank and had a confabulate with them. They are
there to help you with almost all the issues surrounding
your personal finance: How to pay less interest on a loan;
how to save; and how to guarantee that your mortgage rates
don’t increase.

And that's just a fraction of what they can offer you. Stop in your bank today, get advice, and start your
journeying on an alternative, better planned financial
path.

Let's Get Started on Financial Planning

This is the 1 we all do, right? We be after financially for our hereafters by investing, saving budgeting or all of the above. We strip ourselves of that new car, new house, large boat, new motorcycle, new furniture, etc, etc, etc. We make all this because we’re good financial contrivers and we desire to program for that rainy day. Actually, financial planning is a smart idea. If done right, we may be able to program for our financial hereafter and still have got a small merriment today.

Probably the most of import step, and certainly the measure you should take first, is to calculate out how much you can afford to spend. If you haven't put up a budget that shows you how much you're spending on mundane things, now is the clip to make it.

It’s hard to get rich quickly but it is easy to get rich slowly. The top usage of money is to secure freedom; freedom from want, from dependence, from boredom. Your end is to supply that freedom for yourself and your family. Eventually, you will distribute that “freedom” and help others to attain that level.

Now that you have got begun to track your disbursement and are making money through the “Multiple Methods of Making Money” outlined in the former chapter, don’t forget the basics. Save 10% inch a nest egg account, 10% investment (real estate and business ventures) and 10% for charity. The charity component is ESSENTIAL! The pure satisfaction and ability to do a difference in this human race through pecuniary parts and volunteering your services to assist others is indescribable and life changing. Remember, you can get everything in life you desire if you assist others get what they want.

Continue to track your advancement with your financial statement. This volition be your advancement report for the remainder of your life…so do certain it is a FRIENDLY report with many HAPPY assets!

List the value of your assets on one side of the paper and the sum of what you owe (your liabilities) on the other side. You deduct one from the other and that is how you come up up with your nett worth.

It is not of import how much or small you have, it is of import that you maintain track!

Benefits of keeping track:

1. Important for taxes.

2. Builds your ain sense of self worth.

3. It maintains you on path toward your financial ends – see how far you have got come.

4. Helps you defy major purchases that would take away from your hereafter financial independence.

Christmas Credit Where It Is Due

There aren’t many people who enjoy thinking about finance at Christmas, but when you see that it’s the clip of twelvemonth when we’re likely to pass the most money – perhaps the management of our personal finances rates more than than time.

If you’re looking for a more short-term form of borrowing, then a credit card might be the most suitable method. As you will have got seen from the numerous ads for credit cards in the media, the credit card market is highly commercial, highly saturated and acute to get your attention and commitment. The pick of cards available makes give the consumer great freedom of choice, but without researching the best cards available, it is easy to subscribe up to a card which looks antic on the surface, but may turn out to be something more than sinister.

You may have got one or more existent credit cards and it’s alluring to set the Christmastide shopping straight on to these. Yet it may be deserving considering whether you can actually get a better deal on a new credit card, not only in terms of interest free credit for a limited time period on all balance transfers, but also a better interest rate – typically referred to as the APR (Annual Percentage Rate). Also read the small black and white for punishment charges, as companies will change on these.

Personal loans may also be a consideration, but you will have got less control over how you pay these off. Like credit cards, there is considerable pick for the consumer in the personal loan market and it is of import to shop around. Be aware that although some personal loans are advertised with a low APR, the existent APR you are offered may depend on your credit record. Sites such as as moneynet ( http://www.moneynet.co.uk/credit-card/index.shtml ), moneysupermarket and lowermybills ( http://www.lowermybills.com ) offer terms comparison research on personal loans.

Most of us will work some word form of credit at Christmas, whether that’s through a credit card, personal loan or possibly borrowing from a friend or relative. A more than drastic word form of borrowing can include remortgaging, though it’s always deserving project some homework to look into whether this would be cost-effective. The BBC have a utile article on remortgaging, which explicates what you should look out for and what to expect. (http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/business/4252226.stm).

Credit have its uses, but be aware that whatever you purchase in December, could come up back to stalk you in January. Indeed the United Kingdom already have a bad name for consumer debt with the Telegraph recently reporting that the number of individual insolvencies in the United Kingdom have risen by 46% since last year. If you’re looking for some money economy ideas, both Credit Action and moneynet have got a range of downloadable consumer information ushers for general finance questions and suggestions on how to salvage money at Christmas.

Finance Guide Basics

Every 1 or rather almost every 1 in this human race would definitely desire to have got his or her hereafter secured. Thus, every individual who earns even a spot would wish to salvage some of the money and this is where the subject of personal financial management come ups into picture. Whatever be your intent of economy money, it needs to be regulated and updated.

Investment in stock markets is one option for the same. With the advancement in engineering and thereby, in agency of communicating (for instance, the internet), the behavioural pattern of the stock markets can be known within an instant of time. Moreover, as the presence of the stock markets being in every country, one can see the upper limit numbers of investings all over the human race are made here.

