The Best Ways to Invest Your Money
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If you want to save some cash and earn some money from it on a monthly basis, you should start investing. Money that lies in a drawer or a bank account is essential idle money and hence you should know how to invest so that you can start earning some money from it.Investing means that you should set for yourself some rules that you will follow. Some of the most important decisions like when to buy and sell can be made by means of using these rules. It also helps in making you stay calm and hold on to your holdings.
A lot of these rules come from past experiences which are a mixed bag of good and bad experiences. If you are an investor you should not lose heart but learn from past bad experiences.
Some people are seen to base their opinions on what other investors think and do. But it is better if you do your own research and then look at testing this out by analyzing the findings. With this you will be able to form firmer investment opinions too. It is always advisable to be guided by your own convictions and not by the convictions or opinions of others. This is why it is important that you learn various techniques of investing and then apply these quite strongly.
One of the best things is if you can guide yourself. The reason is that you will be able to base your opinion on past experiences. From his you will benefit as you will be able to know what the various phases of investment are. The first step is to do proper and vigorous research after which you need to invest and leave the rest to fate or chance.
It is important to believe in your own convictions. It is fine if others follow our recommendations but you should not follow them. After all, you do not know they rationale or way of thinking. If things do not turn out well, you would regret that you did not follow your own judgment and just followed others.
There are many programs that can help you in investing. It is possible to invest in property, gold etc where you can sell on appreciation. Investment in stocks and bonds is also essential. Buying and selling in the stock market is essential for which you need to learn speculation. This is like gambling where you can become hit or perhaps make money while trying the play in the market. If you learn the truck, you can invest in the safest way.
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Doug has been writing articles online since he was in middle school. Now he continues to write and build projects on a professional level, you can check out his latest advice on water softener pellets and also new information about water softener maintenance.
Original source for this article: Successful Investments
What’s more important than making money?
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There is a time for making money and there is a time for giving money. Now is the time to reach into your heart and help your global neighbors.
As rumors of a death toll in Haiti that could stretch into the hundreds of thousands slowly become reality, we need to spend a moment or two wondering why we do what we do.
As investors, we risk our hard-earned money so we can obtain the freedom and enjoyment of spending that money how and when we want it.
We can buy a boat. We can buy a pile of gold. Or we could fulfill our human obligation of helping those in need.
Now, I’m not going to tell you to cut a massive check or ponder the notion of tithing. The mainstream media is doing a fine job of that.
I am writing you telling you to send whatever you can.
From what I am told, thousands of Haitians may succumb to this tragedy simply because of a lack of water. Imagine the impact you could have on a person’s life if you could help supply them with just a day’s worth of water.
The same amount of cash you’re planning on spending on dinner tomorrow night could help turn around the lives of dozens of people facing an unimaginable battle.
I am glad to report the corporate world is wasting no time doing what is right. So far, I have found reports Wal-Mart is donating $600,000 in cash, plus a $100,000 worth of meal packages. Lowes, UPS and Coca-Cola are each offering a million in cash and services to Haiti’s recovery effort.
Even down-and-out General Motors recognizes a charity case when it sees it. (It takes one to know one.) What’s left of the carmaker is donating $100,000.
Whether you donate or not, I urge you to not let this horrific situation erode into a disgusting partisan or religious battle. Thanks to Pat Robertson’s comments yesterday, it is already happening.
The fight that lies ahead for this battered nation’s people stretches beyond all of that. The radio and TV personalities making this a political matter, Rush Limbaugh included, are showing their utter selfishness.
When there are no lives hanging in the balance, we will have time for the bantering.
Today, however, there’s work to be done.
*** While I promise to never make a natural disaster a political tool, I would be derelict of my duties if I did not discuss the financial world and help you maximize the amount of cash you have available to donate.
There’s no debating one of the biggest drains on our cash each year are taxes. From sales tax to income tax to property tax, you can’t move in this country without paying for it.
With the Democrats boasting a super-majority, it is only going to get worse. Taxes are going to rise.
The most popular sport in Washington these days is picking on the nation’s big banks. In one breath we curse and penalize them for creating this financial fiasco, yet in the next we tell them to lend even more.
It must be painful to be a political punching bag.
The pain will only grow if Obama gets his way. He’s lobbying for a $90 billion tax on the nation’s fifty or so largest banks in an attempt to repay taxpayers for TARP losses.
If the measure goes through the way it is planned now, it will be the most idiotic and counterproductive tax yet.
Instead of taxing revenues or earnings, Washington wants to impose a 0.15% balance-sheet tax. In other words, it is a tax on growth.
Sure, it will raise billions of dollars for Geithner and his red-ink Treasury, but it will force banks to raise borrowing costs or curb lending. Either way, you and I are ultimately paying for it.
Jeb Hensarling, a Republican representative from Texas said it well. “How you are going to tax banks and expect them to lend more is frankly lunacy.”
