The Three Hidden Traps of Getting a Debt Reduction Loan (and How You Can Avoid Them)

By Sean Payne

If you have a lot of debt, you've probably gotten several phone calls from telemarketers who offer to give you a debt reduction loan. On the surface, these loans sound great. You'd have to be crazy to not want to turn lots of small debts into one loan with a low interest rate, right?

Any wise man will tell you that you can't get something for nothing. This is absolutely true when it comes to debt consolidation loans. Although they look good, these loans can be full of traps to snare the unsuspecting person, getting you in more trouble than you already were in. Here are the worst of the traps of getting a debt reduction loan:

Trap #1: You're putting a band-aid on the symptom, not solving the problem.

The problem with debt reduction loans is that they treat the symptom of being in debt, rather than curing the problem of spending more money than you have. What you end up with after getting one of these loans is a large loan that you're making payments on, as well as new debts that will pop up when you inevitably spend more money than you have.

Statistics will tell you that people who use these loans to pay off their debts will likely end up with the same level of debt, and probably more, in two years or less. This is on top of the consolidation loan that they're making payments on.

Trap #2: Transforming unsecured debts into secured debts.

Credit card debt is commonly known as "unsecured debt". What this means is that the loan is not "secured", or backed up by collateral (i.e. your home). Most debt reduction loans are "secured debt", meaning debt that is backed up by collateral. Most often, this means the house that you live in.

The problem with this is that if you fail to pay off your debt reduction loan, the creditor can now foreclose on your home. With the original debt, the only recourse the creditor had was to sue you in court. They couldn't come after your home.

What taking out a secured loan does, in effect, is to put your home at risk of being foreclosed on. Not the brightest thing you've ever done, is it?

Trap #3: Trading lower interest rates for higher interest rates.

Even if you opt for an unsecured loan instead of a "high risk" secured loan, you're still going to get smacked with higher interest rates on your loan. The reason for this is that your high load of debt, along with the fact that you're having difficulties keeping up with your debt payments, makes you a credit risk. Anyone who may be willing to grant you a loan will only do it at a higher interest rate in order to make up for their additional risk.

They may change the loan in different ways, including a longer loan term, in order to offer you lower monthly payments than you're making right now. However, this means that you will still pay more in the long run for your debts. As somebody who is already in debt, you probably can't afford to do this.

So, what's the best way to steer clear of these traps?

You can steer clear of all of these traps by deciding to manage your own debt. Unless you're already filing bankruptcy, you still have the capability of getting out of debt without resorting to the help of some new lender or a so-called credit counselor. You'll have to make some drastic changes to your lifestyle, but after you change your lifestyle, you'll be well on your way to changing the behaviors that got you into debt in the first place. - 23204

About the Author:

Sean Payne has been studying personal finance and how to pay off debt for over 10 years. To get more information about how to pay off debt without a debt reduction loan, check out Sean's free mini-course on paying off debt fast.

How Understanding Elliot Wave Analysis Can Enhance Your Stock Trading Strategy And Double Your Returns

By James P Kupe

Something all investors should consider before to making an investment decision is this: What is the current trend direction of the market right now? A working knowledge of Elliott Wave analysis can help to answer this question. By understanding the waves, we can often confidently know if the market is most likely to go up, down or sideways.

A good reason to take the time to understand Elliott Wave Theory is that it can help you to identify whether the market is trending, or is it in a reaction to the current trend. Understanding these patterns of market behavour can help you to accurately forecast where the market is likely to go next, and position yourself accordingly.

There are three major elements to Elliott Wave Theory

Pattern - Is the trend currently up or down? Is it in an impulse move or a correction?

Price - When the market has completed an impulse move, how far will it correct?

Time - How long will the current trend continue?

A bull market or up trend is signaled by a series of higher highs and higher lows, while a bear market or trend has a series lower highs and lower lows. You can see these wave patterns in the market over all time periods - daily, weekly, monthly, and if you are a short term trader, even on intra day charts.

When a market has a correction, the major support and resistance ratios are at .382, 50% and .618 and 100% of the previous range in both time and price. In other words, if a bull market were trending upwards strongly, you would expect a normal healthy correction to retrace on average 50% of the previous leg up in both time and price.

The shallower the retracement before the trend resumes, the stronger the trend is deemed to be. As an example, let's say a stock rallies $5.00 in 60 days. You would assume a 'normal' correction to be around $2.50 and take 30 days. If the market retraced only .382 in price ($1.91) and time (23 days), and then gave a signal that it was starting to resume the rally, it would put the Stock in a very strong (bullish) position.

The major importance of understanding the Elliott Wave pattern for traders in the markets you watch is to determine the direction of the dominant trend. We always want to trade with the main trend, and if possible, enter at the end of corrections to the main trend so we can maximize our profit from the next move. But here's the problem - how do you know the correction is ending and the major trend is resuming?

There are any number of 'entry signals' traders use to enter trends - watching for higher highs and lows on our Swing Charts, entering on a Moving Average crossover, trading trend line breaks or new highs (or lows), etc. Your critical goal as a trader is to find an entry trigger you are comfortable with, something that has reliably identified the resumption of fast moving trends, and then take every entry signal that system gives you. Once you have found your signal and entered a trade, implement a trailing stop loss system that takes you out of your trades when each trend comes to an end.

When you do that, you'll find your trading becomes much less stressful, you'll have less losing trades, and your account balance will have every chance to grow consistently. - 23204

About the Author:

For a Free the Stocks you trade trading strategy Video that reveals a trade entry signal that's right up to 77.4% of the time, and will sa simple way you a simple way to predict breakouts in the the Stocks you trade days before they actually occur, visit http://www.stocktradingexperts.com

Managed Money is the Preferred Investment Method By BlackHorse Management

By Robert Miller

September 4, 2009, Los Angeles CA " Investors have so many options when it comes to investing their portfolios and growing them. From the stock exchange to the commodities market, investors could choose from literally millions of investments. Choice isn't the issue at hand.

