http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/finance/credit/how-much-do-you-know-about-your-credit-report.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/credit/how-much-do-you-know-about-your-credit-report.html Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500
A lot ofIn a lot of cases people think that when a company looks at your personal credit report that company is just looking at your credit score and, while this is definitely one thing that they do look at, they are in fact looking at a great deal more. In particular, they are looking to see how much debt you have compared to your income and even fairly small accounts, such as those with a mail order catalog company, will be treated as a deduction from your income when when it comes to considering a loan application.

If a lender comes to the conclusion that you have got more money going out than you have coming in then your loan request will undoubtedly be turned down. In fact, by law a certain percentage of your income has to be available to meet the payments on a loan before the lender is allowed to approve it, regardless of the purpose of the loan.

A lender will also be looking back at your credit history for the past seven years to see how well you have managed any loans during that period. In particular, they will look at whether you have made your payments on time and will play close attention to any payments which were more than thirty days late. It might not have seemed especially important to you when you got into difficulty and were late with your payments for a few months on one of your accounts, but any lender will certainly consider this when assessing the risk of lending to you now.

Lenders is also going to look to see whether or not any of your accounts have run into debt during the past seven years and if these debts have now been paid off. If there are outstanding payments on a current agreement lenders will be very wary when it comes to extending you further credit before these are paid off.

Finally, your personal credit report will also show if you have filed for personal bankruptcy, normally within the last ten years. A few people think that a company is far more likely to lend to you if you have filed for bankruptcy because they enjoy the added protection of knowing that you are not able to file again for a number of years. This however is not the case and filing for personal bankruptcy is seen by lenders as a red flag showing that you have already demonstrated a tendency to get yourself in over your head when it comes to handling your money.

Your personal credit report is an important document which you ought not only to understand but which you ought to review occasionally for your own protection and peace of mind. Happily, the law requires that you be sent a copy of your personal credit report once each year on request.


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TheDebtAssistanceCenter.com provides information on how to obtain your free annual credit report and answers a wide range of questions such as how can I remove a judgment from my credit report?


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/currency-trading-without-a-clear-strategy-is-the-road-to-financial-ruin.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/currency-trading-without-a-clear-strategy-is-the-road-to-financial-ruin.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Many novice traders are tempted to open an account, which is a very easy process these days, and to simply dive head first into trading and, in so doing, they make two basic mistakes. Their first mistake is to begin trading without any clear strategy and their second mistakes is to move one trade to the next being driven on purely by emotion.

In many cases a novice trader will buy a currency pair in the certain belief (based upon nothing but a hunch) that it offers the opportunity for an easy profit and is tempted to buy quickly before the opportunity is lost. Shortly after opening the trade however the market will move in what the novice trader perceives as being the wrong direction and he will panic and close the trade taking a loss. However, he will then continue to watch the market for reassurance that his decision to get out was a wise one and to comfort himself with the knowledge that things could have been worse and his loss far greater. Now sometimes this is exactly what happens but, very often, he will simply watch the market reverse and his currency pair climb quickly into a position which would have made him a nice profit if only he had not panicked.

There are many different groups involved in Forex trading today including governments, banks, investment funds, corporation and of course individual private traders. Leaving the individual traders on one side for a moment, the other players in the market all have very specific objectives for their trading and, most importantly, they also have a very clearly defined set of guidelines and rules for their trading, not least because they will be held accountable for their trading decisions. This means that, for the larger players, trading is an extremely disciplined business and this to a very large degree explains why these large players are so successful.

For the private trader there is of course no accountability issue and so no specific requirement to adopt a trading strategy or to follow a set of trading rules. However, if you wish to succeed in currency trading then there is no doubt that this is one area in which you need to follow the example of the larger players.

Success in the longer term will never come from trading based upon a hunch or on emotion, but will only come from a sound knowledge of the workings of the market combined with a clear trading strategy.


