Incredible Words

Never until now have businessmen looking to buy loan portfolios been able to use just a single dedicated market. Change is coming about via the implementation of a firm designed to sell loans employing a bidding process, principles along the same lines as the highly successful Ebay.

Using this national open market, subprime and consumer loans are packaged at a discount, open to investors. Thanks to this approach data collection can be standardized while processing the sales themselves, while also improving the chances for minor packages to be and also the chances for smaller packages to be considered being worth the investment are improved or created. Loan performance, credit quality, and size are finally no longer roadblocks to investment. Significant economies in time and money are possible following a changeover to a modern business model to which place and time are not as important, granting businesses truly international scope for their actions. The golden rule for salesmen is making sure and certain that potential customers have a chance to hear about whatever product you have to offer, and there has never been a better method of getting the word out than through the power of online sales.

Any and all potential customers should be found and reached if you want them to learn you have portfolios they might be interested in. This service offers, as a result, all the applicable information available to anyone who’s registered at a time of their asking — making dealing in loans simpler and more economic.

To sell portfolios, the more data available, the better the results will be. During consideration of any portfolio, transparent information provides a deeper knowledge of what you’re taking on and thus helps minimize the risk you carry. Standardized information on loan level puts the control of selling loan portfolios entirely in your lap, rather than in the hands of a broker or similar third party. Direct discussion with freely given information creates a situation where buyer and seller both can equally profit.

Keeping the various types of loans standardized and not fragmented means that finding the perfect deal for you to invest in quickly becomes much easier. Time is saved in this manner — not just for the buyer but also on the dealer’s side. Remember that this service allows for an open bidding strategy, and therefore there are numerous likely buyers eager to make a deal, who all be granted equal transparency of information.

The Web has created boundless opportunities for the asking, and the variety of ways for trade in loan portfolios is on the brink of splitting open. There’s no smarter way to shop, they say, than using the internet — true, but the thing not very many people take into account is that, by the same token, there’s no smarter way to sell…

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One of the major financial troubles which people tend to face is credit repair. With diverse businesses and companies offering help on credit repair it is difficult to choose the most applicable option. With the worldwide economic predicament, banks require high credit score before giving out loans. This makes it important to follow fast credit repair strategies. Fortunately, fast credit repair is not as complex as is portrayed by credit companies. Comprehensive and specific knowledge is not required. You can simply trail the below mentioned techniques and cut down your credit service costs.

The basic matter to ask yourself is What have I done wrong? How did I get in this mess? Only then can you identify your answer and opt for the most appropriate strategy. Once you have deduced the reason of your situation, its time to introduce an alteration in your social and financial lifestyle. You can go through your credit reports and concentrate on faulty information and bring it under the examination of your credit companies.

Heedless use of credit cards should be totally avoided. Credit cards should only be used only in dire need. All spare credit accounts should be closed to check overspending. Extra accounts also tend to show up in the annual credit statement and prompt negative scores. Outline and adjust your monthly spending budget. Keep track of your accounts and put a stop to the accumulation of debts. Start believing that your success lies in your own hands.

Never fall in the error of paying late. Timely payments guarantee that you will not face bad credit profile and that your credit score will continue to be positive. It will also ensure that a satisfying relationship is sustained with your lenders. Make the attempt of raising your credit score as this will bring you into a positive light with the creditors and will support you in acquiring loans in the future.

Always ascertain your debt ratio to your credit balance ratio. implement caution and care when using credit cards. Use only 40% credit on a single credit card. Excessive usage of a credit card raises an uneasiness in the minds of the lenders and creates a hostile environment. It also cautions the lenders towards providing loans in the future.

Most people have a tendency to overlook the most straightforward and effortless strategies of fast credit repair. Credit counseling is utilized instead of evaluating their own situation and to reach at an appropriate result. This same task is performed by the credit counselors at a very high fee. The most effortless way to remedy your credit score is to surf the net for countless tips on fast credit repair. But in the end only your own endeavor can pull you out from this terrible credit mess.

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Feng shui coins can allow you, among other things, to increase your income. By keeping three coins tied with a read thread, you would protect your already existing income as well as increase it. According to Chinese traditions, three coins tied that way symbolize prosperity and income protection.

By carrying these three tied coins with yourself you could attract personal wealth, as well as by using these feng shui coins in your house would bring prosperity and wealth for all its occupants. Number three symbolizes heaven, man and earth united, and it is a lucky number as well.

