Finance Wanted.

By Vicky Campbell

"Budget" can be a scary word for some people. It's scary for many reasons. It sounds cold and strict, like you don't have the freedom to do what you want with your money. It sounds like you need to be a meticulous person, a bit of a penny-pincher, just to have one. They seem time consuming and boring and most people have never learned how to create one. If you look the word budget up in the dictionary, though, you'd find that it isn't so scary. Webster's dictionary says it is "an estimate of future income and outgo." It's just an estimate not the law!

I'm on a mission to help folks become more financially fit, so I'm encouraging readers to start a budget. However, we'll call it a "Freedom Plan" because our goal is going to be to free you from financial stress and chaos. If you are one of the millions of Americans swallowed by debt, you need one. If you're one of the millions living paycheck to paycheck, you need one. Even if you have money to throw around, you should still have one. Why? Because you want your money to work for you! Financial freedom is at your very own fingertips.

The basic idea of the Freedom Plan is to find out how much you earn, verses how much you spend. If all goes well, you're earning more than you spend. If not, it's time to fix that problem.

*First, you'll want to find out where you are financially and set goals as to where you want to go. So, grab a pen and paper and start figuring out your net worth. Do this by comparing what you own, or at least the value of it (assets: house, cars, savings, other personal property) to what you owe (liabilities: mortgage, auto loans, credit card debt, etc.). Hopefully, you have more assets than liabilities, but if not, you're not alone and you CAN turn that around.

*Then, you'll need to track your spending for at least a month. Whether you use cash, checks, credit cards or debit cards, make a note of every purchase you make, even the twenty-five cent pack of gum. Also, track all of your income. This is just to make you aware of where your money goes each month.

*At the end of the month, put all of your expenses into categories, Fixed (the ones you pay every month like Rent, Utilities, Car Payment, etc) and Variable (the ones that change every month like Gas, Eating Out, Movies, etc.)

*Next, take a good look at where your money has gone. (Pay close attention to the Entertainment and Eating Out categories!) If you're spending more than you earn, you'll need to find ways to cut back on the variable expenses. If after cutting back on your variable expenses you find you are still paying out more than you earn, perhaps you'll have to take more drastic measures like getting another part time job, moving to a less expensive home or selling a vehicle, for example. If you aren't an over-spender, you might like to try to cut back on your expenses just so you can put a little extra in your savings account each month.

*Finally, make the necessary adjustments to your spending and put it on paper!! Housing should generally cost you less than 40% of your income. The Food and Auto categories should fall into about the 15% range. All other categories should run at about 3-5% of your income, but you should adjust it to fit your current needs and work toward whatever goals you have set for yourself. Don't go over 100%, though!

These simple guidelines should help you begin your journey to financial freedom. Remember, if you take control of your money now and not spend so frivolously, then later, you'll be debt free with lots of money in your savings account to buy what you want, when you want, free and clear. Whatever age you are or phase of life you're in, it's not too late to get started, so please, get on your way to financial freedom today!

Vicky Campbell, owner of Chaos County Organizers, aims to help you organize your world one task at a time. Visit http://www.ccoworld.com to request your free Info-Pak.

By Miguel Peralta

So far, Uncle Ben has been very nice to some of his wayward children. He's already used US$430 billion from the Treasury to try and crack the cement like grip that has taken hold of the credit markets. He's also done it with the neighborhood kids. Those are the ones that don't follow his rules nor let him in on their secret deals. They too are getting a handout.

But the size of the problem is more than Uncle Ben can handle with his little rate cuts. Recently, however, he has embarked on a new tactic: covering up fires as they pop up with a blanket of cash. I guess the idea here is that as long as none of these fires are allowed to flare out of control, it's okay if they just smolder under a burning blanket.

But the only problem with this tactic is that he can't do it alone. Already he's used up close to have of his assets and we're only one quarter of the year through. At some point in the future, he will run out of options and he'll have to ask the government to step in and help. If he hasn't done so already.

Taxpayers Will Pay

What this means to you and I, are inevitable tax increases to cover this bailout. According to Bloomberg, these "actions mean the Fed, and consequently U.S. taxpayers, are assuming additional credit risks." Risks that a large percentage of us had no clue we were going to be forced to participate in. All we ever do is work hard to hold onto our jobs, pay our bills and taxes. Somehow, something seems inherently unfair about all of this mess.

I sometimes have a horrible sense of dread when I see what the Fed has been doing. To think that they would provide financing to a non member bank. A bank that does not have to report any of its mysterious and exotic securities to any regulator. And yet they are being treated just like the commercial banks who have to report any aspect of their operation to regulators. Somewhere, somehow, something is threatening Uncle Ben with something more frightening than we are all being led to believe.

Cheaper Dead Presidents

Before the Fed had started on its rate cut limbo dance, the dollar was experiencing strong competition from the EURO. It did not need any help from the Fed to increase its burden. Now, with this seizure in the credit markets and the Fed's attempts to lubricate it back into motion, the dollar is losing its battle not just against the EURO, but against many other currencies as well.

So Where Are We Now?

Lets take a gander at what all that limbo dancing has done so far. Ten year treasury rates have shrunk and yet mortgage loan rates haven't followed suit. Huh? Isn't this what is supposed to happen? Isn't this the reason why he's been lowering the limbo stick lower and lower. Aren't the bankers supposed to follow suit? What's going on here? The rates that I'm talking about are the ones that they tell us are pushing homeowners out of their homes. These are the consumer rates. Credit Card rates and mortgage rates.

Consumer Rates Have Risen!

As a matter of fact, they have actually risen. Freddie Mac's national survey shows that the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage has risen about two-thirds of a percent over the past seven weeks. Since last September, when Uncle Ben started his limbo dance, they have remained nearly unchanged.

Mortgage Backed Securities Interest Risen

Despite the Fed funds rate cut from 5.25% to 2.25% in the last six months, the interest rate spreads on mortgage-backed securities have also risen. This obviously isn't what the Fed was expecting to happen. It was supposed to help rescue the financial sector. Someone is playing some kind of game and they have the rules covered and locked away.

Two Million ARMs and Dangerous

If the rates that matter aren't being affected by these maneuvers, how are the remaining adjustable rate mortgage loans supposed to be defused? There are about 2 million of them still on the books and they still have yet to reset. I can imagine these poor souls seeing Uncle Ben trying to help them but before those little droplets of financial water ever reach their parched lips, the sun baked landscape of the financial sector soaks them up in a flash.

A Possible Way Out

If the Fed can somehow ease the system out of it's epileptic seizure long enough so that it can get regain its senses, then maybe commercial bankers and credit card companies will begin to lower the rates that seem to be the root cause of all this mess.

Miguel Peralta is a freelance writer intensely interested in credit cards and their proper use. Sometimes so much so that he and his better half get into some serious debates over his views. He has many more insightful articles that you might enjoy reading at http://CreditRepair.TopReviewsList.com

By Scott Lambertus

There are many benefits to doing a Zero Cost Loan. The most obvious one is that it costs you nothing. The APR is exactly the same as the note rate. How is this done you ask? Through a little higher interest rate, the broker receives extra compensation from the lender directly. With this extra compensation they pay for your closing costs. It's as simple as that!

Your payment, most often will be a little higher then if you were to pay closing costs and roll them into the loan. But the amount of time it would take to make the money back through monthly payments would usually be out past around 5 years.

Most people will refinance or sell before the first 5 years is up on the loan. Not to mention if it is a band-aid loan which is intended to boost your credit and then refinance. With this scenario it is definitely the wisest choice to make because you know you are going to refinance again within the next few years... maybe as soon as a few months.

Another reason for doing a zero cost loan would be; that if rates happen to go down in the future, you can refinance again to the initial rate in which you were going to pay for. And it now has cost you nothing. If you recall back in the 80's and 90's when rates were much higher and there was a steady downtrend, some of you may have refinanced over four times and each time paying upwards of $5,000 in closing costs. That's $20,000 total back into your loan. With a Zero Cost Loan your balance would have remained the same. You can always refinance to a lower rate, but its much harder to refinance to a lower balance.

About the only time you would not want to do a zero cost loan would be on some of the larger loan amounts of $600,000 and up. The reason for this is that the interest rate is being applied to a larger sum of money and the break even point becomes only a few years out... it simply savings after that point. You can pay closing costs if you prefer, in fact some scenarios may warrant it. Yet, I'm sure you will see that a Zero Cost Loan is preferred.

Scott Lambertus
http://www.zerocostlender.com/index.htm
Scott@zerocostlender.com
877-302-5546

By Stephen Nelson

Do you need to use Money to keep the books for both your personal financial affairs and those of a small corporation or investment you own? You'll probably want to segregate the data by putting each business into its own data file.

