What You Need To Know About FDIC Coverage

By May Eastwood Elenore Lewis Brenda Warden Pamela Stewart

What is the FDIC

The world financial crisis has dried up the credit market, caused financial giants like Lehman Brothers to collapse, and forced big banks to merge, making many people wonder where their money will be safe. Through the FDIC or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation the bank is still the safest place to hold your money no matter what happens to your bank. In October 2008 the deposit insurance was temporarily raised to $250,000 per depositor through December 31, 2009, so if your neighborhood bank collapses you will still be gauranteed your deposit up to $250,000.

FDIC 101

Established in 1933, the FDIC was created to ensure public confidence in the banking. This worked by providing all depositors in FDIC-insured banks coverage up to $5,000 (in the 30s), and second by taking over for a failed bank to collect and sell the banks assets to settle the banks debts including claims for deposits in excess of the insured amount. The FDIC receives its funding from premiums paid by insured banks as well as earnings from its investments in US Treasury securities; no federal or state taxes are used.

What is Safe?

To take advantage of the full protection the FDIC offers, there are a couple of things to bear in mind. First FDIC coverage does not extend to all finance establishments so ask your bank if they are covered or check the FDIC site to see whether you bank is listed. Second coverage is for individual deposit accounts only up to $250,000 so no stocks, bonds, safety deposit boxes, hedge funds, etc.

How About $250,000+

For coverage beyond the $250,000 there are a few specific instances such as establishing deposits under different ownership categories where excess coverage is allowed. Revocable Trust Accounts, or a deposit account opened by people with the stated intention of the account being turned over to one or more beneficiaries upon the death of the original account holder, can get over $250,000. For example if Mr. Smith has an deposit account worth $500,000, both his son and daughter would get $250,000 each if they were the beneficiaries named on the account. - 23222

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Educate yourself regarding FDIC insurance at MindOnYourMoney.com - click to the money site and read the complete article regarding FDIC insurance.

Stock Trading Strategy: Pyramid Your profits!

By Jordan Weir

Are you one to throw caution to the wind, or do you cut your losses short, and let your profits run? It may surprise you to realize that while many traders think they cut their losses short, and let their profits run, there is a simple technique that will allow them greatly amplify those profits, while keeping their losses manageable. This technique is known as pyramiding your profits.

The art of pyramiding your profits begins with good risk management. You should risk no more then 5% of your portfolio on any given trade, and many experienced traders use numbers as low as 2-3%. This doesn't mean someone with a $50000 portfolio can only invest in $2500 worth of a companies stock, it means that when they are setting their stop loss, they must be cognizant of how much they can lose on the trade.

To determine your position size, what you do is you take the amount your willing to risk, and divide that by the amount your risking per share (the difference between the stock price, and your stop loss). So on a $20 stock, if your stop loss is at 17.50, and your risking $2500, then you do $2500/2.50 = 1000 shares. Your position size should be 1000 shares.

With your standard trade, that would be hit. An order to sell at a certain price, and order to buy at a certain price, and a stop loss. When your pyramiding your profits though, there's an integral extra step. When the stock has gone up in price, and you have some profits, you add MORE to the position. Lets say it goes up to $22.50, and you decide to move your stop loss up to $21.00. You now have 1000 in gains if you get stopped out. To pyramid your profits, you add that 1000 in gains to your risk amount for the trade, for a total of $3500. Since its now at 22.50, and we can risk up to $3500, then we should purchase another 2300 shares. (3500/1.5 = 2334).

So to recap. Stop loss at 21, we bought 1000 shares at 20, and 2300 at 22.50. If it goes down to 21, we gain 1000 on the first 1000 shares, and lose 3450 on the batch of 2300 shares, for a total loss of $2500 " the original risk amount. However, if it goes up to 25 as we originally forecast as our profit target, we've made $5000 on the original 1000 shares, and another $5750 on the second batch of 2300 shares. This is a total gain of 10750, while never risking more then $2500 in capital. The same idea can be applied to shorting as well. Its all about doing more of whats working, and less of what isn't.

