Index Trading VS. Stock Day Trading

By Doug R. West

Some think Index Trading has something to do with day trading stocks.

We prefer Index Trading, there really is no comparison to day trading stocks. With stock trading there are Many things you really need to know about the companies you will be buying or selling short. In fact, the majority of stock traders Never sell a stock short or bet against the company (which means you are betting the stock price will drop). Not being able to profit in a down trending market is a Major setback for an investor.

With Index trading we are only concerned with index movement. We don't even care if it is going up or down. We just want the index price to move! We can place our trades short or long with equal eaze. There is no market or company research to do, as we really don't care what the individual companies are doing.

For instance, if you were looking at a company with the thought of buying stock, you would no doubt want to know what the PE ratio was, who the board members or major stock holders are. You should want to know if they are buying or selling. You might want to know what the BIG fund companies are doing in that sector (finance, health care, big pharma, tech sector etc), and many other factors (or at least you should). Then you might use a chart to time your entry or exit strategy.

With index trading, it is all about the timing. You just want to know what the highest probability is for the next few minutes. Then you make your trade accordingly. If you have dependable data supporting your chart set ups, then you should take winning trades most of the time - Regardless of the fundamentals listed above!

By now you should know that what is happening right now in the market is controled by emotion. More correctly traders emotion. We can tune into that emotion with simple set ups, and go for a short ride. We might even get into a long ride, but we are going to set up protection that will help us no matter which way it goes. When the index moves against us, we will get out fairly quickly. When it moves in our favor, we will let it ride as long as we can.

Now, if you just enjoy doing all that market research, go ahead. However, we have taught hundreds of stock investors to trade the index (mostly mini Dow and the S&P Emini), and the majority of them never go back to stocks!

Another advantage of index trading is the lower funding requirement. Stock day traders will need at least $25,000 in their accounts (depending on how many trades they make), where index traders can get started for $2,000 or less!

Index trading also offers a lot better leverage that stocks. The emini indicies are comparable to the leverage of stock options, without all the headaches and limitations.

After the financial meltdown, I predict there will be MANY more investors looking at index trading as a Great alternative to stocks!

About the Author:

Mini-Dow Index Trading Made Simple. Discover how to build your trading income. Get Doug's Debt-Free Report. Read his blog here.

FHA Green Lights Reverse Mortgage Home Purchase

By Tiag Vanrock

Borrowers, aged 62 and older, now have an additional financial tool to help them purchase that home they formerly thought was out of the budget. As of january 1, 2009 the government is allowing the reverse mortgage to be used the fund the purchase of a home, rather than just as a refinancing tool. The program works almost identically to any other home purchase with a mortgage. The borrower brings in adequate downpayment, and the mortgage company funds the loan.

This comes as a boon to some seniors as financial or credit restraints prohibit them from purchasing their next home. Now they can do so and are not obligated to make monthly payments the mortgage company.

In recent years, due to general need and national marketing by major financial institutions such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America the reverse mortgage has come into its own. Its major benefit to seniors is to allow the senior borrower to convert the equity in the home into cash to be used at the borrower's discretion.

Only at the end of mortgage, when the home is finally sold, is the borrower or the borrower's heirs obligated to repay the reverse mortgage company the original loan amount plus accumulated interest.

This is how the reverse mortgage purchase program works:

1. Consult with an FHA approved reverse mortgage lender. In the discussion the lender will determine down payment requirements, purchase price limits, and various reverse mortgage options. The lender should furnish borrower with a letter of approval.

2. Write a contract on the home

3. Borrower to bring closing funds as outlined in the approval letter. As stated this amount will be anywhere from twenty-five percent to fifty-five percent of the home value.

4. At closing, the reverse mortgage company funds the remaining balance and closing costs if desired by the borrower.

5. Senior is now the new owner of the home.

6. Borrower lives in home as a primary residence. The borrower is then only obligated to pay property taxes and homeowners insurance until death or sale of property.

Reverse mortgages have been and always will be primarily for those in need of funds to supplement lifestyle. The purchase program simply offers a new financial tool. Some seniors, as my phones have already started to ring, will definitely excercise this option.

