Money Q&A Articles by Jeremy Biberdorf

Investing 101 – Understanding How to Invest in Stocks

by Jeremy

Should You Wait for a Stock Market Correction Before Investing?

Stocks and bonds offer a way for anyone to invest their money. They are difficult to analyze but the concepts are easy to understand. Do you know how to invest in stocks? Investing in stocks isn’t as hard as you think it is. Here’s what you need to know about going long in stocks. For those who might not already know, we will take a minute to discuss these two options. A stock is an equity in a company. If the company gains in value, your piece of ownership increases in value and you earn money. Conversely, if the company lowers in value, you then lose money. A bond is a debt that a company borrows. Essentially, if you buy a … Read more

How to Pick and Paying Off a Car Loan – What You Need to Know

by Jeremy

Most Americans have a car or want a car. The question is, “How will you be paying?”. Paying off a car loan should not be a difficult task. It starts with the type of car loan you choose when buying a car.

Not everyone can afford to buy a car with cash. The rest of us have to get financing, either through a financial entity like a bank or through the dealership we buy the car from.

Picking a Car Loan

Either of these options can be good for the buyer, but as is always the case with debt of any kind, it’s important to be able to pay it back as fast as possible. The folks at J.D. Byrider might give you an auto loan with excellent terms, but this is not true of every car dealer.

This is where the interest and fees come into play. Together, these two factors are the Annual Percentage Rate, or APR. That’s the percentage of your remaining loan balance that you’ll pay each year in addition to your premium payments.

Paying Off a Car Loan

Some people think that when considering a loan, the monthly payment is the only number worth considering (i.e. “If I can afford $450 per month, I can afford this loan.”) However, the interest rate is more important, because it indicates exactly how much the loan costs. It’s the amount of money over and above the basic loan amount which you also have to pay back.

The Brexit Effect on the Pound – How Traders Can Take Advantage

by Jeremy

In the aftermath of the UK’s historic referendum on independence from the EU, major impacts were felt across the financial markets.

Since the historic vote, the value of the British Pound opposed to the U.S. Dollar has dropped to $1.30, its lowest rate since 1985. Meanwhile, in continental Europe, share prices of Deutsche Bank and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena slumped, the latter by 80%. Global stock markets saw many UK assets plummeting, and yields on German and other government bonds fell below zero, as investors rushed to trade their bank shares for sovereign debt.

What becomes of the status of the City of London, currently the banking capital of Europe, remains to be seen, with Frankfurt, Paris, and Dublin all vying to assume the mantle. An increasing number of online traders are now turning to foreign exchange brokers, in order to capitalize on this uncertainty and the market volatility it creates, trading key currency pairs such as the GBP/USD and GBP/EUR.

The EU: a Love-Hate Relationship

The European Union remains critically important to the British economy. Almost half of all British exports are to European countries, representing 13% of overall UK GDP and providing work for an estimated 2.3 million people. When the United Kingdom leaves the EU, it is expected it will arrange a final trade agreement with the bloc within two years, to avoid heavy EU import tariffs.

Why You Should Use Your Credit Card

by Jeremy

Still not sure on how to use your credit card? When is it too much and when is it completely okay? It’s completely fine if you use your credit card for anything under the sun (or under the roofs of your precious mall). As long as you’re paying your monthly debt on time, there’s no way that you should be in trouble.

Still not convinced? The following are the reasons why you should definitely use your credit card, and don’t let it rot in your wallet.

Why You Should and How to Use Your Credit Card

Quick and easy

You no longer have to shell out cash whenever you’re in the mall. You no longer have to get in line just so you can withdraw money from the ATM. Just a single swipe and your transactions are good to go. There are many great options for small businesses too like a portable credit card swipe machine to complete transactions. Many small businesses may even be eligible to receive a free credit card terminal.

Computerized billing

Complete hassle free transactions guaranteed! Your utility bill, cell phone bill, and anything else you pay monthly can be paid automatically through the help of your credit card. It’s a load off your mind, no need to stress out because you don’t have to remember countless due dates, or try to think back if you paid a certain bill or not.

Then you’ll just have one date to remember—the due date for your credit card! Your credit card keeps you updated with your monthly bills and transactions, so you never have to worry ever again.

The Surprises You Discover When You Make a Budget

by Jeremy

Most of us, at one point or other, start a budget. Some of us are natural budgeters. It just makes sense on some level to these people. But, there are often many surprises you find when you make a personal budget.

Carefully managing every dollar is wise. So, why wouldn’t you do it? Well, for other people this isn’t so easy. Just because budgeting is sensible doesn’t mean they do it regularly or rigorously.

Along with working out three times a week, eating many helpings of vegetables a day, and performing preventative maintenance on the water heater, just because something is smart to do doesn’t mean we always get it done.

The thing is, once you carefully make a personal budget and follow a budget for at least one month, you start to learn some surprising things about yourself and your spending habits. The image you have of your finances in your head likely does not correlate to reality in any realistic way. In some cases, we learn that things are better than we thought (hooray!), but in most cases, we learn that our money is being wasted more than we wanted to think.

This is one of the main reasons people don’t budget in the first place. There is a sense of dread that, once personal finances are examined, so many problems will reveal themselves that it will take too long to fix them, with too much tough work expended along the way.

It’s the same impulse that keeps us away from the dentist office, even though we haven’t been in a couple of years or more. We know that going will repair the damage, but the process is so uncomfortable that we put it off, sometimes indefinitely.

However, you manage to screw up the courage to perform your first budget, make it happen. Take a careful look at every dollar you spend for a month, and track exactly where it goes relative to your budgeting goals. Many people discover things that surprise them. Here are just a couple of examples.

How to Choose Your Online Trading Platform

by Jeremy

If you decide to invest in the FOREX market to buy and sell currencies, you have no other choice than to do it through a online trading platform. One of the first things you need to do when you decide to become a trader is to choose the best online trading platform.

What should you be mindful of when choosing a trading platform?

There are a lot of different factors you need to check before making your decision, but here are the most important ones:

Dealing Desk/No-Dealing Desk broker. Some might argue about the importance of knowing the difference between these two kinds of brokers and understanding if your broker plays the role of market maker. Let’s not spend too much time on this one: both are making money on the Spread – the difference between the ask and the bid price.
Fixed/Variable Spread. Competitive spreads are generally fixed, but vary by types of currencies (majors, minors, exotic currency pairs). You can also find the spread, depending on the characteristics of your own account type.
Downloadable/Non-Downloadable trading platforms. The format is important depending on how often and from where you trade. Web-based platforms can be accessed from anywhere, while downloadable platforms are stored on a specific device.
Programming languages. Different trading platforms are classified in different types according to the programming languages they use such as Metaquotes, ActFX, Lua etc. One of the most well=known FOREX trading platform is MetaTrader provided by MetaQuotes Inc.