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Have you ever wondered how much a part of your investments will be worth 10 years from now? How about 20 years? You can easily figure it out without using a financial calculator. Just use the Rule of 72, your financial calculator in investment.

Let’s say you invested $10,000 in a fixed annuity earning 6% a year. In 24 years, your assets will be worth about $40,000. Then how does it work?

And the Rule of 72: Divide the number 72 by the interest you earn, and it will give you the number of years it will take for your money to double. Using the above example, 72 divided by 6 equals 12 years for doubling. Pretty simple-hah! Since there are two doubling periods in 24 years, the original $10,000 would be worth $20,000 in 12 years, and $40,000 in 24 years.

Using this same Rule, an investment earning 8% would double in about 9 years, and a 12% investment would double in 6 years.

You need to remember that a 6% interest rate in a Certificate of Deposit would not work as well as a 6% annuity. A CD earning 6% would leave an investor approximately 4% after taxes. The Rule of 72 would only apply to an after-tax yield. A 6% annuity would be tax-deferred; therefore, the entire 6% would be counted.

The Rule of 72 works best with fixed investments, or those with a fairly stable return. Also, it only works if you reinvest your assets. The Rule does not apply if you withdraw any funds.

You can even use this Rule in reverse. For example, you are 38 years old, and you’d like to know how much you’d have to invest today to retire a millionaire.

Using the same Rule, assuming a retirement age of 65, and an average annual return of 8%, here is how it would work:

Step One: 72 divided by 8% would signify that your money would double every 9 years.

Step 2: At age 65, you want your assets to be worth $1,000,000, so…

Step 3: You work in reverse, going back 9 years for every doubling period.

$1,000,000 at age 65 (your goal)

$500,000 at age 56 (9 years earlier)

$250,000 at age 47,

$125,000 at age 38 (lump sum)

If you invest $125,000 at 8% until age 65 (before taxes), you would have about $1,000,000 at retirement. This amount would change, of course, if you invested more than $125,000, or if the interest were higher, or better still, you started investing a little sooner than age 38.

Depending on your goals, and your age, you could retire earlier or later than age 65. You don’t have to invest a lump sum to retire comfortably. Just have a goal, and a systematic investment plan, and your retirement needs will be accomplished.

Kaushik Adhikary operates http://www.myinsuranceinsiderinfo.com, a blog all about fresh and quality content on personal line of insurance and finance field. He loves giving away Free Stuffs and now giving away Free Memberships to his Newsletter,Special Reports,E-Course,E-Books et. all absolutely free.

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The legendary Indian spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) once said: “The earth has enough for the needs of all but not the greed of a few.” His words have since proved to be quite prophetic!

The world today is in chaos and by that I’m not merely referring to the tumult taking place in the Middle East; what I’m talking about is the imminent extinction of hundreds of millions of people as a result of global warming. In both scenarios the United States plays a central role!

I have already pretty much detailed out how and why global warming is happening and which nations are most responsible for its acceleration, as well as who’s doing what and who is not to rectify the situation in my article entitled: Global Warming–How It Could Spark World War III.

That said, I’ve included a list of figures below to illustrate to what extent each nation/region is responsible for greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere (greenhouse gases are widely held to be the engine behind the accelerated global warming seen today):

USA: 30.3%

Europe: 27.7%

Russia: 13.7%

South East Asia: 12.2%

South/Central America: 3.8%

Japan: 3.7%

Middle East: 2.6%

Africa: 2.5%

Australia: 1.1%

The Truth Behind The Lie

To many in marketing circles the concept of manipulation of social evidence is nothing new. Basically what it entails is manipulating tools of evidence to further one’s goals.

Thus for example, until fairly recently in internet marketing circles, the practice of manufacturing bogus testimonials was fairly widespread. The objective being to convince visitors to one’s website to purchase products on the strength of those manufactured testimonials.

In the arena of global warming much the same has been happening. In the same manner that a defense counsel in a court case will produce its own expert witness to discredit that of the prosecution (or vice versa) so has the Bush II administration paraded a string of bogus experts to decry global warming as just a myth!

In 2007 a good number of environmental scientists and climatologists publicly stated that they’d been pressurized by various Bush II factions to manipulate data to downplay the seriousness of global warming!

Which simply begs the question: why is the Bush II administration going to such lengths to hide the truth about global warming?

Snatch ‘n’ Grab Operation Gone Awry

It is now widely accepted that the invasion of Iraq had little to do with terrorism, less to do with democracy but everything to do with oil! The question still remains however, why did the US go to such lengths (which included manufacturing evidence) to illegally invade a sovereign state under what at best can be described as a thinly disguised pretext for war?

Was it merely a question of the then single remaining superpower claiming its right to wield that might as it saw fit irrespective of international law, just as Nazi Germany once did?

Or was it a case of a few vain men hoping to claim their slice of immortality through a legacy festooned with the glory of having secured new oil reserves for a nation with a quenchless thirst for the stuff?

Or perhaps the U.S. oil reserves were so desperately low that Bush II and his New World Order buddies were prepared to force a snatch and grab operation that could easily have escalated into third world war, so as to shore up those dwindled oil reserves?

Or maybe, just maybe, the U.S. desperately needed to stockpile a vast amount of oil for something far, far more sinister.

To keep at bay a monster it helped so much to create!

Threads Weaving A Disturbing Tapestry Of Events

These days more often than not fact is stranger than fiction. When we look at the Bush II Administration’s policy on global warming it is beyond perplexing why they have gone to such lengths to deny its existence.

For sure, his Have-More buddies in oil and other environmental-damaging industries have plenty to gain by muddying the waters, but what if there’s really more to this repudiation of global warming than that!

What if this is a carefully concocted plot that has been kept under wraps for years?

