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Property Index — the International Property Info Hub

June 20th, 2008

Overseas property specialists Property Index sell a range of properties such as apartments and villas.

Though the Property Index service is seen as a new kid on the block concern, starting their business only in March of 2007, they have quick established expert status. As a matter of fact, they are a fairly undemanding concern focusing entirely on counseling every customer who is striving to buy land in a global environment. Their affirmation: to assist you spot smack what’s desired fast and, furthermore, painlessly. Property can easily be found almost anywhere in the world at the moment, one of the hippest areas being properties for sale in Spain. It’s no problem to write a list of the tremendous properties available for sale in Spain, the explanation for investigating estate here is properties available and the fabulous possibility of living between this effervescent people.

It’s one of the most favored regions at the moment, and considering the scenic splendor and agreeable weather surrounding you here, how can you go wrong… Property in Spain is rich in history, this country is and has always been home to more than a few sophisticated cultures. Just 30 years back you’d find merely a dribble of British people in search of properties in Spain. Just ask any one single person who has chosen to relocate to Spain and they are certain to back it up. Lots of people would view it as a transient trend and others view it as a almost an infatuation… Buyers looking to move to this area will typically range from young working couples looking for an exciting perspective to the older generation who want to relax.

There could well be quandaries when looking to purchase properties abroad; you’ll have to cover a million different, rather complex, steps whether planning, inspecting or signing the documents. Even if one minor step is missed that will well bring about wide-reaching quandaries not to forget, preeminently, loss in financial terms. Obviously and expectably with this favored location, properties could well be pretty upscale in this place and this, of course, is merely caused by the great demand. Despite this homebuyers are somewhat spoilt in terms of choice in a region full of vivacious landscape and phenomenal surroundings. It’s presently got the whole kit and caboodle just about anyone might feasibly fancy and then some.

Learn to Trade

May 23rd, 2008

The only way to learn to trade is by doing. Imaginary “paper trading” won’t cut it.

There is nothing like having real money on the line to test ones’ psychological reactions
to fear and greed.

Learn to Trade is really about timing. Buying and holding a position over a period of years
proves nothing. How one reacts in every sort of market is key.

Set up an “experience” fund consisting of 10% of your available risk capital but not more
than $5,000 maximum.

Force yourself to trade in only one issue at a time; long or short. You can trade 100
shares of an average-priced stock, 50 shares of a high-priced stock, or 200 shares of a
low-priced stock but only one issue at a time.

If a second issue looks attractive, force yourself to choose which one to go with.

Your goal is to always be long or short the most suitable stock at the moment. If you can’t
find one, stay in cash until one shows up.

Look only for situations that look to yield potentially large gains. You won’t always
hit “home runs” every time, but a lot of “singles” or “doubles” isn’t bad either.

Your goal should be to always show an “absolute” net trading profit each and every month.
You’re not interested in performing “relatively” well compared to some market average.

There is only one trading rule that is always correct: Losses must always be “cut”!

They must be cut quickly, long before they become of any financial consequence.

It is impossible, in my opinion, to rack up an accumulation of net trading profits over
a large number of trades, that includes both profits and losses, without being “good”.

Learn to trade well enough and you just might be able to quit you’re day job.

Because No One Cares More About Your Money Than You

http://dynamic-stock-market-strategies.com

Good trading,
Don Heggen

Should You Get Out?

April 29th, 2008

Pretend, for a moment, that you have a gut feeling the market will be falling. You think that oil, the hurricane, the economy, whatever, is going to ultimately bring down the market.

Should you get out of the market entirely?

Making a decision to “get out of the market” and sell all your stocks is an incredibly risky wager! You are essentially drawing a line in the sand and deciding the market will never again go higher. I say this is a risky bet because, historically, the market goes up two thirds of the time and down one third of the time.

Which would be the better direction to go?

Well, Step One would be to determine if we are currently on “offense” or “defense” in the market. Markets go up and down whether or not there is an oil crisis, a war, or economic hard times.

