Author: Editor

What Do You Need to Know About Prepaid Cards?

A prepaid card works like a debit card, but without risks and the bank account

By Guy Avtalyon

Prepaid cards are similar to debit cards. This means, prepaid cards seem like credit cards and use as credit cards. But the main difference is there’s no credit behind. When using the prepaid cards you are spending your own money, banks will not grant you to spend their money. So, in essence, they are debit cards.

However, there is one difference. It isn’t needed to have a bank account to have a prepaid card. All you have to do is to download a certain amount of money straight onto the card. And you can use your prepaid card for purchasing and payments.

When the balance on the card drops low, you have to reload more money.

You can use your prepaid card everywhere, just like any card. You can pay bills, buy in the shops.

The fees retailers pay to receive prepaid cards are lower than for credit cards, you will often find, for example, the shops that are receiving the prepaid cards rather than credit cards.

Prepaid cards are a good option instead of credit cards.

Moreover, prepaid cards allow the comfort of shopping without the troubles of administering with a bank. You may deposit your paycheck direct onto your prepaid card.

They were basically invented for people with bad or non-exciting credit history. This kind of card is a great choice for people with credit problems. The other advantage for all of you, who are not sure how should you spend your money, is that the prepaid card expires when the preloaded money runs out.

It is a very helpful first card for youngsters or for someone who is recovering from debt.

There is no credit check, hence, it will not help you develop credit. The outgo on prepaid cards is not traced by credit bureaus.

Seek for characteristics that satisfy your needs.

Amazing, prepaid cards allow you to pay bills online by setting up automated monthly payments. Some will allow you to withdraw money from an ATM.

To manage your account online, you can use some app available for desktop or even mobile.

“Seventy percent of general prepaid card users use mobile to check balances and transaction history and receive text alerts,” said Bill McCracken, CEO of Synergistics. “So mobile capability in a prepaid card is very important.”

Opportunities to put more money on your card are growing.

You can transfer money from your bank account if you have one.
Your company can deposit your paycheck directly onto your prepaid card.
Money transfer from a PayPal account, for example, is so easy.
If the balance on your prepaid card is too low you can reload by using a reload card.

Moreover, as we mentioned before, there is no need to pay interest on a prepaid card. On the other hand, with a credit card, you have to pay. Instead, you will pay fees.

Prepaid cards require fees from setup to reloading. The good thing is that you can limit fees. How? Just keep a minimum balance or arrange a direct deposit.

Prepaid cards can assist you to control your money if you employ it as a budgeting tool. For example, you can load the weekly budget for shopping onto your prepaid card. When you spend all amount, your spending will be stopped immediately. Well, unless you load more money. Anyway, it will help you manage your spending by limiting costs and risks.

And, you’re protected. “While prepaid cards were developed by entrepreneurs as an alternative to banking, the funds in these accounts are almost always held by a bank or credit union and enjoy federal deposit insurance,” Richard Cordray, director of the CFPB.

Moreover, if you notify the loss or stealing of your registered card, most of the issuer will restore your balance and give you a new card. Let’s say, a prepaid card operates like a debit card, but without risks and the bank account.

Prepaid cards are good for people with bad credit. Especially when they are not accepted for a credit card. You can use a prepaid card as a method of building positive credit. If you make small payments frequently and pay them off every month, you’ll be able to show that you are financially stable. After some time this secured account can be changed to an unsecured one.

9th July 2019
Christine Lagarde as an EBC head: Good or bad for cryptocurrencies future?

2 min read

Christine Lagarde, a new ECB head is remarkably pro-crypto.

Investors and advocates of Bitcoin and the crypto markets have long held that the zenith of adoption the crypto would come when authorities and central banks started becoming friendly towards the new technologies.

The new head of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde is pro-crypto. Can it be good or bad for cryptocurrencies?

Previously, she has shown a huge interest in crypto and how the new tech can help develop tomorrow’s overall economy.

Will this help to promote acceptance of cryptocurrencies?

Christine Lagarde has promoted for state-backed digital currencies.

She said it could improve the capability of such state’s economy.

“I believe we should consider the possibility to issue digital currency. There may be a role for the state to supply money to the digital economy,” she told at the Singapore Fintech Festival Nov. 14.

If done correctly, central bank-issued digital currencies could “could satisfy public policy goals,” she noticed, specifically “financial inclusion,” “security and consumer protection,” and “privacy in payments.”

During the speech in Singapore, Lagarde meantime persisted on the “downsides” of CBDCs, too

“I would also like to highlight the risks of stifling innovation — the last thing you want. My main point will be that we should face these risks creatively.”

We must be honest, the new ECB boss is more open to centralized crypto selections than to decentralized ones, like Bitcoin. She has supported already for state-backed cryptocurrencies and tokens like XRP and JPM coin. Maybe, she just needs more encouragement. We will see. It isn’t possible for any traditional bank to support the crypto, but to embrace its existence and allow using in transactions would be very useful, both for the bankers and crypto-owners.

Lagarde supports

Last year, in February, Lagarde in an interview for CNNMoney said that “the trend showed a “herd mentality” of those looking for high yield products as well as an element of speculation.”

