Think back to just a few short years ago, banks were on a lending spree, corporate lines of credit were being issued in record volume and companies were able to raise equity and debt capital with reasonable ease; then came the banking crash which unfortunately brought on an entirely new group of scams preyed on the innocent and naive small business owner which damaged the economy that much more.

Scams such as platform based funding, banking instrument collateralized lending, shelf corporation scams and on and on. Fortunately there is a light at the end of the tunnel thanks to some of the venture capital and private equity industry’s talented global finance executives who have decided enough is enough.

Now entrepreneurs are seeing professional collective funding efforts put forth by these seasoned finance gurus in the form of online membership databases which possess some of the best kept secrets in the global funding markets. Many of these databases include finance companies and methods that have never been available to the public and were used for decades by VC professionals who were able to pull off funding miracles on behalf of clients and in return made hefty commissions.

Now, with these unique contacts being placed in database form they are now available to everyone and anyone who needs capital. Imaging going to one website, joining for a modest fee and getting access to thousands upon thousands of private investors, angel investors, venture capital firms, hard money lenders, private equity firms, aggressive hedge fund lenders, Asian and European finance, factoring and other wonderful and easily comprehensible options to acquire capital.

A few of these membership databases have even taken the next step to give the business owners the elements to promote their business in a way that will help them pass due diligence with ease. Some venture capital executives got so fed up with having a client with a great business model, solid infrastructure, exceptional board of directors and even money in the bank but the deal would die when the company went into the due diligence and offer phase that they actually paid programmers to design a down-loadable application that offers the entrepreneur easy yet extremely powerful publicity with the strength of an actual high end PR firm all at the click of a button, it’s truly amazing.

The economy may not be what it used to be but it has forced the evolution of certain aspects of the financial industry to be more small business and entrepreneur friendly. There is massive funding out there for your company if you take the time to look.

What is pair trading? If you haven’t done pair trading before, pair trading is done with two almost similar stocks. Pair trading is highly popular with professional stock traders when they take simultaneously a long position in one stock and a short position in another almost similar stock in equal dollar amounts. Both these stocks are almost similar but are experiencing a dislocation. This dislocation in these two stocks is used for hedging purposes.

What you do is try to find two stocks in the same industry and the same sector with a strong historical correlation between them. Yet for the time being, these two stocks are experiencing dislocation with one stock higher in price as compared to the other stock. Overtime, both the stocks are going to converge to the same price level.

You benefit from this convergence by going short on the higher priced stock and going long on the lower priced stocks. So when both the stocks converge, you make profit. If both don’t converge, you don’t lose much. So in pair trading, you try to profit from the convergence of the two stock prices to the historical levels.

Now this same strategy can be used in currency trading. The good thing in currency trading is that you don’t have to buy two separate currencies. Pair trading is sort of in build in it as you can only trade currency pairs meaning you can go short on one and long on another or the other way around.

Now when you pair trade stocks, you are striping out the market influence from your position by going short on one and long on the other. These two positions cancel each other as the market moves since both similar stocks are supposed to move in the same direction.

Currencies can also be viewed as stocks with countries replacing companies. Just like companies are affected by the broader economic fundamentals in the same way countries get affected by sovereign debt, trade protectionism, trade balance, budge deficit and so on. These things affect the respective currencies. Now two countries in the same region with strong trade and economic relationship can have their currencies behave in almost similar fashion. This is the basis of pair trading in forex.

Japanese Yen (JPY) was a popular carry trading currency. Traders were happy selling JPY and buying another high yielding currency like AUD. But in 2009, carry traders lost their risk appetite and suddenly started unwinding their yen positions. This massive buying back of JPY made JPY appreciate. So this appreciation of JPY is short term.

Korean economy is closely tied to the Japanese economy with its Won doing well but you can profit from this short term divergence in JPY and Won by trading the pair JPYKRW. Similarly you can pair trade Euro and Pound!

Buying online is actually the most convenient way to purchase your gold. There are many trusted websites that offer high quality gold bars for everyone who can afford them. Most of these websites guarantee the authenticity of the gold that they sell. You can safely acquire your first gold through these websites by following few simple steps. But of course, it is always better to follow precautionary measures and useful tips from the experts to make sure you do everything properly. Here are some helpful tips that you need to consider in acquiring your first bar of gold.

To buy gold online can sometimes be tricky, especially if you are just starting to learn this business. Protecting yourself and your investment should always be your top priority. When dealing with gold bar sellers, you have to focus on everything the agent is telling you and take time to verify them. Don’t believe in every word you read in the site particularly if it has something to do with the current rate of the gold you wish to buy. Just like trading foreign currencies, you have to research for the current average rate of the gold through the market and see if the offers are reasonable.