Here’s what we know thus far about global warming. The data has been around for well over a decade and has been readily available to government officials. Since the turn of the 21st century scientists across the globe have been warning of the extent of global warming; warnings that apparently fell on deaf ears! (Well at least as far as the Bush II administration was concerned.)

But supposing this was not actually the case.

What if the Bush II administration did listen, but only to those scientists who’d concluded that the world had reached the point of no return? And that global warming could not be reversed anytime in the foreseeable future and thus by proxy neither could its ensuing effects!

Fuelling Up For A Global Catastrophe

In other words there was no point implementing measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions (thereby slowing down global warming) and that in fact the best policy was to forge powerfully ahead and ensure that America was readied for the ensuing catastrophe no matter the cost!

If it meant manufacturing a war, so be it! If it meant causing the deaths of hundreds of millions of people to achieve that aim, so be it! After all this wouldn’t be the first time in history that the few had been sacrificed for the many! Oh! Except in this case it is the many sacrificing for the few, or more specifically, The Have-Mores!

When looked at from this perspective, that the U.S. is fuelling up for a long term global catastrophe, it all begins to make some sense! Especially considering that Saudi Arabia still has the greatest oil reserves in the world and has never said no to U.S. oil demands!

Bottom line, it is quite conceivable that the U.S. under Bush II has been insuring against (or at least trying to) a global catastrophe predominantly of its own making! But alas even the best laid plans go badly awry. Iraq didn’t turn out to be the pushover they’d expected and the oil is not gushing the way they had envisioned.

Think that such a scenario is way over the top? Think again! Remember Iraq? Remember Hurricane Katrina?

The way the Bush II government handled Katrina was so shameful that Google for some reason best known to it was compelled to replace post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery with pre-hurricane images on its map portal (Damage control? Trying to hide America’s shame from the rest of the world? At whose behest one wonders?).

As you can well imagine, when it came to light, the whole sordid affair was an extreme embarrassment to Google (And certainly not good for business! The search engine business thrives on the premise that results are accurate and impartial and not manipulated!).

But the point I wish to emphasize here is that if the Bush II government could shun its very own citizens (albeit mainly citizens of color) in such a cavalier fashion why would they give a damn if their actions resulted in the deaths of hundreds of millions of Africans or peoples from other parts of the globe who are going to be worst hit by global warming?

In World War II the Nazi’s genocide weapon-of-choice was hydrogen cyanide gas, what irony that in the upcoming global warming related genocide, gas too is the weapon of choice; carbon dioxide gas!

Stop Global Warming

Ba Kiwanuka is the webmaster of http://www.internetbusinessmart.com

Getting out of debt is one of the top New Years resolutions made every year. Unfortunately, like many New Years resolutions, most people generally forget about or give up on their resolution to get out of debt before the first month is even up. Here are some tips to help you keep your ‘get out of debt’ resolution this year:

1. Stop borrowing. The first thing you should do to get out of debt is to stop borrowing. You can’t get out of debt if you’re continuing to add to your burden each month. So cut up those credit cards, or freeze them, or put them in a safe place where you can’t get to them easily, and start using cash for all of your purchases. This simple step will keep you from over spending and will make you stop and think “do I really need this?” before each purchase. You will be surprised at how powerful this one strategy is!

2. Take an inventory. This is a painful step, but you absolutely have to know where you stand before you can make a plan to get out of debt. Write down who you owe, how much you owe them, and the minimum monthly payment required to meet that obligation.

3. Track your spending. In order to pay off your debt you have to know were you are spending your money. You should keep track of your spending, either in a software program such as Quicken or MS Money, or using spreadsheets, or even pen & paper. Whatever method works best for you, it is very important that you know were you are spending your money so you know how much cash you have available to put towards your debts each month.

4. Set short term goals and milestones. Getting out of debt can be a monstrous task, especially if you’re deep in debt. Many people give up simply because the goal itself seems so large that it’s unachievable. To get around this, I encourage you to set smaller goals to help you achieve the greater goal. For example, if you have several credit cards, and the total debt is $5,000, instead of focusing on your goal to pay off the $5,000 total, focus on paying the smallest balance card off first, or focus on coming up with an extra $50 per month to put towards your debts. The point is to set goals that can be achieved in a short time period so that you see results right away and are encouraged to continue towards the larger goal.

5. Reward yourself periodically. Just as important as setting goals that you can achieve, you should reward yourself for goals and milestones reached. Another reason why people give up on their goals is because they feel like they have to give up too much to achieve that goal (i.e., skipping that latte, cutting back on spending, etc.). To keep you motivated, you should reward yourself every time you achieve a goal or you see that you are making progress toward reaching a goal. If you don’t ever celebrate your successes, you may end up resenting your goals, and giving up on them.

Finally, the best way to make sure you keep your ‘get out of debt’ resolutions, is to know why you want to get out of debt. Is it to reduce stress? Is it to spend more time with your family? How will you feel when you are out of debt? Putting some feeling behind your goals and reminding yourself why you want to get out of debt will help you stay on track and achieve your goals.

Does credit card debt have you stressed out? Learn how to get out of debt and on the road to financial freedom at http://www.livingdebtfree2008.com

Kristine A. McKinley, CFP, CPA, and founder of Beacon Financial Advisors, teaches individuals and families how to invest and plan for retirement, college, and other financial goals. Kristine offers financial and tax planning on an hourly, fee-only basis. For more personal finance tips, please visit http://www.financialtipsforwahms.com

Famous successful entrepreneurs like Ty Coughlin of business Reverse Funnel System, Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Cosmetics, and Mike Dillard of Magnetic Sponsoring, all have a common factor… They all started with nothing.

Ty was a frustrated construction worker and network marketer going nowhere fast in a long line of MLMs. Mary Kay lived in a man’s world as a single mother of three and constantly losing out on promotions to the men who she partnership trained herself. Mike Dillard was waiting tables at local restaurants to make ends meet.