Carrying them with you would also attract helpful people to you and receive help when you need it. You can also give feng shui coins to those you love as a present; it would be a symbolic, creative and helpful gift to give. You can combine the coins representation with different numbers symbolism, achieving this way, different desired effects.

According to feng shui specifications, the best house area for placing feng shui coins is the northwest. According to the bagua map, the northwest of any space corresponds to the prosperity life area, and therefore, placing feng shui coins there would be very helpful and beneficial. You can also use them in order to protect or increase the income at a business by placing these coins by the cash register or any other place containing money.

It is also important to know where your feng shui coins come from, since they would also contain energy of the place or people who had them before. The best place where to acquire these coins is at a very prosperous or wealthy place. This way, your feng shui coins benefits and their positive effect on you would be maximized.

You can also use feng shui coins according to its main element, metal. When any spot at your house or working space lacks of metal element, placing these Chinese coins in it would be a great way to add that element and create harmony at the same time than protecting the incomes and maximizing the good luck.

About The Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.fengshuicrazy.com. Please visit his website and learn all the feng shui tips you’ll ever need!

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Money earned can either be consumed or saved. When money is saved it can either be hoarded or be invested to enhance its value. An investment project requires information about the various avenues available.

The general term used to refer to the investments made is ‘assets’. Assets reflect one’s investment in cash, bonds, stocks or other sources that generate income. Out of the various assets available for investment, the most common one is Stock. Stock refers to the shares of the companies. It can be of various types - capitalization stocks, mid capitalization stocks, and small capitalization stocks - to name a few. Trading in stocks can be very profitable; however, the risk involved in the stock is equally high. Playing the odds in the stock market is one of the riskiest ways of earning money. Small factors can have adverse effect on the market, thereby leading to huge losses. Another trading instrument that one can invest in, is bonds. Bonds are similar to debentures i.e. they represent the loan given to an entity. Bonds are usually issued by public bodies like the Municipality, though corporate bodies can also issue bonds. They come in varieties and the investor can choose depending on his preference. Bonds are comparatively less risky than the stock and offer a steady source of income. One can also go for bond funds to further minimize the risk.

A mutual fund is a group of investors that pool in money for investment and then share the income. When an investor buys the shares of a mutual fund, he becomes the shareholder of that fund. According to their investment objectives mutual funds can be divided in to various categories. They are considered to be a safe investing option as they are cost efficient and easy to invest in. The investor usually does not have to decide between various scripts to invest in.

Cash equivalents are safe option to invest in for the risk averse. These assets are characterized by liquidity, price stability and a regular income. The only drawback is that the return in case of cash equivalents may be low as compared to that earned through the stock market. Cash equivalent include treasury bills, banker’s acceptances and money markets.

IRAs are beneficial especially to families having a single bread earner. Its is a kind of saving plan in which money is deposited at regular intervals. An added attraction is that the money contributed is normally exempted from tax.

Many people invest in real estate to earn a regular income. Their strategy is to invest in the properties and rent them. These properties then provide a steady stream of income. However, before investing in land the investor should study the tax laws, depreciation and accounting implications, and the tenancy laws.

An investor should select the most appropriate asset to invest in, depending on his financial capacity and the returns he expects. Professional aid generally helps in deciding the right asset. An investment in the future helps one to prepare for the unforeseen and secure one’s financial freedom.

Mansi aggarwal writes about asset classes. Learn more at http://www.assettypes.com

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The U.S. economy has slowed in 2005 after 2 1/2 years of robust growth. Moreover, growth has decelerated further from the recent impacts of hurricanes and persistently high oil prices. However, a boost in government expenditures to rebuild the areas hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita may accelerate growth later in the year or early next year.

Monetary policy remains accommodative. The slow and steady tightening cycle has generally been effective in preempting inflation. However, the Fed Funds Rate may need to rise above 5% to reach a neutral stance. Also, fiscal policy remains stimulative. Government tax cuts are still in place and expenditures continue to be high. Consequently, the risk of stagflation is higher (i.e. lower growth with higher inflation). Inflation is the mechanism that prevents an economy from expanding greater than it’s capacity over time, and the Fed will continue to tighten the money supply to maintain price stability.

