Insurance and Credit

Many of you may find my story to be a familiar one. Let me start: When I began to realize that my parents could not afford to get me to a good university, I knew I had to push forward on my own. So what did I do? Why, I did the logical thing, of course; I applied for a student loan so that I can secure my future. I got accepted, and save for a few bumps, my college life went pretty okay.

Afterwards, I began to work so that I can pay off my student loan. Beyond that, my paycheck has been reduced by the costs of living alone; rent, food, stuff like that. I still earned enough to start saving up, little by little. My future was set for the moment, at least.

Let’s fast forward to the present. My student loan since been paid off, my rent no longer affects me as much because of my higher pay, and I am considering a housing loan for my fianc? and me. Beyond that, I have extra savings that are just sitting inside the bank. Life has been good, but I can?t help but worry that it may not last.

Life becomes progressively harder because of the continuing recession, but we are at least now, we are aware that there is a problem. With our combined efforts, I believe that we can get out of this difficult situation in the next ten years at most. The present may be problematic, but I continue to see myself looking towards the same thing that I always have; the future.

So it’s not surprising at all for me to look for worthwhile investments for my savings. But how would I know which investment would be best for me? And should I worry about the financial state that the country is in now? Should I wait for it to settle down before I invest? There are many options; from bonds to stocks to individual businesses, and each of them have perks and risks that I have to study first.

A Pullback to approximately 15.15/share during “after-hour” trading on 4/14/09 is quantitatively appealing in establishing a long position on Intel (INTC).

The close of 16.01 places INTC on a bullish stance, according to the following technical indicators:

A. Composite Indicator– Which is a Trend Spotter (TM)

B. Short term Indicators– The 10-8 Day Moving Average Hilo Channel, 20 Day Moving Average Versus Price, 20-50 Day MACD Oscillator, and 20 Day Bollinger Bands suggest a buy. The 20 Day Average Volume is 66859422.

C. Medium Term Indicators– The 50 Day Moving Average versus Price, 20-100 Day MACD Oscillator, and 50 Day Parabolic Time/Price suggest a buy. The 50-Day Average Volume 70653359.

D. Long Term Indicators– The 100 Day Moving Average versus Price, and 50-100 Day MACD Oscillator suggest a buy. 100-Day Average Volume – 68089414.

On 4/15/09, assuming the shares commence trading at 15.15, the May strike 15 calls would open the trade at approximately .76/contract. This would give the new shareholder .61/contract in intrinsic time value till option expiraton, assuming the calls are written. Moreover, the shareholder has a downside protection to 14.54/share which is the March 17 2009 pivatol (infliction) point. At 14.53/share, the May Strike 14 calls would probably trade between .97 to 1.00/contract, offering the accumulation of new shares a juicy .44 to .47/contract in intinsic time value and a downside protection to 13.56– which is a solid 5 month support level. At 13.56/share, the May Strike 13 would bid .88 to .90/contract giving the investor .32/contract in time value and a downside protection to 12.68.

The dollar-cost-average pyramid hedged with may calls stated above provide roughly a 72% downside protection against the underlying shares, but only 48% when hedged with put options with similar strikes.

Investing on stocks will make your money work for you or in other words- your money will increase without you doing anything. In this way, you can focus on building your other assets and earning other forms of income. This article is to equip you with the knowledge on the basics of stocks investing.

What does investing on stocks mean and how is it different from investing your money in the bank? Investing on stocks is when you buy a share from a publicly listed company. This action will make you part-owner of that company and enjoy exclusive privileges such as voting rights. Your money will increase in percentage as the company enjoys higher profits at a given time. However, you may also lose a certain percentage or your money may have the possibility of not earning anything if the company suffers losses.

It differs from investing your cash at the bank because of several things, first is because: banks have taxes payment and little annual percentage returns and is affected by the market inflation. Because of these factors, you may be left with little or no growth value for your capital. Investing in banks guarantee you with maximum security for your money, but you are subjected to minimal returns because of this. There is little to no risk of losing your money that is invested in a bank.

Investing in stocks left some people think twice about it since you allow your investment to operate on involved risks. The greater returns you are aiming at for your investment, the higher the alleged risks involved. It is advisable to play it safe first especially if youre a beginner and practice on investing with a capital where you are most comfortable with.

If you have plans on investing in stocks it is advisable for young people to start now when they will have a lot of time to recover than start later (a few years before retirement), although there is another argument in here which I will discuss later.