401(K) ROLLOVER (Philippine Perspective)

“Money, money, that’s all it matters.” In our country, I have encountered many retiring personnel who automatically opted to apply for retirement by way of a five-year lump sum payment from the Services Insurance Company or based on a computed basic salary times the number of years in service. However, after a period of five years or whatsoever, they will definitely receive monthly pension for a lifetime. For as long as they reach the age of sixty (60) and thirty (30) years in service, the Insurance Company of which they are members during their term of service will compute all outstanding life and retirement premiums they made.

In the event that the member who applied for retirement has loan obligations or payables to the agency they work, it will also be deducted from the proceeds of the retirement. Hence, the amount receive will be free from any liability from the Company.

In cases like early retirement will take place prior to the age of sixty (60), proceeds can be transferred to another company they wish to work with. They will still pay for the life and retirement premiums every month and accumulate funds for their own future use.

Almost all of the retirees will get their net proceeds and take home for a living while waiting for their monthly pension. They have the right to enter into the business investment climate or enjoy the money they got from their years of effort. I know for a fact that they keep their money in bank with interest as savings or current account for health reasons as they grow old.

 

BEST OPTION FOR 401(k) ROLLOVER

Recently in my research, when a personnel left a job as early as his retirement age of sixty (60) and having an outstanding account in the agency (which he owned during his time of service), has the option to decide on what to do about it and may consume it with his own objective and vested interest.

Many of the early separated employees are experiencing bankruptcy when they withdraw their money without any planning, consultancies and proper financial management.

The idea of 401 (k) rollover helps a lot because an individual is free to move the account from one retirement to another retirement.  It was noted then that an account like this is pre-tax. But, in case you do not really know how to deal with it, you will encounter an abrupt problem on financial liquidity.  The money earned will no longer be so fruitful and helpful.

However, there are some benefits in roll over if the retirement plan with your latest employment offers the same.

In this mutual fund company, if you do not have enough investment to be used, along the way you will have a hard time to diversify.

Limited funds indeed cannot move freely or spread investment widely.

As a beginner and as part of my realization, I find it more attractive to roll the account within this mutual fund since it caters the simplest way, objectively well-defined and more understandably easy to undertake.

Visualizing and planning everything before things get worst would be the ideal one.

 

PRACTICALITY IN CHOOSING VARIABLE ANNUITY REPORT

• Be practical. Do not rely so much on the company you invested to issue the variable annuity report once a month, once in every quarter or depending on your terms of share. A lot of the reporting will arrive late in which it happen to be doubling your expenses already. Some reports may arrive together only to find out that you have fully paid already. Find time once a week or month to review and capture everything in one document filer.

 

• Consolidate your records. By the time you already have the official report from the company or institution, make a self counter checking in your own reporting to that of the institution being issued. Always be on the look of your investment since its money, time and effort have been exerted on this.

 

• Call your company in case you have some questions regarding your own variable annuity documentation to that of the company you transacted with. Simply inform them that you are monitoring from time to time to better understand the ways it should be.

 

• Be updated There are companies that are always on the go and on top in terms of track records in handling customer or client service. Just like a five star hotel, where you can find the best satisfying owner-customer feedback.  There are also companies that although they have been in existence for a period of years but suddenly encountered problems on financial liquidity.  In return, your investment will be affected.

EVALUATE YOUR VARIABLE ANNUITY

The first thing you should evaluate is the type of variable annuity being applied.  There are some hints that can be considered as application errors; one mistake will lead to verification. Nowadays, online marketing and other virtual transactions can be easily and stealthily accessed by another person. Secure your online and telephone transactions through Customer Service Representatives to lessen the chances of getting hacked.

AMOUNT REFLECTED

If there is anything one must be sure about is figure. You should be conscious about the amount reflected as against the amount reflected in your personal records. So, if you will not find any discrepancy, at lease you will now be guided.

