In today’s crazy interest rate world, investors are searching high and low for more interest income. One place to find it is in high-income bond mutual funds called HIGH YIELD bond funds. Let’s look at June of 2009. If you required a real high degree of safety, you could get a bit over 2% a year if you tied your money up for 5 years in a bank CD. If you were willing to accept a moderate level of risk, many bond funds were yielding (paying) 5% or 6%. High yield bond funds were also available from large mutual fund companies that offered yields of 10% and more.
How can a bond fund pay interest rate yields of 10% when interest rates are near historical lows? These high yield bond funds invest in lower-quality bonds, sometimes referred to as “junk”. Hence, the term often used to describe these mutual funds is JUNK BOND FUNDS. At the one extreme you have high quality “investment grade” bonds and bond funds. These are issued by entities with very high credit ratings, and the risk of default to investors is low. (more…)
If you’re looking for the best way to begin saving for your retirement, contributing a percentage of your income into a Roth IRA account is a popular and fruitful choice among many citizens. Below you will find some helpful information regarding the Roth IRA rules.
It’s possible to watch your earnings grow tax-free with a Roth IRA account, as the money you put into this individual retirement account is non-deductible. (more…)
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5 of the Constitution of the United States of America grants Congress the “power to coin money” and Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1 specifies that “No state shall… coin money: emit Bills of Credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a Tender in Payment of Debt.”
The Constitution clearly states that money is to be coined and that only gold and silver coin (I.E. real money) is a tender in payment of debt. Note that Congress was granted the power only to coin money, not to print it. They were granted the power to borrow money, not to loan it. (more…)
Don’t let anyone ever tell you the futures game is easy. I’ve been speculating in futures for 18 years, and it took me most of that time before I had any degree of success. I attribute successful futures trading to following certain steps. My guess is that these steps will work for you, too.
Step 1: Have a Plan
I’ve never seen someone build a house without detailed drawings, and I bet you haven’t either. To build a house, you need a plan. The same holds true for speculating in the futures market. Your opponent, the market, has a plan – to take all your money – so you need one, too. (more…)
David interviews Mark McRae about why he does other things besides simply the business of trading.
Mark: I remember there was a friend of mine who wanted to get into trading, and he wanted to know if it was hard or difficult, and I said to him, “I’m actually psychic. I’ll prove it to you, I’ll show you how easy this market is.” It was the first Friday of the month, and it was 8:30, New York time, and I put him down on the market and said, “In thirty seconds, this market is going to shoot up — or down, but it is definitely going to go one way”, and he said “I don’t believe you.” (more…)