Another option where you can modulate your finances is by purchasing stocks. It is argued that although they are the diciest and most volatile instruments for investments, they can convey enormous tax returns in the long tally and can even go forth you immune to the rate of inflation. By owning a peculiar amount of stock, one is deemed to be the proprietor of a certain value of a company i.e. the more than than stock is owned by you the more cabal of the company is in your hands. The terms of the stock ca change in conformity with all the factors affecting the stock markets for instance, economic, cultural and business trends.

Often it is seen that we be given to go forth the economy for college and retirement till the last minute and then certain unwilling effects have got to be borne. College planning resembles retirement planning. There are jump to be inquiries in one’s head like how much 1 should salvage for such as sort of disbursals etc. it is recommended that where the planning for retirement should begin in one’s early twenties, the planning for college should begin right from the birth of the child. It is agreed by many that early planning and nest egg can be of huge benefits in the long run. Planning for the college will include looking for assorted colleges for alternatives, tuition fees and any extra outgo that mightiness happen at the clip for sending a kid to the college. Starting all this early adequate volition supply adequate clip to the parents to look for availing loan installations and make up one's mind their strategy accordingly. Retirement, which is inevitable, have to be planned on the similar lines as that of the college planning. Starting early and being realistic are the keys for such as sort of planning. Starting early agency to begin soon after one have completed his or her graduation. By being realistic it is intended to impart that one have to salvage according to one’s demand of the sort of life proposed to be lived after the retirement. This is to state that one have to concentrate on the facts basically, for instance, if one programs to dwell like a male monarch with maidservants serving all the clip and a palace like house then one have to salvage much more than than a individual who takes to dwell a modest life with a simple house and an off-hand vacation.

Hence, you should manage your finances cautiously with investment in the right thing at the right clip and economy money for the right time, because surely, clip is money!!

The Surety Bond Domino Effect

I have got written many articles about the hard surety chemical bond market. To my surprise many privation to cognize more than inside information as to how we got to where we are at. Like all industries the surety chemical bond industry is heavily influenced by the economy. We can all retrieve the strength of the United States economic system at the end of the millennium; it seemed that businesses were growing with prosperity everywhere you turned. By the end of 2000 the economic system began to slow down. The success of any contractor is directly effected by changes in the economy, thus more than contractor's businesses began to fail. With the failing of the contractor businesses came an copiousness of claims. This is not to state that the soft economic system was the lone cause for the addition in claims, but it was the start of the Domino effect.

What actions put up the remainder of the dominoes to trigger the current hard market? In an attempt to generate more than insurance premium soldering companies used very loose underwriting practices. These loose underwriting guidelines allowed for contractors to be approved for chemical bonds they should not measure up for. The sureties were not only writing chemical chemical bonds for contractors that make not qualify, they also wrote bonds that should not be written even for the best contractors. Care chemical bonds exceeding 5 old age were a batch more common, these old age anything over 3 years is pretty much unheard of. To put it simply the sureties grew too hungry for business and wrote what they should not have got and got burnt because of it.

The soldering companies set up the dominoes and the softening economic system started the concatenation reaction of them falling. What was the result for the soldering companies? In the past, the surety chemical bond industry will see losings around 25%. In 2001 the industry saw an staggering 82% loss for the year. In 2002 the industry produced $3.7 billion in premium, however the industry as a whole showed a 70% loss. The 2002 Insurance Expense Exhibit reported the industry losing more than $2.5 billion from 2000-2002. The end consequence of the losings was many soldering companies getting downgraded to debris status by americium Best other simply had to fold their doors permanently. The remainder of the sureties took short letter and quickly changed their ways. Underwriters have got returned to more than traditional underwriting guidelines and travel through accounts with a mulct tooth comb. The full industry have go much more than cautious about how to utilize capital. Contractors have since seen their chemical bond lines reduced for single contracts and their congeries capacity.

If you are a contractor and are discouraged with your current soldering limitations, maintain in head you are not the lone one. Many contractors compare what they have got today to what they had a couple old age back and travel looking for a new agency only to happen similar terms elsewhere. Always maintain in head that every cloud have a Ag lining. Chemical Bond lines have got got been reduced, however the value of a chemical bond have improved owed to the conservative underwriting patterns in place; contractors can no longer obtain the soldering required to take part on contracts they are not financially qualified for (obviously this is only a plus for contractors that are financially healthy).

It is more than of import than ever for contractors to have an agent that truly understands suretyship. A surety chemical bond agent should be able to give you sound advice to better your financial state of affairs and assist your business grow. A good agent makes not just compose bonds, they confer with contractors to do changes so the soldering companies have got less of a risk, thus increasing chemical bond capacity and lowering insurance premium rates. A contractor must be comfy that their agent is knowledgeable adequate to assist them do the right decisions, it is absolutely necessary in today's surety chemical bond market.

Have a Teen Driver? Learn How to Save Money on their Car Insurance

Boca Raton, Florida -- Did you cognize when parents add their teens to their car insurance policies, insurance insurance premiums can leap from 100 percent to 355 percent even if the teen is driving the household minivan?

