With unemployment at record highs in parts of the U.S., one of the most crucial decisions individuals are making right now is whether to remain on a sinking corporate ship or to strike out on their own. For some people, of course, this decision has been made for them. They were laid off and unable to find new employment, so they’ve decided to try their hand at consulting, freelance work, or perhaps turning a hobby into an income stream. We call these people “unintentional entrepreneurs.”

The mere idea of business ownership is daunting, especially if you’ve spent your whole life defining yourself as an “employee of Company X”. And, if striking out on your own weren’t scary enough in an existential sense, then all the day to day minutia of running a business suddenly tackles you, too. There’s no more sales team to go out and find your clients, and as tempted as you might be to forward your expense report for that client lunch to accounting, guess what? The accounting department is you.

Luckily for unintentional entrepreneurs, a lot of companies out there know what you are going through. And while many entrepreneurs may feel like they aren’t getting the support they need as they contemplate a life of self-employment under the new Obama Administration, the good news is that the private sector is listening to some of those fears. And because we live in a digital age where access to services, that would have otherwise only been attainable by hiring staff or expert consultants, is just a mouse click away, I thought I’d share some of the best tools that I’ve come across that simplify life for the unintentional entrepreneur.

Free Web Tools For The Unintentional Entrepreneur

Outright.com, for example, understands that we aren’t all talented number crunchers and offers a free bookkeeping service for self-employed individuals and small business owners. Freshbooks makes it easy to generate and keep track of invoices. And, the busy entrepreneur in need of a receipt and contact management system should check out Shoeboxed. For further convenience, all of these applications are integrated, so that financial tasks become the least of your worries as a business owner.

Your next greatest worry? Let’s find some business. Today’s buzzwords are Twitter and Facebook but there is only one service which clearly and effectively connects your professional life with peers, customers, and partners. LinkedIn and its suite of event calendars, question and answer forums, and groups, is so attuned to your professional profile and your business that you might find you don’t know how you lived without it. Upon setting up your profile, you’ll find industry specific events and meet-ups to attend; you’ll note others in your industry asking questions or presenting solutions, and notice smaller groups around your location, specialization, or interests. Join in the discussion and make friends that matter!

Having fostered those customer relationships, you should work to maintain them. This is really where Twitter pays off; to make it work for you, think of Glen Allsopp’s 7 Uncommon Uses for Twitter as the 7 Common Uses. Twitter works when you share tools, foster the community, and interact. Simply sell yourself and you’ll quickly alienate your followers; work your community and it works with you.

While Twitter is the hot topic of late, innovations in traditional marketing tools mean the tried and true methods work even better than once was the case. MailChimp makes it easy to send email newsletters to customers, manage subscriber lists, and track campaign performance. They use the same tools that sophisticated marketers use (like segmentation, A/B testing, and ROI tracking) while making them accessible to everyone.

The number of people working for themselves is up to 20 million Americans. If you look at just freelance workers and consultants — people who tell the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics that they obtain work on their own but don’t own a business — their number grew by 27% from 1995-2005, and while the most recent numbers aren’t yet available, I’d be willing to bet that number is growing dramatically as of late. The good news for the unintentional entrepreneur is that technology fueled by a fierce passion for helping people strike out on their own is now available at either very low costs, or in many cases for free. This should be very encouraging for those who are ready to hang out their own shingle.

Starting right here in San Francisco at the innovative gallery Langdon Labs, on July 15, Network Solutions has partnered with Outright.com to host events around the country to support the needs of local business owners and entrepreneurs. The free networking and information session will be followed by workshops in New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta and Los Angeles, throughout July and August. The local meet-ups will feature successful, local entrepreneurs who will share actionable tips and advice for those starting out or struggling with their existing business. For more information, check out UnintentionalEntrepreneur.com.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Online Tools For The Unintentional Entrepreneur

Loose Change: Here’s a piece from the Wall Street Journal’s Wallet blog, about how to avoid making money mistakes if you’re moving in with a partner. Some experts warn us to think twice about opening a joint account and tell us how to make use of such an account. There’s also guidance here for how to equitably split costs with your partner.