When to segregate your data into separate files

You would always want to use separate Money data files to segregate individual business's data in the case where you're keeping books for different corporations, different partnerships and different limited liability companies with multiple owners.

You would also often want to use separate data file if you're keeping the books for one owner limited liability companies--such as in the case when you've made an election to have the one-owned limited liability company treated as a C corporation or as an S corporation.

If you use Money for both personal financial management and for business accounting, however, you could in certain situations safely keep everything together. For example, you could probably keep both your personal financial records and records for a sole proprietorship in the same data file.

How do I create a new Money data file?

To create a new Money data file, choose the File menu's New command and then choose New File from the submenu. When Money displays the New dialog box, use its Save In box to specify the folder location and its File Name box to specify the name for the new file. After you have provided this information, click the OK button and Money creates the new data file.

NOTE The Save In box works like the Save In box in other Microsoft programs. Click the box's button to display a list of the folders you can use for saving the Money file. The File Name box works like a regular text box. You simply enter the name that you want to use for the data file in this box.

After Money creates the data file, it opens the data file and then starts the Setup Assistant. The Setup Assistant, as you may remember from Chapter 1, helps you create accounts, build a list of recurring bills, and identify important financial objective issues. If you have questions about how to do this, refer to Chapter 1 for the answer to the question, "How do I run the Money Setup Assistant?"

How do I switch between Money data files?

You can switch between files by choosing commands from the File menu. If you have a small number of files, perhaps only two or three, the File menu will actually list and number all the Money data files you have created. Therefore, in this special case, to switch to another data file, all you need to do is choose the data file from the list at the bottom of the File menu. The numbered commands at the bottom of the File menu-just above the Exit command-are actually Money data files. To open, or switch, to one of these data files, click it. If you want to open a Money data file that isn't listed on the File menu, choose the File menu's Open command. When Money displays the Open dialog box, use the Look In box to identify the folder location of the file. After you have selected the correct folder location, the area beneath the Look In box lists the Money files in the folder. To open a file, double-click it.

And one final note: Money lets you have only one data file open at a time. This means that when you open a new data file, Money also closes the old data file.

CPA Stephen L. Nelson is the author of do it yourself kits for Pennsylvania incorporation, Pennsylvania S corporation, and Pennsylvania llc formation

By Abhishek Agarwal

On the Gregorian calender, 1998 came across as a year like any other. Okay, there was some significance attached to the fact that it was the year of the Twins or Geminians. But apart from the above facts, no one paid much attention to this particular year. It was only after historians got together to compile certain facts, that everyone realized how really momentous this one year had been! It was the year of IPOmania, along with other noteworthy events!

This is a compilation of all the major occurrences that had taken place in 1998, along with IPOmania--

(1) More than positive happenings like IPOmania, scandals remain in the public memory for a long time, especially if it is something involving the U.S. president! This was the year when Bill Clinton's relationship (supposedly discrete) with Monica Lewinsky (ex-White House intern) was brought out into the open. From then on, this incident was always referred to as the White House scandal.

(2) Ramzi Yousef, a prime suspect in the bombing of the World Trade Center, was sentenced for life on the eighth of January.

(3) The U.S. president, Bill Clinton took action against Iraq, which refused to close down its weapons of mass destruction program (WMDP). The president had been impressed upon by the U.S. Senate to do something in this regard. It was in the month of February that the Senate had passed Resolution 71.

(4) On the sixth of January, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into space. It was directed into the moon's orbit, and later presented evidence of frozen water found at the moon's poles. This spacecraft had been constructed and developed for the sole purpose of low polar orbit investigation on the moon, and was meant to be a part of the Discovery Program.

(5) The popularity of the Internet grew by leaps and bounds in this year. There was quite a lot of sophisticated technology that was offered to its users.

Not only were Net savvy people excited about how the World Web could change their lifestyles, even the business world felt thrilled at the opportunity to experiment with a new way of conducting business transactions! The trading community believed that the Internet would prove to be a wonderful platform for investors and brokers--they could use it to generate great gains!

(7) The most exciting thing about 1998 was the "launching" of IPOmania, as mentioed earlier. Quite a few Internet-based organizations were involved with this idea of generating large revenues and seeing business operations to successful completion, via their own initial public offering (IPO).

The SEC or U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission conducted a survey, and discovered that around 370 organizations had registered their IPO in 1998! The total revenue proved to be an astounding $44.8 billion! IPOmania was definitely at its height!

Around 25 organizations that were part of IPOmania, were Internet-based companies. Some noted organizations were--

(a) Think of search engine, and one thinks, "Google Inc."! Well, its services were launched in 1998! Even today, it is claimed to be the biggest search engine on the World Web.

(b) Who has not heard of the best auctioneering service on the World Web--eBay? They too came into the public eye on September 24, 1998. Thir initial public offering was set at a price of $18 per common share. By the time it closed, the value of each common share had risen to $252.25--a whopping difference of 1,301.39%!

(c) Geocities offered each of its common shares at a price of $17, when it launched its initial public offering on August 11, 1998. At closing time, the price had gone up by 122.79% or $37.88.

(d) Then we have Broadcom offering each common share at $24. This was on April 17, 1998. By the time it closed, the IPO had gone up to $112 per common share (an increase of 366.67%).

(e) Each common share of 24/7 Media was priced at $14 on August 14, 1998. The closing value was $25.88, an increase of 84.82%.

(f) The final noteworthy entrant to IPOmania was Broadcastcom! Valued at $18 per common share on July 17, 1998, the price went up by 294.44% at closing time--it was $71 per common share!

Abhishek has an uncanny insight into Trading! Visit his website http://www.Trading-Masters.com and download his FREE Trading Report and learn some amazing Trading tips and tricks for FREE. His tips would save you thousands and make you better at Trading! But hurry, only limited Free copies available! http://www.Trading-Masters.com

By Andre Sanchez

Those who understand anything about currency fluctuations are well aware of how devastating they can be and will therefore quickly recognize the huge potential of e-gold in protecting themselves and the ingenuity of the whole system.

E-gold was founded in 1996 by Dr. Douglas Jackson and Barry K. Downey. However the idea did not take off immediately. Actually it seems to have taken some time to really catch on. Still there is no denying the fact that transactions using e-gold have grown rather dramatically since 2005. Today the total amount of gold bars in the e-gold system is well over three tones and a substantial income is generated from the system through spend and storage fees.

But what is really interesting and a clear pointer to the future of this worldwide acceptable currency is the fact that we now have many small businesses in the United States, Europe and Asia with full-time staff operating what are commonly referred to as digital currency exchangers. These businesses do nothing else but buy and sell digital currency for national currencies which are not backed by hard assets.

There are of course those who believe that having currency backed by gold or other real assets is an old fashioned idea whose time is past. But a close study of recent trends of major world currencies hardly supports this view. If anything the realization from such a study is of how prudent an idea it is to deal in hard assets rather than fickle world currencies that could unpredictably head in any direction and leave your business transactions in jeopardy.

A major part of the peace of mind is in the e-gold transaction itself. The "spend" is completed electronically on the web, but is always settled by the weight of the metal, even if it is denominated in another form. The reality in this gold system is that a user can easily "spend" or "get paid" a tiny amount of gold, even if it is a fraction of a gram, and the transaction is instantly completed online.

The result is that you do not have to lose sleep wondering what the currency you are transacting in will do next. For centuries gold has proved to be extremely stable in value and has always been used to protect the assets of royalty and others. Whether you want to invest your assets or you want to transact business securely and with great peace of mind, e-gold is the way to go.

For easy access to your money, you could use an e-gold debit card To check which card I currently recommend, check out http://www.myegoldcard.com

By Detlef Warner

Have you ever heard the colloquialism "setting up Constantinople"? If you haven't, you're not alone. This phrase referred to creating a successful home base for a business. It isn't used much anymore because most people are not familiar enough with Constantinople, the legendary capital of the Byzantine Empire of the Middle Ages as they once were. This is a shame... the Byzantine Empire was a very powerful, yet benign empire that created stability to Europe in a time known for its lawlessness and instability. The Byzantine Empire is responsible for many great things, especially the establishment of a currency system. Today, when our currency is created more for function than form, it is hard not to pay homage to the beautifully designed coins of the Byzantine Era.

The look of the Byzantine gold coin was taken from the gold coins of the Roman Empire. The Romans put a lot of artistry into their coins, but the Byzantines took it even farther when they designed their uniquely brilliant coins. Even today there is a lot of interest in collecting reproductions of these fabulous coins. These coins were originally referred to as "histamenon nomisma" and are among the most sought after coins in collectors' circles.

