Option Trading – Thinking “Outside The Box” Wouldn't it be great if we could buy an option with five months left until expiration and sell an option with 2 months left until expiration for the same price? You couldn't lose Well we can't I love options spreads so much I realized something very important We can buy a spread that has a lot of time value left at almost the same price as we can sell one with less time value ...

ETFs Unplugged Is your financial advisor missing a critical piece to the ETF? Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are great investment tools but most have a flaw that investors and advisors usually miss LetÂ’s take a look under the hood and introduce some new and innovative ETF products Essentially, ETFs are nothing more than an index fund that trades like a stock Because of their simplicity, flexibility, low cost and tax efficiency they are growing fast Last year the Barclays iShares family of ETFs ...

Money Matters Choosing a bank should be a well-researched project Which bank is the best for you depends on what features and amenities you most value, as well as the use and frequency of use you plan on making of your bank Banks come in a variety of sizes Some are small town banks with but a few local offices Others can be found all over town, and even all over the state Which you choose depends on what you're looking ...

Could Your Income Survive A Hurricane? As you know, Hurricane Katrina has caused destruction and devastation across several states Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and are unable to work since the storm Businesses have been closed for weeks The economical impact is unimaginable No one knows what the effects will be — weeks, months, even years from now How would weeks, or months, of lost income affect your family? This event is another solid reminder of how important ...

Cashflow Problems: How To Get Your Money One of the most common problems that affects businesses is that their customers owe them money When you've done the work but people are being slow to pay you, you can get behind with bills and be short of money to invest in your business This is, understandably, an annoying situation -- you're being chased for debts that other people refuse to pay There are, though, a few ways to improve your customers' ...

How Buying Invoices Works If you have a problem with cash flow, you might consider finding a company that engages in buying invoices to get you on the right track again Often, through no fault of their own, small and large companies find themselves in a bind because they don't have enough cash to meet debt payments, to pay employees, or to invest in needed materials and manpower in order to bid on lucrative, time-sensitive contracts In these cases and ...

Planning For Retirement When looking towards retirement many people just think about the joy of not having to work anymore Unfortunately, even though a person retires they still have bills to pay The need for careful planning is perhaps the most overlooked part of retirement Having a set plan in place before retirement will help to ensure the golden years are golden The following list gives some great points on how to plan for retirement 1 Save money Before retirement setting up ...

How Do Interest Rates Work? One of the most confusing things about borrowing money is calculating the interest rates Interest rates vary and when you go to take out a loan or a mortgage it might seem intimidating when the loan officer starts talking about interest rates per annum, nominal rates and market interest rates There are different types of interest rates depending on whether you are borrowing money or investing money When you are borrowing money you have to ...

Free Money for Your Retirement? It can be more than a little discouraging to start making retirement planning calculations You’ll usually find that to achieve the annual retirement income you want, you need to be saving a lot more than is practical Suppose, for example, that you use a program like Quicken or Microsoft Money to determine that your retirement savings should equal to $5,200 a year—which is the same as $450 a month (This savings amount will produce roughly $15,000 ...

Why Planning Your "Re-Fired" Retirement Is Vitally Important Just about all of us plan to retire one day You may visualize yourself with plenty of free time on your hands, no commute, and finally with an opportunity to travel with the person you love But statistics show that golden dream comes true for only a very few of Americans Some studies reveal less than 10 percent of us ever retire Even more alarming, other studies show a large percentage die within ...