Lagarde continued that this trend was also fired by “dark activity.” That was explained by the potential for cryptocurrencies to be “used for money laundering and other illegal online activities due to their anonymous nature.”

We can’t argue with this opinion because it is true. But, also, the regulation would be helpful. The difficult part, someone can think, is how to provide for crypto to remain anonymous and regulated. Well, it isn’t too hard. The hard part is how to avoid dark activity. Fiat showed less capability.

Lagarde has said that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could develop financial markets. She especially pointed to the speed and security of transactions.

We are sure that Lagarde’s main interest will not be the adoption of cryptocurrencies. She will have some bigger difficulties in the EU monetary system and economy. But, also, we have to notice that Lagarde is opened toward new technologies such as blockchain and it is very good. It can be promising for the crypto in the future. Christine Lagarde on the head of the ECB can have a very positive influence on the crypto industry and market in whole.

For now, for those of us who truly believe that the future for cryptos is coming, it is good news that Christine Lagarde’s opinions about Bitcoin are positive.

8th July 2019
How Long It Takes to Have Enough to Buy a Home

4 min read

To have enough to buy a home is everyone’s dream. This is a tricky time for millennials who want to buy a home. Some research, for example in Canada, shows that young people need between 13 to 29 years to purchase their first home. That’s too much.

While millennials over the world are striving to get on the property, about 70% of Chinese millennials reached the milestone.

Mexico is the next with 46% of millennials homeowners, the following is France with 41%.

For the majority of millennials, owning house persist too expensive and they can’t save enough for a deposit. Property prices have increased in the last several years and the rise in salary did not follow this

Almost 2/3 of millennials declared they would need higher incomes to buy a home.

According to Forbes, China has seven of the world’s 10 most expensive cities for buying such a property.

So how have so many millennials in China have enough to buy a home?

There are no secrets. For most of them, a parent’s help was crucial. Also, they have some benefits for married couples. For sons in China, parents will do almost everything to help them get married.

Thanks to the One-Child Policy, next year will be 30 million men more than women who are looking for marriage partners. Parents in China want to improve the chances for their sons and support them financially to have enough to buy a home. Speaking about, gender equality. But it isn’t the subject of this article.

We want to show you how to ensure your deposit in order to buy a house, to have enough to buy a home.

There are some other ways to get on the property on your own.

Let us ask you something.

1) Are you able to save each year?

2) When you save, where you put your money?

The message of the following story is: start saving early and try to save often. We want to show you the influence of compounding.

Let’s estimate how long it will take you to become a millionaire. Yes, why not?

We will start with the Rule of 1.5, likewise recognized as Felix’s Corollary.

This rule says that for a flow of investments where the number of years times the interest equals 72, the final value will equal approximately 1.5 times the amount invested.

Say, investing $10,000 per year for 8 years at 9% interest.

8 x 9 = 72

The value of the investments at the end of year 8 will be about $120,000.

Or make it simpler

$10,000 x 8 x 1.5 = $120,000

It’s so far from being a millionaire but…

We will use Felix’s Corollary again. All we need to do is decide how long it will take you to save $720,000 at a contracted interest rate.

To explain why $720,000. Because $720,000 times 1.5 equals $1,080,000. This describes why we didn’t use $1,000,000.

This is easier than it looks, you will see.

Say, with a saving of $90,000 per year you will need 8 years to acquire $720,000.

And at 9% annual interest, you would save $1,080,000 over 8 years. Of course, most of you don’t have $90,000 per year to put on savings.

That’s why most of us are not able to collect a million dollars in 8 years.

So let’s expand it to 16 years.

Now, what do we lack to be a millionaire? Again implementing a 9% rate of return? Yes! Here is where the rule 72 again in the scene. Using the Rule of 72, we know that whatever we have saved over the first 8 years will double over the next 8 years because 72 divided by our interest rate of 9% equals 8.

So we can break the 16 year savings period into 3 equal portions:

1) the amount we save over the first 8 years;

2) the doubling of this amount over the next 8 years;

3) the amount we save the second 8 years.

And here it is: $720,000 divided by 3 equals $240,000. That is the amount we need to save each of the two 8 year periods. That is $30,000 per year if my math is good. And it is, so you just follow the rest of this. That means $2,500 per month, which is a reasonable saving for some people.

But you want to determine what it will take to be a millionaire in 24 years. All you have to do is just divide $720,000 by 7 and then again by 8.

So, $720,000 divided by 8 equals 90,000 divided by 7 equals about $12,800. Right? Hence, investing just a bit over $1,000 per month at 9% interest during 24 years period will make you a millionaire.

Invest in stocks with little money to have enough to buy a home

But, how to know when to get in a position in investing?

Investing takes time to grow. It requires a relatively moderate risk and moderate returns in the short run. But investing may produce bigger returns by placing both, interests and dividends to hold for a longer period of time. So, you are taking a long position while investing.

You would like to hold your stock for several years and have a decent return. In most circumstances, you should take the profit when a stock grows 20% to 25% of the buy price.

When to get out in the investment

The general rule of investing is never getting out of your investment just because the stock price is dropping. The rule “buy high/sell low” isn’t valuable while investing. Otherwise, you will never earn money in the stock market.