Wise Bread: If you’re looking to minimize costs and maximize ROI on employee travel, then take a look at some of these tips from Wise Bread. Some good pointers include taking advantage of corporate discounts and utilizing credit and charge card rewards.

The Financial Blogger: If you’re thinking of investing, now is as good a time as any, with the stock market at much lower levels. But what if you’re a little low on the funds? Well, here are some tricks you can use to find the money to invest!

Credit Shout: Interesting post here about how credit card issuers are developing hardship programs (or debt repayment programs) to assist those card customers who are having a tough time paying their credit card bills. Such debt repayment programs involve setting the card holders’ debt repayment interest rates to more comfortable levels. It’s nice to hear this sort of thing coming from the credit card industry, for a change!

Recent Carnivals

• Carnival of Personal Finance
• Festival of Frugality
• Carnival of Debt Reduction

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Debt Repayment Programs, Employee Travel, Investment Funds

• S & P Index Trends: Next Steps?
• Stock Market Index Analysis: Predicting An S & P Reversal
• Use Candlestick Charts, Trading Signals To Evaluate The Stock Market
• Trading The Market: What Market Trends Are Stock Traders Riding On Recently?

While I’m not so big on market timing, I’ve been recently educating myself about the world of active traders and stock trading as a way of getting a better grasp on stock technical analysis, which is one of the schools of thought that’s widely followed by investors and traders alike. Here’s where I’d like to go over why traders are now thinking that the stock market may be vulnerable to further slides. Technical analysts have been predicting for a while now that the S & P index (representing the stock market) is bound to enter a new downtrend, and it seems that its recent behavior over the last couple of weeks is affirming some of these calls.

Is The Stock Market Headed Lower?

Here are some big questions that have crossed the minds of those eagerly watching the market: could the index be suffering from a momentary correction or is this the start of something bigger and more unpleasant? Is a major downtrend beginning to develop?

Before I get into the nitty gritty of technical indicators that support the hypothesis of a downtrend in the works, I have to emphasize this caveat: technical analysis indicators are helpful about giving you probabilities about things that could happen, but they won’t give you definitive predictions — nothing can. In other words, there is no system out there that can give you a 100% guarantee on where the stock market is headed.

It’s important to remember that the current slump we’re seeing today is a function of the fundamental economic atmosphere we’re presently experiencing. If it were not for rotten job numbers coming out the other day, I wouldn’t think that we’d be witnessing the kind of market shakeout and volatility that we’re seeing now. It just so happens that the economy continues to suck thereby causing the markets to suck along with it. Analyzing a stock chart full of technical indicators can’t predict such behavior 100%, they can only give you probabilities based on current market sentiment. I liken technical analysis to the methods used to predict the weather. They’re not right all of the time. That said…

Let’s Read Some Stock Charts Using Technical Analysis!

Let’s now enter the world of technical analysis by viewing the following interesting video by INO.com. It is meant to show you how traders read stock charts using various indicators and tools in order to try to forecast where the S & P is headed next. In this case, the S & P is looking weak and appears to be headed into more negative territory.

Click on this link or the image below to watch the video:

The video shows a technical analyst and experienced trader using the MarketClub stock trading tool to interpret the S & P stock chart (you can sign up to use MarketClub for a fee). The analysis includes:

• Reviewing the 200 day moving average vs the 50 day moving average for the S & P index.
• Interpreting Doji lines (Japanese candlestick charts).
• Covering the MACD indicator.
• Charting Parabolic Stop and Reverse lines.
• Using Fibonacci retracement lines and trend lines.

If this looks fascinating enough to you, and you’d rather check out some free tools and materials from INO, you can subscribe to their free Trends Analysis tool and their no cost investment and trading video channel called INO TV Free, which are all available at zero cost and with no obligation.

Are you ready to see how this market unfolds?

