Foreign Exchange Market is a market where traders buy and sell currencies with the hope of making a profit when the values of the currencies change in their favor. People are making vast amounts of money from Forex trading. The Forex Market has a big potential for everyone, ranging from large corporate firms to ordinary, everyday people like you and me.
It is a very exciting trade with a huge money-making potential. Just imagine yourself sitting comfortably in your pajamas at your computer… you turn on the internet and make a few quick transactions and by the time that you get up to get a cup of coffee, you are several hundred dollars rich! Would you like that? I would!!
I can hear you say, “Wait a minute!! This sounds just like another one of those confusing markets like stocks, options or traditional futures, so what makes this market any different?”
Aaah! Good question! So, in answer to your question, here are 10 good (if not great) reasons to enter the Forex Trade:
1. First and foremost, Forex trading allows for small investments. You do not have to be able to invest thousands of dollars to get started with this trade. You can start trading Forex with as little as $300 to $350 and could be well on your way to earning more than that on your first day.
2. The Forex markets are always open! You are able to trade anytime and from anywhere in the world. No waiting for the stock exchange to open. The market is ongoing, with generally only minor breaks on the weekends.
3. The funds that you invest are liquid; you can cash them anytime you want. No waiting for days to get your stocks converted into hard cash.
4. The value of the Forex Trading market is COLOSSAL: it is 30 times larger than all of the US equity markets combined. It is the largest market in the world with daily reported volume of 1.5 to 2.0 trillion dollars. This massive value makes it a lucrative and desirable trade to invest in.
5. It is a highly stable trade and offers greater strength over other markets. Countries and people are ALWAYS going to need currency. Although the value of different currencies goes up and down, the fluctuations are not as dramatic as stock prices and generally follow a predictable trend.
6. You do not have to worry about commissions, exchange fees nor any hidden charges when you trade Forex. Forex brokers make only a small percentage of the bid and there are very respectable and free brokers available as well. Is that not wonderful for you?
7. You make profits no matter which way the currency is going. You will not worry about a falling currency value if you know what to do with it and make good gains.
8. Forex is a very transparent market. Unlike equity markets, where analysts have an unfair advantage over the layman because of their insider knowledge, the relevant information for Forex is equally available to every one through international news. Therefore, all Forex traders are in a position to make pertinent decisions according to the current market situations.
9. Forex market is extremely quick! It takes not more than 1 to 2 seconds to complete your transactions because it is all done electronically, online and in Real Time.
10. The final good news is that you do not need any formal education, licensing, diploma or degree to trade Forex. All you need is the know-how of how it works, trading strategies and some tips and techniques and you can be on your way to earn big profits.
Forex trading online may be the fastest path to financial freedom and an end to all your financial worries. It truly is an excellent, if not THE best home business opportunity for ordinary people.
You owe it to yourself to give it a try!!!
Prosperity and happiness to all!
Posts tonen met het label money. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label money. Alle posts tonen
maandag 5 oktober 2009
vrijdag 11 september 2009
3 Pitfalls to Avoid When Playing in the Real Estate Game
So you’ve seen your umpteenth infomercial with the guy in his neatly pressed button-upped white T-Shirt grinning ear to ear waving his rock-solid no-money-down rags-to-riches real estate investment course for 3 easy payments of a gazillion dollars (but only if you call now) and now you are thinking, "wow this looks like a great deal, I better get it fast before the special offer expires." You notice how there’s always a special offer? Anyway, I am not saying this guy isn’t telling the truth, however regardless of which course or school of thought you buy into there are several key areas that one must avoid when engaging in any real estate related transaction.
Pitfall Number 1: Don’t Overpay!
The whole point in investing is to find properties that are undervalued. How does one find out what is undervalued versus overvalued? Without getting into technical details, the bottom line is you need experience. Yes much like shopping for anything else, real estate is essentially one of the highest ticket items in the shopping center of life. It’s advisable to stick with one market, perhaps the one closest to you in proximity as a starting off point. Through your experience and asking the right questions, you will eventually have a feel for the pulse of the market you are looking after, and of course identify what is considered a good buy.
Pitfall Number 2: Know the Market
Yes, you are actually going to have to do more work! This part is really common sense though, but executing it where the beauty and the payoff comes in. How do you make money in real estate? The most basic way is to buy low and sell high. So from the first step, you have identified general trends in the value of homes, and are pretty good at spotting undervalued homes. Assuming you acquire that home, you may want to profit from it by selling it off to someone else for a higher price. How can you do this? Well there are many ways. For one, most markets appreciate in value over time so if you want a longer term approach that will work. Making upgrades to the property will automatically raise the price of the home as well. Think in terms of what the market wants, not what you personally want. You aren’t the one buying it; you are trying to sell it to someone else for a higher price than you bought it.
