Online financial news
Goldman Sachs Facts
A cynic would point out that both the new Greek and Italian leaders are Goldman Sachs insiders. As is the new European Central Bank president, Mario Draghi. Press Europe has the details:
Draghi was Goldman Sachs International’s vice-chairman for Europe between 2002 and 2005, a position that put him in charge of the “companies and sovereign” department, which shortly before his arrival, helped Greece to disguise the real nature of its books with a swap on its sovereign debt.
Monti was an international adviser to Goldman Sachs from 2005 until his nomination to lead the Italian government. According to the bank, his mission was to provide advice “on European business and major public policy initiatives worldwide”. As such, he was a “door opener” with a brief to defend Goldman’s interest in the corridors of power in Europe.
The third man, Lucas Papademos, was the governor of the Greek central bank from 1994 to 2002.
Time to focus on life underinsurance again
Life insurance advisers need to concentrate on the underinsurance problem and not get bogged down worrying about the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms, says CommInsure GM Retail Advice Tim Browne.
“The key issue for our industry is underinsurance, and after FOFA it is back to the status quo,” he told an adviser briefing in Melbourne last week.
“We won the commissions battle but we haven’t taken the underinsurance problem forward.”
Mr Browne says advisers must confront the arguments clients use to avoid taking up life insurance.
“I estimate that if you have a cup of coffee a day, it will cost $90 a month,” he said. “Insurance for a younger person with no illness history is $29 a month. Advisers have t
Fact-Checking Michele Bachmann
In a speech in Ottumwa (IA) on October 29, Michele Bachmann claimed that in 1950, “the average amount of taxes that the average family (paid) was 5 percent overall.” Our analysis shows that this claim may be misleading; the actual total federal, state and local tax burden was 24.6 percent in 1950. While Bachmann is correct that total tax burdens have increased since the 50s (the tax total tax burden this year is 27.7 percent), the “5 percent” claim seems to be a gaffe.
The DesMoinesRegister.com covered this in a recent article, where they opined that perhaps Bachmann meant to refer to just federal tax collections as a percentage of GDP, which stood at 5.8 percent in 1950.
Credit Card Charges, Interest, Fraud and Bad Credit
Unless you plan to repay your credit card in full each month, the rate of interest you will be charged on your outstanding balance will need to be one of the most important things you consider before applying for a credit card.
That said, it is possible these days to disguise the real rate of interest that you pay on you credit card. The reason why this is the case is because although UK credit card providers are required, by law, to display the APR they charge on their cards, they do not need to include a variety of additional fees and costs in the calculation of APR.
Consequently, it is possible to display a lower APR than other credit card providers’ do, but to include joining fees and annual membership fees, which other credit card provider do not do. This way, your headline interest rate looks lower, but your cumulative fees and interest are actually higher.
Fixed rate vs. V
Realtor Falls Down & Video Goes Totally Viral!
From our own experience, very few strategies have worked quite as effectively as real estate video marketing. There’s just something about this form of advertising that gets viewers fully engaged and willing to take action. I’m not any type of psychological genius, but it seems to me that using video and being authentic have a powerful effect on helping people to let down their guard.
Prospects dont want to be tricked into anything, and many have been burned before. Perhaps this also has something to do with our culture conditioning us from age 3 and up to be leery of salesmen and other forms of pushy tactics. For
Risk/Reward Continued & Daily Emini Trading
Mark were a little more volatile today than yesterday. More than likely the new fears in Italy are fueling it. Doesn’t matter to us. Any increase in volatility is a good thing for day traders! In today’s video, I discuss the break even again and a bit more about Risk/Reward in our emini trades. Today was a good example, although it wasn’t as good today as it was yesterday.
I opened up with a losing trade, had to reverse and then broke even. At this point I am 2 trades into it and -6 ticks. I grabbed a nice long NSE trade for 5 ticks (was trying for 8). Grabbed a Pullback for 4 ticks, and finished up with another short NSE! By 9:42 I had my point + profit. The long term filter went short right after that, so I could have easily grabbed 2 more points, as most of my students did.
My standing on this is simple: If I open up with losing trades, my goal is to simply book a profit. I am