Knowing who has control of the football allows you to run the proper plays in your portfolio. You wouldn’t punt and give the ball away on first down in football; likewise you would not want to sell everything while on offense in the market either. When we are on offense, we want to run plays (use strategies) that will help build the value of our accounts.

Now, when the market is on defense, the play-calling changes. On defense, we’ll use strategies that will help us protect our investment. We do this so we can be ready to play when we regain control of the football.

Step Two would be to examine which sectors are currently in favor and where our investments stand in relation to this analysis.

These two steps are crucial to determining whether the odds (the risk) are with you or against you. They must not be skipped!

Let’s say the market is moving from offense to defense. What would be the next step? Sell everything? As we said earlier, we know the market goes up two thirds of the time and down one third of the time. Selling everything implies a doomsday scenario and is usually a bad idea.

If you’ve completed the first two steps, go to step three.

Step Three, sell any stocks (or mutual funds) that have poor relative strength. What is relative strength? How a stock (or fund) performs compared to the overall market.

Stocks are either on a relative strength BUY signal or a relative strength SELL signal. Did you know that relative strength signals (buy and sell) last, on average, for TWO YEARS? Meaning a stock that gives a relative strength buy signal today will usually outperform the overall market for (on average) two years. That’s a long time!

Next, Step Four. Examine the stocks or funds that have good relative strength. Stocks (and mutual funds) with good relative strength tend to snap back quickly when the market rebounds.

On the flipside, stocks with poor relative strength tend to fall with the market (and many times will fall further than the overall market).

Relative strength is a very important part of the decision process we use at Mullooly Asset Management. Knowing the relative strength of a stock or a fund will clue you in on its potential performance during rough times.

Let’s take relative strength two steps farther. We now know we can measure relative strength for an individual stock (or mutual fund) versus the market. But did you also know that we can measure a stock (or mutual fund’s) relative strength against its peer group too? That would help us decide if we should jump over to another horse in the race.
Perhaps you have money in a stock that is in a favored sector; but the stock you own has poor relative strength. You want to stay in the sector. Moving within the sector to another stock in the group with better relative strength is a smart way to go.

We can also plot the relative strength of a sector compared to the market as well. Knowing a sector’s relative strength versus the market is VERY important! Often times, when a sector turns up, it can be like watching a school of fish move…they all move at once. And today, you can instantly have money in that sector through buying an exchange traded fund (ETF).

Likewise, when a sector gives a relative strength sell signal versus the market overall, the whole group usually moves again. You’d want to reduce the amount of money in that sector as soon as possible, and perhaps get out of the group entirely.

Thomas P. Mullooly, President of Mullooly Asset Management, LLC (http://www.mullooly.net) has spent over twenty years in the investment industry, as a broker and as an investment advisor. Mullooly Asset Management is a fee-only registered investment advisory firm based in New Jersey, specializing in retirement plan accounts, particularly managing 401k, 403b, and deferred compensation accounts for individuals. Feel free to contact us to check out the relative strength of your portfolio by sending an email to tom@mullooly.net or visiting http://www.mullooly.net/403b-plan.html or sign up to receive the market report and tips on how you can soundly invest your money at http://www.mullooly.net

The Case for Value Stock Investing-What If?

March 28th, 2008

Wall Street Institutions pay billions of dollars annually to convince the investing public that their Economists, Investment Managers, and Analysts can predict future price movements in specific company shares and trends in the overall Stock Market. Such predictions (often presented as “Wethinkisms” or Model Asset Allocation adjustments) make self-deprecating investors everywhere scurry about transacting with each new revelation. “Thou must heed the oracle of Wall Street”… not to be confused with the one from Omaha, who really does know something about investing. “These guys know this stuff so much better than we do” is the rationale of the fools in the street, and on the hill (sic).