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LearningForexTradingOnline.com is the idea place to learn currency trading and provides information on everything from the history of the Forex market to how to operate a Forex mini trading account.


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/an-understanding-of-forex-charts-is-essential-to-the-successful-trader.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/an-understanding-of-forex-charts-is-essential-to-the-successful-trader.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
There are several different price charts available to traders but they all essentially convey information about Forex prices for a specific time period which can range from just a matter of minutes to many years. Charts can be plotted in different formats ranging from simple line charts to more complex candlestick charts, plotting price variations for particular time intervals.

Most traders will be familiar with line charts as this is a very common format for plotting a range of financial data and most of us have grown up with line graphs. Here closing prices are normally plotted for a particular time period and such charts give a very clear and easy to read picture of movements in prices over that time period.

Bar charts are generally more difficult to read, but have the advantage of being able to convey much more information. For example, the length of a bar can indicate the price spread for a given period of time, so that the longer the bar the greater the difference between the high and low price. Bars can also be annotated to show the opening price on the left of the bar and the closing price to the right, enabling you to see at a glance whether the price has risen or fallen. One disadvantage with many bar charts is that they often put so much information onto a chart that it can be difficult to read, although modern software enables you to adjust a chart to focus in on the specific information you require.

A very popular charting technique today is known as candlestick charting, which was originally invented by the Japanese for analyzing rice contracts and is essentially a color coded variation of standard bar charting, with red candlestick bars indicating falling prices and green candlestick bars representing rising prices.

Reading candlestick charts takes a bit of getting used to but the various candlestick shapes when viewed in relation to neighboring shapes form a number of classical patterns. Nor surprisingly, many of the patterns have acquired names over the years and these include such delights as 'Dark Cloud Cover' and 'Morning Star'. Although it takes a bit of time to master the art of reading candlestick charts, once you become familiar with the different patterns it is fairly easy to see just what is happening in the market and to pick out particular market trends.

Of course charts by themselves, while extremely helpful, do not tell the whole picture and so it is necessary to supplement the information provided by the various different charts with a combination of different technical indicators such as relative strength indicators (RSI), Bollinger bands, average directional movement (ADM) to name just three. Nevertheless, there are fewer and fewer traders today who do not rely to a very large degree on charting for their trading decisions.


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LearningForexTradingOnline.com is the ideal place to learn currency trading and covers everything from the history of the Forex market to understanding Forex charting


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/5-reasons-for-entering-the-exciting-world-of-currency-trading.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/5-reasons-for-entering-the-exciting-world-of-currency-trading.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
1. The 24 Hour Nature Of Trading.

The majority of the world’s trading markets operate out of fixed trading centers and to strictly limited hours, normally between Monday and Friday. However, because currency trading takes place around the world you have the ability to trade 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

This means that, since most private traders operate from their own homes, you can decide just when you want to trade, whether it is in the morning, afternoon, evening or even in the middle of the night. It also means that, whatever happens in the world, you have the ability to take advantage of events and their effect of particular currencies instantly and are not frustrated by having to wait for the market to open.

2. Very Low Trading Costs.

With many traditional markets, including the equity markets, trading costs can be high and brokerage fees in particular can quickly mount with commissions on even quite small trades being $20 or $30 and commission on larger traded running into hundreds of dollars. Trading costs are however very much lower in currency trading and the electronic nature of the market means that even the traditional bid/offer spread is much lower on currency trades than of other market trades.

3. High Leverage.

The Forex market is not the only market which allows you to trade on leverage but leverage in currency trading is typically far higher than that seen elsewhere. For example, professional equity traders will generally be permitted to leverage ten times their capital whereas even private currency traders are typically permitted to leverage one hundred times their capital. Of course you do have to be careful and one downside to the availability of high leverage trading is that it can lead not only to high profits, but also to high losses. Fortunately however the market tends to regulate risk management fairly tightly.