There is also historical significance connected to these lovely coins. They were the first coins to depict the face of Jesus Christ on them. Incredibly rare, reproductions sell out fast, although the interest in original coins of this nature is extremely high. The majority of those originals that remain have only recently been unearthed in Middle Eastern excavations.

Designed in the shape of a "C," the odd design does not detract a bit from the beauty of the coin. It actually improves their look. One side shows the face of Jesus Christ, while the other has the image of the Byzantine Emperor. This is thought to have created the impression that the law was governed by both the divine and secular orders. We can learn a lot of the ideologies and conventional wisdom during the Byzantine Empire. This is what makes these coins so highly collectible. Just being able to examine one of these coins is an experience.

What helps to stimulate the interest is the uniqueness of the coin combined with scarcity. This description fits the Byzantine coins perfectly, and this description, when it applies to other incredible coins, makes them highly collectible as well.

When even amateur history buffs realize that the Roman Empire did many things first, it often comes as a surprise that the Romans also made the first commemorative coins. To honor members of the Roman military, a series of coins were minted to honor specific battles. Many other cultures followed this lead and minted their own commemorative coins. Today, the United States mints many commemorative coins that have proved to be very popular. In fact, an entire cottage industry of commemorative coin producers has grown because of this, giving coin collectors another fascinating way to add to their collections.

Find out more about coin collecting at CoinCollecting-Values.com and see Byzantine Gold Coins.

By J Verhoeff

There's a lot to be said for taking a break! But who has an opportunity to do this? After a week of hard labor, I woke up this morning to a ringing phone before the crack of dawn. A client on the other side of the continent was already in his office and forgot I was two hours behind him.

What a joy to learn that he was so anxious to speak with me about a proposal I'd sent that he woke me up to tell me!

Everyone I know understands the concept of Butt Busting Income. We've all worked those hard long hours away from family and dreams, attempting to reach the illusive goals that keep stepping out ahead of us, and we wonder why at the end of the day we feel exhaustion rather than elation... There's a reason.

We've left behind the joy factor of working.

After a heart wrenching day of meeting deadlines, focusing on production, and getting the job done, I took off for a meeting that could have been "just another drain on my energy" last night. It was not! It was revival of spirit, body and soul. I'm not going to tell you I didn't come home feeling exhaustion, but I will tell you the elation overrode the exhaustion three fold. I was still raring to go, able and ready to finish up the days tasks and move into the next phase of my life - TODAY.

What changed?

ME. I changed. This isn't the first time this has happened. I regularly schedule a meeting with this circle of overachievers. We all benefit greatly from the time we spend together and we reveal the best of our lives during this time we spend together. As I watched, seven children who have literally grown up together focus on their summer activities, while parents planned an event that annually kicks off a summer of hard work and loving good times, I realized THIS is what LIFE is ALL about. The rest of it doesn't matter.

It didn't take away any of the hours of work I'll have to do, but it did give me the value and purpose of moving forward with that work.

Here's what I learned (again):

* At the end of the day, you still have to know your priorities.

* Starting and ending your day peacefully isn't possible if your focus during the day gets lost.

* The task isn't as important as the purpose for achieving it.

* The simple fact of believing is achieving.

* The value in hard work is not what you achieve but what you believe.

If you want your butt busting income to become a reality of living the life of your dreams, come visit the Success Swamp!

Hubert the Swamp Rat reveals an inner peace of knowledge and understanding that you'll want to bask in in for a while. Join him at http://successswamp.com and get to know the miraculous wonder of creating a positive flow of energy that cultivates your SUCCESS scene.

ฉ 2008 - J Verhoeff

By Connie Sanders

I know about all the bad hype from the media about the mortgage market. And, of course I have heard each of our presidential candidates run down the economy over and over again. This happens every election year.

Unfortunately people with very busy lives hear and read all of this and begin to think it is true. We have all heard this: "If you tell a lie often enough people will believe it is true". There you go!

Is our economy a little slow right now? Yes, but it is not in the dumpster.

Are independent mortgage brokers and appraisers the cause of the mortgage scandals? Absolutely NOT. In fact, it is their integrity and concern for their client's well being that helped to fulfill the American Dream.

The real scoundrels are the large corporations, and giant lenders. Don't let me forget to mention the politicians like the New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, who is using the situation to his benefit by "saving the consumer" with new laws that will only hurt the consumer by putting the independent appraiser and broker out of business. But of course he is making a name for himself. What does he care. Guess what his political asperations are?

Well, enough of that! I received a very simple question yesterday and I am writing about it here for a few reasons I think you will understand afterwards.

The question I was asked is: "What is CLTV and LP?"

The answer is CLTV stands for Combined Loan To Value. This term refers to when there is more than one loan on a property. As an example, if the first mortgage is 80% of the appraised value and there is a 2nd loan of 15% of the value, the CLTV is 95%. In the industry we call these Combination Loans.

LP is a term for Loan Prospector. Loan Prospector is a computerised program that reviews and approves or disapproves an FHA, VA, or Freddie Mac loan. DU, DeskTop Underwriting, is a similar program used for Fannie Mae, FHA, or VA loans. When an application has been run through these programs, they basically, ... sort of, the live underwriter then only has to verify the documentation because the computer has given an approval. If a loan isn't approved because of an unusual circumstance, a lender can chose to do a manual underwriting in which case the loan may still be approved.

My first reason for writing about this is to let you know that Lenders ARE lending money. The mortgage industry is alive and well in spite of the media and presidential candidates.

As a consumer you should take full advantage of these unbelievably low interest rates. Refinancing to lower your interest rate will save you a ton of money.

In the case above, combining a 1st and 2nd mortgage is a very smart financial move and will also lower your payments.

If you are thinking about buying a home there is no better time than now. I really mean like, ... NOW. As soon as a new president is elected, and it doesn't matter which one, the rates will go back up. I promise you this will happen. It happens EVERY election year.

Just make sure you go to a reputable broker and don't buy more house than you can afford.

Connie Sanders owns several web sites where she teaches mortgage guidelines and receives questions from consumers and mortgage professionals. Visit her site today at http://www.mortgageunderwriters.com

By Noah Ulrich

Every person in society works hard to earn money so they can live their daily lives. What is rather amusing is many people have money right under their nose, however they just do not realize it. But without realizing it, you too could have unclaimed money to your name, and it could be much more than you may imagine.

You have to ask yourself if you have ever moved without getting a security deposit back or have forgotten about a savings account with money in it. There are state governments all over the country with billions of dollars of unclaimed money. While the government wants to return this money, people are not coming forward to claim what is rightfully theirs.

It seems rather outlandish that there is all of this money sitting there unclaimed. If it were a few bucks per person, it may not be as big of a deal. But there are some people with thousands of dollars that have been unclaimed. In an effort to make things easier on you, the government has begun to make it easier for you to find and recover your money.

Now you can claim your money online with online access to property databases and even online claim forms. With this information, you can receive information on unclaimed property and links to all available online state property recovery resources. Then, all you have to do is go to these sites and find out what money is yours and how much of it is yours.

The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators estimates that states are holding back as much as $10 billion in unclaimed property. Not $10 thousand or even $10 million. But a ridiculous figure of $10 billion. It has been approximated that 26 million Americans have unclaimed property. So why not take the time to see if you are one of the 26 million Americans missing out on money they already own?

You may wonder what exactly is classified as unclaimed property. Unclaimed property can be a wide array of things ranging from wages, checking and savings accounts, gift certificates, safe deposit boxes and stocks or bonds. There are numerous things that you could have to your name and not even realize it.

If you do wish to pursue finding your unclaimed money, you will learn that each state has its own methods and requirements for finding and reclaiming the money. But searching on the internet has certainly become a popular method because of the ease and convenience.

Noah Ulrich is webmaster of popular and highly regarded sites. His sites have helped many people find unclaimed money and property, earn large online incomes with resell rights to ebooks and information products, and build large downlines with International and USA guaranteed signups and real web traffic - popup and expired domain.

By Stephen Nelson

Bond premiums

If you buy a bond that pays an interest rate over and above the market interest rate, implicit in your purchase price is something called the bond premium. The bond premium is just the market's way of adjusting the price of a bond that pays too high of an interest rate.

Bond premiums, unfortunately, present nightmarish difficulties for your record keeping. Theoretically, what you should do is amortize the amount of the bond premium over the life of the bond. In effect, this premium allocation lets you chop up the amount of the premium and allocate it over the period that the bond pays its interest, thereby reducing the bond interest. For example, if you implicitly pay $100 of bond premium for a bond that will pay interest over ten years, it would make sense, roughly speaking, to reduce the amount of bond interest you actually record by $10 a year. The $10 amount equals 1/10th of the $100 bond premium. We say "roughly speaking" here because actually the calculations are more complicated than a simple straight line allocation. You should use an effective interest rate to adjust the annual bond interest to an amount so that the interest rate stays equal to the bond's yield to maturity. But that discussion is really beyond the scope of this book.