Each one of them worked countless hours into developing their businesses. But aside from that, what kept them going had enabled them to overcome odds and build highly successful businesses. It was their belief in themselves. Put simply, their mindset.

What you believe about yourself can set you up for success or failure. If you envision yourself as unprepared, ill-equipped or incapable of doing something, you have unconsciously set yourself up for self sabotage. A student who announces, “I’m no good at math” will probably have trouble in math class. We call this “The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.”

Sometimes this self sabotage is referred to as the “stinkin’ thinkin’”. It can be one of the biggest obstacles you’ll face in your business, and takes time to defeat.

How To Develop the Mindset of Successful Entrepreneurs… Are you’re lacking the self-confidence you need to make a successful business? Is it keeping you from going after what you want?

Make yourself a plan for what you want to accomplish. Then, one step at a time, take action every day to get you business towards your goal. Educate yourself. Always keep your goals in front of you. Learn from the people who have been successful, and lay a solid foundation for your business. See it. Believe it. Achieve it. Take notes, but more importantly, take action.

This isn’t only how the successful entrepreneurs above had make their dream come true, but many others as well. Stay consistent with your efforts, and believe in yourself! If you don’t master anything else, start with mastering your beliefs about YOU. They will naturally lead you to the top.

Tara Brown is the owner of ExecutiveHomeBody and writes on a variety of subjects related to leadership and home business. To learn more about starting your own business, visit http://www.ExecutiveHomeBody.com

Becoming rich is really not a very difficult process. It may be a long process, but it is in no way rocket science. The difference between those are wealthy and those who aren’t is that the wealthy person decided to be rich by taking action. You can increase your income and reach your financial goals by deciding to take action.

How to Make More Money

Here are some examples of the ways rich people produce passive income streams to increase their net worth and accelerate their net worth.

1. Buy Real Estate: When you own a piece of property that can be rented for an amount that is greater than the mortgage, expenses, taxes and maintenance, you keep the profit. Not only do you make the difference between what you charge for rent and your expenses, but your renters are helping pay down your mortgage, which means free equity in the property for you.
2. Write a Book: Authors only have to write a book once to receive royalty checks forever. In some instances they may have to revise their book now and again, such as the case with textbooks, but 90 percent of the work is done when they publish the original book.
3. Invest for the Long Term: Rich people understand the power of compound interest and how it can double their money many times over. Invest early and often, and over time your money will double, and then double again. With just average stock market returns, you can double your money in 7 years.

As you can see, these are not very difficult concepts, but in order to take advantage of these strategies to become wealthy it requires you to take action.

Learn more about how to become a millionaire and transform debt into wealth by visiting Millionaire Money Habits. A free report to teach you how to become rich is waiting for you.

In today’s world, there are many notable and successful mega rich millionaires who were at one time or another were a school drop out. Richard Branson and Simon Cowell are excellent examples of this trend. As a result of their brief experience with education, business people like Richard Branson rarely create new inventions, but what they do create is massive wealth and businesses, and partnership reason they can achieve this is down to their millionaire mindset. The kind of mindset that so many successful and influential people have. It is the mindset that helps people from all kinds of backgrounds achieve their lifetime goals, dreams and ambitions. This article is going to give you three secrets to achieving this mindset, so you can duplicate such success, and be on course to create mega wealth and success for you and your loved ones.

Secret 1.
Definiteness of Purpose. Have one outstanding goal, one objective, one over-arching desire that you are committed to. It does not matter what it is, but you have to be specific about it in your own mind. Write down what you want. If it is a certain lifestyle, then what goes a long with that lifestyle? Do you want a new home for your family? If so, write down all the features that home would have, describe the car you want to buy, be specific about the places you want to do. Write it all down, and then scour the Internet for pictures that represent the goal you have set for yourself. For example, I have a massive canvas picture of the view from a building I want to live in within a few years time. It sits right above my desk in front of me, so when I finish typing, or when the work gets a bit difficult, I take a couple of minutes to look up at the canvas and remind myself what it is all about, and why I am doing this.

Secret 2.
Learn from your failures. If you set up a venture, business or a project and fail, learn from it because it is not the end of the world. Some of the partnership successful people in the world failed numerous times in business before getting to where they are today. It is important to be committed to your goals, and not to give up when you fail or when things get difficult, persistence and strength of character is key.

Secret 3.
Develop an attractive personality. Not all of us are naturally charismatic or the life and soul of every social function we attend, but we can all develop an attractive personality by making a few adjustments in how we communicate with people. Treat people with respect, no matter who they are. Engage with people you talk to and make them feel like they are the only person who matters in the room at that time. And always try to take something positive from a situation. People are not attracted to negativity or people who constantly complain.

“These are just three principles which help to make up the “millionaire mindset”. There are actually many other principles that comprise this mindset, and you can learn more about them by reading the story of Tom McMillan and Michael Redford in Millionaire Upgrade.”

To download your own FREE MP3 copy of the best selling business book ‘Millionaire Upgrade: Lessons in Success From Those Who Travel at the Sharp End of the Plane’… and develop your own millionaire mindset, simply click through to http://www.freemillionaireupgradebook.com

In this book (which was inspired by true events with Sir Richard Branson, and interviews with 51 self-made millionaire entrepreneurs), partnership learn exactly how self-made millionaire entrepreneurs think, act and made decisions, and how you must too, to develop your own $1m+ business.

Go right now to http://www.freemillionaireupgradebook.com for an instant download.

How is your year shaping up? With three months left, have you achieved your goals? Are you coping with the curve balls being thrown our way? We have just tax a fabulous Wealth Dynamics Weekend in India – but one that took place whilst an earthquake killed 40,000 in Kashmir. I arrived here after a fantastic Entrepreneur Business School in Bali – but one that took place days before the bombs went off. As the waves rise, we can hold more tightly business the boat – or we can jump in the water.

