Flexible Retirement as a Business Owner

By Paul J. Easton

Are you looking for ways to invest your hard-earned money? Why not start with small yet effective ways to secure your early retirement soon. Why not consider opening a self-directed IRA?

Guidant Financial offers a special tool with the feature to set up and manage your very own IRA. This flexibility enables you to use your retirement funds as capital to start a business.

The popularity of self-directed IRA at the beginning of the millennium is the driving force behind the growth of Guidant Financial. From being a start-up business in 2003 to a market leader by the end of 2008, this company truly found its niche and perfected it. Amidst the struggling banking and financial sector all over the world, this company remained strong due to continuous research and innovation in their products especially in financing small businesses. This steady growth of the company facilitated to an even more trusted brand and a better support to their more discriminating customers.

Self-directed IRA gives you much more control with your account compared to the traditional IRA. In a traditional IRA, you let somebody manage the funds you invested in and you just get the rewards after your retirement. With the information age however, a lot of corporate soon-to-be retirees are diverting to IRA with more control. Some of these competent and intelligent investors don't simply rely to a funds manager which gets mediocre results.

This leads to Guidant Financial offering you more control with their self-directed IRA model. You are given the opportunity to fully direct where your funds will be invested and even get some education in the process. Self-directed IRA holders typically venture in real estates or small start-up businesses. You can even take advantage of having personal loans.

Guidant Financial lets you invest your retirement funds to a business venture where you can eliminate incurring distribution penalties. That's a great tool because it is like working to grow your own business and looking forward to have a direct impact on the value of your IRA.

This is however not for the faint-hearted employees. Some people are not that business-minded to start a franchise or a small scale business. Not to mention the current economic meltdown, everybody is just afraid to invest.

Many individuals invest in their IRAs to become secure later in life. That's why Guidant Financial selects the clients they work with and only offers this instrument to the select few who are inclined to maximize their potentials.

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How to Buy Penny Stocks

By Mark Boucher

Are you willing to gamble a little bit of disposable income to possibly earn a big return? If so, penny stocks might be an option for you to consider. While you should always use caution and not invest money you can't afford to lose, penny stocks offer you the opportunity to become involved in the trading world for an affordable amount.

What is a penny stock? It is simply a stock that is selling for less than five dollars for each share. These stocks are not traded on the major exchanges (AMEX, NASDAQ and NYSE), but rather over Pink Sheets (so called because of the original color of the paper used). This is often known as OTCBB, or Over the Counter Bulletin Board. This is simply an electronic system that reports changes. Be aware that it is regulated by the NASD, but is not considered a NASDAQ stock exchange.

Buying penny stocks is considered a high-risk investment, meaning that you may lose big. But this also means that you can earn extremely high returns in a short time. The risk and potential earnings are what keep people trading these stocks. Sometimes the return can be several hundred percent a day. Risks with these stocks are limited liquidity, the lack of financial reports and potential fraud.

When buying penny stocks, the lack of buyers may make it difficult to sell stocks. The lack of reporting and volatility of these stocks make it easy for brokers to manipulate as well. This is why fraud is so rampant for these trades. There is no regulatory listing requirement for these stocks either.

The news is not all dismal, though. Penny stocks are popular because of the huge returns some investors find. In order to get started in penny stocks, first find a brokerage who offers this type of service. Your stock shares will be drawn from your investment account through the brokerage. You set the amount you want to invest, and decide how much of your investment will go into the high risk stocks.

Having a broker is important for sound advice, just do your research to find the one best for you. Make sure you have someone reputable that wants to see you earn good returns. The best advice when investing money after making sure you can afford the investment is to spread your money over different types of stocks. If you like the gamble and want a high return, absolutely put some money in penny stocks. You are able to see the highest returns on these stocks, but risk higher losses. Make sure you keep some money in a safer market while you play the penny stock game. - 23212

About the Author:

Buying Penny Stocks, 1000 Penny Stocks, Best Charts for Penny Stocks, Best Free Penny Stocks, Bot Software For Penny Stocks, Chinese Penny Stocks, Finding Penny Stocks, 1000 Penny Stocks, Free Daily Stock Picks information at pennystocks.theinfostop.info

Foreclosures - The Banks Misfortune can become Your Fortune

By Jim Gibbons

Both the home owners and lenders across the United States are suffering because of current real estate crisis. The number of bank foreclosures and pre foreclosures is at an all time high and are accounting for 40% of all homes sold within the last 2 months (currently it is early Oct/08), and the government bail-outs haven't been the holy grail has expected. The American Dream has now turned into a nightmare for home owners.

As strange as it may sound, there is still positivity that results from the foreclosed home crisis. That is that the homes are sold at government auctions after they're foreclosed and depending on the individual situation prices are often much lower then the market value. This ensures that the bank will regain at least some money back, and it's a way for the bank to get rid a home that it doesn't want to continue losing money on. This provides opportunities for real estate investors and for families with good credit to get a great deal on a home that they may not have been able to afford otherwise.

The owners that are facing foreclosure will sometimes be allowed to go ahead and sell their home during the 'pre-foreclosure' period. The pre-foreclosure period can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on state laws. The public is notified through government auction sites and other listings of the homes facing foreclosure, and interested buyers are often able to work things out with the current owner and/or banks. Just like foreclosed homes at government auctions, pre-foreclosed homes are sold at low much reduced prices.

Many people are finding that they can earn money by purchasing pre-foreclosed and foreclosed homes and then reselling them. For example, it's possible to buy foreclosed and pre-foreclosed homes for as low as 25% of it's market value, then reselling it for 75% of it's value. For a house worth $200,000 that would be a $100,000 profit. There are many who have never had any previous experience in the real estate business now taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the real estate crisis. Foreclosed homes are most often offered through government auctions. But where can you find out about such opportunities?