There are respective different ways to get lower premiums for your teenagers. Many insurance companies offer online tutorials that teenagers can take and if passed, companies will offer significant discounts. For example, State Farm have an online tutorial called “Steer Clear” and if the new driver go throughs it, State Farm will give up to a 15 percent price reduction to first clip drivers. Many other insurance companies have got similar online programs that offer price reductions for teens. Esurance, an online car insurance company, gives price reductions every six calendar months for clean drive records. Yes, a clean drive record intends no hurrying tickets.

According to Statefarm.com, here are a few insurance tips for adolescent frogmen and their parents.

• Call around to different companies and compare terms with price reductions that volition better lawsuit your needs.

• Beryllium aware that your insurance rates will typically be increased when a new driver is added to the policy. If you are not adding a new vehicle to the plan, it is best to have got the teen as a primary driver of one of the household cars.

• Return advantage of student discounts. In most states, students at accredited high schools, colleges and universities can get price reductions if they have got a class point average of a Type B or higher.

• Talk to your teen about safe drive wonts and how traffic misdemeanors can increase their rates.

• If you are planning to purchase a trade name new car for your teen, you may desire to check which vehicles get the best rates.

• Most Insurance Companies usage three different ways to rate cars in terms of damage, safety and liability.

1. The Damage and Theft Index (DTI), rates vehicles on the cost of payment for damage and theft.

2. The Vehicle Safety Discount (VSD), awardings price reductions up to 40 percent for car theoretical accounts that generate lower payment for injury to residents in the vehicle.

3. The Liability Evaluation Index (LRI), rates vehicles on the amount of damage and injury it causes to the other vehicle and its occupants.

• Consider getting a Personal Liability Umbrella Policy (PLUP). If you or your teenage driver accidentally injures person or damages their property, you could be sued. Even though your implicit in policies may supply significant liability limits, it is not uncommon today for juries to present damages that transcend those limits.

There are many different countries insurance companies look into while quoting you a insurance premium for you and your teen. Companies will look at what sort of deductible you want, the sort of car you drive, the countries you drive in, the amount of clip you are on the road, your age and sex, your drive record and even your credit history. So if you dwell in a major metropolitan country with high auto theft rates, opportunities are your rates will be much higher than a individual who dwells in the suburbias with low auto theft rates.

Here are other ways to salvage yourself and your teen some money when purchasing car insurance.

• Most companies give an Anti-Theft Device Discount for cars that have got got got car dismays and other word forms of security.

• If you have ever been convicted of a moving misdemeanor or have been an in accident, take Driver Improvement Courses to better your opportunities of having a lower rate. Many of these courses of study can be taking on the Internet now.

• Teens can get terms reductions if they finish a Drivers Education course of study through their school or accredited agencies.

• Vehicles that have got airbags, anti-lock brakes, caput restraints and day-time arch visible lights can also get you a price reduction on car insurance.

Everyone cognizes that car insurance can be really costly, but there are ways to cut down the price if you inquire about them.

Cash For Structured Settlements - The Smart Way

For most people when they purchase a house it is considered their life’s largest deal. In some cases of structured settlements the compensation and financial considerations for a people life continuance and the sum nowadays value of the settlement can attain few billions of dollars. Therefore it is strongly advised to utilize professional services like rente adviser and a lawyer specialized in this field in order for you to avoid painful costly mistakes. Here are some tips:

- Think twice before you do a decision. Bash you really need that
money or you desire to experience rich, secure, powerful etc’

- Take only portion of the money not all of it, in lawsuit of an injury claim
the Court needs to O.K. your request, the judge will desire to
cognize what make you need the money for.

- Some Funds will seek to convert you that owed to Inflation and rising
cost of life your rente payments have got less and less purchasing powerfulness over time. Remember that if the Structured settlement was done properly it have a cost-of-living accommodation (COLA) feature
construct into it in order to offset the personal effects of rising prices over time. So the finances claim on this issue is only partially true as the cost of
life index is an unreal and biased measurement of the existent inflation
over time. Still even 70% protection is reasonable.

- When you get a large sum of money of money take into account that each
bank is F.D.I.C. insured for up to $ 100,000 only! That agency that
if your sum of money of money is bigger than that you will need to open
further Account/s inch a different bank/s inch order to be covered. In improver take into account that as long as you sedimentation your money
in C.D’s (e.g. Certificate of Deposit) you are covered, but if you
put your money In fixed income, stocks, bonds, and common funds. These securities are NOT F.D.I.C. insured!

- In lawsuit you transform Lottery profits payments Oregon a large sum of money of
money from structured settlement, maintain it as distinct as you can,
It is not recommended to travel and purchase a Rolls-Roys or any other flashy
car, that volition convey the criminals and the charity people to chase you. That mightiness even cause your children begin to inquire for money. Try to maintain it a secret.

- It is a good Idea to get more than than one or two offers from various
private finances before making a decision, retrieve you are a very
moneymaking customer, the finances should struggle over you! Don’t be timid
to negociate and pull strings them to maximise your money. One of the best and most reputable Funds I cognize with excellent
fast client service is Sovreign-Funding, You can happen there useful
information, Fill out their short word form and you will get an offer from
them with no duty on your part.

