Thursday, August 30, 2012

What You Need to Know About Online Currency Trading

Online currency trading is an excellent way to increase your income, if you do it right. While it is risky, taking the proper steps to educate oneself and finding an experienced broker with similar trading styles to yours will help decrease that risk and help you take advantage of the earning opportunities available to you.
Find a Broker
It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to find a broker with a solid history of successful online currency trading and a membership in at least one regulating association. This broker should also have trade philosophies similar to your own. In the long run, this will help you be successful and help you trust your broker to make reliable recommendations.
Use a Practice Account
Before you spend any money opening an account for online currency trading, take advantage of one of the practice trading sites available online. The sites are designed to simulate real investment-driven trades. Hands on experience is truly the best educator. You will have the opportunity to learn how the process works, where the risks are, and what works best for you, without investing any money at all. You can ask your broker any questions that arise, and, as a result, you will be able to avoid a number of potential pitfalls.
Get Some Training
Web-based training programs are available and can be found with a simple internet search. They cover the basics of online currency trading, like terms and vocabulary involved, how to find and use a broker, and how to identify appropriate investments. These are programs that can be purchased and used at the trader's own pace, again and again if desired. Sample trades and numbers help the user simulate online currency trading to learn from the experience.
Choosing to Become an Online Currency Trader
Once a potential trader has taken the time to walk through all of the preparation steps, forex may not be the answer for them. Online currency trading is a potentially lucrative activity, but it is high risk, and if you are not comfortable with the investment activity, it is okay to walk away after the training and practice. The investment in the training course will be well spent even if it only serves to show you that the system is not right for you.
If you do decide to continue and begin to invest, it is important to set a realistic budget for investing. It is best to look at online currency trading as you would a trip to a casino or an online poker site. Do not invest any money you cannot afford to lose. Even for an experienced trader with an astute broker, forex can be a volatile market, and the outcomes are not always what is predicted, and investments are sometimes lost. You need to be prepared for the losses as well as the gains; do not invest monies that will cause a detriment to your family or livelihood if it is lost.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Hidden Dangers of Prescription Drugs

Healthy blood pressure reduction is reducing your dangerously high hypertension in some way other than using prescription medication. I would like to share with you some things you may not know about prescription medication, some of the hidden dangers.
If you truly want healthy blood pressure reduction, then before blindly accepting the fact that you will be on hypertension medication for the rest of your life, think about this: medicine is supposed to help us get better, not just disguise the symptoms without curing the disease.
The most common hypertension medications are Alpha Blockers, Beta-Blockers, Angiotensin Receptor Blockers, ACE Inhibitors, Calcium Channels Blockers, diuretics, Clonidine and Minoxidil. These drugs are prescribed to cure you from hypertension but look what they do:
Beta-Blockers suppress nerve function to the heart and blood vessels to slow the heart, Diuretics remove water and sodium chloride (salt) from the body, Clonidine affects the whole central nervous system in the brain to chemically relax the body, and Minoxidil is reserved for people who don't respond to the other drugs, it has to be combined with a Beta-Blocker or Clonidine and a diuretic to prevent your body from swelling up like a balloon.
Does this stuff sound like something you want to pump into your body without question for years and years? And I haven't even mentioned the side-effects. They are positively frightening!
You can become dizzy, get hypotension (low BP), increased heart rate, nausea, diarrhea, bronchospasm, dyspnea, Raynaud's Syndrome, heart failure, hallucinations, clinical depression, sexual dysfunction and the list goes on.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that hypertension medication is completely useless and we can do without it. Advances in modern medicine have certainly saved many lives and the human race would certainly be a lot worse off without modern prescription medication. What I am saying is to explore your options, find out why you have hypertension and make all the other adjustments first, the lifestyle adjustments like diet exercise, plenty of sleep and reducing stress to name a few.
Use prescription medication as a last resort, when you've discovered that you are one of those rare individuals for whom natural alternatives don't work. Use prescription medication for hypertension with caution and respect, not as a quick fix. As you can see, they are dangerous.
I'm passionate about this topic because I have lost family members to this disease, and I believe in education as a way to helping you regain control over your health. I hope that you too will benefit from the information I'm sharing to achieve healthy blood pressure reduction for yourself. My mother and sister have both used Beta-Blockers to control blood pressure for many years, that they have now started to make some serious changes in their lives.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

