Q: What Is A Hedge Fund

Category: Finance, Financial Planning.

Unlike what it sounds, a managed future is not about a college choice or a personal growth plan.

Unfortunately, many individuals without a finance background may not understand exactly what this is, so let us take a look at what this choice could mean to you. On the world of investment and finance, a managed future is a type of investment choice. Q: What is a Future? Q: Is this something new? A: A future is basically an agreement between the investor( or buyer) to buy something at a set price sometime in the future. A: No. Q: What is a hedge fund?

Futures have existed for more than 30 years, but are sometimes considered an alternative investment due to their lack of popularity among the general population. A: To understand this, you have to understand there are two main players in the futures market. The Hedger will enter a contract to purchase or sell an item to guard against price risk. There is a Speculator and there is a Hedger. A great example of a Hedger is a farmer who will enter into a contract to purchase seed today, but not for shipment in 6 months. The speculator is someone who is not intending to minimize risk, but instead wants to profit from the increase in price.

The reason for purchasing seed today is that the farmer believes the future price of seed will increase in the upcoming months. The speculator is not someone who intends to take physical possession of the commodity, but is in the market only to make money. Q: OK- what does short selling mean? A hedge fund therefore is a fund designed to engage in short selling. A: There are two ways to buy and sell- either LONG or SHORT. For example, the hedger farmer is going to secure a contract to sell his corn at today s prices because he thinks that corn prices are going to drop in the future.

Short buying or selling is focused on commodities that may be over- valued now. Buying or selling long is focused upon commodities that may be under- valued now. Q: What is a managed fund? A speculator may purchase gold contracts today because he believes that gold prices will increase in the future and will sell at the higher price. A: A managed fund is one that has a professional full- time administrator of the fund who is responsible for purchasing and selling futures in order to make money. Q: Are they a safe investment?

Many managed funds are rather secretive and the strategies used by the administrator can vary as widely as their own personality. A: The answer is yes and no. In conclusion, a managed future fund is the perfect way to introduce diversification to your portfolio. It really depends upon the strategy, knowledge and experience of the administrator. But it is also an investment choice that requires some understanding and trust in the fund purpose and the administrator of the fund. If you are interested in this type of fund, take an afternoon and do a little research to find the one that best meets your needs.

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Federal Loans Are In Great Demand In The US - Finance and Financial Planning Articles:

No student in modern times is unaware of the benefit of student loan consolidation. Even if you belong to the second category, do not despair.

What Is A 457 Plan - Deanne Regis about Finance and Financial Planning:

What is a 457 plan? Contributions made to the plan with pre- tax money, and contributions are, earnings tax deferred while under the plan, and contributions are generally made by the employee, although some plans do have contributions by employees as well.

Foreclosures Through Court Proceedings

Category: Finance, Financial Planning.

The news or threat of foreclosure on your home or property could be very devastating for anyone, especially seniors. If your financial situation is stressed out thin, you are definitely under huge pressure to come out with the much needed money.

Knowing the regulations preventing foreclosure could do you a lot of favor. When you are burdened with foreclosure, you need to know the basic regulations preventing foreclosure. The reasons include like poor financial management of an individuals personal finance, decrease income due, loss of employment to loss of a spouse or loss to second mortgage scams and so forth. There are so many possible reasons why one would be unable to pay his or her regular monthly mortgage payments. When most prized possession like real estate property or home is threatened of foreclosure, you need to seek advice from the professionals. Foreclosure procedures vary from state to state. What you need to understand before your lender can foreclose your property, is that you have options.

Some foreclosure are court proceeding and some are non judicial. Here, the lender or creditor will file a suit in a court near the location of the property. Foreclosures through court proceedings. Unless the homeowner or the real estate property owner successfully contested the foreclosure, a judgment will be entered in favor of the creditor or lender. Some states do allow both types of foreclosure, judicial and non judicial. While on a non judicial type of foreclosure, the lenders or creditors simply advertise the home for sale using a legal notice on a newspaper. Now you see why you need to know the regulations preventing foreclosure.

First, get legal advice. Once burdened or threatened by foreclosure on your property, there are steps you need to take as soon as possible. There is the harsh reality of legal process involve in foreclosures. Getting legal help prevent any missed opportunity that may still be available to you. Obtaining immediate legal help could give possible options that may otherwise not be known to you, the average Joe. Do not wait till your legal rights have passed. These programs are mostly available to seniors or the elderly.