What if its true, and these pinstriped super humans can actually predict the future, why do you transact the way you do in response? Why would financial professionals of every shape and size holler “sell” when prices move lower, and vice versa? Would this pitch work at the mall? Of course not. Now lets bring this phenomenon into focus. Hmmm, not one of these Institutional Gurus ever doubts the basic truth that both the Market Indices and individual issue prices will continue to move up and down, forever. So, if we were to slowly construct a diversified portfolio of value stocks (My short definition: profitable, dividend paying, NYSE companies.) as they fall in price, we would be able to take profits during the following upward cycle… also forever. Hmmm.

Let’s pretend for a (foolish) moment that broad market movements are somewhat predictable. Regardless of the direction, professional advice will always fuel the perceived operative emotion: greed or fear! Wall Street’s retail representatives (stock brokers), and the new, internet expert, self-directors, rarely go against the grain of the consensus opinion…particularly the one projected to them by their immediate superior/spouse. You cannot obtain independent thinking from a Wall Street salesperson; it just doesn’t fill up the Beemer. Sorry, but you have to be able to think for yourself to stay in balance while pedaling on the Market Cycle. Here’s some global advice that you will not hear on the street of dreams (and don’t get all huffy until you understand what to buy or to sell as well as when to do so): Sell into rallies. Buy on bad news. Buy slowly; sell quickly. Always sell too soon. Always buy too soon, incrementally. Always have a plan. A plan without buying guidelines and selling targets is not a plan.

Predicting the performance of individual issues is a totally different ball game that requires an even more powerful crystal ball and a whole array of semi-legal and completely illegal relationships that are mostly self serving and useless to average investors. But, again, let’s pretend that a mega million-dollar salary and industry recognition as a superstar creates Master of the Universe quality prediction capabilities…I’m sorry. I just can’t even pretend that it’s true! The evidence against it is just too great, and the dangers of relying on analytical opinions too real. No one can predict individual issue price movements legally, consistently, or in a timely manner. Face up to this: the risk of loss is real; it can be minimized but not eliminated.

Investing in individual issues has to be done differently, with rules, guidelines, and judgment. It has to be done unemotionally and rationally, monitored regularly, and analyzed with performance evaluation tools that are portfolio specific and without calendar time restrictions. This is not nearly as difficult as it sounds, and if you are a “shopper” looking for bargains elsewhere in your life, you should have no trouble understanding how it works. Not a rocket scientist? Good, and if you are at all familiar with the retailing business, even better. You don’t need any special education evidentiary acronyms or software programs for stock market success… just common sense and emotion control.

Wall Street sells products, and spins reality in whatever manner they feel will produce the best results for those products. The direction of the market doesn’t matter to them and it wouldn’t to you either if you had a properly constructed portfolio. If you learn how to deal unemotionally with Wall Street events, and shun the herd mentality, you will find yourself in the proper cyclical mode much more often: buying at lower prices and, as a result, taking profits instead of losses. Just what if…

Steve Selengut
sanserve@aol.com

http://www.sancoservices.com

http://www.valuestockbuylistprogram.com
Professional Portfolio Management since 1979
Author of: “The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read”, and “A Millionaire’s Secret Investment Strategy”

Protecting Your Investment in Tax Deeds and Tax Lien Certificates

March 24th, 2008

So you learned about how to buy a tax lien certificate or tax deed. You did your due diligence, prepared yourself to bid at the sale and you bought a tax lien certificate or tax deed. Now what do you do? Read on for information about the first step you need to take to ensure that your investment is profitable.

First of all, your lien or deed must be recorded in the county records, or it is worthless. In some states this is done for you and you pay a recording fee when you purchase your lien or deed at the sale. In most states, though, this is something that you will be responsible for and I suggest that you do it right away. You’ll have to wait until you have the deed or tax lien certificate, then you will have to send the original document, along with the recording fee, in to the proper office to be recorded with the county records. The required fee will vary depending on the state and county. You will need to call the recording office (usually the county clerk, or county recorder) and find out what the fee is so that you can send the exact amount in with the document. If you do not send the right payment your lien or deed may be returned to you without being recorded.

I suggest that you make a copy of the tax lien certificate or deed before you send it in to be recorded and that you send it via certified mail, with a return receipt. This way if your document is lost, you have proof that you sent it in to be recorded and you may be able to get it replaced. Also, the recording process can take some time, and if anything happens with the property in the meantime, you’ll have a copy of your document.