The Means Test

Most people who file for bankruptcy in the United States have two choices: Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy (only the very wealthy could file under Chapter 11). Under the old rules, you were allowed the choice of whether to choose Chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy; however, that choice is now largely made for you by the new rules. However, there are some cases in which you fall under the income limits under which you would be classed as a Chapter 7 filer, and still be able to file for Chapter 7 by passing a legal test called the Bankruptcy Means Test.
The Means Test
The Bankruptcy Means Test must be taken by those with a monthly income above the family median for your state and size of family who wish to file under Chapter 7 Bankruptcy rather than Chapter 13 under the Bankruptcy laws enacted in 2005. The test requires that you:
- Calculate your current monthly income
- Subtract allowed IRS expenses
- Subtract secured and priority debt payments required of you to determine your monthly disposable income
- Determine whether your disposable monthly income exceeds $182.50 per month, or exceeds $110 per month but is enough to pay more than 25% of your non-secured, non-priority debts within five years
If your monthly disposable income is less than $110, you automatically pass the Means test, while if it is more than $182.50, you automatically fail. However, if your disposable monthly income is between these values but cannot pay off one quarter of your non-secured, non-priority debts within the required five years, you still pass.
Taking the Means Test
Below we outline the requirements of the Means test. To avoid the hassle of the paperwork and manual calculations, you can use an online means test calculator.
Step 1: Allowable IRS Expenses
The first step is to subtract the expenses allowed by the IRS from your monthly income. These include:
- Food, clothing, housekeeping supplies, personal care, and miscellaneous expenses for your family size. For this category use the figures published by the IRS for a family of your size; you can deduct an additional 5% for food and clothing if you can document that your required expenses exceed the IRS amounts.
- Transportation. Again, use the regional IRS figures. Transportation costs are divided into the categories of general transportation expenses (car maintenance and public transportation costs, etc) and ownership expenses.
- Housing and Utilities. Use local housing and utility expense standards published by the IRS for your area. If your actual energy costs exceed the IRS figures, you may use your actual figures.
- Domestic violence. Enter any expenses reasonably needed to maintain the safety of your family and yourself from domestic violence.
- Dependant care. Enter any reasonable expenses needed to care for an elderly, disabled, or chronically ill member of your family.
- Education. A deduction of up to $1650 per year is allowed per child for attendance at a private or public elementary or secondary school, as long as it is a reasonable figure and is not already covered by IRS expense guidelines.
- Taxes. This is the total average tax expense you actually incur for all taxes at the federal, state, and local level, not including real estate and sales taxes.
- Mandatory payroll deductions. Enter here the average monthly payroll deductions required for your employment, not including discretionary expenses such as 401(k) contributions.
- Insurance. Enter the average monthly insurance premiums for term life, dental, vision, and other forms of insurance not deducted elsewhere on the form.
- Court-ordered payments. Enter the total amount you are required to pay per month pursuant to a court order.
- Charitable donations. Enter the total amount you donate per month to charity.
- Child care. Enter the average monthly actual expenses for child care, not including primary and secondary education costs.
- Health care. Enter your average monthly health care expenses not covered by insurance or a health savings account.
- Communications. Enter here the average monthly totals you actually pay for internet services, cell phones, and special telephone services required for the welfare of you or your dependents.
Step 2: Calculate You Projected Monthly Disposable Income
If your total monthly income after deducting the expenses outlined above is less than $110, you need not proceed any further; you have already passed the means test. If your income is $110 or more after these deductions, the next step is to figure out how much disposable income you have left after the expenses outlined above plus priority and secured debts to pay off your remaining non-priority, unsecured debts. If you would be able to pay off 25% of these unsecured, non-priority debts within five years. The purpose of these calculations is to determine whether you could feasibly complete a Chapter 13 repayment plan.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Techniques That Constantly Inspire Successful Trainers

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth."
- Dan Rather
Teachers as primary Role Models do experience stress
Teachers and mentors are the special few who pursue their careers in showing us the way to survive and succeed by enrichining our basic life-skills. Most of the teachers and counselors that we come across in our lives, have exceptional and extraordinary success stories in their life. However, it is to be realized that teachers are also prone to burnouts because of the immense pressures they come across - be it in their social life or at home. Stress and other factors can sometimes bury these unique talents by triggering an emotional meltdown.
Teachers do suffer from anxiety and there are a number of reasons that do contribute to it. Key issues include:
  1. Their shifting roles in the educational sector and
  2. Their frustration in coping with the constantly changing responsibilities.
As a constant source of educational, spiritual and emotional inspiration to the community, being a teacher is in itself a daunting task that demands immense patience and integrity.
Motivating the motivator
Just like anybody else, a trainer also needs constant motivation to sustain and perform consistently well. They can reconstruct their value system and maintain for themselves a place in the society without losing out in the process.
Using the right training methods
A trainer can remain happy and balanced in life by preparing well in advance. They must remember to rekindle and effectively use their intuition so as to stay focused in all the tough conditions of life. This will bring about inner peace and a calm mind. This will help in positively aligning ones thoughts with the training plan. This helps one accomplish the daily objectives and longer term objectives in a broader perspective.
Let your intuition guide you. Trust in your inner wisdom. Be disciplined and cultivate a strong will power. Get less anxious and frustrated with the testing times in your life by adapting to the methods that suit.