Five Major Concerns in Transferring Money Overseas

Great amounts of money are being sent overseas everyday. Some send large and some small amounts. Some transfer abroad on a regular basis, whereas others may have to send a one-off payment overseas. What is important is that for every occasion there is a unique service that optimizes transfer factors such as cost and speed. One must know the best option for each case in order to get the best deal.

In any particular case of money transfer, there are five major concerns to look out for. These are: 

1. Cost: The most important thing for someone who wants to transfer money overseas is to find a deal which will give the most value for money. There are three different costs involved. Firstly, as the term international depicts, it's the matter of currency exchange rate. All international money transfers involve this stage and it is hence important to find the best deal. 

The second cost that many transfer agents may charge is commissions, which is usually dependant on the amount of money transferred. Remember that the exchange rate you get is crucial. Many companies that transfer money claim to be charge-free/commission-free but then give you a substantially worse exchange rate, meaning you get less value for your money. 

The third and most occasional cost you may acquire when sending money is the actual transfer fees, usually charged by banks.

In any case, when you want to compare two international money transfer services for cost purposes it is best to ask the golden question of 'How Much Euros/Yen/Dollars Will I Get For My Pound, Etc. After All Fees And Charges?'

2. Security: While small amounts may not involve high risks for transfer, larger amounts of money call for extra security measures. For this reason it is always best to work with those services which have been long in the business. One might consider the use of a colleague or a friend's past experience in a successful money transfer.

3. Transfer Speed: Another very important factor involved in transferring money abroad is the speed with which the transfer is conducted and the time it takes for the money to reach its destination. While some services offer transfer times as low as 20 minutes others may take days or even weeks to reach completion. It is therefore very important to find out about the transaction speed before committing to transfer the money. 

4. Choice of Destination/Destination Type: While many companies may be able to offer the cheapest or fastest deal to transfer money overseas many are often limited in the choice of destination countries which they can offer for the transfer. To find the right deal you must refer to a service that offers transfer of money to your desired destination country.

Other than the country to which you are transferring money, it is important to decide about the type of money you wish to receive at the destination, which may be in the form of a bank deposit, bankers draft, traveller's check, postal order, etc. Again it is important to consider the costs involved when choosing any of the above.

5. Transfer Amount: Many services tend to impose limits on the amount of money you are allowed to send, based on whether or not they are designed for large transfer amounts. This limit should also be considered when trying to choose the best method for overseas money transfer.

Now that you are aware of the main concerns in transferring money overseas, you can easily compare different services and find one that best suits your current needs.

Real Estate Investing Guide

For many people, real estate is the easiest to understand investment because it is simple, straight-forward and involves a fair exchange between a property owner (the landlord) and the property user (the renter).  As long as the hot water keeps flowing and the rent arrives on time, everyone is happy and benefits.  Investing in real estate is much more complex than this, though, because there are several different types of real estate investments including residential, commercial, and industrial, as well as real estate that trades on stock exchanges, which are called REITs.  This guide was designed to help you.

1. Real Estate Investing 101 for Beginners

When you invest in real estate, your goal is to put money to work today and make it grow so you have more money in the future. You have to make enough profit, or "return", to cover the risk you take, taxes you pay, and the costs of owning the real estate investment such as utilities and insurance.  This overview explains the basics of real estate investing for beginners to help you learn what to expect and how investors make money from their real estate properties. 

2. The 8 Different Types of Real Estate Investments

There are eight different types of real estate investments that new investors need to understand: Commercial real estate, residential real estate, industrial real estate, mixed-use real estate, retail real estate, REITs, mortgage lending, and sale/leaseback transactions.  Each has its own benefits and drawbacks. 

This basic guide gives you a brief explanation so you won't be intimidated or overwhelmed when you are examining potential investments and see the terms used. 

3. Where Is the Best Place to Invest My Down Payment Money?

If you are considering buying real estate, whether it is a primary residence for your family or an investment property, you need to know how to keep your downpayment money safe.





4. Which Is Better - Real Estate or Stocks?

As a new investor, do you ever wonder which is better: stocks or real estate?  Both have certain advantages and drawbacks but the answer may depend just as much on your personality and tastes as it does your portfolio.  

5. What are REITs? Are They Better Than Buying Property Directly?

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One of the most popular ways to own real estate is through a special type of investment known as a REIT, which is short for real estate investment trust.  You can trade REITs just like stocks through a brokerage account and the dividends are taxed differently than dividends from stocks.

6. Should You Pay Off the Mortgage on Your Real Estate Early?

Some financial advisers tell you to send extra payments in to lower your real estate debt.  Others say you want to keep more money on hand so you have emergency funds.  

7. Using LLCs to Own Your Real Estate Investments for Risk Management

You should almost never, under any condition, own a real estate investment directly in your own name!  Most of the time, serious real estate investors own properties through something known as a limited liability company, or LLC.  These special types of companies can protect your personal assets from lawsuits and other dangers.  In fact, most wealthy investors own their home through an LLC as a risk management practice.  As a potential new real estate investor, it is imperative that you understand how LLCs work and why you may want to use them to hold your rental properties or other real estate investments ...