Because of this complexity, we recommend that you simply ignore the bond premium. By ignoring the premium, you will overstate the interest you will earn over the years that you hold the bond, meaning that you will pay more in income taxes on the bond interest over those years. (At the end of the bond life, you will show a capital loss on the bond equal to the bond premium that you didn't record, but should have.) This strategy of ignoring the premium until the very end and then counting the bond premium as a loss, or better yet, as an adjustment to the bond interest paid in the final year, makes your record keeping much, much simpler.

NOTE The IRS allows U.S. taxpayers to ignore the bond premium in annual bond interest calculations. This makes sense because by ignoring, or postponing, the bond premium, you overstate the interest you earn on the bond investment.

Bond Discounts

Bond discounts work in a fashion similar to bond premiums-except bond discounts occur when a bond pays an interest rate that is lower than the interest rate the market requires.

Theoretically, if you buy a bond at a discount, you are supposed to allocate the bond discount over the years that you hold the bond as additional bond interest income. For example, if you buy a bond for $900 but will receive $1,000 upon redemption, the $100 profit you make amounts to interest. This interest is essentially like that paid by a zero coupon bond.

When dealing with a bond discount, you do need to record accrued interest. The amount of the accrued interest equals the amount of the bond discount that is allocated to the year. Earlier in the chapter, we described how to record accrued interest on a zero coupon bond. The recording of accrued interest for a bond discount works in the same way. (The accrued interest for a bond discount is actually called amortization.)

Although the IRS requires U.S. taxpayers to amortize bond discounts, there is a loop- hole that might save you from the necessity of doing so. When a bond discount results in a very small change in the effective interest rate paid by a bond, you might be able to skip recording the amortization of the bond discount. If you have more questions about this, consult your tax advisor.

CPA Stephen L. Nelson is the author of do it yourself kits for Incorporating in Tennessee, Tennessee S corporation, and Tennessee limited liability company.

By Jerome Wallace

Don't just dream of a lifestyle, it's time to go and possess the financial prosperity you have always wanted.

The first thing you need to do is take responsibility for you financial future, and understand that it is not your employer's responsibility to make you rich. After you have taken responsibility for yourself the other principle is Change. The way you think about your finances your whole mind set has to change because we have not been taught what the rich are taught.

The definition of insanity is doing the same things and expecting a different result. You cannot achieve financial prosperity doing the same things over and over again. There must be a change in thought, in words and in your actions if you ever want to access financial freedom.

I strongly recommend that you read "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. I suggest You make this the first step toward your financial freedom.

This book literally changed my life in terms of the way I think about money. You Will begin to see where you are in your own financial position, and actually realize why the rich are rich and you are not.

In particular it will show you why people go from job to job. Why people get angry with their boss for not giving them raises. I am sure you will even see a little of yourself in this book as well. Like me, you are going to wish that you had read it years ago.

I know it seems like prosperity is only a dream to you because of the insurmountable debt that you are dealing with . And whether it is because of impatience or life's happenstance , it is something that you have got to deal with.

And I can help you in this area if you are disciplined and focused you can achieve your goal.

Realize that as long as you work for someone else you will never acquire financial prosperity, Unless you work for a major corporation in the upper echelon. Let's face it, how many of us are there?

So in order for you to achieve the financial abundance that you now only dream of you have to take action. You see Money is called currency which means that it flows. So in order for money to flow your way you have got to create an avenue or pipe-line for it to flow through to you.

You don't earn it, you create it.

My name is Jerome Wallace, and I am a part of a team of internet marketing Coaches Assisting people in the education of internet marketing.

And if you want to be a part of my team just click here and learn how to build your prospects list while getting into cash-flow quickly, with step by step video tutorials that explains it so even a beginner can follow.

Even if you are an internet marketing expert and have a list, Renegade University will show you how to monetize it while you gain tremendous value from Renegade's affiliate program.

You can also pick up a copy of The Renegade Network Marketer here.

By Usha Pradhan

Cash flow is a term usually used to define a revenue of expense stream that changes an account over time, or the general amount of cash received and used by a company during a specific period. Cash flows are essential to solvency and can be a record of past events or events expected to happen in the future. It is essential to an entity's survival as it determines whether or not there is sufficient cash to pay off creditors. Cash flow is not the same as taxable income as many things can be subtracted from cash flow such as loan income, depreciation, and amortization deductions and things can be added to it such as retired loans and long-term assets.

Cash flow is a generic term used to describe different ideas depending on the context. In accounting, for example, there is the statement of cash flows which is used to determine a company's ability to invest further cash into creating a profit. This statement is different from an income statement as it is only concerned with actual cash on hand and not cash owed. Cash flow is derived from three major sources: operating activities, investing activities, and financing activities. Operating activities include cash used during the regular course of business. Investment activities include cash used or earned from investments or acquisitions. Financing activities involves cash used or earned from financing, Loans, stock, or dividends.

The Cash flow statement is one of the four main statements a company produces for accounting purposes. There are many reasons for measuring cash flow such as: to evaluate the state a business is in, to determine if there are any liquidity problems, to project a rate of returns, and to measure the income or growth of a business.

Cash flow matching is when a company or person matches their cash inflows to their cash outflows. It is an effective but impractical method of doing away with interest rate risk. If an investment has a positive cash flow its market value will increase or decrease inversely with the spot interest rate of maturity. An investment is matched when every cash outflow is equal to every cash inflow on the same date and vice versa.

Whenever cash flow is mentioned in the media, what is being referred to is often operating cash flow and this can cause a misleading view of the figures as investment activities and financing activities aren't' accounted for. Businesses can often reclassify financial and investment activities as operating activities in order to provide a more positive outlook of their figures. This can be done by: selling receivable for cash, not paying vendors for a couple weeks after period end, buying leased equipment, etc.

As you can see, cash flow is a complex subject and the term cash flow covers many different subjects. The term's meaning is relative depending on the specific context surrounding it when it's brought up. Its general meaning regardless of subject concerns on hand cash paid and earned during a specific period.

Usha pradhan has completed her MBA in finance sector and currently working as financial author for cash loan by phone. She is contributing her knowledge on loan, cash loan, Annual percentage rate, unsecured loan, Bankruptcy. To know more about her please visit our website http://www.cashloanbyphone.com

By Cezar Mansour

The start of this year has been a roller coaster for interest rates... and a steep drop for housing prices...

The most common thing I have seen lately is friends and clients looking to refinance and take advantage of the lower interest rates, yet finding out their mortgage is the same or higher than their home value.

Many of these people have excellent credit, and can prove they are capable of making payments at 90, 95 and 100% financing.

However given the new lending standards, these loans are not available for them anymore, and they must wait until the home values rebound before they can make a change...

If this is the case for you, just hold on... and keep making your payments... things will turn around...

Much like our 401Ks that slid for sometime, yet we continued to contribute and watched them rebound...

Some reasons for the roller coaster:

1. The Fed cutting rates so quickly

2. Conforming loan limits changing

3. The bond market moving up and down quickly (this is the index that mortgage rates are based on)

4. The Dodgers poised to win the pennant... (Well they do have a new coaching staff and pitcher)

It is no wonder everyone is talking about the housing industry...

Now that conforming loan limits have increased, (Due to the signing of the U.S. Stimulus package that was signed into law back in February) look for interest rates to creep up as demand on loans increases... As well as the banks to keep the current 417K Conforming loan limit, and establish a new "Conforming Jumbo" that will come with a higher interest rate.

Now is a great time to take a good look at your real estate holdings, especially in regards to:

1. Home values

2. Loan amounts and programs

3. How much you pay for insurance, etc.

If you have not already done so, set a meeting with a Certified Mortgage Planner for your annual debt and equity review to see where you are and if you need to make a change.

Cezar Mansour is Certifed Mortgage Planner and President and owner of Beach Lending, and Clear Blue Realty in Redondo Beach, CA.

A real estate financing firm assisting people buy their first home, investment and or commercial property.

He is a the author of "The Official Guide to Building a Referral Based Business" available on Amazon.com

You may also contact Cezar directly at: Cezar@cezarmansour.com

By B Green

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 created the Qualified Default Investment Arrangement (QDIA) largely to promote the offering of automatic enrollment 401(k) plans.