Pitfall Number 3: Know Your Budget
It may be a fine philosophy to go through life on a whim, but real estate is serious business, and thus diligent financial planning and budgeting is critical to your success. Don’t worry you don’t need to be a finance geek, however you need to be disciplined and know your budget from the onset, or you may be finding you are learning that you need to make certain renovations or upgrades, and didn’t anticipate it going over to a certain cost. Think ahead as to what is needed before actually going forth with investing in real estate.
Pitfall Number 1: Don’t Overpay!
The whole point in investing is to find properties that are undervalued. How does one find out what is undervalued versus overvalued? Without getting into technical details, the bottom line is you need experience. Yes much like shopping for anything else, real estate is essentially one of the highest ticket items in the shopping center of life. It’s advisable to stick with one market, perhaps the one closest to you in proximity as a starting off point. Through your experience and asking the right questions, you will eventually have a feel for the pulse of the market you are looking after, and of course identify what is considered a good buy.
Pitfall Number 2: Know the Market
Yes, you are actually going to have to do more work! This part is really common sense though, but executing it where the beauty and the payoff comes in. How do you make money in real estate? The most basic way is to buy low and sell high. So from the first step, you have identified general trends in the value of homes, and are pretty good at spotting undervalued homes. Assuming you acquire that home, you may want to profit from it by selling it off to someone else for a higher price. How can you do this? Well there are many ways. For one, most markets appreciate in value over time so if you want a longer term approach that will work. Making upgrades to the property will automatically raise the price of the home as well. Think in terms of what the market wants, not what you personally want. You aren’t the one buying it; you are trying to sell it to someone else for a higher price than you bought it.
Pitfall Number 3: Know Your Budget
It may be a fine philosophy to go through life on a whim, but real estate is serious business, and thus diligent financial planning and budgeting is critical to your success. Don’t worry you don’t need to be a finance geek, however you need to be disciplined and know your budget from the onset, or you may be finding you are learning that you need to make certain renovations or upgrades, and didn’t anticipate it going over to a certain cost. Think ahead as to what is needed before actually going forth with investing in real estate.
maandag 27 juli 2009
Your Credit Card Payment Is Rising: Warning & Tips
Summary: Did you know your minimum credit card payment is rising? A new government program working to get Americans out of credit card debt is pushing credit card issuers to raise minimum monthly payments. Will you be able to make the higher monthly payment? Here are some tips for getting by.
If you're an American, your minimum monthly credit card payment may soon be doubling. If you're only paying the minimums now, you'll have to be careful to adjust your budgeting to pay more.
Who's Raising Your Monthly Minimum Credit Card Payment?
Whose idea was it to increase credit card minimum monthly payments? The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department that has become more and more involved with reigning in the abuses of credit card companies. Yes, this credit card minimum payment increase was thought up by people trying to help you.
Who will be raising their monthly minimums? So far, some of the largest credit card issuers have agreed to the new standards. Bank of America has already been asking for the higher monthly minimum payment. MBNA, Citigroup (a.k.a. Citbank), Discover, and Chase (on some of its cards) will be breaking the news to their cardholders as Fall 2005 progresses.
How Much Will Credit Card Minimums Increase?
For many credit cards, such as MBNA and Bank of America, the new rates mean that monthly minimum payments will double.
Right now, the monthly minimum payment is only 2% of the balance on most of these cards. The new rate will be around 4% (the actual number may vary from card issuer to card issuer). This means that if you have the average American credit card balance of about $10,000, your minimum monthly payment will go from $200/month to $400/month.
Of course, if you have any additional fees, whether a late fee or a cash advance fee or any of the other fees that the credit card guys cook up, you will have to pay that, too.
Why the Credit Card Minimum Payment Increase?
You may be wondering why anyone would want to make you pay a higher minimum monthly payment. The basic reason for making you pay more is: for your own good.
According to Mike Peterson, co-founder of American Credit Foundation, by doubling the amount you pay per month toward credit card debt, you will cut down on what you pay toward interest by much more. Look:
Old monthly minimum payment of 2% of balance, $2,000 credit card debt at 18% percent interest:
* Time to pay off debt in full: about 30 years.
* Interest paid: about $5,000–two and a half times what you initially borrowed!
New monthly minimum payment of 4% of balance, same debt:
* Time to pay off debt in full: about 10 years. Time saved vs. old payment: 20 years.
* Interest paid: about $1,100–slightly more than half what you originally borrowed. Amount saved vs. old payment: $3,900.