About the Author:

Much more info about the reverse mortgage in Texas and everywhere else at The Quintessential Guide to the Texas Reverse Mortgage. Everyday reverse mortgage queries answered at Texas Reverse Mortgage Public Knowledge Base and Guide.

Crisis Investing 101

By Doug West

If the meltdown on Wall Street has taught us anything about investing it is this:

"We Better Learn To Make Our Own Investment Decisions -And Not Let Brokers Make Choices For Us!"

This is a basic fact we have been preaching for years now. Many times investors either blindly throw money at the market or let a broker do it for them. With a little effort you could learn to direct your investment accounts and retirement funds on your own.

In this article we will point you in the right direction, and give you a few crisis tips too.

ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) are an excellent alternative to mutual funds as an investment vehicle.

There are now ETFs that cover every sector of the market. ETFs offer many advantages over mutual funds. Here are just a few:

* Tax Advantages - (Even in your non-qualified accounts) ETFs seldom sell any equity positions or create a taxable event. Mutual funds often do this. With mutuals, you could owe tax on part of the funds holdings (the winning stocks they sell at a profit) even though you lost money over all. A double whammy!

* Less Management Costs - Even No-Load Mutual funds have become top heavy with many "Professionals" employed and eating up GIANT parts of the profit. You might think of ETFs as Electronically Traded Funds. MUCH less management costs (in some cases no management costs) and the ease of trading them.

* Diversification - Let's face it, this is what was attractive about mutual funds to begin with. Instead of picking out stocks on your own, you had "Professionals" (with the meltdown we can see that most of them are not too professional) putting together a diversified portfolio for you. With ETFs, you can get the same if not better diversification without the hassle of dealing with a mutual fund giant eating up all the profits.

* Easy To Trade - With true mutual funds you can only get out of a position After the market closes. You can trade ETFs just like a stock in your discount brokerage account. If you were locked into a fund when the market was in crash mode, it was not a good feeling. Had that been an ETF you could have bailed at any time (before the DOW closed down 777 points!)

We could go on with the benefits of ETFs, but you should be starting to see the picture. An even better way to call your own shots with your investments is to trade the index (or indices for plural). We are referring to the mini Dow, the S&P eMini, the mini Russell and others. (there are also ETF's the mirror the indices such as "SPY" for the S&P 500 index)

While we focus on mini-Dow trading, any index will do. With Index trading, you just follow the overall market up, or ride it down with a short position.

While we are on the subject of shorts it would be good to mention that while most US mutual funds are not allowed to short a stock, you can actually buy ETFs that do good with the market is dropping. One such fund is ticker "DUG" which does well when the Oil price is dropping (a tip we gave our readers after the big run up in oil to over $140 per barrel - at the time of this writing it has been dropping since).

You can find other ETFs that do well in falling markets. So, you don't have to short the market (statistics show that 80% or more of investors never do short the market - but are always looking for a upward bull run), you just buy the right ETF and let it do the shorting for you. These are at times referred to as Inverse ETFs.

By now, many investors see the importance of having a strategy for making money when the market is dropping. Most investors have yet to develop this strategy. We prefer to do it with simple index trades. Whatever you do, find a way to make your own moves and don't depend on someone else to invest your money for you. No one will take care of your money like you will!

*********************************************************** NOTE: To learn more about ETF's visit Yahoo Finance and look under the Investing Tab at the top of the page - then select ETFs www.finance.yahoo.com ***********************************************************

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Trading Mindset - Live vs. Demo

By Doug West

Of the nearly 1000 people we have taught how to trade the mini-Dow or S&P emini index, nearly all were able to successfully trade our simple index strategy on their demo accounts (we only know of 2 exceptions that reportedly could not even get consistent on the demo. One man claimed that every single trade he made was a loss. In my mind that would be as hard to do as to make profit on every trade). Yet, some have a problem going from demo to live trading!

If your day trading strategy is consistently successful on your demo account, then what is the difference when you go live? Mindset! It all boils down to that in your trading (in my opinion this is true of life in general, but you see the results immediately in trading - especially day trading).

I really hate to call what we do as index traders, day trading. That is only because of the negative connotation the term brings to mind. Stock trading is what most people think of when they hear the term day trading. Regardless of what type of trader you are, you will have to come to terms with the fact that each trade depends on YOU. What frame of mind you are in at the time you place those trades will have a HUGE impact on how many of those trades are successful.