The QDIA provides employers a safe harbor from fiduciary risk when selecting an investment for a participant or beneficiary who fails to elect his or her own investment. Therefore, employers following QDIA regulations will have no legal liability for market fluctuations when providing a QDIA for employees who do not choose their own investments.

Final regulations governing QDIAs were issued by the Department of Labor on Oct. 24, 2007. Of primary interest are the conditions that must be satisfied in order to obtain safe harbor relief from fiduciary liability for investment outcomes and guidance on investment mechanisms qualifying as QDIA. Both are briefly summarized below:

Safe Harbor Conditions

*Assets must be invested in a "qualified default investment alternative" as defined in the regulation.

*Participants and beneficiaries must have been given an opportunity to provide investment direction but have not done so.

*A notice generally must be furnished to participants and beneficiaries in advance of the first investment in the QDIA and annually thereafter. The rule describes the information that must be included.

*Material, such as investment prospectuses, provided the plan for the QDIA must be furnished to participants and beneficiaries.

*Participants and beneficiaries must have the opportunity to direct investments out of a QDIA as frequently as from other plan investments, and at least quarterly.

*The rule limits the fees that can be imposed on a participant who opts out of participation in the plan or who decides to direct their investments.

*The plan must offer a "broad range of investment alternatives" as defined in the Department's regulation under 404ฉ of ERISA.

QDIA Types (Mechanisms)

The final regulation did not identify the specific investment products - rather, it describes mechanisms for investing participant contributions. The intent being to ensure that an investment qualifying as a QDIA is appropriate as a single investment capable of meeting a worker's long-term retirement savings needs. The four types of QDIAs are:

*A product with a mix of investments that takes into account the individual's age or retirement date (for example, a life-cycle or targeted retirement-date fund);

*An investment service that allocates contributions among existing plan options to provide an asset mix that takes into account the individuals age or retirement date (for example, a professionally managed account);

*A product with a mix of investments that takes into account the characteristics of the group of employees as a whole, rather than an individual (for example, a balanced fund); and

*A capital preservation product for only the first 120 days of participation (an option for plan sponsors wishing to simplify administration if workers opt out of participation before incurring an additional tax).

In addition, regulations state that a QDIA must either be managed by the investment manager, plan trustee or plan sponsor that is named fiduciary, or be an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, and that any QDIA generally may not invest participant contributions in employer securities.

B. Green

http://www.accountperformance.com

By Shawn Burgy

Asset Protection Guide:

The strange and sometimes puzzling evolutions in the business world ask for more and more secure methods of protecting the client's assets. In spite of all popular articles claiming the right to be taken into consideration, asset protection strategies depend on individual perceptions. Each person involved in a business is supposed to choose his own means to protect his assets. His decision is crucial but it can be changed by several factors. First element which enters the system of asset protection strategies is considered to be the counselor. He can be a lawyer or not. His position is not really important. Most important fact about a counselor is to understand his client's business and to be able to offer the appropriate advice. He is the most significant element which decides upon asset protection strategies. A counselor must be well informed about all law changes so he can direct his client in the right way. If the relation between two of them respects the basic principles of communication then results are fortunate. Each counselor has to know everything about his client's business as long as he is supposed to guide him towards financial success. However each person owning a business has the right to decide on his future movements. Even if a counselor does try to influence him the final move depends on the client's dynamic character.

A business man might be misguided by his private counselor. Applying asset protection strategies means playing with the law system. This is not about violating basic principles. Most of all is about discovering original ways which might give someone the chance to take advantage in certain situations. For example the principle of LLC might prove extremely operative. But if there are not any experienced persons behind the business master then he would probably miss this hint. The asset protection strategies system is quite sinuous and requires a capable person who is able to explain the basic rules.

People involved in a business might take this fact as a childish game and enjoy playing till the end. First of all, people are supposed to think about asset protection strategies. If taken into consideration right from the beginning then things are really simple. So the business man will enjoy his position being already protected against all possible dangers. If his counselor prescribes him the appropriate asset protection strategies then he does not have to worry about future success. From now on procedures are not so complicated. They remain exhausting but they are pleasant in a way. They are pleasant because they prove their efficiency. They are no longer insecure means of gaining money. Taking real advantage of the asset protection strategies means finding all the possible ways towards financial success. No one should miss this valuable tip of the presence of the counselor. Once a business is getting stronger and stronger, its owner must thing about all opportunities to protect his money. Of course that a counselor would always come with additional information but the final decisions belongs to the client. He is the only person who can decide upon asset protection strategies. He can say if certain strategies are compatible with his expectations. A counselor might always suggest something but if his client does not want to respect the plan then the deal is violated. There are no formal procedures to punish such a decision. The business man might be right. He knows his business. Maybe the counselor is wrong. There are numerous possible situations. But a good counselor would always be able to offer a good advice. So asset protection strategies might be best suggested only by a counselor.

For more information visit us at: http://www.asset-protection.articlesmymoney.com

By Bonnie Castle

Supporting the fresh ventures or the old existing one business finance has come a long way. It is meant for venture owners no matter small or big. Any business professional seeking monetary aid can approach lenders and approve funds with or without the use of collateral. The applicants by placing property as collateral can derive amount between ฃ50,000 and ฃ3,00,000 with prolonged repayment term of 10-15 years. On contrary, business persons without the use of collateral can procure finance from ฃ5,000 to ฃ1,00,000 with reimbursement term of 1-10 years. The benediction can be unleashed even applicants are striving from serious credit issues like defaults, arrears, late-payments, county court judgment, bankruptcy and debts. But, applicants should always enclose the details and layout of business in a rational manner for approval of funds.

Persons who are planning to set a fresh venture can get financial relief if required by considering this scheme. The funds can also be obtained by persons seeking some monetary aid to expand their existing business. They can meet commercial demands like purchasing raw materials, machineries, equipments; expenses of recruitment and salaries of employees; transportation and maintenance of factories and office are among them. The borrowers can also invest money in buying stocks and shares that are in interest for company's advancement.

The rates of interest are reasonably tabled for all sorts of venture owners. Moreover, if applicants follow the exercise of collecting and differentiate the offers then they can easily grab some cheap and low interest rate figure. The loan quotes can be collected from home or office through online. Furthermore, by applying through e-application method you can approve the loan from any location on earth. Loan calculator is also an effective tool that helps applicants to have a preview of the monthly instalments.

Thus, business finance is meant to prop your business so that you can take your empire to your expected horizons.

Bonnie Castle works as a consultant in Small Business Finance UK. He is proficient in the finance world. Small Business Finance UK endeavors to find the best possible deals for its customers. To find Business Finance, small business loans, small business loan bad credit, bad credit small business start up finance visit http://www.smallbusinessfinanceuk.co.uk

By Pauline Go

Before investing in the bond market, one needs to know the different kinds of bond investments. Depending on the issuers, there are a variety of bonds available for investment. Each one of them has its own sets of risks and rewards.

Listed below are some important types of bonds available in the US bond market.

Municipal Bonds:

These are the securities that are issued by states, cities, counties and other government entities. The primary objective of these bonds is to use the funds for development of basic public infrastructure in the region including building schools, highways, hospitals and sewer systems. In case of municipal bonds, those issued by the federal and state governments are profitable.

US Treasury Securities:

These bonds are issued by the US federal government. There are three different types of securities issued by the US Treasury. These are bills, notes and bonds. Each one of these differs in terms of maturity date. The US Treasury Securities market is the largest and the most liquid market in the world and investments in this market are considered to be the safest.

Corporate Debt Securities:

These are the debt obligations issued by corporations for the purpose of generating capital and operating cash flow. These corporations can be either public or private. The funds generated by selling bonds are used by companies to build infrastructure, manufacturing facilities or even purchase of equipment.

Mortgage-backed, Asset-backed Securities (MBS/ABS):

These securities are issued by financial institutions in order to finance the borrower's purchase of home or any other real estate property. When somebody invests in MBS/ABS, he/she is actually purchasing an interest in a pool of mortgage, credit card or auto loans.

About Author:

Pauline Go is a professional writer for many website. She also writes great articles like How To Make Money In Annuities, Bond Markets And Oil Prices, Psp Advantages Of Setting Up A Wholly Owned Subsidiary

By Russ D Johnson

The State of Mississippi is home to some of my favorite things- catfish, sweet potatoes, and rootbeer (invented in Biloxi in 1898). Mississippi's Treasury Department has also become home to something that's on top of my list and probably yours as well - money. Mississippi unclaimed money, to be exact. "Nearly 1 in 5 Mississippians have money representing over $38 million that needs to be claimed," stated Mississippi State Treasurer Tate Reeves in a recent press release. This is certainly good news for the numerous families that suffered hurricane losses in recent years, and are now dealing with serious setbacks in their budgets.