PAYMENT UPDATES

Most of the investors concern is the accuracy of records. Stick to what records you have.  There is no harm in setting up a small accounting records for your own convenience.  Be sure to review and assess your mode of payment when it comes to your obligations so that you have the idea about your standing in the company.  If you regularly do your own financial management, which is something doable, it can make your personal monitoring even more accurate.

DO YOUR PART

On top of all above-mentioned, do your part right away. Make necessary feedback on any negative inputs you found out.  The earlier action you resolve the better. Find out right away how soon the institution you dealt with would be able to solve your request.

 

VARIABLE ANNUITY

Annuity is a tax deferred investment. A holder of a life assurance company will, for instance, get tax relief while earning a tax free interest on an increasing sum of money. While the fixed annuity investments have a sure, a guaranteed rate of payment or interest upon the completion of the specified time, the case with variable annuities is not the same. The latter have mutual funds pooled from insurance policies of holders which do not carry a definite rate of payment on it. The rate is to vary depending on how markets are, increasing and decreasing at times.

The account receives funds regularly and keeps on growing. In variable annuity, the rate of returns  are determined by existing factors. If the company is doing well, its rates of returns will be better. The opposite holds true should there be a crunch of some kind. The holders would lose out by getting the value declared by the companies as deemed appropriate.

Mutual funds in the variable annuity provide varying payments depending on the periodic payments made to the investment company.  The investor can choose an accelerated rate of investment that grows at an increasing percentage per year to increase on the rate of returns to the investor. To protect the public from mismanagement and exploitation, variable annuities are regulated by government body, the SEC (Security Exchange and Commission) which declares the variable annuities as a security or not depending on options selected.

This is a great investment method that pays back at the end of the agreed contract which can be five, ten or even fifteen years, paying to the company and receiving funds with interest from it at specified time or upon maturity.

DO VARIABLE ANNUITY THE WAY YOU WANT IT TO BE

Lots of investors nowadays settle to an investment with the notion that will save costs in the future to come.  The reason for this is because they tend to be influenced on the recent trends in the market that many are enjoying. Hence, sudden variable annuity saturation comes next. As a result, more and more companies close down because of competitors that are offering attractive and so affordable types.

Planning is the most important way of reaching one’s objective to achieve successful investment.   It helps everyone to plan ahead and find out whether it is feasible or viable within a period of time.  It will definitely guide them in implementing especially in terms of Insurance, College Education and Health aspects.

 

Let’s take a look of these following tips in pursuing an investment for future purposes:

 

SEARCH FOR A MODEL

In searching for a successful model, consider the things that work for you the best. When starting, the best way is to know the pulse of the success and to get first hand information from the recipients. Do a networking with them and visit for a clear understanding of new concepts and well defined transactions.

SUCCESS STORIES

Successful investments of the past clients describe the kind of company you will invest into. It takes a lot of courage to come into terms of investment.  What is important, though, is that one must learn from other failures and have a clear and definite stand on its direction.  It seems one have reached the point to review some lessons learned for better growth. Concentrate on the services you will have and what the future may lead you.

 

401K ROLLOVER PLAN

The 401K roll over plan is a wonderful plan for retirement savings in the United States. Workers in corporations have an assurance that some funds will be availed to them from their 401 account upon attainment of the retirement age. This is a type of insurance that ‘rolls over’ or keeps the funds increasing through the years provided the account is not interfered with during the running period until the maturity at retirement date. Through investment companies, employees can consolidate the various funds into one pool in readiness for the retirement.

The fund helps workers in many ways. In case an employee loses his job, he can draw comfort from this arrangement. The fund is not subjected to tax but it earns interest as would a life assurance plan to provide a good source of income later in life when the former workers need it the most. This particularly comes in handy to low income earners who may not afford to go into a mutual fund company or invest with the little money. It has no minimum account requirement but draws money from your work payments. Some of the 401K Rollover Plan accounts offer flexibility for the employee such as the Brokerage option while others limit the flexibility for all your work life in such as in New Employees option.

