Thursday, October 11, 2007

Avoid Forex Currency Trading Scams

Forex Currency trading swindlers often attract customers through advertisements in local newspapers, radio promotions or attractive Internet sites. These particular advertisements may flaunt low-risk high-return investment opportunities in foreign currency trading. They may even offer high paid currency-trading employment opportunities. Be very skeptical when promoters of foreign currency trading claim that their services or account management will earn high profits with minimal risks. Be wary if they claim that employment as a Forex currency trader will make you wealthy quickly.

Avoid opportunities that sound too good to be true. Forex currency trading that involves get rich quick schemes are generally swindles. Retired folks with access to their retirement funds are attractive targets for fraudsters. Once your money is gone, it is almost impossible to get it back. Be very careful of companies that will guarantee you a profit. Be careful as well, if they flaunt extremely high performance. These types of statements are generally false.

If the company tells you that written risk, disclosure statements are routine formalities imposed by the government, stay away from that company! Forex trading is very volatile and can be a huge risk for the uneducated and uninformed. If you cannot afford to lose money then do not get into the Forex currency trading market. Do not use your retirement funds for Forex currency trading; that would be extremely foolish.

Be very wary of online trading, it can be impossible to get a refund but it is very easy to transfer your funds. The internet is an easy way for fraudsters to reach potentially millions of people. The internet also can hide where a Forex trading company resides. If you transfer your money to a foreign location, it may be impossible to get it back.

You must get the background of the company you are dealing with. You should ask for all information in written form. Check with the Better Business Bureau as well. Do not rely strictly on information you here verbally. If you are not completely satisfied or comfortable with the information you find out then just do not deal with that company.

You may here the term interbank, it refers to a loose network of Forex currency transactions that are negotiated between financial institutions and other large companies. These are usually the only ones investing in the interbank market. So, be careful of a company that indicates that you should trade Forex in the interbank market. This can be a sign of an unscrupulous trading company.

Another term you may here is Margin trading. Margin trading can make you responsible for losses that are greater than the dollar amount you deposited. Many Forex currency traders will ask customers to give them funds, which they sometimes refer to as "margin." These sums can be in the range of $1,000 to $5,000. Those dollar amounts actually control a far larger dollar amount of trading and customers are not aware of this sometimes. So, in essence do not trade on margin unless you fully understand what it means and what you are doing. You must be prepared to accept losses that can exceed the margin amounts you have paid.

Thomas D. Houser
http://www.bestforexcurrencyinfo.com/

Why We Need A Business Time Management Guidelines

To a businessman, the important answer to make business success is to have an effective business time management plan. Busy people can find their day all in a mess. Busy people cannot seem to accomplish much is due to the reason that they like to spend too much time staying frenzy.

For many businessmen and entrepreneurs out there, they have to realize and aware that they do not just need good management skills, but also effective business time management techniques to help them.

Many businessmen who run their own enterprises often find themselves handling different job scope during the single course of the day. In fact, these time management techniques will aid you to increase the productivity. Some great tips to start with to keep your head cool.

Can businessmen keep track of their business activities

Many business people have to realize that no matter how much they have organized the day, there is always going to be 24 hours a day. Time answers to no one. There is only 1 single thing that we can manage is ourselves and our time. Many of us will find we are wasting time when we could be utilizing our time much more wisely.

Make sure you make a list and figure out where you are wasting your time at. This list can show us how we can be more productive throughout our business day. You got to know what is actually interferring you is very crucial throughout our day. Tracking activities is not just business time management; it is good business sense as well.

Changing your behavior with the way you work is the one of the best way to manage business time management. In fact, you are not really changing the time. The first thing you do is eliminate those areas where you found time being wasted. Set goals that you will not do that waste time on your activities for the entire week. With that in mind, you have to set specific goals on how you could wish to replace those time wasting activities.

You can simple make decide the best plan to set up for your day once you have establish your goals. You have to be very discipline and work through the plan. This will definitely help you you with your business time management. It will free up those wasted moments and give you time to work hard on tasks in need of completion.