A selling an investment too quickly can hurt your portfolio.

Can you “ensure” some positions?

All beginners, no matter how smart they are, have illusions, so they have losses. You have to keep your losses small, don’t let them scare you and survive.

The rules for managing the risk that we’ll show you may feel disturbing for beginners because they have small accounts. Well, the proper risk control may limits trade size. I know that. But it is important for you to know that it is a protection in the first place.

The crucial rule of risk control is the 2% rule: never risk more than 2% of your account investment on any opened trade.

Start by writing down three numbers for every trade: your entry, target and stop. Without them, a trade may become a gamble.

I want to share with you one of the best advice I got when I become an investor.

If you see your stock rises by 40% you should sell 20% of your position. When the stock later increases 49% more, sell the other 20%. That will provide you to have 125% of your primary position.

You have 100% of the initial position. And it grows 40%:

100%*1.4=140%

You sell 20% of it, which means that now in your hands you have 80% left:

140%*0.8=112%

Stocks rise for another 40% progressively:

112%*1.4=156.8%

Now you sell 20% of the stock you have in your hands:

156.8%*0.8=125.44%

You end up with 125.44% value of the initial position.

The bottom line

To know how to structure your portfolio just implement this rule:100 minus your age.

This rule is used for asset allocation. Subtract your age from 100 to find how much of your portfolio should be allocated to equities

If you are at your 30s you should have 70% in equities and 30% in debt.

Investing doesn’t have to be difficult if you start early, understand investment opportunities, and invest in different assets to minimize risk. And provides you to have enough to buy a home.

5th July 2019
Pixel trackers: Invisible e-mail tool tracks you

3 min read

Is it sure that an app named Superhuman allows me to spy on people using their email?

Yes, it is true. If you have this app, meaning you pay that $30 per month, your new app automatically tracked every single recipient to whom you send an email. Moreover, you can see the recipient’s location. Superhuman uses invisible pixel trackers, revealed Mike Davidson, former VP of design at Twitter, on his blog.

You’ve been spied too if your sender uses the same app.

What Superhuman was doing with email trackers is despite your intention. It did it thanks to tracking pixel.

What are the Pixel trackers?

Let’s explain! Every image across the internet is stored on the server. While you browse, your computer automatically downloads them. Well, some artist found that automatically downloads can let the same servers to track you and follow you all over the web. Whatever you do, your downloads, your browsings. And emails are not excluded. These trackers provide your sender to see when you open the received message by stealing in an image.

It’s so simple when you open a received email you practically open the image and download it. At the same moment, the server knows what are you doing and provide that information to the sender. You cannot lie you didn’t have time to open their messages. They know you did. That is exactly what tracking pixels do to you.

That is one problem. The other is how to spot them.

Tracking pixels could be found under the names: a web-beacon, web bug, tracking bug, tag, web tag, page tag, tracking pixel, pixel tag, said Wikipedia.

You will probably never see the tracking pixel with your eyes because they can really be an only 1 x 1-pixel image.

Usually, it is hidden someplace in an email or webpage. Moreover, they are transparent, so we can say they are totally invisible. And where to look for them? They can be anywhere from the sender’s name to the font they use.

Anything that delivers a request to a faraway server can be recognized as a tracking tool.

Are there additional sorts of pixels tracking us?

Maybe your phone via Google Pixel?

This was years old, we said that. So why to be upset about this old technology now?

Somewhat because a lot of people don’t understand that tracking pixels breathe. It’s okay, there is nothing wrong with that.

But when Twitter VP wrote a blog post he spotted that Superhuman was giving users information about people’s locations. And this tool did it just by transferring them an email by default.

So, what’s wrong to know if people have viewed your emails? You send them with such purpose, right?

All messaging apps have read receipts and they are helpful.

Messenger has something similar to tracking pixels. This means you and the recipient can certainly see whether your messages are being read or ignored. That’s okay, too.

But using Superhuman, we are allowing a complete stranger to have the ability to send us an email and force us to reveal our location every time we open that email. Moreover, without our permission and knowing. This sounds reasonably bad.

How do pixel trackers operate? How they can recognize our location?

Via IP addresses, probably. That tracking pixel from a server registers your IP address, that is how the internet knows where your computer is situated materially and digitally. And it isn’t so complicated for someone to find your home address by using your IP. Creepy, indeed.

There is a potential danger.

For example, if it is so easy to reveal are you at home or not, you might become a victim of thefts.

Spamming and phishing can utilize the system to know which email subjects force you to click. Do you really want to let some random character on the internet tracking your moves by sending some emails?

There is no need for triangulation the data. Your browser cookies can apparently pass along your online profile. Sounds scary, really.

Superhuman isn’t the only company practicing pixel trackers.

Gmail users are pretty safe because Google reroutes everything through its own proxy servers.

Tracking pixels will still know when you’ve read an email, but they will not be able to see your location or your profile because they can’t see your IP or cookies. All they can see is Google’s IP.

TP found some good instruction on how to protect your privacy. Yes, you can always use browser extensions like Ugly Email and PixelBlock. They will find pixel trackers before you open your email. Moreover, they will eliminate them completely.