- One last piece of advice, there is a new ebook you can download
immediately, It is called “Annuities: The lurid secrets revealed”
written by Tony Bahu chief executive officer of AnnuityMD.com, It is a $97 book but it
is a very small investing considering how much money it can save
you. You can see it here:

The lurid secrets

Understanding Structured Settlements

A structured settlement is usually an rente set up for receivers of a financial award, normally owed to judicial proceeding involving an injury or accident. If you are receiving periodical payments from a structured settlement or annuity, you may be interested to cognize that you can sell portion or all of your remaining payments. Selling structured settlements is legal in all states.

You may need tribunal approval in order to sell your payments, but it is your right to have a lump sum of money of cash for your structured settlement if you so choose. Many people have got establish that the small monthly or periodical payments they are receiving are not adequate to ran into their financial needs or accomplish their financial goals. Selling your structured settlement can give you the cash you need to recognize your dreams.

You can utilize the cash for any ground you see fit. Remodeling, starting a business, college education, or any other ground you may have. You make not have got to sell all your remaining payments. You can sell a certain number of payments, or you could sell a part of each of your remaining payments.

You can reach the professional of your pick to assist you analyse your state of affairs and your needs, and determine how many payments you would wish to sell. The large lump sum of money you have in exchange can be a life-changing experience.

Selling your structured settlement is a simple process. You can apply online and a structured settlement expert who will give you an estimation of how much money you could have in one large lump sum of money will reach you shortly.

Structured settlements often look like a great thought until you recognize that the small monthly payments do not make a large difference in your overall financial situation. Check into merchandising some or all of your remaining payments and you could have got cash in your manus very soon.

What is a Structured Settlement

A Structured Settlement is an understanding between a personal injury victim ( a Plaintiff ) and an Insurance company ( the Defendant )to counterbalance the Plaintiff by the suspect with long term periodicpayments instead of a single cash lump sum.

Payments tin be tailored to each individual complainants needs, to assist ran into disbursals such as as on-going medical and life expenses, education, children needs & support etc’ The fixed rente payments are tax-free to the claimant, a cost-of-living accommodation (COLA) characteristic is available, that can aid offset the personal effects of rising prices over time, payments can travel on as long as the claimant lives thus providing him the upper limit benefits.

Structured settlements are encouraged by complainants lawyers,
Courts, Insurance companies and the legislators alike as they all hold it is the best solution to all political parties involved especially for the claimant.

If you just been injured and need aid and advice on how to file
a claim, what are the exact word forms you need to fill up out and how to go about it without it costing you an arm and a leg in legal fees,Let a very experienced legal assistant specializing in personal injury claims, usher you with a measure by measure procedure and salvage a package of money. Hear what she have to state at: Settle-Your-Own-Injury-Claim.

The rente can be transformed in portion or in full to a cash lump sum of money via private finances and should be approved by the Court. The finances are most interested to do these deals as they are very profitable to them because they take the long term tax free payments and in exchange wage the rente holder much less than the human face value but in cash.

These same finances are handling Lottery victors long term payments
into one single lump sum of money as well as all sorts services of cash against future payments.

Annuity Transfer - What Are the Risks

Many people who cognize in the dorsum of their heads that they got the
possibility to transform a monthly payment or rente long term
payments into a large lump sum of money and by that to alleviate some
temporarily financial problems, or need to purchase a new car or a house
or assist their children and so forth are tempted to exert this
procedure into action. Although it is a very natural feeling and sometimes even a existent life
need or deep interior pursuit for powerfulness and control, it is not in their best
financial interest to state the least.

It is no wonderment that the U.S federal laws encourage long term
payments in both cases like Structured settlements and lottery
winnings. There are many good grounds for that and I’m
going to spell them out as clear as I can.

- In some states around the human race it is legal to pay for lottery winning in one lump sum. Experience shows
many of these people lose most or
all of their money in a few years
Time, owed to the following reasons:

- Ordinary people who get into their ownership a very large sum of money of money don’t really cognize how to manage their hoarded wealthiness Oregon how to put it wisely, they are not prepared for it and they are
overwhelmed with a psychotic belief of over copiousness of wealth, they
travel totally careless on how and on what they pass their money.

- Even if they put their money, they go to high hazard speculative
investings as they seek to get high yields. Instead of going for
a much solid and safer, “widows & orphans” type of investment
portfolio. Neither make they travel for the golden center manner in between
of a amalgamated portfolio. They don’t usage investings advisors or
financial consultants.

- They go over generous with their household and friends, they
purchase their children homes, cars or any other mercenary requests,
they “lend “ money to a friend in need...

- They listen to astute business people who speak them into investing
into all sorts of business escapades that looks to them very
profitable but in a short while bend into entire failures and the money
is gone.

- All sort of habit-forming behaviours like betting horse races or going to
play the line roulette in the gambling casino are now intensified with the feeling
of powerfulness and wealth, it might drive the individual to chance high sums
of money as if there is no tomorrow.