This month’s article is about jumping in the water. I hope you enjoy it.

“Don’t leave the house until you’ve cleaned up your room!” – It wasn’t the first time Mum had laid down the law. Where was the logic in cleaning up my room if I was going out anyway? Who was going to use it while I was gone? In fact, who was ever going to use it except me? I had always been quite happy with it messy.

But this time it was different. We were moving house. We were leaving this one forever, and the movers would be here tomorrow. She wanted me to clean a room where everything was going to go in boxes anyway. She wanted me to clean a room that I would never step foot in again! Now that was insane.

I remember the time it took to clean that room, and how I felt at the time. I was twelve years old and we were leaving Papua New Guinea forever. We were moving to Hong Kong. I was leaving partnership the friends I had made in the past four years – and I would never see them again. It was my last day to go out, have fun, say goodbye. But I was stuck inside, cleaning.

I am reminded of that time now, as I sit here with WWF’s latest Living Planet Report in front of me. The report is based on two key indicators: The Living Planet Index (LPI) which measures trends in species population, and the Ecological Footprint, which measures the weight of humanity’s demands on the Earth’s renewable resources.

Between 1970 and 2000, the LPI has fallen 40%. The index measures 3,000 population trends in over 1,100 species. Since the day I was born, 40% of the abundance of species on Earth has been wiped out. The population of freshwater species has halved and tropical terrestrial species have fallen by 65%. Two-thirds of the biomass (or total volume) of the bigger fish in the Atlantic, such as Cod and Tuna, have disappeared.

During this same period, the World’s population has grown by 65%. That’s the equivalent of today’s entire World Population outside of Asia Pacific – 2.5 billion new people. There are now over 6 billion people on the planet, compared to 4 billion when I was cleaning my room, and compared to less than 2 billion when my Mum was a child, being told to clean hers.

Since 1970, the global Ecological Footprint has grown by 70%. The footprint is the total area required to produce the food, fibre and timber we consume, to provide the space we inhabit and absorb the waste we create. This was 13.5 billion global hectares in 2001. Earth’s biocapacity – which is the total area it can sustainably offer for these functions – is 11.3 billion global hectares. Our footprint exceeded the Earth’s biocapacity in the 1980s, and by 2001 we were exceeding the Earth’s capacity to sustainably support our demands on it by 21%. As far as our planet is concerned, we are now living on ecological debt – at credit card interest rates.

“…We no longer live within the sustainable limits of the planet. Ecosystems are suffering, the global climate is changing, and the further we continue down this path of unsustainable consumption and exploitation, the more difficult it will become to protect and restore the biodiversity that remains.”

- Dr Claude Martin, Director General, WWF International

You may not have seen these specific numbers, but we’ve all heard this story before – just like I had heard my mum so many times before.

I was recently coaching an entrepreneur looking to make his next million and I found him laden with credit card debt. This is actually a very common occurrence with many entrepreneurs. I told him the first thing he needed to do was to become disciplined enough to turn cash flow positive, rather than expecting his habit of over-consumption to magically reverse one day. There’s no point in making a dollar if it costs more than a dollar to make it. He said “I’ve heard all that before. I haven’t come to you to be told that. I’ve come to you to find out how to make it big.” I simply told him “Don’t leave the house until you’ve cleaned up your room!”

“There’s no point in making a dollar if it costs more than a dollar to make it.”

I didn’t tell him about the day I sat there in my room, on 21st March 1980, focusing reluctantly on my clean-up task ahead. I didn’t mention the process I went through: how I began emptying the cupboards, arranging my toys; how I began discovering parts of my history that had been long forgotten; or how, as I continued, I found myself surrounded by my life – things I thought had been forever lost; moments that I had taken for granted; gifts that still held the thoughts that counted. My task of cleaning somehow unexpectedly evolved into a celebration of my little life. It became an extraordinary exercise in both gratitude… and pride! I didn’t tell him these things, because I wasn’t sure it was relevant – although I somehow sensed that it was.

As entrepreneurs, with our businesses and our teams, we generally produce more than the average individual. We also consume more. Many entrepreneurs consume more than they produce. So the power to clean up the world’s ecological debt lies partly with its consumers, but mostly with its business owners: That’s you and me.

Where does the motivation come to put cleaning up as a priority, when we could be out playing? Can’t someone else clean up as we’re going to leave the house anyway? And can each of us really make that much of a difference? After a full day, I stepped out of my room, each one of my many treasures no longer taken for granted. I sat quietly at dinner in a contemplative mood. So did my brother and my sister who had been cleaning their rooms as well. I felt a strange sense of accomplishment – about my room and about my life. I felt an eerie sense of connection with my family. I felt a lightness, a purpose – a new view of my place in this world.

I can’t tell if my childhood story is relevant to you as you read the WWF report but I found it relevant to me. We enter this world with the choice to be a net giver or a net taker. As we increase our capacity to create, we also increase our capacity to consume – or contribute. Taking responsibility for this choice can lead to a transformation in how you view your place in this world.

The United Nation’s Median Growth projection for World Population is 9 billion by 2050. If our current consumption remains unchecked, by 2050, WWF calculates our consumption will exceed our home’s capacity to deliver by 120% per year, creating an ecological debt we have no means to service. Even if you don’t clean up for those who will inhabit our home when we’re gone, do it for yourself: The act of becoming debt free is a liberating experience. The act of becoming ecologically debt free on a global scale is a commitment that we can share, and will lead to a globally liberating experience we can share in our lifetime.

“Some people act like the World owes them something. The World doesn’t owe you anything. It was here first.”

