Posts Tagged ‘money’
Reptiles don't Like Affirmations
Ever seen a reptile fall in love? Huh? Well, you have a reptile alive inside you now, so it is important to understand if it can. Yuck! This part of the brain is from our reptile ancestors, it’s called the “limbic system” or the stem brain.
Think like a reptile for a moment, what would you fear, what would you be interested in? How would you feel when you saw something new? I imagine most reptiles only feel reproductive pressure, hunger and fear.
Imagine you are still that reptile, and you see something new. What would that reptile do? If it moved we’d probably scamper away for fear of being eat, or try and eat it back.
Now step back into “you” again. Let’s be honest, our inner reptile has far more influence than we admit, wouldn’t you agree? We think that being a human is just one thing. But we are made up of thousands if not millions of different parts. Our brains are made up of three major parts, the stem or reptile brain, the mid-brain which deals with emotions and the rational brain. That’s just the brain. Even in our cells, our DNA needs something called RNA to interact with the rest of the body. In a way, this means that DNA is “foreign” to the body, since it needs RNA to communicate for it. Even our cells are made of parts that evolved from different animals or bacteria even. Over generations only the female genes in the something called the mitochondria get passed on. Think about that one for a bit!
Our being the sons and daughters of Eve is absolutely right. Go back through our ancestors, and a mere 6,000 generations ago we all were African from one single migration. In terms of human evolution, that’s just a blink of an eye, and we’re all really African. The difference genetically between any two humans is barely measurable. The chimpanzee, our nearest relative, is only 2-3% different from us genetically.
So what’s with the evolutionary tour? Back to the brain, the limbic system is aware in a very vague way of other parts of the brain and frankly all it really cares about is survival. It does not care or even understand being rich, happy or fulfilled. Survival. That’s it baby.
The subconscious is where the action is though. No one really knows which part of the brain it lives in, but it really does exist and much more importantly, it is where your accumulated beliefs live. Also, the subconscious does not understand negatives or have a sense of humor and is VERY literal in its interpretation of what you feed it.
The mid-brain has a richer emotional life and is aware far more than the limbic system, but it views life through an emotional lens. We were taught that our brains are completely rational and machine like. They absolutely are not. In fact, our thoughts often cause us to not take action, because we come up with so many reasons not to.
Want an example, when you are at a store and the attendant comes over and starts to sell to you, if you are marginally keen, what’s the most common phrase people use? I’ll t____________ it.
Notice that interesting second word? No emotions there. Thought tends to lead to more thought. If you forgot the phrase, would you like it? I’ll think about it.
So in the end, we usually make emotional decisions and then justify them afterwards. Think what would happen if you asked someone why they bought product X over product Y. In the end, they liked one more than the other. The decision was not made on the features of the product but on how it made us feel. Our beliefs about one product being a better “fit” for us made the choice for us, not the product itself or its actual features, we focused on the ones that mattered to us. Guess what happened next? Suppose that someone walks in just after you and to them, product Y was just so much better, no one in their right mind would choose X. Who’s right? Neither or both. Take your pick. The beliefs prompted the action and also stopped the opposite choice being made.
So what about our larger lives? How are our lives shaped by our beliefs? If beliefs can prompt us to take action, they can also stop us from taking action too. Let’s pretend you have a strong belief you can’t swim, well, you weren’t born with that belief, you developed it either because of an experience of yours or someone close to you, this in turn will stop you from learning to swim, because you believe you can’t. Of course, since you believe you can’t swim you wont!
Now let’s apply that to money. Goodness! The dreaded “M” word. Not marriage guys, money. There are few subjects on which there are more experts than around money. Remember how “literal” minded the subconscious is. Just about everyone has lots of opinions on how to make money, who deserves it and who doesn’t. Frankly, there are probably more opinions about money than sex.
Why? Well, because money is an essential ingredient to living in the 21st century, it is the means by which we can live our large dreams and achieve the kind of freedom deep down we all believe we can have. But up pop our beliefs and either say we do not deserve that life, or cannot have it because there is not enough to go around, or the rich are greedy bastards (and hey, who wants to be labeled a greedy bastard). What about the phrase “filthy rich”? In that belief world you have to be filthy to be rich. Who deep down really wants to be filthy if that’s what it takes to be rich. Does filthy sound like something you want to be? You have to be that before you can be rich.