4. Limited Slippage.

Unlike many markets, currency trading offers the immediate execution of trading orders at real-time prices and, in almost all cases, this means that the price you see is the price you pay. For people who have experienced trading in other markets there is nothing more frustrating than executing a trade only to find that by the time the trade is settled prices have moved and you end up with less money than you expected.

5. The Ability To Profit From Rising And Falling Markets.

Equity traders know only too well the cycle of Bull and Bear markets which has a dramatic effect not only on profits, but also on the ability to actually trade. Fortunately, the structure of the currency trading market means Forex traders do not suffer from such problems. Because currency trading always involves a pair of currencies, if you are short on one currency then you are long on the other and so the possibility of profiting is always there regardless of whether the market is falling or rising.


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LearningForexTradingOnline.com is the ideal place to learn Forex and provides information on a wide range of topics including simulated Forex trading


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/health/men/hormonal-therapy-when-cancer-has-spread-beyond-the-prostate-gland.html http://www.articletrader.com/health/men/hormonal-therapy-when-cancer-has-spread-beyond-the-prostate-gland.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
The aim of hormonal therapy is to cut off the production of the male hormones, such as testosterone, which fuel the growth of prostate cancer, or to render them ineffective, and this essentially means castration, either surgically or by other medical means such as using an antiandrogen drug to block the circulation of male hormones in the blood.

There are various different approaches when it comes to hormonal therapy and it is often a case of testing different combinations of drugs to discover what works best in individual patients. One approach is what is known as a 'maximum androgen blockade' which is a blanket approach using a wide range of drugs combined with either surgical or medical castration. This approach has proved effective in some patients but many doctors question whether it is in fact any more effective than standard hormonal therapy.

When it comes to considering whether or not to opt for the surgical removal of the testes or to choose medical castration this is not always an easy decision as surgical castration is understandably a major and life-changing step for many men. It is however an ultimate solution to the problem of the production of male hormones, unlike hormonal therapy which will simply block those hormones for as long as the therapy continues. If however you stop the therapy then, although it will generally take some time for cancer which has been slowed or halted to begin growing again, it will inevitably do so within a matter of months or at best within two or three years.

In either case there is also often a problem with some cancer cells which do not require testosterone to grow and here it is often necessary to use a second tier of hormonal drugs such as progesterone or hydrocortisone to deal with the problem.

One approach with hormonal therapy is not to use this simply as a treatment for advanced prostate cancer but in fact to start hormonal therapy as soon as prostate cancer is diagnosed, even if it is confined to a small area of the prostate gland and is slow growing. The aim here is to slow the growth of the cancer, and in some cases to actually shrink the tumor, so that it can possibly be confined to the prostate gland where it can do relatively little harm for the remainder of a patient's life.

Despite the fear which surrounds prostate cancer, because it often appears late in life and does little if any harm as long as it is contained within the prostate gland, many men live quite happily with the disease and indeed die from a variety of other total disassociated conditions, including simple old age.


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ProstateProblemCenter.com provides information on a variety of prostate problems and covers topics such as enlarged prostate treatment and the therapeutic use of prostate massage


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/health/men/7-alternatives-therapies-for-an-enlarged-prostate.html http://www.articletrader.com/health/men/7-alternatives-therapies-for-an-enlarged-prostate.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
1. Ayurveda. Two popular treatments are to mix Punarnava, Gokshura and Shilajit herbal powders together and then to take just one quarter of a teaspoon each day mixed into a little warm water. Alternatively, you could try horsetail, ginseng or hibiscus tea and these can be taken three or four times a day.

2. Reflexology. Reflexology sessions, which direct energy to specific pressure points on the body, begin with relaxing your whole body and then shifting the focus of the reflex to those areas of your body which are in the greatest need of assistance. In this case that means directing energy to the prostate, adrenal, endocrine, pituitary, parathyroid and thyroid glands as well as to the pancreas with the reflex in your hands or feet.

3. Food Therapy. A diet which is high in zinc has been shown to be beneficial in shrinking an enlarged prostate and so food therapy essentially means following a low fat diet (especially avoiding saturated fats) and including foods which are known to be high is zinc such as flaxseed oil, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. You can also take a daily zinc supplement.

