Buy Gold For Safety In These Incertain Times

By Pat Nopper

Gold investing has always been popular among those that want to protect themselves from really hard times in the economy. Gold has indeed done better than stocks or bonds in the last couple of years and it has been a good choice to have at least part of your portfolio in it. However, with stocks doing so poorly, one might have thought gold would do even better than it has.

If you haven't had any of your money in gold now might be the time to give it a look. The stock market might have a ways yet to go on the downside and having some of your money in gold might be smart. The key word is some of your money as it is never a good idea to have too much in one thing. If you put all or most of your money in one stock or in gold, that is akin to gambling.

The one thing to note about the gold price over time is that it has never gone to zero. Gold has been considered valuable for many thousands of years going back to the ancient Egyptians and further. At no time in history was gold not valuable and for this reason many people buy gold as a safe investment. With the economy being what it is and the stock market in free fall for so long, gold seems to be one of the places one might put some of their money for safety. If the economy does not recover soon, gold will become one of the most popular places for people to have their investment cash.

It might be asked why the price of gold has not gone up more than it has in this time of extreme economic uncertainty. Those who have held gold for the last several years have been able to avoid the perils of the stock market but one would have though gold might have actually gone up significantly rather than pretty much treading water at the same price. It might be due to many investors having to cash in their gold positions in order to pay off other debts.

During normal economic times most people invest in gold by buying gold stocks or ETFs which are much easier than actually collecting the physical gold. However, due to all the scandals and uncertainty in the financial markets, more people have been choosing to buy real gold coins and gold bars. This presents a storage problem but some people are gearing up for really rough times ahead and feel safer with real gold in their hands. - 23210

About the Author:

Are you interested in finding out the price of gold for dummies? If so, please visit my website Current Gold Price.

Guidance on New COBRA Rules From The IRS And Doeren Mayhew

By Doeren Mayhew

The IRS recently released guidance, in a question and answer format, addressing how employers are to administer and seek recovery of the new COBRA premium subsidy enacted under the American ecovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5). The Act provides that an individual who has been involuntarily terminated on or after September 1, 2008, through the end of 2009 is required to pay only 35% of the group health insurance premium to secure COBRA continuation coverage (up to nine months).

The newest IRS Guidance focuses on two broad areas 1. Form preparation - the mechanics of how an employer recovers the COBRA premium subsidy through a payroll credit claimed on IRS Form 941, and 2. administration and eligibility. The new guidance also addresses common inquiries surrounding the timing of when the subsidy begins and ends.

How the Subsidy Works: A former employee and his or her family are "assistance eligible employees" if they are eligible for COBRA health insurance continuation coverage as a result of any involuntary termination occurring from September 1, 2008, through December 31, 2009. These individuals are required to pay only 35% of the group health insurance premium that would otherwise apply.

Under the Act, the "person to whom the premiums are payable" - generally, the employer - pays the other 65% of the COBRA continuation premium. The employer will then be reimbursed by means of a federal payroll tax credit claimed on Form 941.

The Payroll Credit Generally, an employer can claim the payroll credit for the COBRA premium subsidy on Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return. To do so, the employer should enter the amount of any COBRA premium assistance payments paid on behalf of employees for that quarter on Line 12a. The amount entered should equal 65% of eligible workers' total COBRA premium payments - not amounts received from former employees.

In the IRS Guidance, the IRS indicated that there has been some confusion surrounding the proper number of individuals to be reported on Line 12b as having received COBRA premium assistance reported on Line 12a. The guidance clarifies that only one individual should be counted for Line 12b purposes in a situation where a former employee has also secured coverage for other qualifying individuals such as a spouse and/or children.

Clarification has come that the COBRA premium reduction applies as of the first period of coverage beginning on or after February 17, 2009, for which a qualifying involuntary terminated employee is eligible to pay 35% of the premium. The exact date of coverage is contingent upon the period to which premiums are charged to the plan. The 35% premium subsidy generally applies until the earliest of three events: (1) when the former employee secures other health insurance coverage; (2) the date that is nine months after the first day of the first month for which the special COBRA premium subsidy provision applies; or (3) the date the individual is no longer eligible for COBRA continuation coverage. - 23210

About the Author:

Visit Doeren Mayhew online for more information. Doeren Mayhew is located in Troy, Michigan.

Rollovers in Currency Markets

By Ahmad Hassam

Rollovers are unique to the currency markets. Rollovers are transactions where an open position from one settlement date is rolled over to the next settlement date. Rollovers represent the intersection of interest rate markets and forex markets.

Rollover rates depend on the difference between the interest rates of the two currencies in the pair that you are trading. Only remember that what you are trading is in fact the good old cash. Dont forget currency is money after all.

When you are long on a currency, it is like having a deposit in a bank account. If you are short, its like take a loan from the bank. Just as you would expect to earn interest on a bank deposit and pay interest on a loan, you should expect an interest gain or an interest expense on holding a currency position over time.