Whether it is the smart way of raising more money or not does not appear to be a concern with Obama. With a Q1 deficit of $388.5 billion and an annual shortfall of $1.502 trillion staring him in the face, the president has got to do something to reduce the gap between revenues and expenditures.
If not, we all know what’s around the corner. A dollar crisis.
Now that the American citizenry is on the hook for $12.285 trillion dollars, our global lenders are sharpening their teeth just waiting for a chance to clamp down and take a bite out of our fiscal superiority.
“It has got to be done. It will be done some day. It may be done with enormous pain. Or it may be done more rationally,” Rudolph Penner, the former top dog at the Congressional Budget Office, said on the subject of minimizing the country’s deficit.
One thing is clear when it comes to this nation’s history of stopping credit-based calamities before they strike; we are horrible at it.
We missed our chance in the 1930s, we missed our chance in the ‘80s and we missed our chance once again in 2008.
Flat out, it is not politically strategic to raise taxes and/or cut spending. Unfortunately, if we are not willing to do it, Mother Economy will.
And she doesn’t use painkillers.
*** Finally, I mentioned the subject of international diversification yesterday. A British Columbia-based reader emailed me with a good question.
Why do so many investors ignore or overlook the natural resource investing potential in Canada?
The reader mentions that our northern neighbor’s natural resource base is larger than Australia’s and is also America’s chief source of foreign oil.
My answer lies in that last nugget of information. Without America’s unquenchable thirst for crude and other natural resources, Canada would be forced to sell its goodies overseas, in a much more competitive market.
There’s no doubt Canada is a good place to put a few investing dollars. The profit potential in a bull market is second to none. But pull America out of the equation, and Canada has some serious issues.
That’s why when it comes to seeking international diversification, Canada is a no go. Its correlation to the American economy is far too strong.
When China comes calling on Uncle Sam, Canada will have plenty of problems of its own.
Original source for this article: Contrarian Profits
I can’t believe this is not bigger news
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By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com
Baltimore — (TFN): It’s not an award I would want. First Putin, then Obama, now Bernanke. Big Ben is not joining the best of company with his “Person of the year” award. If history is an indication, the Fed boss’ approval rating will be significantly lower in the next twelve months.
As if being the master of the secret domain known as the Federal Reserve isn’t a hard enough job to handle, Time goes and slaps Bernanke on the cover and tells us the award is due not because of where Bernanke got us today, but because of where we have not ventured.
In other words, it’s like giving out a Nobel Prize to a guy with big plans for humanity, never mind the fact the goal of world peace is further away than ever before and Iran proved today it is just a step away from nuking Israel.
I am not sure what Time’s policy is on awarding this title posthumously, but it may be something worth investigating. After all, the true ramifications of letting one, unelected politically motivated man in charge of a great nation’s monetary future isn’t a near-sighted event. It could be a while to we learn Bernanke’s true merit.
Who knows, this time next year, China’s president, Hu Jintao, could be gracing the glossy’s cover as we hail his decision to extend our debt obligations for just a couple more years while we get things back on track.
I am not saying Bernanke didn’t do a decent job. I’m saying we should wait before sending him any praise. Last I checked, one out of every ten of my fellow Americans was in the unemployment line and currency risk is rising across the globe.
But that can’t have anything to do with free money flowing from the Fed, can it?
*** By now, you’ve got to know my thoughts on gold… sell the stuff. I was all about the precious metal this time last year, but that was a different situation and time. Now, you can’t turn on the radio, TV or open the newspaper without hearing some pitchman’s take on the stuff.
Remember the contrarian motto: when everybody else wants in, you want out.
For those of you that are viewers of late-night cable news parodies, I am a huge fan of Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. When trends get out of control, his dry humor has a way of bringing things back to Earth.
That’s why when Colbert talked about the sudden rush to the gold markets this week, I knew we were in trouble.
Here’s what I told TFN readers this morning:
“Finally an up day for gold. After sliding for nearly two weeks, the precious metal is moving far enough into positive territory today to bother noting it.
“Did Glen Beck up his marketing? Did Rush bring on a few more listeners? Or is this yet another example of the Colbert bump?
“Does it even matter? Nope, when gold is getting this much attention, the only thing that matters is how quickly you dump your position.
“Gold is supposed to be the safest investment around. Just as real estate investors love to say, there is only so much of the stuff. Unfortunately, we all know how well the real estate folks are doing these days.
“Back in the day when gold actually backed the nation’s debt and played an integral role in the monetary system, a horde of gold made sense. But today, when it’s only value comes from the fact we say its valuable, gold’s no different than a fiat currency.
“If the economy collapses like so many gold bugs are sure is about to happen, wouldn’t you rather have something of tangible value? Colbert is right. Sheep are the way to go. Better yet, follow the natives and take advantage of a buffalo’s ability to provide food and shelter.