When people pass-away or move to a new place, they often forget to leave a will or a forwarding address and this results in lost inheritances and mail. Tax refund checks, financial notices and the like get sent back to sender (the IRS, banks, insurance companies, etc.). According to Treasurer Reeves, "They are required by state law to turn them over to the Treasurer's Office after a dormancy period. After that dormancy period is over, they turn it over to the state. We put a book out every three years and send it out through various media,".

According to a recent report by NBC's Dateline, a number of lucky Mississippians were recently reunited with their lost funds and it was actually a pleasant shock for most of them. A Biloxi, MS resident found out he had $30,000 from an investment his deceased father didn't tell him about. A couple who had lost everything to the recent hurricane received $250,000 from Mississippi unclaimed property. Another woman who was struggling to rebuild homes for her mother and herself received $100,000. Gordon White, was in the middle of building his dream home when Katrina hit and was forced to live in a trailer had $200,000 from bank stock shares his father had kept secret. One of the biggest claims given-out yet was to a Vietnam veteran who was forced to retire from his job as a company supervisor due to post-traumatic stress. Turns-out he was owed almost a million dollars from old company stocks he had forgotten about after retiring from said company.

If you or a relative has lived in Mississippi before, chances are good that a portion of the $38 million Mississippi unclaimed money also belongs to you or someone in your family. Search for unclaimed money in Mississippi as well as other states now. The national unclaimed fund total now exceeds $35 billion and the money is just sitting-around, waiting for the rightful owners to step forward and make a claim. Doing an online search for unclaimed money can be as simple as putting in a person's name and other identifying information in a state unclaimed property database. It becomes tricky however, to do a thorough search in several states- a good idea if you have relatives scattered across the country. The best way is to learn proper and thorough methods on doing effective unclaimed money searches online.

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site, http://www.unclaimedmoney.net, is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Mississippi unclaimed money and missing money across the country.

By Pauline Go

If you are traveling outside your country where your currency is not accepted, then you can get the best exchange rates if you use your credit card, debit card or your ATM card. They offer you the best deals with regard to currency exchange.

Although ATMs are a convenient way to obtain local currency at a reasonable exchange rate, one must be careful when using an ATM machine abroad because some international ATMs have only numbers and no alphabets on the keypad and they also do not recognize pins larger than four digits. So, it is a safer option to alter your ATM pin code to a four digit number after duly informing your local bank about it.

Another serious drawback with depending on ATM card for currency exchange is that it involves a certain amount of fees and the exact amount of fees being charged is usually not known in advance. Therefore, you need to wait for the withdrawal to be debited from your account to know the exact transaction fees charged. Moreover, the fees charged by some ATMs may be really high when both the foreign bank as well as your own bank (in your home town) levy charges individually at both ends of the transaction.

Although Citibank and some of the other banks in the US, including the Bank of America, have a tie-up with foreign banks (because of which the transaction fees are waived at the ATM counters of those banks), you will discover that Citibank charges a foreign exchange fee of 1 percent of the transaction costs in dollars in order to allow you to withdraw money from your account at a Citibank ATM counter in a foreign land. Even Visa, MasterCard and American Express charge a reasonable exchange rate that is applicable to all the transactions you make abroad using these cards. The only exception in this regard is the Capital One Financial card, which is very traveler-friendly, and charges no additional surcharge, not even the minimum of 1 percent that is usually charged by Visa or MasterCard.

About Author:

Pauline Go is a professional writer for many website. She also writes great articles like How To Make Money In Annuities, Bond Markets And Oil Prices, Psp Advantages Of Setting Up A Wholly Owned Subsidiary

By Alissa Haddad

Opportunities come your way via several routes. It could be a tip from a friend, something said in discussions, a look at the shops around you, or something you stumbled on online. Newspapers are also prolific sources of business ideas. But if your interest is investing overseas, specifically in the Middle East, find that chance in the daily Lebanon news.

Real Estate Finds

Investing overseas is not unusualm but for first-time investors who want value for their hard-earned dollars, this kind of investment is novel. However, scouting for breaks can be frustrating, especially if you don't know where to look. Interestingly, Lebanon news classifieds have it all detailed and the best bet is real estate.

For your real estate investment, choose from chalets, apartments, industrial offices, land, offices, studio rooms, clinics, showrooms, retail, and villas. You also have the option to go for a share certificate. You can also advertise your real properties for sale in the online classifieds for a minimal fee.

If you're deciding on a career move, the drop-down menu has an interesting list of available jobs from accounting to travel/tourism. Like the real estate and auto markets, you can choose your desired region and city for a new job. That's how you get the break.

Jobs

Whether you are in Egypt or in another part of the globe, you can always get a job to match your expertise in Lebanon. If no match is found, click the "Notify Me" tab. Those new to the site are required to register. Don't fret, though, because registration is free on Lebanon news sites.

For the adventurous, landing a job in Lebanon, whether in the picturesque valleys or commercial districts, gives you the chance to take in the scenic vistas, experience new culture, gain new friends, and learn new things that can benefit your career.

It is true that the political situation is unstable as posted in Lebanon news online. However, the presence of multinational corporations and the building of new infrastructure mitigate the situation. You could always choose a place farthest away from areas of conflict. Yet it is always best to consult with the embassy for your safety.

Import and Export

Lebanon offers top notch homegrown products. Wine, precious stones, pearls, electronic, and electric equipments. At present, the top importers are Switzerland, Syria, and Iraq. Also worth your investment are exotic food, fabrics, rugs, and jewelry. In the chat forums, you can find like-minded business persons who can supply your needs.

A thorough study is in order before you strike up a business partnership, though. Some background research on companies can assure of you of legitimate deals and a review of the country's existing policies on the import business and taxes should give you the information before you make a deal.

Other Opportunities

Business people who have a keen eye for spotting business opportunities can find these in Lebanon news. They can analyze situations and events and evaluate the global market trends. Being updated with World News can give you more ideas to start a business anywhere in the world.

But aside from money-making ventures, there are opportunities to be had in the Middle East. There's the chance to find affordable hotels, beach, and skiing resorts if you're inclined to see this part of the world. It's just a matter of time before you find the opportunity you're looking for.

There's more to Lebanon news than just Middle East news and environmental news. There are financial opportunities too. Visit LebNews.com today to get more than news.

By Pauline Go

A callable-CD is the one where the bank or other financial institution issuing the certificate of deposit (CD) has the option of recalling the CD well before the maturity date. This type of investment can yield good returns if the portfolio is managed properly.

Hence, it is important to understand the pros and cons of Callable-CDs so as to make a wise investment decision.

Lower interest rate scenario: The primary reason for redeeming the CDs is the changing interest rate. Once the CD is called back, the depositor gets back the principal amount along with the interest. There are chances where the investor will be at a disadvantage if interest rates fluctuate either way to a significant extent. If the interest rates drop, the CD is called back. The investor is now left with the option of reinvesting the returned amount at a lower interest rate.

High interest rate scenario: In case the interest rates rise, the investor needs to wait for years until the CD matures. During this entire period, the certificate of deposit pays interest rate that is well below the existing market rates. In case of callable-CDs, the investor or the depositor does not have the option of calling the CD. If the investor surrenders the CD with the bank before maturity date, he/she needs to pay surrender charges. The investor does not even have the option of selling CDs before maturity when the interest rates are on a high. Nobody would be interested to pay higher interest rates and buy a CD. Even if one agrees, there will be a significant principal loss.

Callable CDs with a longer non-callable period are more advantageous to the customer because this is the period where the bank is bound to pay higher interest rates on the deposited amount.

About Author:

Pauline Go is a professional writer for many website. She also writes great articles like How To Make Money In Annuities, Bond Markets And Oil Prices, Psp Advantages Of Setting Up A Wholly Owned Subsidiary

By Russ D Johnson

Generally when people think of the state of Idaho, what comes to mind? Potatoes of course. Lots and lots of potatoes. But there's also a massive pile of something else that you could say is "no small potatoes" - Idaho unclaimed money. Idaho's lost money fund has swollen to a whopping $40 million and counting and all of this money belongs to citizens wise enough to track it down and claim it.

Most people find it hard to believe that regular ID citizens have managed to just abandon $40 million, and that citizens across the nation have abandoned nearly $40 billion (yeah, with a "b", billion), but believe it or not, the odds that any given person is owed unclaimed property are greater than the odds that they aren't due a claim. The reason for this is that these forgotten funds come from so many different sources. According to the website of the Idaho State Tax Commission, the department responsible for handling these assets: "These include stocks, bonds, mutual funds, bank accounts, uncashed payroll checks, utility deposits, traveler's checks, contents from deposit boxes, and more. Most of the assets are ones that people didn't know they had or just forgot about, and sometimes they are worth thousands of dollars."

