New Stock Market Terms

In light of the current economic crisis and subsequent drop in the stock markets, the book on investing has been rewritten. The following are new stock market definitions for common terms:

CEO. Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO. Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET. A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET. A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.
VALUE INVESTING. The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E RATIO. The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.
BROKER. What my broker has made me.
STANDARD & POOR. Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST. Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
STOCK SPLIT. When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally between themselves.
FINANCIAL PLANNER. A guy whose phone has been disconnected.
MARKET CORRECTION. The day after you buy stocks.
CASH FLOW. The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.
YAHOO. What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
WINDOWS. What you jump out of when you’re the sucker who bought Yahoo @ $240 per share.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR. Past year investor who’s now locked up in a nuthouse.
PROFIT. An archaic word no longer in use.

InvestTechFX — Canadian MT4 Forex Broker

InvestTechFX is another MetaTrader Forex broker that was added to the list on my site today. It’s a new on-line retail broker, operating since 2008 2006, though they say that their off-line services in the Forex market were active since 2004. This broker offers MetaTrader 4 trading platform, CFD and index trading, very low spreads (1 pip on all majors) and also a very flexible leverage — from 1:1 to 1:500. The payment methods accepted by InvestTechFX are quite limited — wire transfer, credit cards and PayPal. Trading can be started with $100 and micro-lots are supported. Like with many other new MT4 broker that I find over the Internet, InvestTechFX can’t boast a good-looking website. More than that, its site looks like a complete rubbish, in my opinion. I wonder why some serious Forex companies overlook the possibility of hiring some professional design studio to create a site that wouldn’t be disgusting. I am quite sure many visitors forget about opening a real trading account with a Forex broker after seeing their unprofessionally made websites.

Seeing the unseen

“A man has two siblings. I am not going to reveal their gender, but I will tell you that he has at least one sister. What is the probability that he also has a brother?”

If you intuitively answered 50% (or less) you are not seeing the entire picture. If you answered 2/3, then congratulations, you got it.

Easy explanation: The gender of two siblings has four possibilities or outcomes: (Big brother, little brother), (Big sister, little sister), (Big brother, little sister), (Big sister, little brother). Three of those outcomes (the last three) has 1 or more sisters. Out of those 3 outcomes, 2 includes a brother, hence the answer is 2 out of 3.

This kind of problem is what Schumacher refers to as a convergent problem. Convergent problems asymptotically converge towards a solution. This means that ultimately, there are no unknowns and it can be solved. Science has a long tradition of dealing with convergent problems. Real life, however, are full of divergent problems that have no closed solutions. Witness what happens when those two worlds collide (rocket scientists on Wall Street). Problems with unknown unknowns are problems that must be lived through. It is problems such as trying to arrange for optimal happiness by going from poor to rich with the self-defeating outcome that this strategy ultimately makes you rich and thus no longer a user of the happiness-strategy. It is problems such as trying to run a country, a company or even your life.

People can be given a strategy and they can implement such a strategy in their life. However, a strategy for a divergent problem is not a solution. It is just a suggestion of tactics.

Winter Savings Reminders

The days are getting shorter and the weather is getting cooler. This means two things: flu season is coming and higher heating bills are on their way. Here are some ways to combat these costs:

Save money on flu shots
Last fall I wrote about how to save money on flu shots. Many companies provide flu vaccinations free of charge to their employees because it is cheaper than decrease productivity that the flu can cause. You should also check with your insurance company because some plans offer free immunizations and preventive health care. local clinics, and even grocery stores are big box retailers. Veterans of the US military are eligible for free flu shots at VA clinics and hospitals.

Save money on heating costs
Winter heating is expensive. Thankfully, there are many things you can do to save money on your heating costs. One of the best things you can do is use a programmable thermostat to save money. You will also want to check your doors and windows for leaks, use sufficient insulation, consider using an air vent booster, and wrap up - put on an extra layer of clothes!

FXTSwiss — New Swiss/Austrian Forex Broker

FXTSwiss is a new Forex trading broker that started to offer its services on-line this year. It’s a Swiss broker with the company’s headquarters based in Austria. FXTSwiss isn’t regulated by any financial authority. It offers MetaTrader 4 platform with the really low spreads (1 pip on major currency pairs). The trading accounts are Muslim-friendly because they are swap-free. The Forex brokers also offers free trading recommendations to its customers. As with many other new MT4 brokers that are pop up here and there, their website looks awkward and unprofessional. There are only two ways to transfer funds to/from your trading account — wire transfer and credit card, while the minimum account size is quite large — $2,000.