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With today’s troubled economic climate and with the fact that things seem to cost more than ever before, it’s incredibly easy to find yourself in debt. Tanked housing values, a tight lending market and high unemployment make it tougher than ever before to make ends meet. Unfortunately, for many, the relief of tapping into funds from credit cards, home equity and personal loans resulted in mounds of un-repayable debt.

This is a problem faced by people from all walks of life—from military veterans to teachers and even seemingly successful lawyers, doctors, and the like. The good news is that no matter who you are, what you do, or even how bad your debt problems are, you can take control of the situation and find your way out of debt for good.

Know Where Your Money Goes

One of the major reasons that people find themselves in debt is because they are not mindful of their spending habits. Starting right now, however, you can change all that. Spend a few days or a week writing down every penny that you spend and what you spend it on.

You’ll quickly see the areas where your spending is out of control, and that can help you choose areas to cut back. Need help regaining control of your finances? SpendingProfile.com is one great online resource for cataloging your spending habits.

Budget Your Money

Just as you need to see where you’re spending the majority of your money, you should also be aware of what bills you have and of your overall income. Take the time to sit down and write out a monthly budget. Pay attention to how much you earn, how much you have to pay for each bill and when bills are due. If you actually do have the money to handle your debts, you’ll be able to get back on track easily; if you don’t, you’ll know it’s time to turn to other tactics.

Working with Creditors

Often, when individuals are overwhelmed with debt, they choose to ignore their financial problems. When those creditors call, they refuse to answer the phone or they toss those past due bills in the trash can. This is a big mistake, however.

In many cases, if you’re willing to talk with your creditors and explain your situation, you can work out some kind of payment arrangement that’s better suited to your needs. Financial Library offers a great guide to dealing with your creditors.

Filing for Bankruptcy

Sometimes, people get so far into debt there’s really no easy way out. When this is the case, it may be time to consider filing for bankruptcy. While bankruptcy is often regarded as a financial dead end and one that leads to horrible credit, it actually helps people get back on their feet with a fresh financial start.

It’s not easy, however, and many applicants don’t qualify. Speak with a credible bankruptcy attorney to find out if you do, and, if so, what your next step should be.

Adrienne Erin is a blogger and aspiring author. When she’s not blogging about tech and social media, you might find her practicing her French, whipping up some recipes she found on Pinterest, or obsessing over vintage postcards and stamps.

Although various gold price predictions have been given these past few months, it will never be completely accurate. However, London-based consultancy and research company, Gold Fields Mineral Services (GFMS) Ltd., Chairman Philip Klapwijk said that the market is predicted to rise to new highs by early 2013 after struggling this year.

I believe buying Gold at BullionVault is the best option for those who are thinking of starting the New Year with a good investment. Endorsed by the World Gold Council, Bullion Vault provides private investors worldwide access to the professional bullion markets. You can take advantage of their low cost buying, selling, and storing gold and silver bullion services. Today, it is the largest online investment gold service in the world with 41,500 users and holding $2.2 billon private investments. It’s also very quick and easy to transact with them. You can sell your gold or silver any time, without paying any penalty, or withdraw your bars and expect your money to be wired to you the next business day. Too easy, right?

So far, analysts have a diverse prediction when it comes to the price of gold by 2013. This mirrors the uncertainties in the global markets. An interesting fact about gold is that it often performs well in scenarios of deflation (for example driven by global debt reductions), but also in scenarios with higher than usual inflation rates.

“We are expecting still that we are going to see a push above $2,000 in 2013, but it may be that 2013 marks the high water mark for the market,” Klapwijk said.

Just to give a little flashback, the year 2011 is the tenth consecutive year in which the price of gold has increased. Over the entire 2011, the price of gold has increased by over 12 per cent in spite of the two dips in September and mid-November and December. The price of gold has further increased late November of this year—amid high volatility – to roughly $1,713 i.e. by more than 12 per cent from the beginning of 2012.

Gold therefore tends to perform positively in times of economic uncertainties as well as in acute crises. Unfortunately, the global financial problems are not yet sorted out. Some credible commentators expect several more years of uncertainty, which could end only when we are approaching the next decade. Thus, in the foreseeable future a moderate allocation to gold will remain imperative for many investors and could result in a positive trend of the gold price come 2013 and beyond.

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.