Once your document is recorded with the county, it will be sent back to you. Put it in a safe place. You will not be able to receive redemption of your tax lien certificate without providing the signed document to the tax collector. Do not sign it and turn it over to the tax collector until you are sure that the redemption amount is the amount that is due to you. To ensure that your tax payments, recording fees and other reimbursable expenses are accounted for, you will have to provide the tax collector with and affidavit for any payments that you make on your tax lien.

Joanne Musa - EzineArticles Expert Author

Joanne Musa is a Tax Lien Investing Coach and Consultant who works with investors who want to learn how to buy profitable tax lien certificates and tax deeds. She is the president of Tax Lien Consulting LLC, a consulting firm for tax lien investors. She is the author of the e-books: Tax Lien Investing Secrets and Tax Lien Lady’s State Guide to Tax Lien and Tax Deed Investing, available at http://www.taxlienlady.com/store2/sales.html.
For more tips on investing in tax lien certificates send an e-mail to MoreTips@taxlienconsulting.com

Why You Need to Secure Your Own Financial Future

March 7th, 2008

When our parents and grandparents were young, planning for the financial future was largely unnecessary. Many people in these earlier generations were able to go to school, get an education and work for a single employer for their entire working lives. After those 20 or 30 years were up, there was a secure retirement and a solid financial future to look forward to in retirement.

Anyone who has been paying attention to the financial landscape knows just how radically things have changed. These days, the secure defined benefit pension is very much an exception to the rule, and most employees find themselves being asked to take charge of their own financial future by investing their own money in a 401(k), 403(b) or IRA plan. While this do it yourself financial approach can have a number of advantages, it can be a daunting task as well. This approach to financial matters provides a greater level of control than does a traditional pension plan, but it also introduces an element of risk to the equation.

To make matters worse, most employers will not provide financial advice to their 401(k) or 403(b) plan participants because they are worried about liability issues should the financial investment not work out favorably. It is up to each plan participant, therefore, to take control of his or her own financial future and to learn as much about financial matters as possible.

There are many places to seek out financial advice, including relatives, friends and professional financial advisors. Many people prefer to start locally, seeking out advice from their more financially successful friends and relatives. Professional financial advisors can also be a good choice, but it is important to study their track record carefully to make sure they are really qualified to hand out that financial advice.

Taking charge of your financial future may not be easy, but it is important. It I important to start planning for a secure financial future as soon as possible, since the power of time can help your money grow and make your financial future much more secure. There are many ways to save and invest for a more secure future, from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) plans to mutual funds, stock market investments and bond funds. How you invest, how much you invest and how early you get started will have a significant impact on your future happiness and security, so it makes sense to get started as quickly as possible.

For more information on financial matters go to http://www.financialarrow.com

Get Rich Doing What Others Don’t

March 7th, 2008

“The quickest way to wealth

That I’ve found to be true;

Is to stick out your chest

Give your best

And do what others don’t like to do!” - Primm

It’s been said the difference between the “haves” and the “have-nots” - can be traced back to the people who did … and the people who did not!

When it comes to creating a moneymaking niche, consider using what I call the principle of yucky.

Using the principle of yucky is one of the quickest ways to make money you’ll ever find. Period. No hype here.

Master this principle and I can guarantee you’ll never be broke another day in your life.

In fact, if everyone would use this principle the unemployment numbers would melt like an ice cube in July. The Welfare rolls would shrink like a cheap suit, and poverty would drastically decrease.

So, what exactly is the principle of yucky? I’m glad you asked, it’s simply doing what other people find disgusting, irritating, or in a word yucky.

A billionaire once said, “The quickest way to success is to do what others don’t like to do.” Don’t laugh, most people are willing to gladly pay money to people who will do the things they find disgusting, irritating or stressful. Wouldn’t you?

For example, if you had rats running through your restaurant at lunchtime would you pay someone to get rid of them? Of course, you would.