Most traders think that it all boils down to the technical and/or fundamental analysis of the markets. This is where they spend all their time and money, but they never get around to working on the mindset. They feel the real key is in becoming a great market analyst. However, the world is FULL of good market analyst (just watch CNBC or Bloomberg for examples) who are not able to trade. They too didn't have the right mindset and had to take jobs instead.

So what is the right mindset for a trader (or day trader)? That would take volumes of articles to answer. A good start is to read Mark Douglas' book "Trading In The Zone". Don't end your mindset training there, but it is a good start.

Another good exercise is to keep a traders diary. Write down what you were thinking and how you were feeling as you made your trade. Do this immediately after the trade so that you can be as accurate as possible. Do this on winning trades and on unsuccessful ones too. You should notice that on your winning trades everything felt easy and sure. Once you notice the difference, don't enter trades unless your mind is in the correct frame!

It's amazing how the human mind is able to pick up on the overall mood of the market. Douglas calls this being "In The Zone". We have always referred to it as getting a "Market Feel". Some traders have felt that it was impossible, while others gain that market feel advantage rather quickly. The difference is always in the mindset of the person. Some people are naturally much more in tune with their emotions, and they don't let them effect their mind while trading.

Many traders reason that if they can just add the right tools, they will become successful traders. They work on finding the lastest greatest chart, software or gadget that will take them to the next level. After working with hundreds of traders over the years, I can tell you for certain that you will NEVER be successful unless you have the right mindset. Work on that and you will be MILES ahead of ones who are always adding more tools!

About the Author:

Mini-Dow Index Trading Made Simple. Discover how to build your trading income. Get Doug's Debt-Free Report. Read his blog here.

Stop Foreclosure - The Loss Mitigation Alternative

By Tomasheus Privetsky

There is more than likely a few things which have led to your being in the situation you are in now. You may have been through a bitter divorce, lost your job or experienced an illness. The bills are piling up and the increased price of utilities are staining your budget, perhaps you have an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) which has skyrocketed; it is getting difficult to cope.

While you're trying to think of how to stop foreclosure on your home, you're getting near constant calls, letters and knocks on your door from foreclosure investors.

These investors are in the business of buying homes from people who are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure and then selling these properties for a profit. They know that many people who are facing foreclosure have no alternative other than to sell their home for whatever price they can get.

While on a surface it may seem like a good idea to sell your home to these foreclosure investors in somecases, but before you do so you should look into the alternatives. Definitely do not sell your home to one of these investors before checking out your other options, such as rearranging your loan.

Rearrange Your Loan To Stop Foreclosure

Once you have missed a couple of payments, your credit rating will begin to be affected your credit score will likely drop considerably, which will make it extremely difficult to refinance your current loan.

Every mortgage lender in the country has a Loss Mitigation department established with the sole purpose of reducing lender's losses on loans. They work to put homeowners who fell behind on payments on a repayment plan to bring your loan out of default. The best thing about Loss Mitigation alternative is, unlike a new loan, it doesn't require a credit approval.

If You Do Get a Workout Plan, Beware of the Challenges

The loss mitigation departments at mortgage lenders tend to be understaffed, especially right now with mortgage defaults on the rise. The employees in these departments do their best but have very little time to devote to each homeowner's case file. This means that lenders tend to offer you a standard repayment plan which may not meet your needs, for example, the monthly payments will likely be too high for your budget and the time limit given to get back on track far too short.

With the difficult situation you are in, you may be tempted to take this repayment plan offered to stop foreclosure; however, this is generally just a short-term solution. Since the terms of the repayment plan are not a realistic fit for your budget, you will as likely or not be facing foreclosure again in a matter of months.

How to Hire Foreclosure Workout Professionals

One of the simplest, yet little known ways to get a lot better outcome through the Loss Mitigation process is to hire an experienced professional to do the work for you. These are companies that have experience of negotiating literally thousands of workout cases for owners in default. Some have established working relationships with the Loss Mitigation departments of many mortgage lenders nationwide.