Tips for Paying Double Easily
How do you pay off your new, higher credit card balance?
Stop Charging
Yes, you will have to make major sacrifices to stop using your credit card. But just look at all the money you'll have in ten or thirty years that you wouldn't have if you had to pay all that credit card interest. If you have trouble resisting the temptation to charge, here are some solutions that have actually worked:
* Give your credit cards to a friend or family member to hold in safe keeping.
* Freeze the cards in a block of ice.
* Never carry more than one credit card with you.
Economize on the Small Things
According to Michael Peterson of the American Credit Foundation, even tiny savings really add up when it comes to debt. His favorite example is the Diet Coke example:
* If you buy one Diet Coke a day at $1/day, that's $365/year.
* If you instead invested that one dollar a day at 10% interest (the average yearly return on major stocks over the last half century), you would be a millionaire within 56 years.
* Of course, with credit cards, this logic works in reverse: if you are lucky enough to be paying only 10% interest, fifty years of charging Diet Coke to your credit card will mean you've lost the same amount, not only in interest paid, but in the lost opportunity to save and invest.
* You don't have to put aside one dollar a day for fifty years to see a big difference. One dollar a day is $30/month, 15% of the average $200 increase in credit card minimum monthly payments.
* In order to get that entire $200 increase out of your daily budget, you would only have to save $200/30 or less than $7 a day. OK, maybe you aren't drinking seven Diet Cokes a day. But there are very few credit-card-holding Americans who can't cut $7 a day out of their spending.
* Saving weekly rather than daily, $200/month works out to about $45/week, or the cost of a restaurant meal for a small family--another luxury you might want to skip until you're debt-free.
Bigger Savings
* Taxes. Most Americans could pay hundreds of dollars less tax each year if they just took all the deductions they were eligible for upfront, rather than waiting to get a refund in April. By April, you will have spent a big chunk of money on interest on debt that you wouldn't have spent if you'd had the money at hand.
* Pleading. Call the credit card companies and ask if they can allow you to set up a payment plan, or at least provide a brief extension. Simply calling and letting them know you haven't forgotten about them can help keep you out of the worst trouble.
* Credit counseling. Credit counselors can talk with credit card issuers to help you get a repayment plan you can keep up with. They can also open your eyes to untapped sources of income you never knew you had, like kicking the $1,000,000 Diet Coke habit.
In short, don't panic. With only a little bit of planning, you can make the higher minimum monthly payment work to your advantage, just as the policy's authors intended.
If you're an American, your minimum monthly credit card payment may soon be doubling. If you're only paying the minimums now, you'll have to be careful to adjust your budgeting to pay more.
Who's Raising Your Monthly Minimum Credit Card Payment?
Whose idea was it to increase credit card minimum monthly payments? The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department that has become more and more involved with reigning in the abuses of credit card companies. Yes, this credit card minimum payment increase was thought up by people trying to help you.
Who will be raising their monthly minimums? So far, some of the largest credit card issuers have agreed to the new standards. Bank of America has already been asking for the higher monthly minimum payment. MBNA, Citigroup (a.k.a. Citbank), Discover, and Chase (on some of its cards) will be breaking the news to their cardholders as Fall 2005 progresses.
How Much Will Credit Card Minimums Increase?
For many credit cards, such as MBNA and Bank of America, the new rates mean that monthly minimum payments will double.
Right now, the monthly minimum payment is only 2% of the balance on most of these cards. The new rate will be around 4% (the actual number may vary from card issuer to card issuer). This means that if you have the average American credit card balance of about $10,000, your minimum monthly payment will go from $200/month to $400/month.
Of course, if you have any additional fees, whether a late fee or a cash advance fee or any of the other fees that the credit card guys cook up, you will have to pay that, too.
Why the Credit Card Minimum Payment Increase?
You may be wondering why anyone would want to make you pay a higher minimum monthly payment. The basic reason for making you pay more is: for your own good.
According to Mike Peterson, co-founder of American Credit Foundation, by doubling the amount you pay per month toward credit card debt, you will cut down on what you pay toward interest by much more. Look:
Old monthly minimum payment of 2% of balance, $2,000 credit card debt at 18% percent interest:
* Time to pay off debt in full: about 30 years.
* Interest paid: about $5,000–two and a half times what you initially borrowed!
New monthly minimum payment of 4% of balance, same debt:
* Time to pay off debt in full: about 10 years. Time saved vs. old payment: 20 years.
* Interest paid: about $1,100–slightly more than half what you originally borrowed. Amount saved vs. old payment: $3,900.