- Believe it or not but criminal elements might engage in putting
pressure level to extort monies from the nightlong rich poor guy. They might endanger to harm his household etc’

- Charity establishments begin to name all twenty-four hours and nighttime request for
contributions to a very solid causes, they even direct some slick
reps to convert him to donate money.

- His ain children, some modern times his partner goes very greedy
and exercise emotional pressure level to give them more than than and more money. In some cases the sudden wealth literally ruined the families.

As I have got shown you above, getting a large lump sum of money of money
might be a risky thing, this is In improver to the fact that you are
loosing a batch of money which was Tax free, that alone might be
a difference of anywhere between 35% - 65% , add to it the profits
of the monetary fund who bought the rente from you and you are loosing
large time. It is not recommended for an injured or a handicapped person,
to transform the whole Structured Settlement long term payments
into one large lump sum of money or you might happen yourself one twenty-four hours without the
money and facing high medical disbursals and other measures you cannot afford.

Financing With A Home Equity Loan

If you have got good credit, a homeowner, your mortgage is paid on clip every calendar month and you are thinking about borrowing money, the home equity path may be the manner to go. What this allows is say your home is deserving substantially more than than your current mortgage, for example, your mortgage is for £100,000 but your home is deserving £200,000, you will have got an equity of £100,000 in the value of your home that you can borrow against.

A home equity loan can be used for many purposes:

Paying off other debts;
Taking a holiday;
Paying for university;

The loan is secured over your home, and therefore, the interest rate will generally be lower than for other types of credit that may be available. This do them a good option for paying off higher interest debts, so long as you don’t rack them up again, or taking on a larger undertaking such as as a house extension. It is often a good thought to utilize a home equity loan to restitute your house, as the house value additions as a result, and often by more than than what you pay to restitute it. You can also have a tax credit on the interest paid on the loan.

However, it must be remembered that such as loans are not appropriate for everybody in every situation. They should generally only be used for large undertakings of long term needs. For smaller loans, it may be better to look at other options such as as personal loans. The rate and terms, as with all loans, will change depending on your payment history and the amount and length of the loan.

The loan can be offered as a lump sum of money or as a credit line. The lump sum of money gives you the whole amount of the loan all at once and interest is collectible on it immediately. With a credit line, you only utilize the money as needed, up to an agreed maximum, and interest only accrues on the amount you use.

You should always carefully review your finances before taking on more than debt, especially if it is to be secured on your home. Using your home as security intends that if repayments aren’t made on the loan, you could lose your house. It is therefore of import that you are comfy with the amount you are borrowing. You should also look at the differences in costs between a lump sum of money and a line of credit and make up one's mind carefully which one better lawsuits your needs.

Understanding Different Types of Auto Insurance

Auto Insurance policies can be divided into different classes according to the coverage they provide. Broadly speaking there are four sorts of policies known as Collision Insurance, Comprehensive Coverage Insurance, Uninsured and underinsured Motorist Coverage policies and No Fault Automobile Insurance policy. Besides these, there are policies that return care of other needs like covering an auto loan, paying for towing disbursals or paying for the cost of a rented car while your vehicle is being repaired.

The most common insurance policies are:

Collision: Any property damage caused to your vehicle owed to an accident caused by any other vehicle or physical object is covered under this policy. The claim amount cannot transcend the existent cash value of the vehicle and is subject to any deductible.

Comprehensive: Any property damage to your vehicle that is caused by non-collision factors like fire, theft, vandalism, and even natural catastrophes like flood, hurricane or temblor is covered under this policy.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage: takes cares of any injury that may ensue to you or to people insured in your policy from an accident that takes topographic point with another uninsured or underinsured driver or vehicle owner. Generally lone organic structure injuries are covered under this policy.

No Fault Auto Insurance Policy: Irrespective of who caused the accident, the insurance company pays for the medical disbursals and for the loss of wages that the insured endures on account of a hit under this policy.

Some other further coverage that an auto insurance policy holder tin purchase are:

Property Damage Liability and Bodily Injury Liability: These two policies protect the insured from any claims made against him for causing damage to property including vehicle belonging to another individual or for causing any carnal injury or loss of life to other people up to the amount mentioned in the policy.

Auto Lease Protection: is an further protection that you may add to your hit or comprehensive auto insurance policy to take care of any spread that bes between your auto loan amount and the cash value of your vehicle.

Full Tort and Limited Tort: available only in the state of Keystone State allows the insured to reserve unrestricted rights to convey a lawsuit against a negligent political party or retrieve disbursals incurred for certain damages.

Rental Expense: Known as Drawn-Out Transportation Expense Coverage, the policy pays for a rental car while your vehicle is being repaired or replaced.

Medical Payments Insurance covers medical disbursals for injuries sustained in an accident involving any vehicle for the insured, his passengers and other political parties irrespective of whose fault it is.

Towing and Labor: An further coverage option that can wage for all necessary towing and labour costs to towage your damaged vehicle to a work store or another location.