But, also, you can use this instruction How to Stop Email Tracking.

Meanwhile, Superhuman has issued an excuse, states it will no more track location, and will turn read receipts off by default, active immediately.

Keep your eyes on them, anyway.

4th July 2019
How well are you doing?

5 min read

by Hans Stam – Trader, Mentor, Author

Impressive

In my journey as a Forex Trader, I come across many different ways of thinking.

Some really think they are the only ones that are right, and everyone else is wrong.

Some contact me and tell me my claims are false or I do them on hindsight trading.

When I show my live accounts where they can see live trading and history, I’m usually getting a response like… Impressive.

Others I never hear from again.

It’s really our loss if we let ego dominate our thoughts.

Always keep an open mind as there might just be something to learn.

Spreadsheets

When you are trading, we like to succeed at a given goal.

One thing that happens a lot is that traders see a certain return, and start calculating.

Some make a spreadsheet and calculate their returns as being static.

Then on their spreadsheet, you can see they are 5-10 years ahead and often millionaires.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that in real life.

Long term goals are good once you have reached short term goals.

What is realistic and doable for you?!

Algorithms

Now that you are all set up, you probably have developed your style of trading.

It’s normal to want an outside opinion on your trading so some sign up for a company that has algorithms running.

But be aware, you might do perfectly in one group and totally fail in another.

How is that possible?!

Algorithms are being programmed by the opinion of the Programmer/Company.

There’s a lot of difference on where their focus is and their results on your trading might be way off.

I have had discussions with some of them, and in many cases, they had to agree they did not think of other things after seeing my live trading.

So, in the end, your results are just based on their opinion and how well you agree with them.

Performances

My suggestion would be to trade for a year and keep an eye on your results Quarterly, Six Months and annual returns.

Keep an eye on the DrawDown and Risks you took by exposure to the market.

Goalsetting is a tricky thing to do when Trading.

It might be best to focus on the number of deposits you are willing to make and set it as being a goal regardless of performances.

You are the one that decides what you do and why.

It’s your money on the line so if you keep on losing ask yourself who you are following.

Is this really your plan or someone else’s plan?

Nothing wrong with that, but it has to be your decision as well.

Don’t just pick a trade because someone tells you if you don’t agree!

So… How well are you doing?

No matter what others say, you are the only one that can determine if you are doing well or not.

You have your own algorithm to perform to.

What are your intentions?

Is it you want to deposit $100 every month for a year?

Is it you are focussed on not having a bigger drawdown than 25%?

So my guess is that you are the one that determines how well you are doing.

Did you reach your goals?

What works and what doesn’t?

Probably the profit-taking results will not work as the market is depending on movement, so maybe it’s better to focus on what you can control.

Opinion

When it comes to trading, you are your own boss.

Only your opinion counts as you are the one making the trades.

Now, that does not mean you never listen to anyone.

Weigh the information, see if it makes sense, apply what is useful!

Sometimes I get good ideas presented, and it doesn’t take long before seeing the goal which supports that idea.

The idea itself may be good, but it doesn’t always apply to my goals.

When I would try different outcomes for different goals, it might become mixed up which makes both goals fail.

Some people lose money fast, and they get very frustrated because their opinions were not their own.

When you find yourself losing money because of someone else’s ideas, review and see why you are losing. And see how well are you doing.

I’m lost?!

When you are doing your thing and just came across a new idea, you might want to throw everything overboard and go for this new idea.

You might feel you are lost once that is not working out.

What you could do is demo test this new idea first, but most don’t have the patience because of their excitement.

What you might do when you find yourself in that place is to open a subaccount and usually it is easy to transfer from one account to the other.

Use your idea on the new account if you don’t choose demo first and let your initial strategy run as usual. When this new idea is producing what you want to do, it will grow on its own, but you will always have a backup from where you already are having experiences.

Easy

It’s easy to do well as long as you have a clear target in front of you which you can control.

When you can’t reach your targets, don’t try to catch up, reduce the targets to a smaller target.

If your first targets failed, then catching up is even more difficult.

Adjust to what is doable for you, and keep the goals closeby and short.

If you commit to depositing $500 a month for the next 5 years, you might want to adjust to depositing $400 for the rest of the year and review in December.

Did your circumstances change? Was it easy to do? Do you want to dedicate more?

You might have lost your job, or got a raise? Lot’s of things can happen in between the plans you make.

Keeping your goals close makes you reach them faster, if you fail the goal, reduce the goal to what fits you at that time.

You can do this!

All the best,

Hans Stam
[email protected]

3rd July 2019
How to Become the Billionaire

There is nothing wrong with being poor. Many circumstances may cause that. Lack of opportunities because of the place where you are living, the poor economy in your country, but anyone should try to change that. Even if you feel you are not capable to run that long way, just make that one – the most important first step. Find the strength to reach what you want. The life you are seeking is the life you deserve.

TP is giving you a few stories about poor people who became billionaires. We want you to know something, they came from nothing. Some of them have a really impressive life story.

So, who they are?

Jan Koum WhatsApp founder

Jan Koum

Jan Koum was born in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1976. He lived in the house outside the Kyiv, without running water.