There are many government auction websites that offer all the latest information on bank foreclosures. You can find listings on current and upcoming foreclosed homes. The best foreclosure sites do charge a membership fee, however, so do some of the worth sites. So how will you know which sites offer legitimate listings and which ones don't?

The research is actually very easy to do if you read information on government auction 'review' sites. These reviews are very informative and they will keep visitors updated on the top, most trustworthy government auction membership sites. The government auction reviews test through specific criteria, and are scored according to the results. Obviously, the higher the score, the better and up-to-date the site's foreclosure details are.

Whether you're interested in simply getting a good deal on your dream home or investing for a profit, you need to read the reviews about the top government review sites before deciding which ones to enroll in. This way, you'll get all the detailed information on which sites offer the best up-to-date information on home foreclosures and avoid any scams. Here are four steps to follow to help you down the right path:

- Read reviews of the top sites at a free government auction review site

- Visit and join a recommended government auction membership site

- Go to to one of the top govenment sites and browse and select the best values in the foreclosure listings

- When it makes sense drop by the properties of highest interest and then visit the corresponding government auction - 23212

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For free reviews on the top foreclosure auction sites and which ones to avoid visit government auctions review or go direct to foreclosures and preforeclosures

Know Currency Correlations

By Hass67

Everything is interrelated in the forex markets. It is important for you to understand that the price action of each currency pair is not mutually exclusive.

Most of the currency pairs move relative to one another. Understand that different currency pairs are correlated. These correlations can be positive or negative.

Knowing how strong this relationship is and its direction can help you a lot in developing your trading strategies. Correlation analysis has the potential to become a great trading tool for you.

Correlations are numbers that range between +1 and -1. These numbers are calculated based on past pricing data between different currency pairs. They can provide you with information that can maximize returns, minimize risk and avoid counter productive trading.

Lets use an example to make it clear. Suppose USDJPY and USDCHF has a positive correlation of +0.83 last month. This number is close to +1. It indicates that both pairs move together most of the time in the same direction.

Now, if you are trading USDJPY and USDCHF at the same time, it will double up your position if you take long positions or short positions on both at the same time. If you lose a trade on USDJPY, the chances are that you will also lose the trade on USDCHF 83% of the times.

Lets take another example. EUR/USD and USD/CHF both have a negative correlation of -0.9 in the last month. It means both the pairs were moving in opposite directions last month. If you take long position on one, it is not a good strategy to take short position on the other. It will only double up your position again and increase risk.

If you are investing in two currency pairs simultaneously, try choosing such pairs that have correlations near zero. Zero correlation means the two pairs are independent of each other in price action.

Always keep this in mind that currency markets are constantly changing. The correlation between currency pairs also keep on changing. It would be a good idea to calculate the correlations between pairs on a monthly basis. - 23212

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading; stocks and forex. Read about Trend Forex System. Best Forex Signal Service. Download Forex Scalping Cheat Sheets!

The Truth About Forex Scams

By Jack Sawyer

What makes for Forex scams? A lot of people think that any Forex trading system, informational product or service which fails to make them rich beyond their wildest dreams overnight must necessarily be a scam. These are generally the same people who flee from get-rich-quick scheme to get rich quick scheme, constantly disappointed because they fail to get rich. These people are unwilling to spend ay kind of time or effort learning how to make a product or service work for them and they just accuse them of being Forex scams. There is no such thing as a system which will make you rich overnight. Think about it for a minute ? if there was such a thing, wouldn?t we all be using it already? This system would also not continue to work so well for long ? it?s a matter of elementary economics.

All that money has to come from somewhere. While the standard of living can be raised universally by technological developments and other innovations, all trading or any other economic activity where there is no value being produced is a zero-sum game. For one person to make money, someone else has to lose it.

In the currency trading field, there are losses taken by people and financial institutions which are unknowledgeable or unconcerned with the fluctuations in the global currency markets. Importers and exporters cannot usually afford to wait for ideal currency exchange rates to schedule payments. Those taking overseas vacations similarly cannot let these factors dictate their schedule. It is simply not possible for everyone who gets involved in the Forex market to make money.

So when you are in an internet forum and you are trying to decide whether negative comments that you read about a product are really a sign of a scam, it is useful to picture the situation happening in the real world, i.e. offline.

Suppose you go to the bookstore and pick up a book on Forex trading. You find that the techniques given in the book do not work out in your case. It can be that the information here is out of date, or there could be any number of other reasons why this book didn?t give you the results you had hoped for. You may have learned a little and simply decided that this book wasn?t the answer for you ? you wouldn?t storm into the bookstore and accuse them of being a scam.

Let?s say that the bookstore had been hyping a new book which was about to come out and was urging every customer to pre-order. However, when everyone showed up at the bookstore on the release date only to find the store shuttered and the owners nowhere to be found, this would be a scam.

A scam is a completely fraudulent business activity which is created with the intention of swindling people. A scam is by definition illegal ? if a product or service is offered in good faith, it is not a scam.

People are naturally a little resistant to buy anything online, especially with the word scam being used so lightly. In many cases, it?s simply a customer who didn?t get the results they wanted trying to shift the blame to the product. While you may not want to buy these products, it would not be accurate to call them Forex scams. - 23212

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About the author: Jack Sawyer has some great suggestions on finding the best Forex Software. For more information on Forex Trading Online go to http://www.forex-product-review.com.