4. Imagery. Imagery is closely linked to hypnosis and both use positive visualization techniques to effect positive change. One exercise which has been shown to be beneficial to some enlarged prostate sufferers is to close your eyes, breathe out three times and then imagine entering into your body. Once inside, find your prostate gland and slowly examine it from every angle before putting it into a thin golden drawstring net and pulling the drawstring so that the net fits snuggly around the prostate. At the same time picture your prostate gland shrinking back to its normal size. This exercise should be practiced twice each day for about three or four minutes for three weeks and then left for one week, before repeating the process over about six months.

5. Hydrotherapy. For many enlarged prostate sufferers a daily hot bath taken for about a month does the trick. Simply sit in a hot bath with water up to your navel for thirty to forty-five minutes and then follow this immediately with a cold bath or shower.

6. Vitamin and Mineral Therapy. Herbal medication containing a specific mix of vitamins and minerals can also help with the treatment of an enlarged prostate. The vitamin and mineral mix, which is taken twice a day, should contain 200 international units of vitamin E, 30 milligrams of zinc, 1 milligram of copper, half a tablespoon of flaxseed oil and 160 milligrams of saw palmetto.

7. Yoga. Some Yoga poses can increase the blood flow to your groin and so relieve certain prostate problems. Two poses in particular which will benefit prostate problems are the 'knee squeeze' and the 'seated sun' together with the 'stomach lock'. If you are not familiar with yoga then there are many excellent illustrated books available and you should be able to pick one or two up at your local library without any problem. You should be aware however that it is not advisable to practice the 'stomach lock' if you are suffering from hypertension, hiatal hernia, ulcers or heart disease.

For many people these alternative techniques seem on the surface to be of little if any value at all, but for anyone who is familiar with alternative medicine, or such things as ancient Chinese medical practices, it is no surprise to find that they really can work.


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ProstateProblemCenter.com provides information on a variety of prostate problems and covers topics such as enlarged prostate treatment and the therapeutic technique of milking the prostate gland.


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/health/men/2-natural-treatments-for-an-enlarged-prostate.html http://www.articletrader.com/health/men/2-natural-treatments-for-an-enlarged-prostate.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Odd as it might seem, pumpkin seeds have a number of healing properties and they have been found to be especially effective for many man suffering from an enlarged prostate. Pumpkin seed have three properties which are particularly useful in this case.

The first is that pumpkin seeds contain fatty oil that acts as a natural diuretic and helps to improve urine flow and counter the restrictive effect of an enlarged prostate gland on the urethra.

The second property of pumpkin seeds is that they contain high levels of zinc so that a half a cup of seeds contains about eight milligrams of zinc. Studies have clearly shown that taking zinc can literally reduce the size of an enlarged prostate and many doctors recommend taking sixty milligrams a day in order to combat benign prostatic hypertrophy (an enlarged prostate). Care should be taken though and it is a good idea to talk to your doctor before raising your zinc intake to this level as it is above the normally recommended daily level.

The third benefit of pumpkin seeds is that they are high in animo acids such as alanine, glycerine and glutamic acid, all of which have again been shown to provide significant symptomatic relief.

Saw palmetto is also widely used for prostrate problems. Found in the southeastern states, saw palmetto is a small palm tree the seeds of which formed an important part of the diet of Seminole Indians.

Saw palmetto works by turning testosterone into dihyrotestosterone which is precisely the process used in Proscar, which is one of the very few over-the-counter treatments approved for prostate problems by the Food and Drug Administration. Its essential benefit is that it increases urinary flow, reduces the problem of residual urine and, as a consequence of both, also lessens the frequency of urination.