In order for cash to be considered abandoned or "unclaimed", it must lie dormant for a period of time that is specific to each state and type of asset. Idaho considered most types abandoned after 5 years of dormancy, though some are available to be claimed after only 1 year.

There are a number of reasons why money might go unclaimed, but it's often as simple as not leaving a forwarding address for financial institutions or previous employers. If a piece of mail is returned to the sender, and the rightful owner doesn't contact the seller within the dormancy period, the holder is required by law to hand the funds over to the state.

The problem Idaho has, like all other states, is reuniting lost money with its rightful owners. Despite state awareness efforts and popular media coverage, most people are still simply unaware of unclaimed money. Even those that are in the know generally don't have a clue where to begin their search. There are a handful of people actively searching, but even those people don't know all the methods they need to implement to maximize their chances of finding claims.

For the reasons stated above, Idaho now hold's over $40 million in unclaimed money, and that figure is sure to grow, because more and more money is turned over to the state all the time and it outpaces the amounts returned to the citizens. For this reason, it is incredibly important that those who are serious about searching for forgotten funds, learn how professional finders locate these monies, and then put these same tactics in to action in their own searches. There are right ways to search, and wrong ways to search, and until people learn the difference there are a number of obstacles that can stand between them and their money.

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site, http://www.unclaimedmoney.net, is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Idaho unclaimed money and missing money across the country.

By Russ D Johnson

If the Midwest is America's breadbasket, it's might mostly be because of Kansas, who's Sumner County is known as The Wheat Capital of the World. According to recent reports, the Kansas State Treasury's Unclaimed Property Division has become a basket for another vital commodity. Not edible, but definitely more sought after- American currency in the form of Kansas unclaimed money.

Over $20 million in Kansas unclaimed property is collected by the state each year. These funds come from abandoned financial assets turned over by banks, insurance companies and other financial entities who are by law required to hand them over to the state after 3-5 years depending on the item. Lost assets come from old checking accounts, abandoned savings accounts, bonds, dividends, old paychecks, child support payments, alimony payments, and other similar funds whose owners have somehow lost track of or inherited without their knowing it.

Lynn Jenkins, Kansas State Treasurer, tries to reunite as much of the unclaimed money in Kansas to her state's residents through outreach programs for owners of the Kansas unclaimed funds. Her office sets-up booths in public places like shopping malls and the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. An average of $700,000 is handed-out yearly in the fair to mostly surprised owners of the lost money. "We always look forward to attending the fair," says Jenkins in a recent press release. "It gives us an opportunity to meet fellow Kansans and for them to search our records for their lost or forgotten cash and property." "As always, we were very impressed with the fair organizers and the city of Hutchinson," she adds. "The State Fair is a good old fashioned family tradition and part of what makes our state so great."

According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA), Treasury Departments in each of the 50 states are holding-on to over $35 billion in unclaimed assets, belonging to American citizens. Unclaimed property outreach programs like the one Kansas State Treasurer Jenkins promotes are only slightly making-up for the lack of a centralized government database for unclaimed assets. Approximately 928,303 owners of roughly $200 million unclaimed money in Kansas are still unaccounted for though, and the Kansas Unclaimed Property Division of the Treasury Department will hold on to the KS unclaimed money until residents and other citizens nationwide come to claim it.

Fortunately, people don't have to wait for the Kansas State Fair to come around in order to check if they are owed Kansas unclaimed funds. The individual states maintain databases for unclaimed money owners now and an unclaimed money search can be done anywhere there's an Internet connection. So, if you need extra funds ASAP, you can actually do an online search right now from where you are. The tricky part is doing a search for unclaimed money in several state databases (a good idea for those who've lived in various states). A centralized database for national unclaimed money does not exist, so it's quite easy to go on an online wild goose chase if you don't know where and how to look.

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site, http://www.unclaimedmoney.net, is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Kansas unclaimed money and missing money across the country.

By Manny Vetti

Lately there has been a lot of talk about the federal funds rate. This is something that dominates headlines whenever there is a change in this rate. Most recently the Federal Reserve made a huge rate drop. The 1st drop was 3/4ths of a percent, then shortly after by another ฝ percent bringing the rate all the way down to 3%. Why such the hype? How does this affect individuals finances?

What is the Federal Funds Rate?

The federal funds rate is the interest rate that banks lend balances to other depository institutions, usually overnight. This rate is the rate that banks can borrow from the Federal Reserve, or in other words, it is the lowest possible rate that banks can charge on interest. Changing this rate is one of the primary tools that the Federal Reserve uses to regulate the supply of money in the US economy.

The Effect of lowering the Federal Funds Rate

By lowering the rate, borrowing becomes cheaper for banks and with competition among the banks they will pass this savings onto their customers. This will make borrowing cheaper for individuals because the rate at which banks can lend is less and the default risk also goes down because there is not as much interest to pay by the individual. The purpose of lowering the Federal Funds rate is to create a domino effect that will eventually stimulate the economy. The cycle it is suppose to follow is this: the Federal Reserve lowers rates, banks lower rates, individuals will borrow more money, the borrowed money buys goods, the sellers of the goods make more money and deposit into banks, banks have more money to lend, then repeat this cycle and the economy is stimulated.

What this means to most individuals in the near and distant future?

This will help out many individuals with their credit card interest rates because the prime rate, which directly influences credit card interest is highly correlated to the Federal Funds rate. From the domino effect, credit card lenders are also able to obtain a lower borrowing rate and therefore competition will force them to decrease their rates. This is one thing that individuals that carry balances on their credit card should be aware of because sometimes the lender will keep charging the same rate. An individual who is aware of this can most of the time, contact the credit card company and demand a lower rate.

The lowering of the federal funds rate will also decrease the interest earned in savings accounts and in CDs. This can force many individuals to seek better investment options for their funds because the interest earned in savings accounts and CDs is very minimal, most likely not even enough to keep up with inflation. This can also be good for the stock market because this can cause higher demand for publicly traded stocks, therefore driving up the prices and increase returns. (Also returns can go up from the domino effect created from the dropping of the fed rate, which also explains why there is a sudden surge in stock prices when there was an unexpected decrease of the federal funds rate)

One misconception about the fed lowering the Federal Funds rate is that it directly influences mortgage rates. Mortgage rates are much more complex in how they are determined than just by the Federal Funds rate. Mortgage rates are based on long term rates, while federal funds rate is a short term rate. Mortgages are priced like the stock market, if there is a expected drop in the federal funds rate, the mortgage rate will price it into the rate before the rate drop even happens. An unexpected rate drop can influence mortgage rates, but only by a small amount. The fed rate is an indirect factor in determining the long term rates. Even though it is only a small indirect factor, long term interest rates are very low right now and locking in a safe, low fixed rate at the current time may be a good idea.

Overall, the rate cut is a good thing for credit card interest and other short term loans, but on the negative side, savings accounts will not earn as much interest. If all goes as planned the economy will get the extra boost it needs to stay out of a recession, while also indirectly making a positive influence on long term interest rates and keeping inflation in check.

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By Dave Young

Ninety percent of the people who fall into the category of financial advisors do not have any sort of fiduciary responsibility. They are also known as stockbrokers, insurance agents, or sales Representatives. They may hold various licenses, but since they are not fiduciaries they are often more interested in selling insurance and investment products than managing your portfolio.

Non-fiduciary advisors are compensated by commissions which are often the equivalent of years worth of management fees. And in the end, if you're dissatisfied with your service, the only way to get out of the product is to pay a large surrender fee.

Titles for non-fiduciary advisors are unregulated, which means that these advisors don't need to call themselves brokers or insurance agents, but can adopt titles like: Advisors, Financial Consultants, or Financial Planners. They are not required to put investor interests head of their own, and as such as more interested in making "suitable" recommendations that involve selling a number of products.

These sales reps have limited disclosure requirements and are not allowed to have account discretion. And most of them receive a large commission upfront on the initial sale, which means they have very little incentive to continue helping the client.

Fiduciary Advisors

Only 10 to 15% of advisors have fiduciary responsibility, and are usually Registered Investment Advisors (RIA's) or Investment Advisor Representatives. These advisors are registered with the SEC or the state security division (depending on their size).

These are acknowledged fiduciaries who provide ongoing financial advice and services. Compensation is on a quarter by quarter basis for continued services, and ends if the investor is dissatisfied and chooses to leave.

An advisor with fiduciary responsibilities is held to a higher ethical standard and should have the knowledge to provide sophisticated wealth management services and advice. RIA's are licensed to provide ongoing financial advice, and fiduciary advisors are required to provide disclosure in their ADV's.