The Federal Reserve uses crude tools to smooth-out the business cycle. It controls the money market, through the commercial banking system, which indirectly controls the goods and labor markets. However, the Fed has little or no effective control over other markets, including the housing, bond, stock, commodities, and foreign exchange markets, because it doesn’t posses the tools to fine-tune the economy. Sustainable growth for the largest economy in the world is about 2.8% real growth. If the Fed can achieve and maintain 2.5% to 3% real growth, through price stability, then it has succeeded in “optimizing” the economy.

The chart below is an SPX daily chart over the past four months. SPX rallied to a four-year high two months ago, which marked the beginning of a “symmetrical triangle,” which is a neutral technical pattern. This pattern will compress the SPX trading range, currently between 1,208 and 1,242, until there’s a decisive breakout, on heavy volume, to upside or downside. SPX rose last week from 1,205 to 1,230, and failed to trigger a Parabolic SAR buy signal (red dots), by rising just above 1,230.

However, after SPX eventually breaks out of the symmetrical triangle pattern (most likely in October), there are major resistance levels around 1,250, i.e. a multi-year Fibonacci level, the monthly upper Bollinger Band, and recent high, and major support levels around 1,200, i.e. 200 day MA, psychological support, and recent low. The stronger resistance levels suggest that, in October, SPX will either trade between 1,200 and 1,250, give a false breakout, e.g. 1,180 to 1,190, which was a previous major zone, or give a correction, perhaps, closing the gaps at 1,174, 1,143, and 1,138, before moving higher.

The second chart is a weekly two year chart of OIH (oil ETF). Oil has been above $60 a barrel for about two months (which is roughly when SPX topped at 1,246). Oil may fall over $10 a barrel in October on slowing demand (since the summer driving season and worst of the hurricane season are over). However, it’s uncertain if falling oil prices will be bullish for the stock market, because that may reflect slowing economic growth. The chart shows OIH held its 10-week MA, and weekly Parabolic SAR buy signal (green dots) recently. A close below the 10-week MA may eventually result in a test of the (rising) 50-week MA, which OIH has held for about two years. Perhaps, OIH puts are a safer bet than SPX puts (OIH hit an all-time high Thursday afternoon).

Economic reports next week are: Mon: ISM Index, Construction Spending, and Auto Sales, Tue: Factory Orders, Wed: ISM Services, Thu: Unemployment Claims, Fri: Nonfarm Payrolls, Hourly Earnings, Unemployment Rate, and Wholesale Inventories. Also, the weekly oil inventory report is each Wednesday, and WMT provides guidance on Thursday. Notable earnings reports next week are: Mon: CMGI (after the close), Tue: None, Wed: YUM, Thu: MAR COST, Fri: None. Earnings season starts the following week.

Cyclical factors have and will influence the U.S. economy short-term within the structual underpinnings of slowing growth. It’s uncertain how much these short-term factors will influence the stock market over the next few months. However, the market held up well over the seasonally weak period of May to September. The U.S. economy may shift to a much slower growth path, from about 4% real growth from late 2002 to early 2005 to around 3% in 2005, to perhaps 2 1/2% or less in 2006.

Charts available at PeakTrader.com Forum Index Market Overview section.

Arthur Albert Eckart is the founder and owner of PeakTrader. Arthur has worked for commercial banks, e.g. Wells Fargo, Banc One, and First Commerce Technologies, during the 1980s and 1990s. He has also worked for Janus Funds from 1999-00. Arthur Eckart has a BA & MA in Economics from the University of Colorado. He has worked on options portfolio optimization since 1998.

Mr Eckart has developed a comprehensive trading methodology using economics, portfolio optimization, and technical analysis to maximize return and minimize risk at the same time and over time. This methodology has resulted in excellent returns with low risk over the past four years.

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Obviously, nobody asked the marketing guys before coming up with this one. Who in the world thought up the name “non-qualified deferred compensation?” Oh, it’s descriptive alright. But who wants anything “non-qualified?” Do you want a “non-qualified” doctor, lawyer, or accountant? What’s worse is deferring compensation. How many people want to work today and get paid in five years? The problem is, non-qualified deferred compensation is a great idea; it just has a lousy name.

Non-qualified deferred compensation (NQDC) is a powerful retirement planning tool, particularly for owners of closely held corporations (for purposes of this article, I’m only going to deal with “C” corporations). NQDC plans are not qualified for two things; some of the income tax benefits afforded qualified retirement plans and the employee protection provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). What NQDC plans do offer is flexibility. Great gobs of flexibility. Flexibility is something qualified plans, after decades of Congressional tinkering, lack. The loss of some tax benefits and ERISA provisions may seem a very small price to pay when you consider the many benefits of NQDC plans.