Finance is for Everyone

Money do the human race travel round, as they say, and while the whole human race is full of those sharp or wilted paper measures it looks that they like to steal right through our custody so quickly.

People who cognize how to do a dollar or two with easiness come in the human race of finance, which is the business of managing your money and your other assets. If you've got a bank account, finance is involved.

If you're considering an investing to back up your future, you're thinking in terms of finance. Maybe it's on our heads 24/7. After all, we need money to survive, and most of our lives is spent on making it. Not just stockbrokers or bankers or investors, the so-called money-jugglers of society.

The thing is, finance is really for everyone. If you've got money, then you have got to affect your encephalon in the enactment of finance or money-managing to get the most knock for your buck. Otherwise, you will splurge and you will inquire where in the human race the money went.

The best clip to begin learning about finance is the clip you begin to have money. Think about it. When you received a check in the mail from your grandmother as your birthday present, weren't you already thinking of what you were going to pass it all on?

That is the kernel of finance, although that very enactment may have got been insensible and financially disagreeable; hey, you were just a kid, after all.

Maybe you were a smart kid, one who knew how money goes. Maybe you've stashed it in your secret concealment place. Maybe you started to travel into business by merchandising lemonade (although maybe you drank more than one-half of it too). Maybe you gave some away to your favourite charity. Yup, that was finance too. We all cognize better now, don't we?

It hasn't changed much; we travel out to do money, we pass some, we salvage some, until we have got enough to do a couple of major purchases such as as homes or vacations. Only we cognize a spot more. And we've understood more than of the finance cant that sometimes revolves on the tongue.

Investments. Assets. Loans. Benefits. Mortgage. Insurance. Knowlege is power, as they say, and knowledge on how to finance volition lead you to finance greater amounts of money in the future. So survey up. Take finance management classes. Follow the stock market. Listen in on discussions.

Finance also includes self-discipline. Sometimes you have got to maintain yourself from small pleasances in order to attain the bigger more than of import things. Finance intends that you need to put your precedences straight. Forfeit may look like a batch at the minute but the end will warrant the means.

Finance is planning ahead. For your future. For your future's future. For your financial safety and stability. Because it is a very hard thing to get by in this human race without the proper resources. It is readying for the unknown. Managing your finances intend decreasing the number of concern lines on your face.

So if you've got money, if you're planning to do money, or if you're thinking about money, well then, you're thinking about finance. Just maintain in head not just to believe about finance, but to believe about it wisely, too.

How to Clean Up Your Personal Finances

Are you one of those people who doesn’t unfastened their bank or credit card statements? Bash you take out shop cards on the goad of the moment? Rich Person you been with the same bank simply because it is less fuss than changing?

If you have got got answered yes to any of the above questions, fearfulness not confused consumer, aid is at hand, with some aid from a few internet tools.

* Internet tool number one:

** The consumer title-holder land site for personal finance information

Websites such as as Fool.com, Fool.co.uk and Moneysavingexpert.com have proved extremely popular with consumers. Fool.com is more than geared towards the United States market, whilst Fool.co.uk focuses on the United Kingdom market. Both have got an extremely diverse choice of information from investing and high hazard options to personal finance and low hazard options. There are extended treatment boards, newssheet subscriptions, finance calculators and competitions. These land land sites not only reply your questions, they do you desire to inquire more.

Fool.com, Fool.co.uk and Moneysavingexpert.com are community based sites and mathematical function on consumers exchanging information between themselves, whether that’s about passing on recommendations or expressing concerns. The article “Ten Reasons To Fear The Future” by Cliff D’Arcy” on Fool.co.uk is a particularly good introduction to the financial facets of modern life.

Martin Jerry Lee Lewis have almost go a household name in the United Kingdom through his website Moneysavingexpert. The vocal journalist and presenter offers a comprehensive resource on a range of personal finance topics. If you can set up with the cheesey photographs of Mister Jerry Lee Lewis and his catalogue poses, you will undoubtedly happen this land land site extremely helpful.

* Internet tool number two:

** The terms comparison site for personal finance information

Kelkoo, moneynet.co.uk and Lowermybills.com (US) are now commonly exploited by consumers to guarantee they are getting the best deal on their purchases. However, it is probably just to state that more than than people store around for clothing and music, than they make for their personal finance products, which is worrying as these cost significantly more.

* Internet tool number three:

** Online banking and account collection tools

The internet can be a scary thing and there is still much scaremongering about online security. However your inside information are often as secure online, as they are offline and providing you take and conceal your watchword effectively – there should not be a problem with people accessing your confidential information. Choose a watchword of eight fictional characters or more, preferably replacing some letters with numbers, such as “1nternet” or “passw0rd”.

Set yourself up with online accounts and you can proactively manage your finances yourself, without waiting for statements through the station or phone call Centre agents to take your query. You can also salvage yourself bank charges by transferring finances yourself over the internet. Some banks charge large amounts for transferring finances when you can make it for no further cost at all.

Personal finance doesn’t have got to be about debt and the efficient co-ordination of finances may salvage you 100s of lbs in the long-term.

