Stock brokers made their money whether or not the advice they gave you was any good and the information available to the average person was not usually enough to qualify them to make good decisions, so only the rich could afford the kind of information that would make them richer.

Today, things have radically changed – we are in the “information age”.  Everyone has access to a lot of top quality stock advice online.  You don’t have to be an elite member of society to have a real chance of making your fortune on the stock market.  Rather than blindly trusting a broker’s advice, doesn’t it make more sense to educate yourself with good stock advice online so you can make a qualified decision?

Today there is just so much information available online today that it would be entirely foolish not to take the time to educate yourself so that you can recognize the shifts and trends in the market that can make you rich.  There is a wealth of information available for anyone willing to look for it.

Finding good stock advice online isn’t as difficult as you might think, either.  You should look for information that teaches you how to read and analyze stock charts because these are instrumental in helping you to recognize a trend that indicates that you should buy or sell a particular stock.  Once you are armed with this type of knowledge you will be much better prepared to make a healthy profit through buying and selling stocks on the stock market.

The internet is the “great equalizer” of today because so much quality information is available to everyone regardless of their race, religion or economic standing.  The best stock advice online is there for the taking to anyone who will reach out their hands and grab it.  Especially during these tough economic times when people need to increase their incomes more than ever, stock advice online is there to help lead the way.  Of course a person still has to use that information wisely, but nonetheless, it is available for any person to study and use to make good stock purchasing decisions.

Why should you look for good stock advice online?

1. 1. For starters, to help you achieve “financial independence”, and
2. 2. Give you a chance to save for retirement and maybe even retire early so you won’t have to rely on your employer or the government to have any money left to give you when the time comes.
3. Wealth building should be your number one reason for seeking online stock advice. 

Since the financial markets have been turned up-side down and banks are not lending, one method of financing has gained a lot of attention – securities based lending.

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For those with money invested in marketable securities, there is a golden opportunity to cash-in on the tremendous RE investment opportunities now available.  Today, there are multiple commercial & residential RE properties available for about 30% to 50% of what they were only two years ago.

For example, CEOs, CFOs or COOs, with large publically traded companies, who have large blocks of corporate stock can leverage those assets to take advantage of investment opportunities.

If you are a forward-thinking investor who wants to retain the future ownership of your assets as well as leverage the present value of your securities for immediate cash needs, this can be a terrific program.

These loans are –

·         Simple & Quick – NO Credit Check / NO Income Verification / NO Upfront Fees / NO Closing Costs / NO Personal Guarantee

·         Loans are “Non-Purpose” – loan can be used for virtually anything borrower wants to accomplish (personal or business)

·         Loans are “Non-Recourse” – giving the borrower the opportunity to simply “walk away” if the collateral falls below a set floor amount

·         High Loan-to-Values – up to 80% LTV (depending upon security); which is much higher than banks and brokerage companies can offer

·         Loans are Interest Only – principal payment at maturity; otherwise loans can be refinanced or extended

·         Low Fixed Interest Rates – usually between 2% to 4%

·         Loan Term – minimum of 3 yrs; also 5 yr / 7 yr / 10 yrs

·         Quick Funded – usually within 5 to 7 business days

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There are many different stock indexes, the most common in the United States being the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the NYSE Composite index, and the S&P 500 Composite stock Price Index. stock indexes give an overall perspective about the economic health of a particular industry or share exchange.

There are several different ways to calculate indexes. An index based solely on the price of stocks is called a ‘price weighted index’. This type of index does not take into consideration the importance of any particular stock or the size of the company. An index which is ‘market value weighted’, on the other hand, takes into account the size of the companies. That way, price shifts of small companies have less influence than those of larger companies. Another type of index is the ‘market-share weighted’ index.  This type of index is based on the number of shares rather than their total value.

Index Funds

As well as giving an overall grade to a particular economy, indexes can also be an investment instrument.  Mutual funds based on indexes are known as ‘passively managed mutual funds’ and have been shown to consistently outperform managed funds. Mutual funds based on an index simply duplicate the holdings where the index is based on. Thus if the Dow Jones rises by 1% the fund based on the Dow Jones also rises by the same amount. This has the advantage of lower costs for research and transactions – savings that can be passed on to the investor who participates in these funds.

The Big Indexes

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of the best-known indexes in the United States. It follows the stock movements of 30 of the most influential companies in America including General Electric, Coca Cola and General Motors. It is a ‘price-weighted average’ index – thus giving more influence to more expensive shares. Some analysts feel that the price-weighting does not give an accurate picture of stock market movements and that 30 companies are not enough to form an accurate assessment.

The S&P 500 Index is based on 500 United States corporations. These companies are carefully chosen to represent a broad slice of economic activity. It is second in influence after the Dow Jones and is felt to be an accurate predictor of the state of the United States economy.