You will see your productivity levels increasing and can have good working habits. With good business time management, your boss or your trading dealings will see a huge enhancement in your work as well, which could get you up the ladder of success.

As explained above are the very basic business time management techniques used in business today. You can find other tips that are equally as useful to you as well. The main steps are explained as followed, first, you must find at where your time is being lost. Then you need to eliminate the waste. Once this is established, you can set specific goals to remain as it is for yourself. This course will absolutely increase your efficiency and help you establish your goals.

The business time management has to be appreciated in order to see results in your business.

Eddy K Elgin is the webmaster of the Good Reference To Effective Time Management Tactics. Drop by at Who Else Needs To Know How To Implement a Sound Business Time Management Plan for more details.

Stock Brokers -- Just The Facts

Most of the buying and selling on the stock market is handled by stock brokers on behalf of their clients, who are the investors. Many different types of brokerage services are available.

Full-Service Brokers

"Full-service brokers" offer a variety of ways to help clients meet their investment goals. These brokers can give advice about which stocks to buy and sell, and often have large research departments that analyze market trends and predict stock movements, for their clients.

Such services are not free, of course. Full-service brokers charge the highest commission rates in the industry. Your decision whether to use a full-service broker will depend on your level of self-confidence, your knowledge of the stock market, and the number of trades you make regularly.

Discount Brokers

Investors who wish to save on commission fees generally use discount brokers. Brokers in this category charge much lower commissions, but they don't offer advice or analysis. Investors who prefer to make their own trading decisions, and those who trade often rely on discount brokers for their transactions.

Online Brokers

Taking the discount concept 1 step further, online brokers are the least expensive way to trade stocks. Both full-service and discount brokers usually offer discounts for orders placed online. Some brokers operate exclusively online, and they offer the best rates of all.

Account Requirements

Whichever type of broker you choose, your first order of business will be to open an account. Minimum balance requirements vary among brokers, but it is usually between $500 and $1000. If you're shopping for a broker, read the fine print about all the fees involved. You'll find that some brokers charge an annual maintenance fee while others charge fees whenever your account balance falls below a minimum.

Cash Or Margin?

Brokerage accounts come in 2 basic types. The "cash account" offers no credit; when you buy, you pay the full stock price. With a "margin account," on the other hand, you can buy stock on margin, meaning the brokerage will carry some of the cost. The amount of margin varies from broker to broker, but the margin must be covered by the value of the client's portfolio.

Any time a portfolio falls below a specified value, the investor will have to add funds or sell some stock. A greater opportunity exists for realizing gains (and losses) with margin accounts, because they allow investors to buy more stock with less cash. Involving greater risk than cash accounts, as they do, margin accounts are not recommended for inexperienced traders.

Selecting The Right Broker For You

You should carefully consider your needs as an investor before making the choice of a broker. Do you wish to receive advice about which stocks to buy? Are you uncomfortable making trades on the Internet? If so, you will be best served by a full-service broker. If you are comfortable buying on the Internet, and you have the knowledge and confidence to make your own trading decisions, then you will be better off with an online discount broker.

After deciding which type of broker you want, do some comparison-shopping between competitors. Significant cost differences can show up when you factor in all the annual fees and brokerage rates. Estimate how many trades you expect to make in a year, how much cash you can deposit into your account, whether you want to use margin accounts, and which services you need. Armed with this information, you'll be prepared to compare your actual costs for various brokers, and to make an educated choice.

Visit Stock Trade to learn more. Ron King is a full-time researcher, writer, and web developer. Copyright 2005 Ron King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact.

How To Become A Stock Broker

If you are interested in the stock market, you may be thinking to yourself, How can I become a stockbroker?

There is no educational background needed to get in this industry. The basic qualification you need is an interest in the market. But if the reason for your interest is to simply gain more money, you may end up frustrated. The stock market is a fast-paced, tedious industry, where you have to invest hours and hours to get yourself ahead and to understand the market. You must invest your time to collect a firm set of clientele. But even after having a good understanding of the market and having a set of loyal clients, there can still be curve balls you need to prepare yourself for. This preparation can only be acquired through time and experience. That is what youll have to face when you get into the industry.