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Reading Stock Charts Using Technical Analysis

The kids are bored… again. They want another $100 — each — to spend the day at the mall, the third time they have come to you with a triple-digit handout request since school got out. All their friends’ parents give them all the money they ask for, you’re reminded yet again. But the friends’ parents have the money. You recently lost your job, or had an emergency, or took a pay cut, or are trying to pay down debt, and can’t afford to hand out cash like Kleenex. But what does one tell those doe-eyed (or defiant) teens who have their hands out?

Have Fun For Less: Cheap Ways To Enjoy The Summer

1. Don’t buy, rent!

You’ve already spent some of your family budget on the Blu-Ray DVD player and a Nintendo Wii. Now what can you do about controlling your gaming related expenditures? If you have a teen that just has to play the latest video game, then rent it. Some games can be rented for as little as a dollar a day (and rental fees are usually capped at the purchase cost). Many times — especially when they have large blocks of time to kill — your gamer can play a game from beginning to end in less than a week. There is really not much point, especially if you are trying to save money everywhere you can, to shell out upwards of $100 for a week’s worth of entertainment when $5 to $7 will do the trick. (However, you may want to keep track of when games are due back so you don’t get stuck with extra fees.)

2. Find the cheap theater in town.

For the cost of an opening-weekend matinee, your teen can take his or her friends to the cheap theater and splurge on the large (and refillable) popcorn. “Cheap” or “second-run” theaters show movies that are no longer presented in the larger (and more expensive) theater chains. Depending on the popularity of a movie, the theater could be showing movies five months old or five weeks old. Admissions usually range from $1 to $5 for a feature film. A $20 bill, and a little patience, will garner them admission and snacks for their entire entourage.

3. Visit consignment shops and thrift stores.

Why spend $150 on a pair of designer “faded” or “pre-stressed” jeans when you can get the same look for 50¢? If your teen is continually hunting for the latest fashions (which, coincidentally, seem to always look like they’ve come from the local thrift shop), send him or her to the local second-hand stores to find some good deals. It will take some hunting, but good deals — and designer clothing — can be found in consignment shops and thrift stores. Isn’t “looking good” worth a little work? Or you can always check out these smart and frugal tips for shopping for clothes online.

4. Visit the local library!

Libraries are wonderful places to spend a summer afternoon. Most have summer reading contests (read a certain number of books/pages, and you get a prize of some sort). Library cards are still absolutely free; plus you can even check out movies (DVD and VHS) at no cost. If nothing else, libraries are air conditioned, which is always appreciated in the summer months, especially if your home isn’t cooled down.

5. Tell them: “You want money? Get a job!”

If these suggestions fall on deaf ears there is always the “Summer Job”. If your children want to spend money, make them spend their own money. Have them run errands and work for a family member. Have them do the grocery shopping for an elderly neighbor. Suggest a few ideas: they can always mow the lawn or babysit. There are plenty of jobs out there for teens. Properly motivated (if they’re looking forward to summer camp, designer clothes for school, etc.), a teen will find that there’s still a lot of money out there to be made.

We can all experience summer fun on a budget, even with teens at home. This may be a great time to teach your children to be more appreciative of money; these are opportunities to help them learn how to make wise financial decisions!

 
Contributing Writer: Rachel Strong

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Have Fun For Less: Cheap Ways To Enjoy The Summer

If you’re tired of paying multiple bills, debt consolidation may be something to consider. A few of my friends have tried it out and they’ve told me how well it’s worked out for them. These were people who accumulated credit card debt that eventually became tough to manage. They then opted for debt consolidation to resolve their issues and found themselves pleased to have taken an active approach to improve their debt situation.

Through the debt consolidation process, you can merge all your debts and replace them with a single monthly payment that you can afford. The best part is that it actually relieves you from the burden of making several payments every month. And you may realize that by doing so, you may lower the risk of having to deal with a number of persistent debt collectors all wanting a piece of you.