But rats aren’t the only things people find disgusting or yucky. Thousands of yucky services exist that people will pay you to do. The key point here is the thing may be yucky to them, but not to you, especially if you can grow rich doing it. Believe me, money in your pocket will make it less yucky - whatever it is.

For example, take the man in Florida who has a business that makes over $100,000 a year picking up dog poop in parks. The single mother who started a business cleaning bathrooms earning over $5,000 a week. Or the husband and wife team clears $2,000 a week bathing dogs in the client’s home.

Yes, the list is endless; it’s only limited by your imagination. You’d be surprised what people will pay for you just to get out of doing it themselves. Use this attitude to make money.

You’ll discover the most penny-pinching, tightwad, miser will gladly throw money at you. Why? To get out of doing something they find yucky, disgusting, irritating or stressful. Haven’t you been paying attention?

That’s what makes the principle of yucky so valuable, especially to the alert entrepreneurial-minded person. In fact, if you are an entrepreneurial minded person $ signs should be slowly swirling around your head as you read this article.

You now have the start of a small niche business that could make you big money, very quickly and with very little risk. From a business point of view what could be better than that?

Thousands of people in your local area will gladly pay you to help them do the yucky routine stuff in their life. They’re just waiting for you to offer your services to them. An added benefit will be little or no competition!

If you have an established business, you can use the principle of yucky to get an edge on your competition. You simply do what your competitors don’t, can’t, or won’t do. Believe me your customers will take notice. Wouldn’t you?

About The Author

Roy J. Primm (The Niche Man) has written hundreds of articles on the power of a niche. To read more ideas on how to create, develop, and strengthen your niche go to http://www.NicheBrain.com

troydad2@netzero.com

How to Setup a Profitable Trading Business

March 2nd, 2008

In my opinion trading is the most exciting and best way to earn a living in the world. With just a small amount of equipment and space you can do it from anywhere on the planet.

When you think about it, it is one of the least expensive businesses to set up - no rent, staff advertising etc… Plus no pain in the ass bosses, backstabbing co-workers or the usual office politics B.S.!

What’s even more amazing is that soon wireless technology will be convenient and affordable enough so that you will be able to sit with your laptop at a Cafe in Paris or on a beach in Tahiti and trade. To me it doesn’t get any better than that!

Anyway, I want to talk about the various things that you do need to set up your trading business.

*Hardware: This would consist of a good computer that has plenty of memory (at least 512MB) and high quality processing power of a Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon chip. Having the latest and greatest mega-computer is nice, but not necessary and will not make you one bit more profitable. You are still the most important part of this equation! The great thing nowadays is that you can buy an absolutely amazing computer for under a grand.

NOTE: If you are using two or monitors you should have at least 1 GIG of ram as these setups have huge memory appetites!

*UPS: This stands for Uninterrupted Power Supply and is a device that will keep your computer running in the advent of a power blackout. This is vital if you trade all day because, the worst thing is to be in a losing trade and the power goes out and you then have to spend 5 panic filled minutes rebooting your system and wondering what is happening.

*Trading Software: This would be your charting software that gives you a wide range of choices for displaying graphs, quotes and data in real-time. Just a few to name are… Omega Trade Station, Meta-Stock, E-Signal or Omni-Trader. These programs are not cheap, but if you plan to make a full time living from this, then they will be essential.

If however, you trade part-time and have a full-time job then you can get by with very simple charting software which is only a few hundred dollars

*Real-time data: The ability to have access to real-time intra-day charts is extremely important. Live quotes are not good enough because they don’t tell you where the stock has been. You need to be able to visually see how the stock is reacting at your entry levels. Also charts will allow you to see where all the support and resistance levels are. This is important to know because these levels can give you profit targets as well as to know where your stock may run out of steam.

Some companies that offer real-time data are E-Signal, Omega Trade Station Pro, Realtick, Quote.Com, Ensign etc…
Modems/DSL/Cable: These are obviously the means to which you can receive your data. If available I would definitely get DSL as my first choice and cable second.