Koum has memories: “It was so run-down that our school didn’t even have an inside bathroom. Imagine the Ukrainian winter, -20°C, where little kids have to stroll across the parking lot to use the bathroom. Society was extremely closed off: you can read 1984, but living there was experiencing it.”

When he was 16, he moved with his mother to Mountain View, California. They lived in an apartment secured by government assistance. In order to survive, he cleaned floors at a local store.

Koum developed computer skills on his own. In 2009, he co-founded mobile messaging service WhatsApp and sold it Facebook for $22 billion in 2014.

Net worth:$9.1 billion

Ken Langone, Investor

Ken Langone

His father worked as a plumber and mother was a school cafeteria worker. They lived between two paychecks.

But Langone wanted a better life and that desire was supported by his family.

In order to contribute to paying scholarship at Bucknell University Langone worked different jobs. His parents also mortgaged their family house.

In 1968, Langone in associate with Ross Perot took Electronic Data Systems public. Later it was acquired by Hewlett Packard. Two years later, with Bernard Marcus, he started Home Depot. This company also went public in 1981.

Despite his huge business success, Langone still is cautious with his money. He still calls the cable company when he considers his bill is too big.

Net worth: $3.6 billion

Howard Schultz, Starbucks founder

Howard Schultz was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 19, 1953.

Schultz grew up in a housing complex for the poor.

When he was 3 years old he moved with his family to the Bayview Housing in Canarsie, a neighborhood in southeastern Brooklyn.

A football scholarship helped him to move from Canarsie to Northern Michigan University in 1970.

Schultz found work as a salesman for Hammarplast, a company that sold European coffee makers in the United States. Schultz remarked that he was selling more coffee makers to a small enterprise in Seattle. It was the Starbucks Coffee Tea and Spice Company.

“Every month, every quarter, these numbers were going up, even though Starbucks just had a few stores,” Schultz later remembered. “And I said, ‘I gotta go up to Seattle.’”

At that time, 1981, Starbucks didn’t exist outside Seattle. The company’s original owners, old college buddies Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker and their neighbor, Zev Siegl, had founded Starbucks in 1971. The three friends also came up with the coffee company’s universal mermaid logo.

Howard Schultz joined them. The rest is history.

Net worth:$2.9 billion

Kenny Troutt, the founder of Excel Communications

Kenny Troutt

Troutt grew up in a poor family. His father was a bartender. So, Kenny Troutt had to pay for his own education at Southern Illinois University. He did it by selling life insurance. He made most of his money from phone company Excel Communications, which he founded in 1988 and took public in 1996. Two years later, Troutt became a billionaire when Excel was sold to Teleglobe for $3.5 billion.

This a self-made billionaire owns WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky. He’s now retired and invests massively in racehorses.

Despite his allergy to horse hair.

Net worth: $1.4 billion

The bottom line

So, how to become a billionaire? It looks there is no universal formula for that. But there is something common for all of them who raised in poor families. All of them wanted changes, worked hard, had a desire to make success. And they were not afraid to take advantage when it came to it. To become a billionaire you must have passion, you must be curious and have opened eyes. In order to recognize the right opportunity. Never hesitate to start this journey. These guys made a success, so why wouldn’t you?

2nd July 2019
Money Management

by Hans Stam

A little off topic but well received within my group how I manage money.

So I decided to put this in writing to your benefit.

Many don’t know where all the money went at the end of their month.

Usually, they have a bit of month left at the end of their money.

Others make a lot of money but always seem to have a shortage anyway.

Some are doing just fine but don’t seem to get ahead in their finances.

The process of Money Management

Here is the process I went through personally.

I had one account at my bank as most people have.

All my money came in on that account and all payments were made from that account.

I started to write down all my expenses.

Then I noticed I was overpaying for some services like my phone, so I contacted the phone company for a better deal and instantly got more than 50% discount. That was my first step in money management.

Same with other bills, I noticed some things I spent but didn’t really need or that could be done differently.

When I had a complete picture of all my expenses per month, I divided it into daily portions.

2nd Account in the process of Money Management?

I opened a second bank account at another bank, and whatever income I had I placed at that central account.

Not only the usual income but also whatever money I got like tax returns or bonuses, etc.

Then I set up automated daily payments from that central bank account to the initial bank account where most bills were deducted automatically.

The way it was set up plus perhaps a few bucks a day was taking care of the bills and it grew a bit every day.

Why another bank?

Anything can happen, and when it hits the fan, you better keep control yourself instead of letting the bank decide for you!

3rd Account?!

Then I set up a third Bank account. I decided on a number I needed to do groceries on a daily bases.

So from my central account, I got daily payments to use for shopping.

Now I knew what was there every day to use and not overspend.

4rth Account!!

I also got Gas money from jobs I do.

So I opened a Fourth Bank account.

Every time I’m getting gas money, I deposit it in that account.

Most times I’m getting more than needed so all other car bills like taxes and maintenance are being paid from that account.

Central Account for Better Money Management

When I did set it up that way, all I needed to focus on was the central bank account and I knew exactly what I needed a day, week, month.