How To Consolidate Debt: Ways To Reduce Your Debt Load

So, how do you consolidate your debts? Well, the goal is to roll over your existing loans to a single loan (or fewer, usually cheaper loans). You can do this in several ways: by getting enrolled in a debt consolidation program, by taking out a debt consolidation loan, by transferring your debt to lower interest cards or by taking out any type of cheaper loan. Let’s take a look at some of these methods:

#1 Balance Transfer Cards

You may want to consider using balance transfer cards or low interest credit cards as a way of reducing your debt more quickly. But you’ll have to commit to an aggressive payment schedule to make this happen successfully. If you’ve got a lot of credit card debt, see if you’re able to transfer your balance to one of your existing cards with a lower interest rate, or to a new balance transfer card with good rates. Note, however, that by applying for a new credit card, you may inadvertently knock down your credit score temporarily. If you’re doing a true balance transfer, the terms usually include a 3% fee and a limited promotional period during which a low teaser rate applies. If you are unable to pay off your debt before that period is up (usually between 6 to 12 months), your balance may be subjected to higher rates — so keep an eye on your debt! Here are some of the best balance transfer cards I’ve come across:

#2 The Debt Consolidation Program

When you sign up with a debt consolidation program, you hire a debt consolidation company to work with your creditors or collection agency (on your behalf) so that they lower the interest rate on your bills and make it easier for you to pay down your debt. The company and your creditors work out a monthly payment plan that you can afford. This way, you’ll end up only having to make a single payment each month to the consolidation company. The company then divides the amount amongst your creditors and makes sure that each of them receives a payment on a monthly basis.

A lot of people go for debt consolidation programs because it makes life easier: you don’t have to worry about dealing with several creditors and managing multiple accounts at different rates of interest. The creditors (or collection agency) will send you monthly statements, but you don’t have to handle any creditor/collection calls. While you’re on the program, the consolidation company communicates with creditors or collection agencies on your behalf. Most companies offer a free debt consultation where they review your situation in order to ensure that you’re the ideal candidate for consolidation. But they do charge a fee for negotiating with your creditors.

While this can be a great way to control household debt, do note that you need to do your due diligence before you sign up with any debt consolidation program out there. Not all companies in this industry are necessarily on the “up and up”, meaning that they may promise you much more than they can really do, then charge you a fee for less than satisfying results.

#3 The Debt Consolidation Loan

Finally, a debt consolidation loan is meant to achieve the same goal as a consolidation program, which is to replace several bills with a single monthly payment. But in this case, you’re taking out a new loan to repay existing debt.

Debt consolidation loans can be unsecured personal loans or secured debt such as mortgages or home equity loans. If you’re looking to get a mortgage as a way to consolidate debt, you’ll have to use your home as collateral. And in case you miss payments somehow, you may end up losing your home in a foreclosure! Because of this, I believe that getting a personal debt consolidation loan (rather than a mortgage) would be a better choice. But you need to have good credit if you’d like to qualify for one.

Your single debt consolidation loan will require monthly payments typically at a low rate of interest over a longer time frame. This loan offers you a lot of convenience, but you may potentially end up paying more in interest over the life of the loan because of the longer repayment terms. Thus, even though your monthly payments are low, the total interest you pay over the entire term can be quite huge!

As you can see, there are many avenues you can explore to help make your debt situation more palatable. Just make sure you review both sides of the coin when you look into these possible solutions.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

How To Consolidate Debt: Ways To Reduce Your Debt Load

Good Financial Cents: Bernie Madoff has been in the news lately, having received a stiff 150 year sentence for his role in the biggest investment scam our nation has ever seen. So how can you avoid becoming a victim of investment fraud? Jeff Rose gives us some tips.

Free Money Finance: I thoroughly enjoy reading FMF’s blog. This week, he tells us about what jobs he’s held, pre-college, and what he’s learned from his experiences. I actually never had a job until I was in college, and when I did snag my first job as an intern, it was at a Silicon Valley startup where I was worked to the bone, 14 hours a day.