The real problem is insight. Investors don't know where they need to put their money and when. They have plenty of choices but no real guidance. So, investors are learning that they don't have to invest their portfolios themselves. Nor do they have to pay fees to an advisor who will make recommendations. Instead, they can rely on managed accounts to help.

"It's a perfect situation for investors," says BlackHorse Management. "Investors need someone who knows the market to trade on their behalf. They need someone who understands the market and has the time and expertise to apply to it. And that's what BlackHorse does".

BlackHorse manages investors' money within the forex market. They use their experience in foreign currency to grow their clients' investments.

It's a surprisingly simple process: Investors who have accounts with specific international banks sign over a limited power of attorney and BlackHorse will trade on their behalf and deposit the returns back into the client's account.

The forex market is not as familiar to most people. It runs 24 hours a day. And, it is an enormous market, far bigger than the stock market which is more familiar to most people. In fact, trillions of dollars change hands among forex investors each day as they buy and sell currency and earn a profit off of the increase in value of one currency over another.

BlackHorse follows very specific currencies in the foreign exchange market, specializing in these currencies and applying a secret algorithm to their trades. This algorithm has been tweaked and modified over the years to maximize success while minimizing risk. The result has been dramatic with substantial historical earnings.

Of course, it's not just an algorithm that they are relying on. Expert traders do their part as well to provide insight and intuition while the algorithm analyzes and alerts them. These experts have accumulated decades of experience and bring it to bear in paying attention the market and trading with expertise. - 23204

About the Author:

For media inquiries and general questions, direct correspondence to the BlackHorse Management Group at info@blackhorsefund.com.

Determining Where To Invest

By Owen Jones

There are several different types of investment vehicles out there, and there are many factors, which you should use to decide where you should invest your funds.

Naturally, deciding where you will place your money begins with checking out the different kinds of investment available, determining your risk tolerance, and determining your investment style and your financial aims.

If you were going to purchase a new car, for example, you would do quite a bit of research before making a final decision and a purchase. You would not consider buying a car that you had not fully looked over and taken for a test drive. Investing your money works in very much the same manner.

You would, of course, learn as much about the prospective investment as possible, and you would want to see how previous investors have done as well. It's just common sense, isn't it?

Does learning about the stock market and investments take lots of time? Yes, but it is definitely time well spent. There are numerous books and websites on the subject, and you can even take college level courses on the subject, which is what stock brokers do. With access to the Internet, you can actually play the stock market with fake money in order to get a feel for how it works.

You can make pretend investments in a pretend portfolio, and see how they do. Do a search with any search engine for 'Stock Market Games' or 'Stock Market Simulations', although almost every online stock broker provides these services. This is a great way to commence learning about investing on the stock market.

Other sorts of investments outside of the stock market do not always have simulators, so you will have to learn about those types of investments by reading about them.

As a potential investor, you must read every you can possibly get your hands on about investing, but start at the very beginning of investment books and websites to start with, or, you will find that you quickly get confused.

Finally, speak with a financial planner. Tell him your goals and ask them for their suggestions. This is what they do! A good financial adviser can easily help you determine where to invest your funds, and help you set up a plan to reach all of your financial goals. Many adviser will even teach you about investing along the way, so make sure you pay attention to what they are telling you! - 23204

About the Author:

If you want to learn more about where to make your investments, just visit our website entitled Online Stock Investment

What is Next For The UK Property Market

By Martin Davis

In recent months the housing market in the UK has seen a substantial decline in price. In fact, in January 2009 the value of properties fell by a further 1.3% this taking the total decline to 16.6%.

As you will soon discover when you search online, there is much being written about the economic crisis that we are all currently facing. It is thought that the housing market in the UK will drop even further and sales of properties are not likely to increase for some time yet.

It has been predicted, by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) that there will be a further 10% decrease in the number of houses sold, this year. The housing market is currently in the worst position seen in many, many years.

When it comes to the UK property market, only those sellers who are prepared to accept that their home is worth far less than it was last year are going to benefit. As mentioned; although house values are going to fall another 10% in the coming year. The RICS predicts that sales of homes will begin to pick up once more in 2011.

Although the market is in this weakened state, there are many people who are still willing to buy. For those who are looking to invest in property this may be the ideal time to do so. With house prices still falling and so many people being faced with homes being repossessed, deals are certainly available.

Due to the current economic climate, house repossession is presently at an all time high. People are struggling to meet their repayments and finding themselves in very difficult situations. It has been predicted that a further 34,000 homes will be repossessed, within the UK, this year.

listed below are some of the main reasons why the UK property market has fallen dramatically over the last year.

(1) There are many people out there that are worried about losing their jobs and making repayments. This is making a lot of mortgage companies wary so they end up holding back on lending.

(2) In order to obtain a mortgage, finance companies require the buyer to provide a much larger deposit. So for first time buyers, being able to get a mortgage to buy their first home has virtually become impossible.

(3) People are expecting house prices to fall further, they are unwilling to buy.

(4) Although cuts in the banks base rates have helped to reduce how much peoples mortgages cost, this wont actually help to stop the prices of houses falling further. Even with these cuts, the average cost of a mortgage has not altered that much because 2 or 3 years ago people were remortgaging due to great deals being offered. What many of us do not realise is that over time the banks have been increasing their profit margins.

The property industry is not at its healthiest at the moment, many construction workers are becoming out of work and many estate agents are closing by the day. As stated above, it is a very difficult time for this industry. - 23204

About the Author:

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