8. The Great Real Estate Myth

One of the biggest investments someone will make is a primary residence.  Unfortunately, few new investors realize that once you factor in the cost of insurance, maintenance, net interest costs on the mortgage and other expenses, your real rate of return after inflation on a home is roughly 0%.  That doesn't have to be the case but you should go into your first major real estate investment with your eyes wide open.

Forex Major Economic Factors

Unlike other trading exchanges such as the NYSE, NASDAQ, and other major stock trading organizations, trading in the foreign exchange market can be extremely volatile on a day-to-day basis. It is crucial that anyone who is going to invest in the Forex market be as informed as possible on the global economic news of the day that influences the market. There are numerous economic factors that influence the movement of a particular currency.

When you are considering investing in the foreign exchange market there are many economic indicators and factors that governments, as well as privately owned companies provide that can give an inside look at possible economic performance. When countries issue economic reports they not only show the country's particular policies and current events but also reveal the economic health of the country.

Many times a responsible and reputable broker can be a good source of economic news and give good advice on what particular trades may be good at a particular time. If you don't have the time to stay up on the most current reports, a good broker can be crucial to your Forex trading success by studying these reports and determining whether a particular country is in an economic decline or enjoying a major increase. The great thing about Forex is that you can make money either way.

News that is necessary for the Forex trader is of much greater detail than the typical investor is interested in or even cares to follow. When you are considering investing in a particular country's currency, a few of the main factors to look at include current events and the state of the economy in that given nation. Statistics such as housing, unemployment, inflation, budget deficits, and current political climate can all affect the value of the currency. As mentioned before, money can be made in positive as well as negative political climates. You can make money from countries that are experiencing tremendous political unrest and rampant inflation as easily as one that is fiscally responsible and experiencing great economic growth.

The Gross Domestic Product, known more commonly as the GDP, is another huge economic indicator that experienced traders look at intensely when considering trades. The GDP is the total market value of all goods and services that are normally produced within a particular country. Normally this figure is an annual one and is not given in shorter periods. Because of the volatility of the Forex market this is considered a lagging indicator that becomes more measurable after the particular country's economy has started to follow a unique trend. 

Other important factors for Forex trading include retail sales reports, which are the total sales receipts of all the retail stores in the country, industrial production that includes factories, mines, utilities and more, and the CPI or consumer price index. The CPI is the measure of the change in the prices of consumer goods in 200 different categories. This report can show whether or not a country is making a profit or losing money on their products and services. The exports a country contributes is are very important when looking at this indicator because the amount of exports can reflect a currency's weakness or its strength. 

As you can see there are a lot of factors that need to be considered when investing in foreign currencies. It can be fun and exhilarating, but doing your homework will always pay the largest dividends.

Trading with an edge

In order to be a successful trader, you need to understand that trading starts with having an edge in the markets.

The biggest mistake new traders make is assuming that making sole use of things such as indicators will allow them to become a successful trader.

There is much more to it. The basis of trading starts with identifying an edge in the market. Only after you have identified an edge should you then go on to use such things as indicators to help you make trading decisions.

What is a trading edge?

A trading edge in the financial markets can be described as a set of conditions that when present, give a higher probability of a trade working than not working.

An example of an edge could simply be identifying when the market is trending, in which case you base your trades on the direction of the trend. If you take trades in the direction of the trend, you have a higher probability of producing profitable trades.

Despite having an edge, there will be losing trades as well as winning trades. Trading in the direction of a trend does not guarantee a winning trade, merely a higher probability of a trade working out. The first trade that you take in the direction of the trend could be a losing one. However, taking a series of trades in the direction of the trend is likely to result in trades that win.

Winning and losing trades are randomly distributed

Fundamentally, winning and losing trades are randomly distributed, and a trader must take multiple trades to ensure they incorporate winning ones. If you base a series of trades on an edge that you have identified, then the probability of having winning trades increases over time.

A further example of a trading edge could also be that you are able to recognise when the market is ranging and so you can then buy at the lower boundary and sell at the upper boundary of that range. Notice in the chart below that a trend and a range have been identified in the same chart:

Building on a trading edge

Once you have identified an edge, the focus is how to recognise these market conditions more easily and how to trade in them. That is when you can start to seek signals from such things as indicators, to provide buying and selling signals based on these conditions.

Consider the following chart where the market has been identified as a ranging market: 

The edge in the above scenario, is that the price is trading in a range – the price is more likely to fall at the upper boundary and rise at the lower boundary. Based on this edge, you can use an indicator, such as the stochastic indicator that signals when the price has reached the upper or lower boundary.

These trading signals are still based on probability. In other words, if your indicator is producing a buying signal, then this does not mean the price will go up, it means that there is a higher probability of the price going up than going down in the current market conditions.

The truth is, once you enter the market with any given trade, you are at the mercy of the markets. This is where a system or a strategy comes into trading. A strategy is a set of rules that you trade by and those rules are based on identifying an edge and then trading accordingly.

