Margin trading
Written by admin Saturday, 9 January 2010 09:52
The topic of margin trading is a touchy topic, as this is not information you want to act on without knowing exactly what you are doing. Perhaps not even than, because you never know what the future will bring. Before the term is explained I want to tell you that margin trading was one of the major reasons for the financial crises these last years. Trading with leverage is fantasticly profitble when things go your way, but if the market turns you can loose all your equity in a matter of months! Now, on to the subject at hand.
The mystery of Margin trading
Margin trading, and the workings of the stock market in general, is a mystery to the common public. Most can’t figure out one column of figures from the next, and econonmic theory goes right over their heads. Even when explained to in the simplest terms, people still can’t make heads or tails of margin trading and how one would go about doing it.
The most important thing to understand about margin trading, then, is that your stake in your purchase – be it in shares, bonds or securities – has to end up above a net value. If you borrow $80 from a broker on a $100 share, and the broker wants a minimum requirement of $10, you have to always keep your stake at $10 or above. If you don’t, you’ll be in default on the loan.
Trading with other people’s money
So it’s important to understand is that margin trading means you’re borrowing large sums of money from a broker in order trade. And that if you lose said large sum of money, you’re on the hook for your own loss as well as the loss of the broker. Obviously this won’t work out very well for you if you’re on the losing end of a market run. However, what should be readily apparent is that it’ll work out for the broker no matter what the market does.
Casino rules?
Say the market is bullish and the value of your purchased securities goes up… the broker wins! He gets his fee from you and maybe something extra as determined by the loan conditions. Everyone’s rich, everyone’s happy, no big worries.
But say the market goes down – and it’s gone down significantly and often over the years. You’re on the hook for what you’ve lost, but now you’ve also got to pay off the broker. His cut won’t be as large as it would have been had the market gone up, of course, but he’s still making a profit because you’ve paid him in the first place to borrow the money no matter what the market does. This is called a “margin call,” and it means that you’ve got to pay the broker back right then or else you risk bankruptcy or worse.
This causes a volatile market, much like we’ve seen recently in the housing boom and bust, and much like we saw in the 1920s when margin trading nearly brought the western economy to its knees.
Nascar Nextel Cup Series
Written by admin Tuesday, 5 January 2010 02:23
The nascar nextel cup series – or stock car racing, as it’s more commonly known – is one of America’s largest spectator sports. Boasting thirty-six races that take place from February til June, largely in the South and Soutwest, the onetime niche sport has become wildly popular in the past fifteen years.
The nascar nextel cup series has become popular in large part due to the popularity of individual drives such as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Sr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and more. Southerners tend to see these guys as everymen emblematic of the perceived “hard-working” nature of the South, and they in turn spend whatever disposable (or not) income they have on giant trailers that they hook up to their Confederate flag waving pick-up trucks, pack up their brood, and travel from hick burg to hick burg cheering on their favorite millionaire.
It’s all very populist.
The nascar nextel cup series, thanks to those types of people, is now the sixth most popular spectator sport in the United States behind baseball, football, basketball, hockey and golf. For over thirty years it was actually known as the Winston Cup, after sponsors Winston cigarettes, but changed in 2003.
The association with Winston cigarettes began in 1971, and the actual sponsor was Winston’s parent company R.J. Reynolds. In the 1970s and 1980s this was considered uncontroversial, but as the public became more and more anti-smoking over the decades, and the Nascar nextel cup series became more and more mainstream, the sponsorship dollars from Reynolds became less a benefit and more a loss. A series of legislation passed in the the US congress that drastically curbed tobacco advertising would put the nail in the coffin for the Winston Cup, and onto Nextel it was.
Though Winston’s now in the mirror, there’s no question that association with such a successful company had a positive impact on stock car racing’s fortunes. RJR helped cut the race schedule from 48 to 31 races per year, shortening the season to put a premium on certain events as well as making sure all the top drivers could make it to all the schedule races. This had an across-the-board impact on the growth of the sport both in terms of live attendance and television ratings. There was also a new points system put into place, one that lasted until the first year of Nextel’s sponsorship, which was 2004.