In my experience I have had temporary outages of cable service from time to time, versus the phone, which never seems to go out. Another advantage for DSL/Cable is that have a huge speed advantage over a dial-up-modem. Quick and efficient as well as uninterrupted access to your data is extremely important.

If you are really serious about trading then high speed access is essential!

*Routine Maintenance: It is vital for you to perform regular maintenance on your computer doing things like scandisk and defrag. This will keep your computer running optimally and help it reboot really fast if your computer crashes during a trade. You can lose a fortune each extra minute it takes to restart your machine!

One last I should mention is that I see way too many traders trying to skimp on buying the right trading equipment. As they say you get what you pay for. Also consider that 95% of traders lose money and you can bet that the 5% who do win use the quality equipment.

This does not mean you have to run out and spend a fortune, rather just to make sure you do spend money on the right places.
Please note that regardless of whether you are a swing trader, day trader or position trader in stocks, bonds, forex, futures or options this information will apply.

This article is by Dr. Jeffrey Wilde, a trading veteran with 15 years of experience in all major markets. He is a trading coach to over 1400 traders in 38 countries.

For additional info: http://www.win-at-trading.com

Variable Annuity Performance

February 16th, 2008

I have been reading articles on variable annuities lately and they are all saying the same thing, variable annuities under perform the market. What about variable annuity sub-account performance, do they really under perform? This is a great question.

Variable annuities have been beaten up and torn apart by the critics who say that variable annuity sub-accounts do not perform as good as regular mutual funds, specifically index mutual funds. Well, where is the surprise in this revelation? There is none. Sub-accounts are not mutual funds; this may come as a surprise to many of the variable annuity bashers out there. Sub-accounts are mutual fund like investments, a good example of this is you do not own shares you own units instead.

The investments may be very similar to the mutual fund it mimics, but all in all they are different. Mutual funds tend to have more cash on hand to prepare for liquidations; sub-accounts have a longer retention rate of investors so they do not have to plan for mass liquidation if the market goes down. If you look at Fidelity’s Contra Fund, this is a popular sub-account clone in variable annuities; you will see that the sub-account, mimicking the mutual fund, holdings are basically the same, but not exactly. This is one reason why variable annuity sub-accounts perform differently as compared to mutual funds; it is an apple to orange comparison.

I can also recall many mutual fund companies wholesalers saying how much better their variable annuity sub-accounts out performed the mutual fund counter part. AIM used to make this comparison back in 1997 and 1998. It is true that in many cases the sub-account clone can perform better than the mutual fund it is mimicking. The biggest reason is typically the cash position of the investment. Mutual funds, again, tend to hold more cash as compared to a sub-account.

Let’s talk about all the people that say, “The S&P 500 is the only way to go”. It is true that over the long term very few mutual funds actual out perform the S&P 500. The exact number is about 98% of all mutual funds do not out perform the S&P 500. So, why would you make variable annuities bear the brunt of this argument? I just said 98% of mutual funds do not out perform the S&P 500, not variable annuity sub-accounts. Because mutual funds cannot outperform the S&P 500 where is the surprise that variable annuity sub-accounts do not outperform the S&P 500? There is no surprise it is a given.

Why do mutual funds and sub-accounts not out perform the S&P 500? First you have to look at the composition of the S&P 500, what makes up this index. Most say it is a broad based diversified index, which it kind of is. I mean, you have 500 different stocks, it pays a dividend and there are tons of different sectors in the index. Look at the top holdings in the S&P 500.

The S&P 500’s top holdings are large cap technology holdings, just because it pays a dividend does not mean it is a value index, just look at the price to earnings ratio. It is a large cap growth fund period. This is why it did so well in the 1990’s and sucked wind in the early 2000’s when value stocks were hot. These couch experts say invest in the S&P 500 it has less risk, what are they talking about? It got hammered like everything else in the early 2000’s.