I noticed at first it wasn’t easy but I was determined to get it right.

So then I realized I needed a buffer of 3-6 months based on my daily payments.

I knew what I needed to survive 3-6 months without any income in case something happens.

This has saved me several times as I do not have a steady income.

Interest

I noticed I was paying interest on open balances.

So how did that happen?

I was in need of a car, and that’s a huge sum for most people.

So that had to be paid from the Gas account, but there wasn’t enough.

So I had to loan from a bank, but I paid more due to interest.

I decided to calculate the interest and paid the same interest amount into my central account as well.

Basically, I was paying back the bank, and now also myself.

Over time I needed more money on bigger spendings.

So I loaned from the central account and paid it back from the account I needed it for with interest!

How does that work?

When I saw something in the shops I really wanted to have, I just paid it from the central account to my Groceries account.

Same goes for Gas-account when in need of more cash instantly like buying another car.

Then by the daily income, I was getting on those accounts, I paid it back to the central account with interest.

It also made me aware that at times I did not really have to buy whatever it was I wanted, so it kept me from buying the item.

All I need to watch for is the buffer on the Central bank account to keep my internal economy going.

But before there was a buffer, I took care of small bills that were past due and made them disappear quickly.

Doing that gave me more and more control to work towards my buffer.

Investments as the best way for Money Management

When I wanted to start investing, I didn’t really have much money to do it with.

So I loaned money from my central account, and whatever money went out, I paid back with interest from my income.

So even if that investment was not working out, it was covered by future manageable income, bit by bit.

Whatever the investment did produce was placed back into the central account which also helped to pay off the initial loan.

If the investment made more, I was free to either let it grow or to fund the central account after the internal loan was settled.

When I invested more I considered it to be a separate loan which re-entered the process.

No logic

It doesn’t seem logical to work with your money like that, it seems too complicated.

But what it did do for me was that it gave me control over my bills which all happens automatically and it made me think twice before spending outside the balance on the cards.

So in a way, it made me focus and I know what I have to do next.

If my investments are not providing enough for my buffer, I know I need to get another job and quickly maintain my Central Account.

Anything can happen in life, and I never really valued stability really going day by day without much thought until the day came I got stuck financially.

So through desperation and a whole lot of debt, I decided to set it up to the way I have it now.

And although it did not help me overnight, the action alone to contact another bank and set up the accounts gave me a feeling of control.

It also made me go look for other ways to make an income like another job to maintain the central account.

This got me moving with a plan in action and it has given me many benefits in my financial life.

Back on control

I took back control, and I crawled back from a deep hole which made me an investor and Trader.

Hopefully, you are not facing that mountain of debt in your life and you might not give this a second thought as long as you always have enough, but even millionaires can go bankrupt if they don’t pay attention.

Be wise, don’t let money become a problem where it doesn’t have to be.

I surely hope this off-topic article will benefit you, as money is not everything and it should not control your life.

Yes, we need it, so let’s deal with it and go on with other important things in life.

If you can support my work as a Mentor, please click here for a donation

I really appreciate your encouragement.

Also, any support you like to show through PayPal is very much appreciated!

to your success,

Hans Stam

1st July 2019
The Questions You Want to Ask Your Broker about Start Trading

This is the full explanation of what you have to do in your first contact with the broker.

By Guy Avtalyon

We assume you already made your decision to start investing or trading but you don’t know how to start and what to ask a broker. That is the situation where you would need a broker’s help. You already examine and find several and it is time to contact them.

What you have to do that before you open an account.

Before you open an account, you should use the internet browser. Traders-Paradise’s advice is to visit the web pages of every brokerage company you want to analyze. That first feeling about the brokerage’ site will be maybe the most important part if you want to start trading online. You must feel comfortable while you are checking section after section and it has to be user-friendly for you and you will find if the broker has a free demo account and how long you can use it before the switch to the real.

Some websites may be slower at the first visit but try them again, maybe when you first visited them the traffic was high. A large number of visitors can make the website operate slower sometimes. This doesn’t mean the broker isn’t good.

OK, you picked several brokers. So what is the next step?

First of all, you have to make the first contact. The best way is to make some phone calls or to fill a contact form and let them call you.

Be prepared, on the first call, they will tell you precisely what you like to hear. It will be so good but also, it might not be a truth. You must be aware. So, never play on the first hint. Try them more.

Always keep in mind, you need to find the right broker for you. So, you have to talk.

What to ask the broker?

You will pay for financial advice, and you will entrust your hard-earned money to some person who will act as a genuine servant of your financial future. So, you have to ask, you have to talk.

Ask if the firm has possible conflicts of interest regarding reasons to sell particular funds or products. Just ask. If you get a precise response, then the answer will satisfy many of the next questions.

Ask the broker about trading commissions.

It might be surprising but lower commissions are not always the better.

Take care of it and examine all the information you can get.

The price per trade may explain the level of customer service. If you don’t want to trade so often it shouldn’t be the subject of your consideration. In such a case it isn’t the primary if you need 30 seconds or 3 minutes to execute your trade, so the difference in commissions isn’t important too much. Will it be $5 or $25 per trade isn’t important if you don’t plan to trade very often, for example, 15-20 trades per year. But if you plan to trade on a daily base it is important.