Before you actually get in the industry, you have to understand that normally, stockbrokers do not become stockbrokers right after graduation. To start off in the industry, you need to prepare yourself to acquire a license. To acquire your license, you have to find a brokerage firm. You need to be with this firm for at least four months to take the General Securities Registered Representative Examination. After passing that test, many states require you to also take the Uniform Securities Agents State Law Examination.

When you acquire your license, the conservative advice is for you to concentrate first on the industry that you are familiar with. If your background is in the computer industry, it is better if you start analyzing stocks from that industry. This will help you get a quick understanding on the behavior of the market.

Stock Brokers provides detailed information on Stock Brokers, How To Become A Stock Broker, Stock Broker Career, Stock Broker Jobs and more. Stock Brokers is affiliated with Employee Stock Options.

Online Trading Tips

Online trading is a service offered on the Internet for purchasing and selling equities, derivatives and commodities. It is not some sort of get rich quick scheme, and as such, is really no different than offline trading because the same amount of risk and skill are required. But, trading online is a lot more simple and strikingly more powerful.

For example, online trading is simple because it lets a trader buy one currency and simultaneously sell it to someone else - a quick and simple way to unload a losing currency and minimize loss. Strikingly powerful because while trading currencies in pairs like this, the trader can capitalize on the difference in the spread on the conversion rate. By learning how to skillfully do this, online currency speculators make money over the long run and are able to build true wealth over time.

However, any skilled trader will tell you that to be truly successful you must adhere to a system. Why? Because having a system can be very rewarding. In fact, for those investors who do not use a system, it is only a matter of time before they loss their money.

An integral part of any system you adopt should be to systematically invest in fundamentally strong companies because the risk involved can be greatly reduced by doing so. And, as with anything that you do in life, you should first carry out some research into the various systems available before you make your final decision on which system is right for you.

So, in conclusion consider this...

The majority of experts agree on the notion that online trading is here to stay and will eventually change the financial brokerage industry. In fact, Forrester Research Inc. says online trading is expected to increase by a whopping 48% over the next five years. Furthermore, an interesting advantage to online trading is that there are no bulls or bears, and to set up shop all you really need is a broadband or high-speed connection.

However, even though online trading is a thing of beauty its not necessarily for everyone. In fact, some seem to feel like, of all the possible choices for a home based business, online trading is considered to be the most dangerous.

There is a system that can literally be put into action within minutes of reading about it. This is truly a system that may sound too good to be true, but it is not. To read more about it click here and I promise you won't be disappointed.

Secrets About Setting Up Effective Stops

Any trader on line needs to set stops. But there are no hard and fast rules to follow. You,need to develop a system that fits your trading style. This means you need to follow your trading plan. However, there are a few tips I can share with you about stops that you might already know. Keep these in mind as you practice and cultivate the skill of setting stops.

First, find out if your broker has rules about where and how stops are set. For example, some brokers have a rule that protective stops must be set at a minimum amount below the current bid when you`re long, a stop sell, or above the current ask when you`re short, a stop buy to cover. The rule may be that a stop sell order must be at least .25 below the current bid.

This trade isn`t usually a problem with a high priced position. But, with a very cheap position, you, the trader on line, might not be able to set a tight stop unless you wait for the bid to move up. In addition, if the price of a position is dropping quickly, the bid may come too close to the stop you`re trying to place before you`re able to place it. This can cause your order to be rejected. Another rule some brokers have is that stops can`t be set more than a certain percentage lower than the current bid or, on a short, higher than the current ask. They may specify that a stop be set no more than 30 percent lower or higher. I have no idea why you, the trader online, would ever want to lose 30 percent of the value of your trade before stopping out, and I would never recommend setting a stop that low.

My second tip is to always review orders carefully before placing them. You`d think it would be impossible to place a limit order when you, the trader on line, mean to place a stop, but it`s easy to do when you`re in a hurry. You need to make sure you, the trader on line, don`t enter a limit order out of habit when you mean to place a stop loss. If you place a limit sell order at a price below the current bid, at the place where you meant to place your stop, it will execute right away and you`ll be out of the trade. Since a successful trader on line generally uses limit orders to enter a position; it`s not surprising that many traders have been known to place two limit orders in a row.