Studenomics: Speaking of college, let’s stop by Studenomics (a blog that focuses on the younger demographic) for a bit. Studenomist shares with us some warnings about making short sighted financial decisions while you’re in your twenties. I think we need to balance how we make decisions about our money: we should keep both short term and long term goals in mind when we do our financial planning.

Ask Mr. Credit Card: What do you do if you’re scammed by a credit card thief? Mr. Credit Card discusses this dilemma with a whole lot of common sense. If you’re a merchant, stay alert about the credit cards that customers pass on to you — they may just be stolen!

Enjoy these articles!

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Credit Card Scams, Investment Scams and Long Term Financial Decisions

Whenever a group of people are asked to perform a certain task, whether in an office, in the National Guard or on a factory floor, some members manage to poison the atmosphere for everybody else. These persons have a serious underlying psychological problem which they try to solve by being rude and unprofessional. Sometimes they even vent their anger on the public they supposedly serve. Remember the “Soup Nazi” in the Seinfeld show? That’s an excellent illustration, albeit a bit exaggerated, of a toxic human character that enjoys humiliating or bullying unsuspecting people.

How To Deal With Difficult People Like Bad Bosses and CoWorkers

While you may be thankful that there are no job layoffs at your company, there could be other things you may want to be wary of at work: for instance, the toxic coworker. For some employees, facing a job layoff could be the least of their worries!

“Twenty-nine percent of respondents recently surveyed said they work with someone who is rude or unprofessional on the job,” according to Office Team. How you should handle a situation with someone unsavory depends on this “nasty” person’s position and importance in your team. If it’s your boss (and not the owner of your company), try to ascertain the opinion of your suffering colleagues. If they share your opinion, you may want to go above your boss’ head to place a formal complaint. It’s risky, of course, but take into account that if you do it respectfully, the company cannot engage in reprisals. They may even act to remove the offensive party since team morale affects the bottom line, just as a football coach is fired when the team doesn’t win.

“When colleagues dislike each other, it’s incredibly wasteful of everybody’s time, it leads to lots of misunderstandings and it has a terrible impact on the work atmosphere,” says Fiona Thompson of the English Guardian.

Revolution or Negotiation?

OK, so not everybody has the soul of a Paul Revere. The other option is of course negotiation. A colleague may well listen to reason if a couple of co-workers approach him/her to request a change in attitude. Self-protection is one of the most important traits in the human psyche. If your colleague still refuses to modify his/her behavior, you may want to consider how valuable this individual is to the group. If they are deemed to be star workers by management, your only recourse is to ignore them or to resign. If you are the one loved by your bosses, give them the alternative (ultimatum?): I can’t work with this person, make your choice!

Your Defense Strategies

If you have no alternative but to continue working with these obnoxious people, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself:

• Keep track of your work by offering frequent progress reports to your team leader. It will prevent the “credit grabber” from stealing your ideas and claiming them as theirs.
• Do not participate in water cooler gossiping of any kind. If the person tries to engage you, respond with positive comments and find a nice way to walk away.
• Try to analyze why you don’t like that person. You may discover that they just want some attention from you and that they can become very good colleagues if you listen carefully to their opinions.
• You don’t have to be friends with everybody in the team; all you need is to find a way to work together.
• Examine yourself. You may be the one expecting too much from others. Are you a little jealous or envious? Are you the one who causes the friction?
• Do not confront the “I have to win every argument” type of person. You’ll just waste your energies and make an enemy by trying to argue about things that are not that important to the success of the team.
• Pick your fights. Strange as it may seem, there is a time when fighting becomes necessary (Kenny Rogers anyone?) When matters are of crucial importance for the success of the company, fight with everything you have when you are sure your point of view is the right one. You may well earn a promotion out of it.
• Stand up to bullying. If a co-worker makes constant demeaning remarks about you or continues to harass you, do not hesitate to lodge a formal complaint with management. These people will never change and they have to learn their lesson. Just make sure you have documented every instance and word and use witnesses if you have any.

