Equity trading (stock trading) elicits strong 'gut feelings' at some point in every trader's experience. Sometimes those gut feelings are correct.  More often they are like that second piece of chocolate cheesecake...it seemed like a great idea at the time, but once it was done and over with, you realize it was a big mistake. Equity trading is often approached by investors with no real game plan in mind.  They trade with their gut feelings rather then their common sense. They buy equity positions that are extremely risky and hang on to them as their values plummet because they have a 'feeling' that they'll turn around. Though this irrational behaviour should have no place in equity trading, everyone falls into the trap at times. When you're trading equities, there's no place for messing around with gut feelings.  Cooler heads must prevail. Equity Trading Psychology Two things drive much of human behaviour, especially in the marketplace, how we handle debt, and in business...equity trading is no exception.  These two things are: Fear Greed Equity Trading: Don't Be Afraid There are many ways that equity trading elicits fear in the investor. Equity trading is affected by fear ...

Medicare insurance and Social Security income are viewed as reliable insurance plans by millions of Americans.  If they fall on hard times, they believe that Medicare insurance will ensure basic medical treatment and Social Security income will enable them to survive retirement.  Medicare and Social Security however, are not necessarily the stable pillars of their society that the average American wants them to be. Medicare Insurance and Social Security Income: Unfunded Liabilities Medicare insurance and Social Security are in trouble.  When anyone who really thinks about the implications reads about the massive debt problems of the United States, they get very concerned.  Those who think a little deeper are also concerned about what might happen to social programs like medicare and social security. Those who  study the financial data even deeper realize that the debt figures on the news only cover part of the problem.  They rarely include any mention of the unfunded liabilities associated with Medicare insurance and Social Security income.  As millions of baby boomers are hitting retirement years, it will put enormous stress on all social programs.  Medicare and Social ...

You may not believe me, however, it truly is feasible to earn money online by working merely a few hours a day. The answer to making this a truth and not just another one of those statements that was too good to be true, is to know how to make use of those few hours as efficiently and effectively as possible. When you make use of any of the search engines to look for methods to earn money online, you will get hundreds of results offering simplistic advice that may, or may not be valid. In fact, for every online authority that is truly doing well there are thousands that have not been able to crack the code that leads to online business achievement. The primary step to being able to successfully earn money online is to determine a business model that you want to mimic. A small number of of the more popular online businesses include: Selling merchandise on auction sites like Ebay. Creating and promoting information products Selling a merchandise that you have developed or created via a "mall" website with several other ...

Job searching can prove to be a tedious and even frazzling and stressful situation for individuals. Many struggle with lining up interviews, let alone receiving a job offer. As a result, individuals worry about negotiating a salary. Will this lose the job for me? Will the company think I’m “high balling” and disregard my resume as a result? Should I offer a lower number, just so I beat out the other candidate for the job? The truth is, professional companies expect professional applicants. While they may have a set budget for the salaries of new employees, they intend on working through a negotiation of sorts. Because you will represent their company in the future, they want you to negotiate. They want to know that you possess the skills to overcome a challenge, such as this, and stand on your own two feet. They want to see you accomplish this with tact and character. Just how is this accomplished? Although there is no set art or method for achieving a proper negotiation, there are ...

Two of the scariest words in the English language are debt collections. Consumers often fear what debt collectors will do in order to retain funds. Debtors fear them so much that they often change phone numbers, disregard letters from agencies, or refuse to return collectors’ calls. What can consumers do to protect themselves from collection agencies? When are collectors out of line? What are the rules and regulations for collection agencies? First, it is important to note that collection agencies are perfectly legal. If an individual gets behind on a bill, that particular creditor may send that bill to a collection agency. There are obvious laws, which apply to both the creditor and the collection agency; however, debtors need to realize that they owe money to said creditor and it is only fair that the creditor can seek to retain that money. Before debts go to a collection agency, creditors have to show, by law that they attempted to collect debts themselves. They often keep copies of returned mail. After sufficient attempts, they ...

Communism is a form of socialism, which seeks to create a classless society by eliminating private ownership. Thus, the government controls everything to ensure that the society stays free. However, in a “pure communism” society, the government has the best interest of the people in mind (unlike how most communists in history have ruled). Karl Marx, known for his socialistic ideas, believed that communism would follow socialism. In 1848 in his “The Communist Manifesto,” he taught that this could be achieved once a superabundance of goods and services was attained. Further, he believed that “pure communism” would offer basically, the truest form of democracy, in which every member of society would help make decisions about what to produce and what policies to enforce. There would be no oppression, no poverty, no wealthy, no classes of any kind, a state of equality. Although, Marx professed to believe in this type of society, he never defined how an economy based on these ideals would function from day-to-day. Forms Of Communism Typically, the forms of communism vary with each political ...