You also have to be aware about the differences and the various types of gold before closing any deal. For those people that are not yet familiar with the different types of gold, all gold bars may look the same for them. If you think you are not knowledgeable enough to identify good quality gold bars from those of lesser value don’t hesitate to ask some help from the expert. This way you can safely buy gold bars of high value and quality without putting your investment at risk.

The last, but the most important point you should consider in buying gold online or off line is your budget. Do not buy gold without evaluating your financial capacity. Just like in any other kind of investments, it is highly important to consider your financial position because of the large amount of money that you will need to buy gold. At least leave some cash for yourself. After considering these points and evaluating your capacity, you are now ready to secure the future of your family through your gold bar investments. You can also protect your assets by purchasing gold and enjoy its high market value.

About five or six years I heard conservative radio show host Laura Ingraham ask economist Ron Insana what he thought of gold as an investment. (Like many other conservative radio shows, one of Laura’s sponsors at the time was a gold dealer.)

She laughed graciously when he replied, “Sure, everybody should keep some gold on hand to bribe border guards.”

Since then gold has gone up dramatically in price and gold dealers are running ads on many radio shows. Many people calling in to the two financial advice shows I listen to are asking about gold. Jewelry stores have big “We Buy Gold” signs in their windows.

Thanks to the financial crisis that began in the summer of 2007, many Americans and other people around the world are concerned about their futures. Americans in particular are concerned about the huge — and still growing — government deficit and how that appears likely to continue to drive down the value of the U.S. dollar.

After all, gold is traditionally the safe shelter people turn to in bad economic times. Its price is often highly correlated with political instability and inversely correlated with stock market performance.

It’s impossible to underestimate the emotional appeal of gold. Just go to any jewelry store in Thailand. You’ll see massive numbers of gold necklaces hanging on the wall. On a sunny day the huge amount of shining metal against the bright red walls is like a bright glare in your eyes.

Then realize that many of the women who’ll buy those necklaces have no other form of wealth or savings. All over the world, for billions of poor people, gold jewelry is the family’s entire wealth, on display. When they need cash, they hock the necklaces, chains, rings, bracelets, nose rings and ear rings at the local pawnbroker.

What many people forget is that gold has practical uses as well. Many people with bad teeth have gold fillings or crowns in their mouths.

Gold is also an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, and it’s very malleable and ductile. It’s used in the manufacture of semiconductors.

Its traditional role as a permanent store of value subjects it to political situations as well. Many times in the past thirty years, just as normal supply and demand factors were driving up its price, a central bank in Europe would start selling gold to drive the price back down. Even Switzerland, the country most associated with the gold standard, in recent years has sold some of its gold reserves.

This uncertainty makes trading gold as a commodity quite risky. It reached its historic high of $800 in 1980. Recently it’s been over $1000, but it’d have to reach about $2100 in current U.S. dollars to equal its 1980 price.

Nobody can say it won’t, but that doesn’t mean it will. It’s already tripled in price in the past five years.

In investing I may use my personal allocation of assets outside my house but it will always vary with opportunities. My investing slant is pretty much seen through the lens of the ‘Don’t Lose Money’ via ‘Buying a wonderful business at an attractive price’. I don’t much care whether the business I’m looking at is real estate, a private business, a venture capital deal or a public business. I see it all through the same lens of the first Rule of investing.

By that I mean that investing success is all about finding some wonderful business that you understand and can see how good the deal is. I’ve been encouraged over the years to see that really great investors like Warren Buffett and more recently Eddie Lampert don’t seem to make much of a distinction between these groups either. Over the last few years Mr. Buffett has continued buying private businesses and Mr. Lampert may be building the next Berkshire Hathaway on the back of Sears/Kmart. (Look up his track record for a view of another 28%-for-20 years guy who follows Buffett).

If you want to be a successful investor do what the best investors do: Look for a business you understand and that you can get at a bargain price. From that point you can depart depending on how hard you want to work. Mr. Buffett and Mr. Lampert work very hard to allocate billions of dollars for their clients/shareholders. Trust me, making 20% plus on anything over $10,000,000 is hard enough, on $30 billion it’s a miracle.

Following that simple first Rule of investing (or failing to follow it in my impatient pursuit of riches), from time to time I’ve been deep in real estate, venture capital, private business, or public businesses. In years past, all four areas of investing required a lot of work to keep up. Today, only the first three do. Now, because of the internet and changes in the laws, the public markets take very little time for a small investor, so that’s where I am these days with most of my investing dollars.