A NQDC plan is a written contract between the corporate employer and the employee. The contract covers employment and compensation that will be provided in the future. The NQDC agreement gives to the employee the employer’s unsecured promise to pay some future benefit in exchange for services today. The promised future benefit may be in one of three general forms. Some NQDC plans resemble defined benefit plans in that they promise to pay the employee a fixed dollar amount or fixed percentage of salary for a period of time after retirement. Another type of NQDC resembles a defined contribution plan. A fixed amount goes into the employee’s “account” each year, sometimes through voluntary salary deferrals, and the employee is entitled to the balance of the account at retirement. The final type of NQDC plan provides a death benefit to the employee’s designated beneficiary.

The key benefit with NQDC is flexibility. With NQDC plans, the employer can discriminate freely. The employer can pick and choose from among employees, including him/herself, and benefit only a select few. The employer can treat those chosen differently. The benefit promised need not follow any of the rules associated with qualified plans (e.g. the $44,000 for 2006) annual limit on contributions to defined contribution plans). The vesting schedule can be whatever the employer would like it to be. By using life insurance products, the tax deferral feature of qualified plans can be simulated. Properly drafted, NQDC plans do not result in taxable income to the employee until payments are made.

To obtain this flexibility both the employer and employee must give something up. The employer loses the up-front tax deduction for the contribution to the plan. However, the employer will get a deduction when benefits are paid. The employee loses the security provided under ERISA. However, frequently the employee involved is the business owner which mitigates this concern. Also there are techniques available to provide the non-owner employee with a measure of security. By the way, the marketing guys have gotten hold of NQDC plans, so you’ll see them called Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans or Excess Benefit Plans among other names.

Mr. Morris, a fee based Investment Advisor Representative with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., helps 401k participants get the most out of their corporate plans.

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Regardless of the fact that the world’s stock markets have shown absolutely no growth between the date of writing this article (Late April 2005) and the late 1990s, they should still be looked at with more than just a sideways glance.

Speak gently to them, speak well of them to your friends, learn to trust them, cuddle up close and get to know them - and they will reward you in a way that the banks, mutual funds (Unit Trusts in the UK), pension funds and insurance companies never can or will.

The Personal Stock Market Revolution is here, and it’s here right now - on a computer screen near you.

You see, thanks to the internet and the “information super highway” (now there’s a phrase that’s disappeared in the last few years) anybody and everybody can easily beat the Wall Street professionals at their own game.

And it’s so simple, even a child could do it.

Seriously, even a child could do it.

Everything you need to trade or invest on your own account is just a click of a mouse button away and it’s online right now waiting your command - in fact there’s so much information, there may even be too much.

This is the first in a series of articles about the Stock Market and what it can do for you - if you learn to love it allow it to be your friend.

So stop being afraid and jump on in - you’ll never regret it.

But before we progress, let’s put some semi-negative thoughts into your head and then in the next article we’ll try and expel those thoughts and get you thinking positively.

For example, the world and his dog knows…

Over the past few years the world’s stock markets have been in a “slump”.

OK, ok - you’ve got me there. Yes its true (after a fashion). Here are the facts:

At the time of writing the US Dow Jones Industrial Average (the Dow) closed last evening at 10198 - more or less exactly the same as it’s close on the 5th April 1999 (10174) - That’s what appears to be 6 whole years with no growth.

At first sight your probable first reaction is; that looks awful, and I’d be inclined to agree.

But as with all “bareboard figures”, the truth is often concealed behind the headline.

Here’s the truth behind the figures you see in the media…

You may or may not know that when looking at the stock markets with a view to profiting from them, you can take almost any time frame you wish - the markets are in a constant dynamic state of change.

It moves by the second, the minute, the hour, the day, the week, the month and the year and whenever it moves there is money to be made (and lost by some - ask the Enron investors, including a lot of very large pension funds in America).

But for the sake of convenience and space in this article, we’ll just look at the weekly time frame over the year (59 weeks) from April 1999.