AND FINALLY…

A group of our Life Members in Bali, during the Entrepreneur Business School, got to know one of the Meridien waitresses, 21 year old Wati. In conversation, she told them her dream for the last six years was to open a bar. Here’s what happened next, in the words of one of the team, Peter Taggart:

“We asked ‘why do you want to open a bar?’ Wati replied that she wanted to help support and look after the people in her village. We asked where she would set up her first bar. Wati responded with an address in Kuta. She had already been researching the best location for her bar. We asked her to meet us the next day with her plan. The next day, what she brought with her blew us all away. Having just spent four days at EBS learning about vision, attraction and a greater purpose, we were stunned that this young lady had a better grip on all these concepts than any of us. Eight of us – from Australia, Singapore and England committed there and then to help bring Wati’s dream to life. That day, we opened a bank account in Wati’s name, bought her a mobile phone so we could stay in touch and set up an email account.”

That day, seven of the team flew their separate ways, while the remaining member went with Wati to Kuta to see her proposed site. The following Saturday night, five of the team met on the Gold Coast to discuss the plan forward for Wati. That was the night the bombs went off.

“Wati sent us a text message as soon as the bombs went off in Bali. She said she was still committed to her dream but understood if we were not. We got everyone online that night from around the world and we all unanimously decided we were all still committed to Wati and her dream.”

I’ll let you all know when Wati has her bar opened. In the meantime, my hat goes off to these eight individuals. In that week, worlds were changed in Bali in more ways than one.

Together, we will always be able to create value faster than anyone can take it away.

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” – Mahatma Gandhi

BELIEF, COURAGE, ACTION.

You can read more about XL Results Foundation

We also provide a unique profiling system with which you can discover your path of least resistance to wealth. This is a very powerful tool for any company manager or entrepreneur. Thousands of people have already discovered their path, now you can do the same at XL Wealth Dynamics

To bring success to your forex investing, you should be equipped with the right online currency trading software. There are lots of software available in the web and you must choose one that will surely be able to bring you lots of rewards and benefits. Being equipped with a suitable trading structure will ensure success for you in the world of investing. Being able to have the right tool which perfectly goes well with your preferences and needs will pave your way to online investing success.

One notable company that is the top of the realm of forex is Global Forex Trading. It is successful mainly due to its advanced online currency trading software which has exceptional software features. This trading software that the company uses is the Deal Book 360. It displays automated trading, analysis instruments, and visual online investing.

The Deal Book Web is another form of online currency trading software employed by Global Forex trading. This software enables you to experience trading anytime and anywhere as long as you have a capable computer with a reliable internet connection. This software is best for people on the go due to its flexible accessibility and other abilities such as charting and trading.

The Advanced Currency Markets is a foreign exchange investing software which actually does away with downloading. This software has sophisticated trading policies allowing more variations for online traders. It can work even in the presence of installed firewall. It is highly secure and has market updates and current charting tools

The Deal Book Mobile is another form of online currency trading software. This software can be used through supported mobile gadgets like PDAs and mobile phones. This software is a vital instrument in the world of currency investing in the net.

Whatever software you may use, you should focus on the software that has the better features and is suitable for your trading needs. There are complimentary trials for computers and mobile devices which you can try to get a feel for each of them.

Traders of online foreign exchange should have the ability to decide which currency trading software has the capabilities to give them their goals and needs. Friendly user interface and precise performance are some of the quality features online traders should seek in investment tool.

More information regarding online currency trading software are made available on my blog.

Learn everything about forex trading from Davion’s wildly popular blog to learn how to trade forex – from mastering the basics of foreign exchange trading to discovery of new trading tips, strategies, tools and more. Also, read this informative article about 6 forex trading terms you need to know!

What a difference a year makes. People entering retirement early last summer had a strong market to boost their nest eggs and cushion any anxiety over their life transition. On July 19, 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high, closing above 14,000 for the first time. To the extent that the subprime crisis had even registered, most observers expected the damage to be contained within the housing sector.

The investment outlook has darkened since then, however, especially for those who may not have decades ahead to smooth the effects of volatility. Regardless of how the markets perform, most retirees count on withdrawing income regularly from their nest eggs, while preserving as much of their principal as possible.

On an institutional level, foundations face a similar task. Congress requires them to give away at least 5% of their assets each year; their challenge is to grow principal to keep pace with inflation, so they can meet commitments to grantees and cover operating expenses. It’s like retirement… in perpetuity. “The problems of the retired investor and of the endowed institution are very closely related,” says Laurence Siegel, director of research in the investment division of the Ford Foundation. “Both seek to produce an income stream that grows with inflation.”

You don’t need to invest your clients’ nest eggs exactly like the Rockefeller or Ford Foundations-to say nothing of Harvard or Yale. In fact, most investors can’t act like Harvard or Yale, despite the books and articles that espouse to teach how-they just don’t have enough money. But foundations and endowments can teach advisors strategies for constructing and maintaining retirement income portfolios. Here’s a look at how.

All-Important Allocation

Retirement income planning didn’t even exist a couple of generations ago. Through the mid-20th century, most people didn’t have a decades-long retirement, for the simple reason that life expectancies were shorter. People stopped working, lived a few years on Social Security and then died. Later on, in the 1980s, retirees could pack their portfolios with double-digit-yielding Treasury bonds and bank certificates of deposit and live comfortably off that income. During the same decade, as inflation cooled, a bull market began that persisted for the rest of the century.

Today, the picture is decidedly more complex. People are living longer than ever. The life insurance industry has adopted new actuarial tables reflecting this: As of January 1, 2009, all policies must be issued with rates that extend through age 121, replacing tables that end at age 100. And the markets are less friendly. Market watchers predict that stocks may languish for years in a range-bound market that provides none of the oomph of the bull market that ended in 2000.

Meanwhile, people’s spending needs haven’t changed-if anything, they’ve risen, as healthcare costs have exceeded inflation-and inflationary pressures have mounted. Yet 30-year Treasury bond yields hover under 4.50%.