Resources:
http://www.fool.com
http://www.moneynet.co.uk

Good News?

As the man said, "I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. What do you want to hear first?" It was replied, "Tell me the good news first". The good news is that they are going to make some changes in the mutual fund industry reporting to help the investor and the bad news is it isn't going to make any difference in your bottom line.

It seems that us small investors are getting the usual window dressing to make it seem that we are getting a good deal, but when you go in the store to try on the merchandise it still doesn't fit any better.

Here is what the Securities and Exchange Commission passed as a new regulation for registered mutual funds. Instead of 50% of the Board of Directors being from outside the company they now must select 75% from outside the company. Can anyone tell me what difference that is going to make? The guys who own the fund will pick people who are friendly to their goals. Will they care any more for the investors than they do now? Window dressing.

One new regulation I do agree should help a little (but very little) is the requirement to provide more information to shareholders about their contracts with investment advisors and how they are approved. Big deal. The mutual fund industry said this will raise their costs. How? They have the information. All they have to do is add it to their prospectus. Also remember that the prospectus was written for the Dilbert lawyers at the SEC to meet the regulations and not to give you understandable information.

Do you remember what happened to your funds from 2000 to 2003? Most investors lost from 40% to 60% of their money. Let's hope they don't hire back those same analysts again, but they probably will. Just their contracts will be different. It is doubtful their results will change.

Furthermore these new fantastic, wonderful rules (sic) will not go into effect for 18 months. I guess as one of the 95 million mutual fund owners I will have to wait, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

What I did not hear from the SEC was that mutual fund managers should be paid on performance of how well they do with your money. Now they get paid by how much money they have or can get and keep in the fund. Sounds backwards to me. See if you can get your broker to refund all commissions if your fund does not make money. Don't hold your breath on this one either.

Eighteen months from now investors are going to feel a lot better when all that good news goes into effect. Yeah.

Hill of Hope

Just about now everyone is confused as to which manner the stock market is going to travel - up or down. For the past 3 old age it have got been headed south, but the Wall Street experts have told us that the market never travels down 4 old age in a row so this have to be an up year. But no guarantees.

The old expression is that the stock market climb ups a wall of worry. We watch crisp moves up followed by days, sometimes hebdomads of failing and then another shot to higher prices. From 1982 to 2000 this went on until we absolutely, positively knew it was going to go on forever. The current mentality is you can't lose if you just "hang in there". Mr. Average-stockholder have lost about 50% of his money so far and have chewed his fingernails to the nub. Now what?

I trust you don't need a house to fall on you to recognize we are in a long-term bear market, one that could endure for years. In a bear market the action is exactly opposite what you see in a bull market - crisp diminutions followed by slow agonising mass meetings that don't quite do it back to the former high prices. This is called climbing the Hill of Hope. This is a slippy hill to which you will not do it to the top. Hope is the most expensive word in an investor's lexicon.

The smartest (?) analysts (?) and talking caputs on television go on to state us the market always come ups back - if you dwell long enough. They neglect to state you that every bull market is followed by a bear market of about equal length. This last bull ended after 18 old age and if rhythms repetition we have got 15 more than old age of the downward way to follow. I cognize - "this clip it is different". Let's hope so, but I don't desire to have got my money on hope.

The DOW Industrial Index have been down 3 old age in a row and only once in history have it gone down 4 modern times to newer lows. Did you cognize that the DOW Transportation Index have been down 5 old age straight? Can there possibly be a 6th year? Your reply is as good as mine.

There have recently been some settlement of common finances from 401Ks and IRAs, but the amount is small. It have been reported that there is about 3 trillion (with a T) in common funds. The talking caputs talk of 10 and 20 billion departure the so-called "safe haven". As a percentage of entire assets this is a spit. One of these years not too far in the hereafter (probably this year) investors will suddenly get the thought to head for the door. And they all expression to make it about the same clip like lemmings headed over the cliff.

This volition look like a major underside in the market - and it might be if the P/E ratio can get down to around
10 or less. Until it makes they will still be trying, unsuccessfully, to climb up that Hill of Hope.

Getting Even

I cognize there are a batch of you out there who would wish to "get even" with the stock market. Many are on the diet of "I hope, I hope". As a professional bargainer I can state you that diet will do you very sick.

If you play any game of opportunity like stove poker you cognize you are not going to win every hand. In fact you are going to lose more than custody than you win, but at the end of the eventide you can still come up out ahead if you cognize how and when to wager and when to fold up because it is not always in the cards that you have got been dealt.

The same uses to gaming in the stock market. Oh, did I state a bad thing? Al, travel wash your oral cavity out with soap. My broker states buying pillory is "investing", not gambling. And hogs can fly. Wall Street is just Las Vegas East and like stove poker you can be cleaned out. Oh, you already cognize that - in spades!

The instructions of Maul Street are that you purchase a good stock or monetary fund and throw it forever. They did not state you that you may have got drawn a 2, 6, 10 off lawsuit and there is no manner it will be a winner. They never state you to fold up your manus (sell). At least you are not losing money every clip a card is dealt. With pillory they deal a new card every twenty-four hours called a terms change. If the stock, monetary fund or index you have got travels steadily down over a clip period of time don't you believe it would be wise to fold up your manus and sit down with your chips?