Socialism is an economic system based on the central ownership of capital. While individuals work in various capacities, the government regulates how much income an individual can consume / regulates where that income will go. Citizens also have a say in defining needs. Socialistic economies promote utopian societies, in which all are equal. The government in a socialistic economy is believed to act out of the common good of individuals. Although different types of socialism exist, socialism is thought to be a balance between capitalism and communism. Socialistic societies still have different classes of wealth, but just not to the degree that capitalistic societies have. Socialists often argue that a small group gains wealth in capitalistic societies through exploitation, while the majority of the people suffer. In balanced and equalized societies, people make useful contributions and everyone’s individual needs are met. Further, these societies are not completely controlled by the government like communistic societies. However, they still do not have all of the freedoms that a capitalistic society has. Karl ...

Consumer credit counseling and debt consolidation services are often linked together. Generally speaking, consumer credit counseling involves individuals offering advice for improving credit and financial situations for individuals. If the information is legitimate and focused on helping a consumer get out of debt versus selling a consumer a service, this can be beneficial. Consumer credit counseling services often seek to lower interest rates or reduce fees for debtors by working with debtors’ creditors. They create debt management plans, which spell out ways for consumers to eliminate and rid themselves of debt. Sometimes, consumer credit counseling can really help individuals. These types of companies really can reduce debts—especially ones, which seem astronomical. During this process, creditors will often settle accounts / freeze accounts and accept the small portion of payment they receive. What’s the catch? Typically speaking, consumer credit counseling services charge large sums of money up front. When someone is already in debt this can be an issue. Plus, if consumer credit counseling services truly exist to aid individuals and be of help, why ...

Embezzlement is the illegal act of appropriating funds, which have been entrusted to an individual or a company, but are someone else’s. Basically, embezzlement means wrongfully carrying off someone’s money, when you have been entrusted to care for it. To convict one of an act of embezzlement, a few key elements must happen: There has to be a trusted relationship between two individuals or groups of people. These individuals or groups of people can be a company and client, two friends, two spouses, etc. It does not matter whom the embezzlement happens between. One of the parties must retain the other party to handle monetary affairs. In other words, there has to be a trust / reliance set up for one of the parties on the other. The victim of the embezzlement must have attained / acquired the property through the relationship with the accused party (i.e. an investment relationship of some sort). The accused must actually take assets and place them elsewhere in his ownership or in the possession of someone else. The last element, in order to ...

While supply refers to the amount of goods available, demand refers to the need and desire for such goods by consumers.  Both are expressed in quantities.  The “quantity demanded is the amount of a product people are willing to buy at a certain price,” and supply is the “amount of a certain good producers are willing to supply when receiving at a certain price (1).”  These two basic economic elements matter, because they determine the price of goods in a market.  A general graph of price determination in a market shows that price “equalizes the quantity demanded by consumers, and the quantity supplied by producers, resulting in an economic equilibrium of price and quantity (2).”  These two are always in balance.  For example, if the demand for a product increases (the availability decreases), the price is also going to increase.  However, as there is less demand (more product availability), the price thus decreases as well, because it is not needed.  Of course, when there are shifts in the supply or demand curves, the opposite always shifts as well. Shifts in the ...

Opportunity cost is the value of the second best choice, which an individual gives up, in order to make a choice.  Because we have to make choices each day and are only given “x” amount of time, we are constantly giving up other choices and dealing with opportunity costs.  Some examples below help to clarify different types of opportunity costs. For example, an individual has $25 to either purchase groceries or new clothes.  The individual weighs the choices against each other and decides that it’s more important to eat for the week and forgo the new pair of jeans.  The opportunity cost of the groceries is the new clothes.  If the consumer swaps the choice and chooses the jeans, then, the groceries are the opportunity cost.  If an individual goes to college, the opportunity cost is the money, which could have been earned at a job.  However, if an individual chooses to work a job, rather than get an education, the opportunity cost is much greater than the four years of college.  Rather, the opportunity cost is the difference in incomes ...

Aside from bringing in more profits, companies can further increase revenues by reducing production costs.  By reducing production costs, companies can utilize these funds for other purposes, such as research in developing new products / brands, putting money in employees’ pockets, or adding new assets to the company.  Listed below, an individual will find various ideas for cutting production costs. Before a company can cut any corners, it must know and understand its current needs.  Production management should keep track of numbers (such as how much is being produced, how much is wasted, how many employees it takes to produce products, etc.), costs to produce products, time management of production, and any other vital information to give a clear picture of production. Once a company understands these trends, the “cutting” can begin.  Companies can evaluate whether or not enough or too many employees are working the production line.  Unfortunately, this may mean laying off some individuals.  However, if this is necessary, then, companies need to consider this option.  Cutting one or two salaries can save a company thousands of dollars each year.  ...