Recent research reinforces the importance of asset allocation in retirement as one of the safest, most efficient ways to meet long-term portfolio needs today. Because of compounding, more than half of every dollar that’s withdrawn from a defined contribution plan comprises investment returns generated after retirement, according to a study conducted by Russell Investments and released last month. The study looked at a prototypical 25-year-long retirement of a 65-year-old who dies at age 90. Out of each dollar the retiree withdrew from a defined contribution plan, 10 cents came from contributions made to the plan while working, 30 cents came from investment returns generated prior to retirement, and a full 60 cents came from investment returns generated after retirement. “The pool of assets is so much bigger after retirement,” says Bob Collie, director of investment strategy for Russell. Post-retirement investment returns account for an outsize portion of each dollar withdrawn from a defined contribution plan simply because the asset pool is larger in retirement, and because people’s longer lives are putting their money to work over longer horizons than before.

Today’s long life expectancies mean that an overly conservative asset allocation won’t go the distance for most retirees. Indeed, advisors recognize that only their wealthiest clients can derive a secure retirement from, say, bond ladders. “You can’t do it with bonds alone, because that would erode the assets,” says Thyra Zerhusen, manager of the $1 billion Aston/Optimum Mid Cap Fund and of a New York-based foundation’s portfolio, which she declined to name and which she runs the same way as her mutual fund. When Zerhusen began managing the foundation’s portfolio, it had roughly 70% of its assets in bonds and the rest in stocks. This breakdown mirrors the traditional retirement portfolio. But longer life expectancies, lower bond yields and a potentially stagnating stock market have zapped the effectiveness of this allocation. Zerhusen persuaded the foundation’s finance committee to adopt the inverse allocation, and today the portfolio is roughly 70% stocks and 30% high-quality bonds.

Alpha Alternatives

The foundation portfolio Zerhusen manages is unusual in that it doesn’t have an allocation to alternative investments. “We only buy what we understand,” Zerhusen says. Her expertise in identifying undervalued and misunderstood mid-cap stocks has helped the foundation meet its annual operating goals, which involve withdrawals of 8% to 10% per year, without sacrificing principal.

Most large foundations and endowments (foundations are mandated to give away a minimum of 5% of their assets per year, while endowments are not) have at least a quarter of their assets in investments outside of traditional, long-only publicly traded equities and bonds, Siegel says. “Alternative investments are, in principle, a more efficient way of generating alpha (if the manager has skill) than traditional, long-only investments,” he writes in an email message. “This is because short selling, the ability to leverage and use derivatives, the ability to lock up funds for long periods of time, and other features of alternatives each contribute in various ways to portfolio efficiency (the expected return per unit of risk taken).”

The Harvard and Yale endowments have about 50% of their portfolios in alternatives such as private equity, hedge funds, real estate and commodities, according to Frontier Capital Management, a Boston-based investment management firm. At $34.6 billion and $22.5 billion, respectively (as of the end of fiscal year 2007), Harvard and Yale’s endowments could weather any liquidity challenges that this high alternative allocation presents. But less-capitalized funds and private foundations without access to new money from alumni or other contributors (and whose circumstances are more analagous to those of retirees) could face trouble in a bear market if they allocate such a high percentage to alternatives, Siegel says. Margin calls or forward commitments on private equity can force the selling of assets, and there are fewer liquid assets to choose from if a large chunk of the portfolio is in real assets. Similarly, your clients will have less flexibility in their income withdrawals if they have too much allocated to real assets.

Some advisors have embraced the use of alternatives. “In portfolio design, the ultimate goal is to have investments that are not correlated,” says Greg Plechner, principal and senior wealth manager at Greenbaum and Orecchio, a fee-only advisory firm in Old Tappan, N.J. “With alternative investments, you’re able to attain that.” Greenbaum and Orecchio allocates an average of between 15% and 20% of their clients’ portfolios to alternatives. Retired clients have a slightly smaller allocation to alternative investments, he notes, since their fixed-income portion is higher.

The firm’s clients with more than $1.5 million to invest have access to private investment partnerships, while those with less than $1.5 million can access similar strategies through exchange-traded funds and notes, and institutional share mutual funds. For example, the firm uses PIMCO CommodityRealReturn Institutional, Vanguard Energy ETF, and Rydex Managed Futures Fund for market-neutral exposure.

Choosing private equity and hedge fund opportunities requires considerably more due diligence than does selecting investments sold on an exchange, as the former have far fewer reporting requirements. Greenbaum and Orecchio employs three full-time professionals whose sole job is to evaluate private investments and do the related legal work.

Endowment Products for the Rest of Us

Over the past year, the financial services industry has introduced new products to help consumers generate retirement income and to capitalize on the wave of retiring baby boomers. Endowments inspired the design of at least one of the new retirement income mutual funds on the market: The Vanguard Managed Payout Funds, launched in early May. The three funds of funds target payout rates of 3%, 5% and 7%, respectively, while maintaining capital, and in this approach function something like a university endowment, Vanguard executives say. The underlying funds are Vanguard stock and bond funds, and other investments, including REIT and TIPs (inflation-protected Treasury bonds) funds and commodity-linked investments.

Vanguard’s approach contrasts with that of Fidelity Investments, whose new payout mutual funds are designed to liquidate an investor’s principal by a target date. Vanguard chose its approach because “there was a sense generally that there’s a strong desire among retired clients to preserve their capital in liquid form for the duration,” says John Ameriks, a Vanguard principal and economist. Vanguard’s research among the company’s mutual fund shareholders reveals that many older people continue to save in retirement. “It’s very hard for people to turn on a dime in retirement,” Ameriks says. “They’ve been saving their whole lives.” In other words, even if your clients aren’t saving enough for retirement, their saving habits are nonetheless ingrained.