How about “money is the root of all evil”? That’s another common one. Bad is one thing, but evil is a whole different thing altogether. Bad is more of an attitude thing with a bit of non-conforming going on. Evil is deliberately and consciously setting out to harm others. It’s probably scary just reading that sentence. Whew! Imagine how your reptile brain is reacting to that one! If that doesn’t say “danger”, what does?
It is our deepest, hidden beliefs that are guiding our lives. These beliefs are so familiar to us, that we are unaware of them. These beliefs act like a laser targeted bomb, they just zoom in on the target. Will the result be success or failure? Whether your beliefs are explosive or not will show up in the results in your life, around money, relationships and health for instance. If you are interested in changing those beliefs for more productive ones, The Science of Getting Rich is about wealth in more than just financial terms. You can also check out The Power of Simplicity.
You see, our reptile brain is alive and well, so are all the other parts of us. In our emotions, in our feelings, our thoughts and above all in our subconscious beliefs. They are all operating, but if they are all working with different goals and agendas, is it likely that you’ll get to where you consciously want to go?
The process of clearing out and harmonizing these parts of us is called spiritual growth. Since spirit is perfect already, that is entirely another post.
Although it may seem obvious to most stock market swing traders there are a number of simple rules that you can follow which will ensure that you have more success when buying stocks:
In the USA stock market there are 3 major indexes which are each made up of a basket of stocks, they are the S and P 500 (also known as the S&P500), the DOW 30 and the Nadaq 100. These stock indexes generally only contain major blue chip stocks, as long as you buy from these 3 groups you will at least know that you are getting a well known solid stock.
For example the DOW30 contains major industrials and large multinational stocks such as Home Depot (HD) and Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) whereas the Nasdaq 100 mainly contains techical companies such as Apple (AAPL) and Miscrosoft (MSFT).
Always buy a stock that is liquid, this means that it is a highly traded stock, this will enable you to easily buy and sell at the price you want without having a delay. You will also get a smaller spread, thats the difference between the BID and ASK price of the stock. For a stock to be considered very liquid it should trade at least 500,000 shares per day, ideally even more.
It is best to aviod stocks that are bellow as this usually means the company is in trouble, although with the bear market of 2008/9 there have been a lot of good stocks at bargin prices between and . Avoid buying a stock that is below at anytime.
Another consideration to make is options, does the stock has options?, this will be important if you want to trade options around your stock, such as a covered call, or you may want to buy a PUT option inorder to protect your stock.
Be very cautious about buying a stock just before it’s earnings are released, stocks often drop significantly if they come out with a poor report. Earnings are released 4 times a year with one of them being the annual report.
If you are going to trade options make sure that you learn how to trade by getting some good education. There are many swing trading strategies that work well with stocks in todays volatile markets.
A675645879
Technical analysis of the stock market, or any other market such as Forex, Bonds, Futures, is how most traders and investors make their trading decisions. This is as opposed to fundamental analysis which most people more agree is pretty much done as a way of making trading decisions, unless of course you are Warren Buffet!.
You only have to think back to major stock market scams like Enron to know that it is almost impossible for the average, and even very sophisticated fund manager or hedge fund trader to really know what the real financial state of a company is.
Just by reading the balance sheet and other quarterly reports they release gives you a very limited insight into the real health of the company. Whereas the technical charts of the company tend to give the real picture of what the market thinks of the value of the company. In the case of Enron even simple technical analysis told you to SELL when the stock was in the $80-90 range, this is why technical analysis of stocks is so popular.
So what is the secret to technical analysis?, I’m about to tell you, here are my golden rules:
* Only use 3-5 simple technical analysis indicators
* Make sure that you understand how the indicators that you have selected work, what the parameter settings are and in what market conditions they are effective
* After selecting your indicators and parameter settings don’t mess with them.
The real secret to technical analysis is to become VERY familiar with your choosen indicators, and really this can only be done by watching and studying the market, so that you get to the point that you TRUST them.
The fact is that in any market, for each bar, there are only 5 pieces of information, the open, close, high, low and volume, yet there are now hundreds of indicators. Most of these indicators are displaying much the same information and so are redundant.