They'll review your finances with you to come up with a realistic repayment plan that'll give you a lot more time and keep your payments at a comfortable level to assure your successful completion of the plan. They have insider's information about variety of programs a given lender may have. In some cases they may be able to negotiate an interest reduction to lower your loan payments.

Given your financial difficulties, you may think that hiring a professional service like this will be beyond your means. Thankfully, this is not the case. Most of these companies charge a flat fee, usually equivalent to a monthly mortgage payment. Since they can often negotiate a deferral on your next mortgage payment, their services often pay for themselves.

If Lender Mediation Is Not An Option

If the lender mediation process won't work for you, then you will need to sell your home to keep from having a foreclosure record on your credit report. If there is enough time before foreclosure, you best bet is to list your home with a realtor, this will let you get a better price for your home. If your foreclosure is imminent, however, you may have no alternative but to sell to an investor. These companies can buy your home quickly, just make sure that they have the means to close the deal quickly, before your home goes into foreclosure.

About the Author:

It's time for you to stop foreclosure of your home through loss mitigation. Don't delay and start looking for a referral to loss mitigation .

How To Dispute Experian

By Justin Hutto

To dispute Experian you must compose a dispute letter and mail it to them. Upon receipt of your letter they will investigate the disputed item.

I suggest you first get a copy of your credit report. This can be done by going to annual credit report. They will issue you a free copy of your credit report with each bureau annually.

Often your credit report will be made available online; you need to then decide what items are inaccurate or incorrect. These are going to be the items you dispute.

These marks are disputed by writing a dispute letter and sending it to Experian. Upon receipt they will say if your dispute is valid or invalid.

If it is found to be invalid then they will write you requesting more information about the dispute. If this happens you will need to respond accordingly and provide the requested details.

However if they find your dispute valid they will investigate the mark. During an investigation they will contact the originator of the item and ask them to verify the account, the balance, and the dates on the account.

Frequently an investigation will result in the removal of a bad credit item. This happens because many businesses are not going to spend the time or money verifying a disputed debt.

You can also hire a credit repair service to dispute negative credit on your report too. If you choose this option you will only need to identify each mark you wish to dispute and they will do the rest.

The advantage of having a service is in case the listing is verified they have advanced dispute techniques they can use. These include; escalated dispute information requests, debt validation, and creditor direct intervention.

I suggest do it yourself credit repair if you have only minor damage on your report, however if you have multiple marks I suggest a credit repair service. I also suggest a service if you are having trouble submitting a valid dispute or you have had a mark verified that should be removed.

You are going to need to dispute a bad credit item with each credit bureau. This means you will have to send a separate letter disputing the same item with each bureau.

In sum you can dispute Experian and have them remove negative credit from your credit report. You must either hire a service or dispute the listings yourself.

About the Author:

For more credit repair tips or to learn about how you can dispute nco financial a common collection agency visit us.

Be Careful of the Reverse Mortgage Info Messenger

By Xerine Raziel

I had the pleasure of speaking to a real estate agent yesterday. She wanted to discuss the reverse mortgage, in particular how it can be used as purchase money after January 1.

She expressed interest but not before going into a long, horrible and sad story of a friend of a friend who had an unbelievably bad experience with a reverse mortgage. I was intrigued from the get go.

In efforts to stop the rampant spread of misinformation, falsehoods, mythology and every other "ology" you must read this entire article. You can't read the next four or five paragraphs, stop, and tell everyone you know the painful effects of the reverse mortgage.

Like most stories that may not be true the story is told second, third or fourth hand. In this case, the agent had a girlfriend, who's friend's father had a reverse mortgage on his home. After his passing the home made it's way into the hands of the FOAFOAR (I'm going to use this acronym for the Friend Of A Friend Of A Real estate professional).

It's a bit of a rareity but the home was valued less than the mortgage amount. It can happen with drastically falling values. Naturally, when her father passed away the mortgage company called the entire note due.

To repay the reverse mortgage lender the FOAROAR sold the property and had to come out of saving an addition 40 thousand dollars to cover the deficiency.

Did this happen? I seriously doubt it. The reason is reverse mortgages are known as non-recourse loans. This means in the circumstance of the FOAFOAR the mortgage company cannot come after the heirs for the difference.

In the circumstance of a deficiency or negative equity the borrower or estate conduct the sale of the property as follows....