The option to invest in Mutual funds companies greatly helps the individual employees to keep making money in progressive non-tax methods over time, presenting them with a solution to their financial problems in case of job loss or retirement. The most important thing here is to leave the funds grow and avoid withdrawals whether emergencies or not.

GETTING A VARIABLE ANNUITY

For some people, getting a variable annuity can be as important as life itself.  It may fulfill the need to feel secure and can give you satisfaction that you can dream all you want.  But without money and source of funds for spending, or other financing avenues to transform your field of dreams, the emptiness of owning something will remain to be untouched and unfulfilled.

Take a look of some of basic requirements when applying for a variable annuity.  Although it may offer different interest rates when it comes to different types of it, the basics are that they require applicants to be of legal age and gainfully employed.  Some will offer or spoke advantages of getting a variable annuity from their establishments.

Some of them offer variable annuity to various segments of society who earn their income in different ways. It may be professionals like doctors, people who earn from commissions and even overseas workers who will enjoy a special interest rate of fixed for a period of years.

All of these details are part of the course for many companies, but what differentiates to its competitors is its ease of payment and accessibility.  Depending on your preferences, you can have your monthly amortization automatically debited from your account or have it paid through over thousands of ATMs.  You can inquire and apply for this via online.  Though they may be silent about their rates, be sure that they are known to be one of the lowest in the market.

 

DO IT YOURSELF RECORDS ON VARIABLE ANNUITY

Don’t you know that you can make your own “do it yourself variable annuity records” by utilizing file copies that you have?  Just grab a few tricks to help your own record tracking and make a record trial balancing.  How?  These are so simple techniques and yet may be effective.

• Keeping track of your own transactions. It is the easiest and perhaps the best way to know your standing.  From the time you access up to the time of maturity. Never ignore any documents in your possession when it comes to accessing insurance claims or whatever it maybe.  Always make separate filing of records when it is all about personal transactions.

 

• Use your own initiative and creativity. Go online, search for templates or any other downloadable forms in so many available websites that will be so useful in tracking everything. Try to review the actual process you incurred as against the institution’s original documents. Follow some simple steps for you to be able to grasp all of your variable annuity activities. As a result, you can save a lot of money.  You just have to know where to start with.

 

• Take one step at a time.  With the presence of your activity files, you have to take a slow recording but sure and very much accurate simple process flow in a more personalize way. You are not expected to do everything from the start.  Practice accurate recording of figures and as you repeat over and over again, it will make you perfect.

Oil Speculators Heard Like Cattle, Don’t Worry!

Number one on my list of pet peeves, all the news agencies saying crude oil is at $103 dollars a barrel. That’s Brent CRUDE STUPID! Not our crude. Oil will not go above 100 a barrel, if it could, it would of already done it. Any realistic trader would be shorting the crude market right now because they know it has no strength. It doesn’t matter if oil is going up or down, all that matters is if you are on the right side of the market. If you look at the technicals you’d be able to see we are entering a down side in the energy markets.

Heres Why:

Worthless Opec

1.Opec says they  want to cut supply to raise the price. Traders, hedge funds and index funds will always bet against Opec, because opec is the “mainstream” of the energy markets. They are considered one of the fundamentals of the market and fundamentals will always loose over technicals leaving the average CNBC watcher wondering why!

Low Volatility:

Comparing the crude market from 4 years ago till now, oil is much less volatile, meaning you have a bunch of chumps going long with no real reason for being in the market. No real big money is going to go long  at $91.oo a barrel. They are going to wait for the opportunity to ride it for a long time in one direction, now, that direction can only be down.

