Author Archives | Jason

Jason - who has written 40 posts on Financiere.

Co-Founder of Golden Arrow and Founder of Financiere International. Jason Calle is an expert forecaster. His forecasting on Gold and Stock Markets have earned him reputation in the world markets. Many stock brokers and players have earned millions on his advice.

Contact the author

Dollar Rises against Euro

Posted on 27 March 2010

The U.S. dollar rose on Saturday against Euro, the future plunging currency. Our financial advisory division forecasted euro plunge in near future and warned investors to avoid further investments in euro, at least for six to eight months. The dollar rose to 0.9 percent marking its current position to $1.340. The dollar is now looked upon as safety currency because euro’s outlook is blurred, unclear and uncertain. It is very common amongst investors that when they become uncertain about investments, they try to invest in major currency which is now U.S. dollar after euro’s downfall.
The yen also fell against dollar and 15 other most traded currencies as Japanese consumer price (CPI) plunged this week forcing its central bank to raise interest rates. Similarly, the Canadian and Australian dollars also fell against the greenback.
U.S. payrolls added 190,000 jobs in March, increasing the likelihood the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the near future. This will give a stronger position to the dollar but only for a short-term. For long term investments, investors should move ahead towards “Better investment than U.S. dollar” which is gold.
But The U.S. dollar is the most regularly used currency in international market up till this day. The fact that the U.S. is the world’s largest trading nation is only part of the reason. The value of international market in dollars is much larger than the total business conducted by the U.S. and countries with currencies linked to the greenback. This is predominantly true in Asia, where many countries bill more than 80% of their exports in dollars.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Short Term Car Insurance

Posted on 24 March 2010

Short term insurance is a form of general insurance that offers financial coverage to a policyholder for a short period, ranging from one day to twenty eight days. Short term insurance is also called temporary insurance which is useful in situation where a normal insurance policy is not feasible. Most people opt for short term insurance for insuring their automobile and health.
Car Insurance
It is necessary to have car insurance once you possess a car or sit on a driver’s seat. Not having valid car insurance is against the law and is a punishable act. Therefore it is a mandatory rule to obtain car insurance, once you get the car out on the road. There may be times where you need to acquire short term car insurance policies. With mounting times, companies have introduced these short term car insurance policies looking to get consumer’s satisfaction. These insurance companies provide attractive deals to maintain competition with various other car insurance companies.
Short term car insurance policies are required during short journey where the car is not owned by the driver. These short term car insurance policies can vary from a term of one day to twenty days. These types of insurance are useful to the folks who often rent out cars. Having normal annual car insurance is not feasible to drive somebody else’s car. It is vital to obtain fresh short term car insurance in that case. Getting an insurance coverage is useful and can also save you from going against the law. You can get a variety of deals from various insurance companies. Get short term auto insurance, as these insurance policies are towards a costlier version it should always be taken once you are planning to drive your friend’s car or planning to rent your car to someone.
A car insurance agent can arrange you a short term car insurance policy if asked for. Getting a short term car insurance policy engages very less amount of paper work dissimilar to regular car insurance policy. Searching through the websites can provide with many short term car insurance deals with competitive rates making your policy practical. And once you find the best deal online you just need to fill in the required details for getting short term car insurance no time. Always search out for policies from the recommended insurance companies which will keep you away from online frauds.

Short Term Car Insurance: Benefits
With a short term car insurance policy, you get a temporary financial coverage for a vehicle that you may be driving for a while, but do not own. You should buy this policy when you are lending your car to someone else. Buying a short term auto insurance policy in such cases is more convenient and cheaper than getting your existing annual auto policy customized.
Some of the benefits of short term car insurance are:
• It offers immediate coverage for newly bought car without waiting for the regular auto insurance to come into effect.
• It can provide coverage for renting a car.
• It is faster and easy to buy online.
• It has additional benefits, such as breakdown assistance, extra help in case the car is damaged in an accident and coverage for traveling in another country.