The home will be sold at a fair market value. The lender knows this because it requires the borrower or family to hire a licensed realtor to list and sell the home. When the house finally transfers to the new owner, the lender is repaid the price minus closing costs to sell the home.

HUD makes the rules and the lender is entitled only to these proceeds from the sale of the home. If the loan balance exceeds the net proceeds, it's tough cookies for the lender. They have to write it off and go on their merry way.

Enough myths exist about the reverse mortgage to fill a book. I thought this example a good one because it does come up a lot. If deciding whether a reverse mortgage is right for you, make sure you get professional advice, rather than chatting with the guy at the coffee shop who "knows someone who knows someone".

About the Author:

For an indepth examination of the Texas reverse mortgage click here.. For pure reverse mortgage education tryKnowledge Center -Texas Reverse Mortgage

Personal Signature Loans and The Art of Borrowing

By Mark Lundersenn

The global economy is a big foul-up right now, and all the credit (or blame) can be placed squarely on the shoulders of irresponsible borrowers everywhere. Borrowing intelligently is really an art form, and the large majority of credit users are doing it as stupidly as anyone ever could. What we're bringing in in the form of income doesn't come close to what we're sending out in the form of borrowed spending, and we seem to have given up entirely on putting money away for a rainy day - that's right - nobody saves anymore.

Residential real estate, and all the abuses on the both sides of the transactions, is the most glaring indicator of how ridiculous our country has chosen to behave itself with respect to credit and lending practices. A plumber earning $54,000 per year has no business borrowing $400,000 to buy a home; he'll never be able to to keep up with the payments. And now the taxpayers of the world, most of all those who have kept their mortgage current by not borrowing more than they could pay back, are footing the bill.

We have to do better next time, and doing better means using credit intelligently. Most of the time borrowing wisely means not borrowing at all, including avoiding personal signature loans and other quick cash borrowing tools. Stay away from them no matter what - even if it means taking a part time job to get by in the meantime.

Why am being so harsh on this issue? Because short term loans (whose term is a few weeks or less) are going to carry awful interest rates almost without exception. Do you like the idea of paying 80% or 90% interest and high fees? Neither do I.

So, it's always going to be a terrible move, but sometimes I suppose using these kinds of loans will be unavoidable. You might lose your job due to an unfair boss who fired you just because you nicked his car pulling out of the parking stall at the office. Next thing you know you're out of a job.

Of course that's not fair and technically you could sue him. But do you have the money for a lawsuit? I doubt it.

The only remaining option may be to bite the bullet and head to your local bank or loan store. After all, your mortgage company isn't going to let you skip payments just because you have a crazy boss; they have big time cash problems of their own.

The only sound advice I can offer you is to only take from the bank the minimum necessary funds to keep your bills current until you get a new job and get back on your feet. And Don't be choosy when it's time to find that job. In these crazy times, we'd all be wise to take whatever employment presents itself to us.

About the Author:

If you need to get some extra money while you wait for your next paycheck, Mark can direct you to a bad credit personal signature loan as well as other short term signature loans to get you through the lean times.

A Mortgage Refinance Primer

By Ned Dagostino

Mortgage refinance is an option most house owners look at from time to time. The big question they ask themselves is: Should I? Well, that depends on the particulars of the case. Generally people go in for mortgage refinance either to save money on the interest they pay, or to consolidate sundry debts. The crucial factors that merit consideration when deciding the 'Should I?' question are noted below for your information.

Debt management is a prime reason for refinancing. If you find yourself wrestling around with the same repayment issues every month, then it may be a good idea to get a loan on your mortgage by refinancing it. Use the loan to pay off all your smaller debts. This leaves you with just a single loan repayment every month. Do choose a repayment scheme which you know you can handle easily.

Most people think that the interest they pay on mortgages is unjustifiably high, and seek ways and means to reduce the interest burden. This is intelligent thinking. The point to consider is whether the market rate is showing every intention of reaching for the sky. If it is, and if your present mortgage is based on the variable market rate, then this is a good time to opt out of the present mortgage and refinance the mortgage with a fixed interest plan, where the interest rate is lower than the average market interest rate computed over the duration of the mortgage.