It’s Human Nature

Do not put up with unpleasant people. Let these people know, gently, that you will take stronger measures if they do not stop, such as lodging a formal grievance. You could also ask to be transferred to another department or to other duties in order to escape that pernicious individual. But the sad truth is that we always encounter unpleasant people in the working area; that is inevitable. Find the best way to deal with it, which might be to “grin and bear it.”

 
Image Credit: Threshold

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Dealing With Difficult People Like Bad Bosses and CoWorkers

Is your phone ringing off the wall because of phony debt or bill collectors? In today’s difficult economy, more people are facing unpaid debts and finding themselves having trouble managing debt. When a debt collection agent calls you during dinner, what do you do? Do you feel resigned to admitting your debts? But if you do, acting this carelessly about your finances can cost you more than you think.

How Fraudulent Debt Collectors Can Scam You

I recently watched an ABC News report about phony debt collectors trying to collect fake debts or steal your identity. How do those fraudulent debt collectors know about you? Consider just a few of the ways you might become a potential victim of collection abuse:

• If you took out a payday loan within the past two years, fake debt collectors may have figured out a way to access your personal information. They already suspect you’re in financial duress because you took out a short term loan, so they may attempt to get additional personal information to steal your identity and money.
• When you submit personal information online, you may not always be visiting a secure website. Check websites for an SSL certificate so you know online scammers won’t be stealing your information.
• Zombie debts are sold to debt collection agencies who attempt to collect overdue bills 7 years or more past due. These bills often do not belong to the person called (wrong phone number by this time) because so many years have gone by. Never admit a debt belongs to you unless you are sure. If you admit you owe the money, you will usually be responsible for paying it — even if the debt turns out to be someone else’s.
• Your credit report is public information. Lenders have access to your credit report so they know when you are applying for loans and if debts are unpaid. When you are contacted by a predatory lender or ruthless collection agent, it is rarely a coincidence.

Fake debt collectors can do serious damage to your finances and credibility. If you give out personal information to a phony, they may use it to steal your identity. Admitting to a bill that isn’t yours can mean you wind up paying a debt you didn’t incur. And even if you owe money, debt collectors are not allowed to be abusive. So how can you protect yourself against debt collection scammers?

Tips To Avoid Phony Debt Collectors

1. Get free copies of your credit report from the three major credit reporting agencies.
By law, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report annually from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Or you can pick up your credit scores and reports through myFICO. Review your credit report for inaccuracies. If you find debts that aren’t yours, contact the credit agencies to dispute them. Review your current debts so you know what you owe. When you are aware of your debts, it’s more difficult to be duped by a phony collection agent.

2. Avoid payday loans.
Payday loans may be useful for some emergencies, but they come at a huge cost. For the most part, payday loans will lead you to further financial ruin. A recent report revealed that people who take out payday loans are more likely to claim bankruptcy. Dealing with payday lenders also may put your personal financial information into the hands of a potential scammer.

3. Get proof of the debts you allegedly owe.
If a collection agent insists you owe money, request proof of the debt. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, sending a letter requesting proof of the debt stops all collection attempts until you receive the evidence. Don’t agree to pay a debt until you receive proof in writing that it actually belongs to you.

4. Don’t let a debt collector become abusive.
Whether you owe money or not, you still have legal rights, thanks to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Debt collectors must provide proof of money you owe. They can’t curse at you or threaten you. Collectors are not allowed to submit postdated checks to resolve your payments in advance, nor take unauthorized withdrawals from your bank accounts. Collection agents are limited to calling you between 8 am and 9 pm; they can’t call in the middle of the night or contact your employer, family or friends.

When you keep track of your finances, you’ll have more ammunition to shake off phony debt collectors before they cause serious trouble.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Avoid Phony Debt Collectors With These Tips

While here is how the gold chart looks like over the last 5 years.

Long Term Investing In Gold

If you are a long term investor who has taken the passive investing approach, then you probably already have a diversified asset allocation with some gold representation in your portfolio. Investment experts often recommend that we buy gold (or precious metals) as a way to hedge the rest of our investment portfolio, which would normally contain other asset classes such as stocks, bonds, cash and maybe even REITs, or commodities.