Last, don`t leave stops in place overnight. Many markets are volatile at opening. Most mornings, for instance, NASDAQ stocks either gap up or gap down from their prices at the previous day`s close, and then they swing wildly as overnight market orders are filled. For example, a stock could close at 33, open the next day at 32.80, drop to 31.94, and then bounce back up to 33.15 before stabilizing and finding its direction. It could also close at 33 after a good day, open the next day at 33.75, spike up to 34.50, and then drop back to 33.60. The possibilities are endless.

If you, the trader on line, have an overnight stop in place on a long position, it`s likely to be triggered by the morning`s volatility. This normally will stop you out at the low end just before the stock bounces back up. Remove your stops after the market closes, and reset them after the opening changes the next morning so they will protect you, the trader on line, from a real downside rather than routine volatility.

You might consider doing what one trader on line does, particularly when the market has no consistent direction. Avoid holding many positions overnight. Once you, the trader on line, gets better at expecting what will probably happen the next day, realizing there can always be overnight surprises, you`ll feel more comfortable making judgment calls. As always, if you, the trader on line, don`t have a good idea what will happen, it`s best to avoid the situation, and stay out of the position. In addition, if you`ll be unable to trade for several days, consider whether it makes more sense to set stops or to exit your positions altogether. Unless you`re in a great long term trend trade and the market has a definite direction, it may be better to exit all positions and start fresh when you return to trading. Your capital and profits will be safe, and new trading opportunities will be waiting for you.

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Argentina's Economy in a Nutshell

Contrary to conventional economic wisdom, rich countries tend to stay rich and poor countries tend to stay poor. The exceptions tend to be those "economic miracles", like Japan, that have lifted themselves from the ranks of the poor into the ranks of the economic elite.

Argentine economic history stands in stark contrast to that pattern. In the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the world's richest countries, with a higher per capita income than that of France or Germany. And while Argentina still enjoys many of the fruits of wealth, like a highly educated population and a modern infrastructure, income per head had fallen to a meager 43% of the rich-world average by 1987. In the wake of the economic collapse of 2001-2002, over half of the population fell under the poverty line, and over a quarter were classified as indigent.

Roots of Wealth

From 1880 to 1914, Argentina experienced a massive population boom as European immigrants came in search of land to settle and make productive. Many ended up in the fertile pampas region around Buenos Aires, and with the help of British-built rail links, an export economy was soon in full swing. On top of an already vibrant wool and hide industry, Argentines were soon exporting corn, wheat, and flour to hungrily industrializing European cities. But the real money was in meat exports, made possible by the invention of the refrigerator ship in 1876; Argentina has been famous for beef ever since.

The Long Decline

While Argentina became rich, Buenos Aires made the transition from sleepy backwater to thoroughly modern city"The Paris of the South"boldly leading Latin America into the new century. Unfortunately, the 20th century failed to meet the high hopes of any Latin American nation, least of all Argentina's.

The trouble started with the great depression of the 1930s, which kicked off a downward spiral into economic and political instability which lasted for the next sixty years. A military coup in 1930 was the first of many, and the civilian governments that occasionally emerged were scarcely more competent than the military juntas.

The government of Juan Domingo Peron (1946-1955) left an indelible mark on the Argentine economy, making it less open to foreign trade, nationalizing key industries, and greatly expanding the benefits of workers. While Peron was somewhat able to redress the gross inequalities permeating the country, he also left a legacy of state control of the economy, stifling private entrepreneurship and creating an environment ripe for corruption.

In the post-Peron years, governments increasingly relied on deficit spending to smooth out social problems. To cover the difference between spending and tax revenue, they simply printed more money, creating inflation. By the 1980s, inflation was out of control; in 1989 the inflation rate was over 5,000 percent.