Whatever the reason for refinancing, you should study all aspects of this important decision very carefully. The one thing you should understand is that while refinancing your mortgage could save you a packet, it could just as easily cost you a packet. Refinancing can hurt you in certain situations.

Many a time, refinancing companies fail to mention what the actual cost of refinancing is. You may think you have hit upon the perfect plan which will save you at least $10,000 over the next 10 years. Only, you find that you have to pay brokerage fees of $1200, a foreclosure penalty of $8000, and some other fees amounting to $1300 to initiate the refinance! So instead of saving $10,000 you actually end up losing (in a manner of speaking) $500! Even if you don't end up 'losing' money the amount of saving may be so low as to be negligible, in which case the whole refinance exercise is pointless and best avoided.

Refinancing your mortgage is a serious financial decision. Therefore you should perform a due diligence market survey before taking up a refinance option. Find out the various plans and schemes offered by various companies in your locality and online. Carefully weigh the pros and cons of these schemes and tabulate your results for easy analysis.

Find out all the penalties and fees that refinancing companies may extract from you upfront. For example, there is an origination fee or points, which is taken before the refinance plan becomes operational. There might be a plan where the interest rate is slightly higher but you don't have to pay origination fee. This may turn out to be better for you.

Refinancing is advisable if your net savings is significant. If not, you may as well keep the current mortgage going. Don't go in for refinancing if you think you may have to move before the fresh mortgage period has time to play itself out. Such a move will require you to foreclose the fresh mortgage which entails a huge penalty!

Refinancing your mortgage is a good way to save money by opting for a lower interest rate regimen. It is also a good way of consolidating your debts. But that is not be construed as a clean chit for every situation. Refinance has to be debated on a case by case basis according to the particulars of the situation. So what works for Bob may not work for Bill. The most important thing is to perform an exhaustive market survey before going in for refinance. Be very careful in computing the refinancing costs. Ask other people who have taken this route about their experiences and seek their advice. Be wary of hidden charges. These surprise charges may make the difference between saving $10,000 and paying out $500!

About the Author:

There are many other refinancing choices available to you besides a simple house refinance. You can refinance just about any loan including your vehicle, trailer, or even a manufactured home refinance can put extra money in your pocket. Visit www.Home-Mortgate-Refinancing-Loan.com to learn more.

Using A Consumer Credit Repair Service

By William Blake

Good credit is important and if you have bad credit you know it is necessary to take steps to repair it. This is not always an easy task. It is nice to know that you can avail yourself of the help of a professional. Consumer credit repair services, whether they offer their services free of charge or they require that you pay a fee, can really help you get your credit back on track.

If you find that you have some marks on your credit report that should be there then this is something that they should have no problem taking care of. Even the marks that are rightfully there is something that may be able to be taken care of when you are dealing with a knowledgeable consumer credit repair service.

Cleaning up a credit report is generally a long process. The process is even longer if the problems have been allowed to persist of a long period of time. That is why it is best to get help from a credit repair service the moment you see your credit slipping. The faster you act the better your chances are to correct the problems on your credit. No matter how long you have had problems or what the problems are, taking immediate action is the key. After that you must have patience as you work through your credit blemishes one at a time.

What Are The Fees?

It is customary for most credit repair agencies to charge a fee for their services of a few hundred dollars. Remember that it is difficult to find free services today. Most services cost money, even when there are no guarantees as to what the outcome will be.

If you are having financial problems this may not be a welcome expense. However if a few hundred dollars will help you turn your credit around and put you in a better financial situation it may be worth the expense to seek the help of a credit repair service. Even if you are able to find a non-profit organization that is willing to help you, you will still most likely still have to come out of pocket for some fees.

There are several companies around that offer this service. They all have different experience and abilities and they all charge different fees. It is important to do your homework to be sure you find the credit repair service that will give you the most for your money.

Fees for credit repair services range from $200.00 to $1,000. With the many agencies out there and the wide range of fees you will need to choose carefully to be sure you use your money wisely and get the end results you desire.

About the Author:

Are you tired of barely keeping up with your credit card balances? Learn how to deal with excessive credit card debt on the Debtopedia website. Visit http://www.debtopedia.com for a free copy of my "Secrets Of Credit Card Debt" report.