Think of the open currency position as one currency with the positive balance (the currency you are long) and one with negative balance (the currency you are short). The difference between the interest rates between the two currencies is called the interest rate differential.

You should look for the base or benchmark lending rates in each country. The interest rates of two different countries apply because your accounts are in two different currencies. You can find the benchmark lending interest rates of different countries from any good financial website like the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, CNBC etc.

If you hold an open position past the settlement date or value date, rollovers are usually carried out by your forex broker. The smaller the impact of the rollovers, the narrower the interest rate differential! The larger the impact from rollovers, the larger the interest rate differential!

Some online forex brokers apply the rollover rates by adjusting the average rate of your open position. Other forex brokers apply the rollover rates by applying the rollover credit or debit directly to your margin balance. Rollovers are applied to your open currency position by two offsetting trades that result in the same open position.

Rollovers are not applied if you dont carry a position over the change in the value date. Rollovers do not apply for day traders who usually close their positions at the end of each trading day. Rollovers are applied to open position after 5.00 PM EST change in value date. Rollovers only apply to your over night open position carried over to the next day.

If you are long the currency with the higher interest rate and short the currency with the lower interest rate, rollover can earn you interest income. If you are short the currency with the higher interest rate and long the currency with the low interest rates, rollovers will cost you money. - 23210

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is insterested in day trading stocks and currencies. Develop your own Forex Trading System. Learn Forex Trading !

Use Stock Charts

By Michael Swanson

A very popular type of day trading is called trending. The day traders know the secrets to trending and so can you. Just keep your eyes on the stock charts.

Stock charts were created to help any investor and the stock market beginners in deciding which decisions to make in their investing. They will show you easily if a stock has risen or dropped and how well the company is doing.

Investing your money is extremely important. If you do a good job with your investments, you could make a large amount of money and not have to fear for your future. Once you retire from working, you may rely on your stock decisions to live a comfortable life.

If you make poor decisions in regards to your stock purchases, you could find yourself with the need to work well past your scheduled retirement age. If you do not have the funds available to retire, you are left with no choice.

When evaluating the stock charts, do not put limits on your earning potential. Take a look at many different options and really pay attention to the ones that are doing well. Once you have studied a number of stock choices, invest your money wisely.

If you see that a particular company's stock has been climbing in price at a steady pace, this is a sign that they are and will probably continue to grow. This may be a place to invest. The same is true with a stock chart that shows a steady decline in price. You may want to steer clear of this as an investment.

Even the day traders make bad calls occasionally. This is because there is no rhyme or reason in the way that we invest our money. You could decide to pass on a particular stock just to watch it explode over the next weeks. There is no way to tell for sure. That makes watching the stock charts that much more important. - 23210

About the Author:

For more on using stock charts grab our free technical analysis guide.

Selecting a Foreign Exchange Market Analysis Tool

By Brad Morgan

The analysis of the Currency market can be categorized into two types:

1. Fundamental analysis takes into account economic, social and political agentsand how they impact the foreign exchange markets.

2. Technical analysis engages charts to find out trends and patterns in the alteration of prices.

Choosing one over the other is not obvious. A cursory erxamination of FX trading related forums and websites show traders being staunch advocates of either one of these styles. Those who like technical analysis dispute that graphs are the only approach that can predict way ahead of time the trends which is important to making a profit in trading.

On the other hand, the fundamental analysts will affirm that currency prices are moved by socio-economic factors, a fact that cannot be declined. Thus according to them, chart patterns are mere eventualities that have no real relevance on reality.

This nonetheless, is not a foregone conviction. While the vast impression on the forex market, of variations in the economic and politcal spheres, cannot be denied, patterns or trends could possibly be gathered from price movements specially in the wake of announcements or during periods with no consequential announcements.

One counsel for the technical analysis believers is that there is a probability that they will be caught unprepared should interest rates suddenly change. If the analyst does not read the news then there is a big chance that they will make a bad trading call. This can end up in a major problem.

In the end, it is an irrefutable fact that economic aspects are behind most, if not all of the chief price movements but it cannot be disbelieved that there are trends that can be predicted by technical analysis for the shorter periods. So identifying these trends while being aware and up to date on current events is the most definite way to envisage direction of future currency rates. Close prediction is of course how one makes a profit on the foreign exchange market.

FX market movements are quite like elastic that can stretch in one way or another and then fall back, although not always to its beginning position. The fundamentals are the factors that cause it to stretch. Technical analysis portends how far it will reach in each direction before reversing.

The resolution then is that a smart trader utilizes both methods. So to repeatedly make profits in the forex market you must understand when to use which tool and how much importance you will give to their relevant, predicted outcomes. - 23210

About the Author:

Forex trading requires knowledge to read forex quotes. Forex markets move quickly, get forex trading training to keep on top of it.