“While I’m pushing the argument over the top, many investors are using similar logic in their bullish pursuit of gold. It has created a micro-bubble that is ready to burst.
“That is not good news for the investors that have piled into the junior gold miner sector.”
Keep reading to learn why.
*** I cannot believe this is not getting more press. If you think a handful of bank failures dealt a blow to your portfolio, wait until you see what happens when a few heavy-hitting governments begin to drop.
The good-old-boy network is alive and well on Wall Street. Just about every major financial firm has some vested interest in its “competition.” But it is nothing like the international scene where friendships and rivalries date back centuries and nuclear weapons are used as bargaining tools.
Less than a month ago, Dubai started the default-scare trend. Since then, we’ve heard from Greece, Austria and Spain. Earlier this week, Mexico made the list when Standard and Poor’s cut our southern neighbor’s credit rating.
This is not good news. It proves that, although the dollar looks weak, it’s stronger than its competition. In all things financial, value is relative.
Over the next few weeks, the dollar is going to strengthen, the Dow will drop and gold bugs will wonder what all the hoopla was about.
With most investors working on polishing their year-end portfolio, now is a good time to get in position to take advantage of the upcoming action. Come January 1, it’s a whole new game.
Original source for this article: Contrarian Profits
Put your hand under the cash waterfall
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By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com
Baltimore — (TFN): We all have a friend like him. For me it’s a guy named Greg. He has some great ideas and his entrepreneurial spirit runs deep, but for some reason, his plans never seem to make it to fruition. Somewhere from the drawing board to the production line, he runs into a debilitating snag.
Most of the time, it’s money.
He’s got great ideas but nary a penny to his name. That’s why I told him to ring up old Uncle Sam… collect. Washington’s handing out all sorts of dollars these days. He might as well put his hand under the waterfall.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Energy is handing out some $40 billion just to the so-called “clean energy” sector. Greg needs to paint a tree on his latest invention, call it organic and break into 21st century politics, er, business.
From here on out, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. With Obama acting as economic maestro-in-chief, it’s a whole new world for us business folks.
Which brings me to a sore subject. You see, I recently told Hot Stock Confidential members to buy shares of a tiny little up-and-comer named Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ).
Now, before I go any further, I don’t want to hear any complaining that I only talk about my winning plays in Notes, because this one was a loser. A big fat flop. Right now, we’re down 45%. It was one, if not the worst recommendations I made this year.
But I’m not selling. Even though I got plenty of heat from internal and external “forces,” I am still not ready to suck it in and lock in the loss.
I’m not holding out because the company’s got a breakthrough product or is about to get bought out. I’m holding on because Uncle Sam is ready to cut Raser a big ole’ check.
When I initially recommended the company in late August, headlines were abuzz with “green” spending. But then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Congress switched gears to healthcare and Raser shareholders were left in the dust.
But Washington never stays in one place too long. It makes for an easy target. So once again, the clean energy industry is heating up. The article in today’s Journal proves it.
With Stimulus 2.0 ready to be released and the DOE spending like an eighteen-year-old who just unlocked his trust fund, this is a fantastic time for Raser and its geothermal electricity production.
After all, just last week it announced it was applying for a Treasury Department grant that could put $33 million into the company’s coffer.
For a firm with a market value of just $90 million, $30 million can do great things.
This play may not have followed a traditional route and is certainly a move that would make any financial advisor soil his suit, but in today’s financial environment, when the government acts as the lender of choice, traditional rules are out the window.
While fundamental investments still have long-term merits, for us short-term traders and especially us contrarians, some of the best investment opportunities can be uncovered by following the White House press pool.
*** Speaking of money, how about Exxon’s big deal today? For us contrarians, the $31 billion, all-stock deal proves the world’s largest oil producer believes its stock is overpriced and ready to fall.
If you’ve read my work for any length of time, you likely know that I am a big fan of signaling theory. According to the common-sense notion, Exxon’s unwillingness to use any of its massive pile of cash is a sign that company executives feel a $69 share of the company is worth less than $69 in cash.
It is no wonder we are watching shares drop by more than 4.7% today. In the long run, today’s news will boost Exxon’s performance. But in the short term, investors have an awful lot to think about.
By far, the biggest news surrounding this story is not what it will do for Exxon or XTO shareholders, but what it will do to the natural gas market.
It’s exciting stuff, especially for those of us that just racked up triple-digit gains thanks to the industry’s recent meanderings. I’m talking to you TFN Strategic Trader members.
Here’s what I wrote for the TFN site today:
“You don’t become one of the world’s largest and most profitable companies by making dumb moves. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) proves it once again.
“The Street is buzzing today thanks to news that Exxon is printing some $31 billion worth of new shares in order to purchase XTO Energy (NYSE:XTO), one of the nation’s natural gas producing giants. It’s a major deal that has hearts skipping across a variety of sectors.
