401k Advice

By Mike Swanson

The majority of us believe that we are invincible in our teens and early 20s. But, as time passes, we realize that we are not and are in need of 401k advice. That is why you should invest for retirement. Perhaps you are able to survive on a smaller income in your youth, but later on, it becomes too difficult.

For instance, as a senior, the body and the mind can change and not function as they did in the past. This can make working very difficult, if you can even find a job. Furthermore, it makes movement quite difficult. In addition to that, medications are required to help with pains and diseases which are very costly. A government pension is usually not enough to cover all the living expenses.

Therefore, it is imperative to make good investments, and the younger you start to better. If you begin to invest for your future when you are in your late teens or early 20s, your money will continue to grow for longer, and you will have accumulated much more in interest. This may actually lead you to have a comfortable retirement instead of just something to help pay the bills.

Learning how to properly place your money can make all the difference. You must have a balanced portfolio for the different fluctuations in the market. For example, some people choose high risk investments, while others only feel comfortable with low risk or guaranteed investments. Of course, the latter earns much less interest than the former. But in all, it is important to have some of each.

Think about what you want to achieve before placing your money. Budget yourself accordingly, and be completely honest about how much you need to live, and how much you can put aside for the future.

It is important to know what you are comfortable with regarding your money. Can you handle high risk investments? If not, there are many safe and secure ones to choose from as well, such as gold, government bonds, GICs, to name a few. You must be able to see the big picture and know that your investment will need many years to grow and mature. - 23309

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For more articles from Mike Swanson sign up to his stock market beginners newsletter.

New To Forex?

By Thomas Gregory

Forex or the Foreign Exchange is a very dynamic market that is trading over two trillion dollars a day. So what are they trading? Well it is actually the buying and selling of money. Major foreign currencies to be exact. And with the massive amounts of money moving through it each day you can see what all the fuss is about!

Why would we need to sell and buy major currencies? Doesn't really make sense, money is for goods and services, right? If you stop and think it through, it's not really that weird. What if you are traveling abroad? When you arrive in the foreign country the first thing you do is go to the currency exchange and convert your money into the local currency, right? You then do the same thing in reverse when you arrive back home. Now in these small transactions you may make a little money or lose a little money depending on the exchange rate. This is the basis for forex trading.

These same transactions are happening on usually a much larger scale and much more often on the forex market. The difference is a forex trader is not exchanging money because he returned from a trip abroad. He is doing this to try and take advantage of the shifts in exchange rates. This allows him to profit and if you know what you are doing you too can profit very handsomely and regularly.

Now if you are looking to day trade forex, this can be very appealing. Not only can you sit at home, but you can do it 24 hours a day. This is because forex is traded globally and as one market is closing the next market is opening for business. This allows for almost non stop trading action and profit possibilities. Very exciting!

To get into day trading forex currency one only needs a computer and a high speed internet connection. Like trading stocks, there are certain minimum deposits to open an account. But these are relatively cheap compared to the amount of money that can be made.

What's great about forex is even a newbie can get started today. There are hundreds of automated trading software to help you get going. These robots or expert advisors will log into your account and make trades any time you set it for. This protects you from big market swings even while you sleep.

Hopefully all this is sounding exciting to you right now and thoughts of big profits are pulling at you, but I must warn that you do need to be careful. If you do not know what you are doing you can lose a lot of money too. Make sure you do your homework and learn as much as you can. This will all aid you in more successful trades. Also making mistakes is the best way to learn. Just remember to risk what you can afford to lose. Don't give up, it does take some time.

Foreign exchange used to be done only between governments, banks, and large companies. Thanks to the internet, we all have the ability to day trade forex. If day trading forex currency sounds exciting to you then don't be afraid to jump right in! It can be very rewarding and profitable, but we all need to start somewhere, so here is to your first step! - 23309

About the Author:

Want to find out more about day trading forex currency, then visit Jim Sullivan's Blog, http://TradingForexBlog.com. He covers it all, so you too can day trade forex.

Signals In Forex

By Theo Wright

The forex market provides traders with the ability to make astounding amounts of money in a short period of time. You can go from rags to riches. You can work from any location you choose during any hours that you choose. It can provide freedom from the rat race and bring you the life that you've always wanted.

You can do it, success in the forex market can happen, as long as you know when to get in and when to get out. Now due to the extreme volatility in the forex market this is easier said than done. But once you get some experience, it can become second nature.

Now traders with experience know when to enter a trade, which direction, and then when to get out. It takes years of studying the market to get good at this which can be a turn off to the newbie internet trader. However using forex signals can help you beat the learning curve or at least help you start making a profit more quickly.

Let's imagine that you are a trader (forex) and your sitting at your computer ready to go. Platform is up and money is in the account. You are watching the market and waiting for the perfect time to jump in. A new email comes through letting know to buy the USD/CHF pair. You submit the trade into your platform always taking into account how much you can afford to risk. You let the trade run live and before you know it another emails comes through saying to close out your position. You do so and notice the you had a nice win. The trade was profitable and your day was set. This is the idea of forex signals.

Signals in Forex let you leverage the experience of veteran traders and help you become profitable on your own. You don't even need to go to school or take a class but I do recommend a course if you are just starting out. You can do it on your own which saves you money on someone managing your finances or your trades.

With forex signals, you handle all of the trades personally. Someone who knows more about forex trading than you do will send you an alert when it's time to make a trade. Obviously, you can see the beauty of this scenario. Don't spend any of your time learning the craft, but still profit handsomely from the dynamic forex market.