Training and education

Also, you would like to know what kinds of training and education do they provide.

Traders and investors, both advanced and novice need constant training and education to stay up to date with the laws and practices in the trade. This includes mentorship and copy trading. Mentorship is extremely important. The legal field is changing and you would need a good mentorship to follow the best practices in order to keep mistakes minimal. On the other hand, copy trading is good for novice traders and investors but leading traders may make mistakes too. At the beginning level, they are good. After you master the trading, you should build your own strategy and approach to the trade. That will depend on your personal goals, risk tolerance, and character.

Also, important information is about other fees.

Ask the broker about them. That is information about costs of account-maintenance and inactivity fees. So, it is good to make a list of services and transactions you might need before you start the conversation with the broker. Ask them how much all of them will be a charge.

Ask a broker about the minimum initial deposit

Minimum initial deposit is something you should know before you open the trading account. We assume you know how much you can invest but does it meet the broker’s regulation? Some brokers have account minimum and you have to know is it adequate for you. This minimum has to matches your budget.

Withdrawals

You need to know how much you can withdraw and how much time it will take. On some websites, you will find wonderful information about it but once when you talk with a live person you might find there are so many differences for almost every case. For example, on the website brokerage can write the withdrawals take a few days. That is true but sometimes it isn’t. Very often it depends on how big withdrawal is or in which circumstances you want to withdraw. Ask for every single detail about it.

Customer support

This is a huge question. Ask a broker’s about customer support and services before you sign up. Is it easy to find what you want on their website or you will need to spend the whole day and click through 100 pages? Can you access to their customer support fast? Does your broker have live chat? Is there any possibility to talk face-to-face?

Banking services

Maybe this isn’t a big deal but still, you have to know all about payment methods.

The best choice is a brokerage account that can serve your banking need. The brokers now offer Visa or Master cards, direct deposit, ATM cards, etc.

Ask a broker about investment assets selection

All brokerages offer stocks traded on the major exchanges. But if you’re interested in options, bonds, currencies, cryptos ask if certain brokerages offer them. They’re not available in all brokerage.

A good broker will set realistic expectations in front of you. They will provide some valid information from their experience. They will be based on the current market and on details about your goals.

Beating the market is hard but at the same time exciting. Since it is hard for the majority, you need to add some weights to your portfolio. Without a broker, it is even harder. Statistics show that only 5% of market participants are successful. It is smart to use the best brokerage to be one of them.

Traders-Paradise recommends you to ask these questions as far as possible. Your broker has to truly serve you well. So, they should have no problem to give you honest answers.

To get started on your broker research, use our Walls

Traders-Paradise Team wishes you successful trading and investing.

24th June 2019
Slack Technologies Inc rose 48% on Thursday after its Wall Street debut

2 min read

This start-up company started in a direct listing rather than an initial public offering.

The company decided to appear on a direct listing on the stock market, refusing the use of conventional advisers to manage the price of new stocks.

That initiated the chance of wild swings in the price. The traders always try to estimate where the shares force settle.

This increase in the share price placed the value of the company at $25bn.

In an interview on CNBC, Slack chief executive officer Stewart Butterfield said:

“The big thing for us was in the traditional IPO, it’s the company that’s offering shares, you might raise, you know, a billion dollars or something like that. When you raise a billion dollars, you dilute existing shareholders, by issuing new shares. So, we are not doing that. We’re just opening it up for trading.”

This approach takes some risk

We must say that listing shares straight brings some risks. For example, Slack chose not to engage underwriters to hold shares that a company is incapable to sell through its IPO to guarantee a triumphant debut.

Shares of Slack began trading above the $26 reference price. The price was settled by the NYSE. As of 1:23 p.m. ET, the shares were higher by 60.15% and jumped to $41.62. Still, the stock reversed to close the session with up $12.62, or 48.54% to $38.62 a share.

Slack is not the first company that chose this method. It is the second big tech firm to go the shortest path. Spotify used this way to appear to the market last year.

Slack is the unicorn

Slack is one of the unicorns that surpassed market expectations on their first day of trading. Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND), Chewy (NYSE: CHWY), CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD), Fiverr (NYSE: FVRR), Pinterest (NYSE: PINS), and software company Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) also went public in past several weeks and had solid debuts.

Following the example of many tech companies, Slack debuted with a dual-class structure. Class B shares holding 10 votes per share to consolidate voting power among its top shareholders. According to Slack’s prospectus, Accel is the largest shareholder at 24%. The other is Andreessen Horowitz with a 13.3% stake and Social Capital at 10.2%. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield holds an 8.6% stake and SoftBank holds 7.3%.

Slack has never made a profit.

Although revenue rose 80% to $400m in 2018, losses were $144m.

Slack announced a net loss of $138.9 million on the income of $400.55 million for the last year. From the beginning of this year, Slack told it had over 10 million daily active users and that number of paid clients increase 49% year over year. Slack also has large growth from its highest-paying customers. Their customers pay over $100,000. The number of customers in that class increased 93% last year in comparison with fiscal 2018, according to the prospectus.