Growing Popularity of ETF’s

With the coming up of new money managers and investment banks into the hot market of exchange-traded funds or ETFs, the challenge all around in investing arena has become dynamic. Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs on the other hand are luring elite managers like Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC, Goldman Sachs Asset Management etc.  According to the CEO of Source, the amazing pace with which ETF business is growing is very challenging.  ETF was introduced in Europe in last summer which offered ETFs to the institutional market. Just 10 years back, ETFs were touted as a supplement to the mutual fund industry.  But, today the scene has changed mutual funds seems nowhere with the increasing popularity of ETFs, but due to the huge market of mutual funds, there are trillions of investors who haven’t made an attempt to shift to ETFs and away from the traditional commodity brokers who once based everything on liquidity and volatility.. No doubt it is hard to replace mutual funds but more and more investors are discovering the merits due to shifting their assets to ETFs. These funds can be said to be the vital financial innovation in decades. Commodity Trading ETFs can be said to be at par with stocks. In other words it can be said that ETFs are baskets of stocks that inertly tack an index. Like stocks the ETFs can be bought or sold like a stock because the can be priced throughout the day.  ETFs are cheaper to on an average in comparison with mutual funds the expense ratio is around 1.5% and index fund is around 0.19

Wall Street Coming Back From the Dead

Wall Street is in the middle of a huge re-structuring. The guys that previousley could afford to drive Ferrari’s by being nothing but middle men between super star basemant hedge fund traders and UBS are as of last week wondering what the hell to do. Obama said Thursday that he had a plan to stop commercial banks and institutions that own banks from “owning, investing in or sponsoring” private equity and hedge funds, and also wants to cap trading activities done for in-house accounts.

So apparently the in-house trading team will have to adhere to a whole different set of standards  when they need to dump all of their S&P futures positions at the end of the month. But suspiciously the over the counter market continues to thrive and is still being sold as an asset class. Not that I would ever watch CNBC, but while wondering why the LCD in the gym was showing the market crashing they had none other than Rick  Santelli in Chicago with a caption at the bottom saying “Are exchange traded derivatives to blame for today’s crash” ? Yep the famous weapon of mass financial mass destruction is still going strong. Obama say’s nothing. Well we shall see you rises out of these ashes, but so far it looks like nothing but a quick to re-do to the past.

Where Is Our Economy Going?

Last week the white house was going to review weather to keep or not keep the eight thousand dollar tax credit for first time home buyers. All of a sudden today the program is to end on December 1st 2009. One of the main reasons for the halt of a program which is responsible for up to 50% of today’s new home buying  is because of fraud. It turns out that people have been using their children’s identity info as a means to qualify as a first time home buyer. These are unemployed dirt bag mortgage brokers no doubt. But it doesn’t stop there. Also among the scnadelous which is suprising are IRS employee’s. That’s right, the IRS have had to do tons of internal investigations of it’s own employees new home purchases. So the average first time home buyer gets screwed.

What does this administration think is going to happen to new home sales numbers after this program isn’t available next month? Historically December is the slowest time for new home sales annually so they are probably hoping the numbers will just mix in with the previous years sales figures.

What should be going through your head after reading this is, yes, home prices  are about to go lower, which will effect new home construction, which in-turn will send the dow straight down. Short the Dow! Short Caterpillar, Ingersol Rand , Commercial and Residential  Construction Sectors. The stock market is going to crash, sorry. So either get out of it, or take advantage of it.

There are several ways to hedge your positions in the market. If you have a good broker, ask him if he knows about delta neutral positions. This is a procedure in  which put options on the stock indexes via a commodity broker are put in your account in order to protect you in the event of a fast overnight crash. The premiums of your options will be worth the amount of your market risk putting your account in Neutral. Or if your broker hasn’t taken that class, tell him you need to diversify into a bear market or ultra-bear market fund, again hedging your risk.  There are also Exchange Traded Funds, ETF”s but those are for loosers, don’t waste your time.

Tune in next week on the only way to save the U.S. dollar after it has been attacked by the white house.

WHAT SHOULD I INVEST IN?

These articles are not meant  to say that I am the almighty! But  I will never post tons of charts with twenty too many technical studies on them, or talk about fundamental financial news telling you whats going to happen with Gold and the  S&P. I am just a simple commodity broker who is involved in commodity trading.