As with most natural treatments opinions vary widely as to the effectiveness of saw palmetto, but there have been a number of studies carried out over the years which have clearly shown that it does produce a significant benefit. In one study, a clinical study involving more than two thousand men in Germany suffering from benign prostatic hypertrophy, a daily dose of just one or two grams of saw palmetto seeds produced a substantial easing of symptoms.

These are of course just two of the many alternative cures available but there is no doubt that these and similar natural treatments can and do work. Just as an example, it is thought that about thirty percent of American men suffer from an undiagnosed prostate cancer by the time they reach the age of sixty compared to just one percent of Artic Inuit men at the same age. There may of course be several reasons for this enormous difference, but one difference which most doctors consider to be very significant is simply the fact the diet of Artic Inuit men is high in fish oil.

So, if you are suffering from an enlarged prostate then, before you turn to your doctor for treatment, you may find that simply adjusting your diet and looking at your intake of various vitamins and minerals may be all that is needed.


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ProstateProblemCenter.com provides information on a variety of prostate problems and covers topics such as enlarged prostate treatment and the therapeutic technique of prostate massage


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/subsidized-and-unsubsidized-stafford-student-loans.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/subsidized-and-unsubsidized-stafford-student-loans.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
One way in which the definition of 'in need' was quickly broadened was to create two different forms of Stafford loan - subsidized and unsubsidized.

In the case of subsidized loans, the Federal Government pays the interest charges which would ordinarily accrue from the date on which the loan is originated until payments start. Usually, no payments are made while the student is attending school (as long as the program is a half-time program or greater) and for a further six month grace period after completion of the course. Students can however request that payments begin earlier if they wish to start repaying their loan before the usual date.

Because the government pays interest on these loans they are normally need-based in that aid officials will look at a student's family income when deciding whether or not to grant a loan. In making their decision a number known as the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) is used and this is obtained from income information provided on the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) application form.

About two out of every three subsidized Stafford loans are given to students whose parents have an adjusted gross income of less than $50,000 per year. A further 25% are awarded to students whose families fall into the $50,000 to $100,000 per year range. However, the definition of 'in need' is still very flexible and about 10% of subsidized loans are given to students whose combined family income is in excess of $100,000.

If a student does not qualify for a subsidized loan then he or she will normally be eligible for an unsubsidized Stafford loan. In this case interest due on the loan accumulates from the day the loan money is disbursed until the day that the loan is paid off and interest charges can build rapidly. For example, even in we take the case of a modest $5,000 loan, at 6.8% the first year's interest charge is approximately $430 and this is added to the $5,000 with further interest charges being applied to the higher figure in subsequent years.

Trying to work out interest payments can be a complicated business, especially if you have a series of different loans taken out over two or three years in college, because, while interest is quoted as an annual figure, it is calculated monthly and added to the loan principle as you go along with interest in subsequent months being charged on the increasing figure. A good approximation can be made however by using one of the many freely available online mortgage calculators.

From the example above it should also be noted that $5,000 is a very low figure as student loans go and that most students will borrow considerably more than this. Indeed, the average student probably borrows about $15,000 in a mixture of different government and private loans


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TheStudentLoansCentre.com provides information on all aspects of college financing including low interest student loans and college loans consolidation


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/the-similarities-and-differences-in-graduate-and-undergraduate-financial-aid.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/the-similarities-and-differences-in-graduate-and-undergraduate-financial-aid.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
As an undergraduate you will rely on an often complicated mixture of scholarships, grants and loans and, in the case of loans, these will either be taken out alone, by your parents, or as a combination loan in which for example you take out the loan in your own name with your parents as co-borrowers or co-signers to the loan.

By far the most popular student loan program today, which accounts for more than ninety percent of government backed funding, is subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans. The most desirable are of course subsidized loans on which the government picks up the bill for interest payments while you are in college and for a grace period of up to six months after you graduate. These loans are however needs based and so there are a couple of hoops which you have to jump through to qualify. Unsubsidized loans in contrast are not needs based and so are available to almost all students.