Yet the applications of this strategy are important not just for the short term trader; it can be used by long term investors as well. Assuming its an up trending stock, long term investors would be well served to start with smaller positions, with a stoploss, and essentially add to the position on breakouts. This allows you to profit from the frequent megatrends in the market, while being taken out of the market if it begins going against you.

This strategy is the natural embodiment of the saying, cut your losses short and let your profits run. Its also in stark contrast to another bit of conventional wisdom, you never go broke taking a profit. While its true that you never go broke taking a profit, the size of the profits in relation to the size of the losses is very important. Pyramiding your profits increases your stake in whats working, while cutting out what isn't, and that's how you make money in the markets.

The most successful traders in the market aren't the ones who are right on 80% of their trades. Many of the most successful aren't right on 50% of their trades. A few of them aren't even breaking 30 or 40%. What separates the best from the rest isnt how often their right, but how much they make when they're right compared to how much they lose when they're wrong. By pyramiding your profits, you'll make massive gains, and small losses, which is a key to becoming a successful trader. - 23222

About the Author:

Don't even THINK investing in a company before checking out my site on Stock Trading Strategies. Learn to use Stock Option Strategies, etfs, shorting and more by visiting the Stock and Options Guru!

How to Apply for a Loan

By Sara Ferguson

After choosing the loan you want, you have to complete an application form. The application asks for details of your existing financial commitments and income. The lender uses this to assess whether you can afford to take on the loan and repay it. If you are married, both you and your spouse must be named on the application form: The lender insists upon this.

The lender also contacts credit reference agencies to obtain a copy of your credit file. Your credit file indicates whether you have any outstanding county court judgments against you, are bankrupt, or have a history of defaulting on debts.

Lenders also use credit scoring, enabling them to work out what category of borrower you are, according to your personal circumstances. This enables it to work out what APR to charge you: The higher risk you appear, the higher the APR will be.

When the lender is happy with the result of its checks, it offers you a loan. It usually takes only a few hours or days to process an application, depending on the lender. If the lender isnt happy with its findings, you may be refused a loan.

As well as being a great place to search for a loan, the Internet also provides the easiest way of applying to borrow cash. And because fewer administration costs are involved, lenders tend to offer a lower APR if you apply for your loan online rather than via the post, in person at your local branch, or over the telephone.

If youve had difficulty repaying credit in the past, you may have a bad credit history. This history is unearthed when you apply for a new loan and the lender runs a credit check on you. As a result, your application may be turned down.

Its not only people with bad credit histories who are refused credit. If you dont have a credit history because youve never had a credit card, loan, or mortgage before, the lender wont be able to figure out whether you are a good risk or not. How can the lender tell whether you are going to make your repayments every month if you havent done this before? If youre self employed you may also find it more difficult to get credit, or if youve changed jobs recently. And moving around frequently doesnt look good either.

If any of these apply to you, dont give up just yet. A number of lenders specifically target people with bad credit histories or those who have difficulty getting a loan. If you apply to one of these lenders, you increase your chances of success but you also have to pay a higher APR " because you are perceived as being higher risk. This could be more than twice as much as the cheapest loan on the market, so the extra cost can be considerable.

Even if you do pay a higher APR initially, you may not always have to pay over the odds. Once you build up a payment history, it has the same effect as rebuilding your credit history (or creating a new one). This will go on your credit file, so when you apply for credit in the future it will count in your favor and you should be able to qualify for a standard loan with a lower APR.

Alternatively, if you are having difficulty getting an unsecured loan and are a homeowner, you can opt for a secured loan. Because the lender has the added benefit of security " in other words an ultimate claim to your property if you default on your repayments " it is more likely to consider lending you money. - 23222

About the Author:

How to Invest Today is a global news source for personal finance and investor news.How to Invest Today is a free source for anyone wanting to learn investing.

Information on How to Compare Free Auto Insurance Rates

By Guiscard Mathurin

If you are comparing free auto insurance quotes, then there must be many questions that come through to you. Here are solutions to few of them.