The debt snowball method refers to the debt-repayment method of paying smallest debts first and then, paying the largest debts last.  As each debt is paid off, the money spent paying that debt is then applied to the next debt on the list.  Like a snowball, rolling down a hill, the debt-payment ball gets bigger and bigger, taking out the debt.  This method is designed to help debtors see achievements quickly.  These achievements help them to encourage them in getting out of debt, that it really is possible. Financial guru, Dave Ramsey, says, “You need some quick wins in order to stay pumped enough to get out of debt completely. When you start knocking off the easier debts, you will start to see results and you will start to win in debt reduction (2).”  Consumers typically apply this method to credit cards.  Dave Ramsey encourages individuals to cancel credit cards after they pay off each card. How does one begin? The first step is to list all creditors with debts in a chart or spreadsheet from smallest to largest balances.  If two debts ...

One of the biggest issues companies face today is that of financial fraud.  When individuals, within an organization choose to commit felonious acts, it not only brings down the individual who has committed such crimes, but it further destroys the credibility of said company. What can companies do to keep financial fraud from infiltrating their organizations? The first step to prevent such acts is to screen all potential employees.  Thorough investigation of individuals can keep companies from hiring employees, who tend to be dishonest.  Further, companies can contact references; although, previous employers will not say what they didn’t like about said employees, they should be able to tell why individuals left the company or why they were let go. Financial Fraud Observations Once employers have hired on employees, ongoing observations should continue.  These observations can be done through various assessments, specific tasks to test trust, and increased interactions.  While employees should be free to act for themselves, they should not be allowed to do whatever they want.  Everything must be done within the bounds the company has set. These boundaries should be clearly stated in ...

The word wealth is derived from the old English word, “wela,” according to Wikipedia.  The actual word means having an abundance of possessions or resources (which have value).  We often hear arguments about this concept, as many compare the wealth of the world today to that of the past. This argument appears pretty clear-cut in many ways.  On one side, the technology the world has today is so much faster and more involved than ever before.  We have access to the Internet and cell phones, which offer instant communication.  Our energy supply is more efficient.  We have the television, the light bulb, automobiles, air-travel.  The space frontier has been opened.  Aside from the information and conveniences available, we look at the medical field.  Compared to hundreds and thousands of years ago, more diseases are being cured each day.  Less people die each year from the common cold, influenza, and chicken pox than in previous times.  Businesses bring in more money than ever before.  Our lives no longer revolve around hunting and preparing food.  We vacation, read books, paint, hike, do things ...

The Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, also known as the “bankruptcy rules,” define all of the restrictions and exceptions of bankruptcy.  Each state has been provided with one or more bankruptcy districts, consisting of 90 in total.  There are six basic types of bankruptcy, which a debtor can file.  These include: Chapter 7, Chapter 13, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 9, and Chapter 15. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is also referred to as entitled Liquidation.  In a nutshell, a trustee takes over the debtor’s assets and distributes them to creditors.  Typically, there is little or no non-exempt property.  These cases, referred to as “no-asset cases” require no liquidation, as there is nothing to liquidate.  Unsecured creditors receive a portion of the distribution line.  From there, usually within several months’ time, the debtor will receive discharge papers.  During that period of time, a “means test” is conducted to make sure the debtor is not abusing the bankruptcy just to get out of debt.  In some cases, no relief is offered under Chapter 7, due to excessive amounts. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is named Adjustment of ...

A credit report is a summary of an individual’s credit history.  This report contains any information regarding current and past borrowing history.  It shows any payments made, late or on time, and any bankruptcies.  Each of these items helps to create an individual’s credit score.   Three different credit bureaus provide credit reports and credit scores for individuals.  These include: Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax.  A credit report is important, because it determines one’s credibility and one’s borrowing in the future.  Lenders can pull a consumer’s credit report and decide on whether or not a consumer is worthy of more credit via a loan. Sometimes credit reports fail to update items or because of identity theft and things of that nature, negative items are mistakenly placed on credit reports.  When this happens, consumers have the right to dispute such items.  The credit bureaus, then, have 30 days to verify the negative items.  Upon verification, they are required to notify consumers that either a change has been made to update the credit report or that the mistake is no mistake and in fact, actually ...