For the record my set of indicators are:
* 4 Simple Moving Averages
* Bollinger Bands
* MACD
* Stochastics
But the way I use them is quite special, to learn more about how to become an expert at technical analysis visit:
A786543298
Technical analysis of the stock market, or any other market such as Forex, Bonds, Futures, is how most traders and investors make their trading decisions. This is as opposed to fundamental analysis which most people more agree is pretty much done as a way of making trading decisions, unless of course you are Warren Buffet!.
You only have to think back to major stock market scams like Enron to know that it is almost impossible for the average, and even very sophisticated fund manager or hedge fund trader to really know what the real financial state of a company is.
Just by reading the balance sheet and other quarterly reports they release gives you a very limited insight into the real health of the company. Whereas the technical charts of the company tend to give the real picture of what the market thinks of the value of the company. In the case of Enron even simple technical analysis told you to SELL when the stock was in the $80-90 range, this is why technical analysis of stocks is so popular.
So what is the secret to technical analysis?, I’m about to tell you, here are my golden rules:
* Only use 3-5 simple technical analysis indicators
* Make sure that you understand how the indicators that you have selected work, what the parameter settings are and in what market conditions they are effective
* After selecting your indicators and parameter settings don’t mess with them.
The real secret to technical analysis is to get VERY familiar with your choosen indicators, and really this can only be done by watching and studying the market, so that you get to the point that you TRUST them.
The fact is that in any market, for each bar, there are only 5 pieces of information, the open, close, high, low and volume, yet there are now hundreds of indicators. Most of these indicators are displaying the same information and so are redundant.
For the record my set of indicators are:
* 4 Simple Moving Averages
* Bollinger Bands
* MACD
* Stochastics
But the way I use them is quite special, to learn more about how to become an expert at technical analysis visit:
A907156389
Technical analysis of the stock market, or any other market such as Forex, Bonds, Futures, is how most traders and investors make their trading decisions. This is as opposed to fundamental analysis which most people more agree is pretty much done as a way of making trading decisions, unless of course you are Warren Buffet!.
You only have to think back to major stock market scams like Enron to know that it is almost impossible for the average, and even very sophisticated fund manager or hedge fund trader to really know what the real financial state of a company is.
Just by reading the balance sheet and other quarterly reports they release gives you a very limited insight into the real health of the company. Whereas the technical charts of the company tend to give the real picture of what the market thinks of the value of the company. In the case of Enron even simple technical analysis told you to SELL when the stock was in the $80-90 range, this is why technical analysis of stocks is so popular.
So what is the secret to technical analysis?, I’m about to tell you, here are my golden rules:
* Only use 3-5 simple technical analysis indicators
* Make sure that you understand how the indicators that you have selected work, what the parameter settings are and in what market conditions they are effective
* After selecting your indicators and parameter settings don’t mess with them.
The real secret to technical analysis is to get VERY familiar with your choosen indicators, and really this can only be done by watching and studying the market, so that you get to the point that you TRUST them.
The fact is that in any market, for each bar, there are only 5 pieces of information, the open, close, high, low and volume, yet there are now hundreds of indicators. Most of these indicators are displaying much the same information and so are redundant.
For the record my set of indicators are:
* 4 Simple Moving Averages
* Bollinger Bands
* MACD
* Stochastics
But the way I use them is quite special, to learn more about how to become an expert at technical analysis visit:
A767342187
Technical analysis of the stock market, or any other market such as Forex, futures, is how most traders and investors make their trading decisions. This is as opposed to fundamental analysis which most people more agree is pretty much done as a way of making trading decisions, unless of course you are Warren Buffet!.
You only have to think back to recent stock market scams like Enron to know that it is almost impossible for the average, and even very sophisticated fund manager or hedge fund trader to really know what the real financial state of a company is.
Just by reading the balance sheet and other quaterly reports they release gives you a very poor insight into the real health of the company. Whereas the technical analysis charts of the company tend to give the real picture of what the market thinks of the value of the company. In the case of Enron even simple technical analysis told you to SELL when the stock was in the $80-90 range, this is why technical analysis of stocks is so popular.
So what are the secrets to technical analysis?, I’m about to tell you, here are my golden rules:
* Only use 3-5 simple technical analysis indicators
* Make sure that you understand how the indicators that you have selected work, what the parameter settings are and in what market conditions they are effective
* After selecting your indicators and parameter settings don’t mess with them.