In the years since the Nascar nextel cup series has been dominated by one man: Jimmie Johnson. He’s won four championships in a row, more than any other driver, and is considered by most the greatest driver in Cup history.
Jewelry Making Kits
Written by admin Tuesday, 5 January 2010 02:07
Jewelry making is a hobby that not everyone can do, as it takes a lot to time, concentration and imagination, but it can be fun if you have the time and love to create new things that you can use or give away as gifts. There are many types of jewelry making kits out there that you can buy for yourself, or you can buy them for someone else as a gift. What can be even more fun is to buy the items that you have found the most useful to put in kits to give away as gifts. Even if someone has never made jewelry before, they may love to get a kit and start out on their own.
Anyone can learn
If you want to put together your own jewelry making kits for adults or kids, you have to know a bit about making jewelry, but you certainly do not have to be a professional jewelry maker, or even do it that often for that matter. You just have to know the basics and what a person has to do to get started. You can make jewelry making kits out of the very same items that you found that you needed when you first started. If you used a kit, you probably remember what you thought should have been included and perhaps what was left out that you would have found useful. This information will be very helpful while you are putting together kits.
Jewelry tools
You are always going to need some types of tools for making jewelry. The basics are what most people use for any level of jewelry making. There are different sizes of wire cutters out there and it pays to include a few different ones. A small flashlight might be a nice touch, and pliers of a few different sizes work well for jewelry making kits as well. A metal nail file is a good idea too. There are more advanced tools out there for making intricate or hard to make jewelry that you can buy if you are getting something for someone who is not new to jewelry making.
What you want to include in your jewelry making kits in the way of stones and other items greatly depends. Everyone likes something different. There are hundreds if not thousands of different options out there for the main parts of the jewelry so you can go with what you think someone will like. Do not forget to get the wire and chains needed, as well as the other pieces you may need like earring bases and the like. Again, just get what you think someone would use and enjoy, and what would be easier to use when first starting out if the recipient is a novice.
Kids can make jewelry too
If you want to make jewelry making kits for kids, you do not have to buy all of the same tools. Young girls will especially enjoy these types of kits so they can make necklaces and bracelets on their own using their own imaginations. You can get the string and plastic cord along with safe scissors and all types of beads for their kits. These are cheaper and easier to make, and will be greatly appreciated for Christmas, birthdays, or for any other occasion in which you would give a gift.
Graphic design school
Written by admin Tuesday, 5 January 2010 01:30
Graphic design is a very integral part of our lives whether we realize it or not. We’re bombarded with ads everywhere, we see posters, we unwrap packages, we browse websites, we read menus, we wear T shirts, we watch movies—practically whenever we see an image, a symbol, a logo, or any sort of visual presentation, we’re seeing the product of graphic design. Graphic design is intended to reach out to the public and inform, influence, demonstrate and entertain. It lets us know what a store is selling, it tells us what to buy in that store, it shows us how the things in that store work, and it gets those things to amuse us or draw us in. Sometimes the intent of graphic design is very specific and clear, and other times it works subliminally. Either way, daily life is heavily influenced by creative visual communication conceptualized and put into action by graphic designers.
Hands on learning
But before graphic designers can send their creations forth into the world, they need the proper knowledge and experience. They begin as students at graphic design schools, where the learning is very hands on. Unlike other universities in which a large part of education consists of lectures, graphic design schools espouse working in the studio and discussing design projects. The environment is very dynamic and interactive—graphic design schools maintain a curriculum in which students actively work on projects and critique each others’ work. Through the experience of direct exposure and receiving feedback from others, graphic design students learn how to communicate through their work more effectively. The experience in itself fosters communication with others and students learn to work with and learn from their colleagues.
Build you portfolio
Graphic design schools directly prepare students for the future—they will build up a portfolio during their time there, which will help them to get employed once they have graduated. There are many different directions that they can go in, since graphic design is so ubiquitous. Some may design packages for a company’s products, some might design logos, some might design websites, some might illustrate books, some might create ads, and some might do a combination of these things. Graphic designers work on a project by project basis and while they usually will have a steady job, many of them work as freelance graphic designers, meaning that they take on various projects from different clients. The possibilities are numerous and graphic designers should choose a path that suits their interests and work ethic.