Go to your nearest government or nonprofit organizations or agencies and apply for income maintenance, tax abatement and public assistance programs. You may be eligible for supplemental security income. Contact and talk to your mortgage lender or servicer. This process can also be taken with the help of an advocacy organization. Negotiate with the mortgage lender or creditor. Try to negotiate a temporary or permanent change in the mortgage terms. Work out something with them that may ease up your payment schedules and arrears if any.

Terms like forbearance, or deferral agreements, reinstatement. Reamortization and or capitalization of arrears. The lender may also give a temporary rate reduction or a permanent rate reduction. Extension of the loan period. Make your home mortgage payments a priority. Another step the homeowner can do is keeping your current home mortgage payments.

Skip low priority bill payments like your payday loans, or even your, credit card payments medical bills. A reverse mortgage especially for the elderly would be very useful. Having equity on your real estate property will allow you to refinance your mortgage. Or consider selling the home before your servicer try to foreclose your home. For more information and resources on foreclosure prevention, contact or inquire about the National Consumer Law Center on foreclosures, surviving debt, repossessions, stop predatory lending. Thus, knowing the process or regulations preventing foreclosure can give you a more informed plan of action.

Regulations preventing foreclosure information gives a better chance in dealing with your mortgage foreclosure.

A Company Offers Retirement Benefits For Employees For One Purpose

Category: Finance, Financial Planning.

This is not a given for every employee. That is not the norm any more.

It used to be in the generation that was in the workplace of the nineteen fifties and sixties that staying with a company for thirty or more years and retiring with full benefits was the norm. We cannot just blame the job hopping ways of employees for the change of culture away from going for the gold watch and retiring in a company. A company offers retirement benefits for employees for one purpose. From the corporate side, so many companies have eliminated retirement packages entirely that there is a strong belief of the do it yourself retirement in the working population. That is to aid with retention. So if you can keep those employees all the way through to retirement, that is a real value to any corporate entity. When you have a pool of talented, well trained and energetic employees, that is a corporate resource.

So if your company does offer these benefits to your employees, its important that you take advantage of them in more ways then just sponsoring them. And this may be true in your company that you have a corporate culture of being involved with your employees at a personal level and maintaining that we are family feeling for people who work for you. A retirement package for aging employees sends a message to the employees that the company cares about them and about their families. If that is the case, it makes sense that you would extend that feeling to care for the retirement planning of any employee that you have that shows signs of being a long term value to the company. Remember that an interview is about more than you looking for qualified people. You should highlight the company retirement package as early as the interview with your prospective employees.

It is also about qualify people interviewing you. If a job hunter who is looking for a place to work that they can retire at knows that you have a good plan to help them with their retirement planning, that will draw the brightest and best to your HR department. And that is exactly where the value of a strong retirement package is of greatest value. Your HR department should not let the retirement issues of employees lie idle for very long at all. Hold regular retirement planning meetings to have employees review their level of participation in the program. The more you help your employees plan for and participate in a retirement program, the happier they will be and the more engaged in their work they will be.

This is where you will put in front of the employees your most empathetic HR employees to show genuine interest in the employee retirement issues. And when an employee finally crosses over into retirement, throw a party and go out of your way not only for the company to help the employee transition to retirement but to demonstrate to all employees that the company lives up to its claims to be faithful to employees all the way into retirement. Above all be sure to show particular concern and caring for aging employees. In an economy where so many companies throw people away, your employees will notice that this is not that kind of company. And your faithfulness to retiring employees will result in a rich crop of faithfulness from ongoing employees who stand behind you because you stand behind them from the day they start work in the company all the way through to retirement.

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It Is Important To Know Where Your Money Goes

Category: Finance, Financial Planning.

Living within your means is a liberating way to live your life.

Living within your means gives you the freedom to save money for special things rather than always scrimping to pay your bills. It means no debt is one of the most common causes of relationship stress. Unfortunately, many people don t live within their means. This happens for many reasons. They live above it, way above it. Maybe they just don t track their expenses, and purchases are made without thinking. Maybe shopping is a misguided form of therapy.

Maybe they re trying to keep up with their friends and family. Whatever the reason, the end result isn t a happy one. It is important to know where your money goes. If you feel that you could do more to live within your means, here are a few tips to help keep your life on track and your financial status right where it belongs: Tip# 1: Keep track of your spending. Once you have an idea of what you re spending your money on, you can begin to control it. A new car depreciates the moment you drive it off the lot.

