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Are you aware of the Child Trust Fund and its benefits? a small amount appear to know about the fact that all new babies get a free £250 voucher from the government to place in a Child Trust Fund. The child’s voucher can be invested in any one of three types of CTF account, Stakeholder - a shares-based account thatswaps into cash, a savings account or a shares account. It is an excellent way to prepare for the future requirements of a youngster

Scottish Friendly is an approved provider of the Child Trust Fund The State is keen for people to have access to Stakeholder accounts and this is the kind of account that we are offering. This means that:

Investments go into Scottish Friendly’s Managed Growth Fund, which seeks to provide strong growth potential

An investment is made in part in shares to get the benefit of potentially higher returns over 18 years,compared to a cash deposit account (although the value of shares can
fall as well as increase whereas capital would be protected in a deposit account)

It is available with a low ‘Stakeholder’ funds charge of just 1.5 percent yearly

When reaching 18 the child will get a lump sum, totally free of Capital Gains and Income Tax under prevailing legislation

It’s affordable - extra payments can be put in the account from as little as £10

A notable attraction of the Child Trust Fund is that anyone - parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends - can add to the Fund to a maximum of £1,200 per year to help augment the child’s Fund (once added, this money is not allowed to be withdrawn).

All this means our Stakeholder account offers a good balance between potentially high returns and a reduced level of risk. There’s also the additional assurance that our account is in accordance with with the Government’s stakeholder criteria. Nonetheless this doesn’t mean that returns are assured or that Stakeholder accounts are suitable for everyone. Remember that the value of shares in the Managed Growth Fund (where your Child Trust Fund money is invested) can fall as well as go up and would not be guaranteed.

Only children born on or after 1st September 2002 are eligible to start up a Child Trust Fund. If you have older children born before the above-mentioned date who are not qualified you could contemplate saving for them with a Child Bond - it’s a tax-free savings plan intended for long-term growth.

The fact is that investing for a child.your children is a sensible means of preparing for tomorrow.

We all know when there is a panic on the financial market, everything that can be seen as an investment will rise in price. Besides traditional commodities such as gold and antiques, you can also consider some products of the modern art as in investment for your money. Let’s consider paintings. A properly chosen painting can essentially increase the wealth of an owner in just a few years. And it is not hard to choose such a piece of art, as it might seem at first.

There a lot of questions and problems you will need to solve before making a decision. Why is there a great difference in price for different paintings? How to buy artwork that will eventually rise in price? How not to overpay for it? What factors influence the cost of a painting? These and other questions are what you will have to answer if you want to change the interior of your house with a stylish modern painting and make a wise investment for your hard earned money.

The difference in price of artworks can be astonishing. For two almost identical paintings (the canvas, oil) in different places you will be asked to pay from $500 to $5000. How do you make the right choice in a situation like that? Often buyers simply don’t recognize the factors that price consist of. In the best-case scenario when you know an artist personally and you are buying a painting directly from him or her - the price practically equals the expenses of the painting. But this case is not very typical.

If you buy a painting from an art gallery, what are the factors that influence the price? First of all - rent of the gallery space. The majority of galleries are located in places where low rent is usually not the case. Salary of employees of a gallery who carry out the exhibitions. Cost of advertising such as publications in press. Expenses for posters, catalogues, invitations to opening of exhibitions, etc. Financing different “noncommercial” art projects, and many other things. You will overpay at least twice as much than if you buy a painting from a gallery. But if you want to invest your money smart, buying from an exhibition or through an art gallery makes sense. They will offer you the works of art that have already gone through preliminary selection and tough competition. You know for sure it is a good investment.

If you are buying a painting directly from an artist, all you can do is basically rely on your own taste and on some attributes of professionalism and success that the artist portrays/of the artist. What kind of attributes are they? While you consider buying a painting from an artist, it is relevant to take an interest in his or her art education. Certainly there are some talented self-educated artists, but they are very rare.

There are some questions you may want to ask your artist. Does he or she have any works in large museums? Is he or she a winner of any art competitions? Where was his or her recent exhibition? A list of exhibitions will tell you a lot about him or her. Ask him/her to show you a catalog of exhibitions, posters, booklets and other advertising material that he/she has. A good website is also a sign of professionalism. Certainly not all talented artists have their own websites but most of them do. And if you wish to get artwork, which in the near future will rise in price, you should choose among the artists who have already reached certain level of success. If an artist cooperates with large poster companies, it is a very good sign. For instance if a gallery offers you a painting for $2000, the artist will most likely give it to you for $1000.