This means that it does not matter if the trade wins or loses, because if you trade with a strategy based on an edge, then your trading system will produce winning trades over time that will make up for the losses. Of course this is not the whole picture, because you must take into account risk to reward and money management. However, when you have an edge, you have a starting point in which you can then begin to build a system.

Now that you have been introduced to the fact that successful trading is based on an edge, the following lesson will demonstrate how to start building a system or strategy based on the edge you have identified.

Take profit: setting profit targets

A profit target is a price level on a chart that you set to take profit.

Choosing a profit target is a key part of your trading strategy – it requires you work out in advance exactly how much risk you are prepared to take for how much potential reward.

Profit targets are actually the most important part of your strategy, because it is not your entries where you make a profit or loss, it is your exits. You need to be able to determine a suitable profit target for your trading – one that gives you a realistic profit target, but also gives you a sensible risk to reward.

There are countless ways in which you can set your profit target using technical indicators and other tools. We will show you two easy ways to set your profit target: support and resistance, and daily range levels using the ATR indicator.

Using support and resistance to set profit targets

Support and resistance is a powerful concept used by traders to read and interpret price action. It is based on the theory that the price may struggle to break above certain resistance levels or below certain support levels. You can use this to determine profit levels.

Using resistance

If you are in a long trade, key resistance areas can be a good place to set your profit target levels. If you are in a short trade, support areas can be a good place to take profit.

The chart below shows an example of how resistance can be used to take profit when you have a long position and prices are moving upwards in your favour:

As you can see in the chart above, after the initial entry into the market comes a favourable move up to a level of resistance. At this point the price begins to stop and may even reverse direction.

In this example, you should look to take profit where the price first reaches the level of resistance.

Using support

The chart below shows an example of how support can be used to take profit when you have a short position and the market is moving down in your favour:

As you can see above, after the trade is entered, the price moves downwards to a level of support. At this point the price struggles to break below the support level and may even reverse.

In this example, you should look to take profit where the price first reaches the level of support.

Different types of support and resistance

Support and resistance is not confined to horizontal support and resistance only. For instance, you can use pivot points, trend lines and channels as they all present support and resistance in one way or another.

What you are essentially doing is finding out where the price is likely to stop and taking your profit at that point.

Using daily range levels to set profit targets

Another effective way of working out your take profit levels is by using daily range levels.

To identify daily range levels, you can use the average true range tool. This tells you exactly how far you can expect a price to move on any given day based on recent price movements.

Apply the average true range (ATR) indicator to your daily price chart, as shown in the image below:

For a long trade, once you have entered your trade you can use the value of the ATR to place your take profit away from your entry.

The image below illustrates this process:

For a short trade, once you have entered your trade you can use the ATR value to place your take profit away.

The image below illustrates this example:

The importance of risk to reward ratios

A risk to reward ratio is a measurement of how much profit you are anticipating in exchange for the maximum potential loss you can suffer.

When setting your profit targets it is very important to trade with a positive risk to reward ratio.

When a setup occurs that does not offer an appropriate risk to reward ratio, it is always best to leave the trade and wait for a more profitable scenario later on.

Forex Trading Facts To Win Big Profits

Here are your facts in no order of importance they ALL contribute to your success!

Fact 1. Forex Trading is NOT Easy!

Of course it isn't that's why so many traders lose - 95% but the good news is with a bit of effort, you can win and make a lot of money. You simply have to know what you are doing (forget junk robots and mentors telling you it's easy to follow them), if you do you follow them, you will lose. 

Understand you need to do it on your own - but if you do put in effort, your rewards can be huge and this does not mean working hard. 

FACT 2. The Work Ethic Does NOT Apply 

In many jobs you get paid for the hours you work and are rewarded for the amount of time you spend working. In forex trading you get your reward for being right and this means working smart not hard. 

You can learn to trade in about 2 week and in 30 minutes a day or less and earn big profits. Start to trade, click here. 

FACT 3. Being Clever is NOT an Advantage 

Simple forex trading strategies work best try and complicate your trading system and it will have to many elements to break and will lose. Keep it simple is wise advice when seeking forex profits. 

Fact 4. Discipline is the Key 

You need to have iron discipline, this is the hard part of forex trading, to trade through losing periods and stay on course, until a winning run occurs. If you don't have discipline to follow a system - you don't have one!

FACT 5. Picking Trend Direction is Easy 

Compared with staying with the trend. When you trade you must execute your trading signal at the correct level and have your stop and trail your stop so you don't get stopped out by volatility - this is much harder to do and many traders get the direction right, only to be stopped out by random volatility and see the trend go back the way they thought and their not in. 

This is a major problem and you need to make a study of standard deviation of price, part of your essential forex trading education.

FACT 6. You need to Know Your Trading Edge 

A trading edge is personal to you and something you understand, have confidence in, which you know, if you apply with discipline, will lead you to currency trading success. 

Following someone else is not an edge! Its personal and if you don't know what yours is, you don't have one. 

FINALLY The Good News ...

Forex trading looks easy yet, few succeed but if you understand the above points you are well on your way to achieving forex trading success. 

You have to work and you have to work smart to get a forex trading system, you have confidence in and can apply with discipline. If you do this correctly, the rewards can be life changing.