Why Should I consolidate Retirement Accounts?

Posted by Tony Bellows | Investing | Monday 26 January 2009 5:06 am
by Frank Dodd

The average person switches jobs several times in their life. It is very rare that someone work for the same company the entire length of his/her career. Most companies offer a retirement plan in the form of a 401k, so the average person may come into ownership of several 401k accounts by the time they retire.

When you change jobs and your new company offers its own 401k, what should you do? You may be interested in a 401k rollover to IRA.

Transferring your 401K to an IRA fund comes with several benefits. I would like to talk now about a few of them.

For starters, imagine someone who changes companies 3 times in their life. That would leave them with 3 401k’s from their previous employers and 1 from their current employer. That can get really messy for you. That means you would have 4 times the paperwork to keep up with and monitor to manage your portfolio the way you should. If you are like me, that extra paperwork may cause you to be lax in managing the account and could lead to financial ruin in your retirement years.

Putting your previous 401k accounts into an IRA will consolidate your retirement plans and make life a lot easier. You will reduce paper and be able to pay better attention where it counts. Changing jobs 3 times would not matter. You could roll as many 401k’s as you’d like into the one IRA. And the person above would only have 2 accounts instead of 4 (1 IRA and 1 401K with the current employer.

By leaving your 401K plans in the management of your previous employers you also increase the risk of losing your retirement savings. Those companies may go under and leave you with next to nothing. But rolling over the accounts all into your personal IRA with a financial institution reduces your risk factor a great deal.

And the ultimate benefit is that you leave yourself in control of your own future instead of having others do it for you.

The 401K offers to match your investment 100%, and you don’t see an offer like that from most investment opportunities. So take advantage of it and contribute the maximum that the employer will match. Then put the extra funds into your IRA.

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The Golden Stock Market Trading Rules

Posted by Singapore Trader Report | Currencies | Monday 26 January 2009 4:50 am
by Singapore Trader Report

When you start out Stock Market Tradingit is important that you set up some rules and guidelines for how you are going to trade. As without rules and guidelines you are trading without a goal in mind. Over 90% of traders will end up going broke and not making money from the market, and the one of the key reasons is because they have no rules. Here are some Rules to Get you started.

At the CFD FX Report we are big believers in these rules and we make sure that we are continually educating our members on becoming better traders.

If you are looking for a great Forex Broker that can help you implement these rules then please feel free to contact us support@cfdfxreport.com

1. You should never over-trade- Don’t trade for trades sake 2. Make sure that you never risk more than 10% of your trading capital in a single trade, protecting your capital is very important. There will be more trade opportunities 3. Ensure that you never trade without protective stops and use trailing stops 4. Don’t cancel a stop-loss after placing the trade- otherwise get out 5. Never average down on a losing trade 6. When you get into a profit never let it run into a loss. 7. Never buy or sell just because the price is low or high, as what is high and low 8. Never try to guess tops or bottoms- otherwise go to the casino and pick black or red 9. You should never limit a profiting trade, instead move your stops to guarantee a profit- ideal trading is as soon as you get into a good profit at aleast ensure a break even 10. You should never close a position toget out of the market because you have lost patience or get in because you are anxious from waiting. 11. Please never hedge a losing position. 12. Never change your position or close a trade without a good reason. 13. Never follow a blind man’s advice, everyone has trading sure things. Use systematically approach 14. Make sure that you never enter a trade if you are unsure of the trend. Never buck a trend. Remember the rule TREND IS YOUR FRIEND 15. Try to avoid scalping for small profits and taking large losses if you scalp you need tight stops 16. Avoid trading after long periods of failure- take a break, reasses and reset your rules 17. If you have a great run don’t keep increasing your trade size 18. Avoid getting in wrong or getting in right and out wrong, making a double mistake. 19. Always identify strong support/resistance levels. 20. Always lock in a profit at predetermined increments on profiting trades. 21. EVERY trade must have stop losses 22. Always distribute your risk equally among different markets. 23. Don’t be a one trick pony, make money from both sides of the market 24. Always reduce trading after the first loss; never increase. 25. Always cut your losses short and let your profits run. 26. When in doubt, get out. Do not get in when in doubt. 27. Only trade active markets- illiquid markets will leave you thirsty 28. Only pyramid trades that have a strong trend and should be accomplished once the price has crossed support/resistance. 29. Profits from a successful trade should be kept for future trade margins or put somewhere else, spread the risk.

Some Further Guide lines

Who are you? Are you a risk taker? Can you afford to lose money? First thing to do is to understand yourself the type of trader that you are, whether aggressive or conservative, long-term or short. If you are short term and trade goes bad, cut it, don’t become a long term trader, otherwise you buying and hoping, not even buying and holding. Have a trading strategy before entering the market. Know before the trade is executed where you will take profits/loss. Understand why a win/loss occurred and how you could of made the trade better. Consistency is the key to trading success, without it you have nothing. Your judgment is the only concern, do not let outside factors affect the way you trade. Not everyone can be a trader, deem yourself worthy if given this opportunity.

Most importantly have fun and stick to your rules.

Happy Trading

CFD FX REPORT is a real time tool for clients with an interest in the trading of stocks, indices and commodities globally.CFDs (Contracts For Differences) are one of the worlds’ fastest growing trading instruments that allows clients to profit from a rising and falling market. The CFD FX Report is a company comprising of expert traders that analyse the market daily and are able to make recommendations for the following day trades based on this analysis. The CFD FX Report is released everyday at 6.30 p.m. (Singapore time) for review by the clients for the next trading day.

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Curious About How To Make Money Day Trading?

Posted by Sam Lockwood | Stock market | Monday 26 January 2009 4:26 am
by Sam Lockwood

Day trading is one way to make money by buying and selling stocks. You’re using the volatility of the market over the course of the day to make your money. The stock market at the moment is one of the best ones for day trading in more than ten years, since stock prices keep swinging widely.

Through short selling, day traders can profit from stocks even when it looks like the price is on its way down. In every case, day traders will need to use a broker, and to pay very close attention to two basic indicators. These are the NDIX and the TDISC. At the beginning of trading on a particular day, these will tell you a lot about several different exchanges. They’re extremely sensitive to volatility, so if the market’s going up, the NDIX will rise by two thousand ticks or more in a half hour after opening. If it’s going down, the TDISC will drop by that much in the same period.

These rapid fluctuations are how day traders make their money. Doing quick buys and sells are the way that people in this kind of trading make a lot of money. However, these are also the way that they lose it all, if they’re not careful. If you’re day trading, you won’t be buying for the long term. That means it’s tempting to ignore your research and buy in volume. You may get lucky, but most times this doesn’t happen.

Remember that day trading isn’t a passive income source like some other methods. It’s a job! If you’re going to get into day trading, take a good Internet course or seminar, and make sure you know everything you need to get started.

In addition to basic knowledge, you will also require a brokerage account. After all, one of the big tricks for day trading is short selling. This is when you borrow a share of stock from the broker you work with, then sell it right away. You’re planning to buy another share to give back to him with it comes due. When the price of stock goes down, you make a profit. Time things correctly and read the market right and you’ll find things working out well. You can also move larger amounts using leverage.

The opposite of short selling is deciding to borrow or buy a share of stock at one price, then selling it the same day for a higher price.

If you’re going to get into day trading, you have to have excellent skills of observation and strong nerves. You also need to have a short memory – at least when you want to. That’s because you’re going to see losses and you have to be able to look at them objectively and without panicking.

One thing that is possible, using the right tutorials and programs, is doing day trading from your home. You need to have a very good plan to execute your trades, and you must make sure you accomplish them before the last half hour of the trading day.

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