What is even worse is everyone compares everything to the S&P 500. You cannot do that. How can you compare a growth and income fund, traditionally a value portfolio with bonds in it, to the S&P which is large cap growth? You should not. If you are going to argue points do not argue it with a factious argument. The S&P 500 is what everyone compares variable annuity sub-accounts to, how can you do that and think it is a real comparison?

Can or do variable annuity sub-accounts perform well against mutual funds? Yes they do. Are they exactly in sync with mutual funds? No, sometimes they do better sometimes worse. Are there portfolios inside a variable annuity that also rock the S&P 500? Without question there is.

American Skandia/Prudential offers Pro-Fund investments which leverage your money to outperform the S&P 500. They also offer First Trust unit investment trust, also known as UIT’s. These portfolios are target portfolios, which means they buy stocks at the beginning of the year and hold them for a set period of time then they sell them. This buy and hold philosophy has lead to surprising results. Over a 20 year time period a diversified portfolio of these UIT’s crushed the S&P 500, by very noticeable margin. Jackson National also offers these types of investment options, although they are not First Trust that act the same way and are very similar.

There is also The Hartford Leaders which offers American Funds, Franklin, AIM and MFS sub-accounts. The Franklin and American Funds portfolios offered all have funds, inside the annuity, that out performs the S&P 500. There are several more variable annuities that offer great sub-accounts; you just have to do the research on them.

My point to all of this is the people writing these articles say just invest it in an index fund and forget about it. Index funds offer no more security than mutual funds, or sub-accounts. Index funds are undiversified investments, so how can they recommend this? Yes, you can buy various index portfolios, but that would need a larger amount of money to do that.

To make a blanket statement and say variable annuities under perform is ridiculous. They are really reaching to try to make their point, which is clearly biased. In order to do a true comparison between sub-accounts and mutual funds they must do 2 things:

First, know the difference between a sub-account and a mutual fund, which in some cases I do not think they do.

Second, do an apple to apples comparison, not a growth and income or bond fund against the S&P 500.
They must also remember most people buy variable annuities for the tax deferral and the living benefit guarantees. Since they buy variable annuities for these reasons they often know the fees are higher. Also, since variable annuities offer these guarantees it will keep people invested longer. It will entice people who need equities, but are afraid of them, to invest when they otherwise would not invest.

To learn more about variable annuities please go to www.annuityiq.com.

Scott DeMonte is a widely respected expert in variable annuities. Scott has worked as both a financial advisor and as an executive for 2 of the best selling variable annuity contracts sold in America.

With over 12 years experience in the financial services industry, Scott decide to start his own company, http://www.annuityiq.com. Through his expertise he evaluates and rates variable annuity contracts.

By educating both brokers and consumers, Scott’s goal is clear: Get the right information, the first time.

Stock Trading - Daddy, Why Aren’t We Rich?

January 26th, 2008

One Saturday morning, while he was sitting at his computer studying the market, David’s 7 year old daughter came up, tugged at his shirt sleeve, and said, “Daddy, why aren’t we rich?” He looked his child in the eye, and thought to himself, what a great question - Why aren’t we rich?

As she stood there expectantly waiting for an answer, he struggled to come to terms with the realization that, although he had focused his complete attention on trying to create wealth for more than 10 years, he had never actually made any real headway.

He had bought and sold many Stocks and several properties over those years, but had never made any real money.

He looked at his daughter, and asked, ‘What makes you think we aren’t rich, darling?’

She looked at him and said, ‘Because you said that if we were rich, you and mom wouldn’t have to go to work any more, and you both still work all the time. You said we could live at the beach and play in the sand every day. I want to know what you are doing about that. When can we go and live at the beach?’

Nothing like a child to cut straight to the heart of the problem - and what was he doing about it?

‘We’re not rich because daddy made some mistakes,’ he finally answered. ‘What kind of mistakes, daddy,’ she asked. ‘Well, I bought some shares that were going down and then didn’t sell them soon enough. Then I bought some houses but sold them again.’ ‘Why?’ she asked.

He had to think about that. He had no reason to buy those shares in the first place. He had no reason to hold on to them when they kept going down. He had no reason to sell the properties either. Her logic was flawless - why?