Outside of the United States the most influential index is the FTSE 100 Index.  This is based on 100 of the largest companies listed on the London stock Exchange. It is an indicator of the British economy and is one of the biggest indexes in Europe. Other important non-US indexes are the CAC 40 from France and the Nikkei 225 from Japan.

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In anything, people need to know how to balance, especially their checkbooks. In economic hard times, ordinary employees and workers are afraid to let go of their money. Even business people are terrified to put their hard-earned funds in stocks because they think it is still unstable. But as the Chinese proverb says, there is an opportunity in every crisis.

Investing in the stock market now has considerable risk but, when done right, it could give good returns for the beginning investor. It is like having a fast payday loan: applicants can get their cash quickly but they have to factor in a higher interest and they must repay the loan within the terms or else they would have a bad credit rating.

According to financial experts, those who plan to invest in stocks should look for investments that have minimal risks and maximum earning potential. Stocks have traditionally generated the best returns among all investment types. They encourage beginners to invest a fixed amount of money at regular increases over an extended period of time. It is best to purchase more shares when prices are low and buy less when prices are high. Blue chips are the purchase of choice – these are shares in a companies that are seen as stable and with a good performance record, meaning its earnings and growth rate has a steady rise.

However, most people from employees to business owners to professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, are generally worried or paranoid about investing. This is due mainly to lack of awareness and information on the workings of the stock market. It does not help that since worldwide economic slowdown, that stock market encountered negative publicity. Still, ordinary salaried person or business owner could still acquire gains in the stock market.

For instance, young investors can see it as a personal wealth-building tool and a good way to build a retirement nest egg. One could also picture it like this: anyone can get an online payday loan, as long as the proper procedures and requirements are followed and submitted.

Of course, for beginners, understanding the workings and the ins-and-outs of the stock market takes hard work, serious study, and independent thinking. The best thing for them to remember is to make informed choices and decisions “not just from hearsay or insider tips”. Lastly, ordinary investors should come up with a simple plan to focus on their goals for investing.

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With the advanced trading system of short selling, traders have discovered a new way to trade on the stock market: pessimistically. Short sellers hope for the decline of price on a certain stock so they can sell back the stock at a cheaper price than they sold it and pocket the difference.

Because short selling deals with borrowed securities, securities lending has become a huge business. To learn more about it, check out Naked Short Selling: The Illegal Hacking of the U. S. Financial System, an informative E-book that will help clarify the entire system.

However, a large risk has entered the stock exchange when it comes to short sellers: naked short sellers. Naked short sellers sell the stock short; however, they do not in fact own the borrowed stock and thus are selling their clients nothing but ‘naked’ (non existent) stock.

Basically what happens is when a short seller sells the borrowed securities to a client, he has three days to deliver the goods. However, if the short seller is selling ‘naked’ stock, then the goods are never actually delivered because they are never in the short seller’s possession.

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So now what? A naked short seller has failed to deliver leaving the buyer with nothing.

What happens next?

This is where the term ‘buying-in’ comes into action.

Due to the outburst of naked short sellers, the process of securities lending is bombarded with ‘failure to deliver’ issues. Therefore ‘buy-in notices’ are a regular occurrence.

Buying-in is the process where an investor is forced to repurchase the shares because the seller did not deliver the stocks. It is unfortunate for the buyer as he got ripped up. However, it is also unfortunate for the short seller as he will be forced to pay the difference in goods.

This is how it works: Once the allotted time for the goods to be delivered is past overdue (usually 10 days), then the unsatisfied buyer will notify the exchange about this issue, requesting a ‘buy-in’. During this time, a ‘buy-in’ notice will be sent to the seller of the borrowed securities who failed to deliver. If the seller fails to answer, then the broker will have to pay on their behalf. The seller will have to pay the broker back at whatever the shares are then worth.

Make sense or still confused? If so, for a better understanding check out Naked Short Selling: The Illegal Hacking of the U. S. Financial System.

Here’s an example. Say Dave bought 10,000 shares on XPY for $1.00 each from John. John claimed to borrow the shares from FRD but did not. When Dave does not get his shares, he puts in a buy-in notice. John does not answer this buy-in notice which means his broker, Bob must pay. Dave purchases 10,000 shares from Bob at $1.10 per share. John will be forced to pay this difference.

‘Buying-in’ is a hassle, yes. However, it is a needed due to the illegal process of naked short sellers. This is just one of the many issues caused by these abusive short sellers.

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It is generally accepted that the high-end real estate is feeling the brunt of the credit crisis right now. Given the higher unemployment, the uncertainty about the future of expensive properties, and the loss of a liquid jumbo lending market across the nation, I have yet to see any analysts bullish on properties worth more than $1 million. The “lower” end properties, however, are benefiting from low interest rates, renewed attention from mortgage investors and the US government, and demand for foreclosure sales. Interesting times…

What happened Monday in the markets? Well, after an ugly Friday afternoon, fixed income securities came roaring back with prices improving and rates inching lower. Most investors had intra-day price improvements. Locks and originations are down somewhat, which helps, The Fed was in doing their usual buy-back of securities, and the stock market losing a little steam didn’t hurt bonds either. For mortgage-backed securities, a 4.5% coupon security (which would contain 4.75-5.125% mortgages) is priced at about a .5 discount. But by the time an investor adds their servicing released premium of 1-2 points, suddenly the secondary market is paying .5-1.5 over par for these loans. There is still profit in originations!