The Bare “Headline” Facts:

• The Dow Jones closed on 5th April 1999 at 10174
• 59 weeks later (22nd May 2000) it closed at 10299
• A 14 month rise of just 125 points - or 1.23%

However, during that 14 months…

• On 12th July ‘99 (14 weeks) it closed at 10210 - a rise of 1036 points
• On 11th October ‘99 (13 weeks) it closed at 10020 - a fall of 1190 points
• On 10th January 2000 (13 weeks) it closed at 11723 - a rise of 1703 points
• On 22nd February 2000 (6 weeks) it closed at 9862 - a fall of 1861 points
• On 20th March 2000 (4 weeks) it closed at 11113 - a rise of 1251 points
• On 22nd May 2000 (9 weeks) it closed at 10299 - a fall of 810 points

So, althought the Dow only “officially” moved 125 points during that 14 month period, there were at least 6 potential trades for a total of 7851 points.

Put another way, the Dow during that 14 month period acually moved up and down for a total of 77% of it’s starting points total.

Quite staggering.

And each one of those points could have been dollars in your pocket (or any other currency, because wherever you live in the world you can trade any stock market you wish - and profit from all of them)

Sounds weird?

I’m sure it does, but you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Remember what I said earlier?

“It’s so simple, even a child could do it”

So maybe it’s time to re-discover the child in you and profit accordingly.

In the next article, we’ll compare the performances of the highly paid Wall Street fund managers and analysts.

But make sure you sit down before reading it - you’ll be shocked at just how bad they are!

More next week…

Geoffrey Cummins is a full time stock market trader and has spent the last 12 years developing what he calls his “weedy little spreadsheet trading system”, giving him some unique insights into the working of the world’s stock markets.

Under pressure from friends and family, Geoffrey is now making his unique insights and trading signals available to a worldwide audience.

No wild claims, just common sense advice and the best Risk Free Trial (a full 90 days for less than $5 a week) on the internet all backed up by his unique 3 part / 300% guarantee.

If he doesn’t provide you with a minimum return on your investment of 300% (the banks best offer is 3%. Not guaranteed) - he’ll give you your money back. No questions asked

The TriggerSystem®

©Geoffrey Cummins 2005

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How many times has this happened to you? You’re at a social function and the conversation turns to investing. Pretty soon, people are comparing how well their investments are doing. As you might imagine, being an investment advisor this happens to me a lot. However, I recently had an experience with it that startled me.

Bob, one of the guys I was chatting with at a party, asked what kind of returns I had made for my clients with my methodical no load mutual fund strategy during the past year. I replied that they had unrealized gains of slightly over 29%, after management fees, for the 8 months that we were invested.

Bob countered with a smirk that he had made a 40% return. I raised my eyebrows and told him that was darn goodand suggested that maybe he ought to be managing my money. At that point we were interrupted and, as the evening went on, I began to wonder exactly how Bob had gotten his great return.

I cornered him a little later on and, upon digging a little deeper, the story looked somewhat different. Yes, he had made a 40% return on a mutual fund he had some money invested in, however, we were comparing apples and bananas.

He had a total portfolio of $100k. Being cautious, he had invested only $10k into a mutual fund, from which he profited $4k after he sold it. The balance of his portfolio ($90k) was sitting in a money market fund earning some 0.35% per year.

So, while he had made 40% on 10% of his investment, he had only made 4.35% on his whole portfolio. My methodology was also focused on protecting my clients’ investments and it had increased their entire portfolio 29% (unrealized). That would be an apple to apple comparison when measuring my returns against his. Bob’s one fund realized 40% return. However, had I approached it the same way Bob had, I could have described one of the funds I used that had realized over 49% for the same period.

Actually, Bob’s not-so-good-news story didn’t stop there. Bob admitted to having followed the losing Buy and Hope strategy through the bear market of 2000 and had finally sold out at a 50% loss a year ago, before committing $10k to a mutual fund investment.

I was pleased to be able to tell him that my methodology had gotten my clients out of the market before the bear took his big bite, and they suffered only minimal losses before finding safety in money markets accounts. And when my trend tracking figures directed us to move back into the market, they still had most of their money poised to start earning for them againwhich it did and very nicely, thank you.

The moral of the story is to look past the surface and don’t take any numbers thrown at you at face value. Remember, most people returning from a weekend in Las Vegas will shout about their winnings and mumble about their losses.

About The Author

Ulli Niemann is an investment advisor and has been writing about objective, methodical approaches to investing for over 10 years. He eluded the bear market of 2000 and has helped countless people make better investment decisions. To find out more about his approach and his FREE Newsletter, please visit: www.successful-investment.com.

ulli@successful-investment.com

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