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Thanks to rising costs in general and the need to save a bit more, Christmas has started to get harder to deal with on a financial basis with each new year. Those with big families tend to find it the hardest, but everyone can benefit from a few simple budgetary tips.

There are so many options and methods to be implemented to ensure that you are not overstretched at Christmas and all shouldn’t be too hard to apply to your festive spending habits.

• Although this is perhaps a tip that is a bit late, it is certainly one that is effective; the tip being to start your Christmas shopping early. This allows you to take your time and survey all the numerous offers and sales that are almost certain to be in effect. Remember to look on the internet as well as the high street for deals.

• Using online vouchers or eMoney will help restrict your expenditure, as well as ensure your payments are safe and anonymous. Online vouchers from somewhere such as Ukash only allow you to put a certain amount of money on them and so you can’t spend any more than you have on the voucher.

• Setting a maximum budget for all the people on your shopping list allows you to see the most you will spend on Christmas presents and so you can budget for that set amount, because as long as you don’t go over it, you can set your other budgets in relation to your shopping list.

• Another good tip is to buy early if you’re buying online. Some online stores hike up the delivery prices in the run up to Christmas to take advantage of those late to Christmas shopping and have no choice but to pay the heightened prices.

• Ensure that you are realistic about what you can afford and that you have considered all the other expenditure that is coming out that month that might include heating, gas and water, as well as the likes of travelling costs over the festive period.

Implementing these tips will help you save bundle of money each Christmas and may even inspire you to more helpful tricks to help curve expenditure at one of the most expensive parts of the year.

Before you decide to jump into foreign exchange market as a broker or as an investor, you must acquire a basic knowledge of how this market operates and the terms used in it. The foreign exchange market never shuts down and operates 24 hours a day on all working days. It is the largest liquid financial market. It’s not like a typical ‘market’ or stock exchange. There is no central trading location. All the transactions are conducted over the telephone or electronic foreign exchange trading networks. The ‘interbank market’ is the primary market for currencies. First of all, remember foreign exchange has been abbreviated to ‘forex’ and ‘FX’ by the people who are active participants in foreign exchange trading. Here is a list of the basic terms used in forex trading.

• Exchange Rate: The exchange rate expresses the value of one currency in terms of another. For example, AUD/JPY = 88.6348352. This means, 1 Australian dollar is equal to 88.6348352 Japanese yen.

• Currency Pair: The two currencies shown in an exchange rate are called a ‘currency pair’. The first currency is known as the ‘base’ currency, and the second one in the pair is called ‘counter’ or ‘terms’ or ‘quote’ currency.

• Currency Codes: There are eight major currencies which are traded in the forex market. There is a three character code that denotes the country. The major currencies are;

USD = US Dollar
EUR = Euro
JPY = Japanese Yen
GBP = British Pound
CHF = Swiss Franc
CAD = Canadian Dollar
AUD = Australian Dollar
NZD = New Zealand Dollar

• Lot: The standard unit size of a transaction. A 100,000 units of the base currency are called a standard lot. If its 10,000 units, traders refer to it as ‘mini’ and 1,000 units are called ‘micro’.

• Pip: This is the smallest unit in price quote for currency. Beginners will note that forex traders quote currencies with 4 decimals. For example if a price is quoted as 1.2345 the last digit ‘5’ is known as ‘pip’. If it goes up by 3 pips it would be 1.2348.

• Bid and Ask Price: The bid price is the price at which the forex market will buy a particular currency from you. The ask price is the price they are ready to sell a currency to you. The market makes money when the ask price is higher than the bid price. The difference in the two prices is known as the bid/ask spread.

• Sell Quote / Bid Price: The sell quote is the currency on the left of the pair known as the base currency. For example, if AUD/USD = 1.0532/03, this means you can sell 1 Australian dollar at the bid price of US$ 1.0532.

• Buy Quote / Offer Price: The buy price is displayed on the right of the currency pair. This is the price at which you can purchase the base currency. It is also known as the market maker’s ask or offer price. For example AUD/USD = 1.0532/03 means that you can buy 1 Australian dollar for US$ 1.0532.

Once you are familiar with these basic terms of forex trading you can take the plunge and learn more advanced terminologies and how this unseen market operates.

To profit when buying a stock, you must be right on the direction as soon as you enter the trade. If the stock goes up, you’ll make money, and if the stock goes down, you’ll lose money. If you short a stock, and the stock goes down, you’ll make money and if the stock goes up, you’ll lose money. Pretty basic, right?

However, once I learned how options work and started to trade them many years ago, I realized Newton’s law of motion could allow me to profit regardless of whether a bullish trade went up, or a bearish trade went down.

To quote Isaac Newton, and I paraphrase, “A body in motion will remain in motion.” The Moses corollary to that would be: “A stock in a trend, will remain in a trend – until it isn’t.” And as long as it stays in that trend, there are numerous options strategies designed to take advantage of one of the attributes that make options unique: time decay.

This means it’s possible for a stock to go absolutely nowhere, or to even be wrong directionally on a stock/option trade, and still be able to profit. Now I don’t mean is Enron wrongÉ but it is possible to have a stock go against you directionally by 5%, sometimes even 10%, and still profit. This strategy can be accomplished by the buying and selling of out of the money options, which if they are still out of the money on their expiration date, will expire worthless (and traders would keep the premium sold).