We have the 2-yr auction today. Who will pony up to buy a piece of the $42 billion and earn about 1.02% for two years? We’ll see, but many expect it to go well. Ben Bernanke has been nominated by Obama for a second term as Federal Reserve Chief, which is helping to calm markets. We will also have the S&P/Case Shiller Index, and at 7AM PST we’ll have the Consumer Confidence numbers. Mortgage prices are roughly unchanged from Monday afternoon, and the 10-yr is chopping around 3.50%.

As noted above, Bernanke has been nominated for a second term. His nomination for a second four-year term, which would start in late January, requires Senate approval and was endorsed by the head of the Banking Committee, Christopher Dodd. So don’t look for too many surprises during the process.

Do you remember how there was a public opinion period for the HVCC, which passed, and then when HVCC was put in place everyone was upset? Well, apparently the Fed is addressing how mortgage loan officers are paid. Given that a loan originator or mortgage broker is any person who for compensation or other monetary gain arranges, negotiates, or otherwise obtains an extension of consumer credit for another person; you’ll have to check out the website below. I don’t have the attention span to go through the entire document, but it doesn’t look good!

Bank of America has agreed to pay $150 million to settle a lawsuit alleging Merrill Lynch executives mislead investors about the bank’s condition. The suit targeted a number of Merrill Lynch executives and board members, including the former CEO. We all remember that Bank of America formally acquired Merrill Lynch at the start of the year after agreeing to buy the struggling investment bank last fall.

In news that surprised no one, Taylor, Bean & Whitaker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it may liquidate, three weeks after it closed its mortgage lending business. TBW said it plans to operate on a scaled-down basis as it works to recover, restructure and possibly liquidate its assets is not an easy task with more than $1 billion of both assets and liabilities, and between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors.

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The ’stock Exchange’ is the correct term for the physical location for trading stocks. Each country may have many different stock exchanges and usually a particular company’s stocks are traded on only one exchange, although large corporations may be listed in several different locations.  Click here for information about Non-Purpose, Non-Recourse Securities Loans

Share exchanges exist throughout the world and it is possible to buy or sell shares on any of them. The only restriction is the opening hours of each exchange. Both the NYSE and Nasdaq for example operate from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time from Monday to Friday. Other exchanges have similar opening hours based on their local time. If you want to trade on the Hong Kong stock Exchange your order will be executed sometime between 9:30 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. New York time.

The major share exchanges of the world are located in Japan (Tokyo stock Exchange), India (Bombay share Exchange), Europe (London stock Exchange, Frankfurt stock Exchange, SWX Swiss Exchange), the People’s Republic of China (Shanghai stock Exchange) and the United States.  The major exchanges in the US are the NYSE, Nasdaq, and Amex.

stock markets closely follow the economic health of a country. When the economy is doing well the market is bullish.  Bull markets occur during times of high economic production, low unemployment and low inflation. Bear markets, on the other hand, follow downtrends in the economy. Inflation and unemployment are rising and stock prices are falling.

Fluctuations in share prices are also driven by supply and demand, which in turn are determined to a large extent on investor psychology. Seeing a stock rise in price may cause investors to jump on the bandwagon and this rush to buy drives the price even faster. A falling price can have the same effect. These are short term fluctuations. share prices tend to normalize after such runs.

The stock exchange is only one of many opportunities to invest. Other popular markets include the Foreign Exchange Market (FOREX), the Futures Market, and the Options Market.

The FOREX is the biggest (in terms of value of trades) investment market in the world. FOREX traders buy one currency against another and can profit from small changes in value. Most FOREX trades are entered and exited in one 24 hour span, and traders have to keep a close watch on the market in order to make profitable trades.

The Futures Market is a market of contracts to buy and sell goods at specified prices and times. It exists because buyers and sellers of goods wish to lock in prices for future delivery, but market conditions can make the actual futures contract fluctuate considerably in value. Most investors in the futures market are not interested in the actual goods – only in the profit that can be realized in trading the contracts.

The Options Market is similar to the Futures Market in that an option is a contract that gives you the right (but not the obligation) to trade a share at a certain price before a specified date. They can be traded on their own or purchased as a form of insurance against price fluctuations within a certain time frame.

All three of these markets are quite risky and require considerable knowledge and experience to prevent substantial losses. They also require close attention to market movements. stocks, on the other hand, are less risky because movements of the market are usually gradual. Although short term investment strategies are possible, most view stocks as long term investments.

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