Tags:

Investing for Beginners

Posted on 23 March 2010

Investing for Beginners
Shares Market Basics
If you are new to investments then it is worth your time to learn some basics of shares market before you take the risk. Business, in other term is known as risk. Most people are not comfortable with crashing shares market and thus they don’t invest or take the risk for investments thus losing an opportunity for great profits.
It is true that shares market has the most highly profitable returns sometimes profit exceeding 18% in six months. This rate of return is not even possible in banking and other financial institutions whereas property and gold assets are exceptional. \
A share, in simple terminology, is owning one or more share of stocks in a company. A person owning shares is called shareholder. Shareholder has no interference in the company policies whatsoever but only plays a part of investor. The shareholder will be profited if the company excels and vice versa.
Types of Shares
There are two main types of shares namely Common and Preferred. Common shares represent the majority of stocks, ownership in a company and a claim on a portion of profits (dividends). The dividend amount alters and is not definite. In the long run, common shares yields greater amount of returns than most other investments.

On the other hand, preferred shares represent a degree of ownership in a firm or a company but usually doesn’t include voting rights whereas common shares has this advantage that shareholders can vote to elect the board members. With preferred stocks, shareholders are usually guaranteed a fixed dividend amount.

How to Buy Shares
Buying Shares is easier and faster than ever before, but unquestionably no less risky. If you’re a novice investor, you’ll want to organize yourself for the unpredictable markets before investing. For detailed post on how to buy shares please click here

Why Shares Price Change
The price of shares in general is determined by demand and supply. If there are more buyers and fewer sellers, the shares price will rise. It’s only because the shares of that particular stocks are limited and people are willing to pay higher prices for them. Similarly if there are lots of shares of stock for sale and no buyers in market then the price of that particular share will drop. Because of these factors, the shares market fluctuates very often.

Anyone can get familiar with demand and supply concept. What is difficult to figure out is what makes people buy a particular stock and reject another. The price movement of shares indicates what investors feel about a company’s worth. It is not feasible to equate a company’s value from its shares price as it is not always an accurate indicator.

Bull Market
A bull market is when economy is booming and inflation and unemployment rate is low, allowing shares price rise. It is easy to buy shares during bullish market but not recommended because what goes around comes around. Same is the case with shares market, bullish market won’t last long.

Bear Market
A bear market occurs when the economy is under stress or inflation and recession is on the rise. Our financial advisory division recommends investors to purchase stocks at the time of extreme bearish market when the prices are very low, and stick with investments until the prices rise again. This is the best investment technique and the profits gained are tremendous.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

How to Buy Shares

Posted on 19 March 2010

Buying Shares is easier and faster than ever before, but unquestionably no less risky. If you’re a novice investor, you’ll want to organize yourself for the unpredictable markets before investing.
The first step in buying shares is to locate a good stockbroker and the best place now a days is the internet to locate a good stockbroker and through this medium, all transactions should be carried out. A difference on this is a flexible service, where a broker may buy and sell shares on your behalf without your consent first. This is an extremely modified service and, obviously, can verify to be expensive.
Lately most people do their own research, which is much better for investors. If you are on this side of the river, you need to find a stockbroker for execution purposes only. It means that the broker will simply take an order and execute it for you. These brokers cannot offer any advice on your decisions, but most of them offer all kinds of study and online tools for everyone from the beginner to the expert.
Execution-only service is cheapest and very much recommended for expert investors since some brokers will not take you on as an advisory or discretionary client unless you have a substantial amount to invest, sometimes as much as £100,000 or more. And if you do want someone to guide you properly, you should look among local or regional brokers who most likely have fewer requirements.
To find a right broker, you need to lay out a plan. Finding the right broker will depend on your individual requirements, but there are four factors you should consider before hiring: quality of information, speed of execution, markets available and cost. in general, the better the information on offer, the more you will pay.
Brokers’ commission is charged either as a fee or as a percentage of the deal. Dealing on internet is cheapest, with some online brokers charging less than £10 a trade. Nearly all brokers now hold shares for clients in paperless form. This form of ownership dispenses with cumbersome certificates and allows deals to be settled within three working days.
But there is a negative aspect. Your shares are held in a nominee account managed by your broker and the name of the ultimate owner is not known to the company. This means that there can be no straight communication between you and the corporation, and you must rely on the broker to pass on annual reports, dividends and details of any share perks.
You can choose to hold shares in certificated form to be sure of receiving all communications from the company. But you will most likely have to pay a higher fee when you trade and settling your deal may take longer, possibly eleven days.
Health Warning: Buying solitary shares that do not form part of a balanced portfolio is an unsafe business and experts advise not in favor of it because you should not put all your eggs in one basket. If you don’t have time or the money to construct a smooth portfolio of shares than you may be better off buying collective investments such as unit or investment trusts.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Debt Consolidation: Problem or Solution?