“Of course, nobody is as excited as XTO shareholders. They woke up to news of a buyout worth a 17% premium to Friday’s closing price.
“Shares of the oil and gas producer slipped by double-digit proportions over the past few months as natural gas prices slide. But now that demand is rising and gas prices are following suit, Exxon officials saw it was time to make their move. With XTO prices reaching short-term lows, Exxon made its move.
“Now that a major non-conventional gas player is making headlines, investors have their eyes on all sorts of potential buyouts. It’s almost impossible to find a company in the energy industry not trading in higher territory today.
“Two stocks you will hear a lot about over the next couple of weeks are Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) and Range Resources (NYSE:RRC).
“So far today, Chesapeake is up by over 6%, with shares trading close to $25.50 each. The company, with major holdings in all of the popular shale regions, has been a long-term target of buyout rumors. Maybe this time the speculators will be right.
“But my money is on Range Resources. It is a major player in the Marcellus region that just happened to announce significant expansion in the area this morning. Coincidence? Doubt it. It looks more like advertising.
“Range is the right size for a buyout. With a current market value of $7 billion and another $3 billion or so in debt, a buyout could come with a price tag of just over a third of Exxon’s purchase. Whoever decides to grab the company (think Shell or BP) would automatically get more than 180 Mmcf of daily gas production out of the Marcellus region.
“Of course, this is a long-term play. With gas prices plunging to ultra-low territory in recent months, any company purchasing gas assets now has a long-term outlook. With non-conventional plays hotter than a barroom pistol, major producers like Exxon are flocking to the sector in hopes of finding larger profits than their current low-margin deepwater prospects.
“For all of you fans of deepwater drilling, that is bad news, even horrid.”
Read why here.
*** Hey, lookie there. Gold’s up today. With word that Congress is ready to budget yet another couple trillion bucks, the dollar’s a tad bit weaker today.
As I write, gold is up by $3.70 per ounce and the dollar’s down just $0.0019 against the euro. Doesn’t look like buyers of either asset have much conviction.
Today’s just a short-term turnaround in the recent trend. Expect more strength from the greenback and more weakness from the gold market. By the time we sing Auld Lang Syne in a couple of weeks, gold will be trading for $1050 per ounce. That’s when you should be a buyer again.
Original source for this article: Contrarian Profits
Buy Gold, Be Smart, Diversify
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David Galland, Managing Director of Casey Research, brings you his outlook on gold, diversity and current trends in smart investing.
After a relaxing Thanksgiving break, I anticipated to return to work in a lighter frame of mind. However, the following item from FOX News crushed that hope right away:
Lawmakers Propose ‘War Surtax‘ to Pay for Troop Increase in Afghanistan
Two top Democrats say they want to impose a new tax on the wealthy to finance any increase in U.S. troops for the Afghanistan war.†
Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the purse string-controlling House Appropriations Committee, is calling the idea a “war surtax.” He said that just as the federal government is expected to pay for its proposed intervention in the health care sector with new taxes, any escalated involvement in Afghanistan should come with a payment plan.†
“If we have to pay for the health care bill, we should pay for the war as well … by having a war surtax,” Obey told ABC News in an interview that aired Monday. “The problem in this country with this issue is that the only people that has to sacrifice are military families and they’ve had to go to the well again and again and again and again, and everybody else is blithely unaffected by the war.”†
Readers of my free missive, Casey’s Daily Dispatch, know I’m vehemently opposed to the doomed adventure in Afghanistan. On that front alone, the idea of a war tax is like a shard of glass in my eye.
But it’s even worse than that. It shows just how degraded this country has become – picking the pockets of the productive is now pretty much the only remaining source of funding the administration and its allies can imagine.†
Just to be sure we keep this in perspective: At this moment, if you earn more than $250,000 a year (which isn’t what it used to be, given the steady erosion of inflation over the last 30 years), you will pay federal income taxes of about 35%, no estate taxes, and a 15% capital gains tax should the money you put at risk in the market return a profit. †
As soon as next year – if the government moves up the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, as I very much expect them to – the top tax bracket will go to 39%. On top of that, the current healthcare legislation will add a 5.4% surcharge. Then, add in the Democrats’ proposed 5% war tax. So straight up we’re talking 49%.
Then there’s a near doubling of capital gains taxes, from 15% to as high as 28%. And, of course, the return of the estate tax.
But that’s just for starters, because everywhere you look states and municipalities are raising taxes and fees, and attorney generals, taking a page out of Caligula’s playbook, are casting about for their next deep-pocketed victim.
At the end of the day, the top tax rate in the U.S., starting as early as next year, will soar way over 50% of income. While further number crunching is required, it is a very safe assumption that top income earners will soon be paying over 65% of their income in taxes.
Which is to say, if you are in a top tax bracket, every penny you earn between January 1 and August 25 will go straight into the coffers of one layer of government or another. †
And this while more than 40% of Americans pay no income taxes at all.