The real secret to technical analysis is to become VERY familiar with your choosen indicators, and really this can only be done by watching and studying the market, so that you get to the point that you TRUST them.
The fact is that in any market, for each bar, there are only 5 pieces of information, the open, close, high, low and volume, yet there are now hundreds of indicators. Most of these indicators are displaying the same information and so are redundant.
For the record my set of indicators are:
* 4 Simple Moving Averages
* Bollinger Bands
* MACD
* Stochastics
But the way I use them is quite special, to learn more about how to become an expert at technical analysis visit:
A875645387
There is a lot of hype surrounding trading options, and for good reason, it’s a good way make a lot of money fast, or can be used to grow your capital consistently month after month.
There’s also a lot of hype about how complicated it is and why you need to spend thousands of dollars on options trading education before you get started. Needless to say this last statement usually comes from trading seminar companies trying to sell your their trading course on options.
Lets cover a few of the basics about options and set you straight about a few important points. Firstly yes it is true that you can make a lot of money trading options, but of course you can also lose money just as fast.
When trading stocks your leverage is 1:1, if you go on margin you can get get 1:2 leverage, but thats about it. With options it is not as straight forward to calculate the leverage but generally speaking you can get between 1:5 and 1:10 when you buy an option on a stock, or ETF.
So with 1:10 leverage, when the stock increases by 5% your option can increase by approx 50%, and this can happen in just a few days, this is why swing trading strategies using options on stocks is so popular.
However the downside is that the reverse can happen, if the stock drops by 5% your option can also drop by 50%, at which point you may want to close the trade and save some of your option value, it really depends on what your stop loss and risk management plan is.
What I’ve just described is called directional option trading where you are betting on the getting the direction of the stock movement correct, this is highly speculative. Options can also be used in option strategies which are much more non directional, such as covered call trades, credit spreads and Iron Condors. In these trades there is much less dependance on getting the stock direction correct, but it still matters.
So should you trades options?, in my opinion you should not do directional option trades until you become an expert stock trader 1st. This is because you really need to be very precise with your entry and exit strategy and trading plan, and be very good at technical analysis.
Whereas if you want to do non directional option trades you don’t need to be such an experianced stock trader to be successful, but of course it does not hurt either.
Learning how to trade options is a very good skill to have, but don’t rush into it and blow out your account. Make sure that you get a good options trading education before you start, and also make sure that you have a very solid stock trading education as well, such one from Top Dog Trading Review.
Bonds are one of the main stream types of investment along with stocks and real estate, and if you want to learn how to trade bonds make sure that you get a good education in the subject 1st. There are certain things you must understand about bonds before you start investing in them. Not understanding these things may cause you to purchase the wrong bonds, at the wrong maturity date.
Like all investments it is important to learn about what you are investing in, and certainly don’t just take the advice given to you by a bond seller without checking it out first yourself. The three most important things that must be considered when purchasing a bond include the par value, the maturity date, and the coupon rate.
The par value of a bond refers to the amount of money you will receive when the bond reaches its maturity date. In other words, you will receive your initial investment cash back when the bond reaches maturity.
The maturity date is of course the date that the bond will reach its full value. On this date, you will receive your initial investment, and the interest that your money has earned.
Corporate and State and Local Government bonds can be “called” before they reach their maturity, at which time the corporation or issuing Government will return your initial investment, along with the cash that it has earned thus far. Federal bonds can not be “called”.
The coupon rate is the interest rate that you will receive when the bond reaches maturity. This number is written as a percentage, and you must use other information to find out what the interest will be. A bond that has a par value of 00, with a coupon rate of 5% would earn 0 per year until it reaches maturity.
Because bonds are not issued by banks, many people don’t understand how to go about buying one. There are two ways this can be done.
You can use a broker or brokerage firm to buy them for you or you can go directly to the Government. If you use a brokerage, you will more than likely be charged a commission fee. If you want to use a broker, you should shop around for the lowest commissions!
Purchasing directly through the Government is not nearly as hard as it once was. There is a program called Treasury Direct which will allow you to purchase bonds and all of your bonds will be held in one account, that you will have easy access to. This will allow you to avoid using a broker or brokerage firm.