The investor must always come first.

Dave Young, President of Paragon Wealth Management, has helped clients enhance their financial well-being since he began managing money in 1986. He was his first client after he sold his 12 franchise businesses and couldn't find a traditional brokerage firm to meet his needs. From his personal investment experience, he knew there was a better option to managing money. Later that year, he started his own money management firm, and has been managing money ever since.

He is originally from New Mexico. He enjoys spending time with his family, the outdoors, hunting, fishing, camping, sports and exercising.

Before investing, he performed as a magician. He toured for four years performing "Grand Illusion," a full-stage magic show in the late 1970's while attending college. He performed over 350 shows, completed three television specials, and traveled the same circuits as David Copperfield.

By Russ D Johnson

Of the tens of billions of dollars in unclaimed assets across the country, the North Star State is home to more than $300 million. MN is known for freezing cold winters, but most people don't know about the mountains of cold hard cash in the form of Minnesota unclaimed money. The best part about all of these millions is that they belong to regular citizens across the state who only need to track them down and claim them.

It's easy to dismiss unclaimed property as a myth because it is difficult for most of us to believe that our neighbors (and ourselves) simply abandoned significant amounts of money throughout our lives and that it's all just sitting out there under our noses, waiting to be discovered. A quick call to Minnesota's Department of Commerce, or the State Treasury Department in any other state will put your scam concerns at ease. This money is within reach for those citizens with a little education on the matter.

The reason unclaimed funds totals have grown so greatly across the country is because most people don't even know this cash exists, and those that do still haven't been properly trained to search for these monies. There are a number of obstacles that stand in the way of beginners who are trying to find their lost money that are easy to overcome if people know what they're doing.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when searching for forgotten funds, is searching their name at whatever website they first run across and ending their search there. For starters, very few unclaimed cash websites have reliable databases, and even when looking at data straight from the state, the information is only as good as the people updating the records. These assets are turned over to the state constantly, but that doesn't mean each record is added the second the state takes control of it.

If a Minnesota resident searches for MN missing money on Monday, but someone at the Commerce Department didn't update their system with that resident's record, then the resident would be incorrectly told they weren't owed money. Now, consider the fact that money can be turned over all year, and that many account types aren't required to be turned over to the state for 3 to 5 years, and longer in some cases. What this tells us is that searching more than once, frequently in fact, is one of the most important tactics a searcher can use, and one that all professional finders use regularly.

There are also a variety of reasons why Minnesota residents might be owed money by other states, and residents of other states might be owed MN unclaimed money. These often have to do with the location of insurance companies and corporate headquarters of employers. For these reasons, people should never limit their searches to their home state or they could miss out on significant chunks of cash with their names on it.

For further details on these tips and many more, people who are truly interested in locating all possible money owed to them should educate themselves on how to perform a thorough search and copy the tricks used by experts in the unclaimed property game.

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site, http://www.unclaimedmoney.net, is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Minnesota unclaimed money and missing money across the country.

By Russ D Johnson

Mention Arizona and picturesque desert sunsets and multi-hued walls of the Grand Canyon usually pop in to people's heads. True, Arizona's giant Saguaro cacti and jagged horizons rival some of the world's best nature vistas, but there's a lot more to the 48th state than meets the eye. A few lesser-known facts: Arizona is home to the Petrified Forest, the beautiful ridge-nosed rattlesnake, the endangered Apache Trout (found only in the state), and lots and lots of pennies. Arizona leads the 50 states in copper production, but the Treasury Department has more than just pennies sitting-around. Hundreds of millions of dollars in Arizona unclaimed money are waiting for their rightful owners to come and take them home. Problem is, most current (and former) residents aren't even aware that these AZ lost funds are waiting for them.

Jane Tressler, upon receiving a letter from Arizona's Department of Revenue, was clueless about unclaimed property. "I got this letter and was really wondering why the Department of Revenue would need my Social Security number." the Arizona resident said. "It was telling me I had possibly some unclaimed property. I've been racking my brain trying to think what it could be, but I've come up with nothing." After personally going to the Department of Revenue to see if her letter was for real, Tressler was surprised she was really owed unclaimed money from 10 shares of unredeemed Metlife stock worth $63 each. "Six hundred and thirty dollars, well that's OK!" exclaimed the once-doubtful unclaimed money owner. There are more people out there like Tressler, according to Daniel Corcoran of the Arizona Department Of Revenue Unclaimed Property Division.

In this day and age of the internet, multi-cored home computers and PDAs that do everything short of heating your leftovers, one would think life would be more organized. The more tools and gadgets we have at our disposal however, the more things we have to think about and the more complicated our lives get. This might account somehow for the over $400 million in Arizona state unclaimed money languishing in the Unclaimed Property Division of the Arizona Department of Revenue.

Unclaimed property includes financial assets like forgotten bank accounts, uncashed checks, unclaimed insurance and retirement benefits, stocks and stock dividends, even safe deposit box contents whose owners can't be found. The Unclaimed Property Law in Arizona requires these to be turned-over to the state if not returned to their rightful owners after a usual period of 3 years. The proceeds are then held by the state as unclaimed money redeemable at any time, but if you had Arizona unclaimed money in your name, wouldn't you want it now? Use today's technology to work for you and find out if you're owed unclaimed property money without even having to take a trip downtown.

If you know where to look, doing an on-line unclaimed money search can be quick, easy and simple. The key is learning from Arizona unclaimed money experts and putting their tactics in to action to help locate your lost money.

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site, http://www.unclaimedmoney.net, is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Arizona unclaimed money and missing money across the country.

By Russ D Johnson

The city of Antlers, OK bills itself "The Deer Capital Of The World". By the city's name alone, one can guess a lot of bucks are running-around in the woods of Oklahoma. Hundreds of millions of lost bucks are also in the State's Treasury Department and, you guessed it- they're not brown and furry and their not running around. I'm talking about the $260 million in Oklahoma unclaimed money sitting-around in the State Treasurer's Office. These funds belong to roughly 350,000 residents who have somehow lost track of them over the years. The main reason the state's fund got so big is because most of the owners don't even know they have money being held by the state!

"I didn't know I had it." says Leiland Osmond, after being reunited with $150 of his missing money in an Oklahoma unclaimed property outreach program at the State Fair. Oklahoma State Treasurer Scott Meacham says he's not alone. "Obviously, a lot of people have lost money and don't realize it." says the Treasurer in a recent report by Oklahoma's KSBI-TV. Visiting the fair paid-off for Osmond who plans to share his newly found money. "My grandchildren will take care of it."

An extra $150 is enough to brighten anyone's day, but in another report by NewsOK, a resident of Norman, Oklahoma made off with a lot more than that . The lucky unclaimed asset owner was reunited with $30,000 from some lost AT&T stocks he had forgotten about. According to Tim Allen, spokesman for the State Treasurer's office, the stocks were sold by the State and the proceeds were place in the state's Unclaimed Property Fund until the citizen found and claimed them.

Unclaimed properties are intangible financial assets (except for safe deposit box contents) that have been deemed 'abandoned' by their owners. State law requires these assets to be turned over to the state after a period of inactivity. According to the Oklahoma Department of Treasury website, "Evidence of this inactivity includes failure to cash a check, the return of a check or correspondence by the Post Office as undeliverable, or the absence of any communication from the owner."

According to the General Provisions of Oklahoma's Unclaimed Property Rules, qualifying 'intangible property' comes in the following forms:

(A) monies, checks, drafts, deposits, interests, dividends and income;

(B) credit balances, customer overpayments, gift certificates, security deposits, refunds,

credit memos, unpaid wages, unused airline tickets, and unidentified remittances.

(C) stocks and other intangible ownership interests in business associations;

(D) monies deposited to redeem stocks, bonds, coupons and other securities, or to make

distributions;

(E) amounts due and payable under the terms of insurance policies;

(F) amounts due and payable under the terms of mining or mineral leases; and

(G) amounts distributable from trusts or custodial funds established under a plan to provide health, welfare, pension, vacation, severance, retirement, death, stock purchase, profit sharing, employee savings, supplemental unemployment insurance, or similar benefits.

People lose track of these assets when they move and forget to leave behind a forwarding address resulting in lost and uncashed checks and the like. Death is also a common cause of financial assets being lost especially if there's no will and the next of kin can't be located. Most of the time, unclaimed property owners just plain forget about their finances in the rush of day to day living.

Residents of Oklahoma and other states should check and do an on-line unclaimed money search. They might just find out the government owes them money this time and not the other way around.

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site, http://www.unclaimedmoney.net, is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Oklahoma unclaimed money and missing money across the country.