This is just another symptom of the single biggest problem now facing the U.S. (and for that matter, the world): the ballooning size and cost of government. And there are no speed bumps in sight.
Even so, endless complaining won’t really do anything other than raise the blood pressure. So, what can we actually do about it? Some ideas:
1. Buy gold.
As I write, gold has again broken to a new, non-inflation-adjusted high. As with all markets, it will fall back now and again, but the trend is very much up.
2. Buy gold shares.
3. Be smart about taxes.
4. Diversify globally.
Personally, I favor Argentina. Some years ago I went on a three-year quest to find paradise on earth, and Argentina was ultimately the hands-down winner.
5. Recognize the bureaucracy for what it is.
Now, there are two schools of thought as to how you deal with the bureaucrats. My dear friend and partner, Doug Casey, would tell you to take every opportunity to let the bureaucrats know you hold them in low esteem. For example, by asking airport security personnel how old they were before they realized they wanted to make a career out of pawing through people’s underwear.
The second approach is to accept that the bureaucrats, backed by the voting masses, hold most of the cards at this point. Poking at them with a stick risks unnecessary aggravation and worse. So, keeping a low profile and going about your business is certainly a rational choice.
Of course, there’s no better way of maintaining a low profile than moving to another country where you’ll be welcomed as a visitor and not viewed as a serf.
Is there no hope? One obvious scenario is for the Democrats to lose control of either the House or the Senate come next November’s elections, thereby returning the nation to some form of political gridlock. The best of all worlds, in my view. And the way things are heading, this is now a certainty.
But before you get overly excited about the prospects of a political solution, don’t forget the role the Republicrats have played in bringing the nation to this sorry state over the past several decades. If you’re holding out for an outbreak of capitalism or other signs of fiscal sanity once Republicans regain some modicum of political power, you are delusional. They may package their programs in different-colored paper, but when you rip away the wrappings, you’ll find the same statism and the same promises of a chicken in every pot.
Look after yourself – no one else is going to do it for you.
Gold has just hit a new record-high… and the small-cap Canadian explorers with good-sized deposits are sure to be dragged along into the stratosphere. In the current issue of Casey’s International Speculator, Editor Louis James names eight junior gold miners that – due to their top-quality assets – are destined to become takeover targets for the big players in the gold industry.
Get in today and watch your investment double or triple tomorrow, completely risk-free with our 3-month, 100% money-back guarantee. Learn more here.
These are not “public servants” but rather an entrenched interest group that is actively engaged in a systematic effort to look after itself, with no regard for the damage it’s doing to your family finances and to the country.Why do it? The short version is that it’s a big world out there, and there are a lot of places that are incredibly beautiful, safe, and unbelievably inexpensive. For many non-U.S. citizens, expatriating means you’ll pay no income tax, but even if you are a U.S. citizen, there are substantial tax benefits in moving offshore. And what you can save in cheaper everyday living allows you to live like royalty, for a fraction of the cost. Which means you can save more. Keep an eye on Pelosi’s tax trap – if you have appreciated assets that qualify for long-term capital gains, consider selling them before year-end to lock in the lower capital gains tax. Likewise, if you run a business and you can pull any income into this year, versus next, consider doing so.The leverage in the high-quality gold shares can boost your returns by a factor of 2X to 10X, and more. Again, there will be setbacks, but shares in the right companies with the right projects will trend higher and higher until the Mania phase kicks in, and then things will get really interesting.Unless and until there is an angry upwelling of popular discontent at the growing size of government – and it has to be far more substantive than just a few vocal talk radio jocks, or even 100,000 or so people peacefully gathering on the Mall in Washington DC – the government will continue to grow, or even just keep running at current levels, which means the destruction of the dollar. Many tangible assets will do well, but their intrinsic value as money means gold (and silver) will do best.
Original source for this article: Contrarian Profits
Capitalism is alive and well
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Baltimore – (TFN): Hallelujah, the markets work! You have no idea how happy I was this morning when I opened the Wall Street Journal and found an article detailing Goldman Sachs shareholder anger at the recent bonus payouts.
Now, I don’t care who makes what. That’s between bosses and their worker bees. But I do get a little peeved when Uncle Sam tries to tell some worker he can’t get paid per his contract.
Before you go shouting about how Washington saved Wall Street and therefore we, as taxpayers, get a say over pay, let me ask you this. Does your mortgage company tell you what color to paint little Johnnie’s room? Does your car loan provider tell you how fast to drive? Does your health insurance provider tell control your diet?
Didn’t think so.
If some congressman came barging in this office right now, demanding I slash my pay, his goons would have to hold me back as I try to kick the lunatic’s shins. But if the owner of the company came with the same request, I’d have no choice but to open my wallet (and possibly refresh my resume).