The 90s Boom

Enter Domingo Cavallo, who stepped in as Carlos Menem's economy minister in 1991. The keystone in Cavallo's economic recovery plan was to curb inflation with something called convertibility, a legal guarantee that Argentine pesos could be exchanged for US dollars at a ratio of 1 to 1. Inflation was tamed, and investor confidence soared as Cavallo steadily opened up the economy to foreign trade and capital. In tune with the free market fervor of the 1990s, the more inefficient state-controlled enterprises were soldsometimes to Menem's friends at bargain prices.

Still, Argentina was clearly getting richer. The gross domestic product grew briskly from 1991 to 1998, with the exception of 1995, when Mexico's financial crisis shook Latin America. Much of the new wealth was accruing to the country's elites, but the poor and the middle class were also becoming better off. The Argentine debacle was starting to look like the Argentine miracle; Carlos Menem became an international celebrity and Argentina a poster child for liberal economics.

The Crisis of 2001-2002

Ironically, Argentina's blatant disregard for a fundamental tenet of "neoliberal" economics proved to be a decisive factor in its demise. As the 90s boom roared on and the government's tax take soared, fiscal discipline would suggest setting aside a "rainy day" fund for the event of a recessionbecause recessions are inevitable in any economy. Instead, the money was spent and new debt was piled up even in the good years. When the economy hit a rough patch in 1999, the government found itself in an extremely difficult situation; it needed money fast and was already significantly indebted.

Luckily for Menem, his term was up and the new President, Fernando de la Ra, was left to pick up the pieces in 2000. He could try to balance the budget by cutting spending or raising taxes, but this would exacerbate the recession and further reduce tax revenues. Faced with this catch-22, de la Ra opted to borrow his way out, in the hope that the recession would quickly and quietly fade away. Unfortunately, this approach often leads to a downward spiral of its own, known as "explosive debt dynamics", in which investors begin to fear a default on the debt, driving interest rates up and deepening the recession, thus increasing the debt even more. This is exactly what ended up happening in Argentina's case.

As a last ditch effort, de la Ra appointed as his economy minister Domingo Cavallo, now a national legend, in a move that electrified the country. But neither Cavallo's mystique or the IMF's haphazard intervention could stave off the coming default. As dollars started to flee Argentina, the government enacted restrictions on bank withdrawals that became known as the corralito, or little fence. In the public eye, this was the final straw, and massive street protests rocked Buenos Aires and other big cities, forcing de la Ra and Cavallo to resign in shame in late December , 2001. The government had collapsed; Argentina defaulted on its debt a few days later.

One of the first acts of Eduardo Duhalde, the new president elected by congress at the start of 2002, was to discontinue the convertibility system by which the peso was linked to the US dollar. With the shortage of dollars in the country, the system couldn't be maintained; there simply weren't enough dollars to trade for pesos. Set free, the peso fell to about 4 to the dollar over the next six months, spelling ruin for those who had taken out loans denominated in dollars. Banks ceased to function as individual debtors defaulted and now-cynical savers refused to deposit money. The poverty rate soared while incomes plummeted. The Argentine financial crisis has been compared in scope to America's great crash of 1929.

After the Crisis

The very dark cloud of Argentina's collapse did have a silver lining. The peso recovered slightly and has held steady at about 3 to the US dollar, a level that makes Argentina's products (and Argentina as a travel destination) much more attractive to the rest of the world. In fact, some have argued that one cause of the crisis was the overvalued exchange rate, which made Argentine exports less competitive. The economy was growing again in 2003, and has since, fueled in part by high worldwide commodity prices. In 2005, GDP roared past its previous peak (in 1998), and many economists believe Argentina is on firmer ground than it was in the 90s owing to the fiscal responsibility of Nestor Kirchner, the current president.

Looking to the future, rising inequality is one concern deeply felt by many Argentines. The recovery has put more wealth in the hands of the wealthy, like the soy farmers leading the new export boom or those who were lucky enough to get their money out before the devaluation. On the upside, employment is up, and a fiscally solvent state will be in a much better position to help those on the bottom rungs of society climb higher.

Visit Argentina Cafe Travel Guide - History of Argentina to learn more about Argentina's history.