While I can and probably will show you a simple chart someday there will be a real reason for it. Like, Bonds are going to make a huge shift, and it’s something that you could actually take advantage of. Or Oil is going to be a great short! I love shorting Oil!

I have two reasons in putting time in this. One, to share some experience and tell you that the markets are not that hard to learn. Two, promote a brokerage owned and operated by me. The promoting part is all done via SEO so you wont have to deal with one sided opinions. Use any broker you like. What most traders need to know is that things they hear or read about has nothing to do with the future movement of their stock or commodity. All the movements that you see are based on institutional traders with billions of dollars under management looking at technical indicators. Their buys or sells, are triggering other indicators, seen by other money managers and institutionals who also place huge buys and sells based on that info. If you want a sample of what these professional traders are making their decisions on, I would be happy to email you the information, besides they are all free on the internet, you just need a quick lesson on how to use them.

Oil’s Back, You’re Screwed!

It seems every time  the stock market gains steam, the oil market punishes us at the pump. Remember when Bush fought so hard to give us stimulus checks, only to have gas go from $2.60 to $4.00. It took a CFTC investigation to shu off the herding hedge funds. Of course then they shorted it all the way down to $36. Now the recent gains in the S&P have put some margin money in the hands of the leverage kings, can anything stop them? Obama wont have a chance unless he steps in to correct it and that’s probably exactly what he’d do. A republican president did the same thing when oil was getting too high in the eighties, he announced that unless the price goes down we will not be buying any oil from the middle east. The next morning the energy market tanked, a statement that these days would have quite the opposite affect.

So here we are again, demand down, production up, PRICE UP? Huh? Huh, is exactly what the finance media outlets should be asking. But instead they interview five different analysts and pick the story that sounds good for the day. Another reason why fundamentals will never work for trading. Why isn’t anyone talking about about this? I feel like I am the Michael Savage of finance.

The nymex is still leanent on their rules if you are considered a bonified hedger alowing the instiutionals to leverage more contracts than everyone else. The large wire houses are also still selling OTC’s as an asset class. With the commodity brokers still playing follow the leader with everyone else we wont be seeing relief  at the  pump anytime soon.

So the lesson in all this is, GET LONG STUPID. Were only at $72. We’ve been here 3 times before, which should bring us way above $150, closer to $180. At that point maybe Obama will have a cash for fuel burning cars and a credit tword electric hybreds, in-turn bringing back the american car companies. I should work in the white house. Or I could eat rocks. Ya that one!

Bond Futures

In 2007 after January 1 through about April,  after oil came off it’s $72 highs, no one including myself could find a trend in the markets. It didn’t matter what position you took, you were almost guaranteed to loose. For so long with help form the Index and Hedge Funds, trends and directions were easy to depict. What was it that was tripping up the market? Re-aligning after the new year? Mass exoduses of long and short positions for the upcoming credit crash? What ever it was, I learned a lesson. That lesson is that it is ok to stop trading. It’s better to make 0% for the month than lose 6. I also learned from looking back that no matter how solid my technique, it will not always apply for short periods of time. The worst case scenario is that you have to completely go back to the drawing board. Every great trader should be open to this unless they’re willing to leverage their career off their technical study.

But today thank God the trends are back. You wouldn’t think so but even with the economic turmoil, things are as clear as day. The mass scalping funds are out of the picture exposing the old school hedgers and their directions. A parabolic indicator is as easy as Red Light, Green Light. Bonds. I love trading bonds. I love using bonds as the indicator and then choosing weather to play the 10,5 or 2 year note in the same direction. It should be illegal. I will never subscribe to Breifing.com or give into their fundamental propaganda in which they are bringing in millions in advertising and then delete their free section for investors.