But that’s the way business works. The guys that own the joint make the decisions, not the banks and certainly not government. If the workers don’t like it, they leave. It’s supply and demand and nothing else.
As taxpayers, if we want to be angry about anything, we should be angry that our government used our money to cover somebody else’s dangerous bets.
But now that Goldman shareholders are asking the company’s top brass to reduce the size of the corporate bonus pool and pass the money onto shareholders, the company had better act. If not, the free markets are going to take charge.
Shareholders are going to hit the sell button. Prices will drop. Capital will be reduced. And Goldman executives will be in pinch once again.
That’s the way the business world really works, no matter what Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank want.
When Obama was knocking on the door, Goldman said go away. But now that Mr. Common Shareholder is on the line, next Friday’s paychecks will have a few less zeroes.
Doesn’t that make you feel good? Capitalism is still alive.
***I have my eye on China and its quickly growing, yet fragile, economy.
Earlier today, I wrote a piece for TodaysFinancialNews.com that helps illustrate the potential of the Chinese markets. Instead of nervously awaiting every bit of economic data to hit the Street, savvy international investors are racking up big gains.
Here’s a bit of what I wrote:
You could say it is the tale of two economies. The best of times in Asia, the worst of times here in the States.
While domestic investors wonder when some rogue piece of data will kick out the wobbly legs supporting the top-heavy equities market, savvy Chinese investors are raking in gains from an economy soaring ahead a 7% per year clip.
Where would you rather have your money?
A look at two of today’s winning stocks will help you decide.
Zumiez is a sports-related retailer based in Everett, Washington. With 343 stores in over 30 states, its operations are as exposed to the nation’s economy as it gets. A look at the company’s third-quarter results prove how low our expectations have gotten.
Over the past three months, the $375 million company racked up profits of $5.1 million, down from last year’s corresponding figure of $6.8 million. The earnings-per-share figure of $0.17 beat expectations of $0.15, which helps explain why shares are up by over 10% so far today.
But that’s the only reason investors have to celebrate.
The company’s fourth-quarter expectations leave little room for joy. After booking revenues of $113 million last quarter, the company expects sales of just $122 million to $126 million over the next three months, which include the critical holiday shopping period. Last year’s Q4 was worth sales of $125.
Analysts, which were expecting a figure closer to $131 million, have plenty of reasons to feel disappointed with the news.
Of course, Zumiez is not the only retailer worried about a slower-than-expected fourth quarter. Keep reading here.
*** Finally, I cannot help but smile when I see the Associated Press reporting that gas prices have fallen by more than 15% so far this month. Here’s a hot tip for their reporters: It ain’t over yet!
As you probably know, over at TFN Strategic Trader, we’ve been all over this story. In fact, just yesterday we took profits on one of our four gas-related plays. But we didn’t dump it all. Instead, we sold half of our position, locking in gains of 400%.
Now we’re playing with the house’s money.
Want to know the move that led to these massive gains? Easy… read all about it here.
Original source for this article: Contrarian Profits
What if They Stop Buying our Debt?
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Doug Hornig, senior prognosticator at The Casey Report, analyzes the alarming trend of U.S. federal debt and its future implications.
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers,” said Blanche DuBois, in the final words of the play A Streetcar Named Desire. Well, don’t we all.
Many citizens probably still cling to the old saw that public debt doesn’t matter because “we owe it to ourselves.” Wrong. Debt always matters. And as for whom we owe it to, it is a lot of kind (or, at least, not yet unkind) strangers.
As recently as 1970, foreign holders of U.S. debt were essentially non-existent. But their slice of our obligation pie has steadily increased, especially over the past two decades, until now foreign governments and international investors hold about 35% of Treasuries, as the following chart reveals.
Chart of U.S. national debt holders, domestic and foreign
Of about $11 trillion in U.S. debt, foreigners have about $3.8 trillion, with China in the lead at nearly $1 trillion and Japan not far behind at around $750 billion.
Most likely, though, this trend has already leveled off. The Chinese, Japanese, Russians, and Indians have openly announced their decision to cut back on further purchases and existing holdings of U.S. government debt. Beyond that, the source of funds previously allocated to their purchases — trade surpluses — has declined sharply with the recession. As a consequence, going forward, foreign buying is more apt to shrink than increase.
While foreigners are continuing to show up for the record-sized Treasury auctions, it’s due to the dollar retaining its status (albeit shakily) as the world’s reserve currency. But they have become quite cautious, generally investing towards the front end of the yield curve, which is a vote of no confidence in the buck’s future. As the chart below illustrates, sales of long-term bonds to foreigners are way down.Treasury bond sales graph
So what does all this mean?
It means that a big chunk of our prosperity during the past twenty years was due to a trade deficit that put billions of dollars into the hands of foreigners, who then turned around and bought Treasuries with them, helping the U.S. government finance its massive deficit spending. That’s over — and the unwinding process has just begun.