Posted on 18 March 2010

For decades, interest rates haven’t been this low and it allowed some consumers to take on additional debt to ease existing credit woes. The goal is to consolidate different high yield balances into single easy-to-handle package. Populace should be more careful of what looks to be a quick fix; it’s just a symptomatic relief and not a credit cure. There are debt-consolidation loans, balance transfers to a zero-percent credit card and home equity loans or lines of credit.

70 percent people, who extract a home equity loan or other type of loans to pay off credit cards, end up with same or slightly higher debt load within a year or two. Statistics underline a major difficulty with debt consolidation: It feeds upon the tendency that gets people in trouble in the first place. Plus, if someone has taken on so much debt that looks more as a solution, probability is it won’t qualify for low interest rates people see advertised. Those generally go to people with stellar credit ratings. Here are some popular forms of debt consolidation, how they work and their pros and cons.
Home Equity Loan or Credit Line

Home equity lines or loans are often publicized as a swift and easy way to get out of debt. By leveraging residence’s value, one can acquire money to pay off other bills taxes too. But borrowing against a property can backfire. The prime risk: You could lose your home if you default to pay loan. Banks do tell people how much they can borrow and it doesn’t mean they should borrow lump sum, but that’s what usually people do. Still, a home equity line of credit or loan to pay off creditors can work for some debt-burdened landlord.
0% Credit Card

The only way zero-percent credit card works is if you are really careful about paying it and stay on top of it and then move onto another credit card before the low interest rate expires. Opening new credit card accounts every six months, however, could negatively affect your credit rating.

And to successfully lower your debt load, you’ll need to pay far more than the smallest amount the card company will accept, especially after that zero rate disappears.
For example, if a person A transfers $50,000 of other debt to a zero-percent card and pays $2,500 on it by the time the rate jumps to 14 percent. If he makes only the minimum monthly payments, it will take him 2,268 months — or 191years — to erase his remaining $47,500 balance. If he lives that long he’ll pay $148,805 in interest.
Debt Management

People favor debt management because it costs less and is faster than a debt-consolidation loan. Sometimes it is harder to handle on bills by yourself therefore you should search credit counseling. Getting expert advisory in managing your debt can help you change your credit performance. Those people who have taken lots of debt tend to go into rejection; they won’t know how much debt they owe but a professional debt manager will make them face up to their obligations.

Credit counseling agencies also oblige people to stop piling up debt. In exchange for consolidating debt and functioning with creditors to lessen payments, credit counselors entail people to give up their credit cards. However, credit counseling is not without its costs.
Debt consolidation loan

A debt consolidation loan allows you to combine your other loans in order to simplify the process. A debt consolidation does not reduce loan directly, it merges debt. A major appeal of consolidation loans is convenience. Instead of paying 20 different creditors who are charging different rates at different times of the month, you take out one big loan and pay off all those accounts. Then you make a single payment on that loan once a month. But relieve doesn’t automatically interpret to savings.

Be sure that the costs of the new bundled loan will truly be less than what you are already paying different creditors. For many consolidation-loan candidates, their current credit woes mean they won’t get the lowest-available yield. Calculating interest and fees on all existing accounts will determine the total of the payments you now make. Then judge against those amounts with the consolidation loan numbers to make sure it really is a better option. Credit unions also tend to be more lenient than the banks