If you have problems with going to galleries and attending the opening days you can do everything online. Search in Google or in any other catalogue under the category “art” and look at the personal websites of the artists. You most definitely will be able to see a lot of interesting things. This way of research has one disadvantage - good artwork may not look as interesting on the screen of your monitor as in real life. On the other hand, if you become interested in some paintings, even in digital format, the original will definitely make a much stronger impression on you.

Olga Nazarkina is a contemporary artist. Her website “Painting Olga” was designed to present her artwork. The website presents oil painting, graphics, etc. Browse an amazing online gallery at www.painting-olga.com

The Roth is kind of weird until you get used to it in terms of how much you can put in (contribute) each year depending on how much you earn (compensation). Because of this you really have two limits, one dealing with your compensation and the other dealing with your contribution. Let me explain.

The first contribution limit has to do with compensation, in other words you have to be making some money somewhere. As mentioned, you must have some form of compensation to qualify to make a contribution, but there is also an income limit that says whether or not you can put money in; make a contribution. If your adjusted gross income exceeds these limits, you are no longer eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA.

In 2004, the adjusted gross income limits were:

• If your tax filing status is “Married Filing Jointly” - $160,000

• If your tax filing status is “Married Filing Separately” (and you live with your spouse) - $100,000

• If your tax filing status is “Single”, “Head of Household” or “Married Filing Separately” (and you did not live with your spouse during the year) - $110,000

Now, here is a little known totally legal secret that is worth your time reading this article. When I taught investment at the University of South Carolina I gave 10% credit of the course grade for the simple act of opening a Roth IRA. I was amazed when a few students would not open one because their parents had told them it was illegal to if they did not have a job. I told them that they were going nowhere fast if they could not think creatively enough to just go mow a lawn somewhere for ten bucks and put it into the account. I made it clear to them that wealthy people become so by taking action nut just thinking about taking action!

The best application of this concept I ever learned was a real estate investor that wanted to open a Roth for his newborn son. The problem of proving that a newborn makes money in a job is a tough one even for my noodle but this fellow came up with a great idea. He took a photo of the baby and put it on the business card with the words; “Help my dad finance my education by buying a home from him…he is the best dad in the whole world!” Then he paid the baby, get this…modeling fees! He put those fees straight into the account and filed a return for the baby with the IRS. I love that story! Talk about creative that is the kind of person that will go far in business. This is also the only newborn I have heard of with a tax free stock portfolio from earnings off his own job!

The second Roth IRA contribution limit has to do with how much you can contribute to your account. Below is a table that outlines the contribution limits established for the next several years:

• 2004 - $3,000 ($3,500 if you are age 50 and above)

• 2005 - $4,000 ($4,500 if you are age 50 and above)

• 2006 - $4,000 ($5,000 if you are age 50 and above)

• 2007 - $4,000 ($5,000 if you are age 50 and above)

• 2008 - $5,000 ($6,000 if you are age 50 and above)

If you need more information about Roth IRAs, you should consult a tax professional such as a Certified Public. Accountant or Certified Financial Planner. You can also get more information directly if you take a look at IRS publication 590 - Individual Retirement Arrangements. Using a Roth is the very best trading account to use while investing in the stock market.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Scott Brown, Ph.D., a.k.a. “The Wallet Doctor”, is a successful futures trader, real estate investor, and stock investor. Dr. Brown holds a Ph.D. in finance from the University of South Carolina. His 1998 articles in Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities were prophetic in predicting an impending stock market crash. He has helped many people become profitable investors by teaching them to look out over many years to spot stocks that are low and primed for rise in the new bull market. His second article met with approval by Dr. Bob Shiller of Yale University. Dr. Shiller is the economist that Alan Greenspan most highly regards who coined the term “Irrational Exuberance.” In 1998 he shouted to the world to “get out” of the stock market but now he is shouting to everyone that it is time to “get in!” The Wallet Doctor is not only sought after for investment advice and coaching in stock investing but also in futures trading and real estate investing.