Now while I can’t speak for everybody, the only reason I’m in the market, the only reason I’m a trader, is to… make a profit. So how liberating is it to know that you can profit, even when wrong on the direction your analysis suggested a stock would move in?

Here are 7 conservative options strategies designed to profit when stocks either go nowhere, stay above or below specified demand or supply levels, or stay within a defined range.. for approximately anywhere between three and six weeks:

1) Bull/Put Spread – You sell a put option at the strike price you expect the stock to stay above, and buy another put option at the next out of the money strike price.

2) Bear/Call Spread – You sell a call option at the strike price you expect the stock to stay under, and buy another call option at the next out of the money strike price.

3) Bull/Call Spread – You buy a call option, and sell another call option at a strike price you expect the stock to stay over.

4) Bear/Put Spread – You buy a put option, and sell another put option at a strike price you expect the stock to stay under.

5) Cash Secured Put – You sell a put option at a strike price you expect the stock to stay over.

6) Covered Call – On a stock you already own, you sell a call option at a strike price you expect the stock to stay under.

7) Iron Condor – You enter a bull/put spread and a bear/call spread at the same timeÉ looking to capture a range you expect the stock to stay in between.

Every option trade carries risk of loss, up to and including 100% of the principle invested.

This is a guest post by Steve Moses, Options Trader and Instructor at Online Trading Academy

In simple terms FOREX or foreign exchange trading is simply that, trading in foreign currency. You can trade one currency for another. For example, you can trade between the Euro and the dollar or vice versa or between any other currencies. The world is open to you. It is easy to start trading in FOREX, all you basically need is a computer, an internet connection, some basic knowledge about the market and obviously, some money. In the foreign exchange you can trade 24 hours a day, five days a week at any amount. You don’t need to have a lump sum of money to start trading, you just need to have enough to allow you to trade and turn a profit.

Some points to keep in mind when trading

If you are trading in the foreign exchange market and are doing well and want to keep your advantage then there are some points to keep in mind. Always know the market. Study it, so you know what is going on.

Always have a plan in place. Know when to get in to the market and when to step back. Always use your head and your research, never your gut or instinct.

Never invest all your money in one place. Always keep a certain percentage aside for each trade. That way if you incur a loss you wouldn’t have lost everything. Also, if you lose in a certain area then pull out and don’t invest in that again. Move on.

Always trade with the trend and never try and think you can beat the market. The market is always right and you will do well keeping that in mind.

Never try and make a profit in all your trades. Just ensure that you keep a good and positive balance between your winnings and your losses.

Lastly, you might have heard and noticed that all successful traders usually buy when they hear bad news and sell when they hear good news. So why not give it a try? After all it is working for them.

Further advantages

Another advantage of trading in FOREX is that you can enter and leave the market whenever you like. You are not bound by anything. The foreign exchange market is also the most liquid financial market there is and therefore, over three trillion dollars are traded on a daily basis.

All businesses have overheads; those recurring costs that show up month on month. They may have little effect on the day to day running, but can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Careful monitoring will prevent overheads getting out of control and what better time than New Year, to re-evaluate the necessity of these costs and re-establish your values.

There are only two ways to get more money; sell more or cut back. Nobody likes the idea of a cut back, but sometimes in business it has to be done. Simply looking at alternatives to what you already have can help open your eyes to other sources of saving. Your office and your everyday tasks can be replaced to a more cost effective substitute like swapping travel with video calls.

Here are some tips that should help lessen the blow:

1. Evaluate your office – Look not only at the physical space with all its associated costs, but at the furniture and equipment within the space.

Either move to a less expensive office or look for shared or serviced offices to cut back on overheads. Even just trying to re-negotiate the cost of your current space could save you money (and the expense of moving).

Unused office furniture could be sold and equipment recycled – some stores may even give you money off new when you trade in your old hardware.

2. Update old Software – this is viewed as expensive; however, hiring the right person for the job will pay dividends. There is a plethora of open source software available that provide options you did not have or are currently paying for. Research here is essential to ensure you retain professionalism.

3. Stop traveling – meet up via high definition video calls instead. Not only is the software easy to use and allows for much more than just a phone call with pictures; it makes the collaboration of colleagues, clients and customers all over the world available at the drop of a hat.

This method of communication also opens the doors to be able to deal with more businesses that were previously not possible without travel. The use of desktop sharing and interactive whiteboards make it easy for those in different locations to have a productive meeting meaning the world suddenly becomes a lot smaller for your business.

4. Compare services – just like all the television adverts for your home, investigate fixed price deals or utilities, water coolers, printers and recycling. Providers do not want to lose your business, so it is within their interest to make sure you are getting the best deal – make sure you are on it.

It is easy to go on about how to save money, but there are also things you cannot afford to cut. Maintaining your loyalty both from employees and customers is essential if there is going to be a business at the end of the day. Employees will understand cutbacks – but not at their expense; avoid reducing pension contributions or festive bonus schemes – they may help you out in the short term, but not in the long.

New Year is a great time to look back at your achievements and set your goals for the year ahead. Making the most of what you have and looking for new ways to be innovative will not only make your business more frugal, but will open doors to new opportunities.