According to the Vanguard funds’ prospectus, the 3% payout fund is expected to appeal to investors who want to see their capital and payouts increase over time and seek only a modest current payout from their assets; the 7% payout fund, on the other hand, is expected to appeal to those who need a greater payout to satisfy immediate spending needs. While the payments and capital on the 7% fund are not expected to keep pace with inflation, Vanguard will seek to preserve the fund’s original value. The 5% fund is designed to provide long-term inflation protection and capital preservation. The funds could function as the investment vehicle of a small endowment, and in fact, Vanguard has fielded a few inquiries from such institutions, Ameriks says.

The funds’ payout rates are targets, not guarantees. “These products are not annuities,” which offer a guaranteed income stream for life, Ameriks notes. “There are positives and negatives to that.” The company believes that positives, such as liquidity and flexibility, outweigh the lack of a guarantee. Indeed, annuities have failed to gain widespread acceptance in the marketplace largely because consumers are loath to relinquish access to their principal.

But Then Again…

As much as retirees and foundations share similar challenges, there are some noteworthy differences between the two. For starters, individuals die. No one needs to produce income in perpetuity, as foundations endeavor to do. Retirees need to plan for at least 30 years in retirement, and annuities can insure they won’t outlive their assets. Amid the general unpopularity of these insurance products, advisors and their clients often overlook the benefits provided by risk pooling. “Annuities produce a much higher income than bonds or TIPs because the people who die help pay for those who survive,” Siegel explains in his email. In fact, you need 25% to 40% less capital to provide for yourself in retirement using risk pooling than you would structuring an investment portfolio on your own, according to a study by David F. Babbel and Craig B. Merrill of the Wharton Financial Institutions Center, co-sponsored by New York Life.

Annuity companies have introduced cash refund options that have increased their products’ popularity. This popular feature insures that investors’ heirs will receive money back after they die, yet it eats into the benefits of risk pooling. A 65-year-old male would receive 8% less income and a 75-year-old man 13% less from an immediate annuity with a cash refund than he would from one without, says Mike Gallo, senior vice president for retirement income at New York Life.

Another approach is to deconstruct the traditional annuity by layering a low-cost insurance guarantee on top of a separately managed account. In March, Pershing LLC launched such a hybrid retirement income product, which pairs a managed account solution with a lifetime income guarantee offered by The Phoenix Companies. The product, known as Lockwood Investment Strategies Longevity Income Solutions, or LIS2 for short, will ensure that investors won’t outlive their assets, says Len Reinhart, the former president of Lockwood who worked on the product design and now consults for Pershing Managed Account Solutions.

LIS2 features a 5% annual payout, after fees, which begins when an investor is 65 years old. The 5% rate is applied to the initial investment for a fixed dollar amount that stays the same each year. For example, an investor who puts $1 million into the product would get $50,000 each year for the rest of his or her life. The Phoenix Companies buys 10-year puts as hedges for the guarantee, which assures consumers of their fixed payout regardless of the underlying funds’ performance.

This structure will ensure that investors don’t become too conservatively invested in retirement, Reinhart says. “The whole point is for the client to be in an aggressive growth strategy,” he says. In other words, ensured of a guaranteed income stream through LIS2, retirees can invest the rest of their portfolios more aggressively. This argument is frequently applied to annuities as well.

Another major difference between retirees and foundations lies in their tax treatment. Private foundations pay an excise tax of 1% to 2% on investment income and realized capitalized gains, and endowments pay nothing. Needless to say, individuals don’t enjoy such favorable treatment at the hands of the Internal Revenue Service.

Furthermore, many retirement income strategies are not designed for their tax efficiency. For example, investors in Vanguard’s Managed Payout Funds receive a 1099 tax form each year stating how their monthly payments were generated for the previous year, whether by a combination of income, capital gains or a return of capital. This complex tax treatment means investors would benefit from holding these funds in a tax-advantaged account. If Lockwood’s LIS2 product is able to generate income payments through income or capital gains, then investors will be taxed at the 15% capital gains rate, Reinhart says. But if the account balance plunges and the insurance company must make the payments, the investor will be taxed at regular income rates. Investors who open an IRA account managed by Lockwood Capital Management and hold the LIS2 offering inside it would enjoy tax-deferred treatment on the income.

Advisors at Greenbaum and Orecchio actively work to minimize their clients’ tax burdens. If a client needs income, the firm uses iRebal rebalancing software to quickly determine how to use principal, income and rebalancing proceeds to generate the income in the most tax-efficient way, Plechner says. Clients with more than $1.5 million to invest may choose the firm’s ETF and mutual fund-based alternative investment strategy for tax purposes, he notes. Clients with alternative investments including hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and real estate receive a K-1 tax form that state the investor’s share of the partnership’s taxable income. The forms often come late, requiring clients to file an extension on their taxes, Plechner says, a hassle some wish to avoid.

Despite the most careful planning, many institutions and individuals will fail to meet their income goals at some point. Following a year of poor returns, a foundation can simply cut the size of its grants. Your clients’ bills, however, won’t disappear in a bear market. When clients fail to meet their income goals, they can cut their spending or increase their equity allocation, says Deena Katz, chairman of Evensky & Katz in Coral Gables, Fla. The choice, as her partner Harold Evensky puts it, is clear: “Do you want to eat less well, or sleep less well at night?”

For more information, visit our website at http://www.financial-planning.com — the leading resource for the informed independent advisor.

After 20 years in sales and management, I have found that the most successful people stick to the basics. They have an abundance partnership knowledge of their product, a positive and winning attitude, excellent selling skills and the habits that ensure a full diary with qualified prospects.

Some time ago, I attended a Tom Hopkins ‘Boot Camp’ in the USA. This is one of the world’s greatest sales courses and runs for 3 days. There were 800 people attending (I was the only South African/Brit) and the amazing thing was that these were not beginners attending, but some of the world’s top sales people from every walk of life. Some had returned for the 13th time and the sole purpose was to get back to basics.