Tips for Paying Double Easily
How do you pay off your new, higher credit card balance?
Stop Charging
Yes, you will have to make major sacrifices to stop using your credit card. But just look at all the money you'll have in ten or thirty years that you wouldn't have if you had to pay all that credit card interest. If you have trouble resisting the temptation to charge, here are some solutions that have actually worked:
* Give your credit cards to a friend or family member to hold in safe keeping.
* Freeze the cards in a block of ice.
* Never carry more than one credit card with you.
Economize on the Small Things
According to Michael Peterson of the American Credit Foundation, even tiny savings really add up when it comes to debt. His favorite example is the Diet Coke example:
* If you buy one Diet Coke a day at $1/day, that's $365/year.
* If you instead invested that one dollar a day at 10% interest (the average yearly return on major stocks over the last half century), you would be a millionaire within 56 years.
* Of course, with credit cards, this logic works in reverse: if you are lucky enough to be paying only 10% interest, fifty years of charging Diet Coke to your credit card will mean you've lost the same amount, not only in interest paid, but in the lost opportunity to save and invest.
* You don't have to put aside one dollar a day for fifty years to see a big difference. One dollar a day is $30/month, 15% of the average $200 increase in credit card minimum monthly payments.
* In order to get that entire $200 increase out of your daily budget, you would only have to save $200/30 or less than $7 a day. OK, maybe you aren't drinking seven Diet Cokes a day. But there are very few credit-card-holding Americans who can't cut $7 a day out of their spending.
* Saving weekly rather than daily, $200/month works out to about $45/week, or the cost of a restaurant meal for a small family--another luxury you might want to skip until you're debt-free.
Bigger Savings
* Taxes. Most Americans could pay hundreds of dollars less tax each year if they just took all the deductions they were eligible for upfront, rather than waiting to get a refund in April. By April, you will have spent a big chunk of money on interest on debt that you wouldn't have spent if you'd had the money at hand.
* Pleading. Call the credit card companies and ask if they can allow you to set up a payment plan, or at least provide a brief extension. Simply calling and letting them know you haven't forgotten about them can help keep you out of the worst trouble.
* Credit counseling. Credit counselors can talk with credit card issuers to help you get a repayment plan you can keep up with. They can also open your eyes to untapped sources of income you never knew you had, like kicking the $1,000,000 Diet Coke habit.
In short, don't panic. With only a little bit of planning, you can make the higher minimum monthly payment work to your advantage, just as the policy's authors intended.
zaterdag 25 juli 2009
3 Ways To Get Your Free Annual Credit Report
Yes, you can now get your credit report without paying a dime. And unlike before, now it is truly free. No longer do you have to sign up for a "free" credit report by signing up for "credit monitoring protection service" for a low annual fee of $79 a year! The days of dodging the annoying charges and service fees for a free credit report are over.
Under the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, you have the right to a free copy of your credit report within a 12 month period from the big three credit report bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion).
The goal of this new government act is to ensure that Americans have the right to stay informed about what these three credit reporting bureaus say about you without having to pay for it. Since identity theft, fraud and errors are quite common today, why should you have to pay for a copy of a report to fight back against these problems?
Here are the 3 ways to get your free annual credit report:
The three credit reporting agencies have created a website to request your annual credit report.
1) Go to www.annualcreditreport.com
2) Call (877) 322-8228 to request your free credit report.
3) Complete a form from the Federal Trade Comission, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/include/requestformfinal.pdf and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
If you go directly to the three agencies or use any other type of service you may end up having to pay or sign up for the subscription services I mentioned above! Make sure you use one of the 3 methods I have listed to get your annual free credit report.
You can get the reports from all 3 agencies at once or stagger the reports from each one during the course of 1 year. The advantage of staggering the reports that you receive is to keep track of how any major changes in your financial picture affect what is on your credit report. For example, if you plan on getting a second mortgage over the coming year, or applying for student loans, ect. it might be wise to get a report before and after these major events!
This new Act does not supplant the other methods you can take advantage of to receive a free credit report. If you are applying for unemployment or been denied a loan, or need a credit report in order to get a job, you still have the right to obtain a free credit report.
Take advantage of this new government regulation and make sure all of the information listed by all three credit reporting agencies are correct. Any errors or omissions can reduce your credit score and end up costing you a lot of money when you apply for any type of credit.
Under the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, you have the right to a free copy of your credit report within a 12 month period from the big three credit report bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion).
The goal of this new government act is to ensure that Americans have the right to stay informed about what these three credit reporting bureaus say about you without having to pay for it. Since identity theft, fraud and errors are quite common today, why should you have to pay for a copy of a report to fight back against these problems?