No, your broker will never urge this because he gets paid every twelvemonth you have your money "invested" in something, anything except a money market. It may only be one percent, but the brokerage company can dwell off that even if you can't.

I know, you are telling me you are "in for the long haul". What Wall Street genius thought up that one? In this high bet game you must retrieve it was to travel forth with more than money than you started and not to go bust or remain even. When the market is going down you desire to be OUT, not sitting there every twenty-four hours hoping (and praying) your shares will travel up. They won't. Like stove poker you have got to take a small loss and wait for a better manus which may be quite a while. YOU DON'T have TO be INVESTED ALL THE TIME. Many modern times cash or chemical bonds will do more than money than owning stocks.

When the market is going down even the best pillory will fall. Understand you are not going to win every pot. Small losings will not ache you. It is the large 1s that tin pass over you out. Know the amount you are willing to put on the line when you purchase any stock and fold up when that loss bounds is hit.

You are not investing to "get even".

Gold Fever

Right now there doesn't seem to be any "gold fever". Very few are out looking to strike it rich in this sector.

Way back when at Sutter's Mill in California the discovery of gold was accidental. One of Sutter's employees picked up a shiny stone out of the stream and suddenly the fever caught everyone. Gold fever is one of the most catching and dangerous "diseases" that has afflicted man since the beginning of time. Many have died or gone broke chasing this elusive element. We are about to see it happen again. The first ones to catch it usually do very well, but as the fever spreads to the general population the affliction mutates to fear of not getting their share and ends with disaster.

Those who understand the cycle of fear, yes, that is what it is, do manage to control their emotions and do very well. At first the logical, thinking people realize that everything is in place for a long term bull market so they mine (buy) early. As they continue to become richer and richer others see their success and start staking claims. Even these later comers do well as the hoard descends upon the gold fields and the early birds are happy to accommodate them by selling them part or all of their claims (stocks and bullion).

The early birds do not become emotional about their good fortune and do not become so attached to their mines that they refuse to sell. They have the good sense to realize that if they hold much longer there will be too many chasing this good thing so they sell. Every rich man in history will tell you that the secret of success is knowing when to sell.

Those who bought the original tulip bulbs from Holland and land in the South Pacific and saw the prices begin to erode and sold were the ones who remained rich. From 1982 to 2000 dot.com stocks made everyone think he was a financial genius. Those who had no exit strategy were buried in the avalanche of cascading prices for the next 3 years. It seems that many have not yet learned their lesson and are buying more of the same junk with the hope that it will go back up to the old high prices so they can get out "even".

Those who came late to the gold rush went home with little or nothing and most lost money. If you want to participate in the coming gold bonanza you must get started now.

The Golden Goose is Sick

It is finally catching up with them. The brokerage companies I mean. For years they have been feeding bad food to their flock and now the flock is rebelling. The customer has been low man on the totem pole for too long. That food has been the disinformation that has caused customers to lose large sums of money.

Last year there were 33,000 brokerage company recommendations for thousands of stocks. Things like Strong Buy, Buy, Long Term Buy, Outperform, Underperform, Neutral, and Hold. The one word that was missing was Sell. Of those thousands of messages sent to their clients only 125 were Sell. Something is very seriously wrong here. While the market was going up in 1999 the so-called analysts whose job it is to figure out if the company is a BUY candidate were telling you to buy everything in sight. Anyone could have used a dart and thrown it at the long listing of stocks in the newspaper and hit a winner almost every time.

What happened to the in-depth analysis of the brokerage company geniuses when these same stocks started down. I know - Hold. They call it Buy and Hold, but I call it Buy and Prey. In 2000 over 1,000 stocks on the Nasdaq lost more than 90% of their value and today many of those companies have gone under. Why were you not notified and told to sell? Because the brokerage companies were making more money doing Initial Public Offerings (IPO) than they were making commissions on your trading.

To say the naughty word "Sell" would have made company executives mad and they would not have given the brokerage company a shot at their next Initial Public Offering (IPO). To heck with the customer; he doesn't count. There are cases where analysts were fired because they told clients to sell out.

Now that the lucrative IPO market has dried up maybe the brokerage companies will begin to realize they have a fiduciary responsibility to their customers. Hundreds of thousands of customers' accounts have lost 40%, 50% and more of their equity. If the short-sighted brokers had protected these accounts they would have hundreds of millions of extra dollars left so the customer could trade again which would mean millions more in commissions for the house. Now the dollar cost averaging technique is left with no dollars to invest.

Customers are afraid to put more money in the stock market because they have been so badly abused. They know something is wrong, but they don't know what so they wisely hold onto their money and refuse to pour more into losing propositions. Brokers want the customers to buy stocks and not put their dollars into a money market account where they make no commission.

The golden goose has lost quite a few pounds, but let's hope the brokerage companies have learned that by treating customers with respect and feeding them properly will bring them greater rewards.