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Forex trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency and the selling of another currency.
This continuously changing number financial system was launched in the 1970s. It is now the largest liquid financial market today with daily trades totaling well over 1 trillion dollars. The New York Stock Exchange is not nearly as large as the Foreign Exchange or Forex.

Trading

Forex is a true 24-hour market, which offers a major advantage over equities trading. Forex transactions take place online anywhere in the world around the clock. The market activity starts in Sydney, Australia and moves around the globe as various financial markets open around the world. Trading is not limited to a centralized location like the Stock Exchange or Futures Markets.

Currency

Currency exchange trading involves buying and selling two different currencies simultaneously. Markets are primarily affected by international trade flows and the flow of investment currency. Prices are quoted in pairs with a “Bid”, and an “Ask” price completing the quote.

The “Bid” price is the price the Dealer will pay or the Trader will sell for the currency. The “Ask” price is the amount the Trader will pay or the Dealer will sell the currency. The quote on some currencies are dependent on the US Dollar such as the Euro, British Pound, and the Australian Dollar to name a few.

Market

The foreign exchange market never closes so there is not the backlog of orders or excitement over breaking news stories that affects the open of the stock exchanges. The market in the traditional sense does not exist since there is no central trading location. The main currency market is the “interbank market” where large institutions deal with the risks of the fluctuations of the values. The “spot market” is the market for the buying and selling of currencies at the prevailing price. The Forex ECN provides an area or marketplace for traders to buy and sell very similar to a giant department store.

Trade

Trades can happen very quickly in seconds or take months to complete. The trader must secure a profit from the purchase and sale of the currency. This has spawned a technology allowing the trader to automate a lot of the process. The traders that are consistently profitable are those that have done their homework and understand the risks involved. By entering a trade, you are gambling the price will change in your favor by an amount that will allow you to break even or make a profit. If you decide to close a trade because of an unfavorable position, you stand to lose the spread also.

Price.

The price of the trade can be as little as one hundred to several thousand dollars and can move in a direction that will either favor or hurt your position. Price graphs are used to monitor this movement. A “pip” is the smallest amount the price can change and us used to reference the movement of the value of the currency.

Remember, only a small percentage of forex traders profit consistently and they’re the ones that have learned well

95 % of the investors in the forex market are losers! Do you have the drive to join the five percenters? Learn how to become a member of that 5% club.

To answer this question, let’s look at where people typically have money when they retire.

Briefly : Where Shouldn’t I Put My Money

There are lots of bad ways to invest your money. We won’t go into that in detail here, but I will provide you with a short list that has hurt a lot of people. The worst culprits are companies that sale life insurance and annuities; don’t buy these. Life insurance is not medical insurance. The next worst investments are savings accounts with banks, bank brokerages, middle class brokerages (like Primerica), and small cap stocks.

Rule #1

Most people, when they retire, have most of their net worth tied up in their own home. So, the first, and most important way to invest your money is to buy your own home. If you already have a home, buy a rental property. It is realistic that most people can own several houses free and clear through a lifetime of disciplined effort.

Rule #2

When people retire, their next most important source of money is either a 401k, 403b, IRAs, and even annuities (which aren’t that great). The bottom line is to put at least 10% of your gross salary into a 401k, 403b, or IRA. Look at the taxes because it is not always in your best interest to max out the 401k. Sometimes it is better to have a combination of IRA and 401k.

Rule #3

Get some good health insurance. Better yet, stay healthy. Health care costs are ridiculously high. Most people spend an enormous chunk of their savings, in retirement, on health care. An operation can set you back a hundred thousand dollars, or more. Many people who are pretty well off become destitute from medical problems. In some cases, Medicare will force you to sell your home and give them the money or you can’t receive treatment.

My grandma was a first grade teacher her entire life. In retirement, she broke her hip. The medical costs were around 100k. The insurance didn’t cover many of the costs. She was denied treatment because the insurance (Medicaid) said her recovery time was taking too long. The moral of the story is to have some supplementary insurance.

Rule #4

Open an account with a discount brokerage firm (like www.vanguard.com). They have brokers that will help you with financial products. Some of these discount brokerages are available 24 hours a day. They do not give recommendations, but can explain the products quite well. The fees there will be much less than full service brokers. It is here you will get access to retirement calculators, investment research, IRAs, mutual funds, and lot of other things. If you are new to investing, you can learn a lot just by reading the articles on one of these sites.

Rule #5 : 90% Rule

If you own your own home and put 10% of your gross income into your retirement account we have found that 90% of people will have enough money to make ends meet. The biggest unknown factor, in this case, are medical bills. Medical problems leave more people destitute than any other.

For further information, on money strategies please visit Money Strategies

With the rising cost of gas, it is getting less and less affordable to own a car these days. As a result of this increase in cost, car manufacturers have lately been very aggressive in promoting their line of hybrid cars designed to save fuel.

While a hybrid car in general does saves you some money on gas, you may want to bear these points in mind when looking to buy a hybrid car.

1) Hybrid cars generally are more expensive than conventional gas powered cars. The price difference can be as much as $10,000. Hybrid cars are still new to consumers and may take a while before prices drop.

2) The batteries used in a hybrid car is different from a conventional car. The prices are much higher. They are about $2000 more expensive. However, hybrid car batteries have a longer life span as well.

3) The government has a tax deduction for hybrid cars owners. The hybrid car tax deduction varies from year to year but in general, you can save at least a couple of thousand dollars.

4) The cost of maintenance for a hybrid car is also higher. Also it has more complex systems and engine, a normal mechanic may not know how to repair it. In most cases, you need to send back to the hybrid car manufacturer for maintenance and repair and the cost is not cheap.

5) Hybrid cars use special tires that are wore out more easily than conventional cars. These hybrid car tires cost more and need to be replaced around 25,000 miles.

While the above points may seem that buying a hybrid car is more expensive, the fuel savings in itself is definitely worth it in the long run.

Ricky Lim operates a hybrid cars site. Visit his site for more information on hybrid car battery and hybrid car tax