If you stick to public businesses the information is so available and the people running the best businesses are so good that the only real work you have to do is know when to sell: when a great business you own gets ahead of itself in price as Mr. Market’s manic euphoria for anything going up kicks in. That’s the kind of problem most speculating traders would love to have, but then they like to work and are trying to make a bazillion dollars.

So final advice: I will take out money and stick to public businesses simply because it’s so much easier to let the best business minds in the world work their butts off to make you money than to get all involved in private stuff or real estate that you have to manage yourself. Don’t be afraid of putting the vast majority of what you are investing into a few great businesses and then watch them extremely closely. If the big mutual fund managers bail on the business investment then you have bail with them and get into Cash. It’s the best low risk high return strategy I know. Then sit on your cash until the you see another great business go on sale and then load up the truck.

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There is an old saying “Sell in May and go away” which means that you could get better stock market returns if you stay away from markets over the summer. And then it goes something like “… but remember to be back in September” to describe when to enter the long position again. It’s also called “Halloween Indicator”.

The results of a little test are surprising: If you apply this strategy consequently with entering a long position on October 26 every year, and exiting the long position on May 2, then you would not have made so much more in bull markets, but the performance would have been very good in bear markets.

Take the Dow Jones (DJI) from 1982 to 2000: “Buy-and-Hold” gives +15.3% per year but only +13.5% for “Sell-in-May”. But in the bear market in the 1966 to 1982 you get -0.33% per year with “But-and-Hold”, and just +3.9% for “Sell in May”. The same is true for Germany’s DAX index. And also for Japan’s NIKKEI 225, where with “Buy-and-Hold” you would have lost -6.5% per year from 1990 till today (that’s down -74%) but would have received +2.5% for “Sell-in-May”.

The strategy works well in bear markets. Therefore, the volatility of returns is lower which means less stress for the investor.

Let’s apply the strategy to stocks. Take AMD in the last 26 years: “Sell-in-May” gives on average +28% per year while “Buy-and-Hold” performed poorly (-7.1% per year). 100 Dollar would now be 72,500 USD with “Sell-in-May” but just 14 USD for “Buy-and-Hold”. On the other hand, “Sell-in-May” performs poorly with Google (just +1.2% compared to +6.6% for “Buy-and-Hold”). But Google has been in a bull market, while AMD has been swinging sideways most of the time.

One can test forex data or oil, the pattern is always the same: “Sell-in-May” under performs in bull markets but does well in bear markets, resulting in reduced volatility of returns. This is a trend but in some markets like GOLD “Sell-in-May” does not work at all. You will find a link at the end of the article which allows to make your own experiments.

Doesn’t this violate the Efficient Market Hypothesis which postulates that there are no obvious patterns in price data? Yes, it does. Actually, there have been published more accurate and better market theories.

If you model markets based on complex system theory, the fractal patterned ups and downs are a result of local connections (networks) among traders and investors (e.g. direct conversation, watching the same TV shows, reading the same newspapers). If these local connections and habits of individual communication change over the year, this will directly impact the ups and downs of the market. And this causes seasonal price patterns.

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There have been some incredibly interesting and provocative statements on the subject of Gold in the last few weeks. But the message is simple. Gold will continue to rise. The question is how far and how fast.

The manager of the USAA Precious Metals and Minerals Fund – the number one precious metals mutual fund over the last 10 years – believes gold stocks will gain 2% to 3% for every 1% move in gold. As our target for gold is at least 100% from here – in excess of $2000 an ounce – this would mean gold stocks could rise 200-300%. And the more speculative stocks are likely to far exceed these targets.

To feel comfortable with investing in precious metals, investors need to be aware of the reasons for the expected rise in the gold price. In no particular order, these are the primary reasons why the stage is set for making your fortune.

1. Selling of Gold by the Gold Cartel - the Gold cartel is made up of the US Government and a collection of bullion and central banks. Central banks have long been sources of gold bullion used to manipulate the market and suppress the price of gold – but they are running out. Gold has been sold in such large quantities to control the price, there is not sufficient production to reverse, or even slow down the depletion of gold bullion stocks. The only way of slowing down demand is to let the price rise. However hard they try to manipulate the market, classic supply and demand will win.

2. Shortage of Supply – the current economic conditions combined with the increase in production costs have slowed down gold exploration and production. In addition, the infrastructural problems of South Africa have significantly effected their output.

3. Transfer of Gold Depositories – Hong Kong has recently completed a high tech security vault at the city Airport. The Hong Kong Authorities are, as we speak, transferring its gold holdings from London to its new secure depository. A move like this sends a message – we will be accumulating gold, and we want it safely stored where we can see and control it, where we can access it instantly, and where its out of harms way.