Visit Dr. Brown’s site at http://www.BonanzaBase.com or sign up for his investment tips at http://www.WalletDoctor.com

When trying to analyze whether a promotional ad for an investment newsletter or a market timing investment trading system is worthy of investigation, the following questions should be asked:

Does the strategy have a track record? Without this you are really allowing your emotions to be in play. All of us want to believe that if someone says something it must be true. Yet the sad fact is the truth is probably just the opposite. Most ads and promotions are put in print for self interests first, and all else second. One has to view anything on the web with a skeptical eye. The minimum that an investment strategy should give you is a previous track record. The longer the track record is the better. Something that has worked for a matter of months is usually not long enough in the trading world to be considered successful. Some promoters do not release their track records because they say that “past performance is not an indication of future results”. This is true but certainly no performance is not an indication of future results either. Some promoters do not release their track records because they say “we used to do a track record but subscribers got upset if the strategy lost money when they subscribed even though it made money over a yearly period.” That may also be true but it is also part of the game. Subscribers can not expect to make money from day one when trading a long term strategy. However, that should be self evident in the track record. And some promoters do not release their track records simply because they don’t have one or they have a bad one. It’s as simple as that no matter what they say.

Is the track record that they are promoting in real time or was it simulated in a computer based on past data? What does this really mean? Real time means that the trading signals that were used to produce the track record results were actually generated at that specific moment in time. In reality. Most track records on the investment web sites are not real time even when they say they are. Even if they did not use a computer and it was done by hand, if the data taken from the last five years but the web site is only a year old then it can’t be so. Why is this so important? Because trading is not trading if human emotions are removed. No greed, no complacency, no panic, no hysteria. Almost all computer-generated trading programs fail miserably when actually implemented because either the data was too short a time period or the human factor was ignored. That is assuming the human that input the data did it without human emotion. I once had an acquaintance who told me he had a system that returned 80% per month for the last 6 months. He said he implemented it 6 months in real time. I asked how much he had invested in this strategy. He said nothing because he was paper trading. I said that there is no such thing. He proceeded to tell me what paper trading was. I replied that I knew what he thought paper trading was but it is not trading because when you paper trade your emotions are not in play. Human greed and ego has a way of making you believe something to be real without looking objectively at the data. But once actual real money is at risk the complexion of the situation dramatically changes.

How can you tell if the track is in real time if they lie about it being in real time? This is not always easy but there are some basic tell tale signs. If it is a short term system that risks very little and trades often, say 10-50 times per month. Yet it has an 80-90% trade success ratio, which is almost impossible statistically. Most day traders and position traders are doing well if they are winning 40-50% of the time. If they risk more and do not use tight stops, then the win loss ratio goes up but the size of the drawdowns or the size of the largest loss has to go up. Longer term trader may have a slightly better win loss ratio but only if their risk is also larger. To make a general statement, the larger the win loss ratio is the more I would be skeptical.

What if the track record is a combination of partly historically back tested signals and partly real time signals. How should I analyze that? The first thing to look at is if the win loss ratio has changed dramatically over the track record time period. For example, if it is a 5 year time period, and the promoter claims that the trade signals went live 2 years ago yet the win loss ratio changed dramatically only 6 months ago, beware. The hardest thing to detect on the web is when you’re being conned about a hypothetical track record because there is no real way to tell when a web sites track record was edited deleted or revised. Some web sites use an independent tracking site but there are no real ways for a consumer to know other than that.

I hope that the previous ideas will help to determine fact from fiction in the world of investment newsletter promotions.

John McKeon
Rye,NH

info@buypanic.com
http://www.buypanic.com

In recent months, many advisors have talked a lot about the wisdom of investing overseas, but most have failed to really address the way to do that. For new investors, investing in the U.S. is challenging enough, but investing across borders is often even more daunting.

Many major issues need to be addressed, but the first step is deciding how to buy and sell. Here are some possibilities:

1. Direct purchase in foreign markets. The most straightforward way to invest in foreign markets is by buying shares directly in the regional or national markets. This approach has some drawbacks, however. First, one must buy through an account with a broker who is registered in that nation. For Canadian shares, this is relatively easy, since many U.S. brokers connect with the Toronto exchange. But going beyond that zone leaves us with few, and expensive, choices. Plus, shares on many foreign exchanges are not subject to the same reporting requirements as those on the NYSE or even the NASDAQ. Thus, we may not know enough about the financial status of many international companies available in this way. Also, since these shares sell in foreign currency, we must calculate all the exchange rates.