There are many reasons why people compare auto insurance. However, before you do that, you need to know what goes behind the scenes when companies give free auto insurance quotes. While comparing the free auto insurance quotes, please note the area that you live is a major factor that affects the free auto insurance quotes. If the area that you are living in has high number of crime & thefts, then the rate will shoot above the roof for sure. If you prove to the insurance company that you have parked the car in your garage & has installed an alarm system that might help you lower the quotes.

Getting the best rate is one of the main reasons for you to compare auto insurance. The Internet provides the best answer to compare auto insurance quotes. All you have to do is simply enter some important information and the quotes for you to compare auto insurance are ready. It has been noticed that if you compare auto insurance & study it well, it will surely be beneficial for you in many ways. And for those who compare auto insurance, and do it well, they save a lot of dollars.

Now, when you compare auto insurance policies, you do that with the free auto insurance quotes that you would have got, either online or over the phone. The key is " The source from where you get these free auto insurance quotes. If it is credible enough, trust you would get good quotes for your perusal.

There are many things you could do to get quotes for the insurance coverage. While some of them may seem time-consuming to you, it is important you spend this amount of time. At stake is " The best and the most affordable auto insurance coverage for your vehicle.

Saving money is one part of the deal, but you also need to ensure you choose a respectable company when you compare auto insurance. At the end of the day, the free auto insurance quotes will only tell you certain things, and credibility of the company is definitely not something it will tell. This is for you to find out!

Getting free auto insurance quotes is not a tough ask at all. All you have to do is log on to the Internet, and get some quotes from different websites. One thing you should avoid is getting quotes from the same company, else you would spend a lot of time to compare auto insurance and yet not get anywhere.

If you do the compare auto insurance activity well, you would realize how profitable the free auto insurance quotes are for you. For starters, you will easily be able to save at least hundred dollars on your insurance coverage. Not a bad incentive that! - 23222

About the Author:

When it comes to shopping for auto insurance, we all need the cheapest possible policy that we can find. Simply calling an auto insurance agent is not enough. We need to Compare Auto Insurance Quotes from multiple insurance agents online. By contacting different companies, you can be on your way to reduce your Auto Insurance Rate in no time.

Learn To Invest, Start With An Investment Strategy

By Jane Calhoun

Everyone now knows that buy and hold is probably not the best investing strategy, if that's the only plan you have as an investor. Achieving gains over time means more involvement in choosing investments, but even more important is to learn to invest money using a defined iunvesmttnet strategy. This gives you a map for investing money regardless of market situations. It's almost like playing a game; you only see results when the game is finished, and the winner appears. The use of an investing strategy, and a plan, is what eventually will separate the winners, over time, from the losers.

An investment strategy is simply a detailed plan for how you plan to invest your money using various types of instruments to help you achieve your defined financial goals in a specific amount of time. When you choose a particular type of investment, such as stock, or mutual funds, within that category are multiple options for individual investments for you to choose from. It's similar to the way in which a clothing store sells clothes ? but the items for sale include of pants, shirts, skirts, dresses, accessories, and so on.

When you spend the time to learn to invest money methodically, in the beginning you can become overwhelmed by the variety of options for investing money. When the market is in a downturn, it becomes especially stressful, and hard to focus on what is the right choice. A strategy becomes critical, as a well as a way to stay on course and pick the right investment for your financial goals.

For investors who are not very experienced in choosing stocks, a financial planner might be a good choice to work with. Working with a professional can help you put a finer point on what you need to accomplish your financial goals and complete your plan. For exmaple, they can help you identify your risk tolerance, your resources for investing, and the time horizon over which your investments can grow.

Build a strategy first, and then trade from your plan, never from your gut. In the long term, it is the investor who does not have a plan who fares worse regardless of market sentiment. Use your plan to steer your course to financial wealth, and by applying your strategy, you'll begin to achieve your financial goals. - 23222

About the Author:

Trying to figure out the best investment for today's economy? Jane Calhoun is a blogger who writes about how to invest in stocks even in a shaky market.