Here are the 3 ways to get your free annual credit report:
The three credit reporting agencies have created a website to request your annual credit report.
1) Go to www.annualcreditreport.com
2) Call (877) 322-8228 to request your free credit report.
3) Complete a form from the Federal Trade Comission, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/include/requestformfinal.pdf and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
If you go directly to the three agencies or use any other type of service you may end up having to pay or sign up for the subscription services I mentioned above! Make sure you use one of the 3 methods I have listed to get your annual free credit report.
You can get the reports from all 3 agencies at once or stagger the reports from each one during the course of 1 year. The advantage of staggering the reports that you receive is to keep track of how any major changes in your financial picture affect what is on your credit report. For example, if you plan on getting a second mortgage over the coming year, or applying for student loans, ect. it might be wise to get a report before and after these major events!
This new Act does not supplant the other methods you can take advantage of to receive a free credit report. If you are applying for unemployment or been denied a loan, or need a credit report in order to get a job, you still have the right to obtain a free credit report.
Take advantage of this new government regulation and make sure all of the information listed by all three credit reporting agencies are correct. Any errors or omissions can reduce your credit score and end up costing you a lot of money when you apply for any type of credit.
donderdag 16 juli 2009
Alternatives To Filing Bankruptcy?
There is just no easy way to get out of debt, you have to face up to the consequences. A bankruptcy is not always the answer, as the effects are long lasting. There are four ways to handle debts that are out of control, listed in best to worst in regards to the effect it will have on your credit:
If your credit isn't in terrible shape, can you reduce your other expenses, even if it means making hard choices or just change your lifestyle to fit your income? Some ways to do this:
Alternatives:
Selling the second carPulling equity out of your homeApplying for a non secured signature loanObtaining a loan from a relativeSelling your home and paying off your debts with the proceeds and then rentingCashing out your 401K/retirement benefitsSelling family heirlooms, jewelry, etc…
Filing Bankruptcy - Final SolutionIf your credit is already gone or one of the above isn't an option, go through Consumer Credit Counseling Services. Check your yellow pages for the local number. In this way you're paying off your debts as if you were in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, but you don't file a bankruptcy.
If CCCS won't take you, you may want to consider bankruptcy. Filing a Chapter 13 takes longer, but your credit is in a little better standing than if you file a Chapter 7. In Chapter 13 you are given up to 5 years to pay off your debts. The disadvantage is that you're in bankruptcy for up to 5 years plus your credit report shows your bankruptcy for 7 more years after you have finished paying off your debts.
If you are so far in debt that you can never repay it, then the best solution may be a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Chapter 7 is the least desirable credit wise, but you are typically out of bankruptcy in 6 months and you don't have to repay any debt.
Disadvantages of Filing BankruptcyThe disadvantage is that this shows on your credit report for 10 years from the date of filing your bankruptcy, and creditors are starting to tighten their credit requirements, and you may have a tough time getting future financing. Depending upon how complicated your financial situation is, you may want to consult a lawyer before proceeding.
There is no magic solution. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise.
If your credit isn't in terrible shape, can you reduce your other expenses, even if it means making hard choices or just change your lifestyle to fit your income? Some ways to do this:
Alternatives:
Selling the second carPulling equity out of your homeApplying for a non secured signature loanObtaining a loan from a relativeSelling your home and paying off your debts with the proceeds and then rentingCashing out your 401K/retirement benefitsSelling family heirlooms, jewelry, etc…
Filing Bankruptcy - Final SolutionIf your credit is already gone or one of the above isn't an option, go through Consumer Credit Counseling Services. Check your yellow pages for the local number. In this way you're paying off your debts as if you were in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, but you don't file a bankruptcy.
If CCCS won't take you, you may want to consider bankruptcy. Filing a Chapter 13 takes longer, but your credit is in a little better standing than if you file a Chapter 7. In Chapter 13 you are given up to 5 years to pay off your debts. The disadvantage is that you're in bankruptcy for up to 5 years plus your credit report shows your bankruptcy for 7 more years after you have finished paying off your debts.
If you are so far in debt that you can never repay it, then the best solution may be a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Chapter 7 is the least desirable credit wise, but you are typically out of bankruptcy in 6 months and you don't have to repay any debt.
Disadvantages of Filing BankruptcyThe disadvantage is that this shows on your credit report for 10 years from the date of filing your bankruptcy, and creditors are starting to tighten their credit requirements, and you may have a tough time getting future financing. Depending upon how complicated your financial situation is, you may want to consult a lawyer before proceeding.
There is no magic solution. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise.
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