He had to change his strategy.

He owed it to himself and his family to finally get his act together and make some changes - that was the day the pain of not living up to his potential made him sit down and write out his trading plan and his goals…his strategy and rules - his life raft.

He started by writing out his vision - what he wanted his life to look like when he became a successful trader and investor, then worked backwards from there - through the details of how he was going to achieve his dream.

He saw in his mind the 4 bedroom apartment on the beach, the red Ferrari 360 Modena, the plasma screen computer monitor in an office overlooking the surf beach 7 floors below, the family holidays in the Greek islands, the significant donations to worthwhile causes and children’s charities.

He visualized all the tremendous benefits of becoming a successful trader.

He realized that he was afraid of losing, and that fear was just too expensive to let it control his life any longer!

He decided that he would no longer accept anything less than full compliance with his trading plan.

He decided that he would take every trade entry signal and follow his trading plan as if his life depended on it.

As if, after each trade was closed out, he had to stand in front of a Panel of his trading Mentors, and explain his actions to them - why he entered where he did, where he placed his stop losses, why he exited when he did.

And if they weren’t convinced he followed the rules of successful trading, he would be taken out and shot!

This certainly focused his attention on only trading strong trends - trends where the price bars were trading above their respective moving averages for long trades, or below for short trades, and the Stock price was moving strongly in one direction.

He pretended that if he couldn’t justify his trading decisions to his trading Mentors, he was dead…

That was the day he resolved to study his selected group of Stocks, the ones that had a track record of trending strongly, every day. He would then take every trade his system produced, put his stop loss orders in the market as he entered each trade it a place where the trend had to change to take him out of the trade, and he would hold every position until the trend changed.

He would act ‘as if’ he was a great trader, even though his record up to that point had been less than inspiring…

That innocent question from a child turned out to be the start of David’s successful trading career.

He started to trade profitably and consistently for the first time in his life. He thought he was doing well, and indeed he was making money.

He knew from his wealthy mentors that rich people are different; they make rational decisions based on facts, not emotions. They understand the value of money - they respect it as a tool for building a better world. They buy well for logical reasons and hold until there is a valid reason to sell.

Then one day, he closed out a trade, and excitedly told his daughter, ‘Daddy made a big profit in the market today darling, come and look and see what I did.’

His daughter came over to the computer and looked at the screen as he excitedly showed her where he had bought a Stock and then sold for a $3000 profit. She looked at him and said, ‘But daddy, it’s still going up, why did you sell it?’

His smile faded as the power of that question sunk in…why had he sold it? What was he doing getting out of such a strongly trending Stock just to take a profit? What would his trading Mentors say?

She was right…the market was still open, so he bought back in again. He had never been able to bring himself to do that before - he was becoming a great trader!

The rally continued and he kept buying more as it rallied. The trend finally changed, but his profit on that trade, when he eventually got a valid sell signal, was $14500!

His daughter’s question 2 weeks earlier was worth over $11000!

That was the last time he ever got out of a trade based on his emotions. His fear of the market was gone - thanks to some simple questions from a 7 year old…

So now, it’s your turn. Whenever you are preparing to place a trade, find a small child, even if you have to borrow one, and ask them what the trend is. Then don’t trade the other way!

If your trading isn’t as great as you know it could be, decide to create a trading plan now that will become your life raft.

Remember, fear is just too expensive.

If you are afraid of losing money, reduce your position size until your fear goes away.

Once you have made a series of small profits, you will be trading with the markets money and you can increase you position size according to your growing confidence and account balance.

If you have a series of losses, reduce your position size again until you get back on the right track. Stick to your trading plan - whether it’s the one that Peter outlines for you on the website or something else you have tested by paper trading until you are confident that it works.

Then, just do it!

To Your Trading Success,

Tony Spann and the Team

Stock Trading Review is dedicated to helping you succeed as a trader by sharing with you simple and easy to follow tips and techniques.

Discover more insider secrets and the exact proven strategies to trade stocks profitably: http://www.stocktradingreview.com

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