4. Increasing war and social unrest - war and social insurrection can escalate rapidly. The world is already engaged in more conflict than at any time since the second world war. The Chinese are long term thinkers and are undoubtedly taking this in to account as they accumulate gold and silver to store it close to home.

5. China is adding to its gold reserves – China is making no secret of the fact that it intends to increase its gold reserves, and now holds in excess of 1050 metric tons.

6. China is encouraging its citizens to buy gold – with the world’s largest population, and one of the fastest growing economies China has made it legal for their citizens to buy gold and silver, and are actively encouraging them to invest in these precious metals.

7. India, which has been the largest buyer of gold until now, is expected to continue purchasing for jewelery, and increasingly for investment. India already eats up the bulk of the annual mine output, leaving limited quantity for ever competing and ever larger demand.

8. GLD, the SPDR Gold Trust buys gold to back its shares. – They are currently supposed to hold over 1000 tons of gold (almost the same quantity.as China). If this is indeed the case, Their demand on gold output is a major push on the gold price. There is more on this subject in our Gold Report

9. Inflation vs. deflation – the argument persists. After a deflationary period, the billions of dollars being pumped in to the markets will become inflationary. Inflation causes gold to rise. When gold last peaked at $887 in 1980, inflation was averaging 14% and peaked at over 20%. Mortgages had risen in excess of 17%. This could happen again.

10. Paper currency devaluation – the steep decline of the dollar has effected the rise in the gold price, but currencies will at some stage be competing against each other for devaluation. All currencies become unreliable, they no longer provide security, and gold becomes the new money. When this stage is reached we’ve gone full circle, the bulk of assets will be owned by Asian interests and the new world order will prevail.

Source:ezinearticles.com

Have you ever wondered where to invest money that you have accumulated throughout your lifetime?  If you have, then you are not alone. Today, thousands or even tens of thousands of individuals situated in the United States and all over the world are wondering the same. It is very difficult to make this decision since there are now numerous ways and means in investing ones money. There are so many businesses out there where you can invest your money. The most popular among these investing procedures is “stock investing”.

Stock investing mainly focuses on the trading of stocks in the stock market. Trading stocks involves both the buying and selling of stocks. In order to gain the highest possible profit, stocks are bought at the cheapest or lowest price attainable. The investor will then wait for the right time when these stocks will be at the highest or most expensive price before actually selling it. The key in order to be able to buy at the cheapest and sell at the most expensive is to know the “fluctuation” of the prices. These fluctuations can be predicted by using the tried and tested stock market formulas that have been widely used since the last five decades.

The stock market must be taken into account as a whole. Therefore, a suitable and complete market analysis must be conducted in order to have adequate data and information of the stock market as a whole. This can be done with the aid of numerous stocks trading software widely that is widely available in the market as of today. All of the necessary computations together with the charts and tables that are needed in order to predict the market trend and the much anticipated “fluctuation” will be done by this kind of software. Time, effort and energy are thus saved whilst having accurate data and information at the same time.

In order to be able to invest one’s money to the fullest, the long term, midterm and immediate opportunities must be made known to the investor. This can be done by accurately and effectively predicting the market trend with regard to the prices of the stocks in question. A brief overview of the company or corporation owning the stocks to be invested upon together with the factors of recession and the economy as a whole is also taken into consideration. The expected net income to be earned coupled with the time frame or duration in earning it are also put into much contemplation.

After gathering all of these needed data and information in order to determine the substantial amount of profit that can be gained or lost, the investor is now fully equipped in dealing with any and all forms of stock investments that may he or she may come across with during the process of finding the right place of where to invest money that he or she has earned. Equipped with these knowledge, data and information, the income or profit can now be determined on the short, mid and long run taking into contemplation the difference between the buying price and the selling price of the stocks to be invested with.

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As the years go by, more and more people are starting to invest their money in different kinds of businesses and money making ventures. They do so in order to garner profit at a very large scale. They invest their hard earned money and cash in different kinds of business with the most popular being the stock market investing. Today, more and more people are getting hooked with investing their money into numerous stock markets available throughout the world. In the United States alone, there are thousands or even tens of thousands of individuals investing their cash in the trading, buying and selling of stocks as of the latest.