Tags: , , , ,

The Advantages of Short-Term Investments

Posted on 17 March 2010

The Advantage of Short-Term Investments
Everyone invests for their future, whether it’s about dream home, education, or establishing a new business. Each of these events become apparent at different times in life and as a result need to be planned within certain time frames. A short-term investment strategy within a well-diversified, long-term investment plan is the key to dealing with financial needs as they occur.
Short-term investment means duration of investments from minimum 3 months to 3 years max. Investors apply a general rule of thumb of three years, and anything under that is measured a short-term investment. Short-term investments have either low interest or high stakes, depending on where you invest your money. It is helpful for making more profit from your cash savings or liquid assets.
Whether it’s about saving funds for next Christmas, accruing the down-payment on a home that you plan to buy in the next year or two, or placing the cash together for a personal business, short-term investments are about making the most of your money in a short span of time with the slightest amount of risk and penalties. Short-term investments can be converted into cash or rolled over into other short-term or long-term investments.
Short-term investments always protect long-term investments. Stocks and real estate have a high interest rate particularly if you keep them for a long period of time. The problem begins when you have a financial emergency where you need instant cash. Without delay, you are forced to liquidate your long-term investments, most of the times at a loss.
The solution is to maintain short-term investments that are easy to liquidate in case of an emergency. Cash itself offers no interest. A savings account is not good at all for short term investments because the amount of yield is almost negligible and whatever is earned goes as tax and other bank charges. It is up to you to plan your investments in accordance with the events in your life. Different events happen at different times and need to be planned for accordingly. In designing your financial chart, map out what you need and when you will need it. Five questions you should ask yourself are as follows:
• What are my financial goals?
• How much money do I need to invest?
• How long can I wait until I need the cash?
• How much flexibility do I have within this time frame?
• Can I afford to compromise my short term investments?
The drawbacks of short-term investment are high risk and low yield. If you invest short-term in stocks, the risk will be higher because of the cyclical nature of most stock markets. Another problem is tax consequences of investment made for less than a year and no dividends.
Most cautious investors try to play safe with their investments therefore they opt for safer short-term investments in the form of treasury bills a.k.a. T-Bills, certificates of deposit a.k.a. CDs and money market funds. T-Bills and CDs have fixed interest rates and maturity time. The disadvantage of fixed investments is that you are penalized if you take the money out before the maturity date.
Our financial advisory division advises investing your short-term money in money market mutual funds. Their yield can be lower than fixed investments, but the advantage is that you can access your money when you need it. This advantage makes money market funds a great way of protecting your long-term investments by providing you with ready cash in case of emergencies.

Tags: , , , , , ,

How to Invest

Posted on 09 March 2010

In this modern era, where competition is elevated and earning money is not easy, people should have a sound grip on how and where to invest. One can hit the market and invest money in a business, shares, forex or in the stock exchange. People without prior knowledge of investment strategies or how the stock market operates and regulates several monetary transactions must seek an expert’s advice before investing. It is not feasible to invest money in the stock market without proper know-how because there is always the risk of losing money. It is recommended to acquire appropriate knowledge regarding investment plans, the working of stock exchange and share market before investing.
Financiere will help you make the right decision and your investment will not drown. Investors must know the basic financial terms and procedures involved in the investment process. There are several investments including mutual funds, real estate, penny stocks, equity shares, offshore finance and forex. Investors should know where they like to invest or which market are they tilted towards, and when they decide upon doing some investment in the market, they need to conduct a good market research. Newspaper, investment magazine or bulletin and even internet is the best place to get the information from.
If you plan to invest in a company, you can apply for its investment policies and plans. It is recommended that you should thoroughly check the prospectus, financial plans, business information, and share market review. The main objective behind gathering information related to the investment plans is to know where exactly you are investing and how feasible the transaction is.
After a thorough research work, the next thing you need to know is the price index. Price index implies price quotations. Investment plans and prices go up and down daily therefore you need to keep yourself updated with the information and should also be aware of the stock rates.
The main purpose of investment is to secure your future by investing in bank savings account. Money invested today will help you in future and will certainly add to your wealth. Most people invest lots of money in buying lottery tickets because they believe that they will win a huge sum of money with a small investment but this is not exactly true and is quite risky. You cannot afford to take a chance with your money because in lottery investments, everything depends on luck. There are millions of people who buy lottery tickets daily but are not quite enough lucky to win a lottery in their life span.
The main reason of investment is profit and people should understand that if they won’t have a good investment plan and sound research, they will end up losing. Analyze the investment plan carefully and then act on it whether it is the share market, mutual funds, real estate, forex or gold investment.
It is important to keep track of the stock market because stock market has a 50% impact on almost all other investments, and for that, you need to know how to read the stock index. The stock exchange has an index that indicates the chartings of the stocks. You cannot just go and buy the stocks unless you have some knowledge of the stock transactions. Stock market is a very volatile place for the people who are beginners. It is suitable to take the guidance of a stock agent or a broker who will guide you in learning how transactions are regulated in stock exchange.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Short-Term Bond Funds

Posted on 09 March 2010

If you want greater interest rates in shorter span of time then a short term bond fund may meet your needs. A bond fund pools cash from multiple investors to buy individual bonds that meet the fund’s investment purpose. Each bond fund is efficiently handled, and is grouped based on the nature of bonds in which it invests. A usual short term bond fund invests in bonds that will mature in one year to three years.