Yet federal deficit spending, far from reflecting this reality, has grown by leaps and bounds. But who will finance it? Let’s extend our first chart out a few years.
Projected U.S. Debt
As you can see, we project that foreign participation has plateaued. U.S. private domestic investors can probably increase their holdings moderately, now that households are consuming less and saving more, and financial institutions have money to invest in Treasury paper. The agencies and trusts (like Social Security) are really not a part of the equation, but rather reflect programs on “auto-pilot” and quickly headed to the point where they will negatively impact, not help, the deficits.
Adding it all together, even under the most conservative of assumptions, there are simply not enough buyers to cover the accelerating federal deficits. That leaves the lender of last resort, the Federal Reserve, as the only remaining candidate to satisfy the government’s grotesque appetite for funding. There is no viable alternative.
The Fed will take up the slack in the only way open to it, by printing money out of thin air and exchanging it for promises from the Treasury. That means an escalation of monetary inflation and, somewhere down the road, serious price inflation as well. We don’t know exactly when that will happen, only that it must.
The editors of The Casey Report have been alerting subscribers to this very possible scenario for quite some time. If foreigners stop buying U.S. government debt, the whole house of cards will come crashing down. But you can do a lot to protect yourself financially – run with the trend instead of swimming against it. Find out more about the accurate predictions of trend hunter Doug Casey and his team, and how to profit from them . . . click here.
Original source for this article: Contrarian Profits
How to play the dangerous dollar
Latest News about traditional investments.
Baltimore – (TFN): The dollar is a dangerous entity these days. Never has there been such a globally important currency with as much political and financial manipulation.
The distortions from reality are mind-boggling, yet all of us depend on the status of the simple fiat for our financial wellbeing.
The person with the most skin in the dollar game is, no doubt, President Obama. The nation’s economy hinges on the fate of the greenback and the White House knows it. That is why it is doing anything it can to slow the slide.
Even if it is entirely psychological.
Today, reports are flowing from Washington that show Obama may have plans to use up to $210 billion in TARP money to lower the nation’s ever-increasing deficit.
It is creative accounting at best and a $210 billion bribe at worst.
While the average Oprah-watching, Crocs-wearing American won’t take a second out of their do-nothing day to read below the feel-good headline, there is a handful of us that are actually paying attention.
With this idea of “paying down our debts,” it is vital to remember the Treasury didn’t pull the $700 billion in TARP funds out of some cavernous account.
We borrowed that cash. And now Obama wants to use the borrowed money to pay back our debts, minus a year’s worth of interest of course. It’s like taking out a loan to pay off your mortgage.
The timing of these rumors is more than suspicious.
Just yesterday, China slapped the currency markets in the rear by once again raising the notion of dumping the dollar and making a sudden change in its exchange-rate policy.
Ironically enough, less than 24 hours later, Obama has a $210 billion check in his hand ready to “repay” our debt.
It is money from one hand, around the back, and into the other.
But it gets better.
Obama is not the only one trying to mask Uncle Sam’s debt problems. Just about every exporting country in the world is desperate to keep the dollar strong.
They have to. Their economies depend on it.
Rumor has it countries like Russia and South Korea have been buying dollars on the open market over the past few weeks, in an effort to keep the greenback’s slide from gaining even more momentum.
The governments would rather risk devaluing their reserves than allow their economies to suffer from the effects of a weak dollar.
Looking forward, the question is how long can the manipulation last? How long can the dollar remain artificially inflated? And how long until the markets naturally take care of the situation?
While we may not know the exact answer to any of those questions, it does not take an economics scholar to realize the outcome will be horrific, at least for those of us with dollars in our pockets.
*** The solution? Buy gold. According to the top dog at Canada’s behemoth gold miner, Barrick, we have every reason to believe we surpassed “peak gold.”
That means all the easy gold has already been stripped from the ground and supplies are only going to shrink from here.
According to the CEO, Aaron Regent, global gold production peaked in 2000 and is expected to continue declining into the foreseeable future. So far, mine production is down by nearly 10%.
The news of increasing supply constraints comes at a time when demand is already surging. For those of you that were under the bleachers during Econ 101, it means prices will continue to rise.
There has been a lot of discussion about a sudden collapse in gold prices as many investors believe the current boom is merely a fear-induced bubble. Two or three months ago, I would have bought the story. But not now.
The dollar is simply too weak and foreign reserves are accumulating gold too quickly for prices to fall sharply.
China’s immense buying alone is enough to limit near-term fallout. The country has already doubled its gold reserves and Beijing continues to be a major buyer.
Just one more reason for bulls to send prices higher.
*** Just so you can’t say I don’t let you in on anything for free, I’m going to toss a freebie your way.
With gold prices reaching into record territory, it is a perfect week for Van Eck to release its Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ). The freshly created fund gives investors a stake in 38 small- to mid-sized gold miners.