Stock investors may be considered as gamblers or risk takers, especially with the recession that is being experienced in the United States and the rest of the world. Due to many risks involved, many of these stock investors are losing their investments. About 5 out of 10 stock investors reported loss of profit as of the first and second quarters of 2009. What about the other half of these investors? They either reported a break even or net gain as of the first couple of quarters. The question that now looms is that how did they manage to maintain a break even or net gain during such dire circumstances or recession? The answer to this question is that these investors sought out the help of a Top Investing Strategy in order to avoid any substantial loss with their investment.

A Top Investing Strategy usually contains numerous details and researches in order for the investor to wisely allocate his or her fund to the right investment. It contains the latest market analysis together with the most balanced trading recommendations and indicators. The period to be taken into account with regard to these market analyses, recommendations and indicators are usually in the period of the previous week up to the previous couple of months in order to have the right data and information in comparing the results for both the short term and long term monetary gains and benefits. It also contains charts for individual stock analysis together with the latest macro charts in order to indicate a wider or broader preview for the decisions with regard to the trading, buying and selling of the stocks.

A Top Investing Strategy will also include software that provides for the necessary computations, tables, charts and other investment figures. The investor need not spend or allocate much time in the computation and the drawing of these tables and charts since the software will be able to do it for him or her. Time, effort and energy that are of the essence will thereby be saved. These computations, tables and charts can now be used in order to accurately determine the long term, midterm and short term benefits and gains with regard to the stocks in question. If you are thinking of investing your hard earned money and cash in such a manner, then you will need to have your very own strategy. Once you have acquired one, you will now be able to start your investments as soon as possible without any delay whatsoever.

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Technically – indicators point to a continuation in the inexorable rise of precious metals. Technical indicators are signaling a buy in gold and silver. Gold started the year at $880 and, as I write, is now standing at $960, a rise of 9% and we are just into August – and this should be the quiet season. Admittedly its been volatile at times but the gold price will continue to rise.

Historically – gold is the asset to hold in times of uncertainty and that is what we are experiencing right now . Uncertainty is another reason Why The Gold Price Will Continue To Rise . Recent comments on the economy have been optimistic but these ‘green shoot’ claims are predominantly fueled by government organizations, banks and generally vested interests. How confident should that make us feel? The Bank of England have, in effect, contradicted the government claims by putting another £50 billion sterling into the economy. This indicates the present level of quantitative easing (QA) is not yet effective.

Emotionally – the smaller investor is more fearful of risk, and responds to the drip-drip effect of hearing and reading day-in and day-out that gold is the asset to rely on to protect their wealth. The markets may appear to be booming again but they’re possibly just suffering from a bubble hangover. This could be a secondary bubble ready to pop. The resulting fear is a primary reason Why The Gold Price Will Continue To Rise

Financially – As the dollar wavers, gold continues to creep up. Nothing too dramatic. Just a steady rise. Interest rates continue to remain historically low. The message that inflation could soar, currencies collapse, and gold reemerge as the new global currency is promoting a rising tide of demand for bullion.

Productively with Price Suppression- Many well respected gold pundits have long been convinced the gold price has been suppressed. But, despite that the price still rises. How high would it be already if no suppression scheme existed? How does this effect production of gold? Suppression of price reduces production which ultimately results in a shortage of the metal. Demand exceeds supply – and , the price goes up.

Strategically – despite the market momentum driven by large investment banks and hedge funds, the smaller, longer term investors are losing their appetite for risk and are beginning to see gold ETFS and shares as the better option. Gold shares have been sluggish recently, but once gold passes the US$1000 level again and sticks, investors will gain the confidence to buy into the mining shares again. The ease of electronic trading makes it very convenient to buy bullion or share ETFs – easier than gold and silver bullion, and strategically placed for leverage on the increase in the gold price.

Creatively – creative accounting may well also influence the ultimate gold price rise. There are rumours circulating that the commodity exchanges allow gold futures contracts to be settled in shares of the gold exchange funds. (ETFs) rather than in bullion. If there is ever a question mark concerning the amount of metal held by the ETFs in relation to the gold traded, the price will soar.

Politically – China has indicated its intention to increase gold reserves. Their 2 trillion dollar holding, which they already fear will be devalued, gives them the financial strength to move into stockpiling of real assets, and the acquisition of commodity based strategic assets, including gold as the ultimate US Dollar hedge.

Conclusion – the price of gold is like a river backing up behind the dam wall. When the streams of technical and historical indicators, financial pressure, supply shortage, creative accounting, price suppression and fear are running independently, their individual volume will have limited effect, but when they all converge into one flowing river, the panic will begin to build, and gold will start its stratospheric ascent. The combination of these factors is Why The Gold Price Will Continue To Rise While you still have the opportunity buy now.

p.s. Same arguments apply to silver

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