Working with top sales people in 48 countries, these are some of the basic skills that I have discovered helps them to be top in their fields.

Prospecting
Top sales people are master prospectors. They are not afraid of cold calling and are socially mobile. They belong to sports clubs, social clubs (Round Table, etc) and have an inbuilt antenna in locating new prospects. They can differentiate very quickly between prospects and suspects and will spend their time with the best-qualified prospects. I work with a great salesman in Hong Kong who earns over a million dollars a year selling financial services. He only mixes with millionaires and his aim is to find the wealthiest person to sell to. He has the belief that everyone will buy from him (and most do). Another client has his own polo team and spends £500,000 every August arranging a worldwide polo tournament. Most polo players are extremely wealthy and as his company sponsors the tournament, he has a high profile. Sales that follow the tournament each year amount to £2 – £3 million.

Phoning
I have very rarely met someone who loves making appointments on the phone. Top salespeople have developed the habit of phoning partnership They work on ratios and follow a simple script (though it never sounds as if they use a script). They also prepare well for partnership having only a diary, prospect names and their script in front of them. Any distractions such as papers are taken off the desk while they phone. They also set themselves a definite target of prospects that will say ‘yes’ in each phoning session. They don’t allow any distractions and psyche themselves positively for every call and don’t take rejection personally. For more scripts take a look at my audio series on telephoning and setting up appointments calls ‘Telephone Sales Skills for Winners’

Dress for Success
It doesn’t matter what you sell, you need to dress appropriately. I work with many professionals and the standard dress code is that of the City of London. Dark suits, white shirt, conservative tie and clean, black lace up shoes. Green suits are a no-no. Different occupations allow for short sleeve shirts and more casual dress, but remember, it’s the small things that count. Neatly ironed shirt and trousers, good grooming, gold pen (or gold plated if you’re new to sales – fake it till you make it) and decent looking briefcase.

Be very aware of body odor and halitosis (bad breath). It is very inexpensive to buy ‘Gold Spot’ and spray your mouth before each call. I recently went to a well know high street electrical store to purchase and expensive piece of hi-fi equipment. I was knocked out (and nearly sick) by the salesman’s bad breath and quickly left the store and purchased the equipment elsewhere. Here was someone with no idea on the basics, losing his company a lot of money. Remember, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

Developing Rapport
This was easy when I sold in South Africa some years ago. I would take out my gun and so would my prospect and we would then compare guns and bullets. When I arrived in the UK and tried this on my first call, the prospect ran out never to be seen again. Joking aside, whenever I meet someone, I use the ‘past, present and future’. People love to talk about themselves and whenever I meet someone for the first time, I firstly ask them how they got started. I then ask about their present situation and where they see themselves in the future. At this stage, I can learn more about them than at any other time. The important thing is to keep quiet and listen. I also realise that there are a number of things on the prospect’s mind when I first meet such as, who am I, how credible I am, the background of my company and what’s in it for him and me. My introduction is as follows (after past, present and future).

“In preparing for today’s meeting, I thought there may be some questions on your mind such as ‘who am I, who is my company and what’s in it for you and me,” at which stage they always nod in agreement. I tell him about myself and my qualifications (this is the only time I talk about myself and most professionals like to deal with other professionals). I then go on to tell the prospect about my company. Following that comes ‘what’s in it for you’ when I say quite simply that I would like to take a look of where they or their company are right now and where they would like to be in the future and to help them achieve these goals. ‘What’s in it for me?’ “I get paid in two ways, firstly if you think my proposals are feasible, I would like you to place the business with me and secondly, whether we do business or not, I would like you to refer me to 2 or 3 other people/companies similar to you.”

Questioning and Listening
Most top salespeople are master questioners and excellent listeners. These are the tools of their trade and enable them to find out what is really important to their client.

Lighting the fire
All successful salespeople know how to ‘light the fire and ignite the passion’ that will enable the prospect to buy. They realise how important emotions are in the sales process and sell the benefits of their product or service.

Closing skills
Statistics show that most top salespeople close on their fifth attempt. Mediocre salespeople don’t even know 5 closes.

On the Tom Hopkins sales course, we were all expected to learn 27 closes verbatim as well as the importance of overcoming objections and uncovering the real and underlying objection to proceeding with the sale immediately. If every step of the sales process is followed correctly, the close is the natural progression. The power of words

Most people have been conditioned to react either positively or negatively by the use of certain words. An example is ‘I would like to make an appointment’. Who do you make an appointment with: doctors, dentists and other people out to hurt you? Rather use, ‘I’d be happy to drop by/pop in (as friends do). ‘Sign the contract’ is something we’ve all been warned about. Rather use ‘Please authorise the paperwork’. Always be aware of your ‘sales language’.

Pride
All successful people are proud of their professions and love selling. This becomes very evident to the prospects.

Enthusiasm
Selling skills and enthusiasm count for 85% of the sale. If you are boring, tired or not in the mood to sell, you will never be amongst the elite of salespeople.

Superb service
Top professionals deliver what they promise. Their levels of excellent service ensure that their client will never ‘shop’ elsewhere and they will in turn provide a constant source of referrals.

Fun
Top salespeople have fun and look forward to each day. They have great senses of humour. When I first started selling 20 years ago, I had an appointment with a schoolteacher. On arriving at her house, her little sister told me to sit and wait in the lounge as her sister was taking a shower. Five minutes later, she came walking through the lounge drying her hair, stark naked! She looked up and saw me, ran out and locked herself in a bedroom and shouted ‘go away, I don’t want to see you’. Well I left without a sale, but that’s when I realised ‘money isn’t everything!’

Frank Furness CSP is a specialist speaker and consultant in marketing, sales and technology, take a look at http://www.frankfurness.com
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Frank can be contacted at frank@frankfurness.com