Tip# 2: Buy a used car or at least keep your new car for more than a couple years. Sometimes it depreciates as much as 50% . Tip# 3: Don t be afraid to grocery shop with coupons or stock up on items for sale. A used car already has that depreciation figured into the cost. Personally I love it when the grocery offers" buy one get one free items" , particularly when the items are large ticket items like meats. Tip# 4: Do buy quality clothing items, not quantity.

Not only do I save tons of money but when I can t figure out what to make for dinner, I can just open my freezer and I have options. When you re shopping for yourself, don t make whimsical clothing purchases or follow the latest trend. Spending$ 100 on a pair of jeans that will be out of style next season, or spending$ 150 on a pair of jeans you can wear for five years? What s better? Tip# 5: If you have a credit card debt, develop a plan to get out of it. A phone call to your creditor can usually start the process.

A debt elimination plan begins with reducing your interest rate. Next, stop the charging on those credit cards and get busy paying them down. A great way to manage the process is to develop a monthly budget. Pay more than the minimum balance or you ll never get it done. Your budget will contain your income, expenses including debt and your savings. It is empowering to have complete control over your money and your finances, certainly less stressful than letting your money control you! Living within your means is possible!

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What Happens To My 401K Money If I Leave Before Retirement

Category: Finance, Financial Planning.

The earlier you start putting money back for retirement, the better your golden years will be.

It can get pretty exciting when you get those statements and you see your retirement fund really start to take shape. And if you have been faithful in participating in your employers 401K plan, you can start to some serious money begin to build up as you realize the vesting of the employer matching funds and you continue to make your contributions month after month. But your career in business can take a lot of twists and turns along the way. But the question comes up then. And sometimes you change jobs for a lot of reasons. What happens to my 401K money if I leave before retirement?

The 401K program is federally monitored and once those funds go in there, they are yours if you are vested in them. The good news is that you do not lose it. But if you move jobs several times during your career which is very common in the modern business marketplace, if you do not take some action, you can end up with retirement money scattered over all of your last jobs which is messy and makes for a nightmare to keep track of. When you first leave your employer to go to another company you are given a couple choices of what to do with your retirement funds. It would be better if you can make your retirement money walk with you so you know where it is and you can keep all of your retirement planning funds in one place so you can take advantage of them all at once when you are ready to retire. One option is to leave them behind to catch up with them decades later when you are ready to retire. You do not need that kind of uncertainty when it comes to your retirement money.

In addition to wanting to keep this important asset with you as you travel from job to job, you have no idea if that employer will even be in business when you are ready to retire. Another option that is offered to you is to cash out your 401k and withdraw the results. For one thing, the laws governing the 401k call for you to pay a large penalty if you withdraw them before retirement age. While this may be attractive if you are between jobs, it is really a bad idea. Not only that, once you take that money out of your retirement funds, it is gone and your retirement planning will suffer a serious set back. Now if you left the last job without a new employer either through termination or leaving to start your own business, that may not be an option. A very good option that is available to you is to roll your current 401K over to your new employer.

If you are looking for a new job and think you will have one in the next year or so, you can leave your 401k money where it is and transfer it later though. But a third option is to roll the 401k money into a tax sheltered privately owned retirement fund. In that way, your 401k continues to accumulate as one fund, not many. You own this account and you usually have an investment management company helping you with the investment and protection of that money until it is time for you to retire. And if you use this option, you can still start with a new 401k fund at your next employer knowing you have a place to put the funds in the event of another change of jobs. This is an outstanding option because that investment company works for you so you call the shots about your retirement money.

And that puts you in the drivers seat which is a very good feeling when it comes to retirement planning.

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Crude Oil Spread Betting, 21 Jan 08

Category: Finance, Financial Planning.

Spread Trading, 23 Jan 08. Capital Spreads Account holders have found these levels comfortable enough to take out new long positions expecting a possible attempt at the$ 100 level in the coming weeks.

Crude Oil prices remain depressed( to the extent that they are still only in the high$ 80s rather than the$ 90s) . With inventory data out at 15h30 today, the oil markets will be closely watched. With Crude Oil beginning to slip we might expect some breaking of ranks in OPEC as producers try to sell as much of the black stuff at these high prices as possible. Crude Oil Spread Betting, 21 Jan 08. In the final account there is not much love lost or agreement between the Oil producing nations( apart from a general dislike of the US) . Crude Oil Spread Betting Comment, 18 Jan 08. So unless there is some increased political tension traders are beginning to put a toe into the sell side for a change.

