Below is the bi-monthly financial review covering topics from credit to investing- Many different writers with many opinions. Read. Learn. Succeed.Tracy Coenen presents Dateline NBC investigates identity theft posted at FRAUDfiles.Jimmy Atkinson presents How Many Times Has Your Personal Data Been Stolen This Year? posted at Ask the Advisor.Jason Elder presents Offshore Options For Bankrupts And Those With Poor Credit posted at A Bankruptcy Lawyer's Blog, saying, "This is a great opti... Read Full Story

Before you start or continue on your way to your financial future, keep one thing in mind- investing is for the long term. The ups and downs of the market are considerably less risky than not investing at all and sitting on your cash, letting inflation dwindle away at your "nest egg." Simply doing nothing about your retirement now is in many ways more dangerous- whether you're planning for a child's college education, saving for a first home, or starting to save for retireme... Read Full Story

Corporate coverage is essentially a company’s ability to meet the obligations of its preferred stock and bonds. This will greatly influence the company’s ability to obtain credit in the future. So when the coverage ratio is more attractive, loan terms are going to be more attractive, bond ratings will be higher, and bond rates will tend to be lower. An important coverage measurement is bond interest coverage which is the ratio of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to the annual interes... Read Full Story

This just in from the department of shameless self promotion. There are a few sites out in the wonderful world of websites and blogs that haven't quite made it to the front page of the Daily Journal. They may have even been so bold as to contacting the front desk reporter pleading for just a wee bit of exposure. But no luck. Well here's their lucky day.There are a few sites out there that are incredibly interesting in terms of financial know how. Namely, The Curious Investor has a few... Read Full Story

An option premium is the amount that a holder of an option contract pays for the right to buy or sell a number of shares of a security at the strike price up until a predefined date. The premium can fluctuate in value much like a typical stock price. Premium prices also share in the same volatility that a stock price does and in many ways will react to the same information flowing in the market such as fundamental variables, rumors, etc. For example, if a call option providing the right to pu... Read Full Story

International investing is and should be considered an integral part of any asset allocation strategy. With that said, all investors, regardless of asset allocation model (from aggressive to conservative) must at a minimum consider investing internationally. Every professional money manager or financial advisor is an advocate of investing internationally to some degree. In my personal experience, investing internationally has offered another method of diversification and can be very easily do... Read Full Story

The concept of the books is raising traders like turtles are raised in Singapore. If that sounds a bit "off-the-rocker" as well as interesting, keep reading. Richard Dennis apparently said this to his long-time friend William Eckhardt nearly 25 years ago when what was started as a bet turned out to be a long-time experiment that hasn't really been talked about in its entirety.The book, Way of the Turtle reviews what it takes to be an incredibly successful trader that some call ... Read Full Story

Selling short against the box is a very tempting yet very tricking, and involving investing method. Often times, only the most experienced investors will be successful with a short sale. This technique is where an investor sells a security before they own it. Here's how it works: an investor borrows shares from their broker then immediately sells the stock. The investor is hoping that everyone will catch on to what seems to be a flaw in the market for that stock, then sells the stock whic... Read Full Story

A call option gives the holder of the option the right to purchase a defined number of shares of the underlying stock/security at a fixed price. This type of option is labeled as "call" because a holder of a call option can call the stock from the writer. At this point the writer of the option is legally bound to selling the stock to the holder at the pre-defined price termed the strike price. When a holder of an option uses his/her right granted by the option contract, it is termed... Read Full Story

Deciding when to sell individual stocksIf you've done the research that it takes to weed out the good stocks from the out-performers, then you know that simply a drop in price is not a sufficient reason to sell. A short term drop in price does not reflect a downward trend. Investments such as stocks should be considered long-term investments, so drops in prices or mediocre performance over several months is not a reason to worry. If you've followed what most Wall Street advocates reco... Read Full Story