For investors looking for a simple way to take advantage of the gold bull with some additional leverage, this is the ETF to do it.
Thanks to the speculative nature of junior miners, expect shares to beat the market when gold prices are surging and underperform when the bears return. For now, there is plenty of upside potential.
Original source for this article: Contrarian Profits
The Ins and Outs of Depositing by Bank Transfer and Bank Wire
Latest News Letter from AlertPay online payment system.
As you all know, AlertPay is one of the most convenient and accessible payment solutions on the web. You can make and accept instant secure credit card payments to online sellers, but you can also deposit money into your AlertPay account directly from your bank.
How to add a bank account
Adding a bank account only takes a few moments. Just follow these steps:
1. Login to your AlertPay account.
2. Click on “Profile”.
3. Under “Financial”, click on “Bank Accounts”.
4. Choose country where your bank account is located and click on “Next”.
5. Choose whether you would like to use your account for bank transfers (deposits and withdrawals) or bank wires (withdrawals only) and click on “Next”.
6. Enter bank details and click on “Next”.
7. Review details, accept the EFT authorization and confirm.If you reside in Canada or the United States, AlertPay will send two micro deposits under $0.15 to your bank account within five business days.
Once you receive the micro deposits, you will see a prompt in the “Message Center” of your AlertPay account to confirm them. Simply click the status and enter both amounts to confirm your bank account. Then you can deposit money as often as you need to.
If you reside outside of Canada or the United States, you will not receive any micro deposits. Your bank account will be ready to go; however, your transactions may fail if you do not enter your banking details correctly.
Also, you must create a deposit transaction in your AlertPay account beforehand and bring the transaction details to your bank to complete the transaction.
How to create a deposit transaction
Just login to your AlertPay account and click on “Deposit” to initiate a deposit transaction. Follow the simple steps and you are on your way. Make sure to choose either bank transfer or bank wire for your transaction.
If you wish to deposit money into your AlertPay account by bank wire, you do not need to add a bank account; you only need to create your deposit transaction and bring the transaction details to your bank.
*Bank Deposit Codes (International members only)
For those of you who are located outside North America, you can deposit by bank transfer as long as we support this service in your country. If we do, it is imperative that you note the Bank Deposit Code in your transaction details, which are presented after creating your deposit transaction in your AlertPay account.
Bank Deposit Codes are 13 digits long and begin with 34. This code is required when you visit your bank and must be included in the “Details” or “Reference” area of your bank transfer. It is very important to note that a missing Bank Deposit Code will cause delays in the completion of your transaction.
Fast Facts
- Bank transfer deposits generally take 3-5 business days to complete, but up to 6 days to complete for our Canadian members.
- Bank wire deposits take 3-4 business days.
- Bank transfers are available in 46 countries.
- You can only add a joint bank account if it is not already added to a previous or existing account. Any bank account can only be added to one AlertPay account at a time.
- If your deposit coincides with a holiday, your deposit may be delayed by a minimum of one day.Thank you for making AlertPay your way to pay!
Money Debate recommends you to open a AlertPay account.
Hooray for New Features!
Latest News Letter from AlertPay online payment system.
Hi AlertPay members,
November is going to be our most exciting month in a while! The AlertPay team has been hard at work developing all sorts of new features and functions. You will be very excited by the improvements we have made:
Credit card withdrawal
You made the request and we listened!If you have a Visa or a MasterCard, you can withdraw funds from your AlertPay account and it will automatically convert to your credit card’s currency.You can withdraw the money in your AlertPay balance to your credit card in three different currencies: USD, GBP and EUR. This makes withdrawing your money faster, more convenient and just as secure.
Please note that you will only be able to withdraw up to $250 USD (or equivalent) per transaction temporarily. We apologize, but this service is not available for American Express.
Pay in different currencies with credit card
You can make cross-border payments in three currencies USD, GBP and EUR and save money on currency exchange. All you have to do is choose the currency you wish to be billed in for that purchase and avoid paying extra fees.We apologize, but this service is not available for American Express.Phone validation
When shoppers make a credit card purchase through a website, they will receive a validation code by phone that they must enter at checkout to complete their purchase. This will help protect our sellers by preventing fraudulent payments. This applies to U.S. and Canadian shoppers alone and will only be done one time.Lower credit card fees
Now for the most exciting news of all: lower credit card fees! Members who receive credit card payments will pay a little bit less on every credit card transaction. We have lowered them from 5.0% to 4.9%, saving you just a little bit more money. And every little bit counts!And don’t forget…
Website Review is still in full swing for our online sellers. We are stream-lining the procedure to make it even easier, so stay tuned. Please leave a comment about your Website Review experience in our Facebook discussion.
That’s all for now, but we will be back very soon with more exciting updates!
Money Debate recommends you to open a AlertPay account.