Crude Oil is weaker( although up a tad this morning) as the lack of any actual bad news weighs on the long positions. To the upside the obvious target remains$ 100 but the March contract high is actually just around$ 98 and there is growing resistance to moves above$ 97 Crude Oil Spread Betting Comment, 14 Jan 08. We seem to have found some support at$ 830 in the Brent Crude Oil March contract but if this goes traders will be eying the crucial$ 830 level which held once in November and twice in December. As mentioned last week, Crude Oil Spread Betting is struggling at the top end of the range as supply continues at the higher end and political friction seems somehow to be not as bad as feared. Will this be a year of falling gas prices? This morning Brent Crude is called a few cents higher at$ 930- $935 and we are now some$ 8 off the highs of the New Year.

We must now watch for a series of supports at$ 830, $820 and$ 84If we break these and close lower then the oil bears may finally have something to get their teeth into. The bulls however will be hoping for: a) some US/ Iran dispute, and/ or. b) a renewed problem in Nigeria, and/ or. c) a renewed problem in Pakistan, and/ or. d) some sign that the world economy is not indicating a slowdown.

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Doris from Minnesota is considering transferring her assets to her son so they won t be lost to Medicaid should she need assisted- living or nursing home care. One of the greatest financial risks seniors face is the rising cost of healthcare, including the cost of custodial care in an assisted- living facility or nursing home.

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Find An Independent Pensions Transfer Advisor

Category: Finance, Financial Planning.

If you re considering a pension transfer, then these tips could help you in the transfer process.

Pensions law and regulation is so complex and changes so rapidly, that you really do need good advice when it comes to transferring your pension. Find an Independent Pensions Transfer Advisor. An independent advisor isn t tied to any particular product, and has access to all the information you need to make an informed decision. They can check the current value of your existing pension and compare it to the performance of other similar schemes on the market. In addition, they will be aware of the latest changes to the pensions regulations, ensuring that your transfer falls within the rules. Don t transfer your pension without consulting an expert. Each pension scheme has a different level of benefits.

Check Benefit Levels. Whilst some are very generous, and you want, others are not to be sure that you are transferring to a pension that has equally good, benefits than your, if not better current scheme. Growth Levels. Your pensions advisor can help you to check benefits levels and talk you through which are the most important to hold onto. If you are transferring a pension, there may be a period where the new scheme needs to grow to the size of your original pension fund. Nominations. For this reason, you should ask your pensions advisor to check growth levels to see which funds are likely to return your investment to its current level the quickest.

Make sure that you can nominate one or more beneficiaries for your pension scheme and that the pension fund manager will honour your nomination. To make sure that your pension goes to the people you want it to, your nominations need to be accurate and, you should reinforce, if necessary them in your will. If you die before retirement, your pension entitlement will be paid to your nominated beneficiary or to your estate. Retirement Age. If you are intending to retire early, ask your pension advisor to check the value of your existing scheme and the scheme you want to transfer to. If you are transferring your pension less then 10 years before retirement, make sure that your new scheme gives you the same rights as your old one. This will help you to ensure that you have a good income on your retirement.

The pensions industry is competitive and one of the key areas where pensions schemes compete is the management fee. Management Fees. This fee is usually applied annually and is calculated as a percentage of your funds. Review. Many people choose to transfer their pension in order to obtain a lower management fee, so you should make sure that the scheme you choose has a management fee you are happy with. If you are considering transferring your pension, ask a pensions advisor for a review of your current situation. Administration.

Once you have transferred your pension, it may be worth asking for a regular review, particularly as you approach retirement age, so that you can be sure that your pension is working for you. You will need to ensure that you have all the paperwork relating to your existing pension scheme before you transfer. Similarly, when you get the paperwork for your new pension scheme, keep it in a safe place so that you can access it easily when you are coming up to retirement. This paperwork is important when it comes to any contact you have with the company operating your pension scheme, and your pension advisor will need it in order to effect the transfer. Target Income. Talk to your pensions advisor about your desired target income, which will help them to work out the payments you need to be making into your new pension scheme.

If you are transferring your pension scheme when you are still a long way from retirement, you may want to look at the level of contributions you are making.

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