A short term bond offers a greater potential interest than a money market fund but it carries more risk. When you own a bond or note from a credit-worthy issuer yourself, you will ultimately get the principal plus interest rate you contracted for if you hold the bond or note until it is due. Investing in a bond fund does not work the same way.

If more investors are withdrawing money from the fund rather than investing, the fund managers would then sell bonds in the fund even if it is not feasible to do so. The net asset value (NAV) of a share in a short-term bond fund can vary depending on the value of the bonds possessed by the fund. Shares in short term bond funds tend to fluctuate less than shares in long term bond funds but even in a short term bond fund there is no assurance that you will get back no less than the amount of money you invested into the fund.

Bond funds are subject to interest rate risk which is the risk that the market value of the bonds owned by a fund will differ as interest rates go bearish or bullish. Bond funds are also subject to credit risk which is the risk that the bond issuer may default on its obligation to pay the bondholders. They are subject to prepayment risk which is the risk that the issuers of the bonds owned by a fund will prepay them at a time when interest rates have declined.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Gold in India

Posted on 06 March 2010

India is the world’s largest gold-consuming nation. The share of gold in international market is 1.5X that of the U.S. although its GDP is only one-twentieth the size of the U.S. GDP. With its soaring rate of gold consumption, India accounts for 18% of the annual worldwide gold demand, while its share of global GDP on nominal dollar GDP is only 1.6%.
India is experiencing an 80% growth in gold investment following a relaxed trade and market limitations. The gold increased 242 per cent between March 1999 and March 2010 which is equivalent of an average annual return of 13.1 per cent and it also outpaced inflation which has increased by 30 per cent during the decade or by an average 2.7 per cent a year. Monetary authorities in India are not tremendously positive about the outlook of U.S. dollar thus their hedge against Dollar will help to set the stage for an alternative reserve currency/asset, an offer broadcasted by countries like China, France and Russia.
Despite the slump in the housing market in the past two years, property has produced the second highest return after Gold keeping PSU and BSE on third & forth respectively.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Debt Consolidation Loans

Posted on 04 March 2010

A debt consolidation loan in actual fact is a way to reorganize your loans. Rather than paying off several loans, a debt consolidation will convert almost all loans into one large loan — making it easier to manage debts. Debt consolidation loans are one of the more contentious arenas in the realm of financial planning. Majority of financial advisors does not recommend debt consolidation and few advisors (in extreme cases) allow debt consolidation with certain limits.
What is a Debt Consolidation Loan
A debt consolidation loan allows you to combine your other loans in order to simplify the process. For example, you have 7 small loans. A debt consolidation loan is where you take one big loan and pay the small loans off — thereby consolidating them. A debt consolidation does not reduce it directly, it merges debt. If your daily routine is messed up, manage your time first, it will simplify your lifestyle – same goes for debt and debt consolidation loans.

Advantages of a Debt Consolidation Loan
Some advantages of a debt consolidation loan are;
1. Lower Interest Rate. A debt consolidation charges an overall lower interest rate which means paying less for previous loans while still making it easier to pay the loans.

2. Fixed Interest Rate. A fixed interest rate is essential for a secured financial plan. A variable interest rate makes it harder to follow up and is less predictable.

3. Easy Organization. A debt consolidation loan is easy to manage and can be followed up quickly. It is also recommended for people who have problems with time management.
Disadvantages of a Debt Consolidation Loan

1. Organizing Only. Debt consolidation loan achieves nothing except organizing, or in other words managing loans. The burden is same

2. Consolidation Terms. Some debt consolidations have their own terms and conditions explained to the debtor which might not be feasible in longer run. People can chose extended terms of payments which means they agree to pay less money, but over a longer period of time. This, of course, depends on the debt consolidation loan itself — each one can be different.

Tags: ,

Site Sponsors

MORTGAGE/LOAN CALCULATOR

MortgageLoan

£

%

years

%

£ per year

£ per year

%

Resources

Learn the basics of 'how to write a cheque'.