So how much of your funds should you put into gold, assuming that you want to invest for the long term? It depends on how you feel about the current investing environment and the economy. Do you feel nervous about the future? Do you think the dollar will crash or inflation will rise? If so, then perhaps gold should carry a little more weight in your overall allocation. A reasonable gold or precious metals allocation may be around 5% of your total investment funds.

Trading Spot Gold (XAUUSDO)

Now for those who prefer to trade gold instead, following is an interesting video by INO.com which demonstrates the use of their MarketClub trading tool. Their charting tool analyzes the short term behavior of gold and tries to forecast where gold prices are headed.

Click on this link or the image below to watch the video.

If you’ve seen INO.com’s videos before, then you’ll be familiar with the trend lines in use here as well as a variety of trading indicators (such as INO’s proprietary trade triangles) that are used to interpret market price charts. In particular, the indicators are used to determine whether you should go long or short on gold prices. The narrator, Adam Hewison, also points out how to use the MarketClub tool’s Fibonacci Rule feature to express the possibility of a further drop in recent gold prices from higher levels in the last month. While other indicators show that gold has been heavily oversold over the last week, they also suggest that the market will remain in a trading range.

Investing and Trading Tools and Resources

We’ve shown you how you can trade gold by using INO’s MarketClub tool, but there’s more you can learn through both online and traditional investment resources.

Free Trading Tools and Resources. To learn how to trade stocks by using stock technical analysis or to find out how to invest in a variety of other markets, you can start by checking out INO.com’s free resources such as the free Trend Analysis tool and their free investing/trading videos. If you want to get your feet wet with stock trading, you can also sign up with a free fantasy stock trading game site such as Wall Street Survivor where you won’t risk any of your real money while trading; they start you off with $100,000 in virtual cash which you “play” with in a simulated trading environment. What more, they also offer cash prizes!

Premium Trading Tools and Resources. For more sophisticated tools, you can also take a look at the MarketClub trading tool which was used in the video above, or INO’s premium investing/trading video channel: both are available as paid subscriptions. For your continued investment education, you can check out Morningstar, Investor’s Business Daily and of course, the Wall Street Journal, where you can get a ton of investment information.

To get an idea of how traders are analyzing our current market environment, please visit the following articles. You’ll also find other INO.com videos here:

• S & P Index Trends: Next Steps?
• Stock Market Index Analysis: Predicting An S & P Reversal
• Use Candlestick Charts, Trading Signals To Evaluate The Stock Market
• Investing In The Stock Market? Rules To Help You Sleep At Night
• Trading The Market: What Market Trends Are Stock Traders Riding On Recently?

Don’t forget that trading and investing involve discipline, diversification and analysis!

 
Images by Kitco.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Investing In Gold: Trading Spot Gold vs Buy and Hold

If you do get a chance, you can check out my radio interview with Mr. Credit Card, where we chat about general personal finance topics and what it’s like living in Silicon Valley.

Personal Finance Resources

Lazy Man and Money: I’d like to point out a poignant guest post by Lazy Man’s wife, where she discusses the poor money choices that ruined her parents’ life. Goes to show what kind of impact you have not only on yourself but also on the people who are close to you when you suffer money troubles. I’m glad that Lazy Man and his wife are in a good place despite having to face these challenges in their family.

Passion Saving: I stumbled on this site and this video featuring a guy named Rob Bennett who came up with some interesting unconventional money saving tips. He’s got lots of great ideas on finance, so be sure to check him out!

Ask Mr. Credit Card Blog: How can you earn a lot of miles? Here is a post that covers some great ideas for racking up frequent flyer miles.

Recent Carnivals

• Carnival of Financial Planning
• Carnival of Personal Finance
• Festival of Frugality
• Carnival of Debt Reduction
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Frequent Flyer Miles, Money Choices and Unconventional Saving Tips