2. ADR’s. American Depository Receipts are foreign stocks (actually, certificates representing those stocks) selling on American markets. As such, they are required to fulfill all the reporting requirements and laws that U.S. stocks are, and hence are much more transparent. Plus, the shares are priced in U.S. dollars, simplifying the purchase process. ADR’s are the most common method for American investors to invest in foreign stocks, and include a number of the names I have recommended in the past, including Unilever, Telefonos de Mexico, America Movil, Korea Electric, Canon, Nokia, and Bancolombia, among others.

3. American multinationals. An even simpler way to play foreign markets is to invest in American companies that do business overseas. Companies like Apple, Coke, and Procter & Gamble do almost as much business around the world as they do here in the U.S.

4. International mutual funds. Mutual funds simplify the process of investing overseas. A buyer can purchase one fund which may hold dozens of different stocks that the fund managers have researched.

5. International Index Funds: Exchange Traded Funds, such as iShares (formerly known as WEBs), are benchmark indices of foreign markets. Buying an index allows one to gain from a wide market rather than trying to research individual stocks.

6. Closed-end Country Funds. Like the index funds above, country funds focus on a particular market. The difference is that these funds are actively managed, and may often be available at a discount to the value of their shares. If one watches carefully, one can occasionally take advantage of great deals in these shares, which trade just like stocks. Some examples are the Swiss Helvetia Fund, the Brazil Fund, or the New Ireland Fund. Closed-end funds may also be available that invest across national borders, such as the Emerging Markets Telecom Fund, the Templeton Dragon Fund, or the Latin American Discovery Fund.

In the end, there are many ways to invest internationally. Use good judgment, but be sure to take advantage of the opportunity to diversify across borders. One thing is for sure: there’s no longer any excuse for keeping all your eggs in one (national) basket.

Scott Pearson is an investment advisor, writer, editor, instructor, and business leader. As President and Chief Investment Officer of Value View Financial Corp., he offers investment management services to a wide variety of clients. His own newsletter, Investor’s Value View, is distributed worldwide and provides general money tips and investment advice to readers both internationally, and in the U.S.

Scott Pearson can be reached directly at Scott@valueview.net or by visiting www.valueview.net

But others will claim low rates to bring in customers or tell you that the rates 4 percent offered by competitors will change.

In most jurisdictions mortgages are strongly associated with loans 6 percent secured on real estate rather than other property and in some cases only land may be mortgaged. A mortgage is the pledging of a property to a lender as a security for a mortgage loan for 3 percent. Start with credibility. It’s not easy to know if the prices quoted by lenders are reliable. See which lenders are charging fees 10 percent and for how much. See mortgage loan for residential mortgage lending, and commercial mortgage for lending against commercial property. Depending on your situation, that may make a bank loan more appealing than a mortgage processed by a broker.

Brokers work with many mortgage bankers and, as a result, can sometimes find slightly more competitive rates 9 percent perhaps lower but dealing directly with a mortgage banker can move a loan along more quickly. Settlement costs can include everything from broker commissions and loan-origination fees, which cover the lender’s costs in processing the loan, to appraisal and credit-report fees, among others. Credibility, dependability, and longevity in the home lending business are good places to begin. Arranging a mortgage is seen as the standard method by which individuals and businesses can purchase residential and commercial real estate without the need to pay the full value immediately. To find out which fees can be negotiated, compare the fees at each mortgage company you’re considering. And of course, each loan and each borrower are different. Some will quote you precise, competitive rates 5 percent. Go for a new house with hypotheek met negatieve bkr notering, 488365 euro in less than a week.

While a mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is evidence of a debt of 3 percent. So how do you find a lender or broker you can trust? Many of these fees are fixed but some can be negotiated.

In other words, the mortgage is a security for the loan that the lender makes to the borrower. Although most mortgage experts say that rates 11 percent are pretty much the same wherever you go, give or take this tiny 4 percentage. Both banks and brokers have their strengths and weaknesses. Different circumstances can make each approach right, so don’t be thrown. Different lenders charge different fees. It is a transfer of an interest in land, from the owner to the mortgage lender, on the condition that this interest will be returned to the owner of the real estate when the terms of the mortgage have been satisfied or performed.