Now that being said, finding someone experienced and successful will be the key to your own success. Taking forex signals from someone who doesn't have a clue themselves will pretty much leave you broke and not much better off. Make sure you do some research and make sure the signals are actually profitable.

The first thing you should do is test your signals on a demo account. Hopefully a majority of them are good and profitable. Nothing is one hundred percent all the time. Then if you are feeling comfortable and confident with your source its time to sign up for the forex signals. Only thing left to do is trade and make money! - 23309

About the Author:

If you interested in learning more about forex signals or automated forex trading check out a great blog by Jim Sullivan.

Forex Pairs

By Paul Bryan

In Forex, one currency is bought against selling of another currency. A quotation of two different currencies is depicted by a Currency Pair. The first currency is called the Base (or Transaction) Currency and the second one in the pair is called Quote (or Counter) Currency. It simply means how many units of a counter currency are required to buy a unit of base currency. The four most important currency pairs are USD/EUR, USD/CHF, JPY/USD, and USD/GBP.

The price of a pair is written in the decimal form with four digits to the right and one digit to the left of the decimal point. The base currency is said to be getting stronger than the counter currency if the value of the quote moves from a lower value to a higher value. The opposite happens if the quote value shifts from a higher to a lower value. A trader in the long position makes profit if the price of a currency pair rises. But a trader in the short position loses out on money in case of price rise.

The price movements shown by the Exchange Rate in the Forex Trading are measured by the Percentage In Point (pip). Generally all the pairs show a pip equal to 0.0001. But the USD/JPY shows and exceptional pip equal to 0.01.

The Ask price can be defined as the price at which a Broker sells the currency price and the Trader buys one. The Bid price is defined as the price at which the Broker buys a currency pair and the Trader sells one.

The difference between the Bid price and the Ask price is called a Spread, which expressed in terms of PIP. A Cross Rate currency pair does not include USD or EUR. Pairs involving EUR are called Euro Crosses.

During a transaction a deposit is required from the Trader and the ratios between the contract value and the deposit is called Leverage. In order to cover the brokers credit risk, the opening of a position requires an initial investment called Margin. The inverse value of leverage gives the percentage margin requirement.

The most traded and liquid currency pairs are called Majors. Any kind of transaction, involving Majors, account for 90% of the total Forex trading. The EUR/USD and USD/JPY are the most important currency pairs that are actively traded. The GBP/USD rank third, whereas EUR/JPY rank fourth.

The Forex and Contract for Difference Trading involves a high level of risk to your capital investments. This makes it possible for you to lose out on money and hence prove to be unsuitable for certain traders. You should thus seek advice from people who are already into this and carefully go through all Risk Warning Notices. - 23309

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If you are looking for the top forex advice and tips and want to know more about trading currencies why not go to: Currency Pairs

New to Forex? Read This First...

By Ash Naeck

The word trading is as old as mankind himself and is still present in nowadays world. Although it comes in different forms and processes, trading carries the same principle that it did thousands of years ago, which is the exchange of a particular good for another.

The origins of trading come from a process named bartering. The barter process is simply an exchange of goods. In the early times, one would trade an apple, for argument sake, to get a potato in return.

In present time, bartering has evolved and though the principals are the same, trading one good for another is made easy by the use of money. Money is the medium that makes trading possible and without this piece of paper no goods and services may be acquired.

Trading in the world we live in has taken a new proportion which involves more than the exchange of goods and services only. The century that we live in has seen the birth of currency traders. They are the one who buys/sells the currency of one country to that of another country.

The market which is being referred to is the Forex market. The biggest most traded market on the planet. With a colossal US$ 3.5 Trillion traded every single day, this value is more significant when compared to all the other financial markets put together.

Millions of dollars are traded by major corporations daily. These companies form part of the wholesale market and comprises of banks and big hedge funds. They have the power to move the market from one direction to the other due to the large volume and amount of money traded on every single position taken. Those moves usually results in currencies going up and down in any single day thus changing the quotes of each currency throughout the day. The change in quotes most likely relates to profit made or loss incurred.

The forex market tends to be more attractive than most of the existing markets on the planet. The reason being is because the forex market is a 24-hour open market. A normal trading day starts in Sydney, then Tokyo, Europe, London and ends up in New York City which is the last market to close for the day.

The most traded pair on the currency market is the major which is made up of the EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CHF and USD/JPY. The Yen pairs and the Commodity pairs come second on the list. These pairs are the GBP/JPY, EUR/JPY, AUD/USD, USD/CAD and NZD/USD.

My experience with trading begun when I was still in university, I had no clue of the dynamics of the market at his stage. Basically I was quite confused to how this process, which is the buying and selling of currencies, actually worked. After some readings, it all made sense. What I found is that not only could money help acquire goods and services but it could also be used to buy or sell another currency in some other countries.

Buying and selling currencies are undertaken by people known as forex traders. They simply take advantage of a falling currency or the appreciation of another currency to make money. A decent amount of money can be made using the technique of buying and selling currencies. Savvy forex traders make a great living doing just that.

It is very easy in the actual world we live to get involved in currency trading.

To get started, all you need is:

- A decent computer

- Acces to Internet

- Some money as start-up capital

- A broker

Looks quite easy in hind-sight, right?

Education is something that you will need to consider and I strongly recommend that you do educate yourself before jumping in this amazing forex adventure. With 5 years of trading under my belt I still learn new things every single day. Be humble, disciplined and teachable, do not try to make millions in a matter of days. Have a plan and a solid goal setting as this will pave your way to success. - 23309

About the Author:

Want to find out more about forex trading, then visit Ash Naeck's site on how to choose the best Forex education for your needs!