For a graduate student however the picture is somewhat different and, while there are graduate scholarships and grants available, these tend to be few and far apart. It is however often possible to get a teaching or research assistantship, which is essentially a low paying, long hours job which many graduates avail themselves of to help them through their course or while carrying out research.

Another recently introduced option for graduates is a PLUS loan. PLUS stands for Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students and, as the name suggests, was originally designed to allow parents to take out a preferential loan in order to help a son or daughter through college. Now however this program has been extended to also allow graduate students to take a PLUS loan in their own right.

PLUS loans are readily available and are credit, rather than need, based. For some graduates this may cause a problem but the majority of graduates have not had time to get themselves into the credit problems which are suffered by so many adults today. Consequently, although you may have a sparse credit history, you probably will not have enough bad marks on your credit report to rule you ineligible for a PLUS loan.

The downside of PLUS loans is that, in historical terms at least, current interest rates which are generally either 7.9% or 8.5% are not low. This means that interest charges on even a relatively small loan can be high and repayment will need to start within 60 days of the grant of the loan, with no grace period.

As with all student loans, whether for undergraduates or graduates, there are a variety of different loans available from both government and private sources and, government loans in particular, have different caps for both single loans and lifetime loans from individual programs. As a result this is one area which you will need to research carefully, rather than simply rushing in and applying for the first loan which springs to mind.


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TheStudentLoansCenter.com provides information of a variety of topics including student PLUS loans and private low interest student loans


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/the-william-d-ford-direct-student-loan-program.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/the-william-d-ford-direct-student-loan-program.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Direct loan programs overlap the alternative which is called the FFELP, or Federal Family Education Loan Program, which is a program designed to work through a network of private lenders. Since direct loan programs duplicate in many ways the FFEL programs, it is important to decide which program you want. Both programs offer both Stafford and PLUS loans.

The criteria for eligibility on both programs is the same and they follow identical need based guidelines, or have identical credit check requirements as those for non need based programs. Since both programs essentially provide the same loan funding this raises the natural question of how to choose between them.

To some degree the decision involves choosing which of two providers you will have to deal with. For example, although both will provide customer service personnel to answer any questions, in some cases you may find that private lenders will be more helpful and flexible while the government will be indifferent or more bureaucratic. This will not always be the case of course and sometimes you will find that just the opposite is true.

One of the best ways to get a feel for the service you are likely to receive from different lenders is to read some of the Internet forums dealing with the subject of student loans. Also with the tremendous growth of social networks in recent years it has become much easier to find a diverse set of opinions. Of course you do have to be careful as many of the views expressed are based more on personal taste than objective criteria, but reading the posts will quickly show you which side the poster favors.

There are however some more concrete differences between the two types of loan. For example, because FFELP loans are both funded and serviced by private financial institutions the organization with which you sign a promissory note might not be the organization to which you make repayments. It is a common practice these days for lenders to 'sell' loans on to other companies in much the same as most mortgage companies do.

This is an important consideration because you might have gone to the trouble of finding a lender you like, choosing beyond simply the interest rate on the loan and repayment terms and preferring their customer service, only to find that your loan is sold on and you are dealing with a company which you had previously rejected. In the case of direct loans however, because loans are not sold on by the Federal government, this problem does not arise.

Perhaps the most important difference for the majority of lenders however will be the difference in rates, repayment terms and fees between the two. Here you need to remember that while the interest rates on Stafford and PLUS loans are officially fixed private lenders do enjoy some flexibility in other areas.

They might or might not for example charge both origination and insurance fees, which are currently assessed at 3% and 1%, according to Federal rules. Though these charges will still be applied to your loan, a private lender might agree to absorb these in order to get your business. They might as an example choose to alter the dates on which interest charges are calculated or to either extend a grace period or increase your repayment period.

At the end of the day the only way to discover just what is available is to shop around in much the same way as you would if you were looking for any other kind of loan.


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TheStudentLoansCenter.com provides information on all aspects of college financing including obtaining low interest student loans and college loans consolidation


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]>