Slack’s profile

Slack Technologies Inc is a business technology company. Its offer is Slack app that supports people, devices, and data to cooperate and run the businesses.

Slack is useful to overcome communication and coordination works in order to manage the company’s activity. It provides to diversified industries: Engineering, IT, Customer Support, Project Management, Sales, Marketing and Human Resources.

Slack started as an in-house tool for Butterfield’s company Tiny Speck through the development of Glitch, an expired online game.

risk disclosure

21st June 2019
Forex market today: Mario Draghi has guts

4 min read

EU Forex market

Mario Draghi, the ECB President, declared that the asset purchase program still has significant capacity. Draghi is well-known as a man who talks down the euro even when Interest rates could drop more. The euro is dropping a 1/3 of 1% against the dollar which is around 50 pips. The stock markets are moving healthily into the green.

On the 4-hour chart from Wednesday, 19/6/2019, we can see a break of the 61.8 fib level. This may submit the downtrend continues but after this a downturn, it wouldn’t be surprising that an early reversal correction may hit the 78.6 fibs, around 1.1150.

Symptoms of trend exhaustion could be attractive.

The bond yield is falling, and the German 10-year running record is low. This trend is continuing from early October last year.

Mario Draghi said that the Eurozone economy would need new expansionary actions if its future growth and inflation forecasts turned out to be just as weak. The ECB is ready to reduce interest rates and resume asset purchases.

UK market

The British pound is still suffering due to the possibility of “hard” Brexit. The attitude of financial markets will depend on upcoming economic events. Today, the Bank of England will decide on the interest rate.

US Forex market

The US dollar dropped lightly against the basket of major currencies. It is expected the regulator to hold the interest rate at the current level of 2.25-2.5%. Yet, it is likely that in July the Fed will decrease the interest rate due to the situation in the global economy which shows all signs of weakness. The US dollar index was closed in the negative zone (-0.25) on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump accused the ECB, and the Chinese government, for the effort to reduce their national currencies to obtain a rival advantage over the US.

Many people are asking themselves is Forex market a scam. We provide you the answer from a professional trader.

The Forex market isn’t a scam it is an important part of our lives

by Hans Stam

Many people are asking if Forex is a scam, so it might be a good thing to take a look at this Question.

Currency Trading in itself is not a scam, however, that answer really is too short.

There are some things you really should know.

Forex trading is a way to trade currencies against each other and that in itself is Legit.

This is just a matter of Trading Currency value against each other.

Then there are Brokers who offer you the Platforms to actually Trade.

All I really like to say about that in public is that there really is a reason the FCA regulations are in place.

Once you have opened and funded an account, you are ready to go

Then why?

… do people think it is a scam.

Many, many Traders lose a lot of money and I do know why.

Most of the time you will get answers like, you really need to work hard, or you have to study until you drop.

But really, where are their credentials?!

And once they are starting to make some money, most blow it by becoming too confident and greedy.

You do not have to be one of them.

As you may have read in the previous post about mentorship, you can skip all the nonsense and go right for the profit.

Unfortunately not many are actually prepared to do what needs to be done and rather stay ignorant and keep on trying to let others think for them.

It’s a waste of your time and money!

Action!

There is an incredible amount of information about Trading Forex, but it all starts with you taking action.

What do you want to do, and how would that influence your life?

Will you set up a plan of action? Who will you contact, and what are you prepared to do to reach your goals?

In previous articles, there are already a lot of tips on how to start, and it would take you less than a day to read and understand it.

It will change your life if you take yourself seriously and take action.

I advise you to look for the best info you can gather and make a decision, is this for you or not?

If it’s not, then don’t do anything, but if it is, start making contact and go from there.

Help!

There are good people here willing to help you, so why not take advantage of the opportunity presented to you?

You can always decide later if this is a golden opportunity for you or that you have lost faith in the jungle of opinions.

Right now, all the articles you can read here are free, all it takes is a bit of your focus and time to help yourself.

Will you become one of the few percents of people who have read this information, and actually took the help that’s here for you?

Most of you don’t so, let this be a very personal question to you.

Are you the one?

Are you the one of the very few that is ready to go for it?

Are you ready to spend the next 20 years creating something amazing?

Time will pass no matter if you do or don’t. So it really is a matter of you choosing today what you will be tomorrow.

If Forex is not for you, are you already satisfied with the research you have done to base your opinion on?

Will you join the crowd that thinks Forex is a Scam or will you start your plan to change?

I do realize this will take you out of your comfort zone, and not many have the courage to do that, but if you want to change, that’s exactly what you will need to do.

Educate yourself, read the articles, take action.

The bottom line

The forex market is the biggest, most liquid global market with an average daily trading volume exceeding $5 trillion. All the world’s stock markets together can’t even come close to this. The tremendous number of $5 trillion covers the complete global foreign exchange market. But daily trading volume from retail traders makes up between 5-6% of overall volume, or between $300-400 billion. So, you see, there are so many spaces for new traders.

Bookmark Traders Paradise for new articles, contact whoever can help you, start today or put it back on the shelf to forget about it. And don’t forget to follow the Educational series by Hans Stam

To your success!

20th June 2019