More advanced traders may try to buy and sell bonds to take advantage of the price movements, you can even swing trade them. But this is a very risky business if you don’t know what you are doing, you will need to take a swing trading course if this was something that wanted to, but again most people just buy and hold.
A890578432
There is a lot of hype surrounding options trading, and for good reason, it’s a good way make a lot of cash fast, or can be used to grow your capital consistently month after month.
There’s also a lot of hype about how complicated it is to learn and why you need to spend thousands of dollars on options trading education before you get started. Needless to say this last statement usually comes from trading seminar companies trying to sell your their trading course on options.
Lets cover a few of the basics about options trading and set you straight about a few important points. Firstly yes it is true that you can make a lot of money trading options, but of course you can also lose money just as fast.
When trading stocks your leverage is 1:1, if you go on margin you can get get 1:2 leverage, but thats about it. With options it is not as straight forward to calculate the leverage but generally speaking you can get between 1:5 and 1:10 when you buy an option on a stock, or ETF.
So with 1:10 leverage, when the stock increases by 5% your option can increase by approx 50%, and this can happen in just a few days, this is why swing trading strategies using options on stocks is so popular.
However the downside is that a big loss can also happen, if the stock drops by 5% your option can also drop by 50%, at which point you may want to close the trade and save some of your option value, it really depends on what your stop loss and risk.
What I’ve just described is called directional option trading where you are betting on the getting the direction of the stock movement correct, this is highly speculative. Options can also be used in option strategies which are much more non directional, such as covered call trades, credit spreads and Iron Condors. In these trades there is much lower dependance on getting the stock direction correct, but it still matters.
So should you trades options?, in my opinion you should not do directional option trades until you become an expert stock trader 1st. This is because you really need to be very precise with your entry and exit strategy and trading plan, and be very good at technical analysis.
Whereas if you want to do non-directional option trades you don’t need to be such an experianced stock trader to be successful, but of course it does not hurt either.
Learning how to trade options is a very useful skill you have, but don’t rush into it and blow out your account. Make sure that you get a good options trading education before you start, and also make sure that you have a very solid stock trading education as well, such one from Top Dog Trading Review.
Did you realize there are government agencies to help you get government grants and loans? Even with bad credit history, you can apply for government grants and loans which will actually help fix your credit.
In order to qualify, you will of course have to jump through a few hoops to qualify. If you, for example, had been turned down by two lending agencies for a loan or credit this may qualify you for a government program. Let’s suppose you want to buy a used car and you been turned down for a loan by two dealerships, this could meet the requirements set down by the government.
There are all sorts of government grants and loans available, such as money to help you start a business, grants for a single parent or if you have to care for a foster child. If you choose to pursue a higher education in college or through university, there are student loans and grants waiting for you. After going through all the red tape to qualify for government loan you will find that the interest rate is very reasonable on paying back the money, which can be very beneficial to you.
Once you qualify for a grant or loan you have a responsibility to pay it back in a timely manner or be faced with harsh penalties and flagged for the next time you apply. The government has the right to take money directly out of your bank account or garnish your wages. Even an inheritance isn’t safe if you default on money borrowed from the government, and you can bet they will claim first rights to any inheritance money you receive. Just remember to always honor your responsibility when it comes to paying back debt especially to the government. Big Brother will be watching.
The government also offers grants to help people get back on their feet and pay off their creditors. A grant is free money which does not have to be paid back, which makes them even more appealing. However, if you use the money for anything else other than its intended purpose and they find out, down come the penalties. Even worse, you could be prosecuted and sent to jail so consider the warning.
In a bad economy where so many are losing jobs and cannot pay their creditors, with new bill passed in Congress there is help out there, if you look hard enough. The bill entitles the qualified applicant the right to use legal aid and greatly reduced legal fees, accessible across the country. The government can offer you advice and even intervene to help you negotiate with your creditors. Credit counseling is also available for free for those that need it.
If you’re really stuck Housing and Urban Development (HUD) can help with your rent payment temporarily until you get back on your feet.If you’re a first-time home buyer with credit that’s not so great, HUD can also help you buy a house.Even with less than stellar credit you can still borrow up to 500K at low interest to purchase a home, protected under the Home Buyers Bill of Rights.
Many people these days can get themselves in a bad situation due to this bad economy but don’t get discouraged there’s always hope. Contact your lending an institution or local government agency to find out more about government loans and grants.