While most commodity brokers are working for independent boiler rooms pitching option spreads to retiree’s, the ones that have technique and know how to bring returns are often left in the dark and struggle with the ethics of prospecting for new equity. When or how are the profitable futures brokers going to be separated from the derelicts of the industry, of which there are thousands. One way, the only way currently is to become a CTA. Only then will you be recognized for your returns. The next problem is finding a way for potential clients to find you. Being listed on sites such as Autumgold.com helps, but what about the people that don’t or would’nt seek to find such resources. The only way is for the futures broker to venture out from behind the screen and network with the financial community. Once you have a successful record and the big firms see it, you wont be able to accomodate the level of equity. This is the only moral route for todays successful commodity broker.

The Gold Head Fake

Several Neo Gold Nazzi’s such as Jim Sinclair and other Gloom & Doom so sayers will lead you to believe that every time there is a rally in gold, that “this is the one”. What is the percentage of these metal guru’s  have a silent financial stake in bullion companies? Then when the carpet is pulled out from out of the market they scream and blame the “market controllers”. FYI Gold kooks, Nobody cares about these so called precious metals, were in it for the buck and then were going to get out.

Personally I use trailing indicators to indentify when the hedge funds and commodity broker index funds are hearding and drawing the market in one direction. I wait for a slight pullback, and then jump in at the beginning of the next part of the trend and let it ride with my trailing stops. Thats the way I do it, but I’m one of the bad guys, pretty negative too. The funny asians love to reverse their positions and go short in the middle of the night  on the night market when all of America is long. I love that.

I don’t care if I’m trading canola oil or treasury futures, or bond futures, this is my trading account, and obviously everyone else feels the same way, except the sheepish followers of these metal jockeys.If you don’t want to do all the work on your own you can use managed futures, as long as the actual trader has a good performance record.

Energy Trading

Oil closed at $15.20, dropping to a three-month low Friday as the dollar surged and concerns about global economic growth weighed on demand expectations.

The fall came even as Russia sent forces into Georgia, a key energy transit region, to repel a Georgian assault on the breakaway South Ossetia region.

“It seems that we’ve got a lot of selling based on the stronger dollar,” said Jason Blaylock, Senior enegry anylist at Interwoven Capital.

“Energy demand destruction and the dollar return have formed a quiet alliance to bring the oil market down, and today the louder of the two is the dollar.”

Strong demand from emerging economies like China sent oil on a six-year rally, with prices up sevenfold at their peak.

More support came from investors rushing into commodities as a hedge against inflation and the weak dollar.

But mounting global economic problems and high fuel prices have begun to hurt demand, weighing on prices.

The dollar surged by commodity broker against the euro and was on track for its biggest one-day gain in four years as concerns mounted that the U.S. economic slowdown was spreading to the euro zone and around the world.

“The market has been ignoring the Tbilisi pipeline situation, and now the problems with Russia — the move lower really now has a momentum of its own with the financial players coming out,” said Olivier Jakob a Futures Broker at Petromatrix.

Georgia’s pro-Western president said Friday the two countries were at war as Georgian troops backed by warplanes pounded separatist forces in South Ossetia and Russia sent forces to repel the assault.

Energy Trading has become highly based on the public opinion from a speculation standpoint. With so much volitility due to over the counter cash swaps by commodity index funds. Managed Futures are a better alternative for private clients.

Commodities and The World

There are notable shifts occurring in the stock market on the dollar rally/commodities drop this week.

1) lower oil trading has been a notable help to retailers and airlines

2) lower commodity costs in general, from copper to grains to plastics, have been a big help to consumer and material stocks, many of whom have bitterly complained of rising raw material costs

3)A commodity broker the dollar rally has helped small cap stocks. Again today the Russell 2000, the main small cap index, is outperforming the S&P 500. In fact, since the dollar hit its recent low (July 15, the market bottom), the Russell 2000 has rallied 10 percent, while the S&P 500 is up only 5.6 percent.

Why small caps? They are not dependent on exports to grow, as multinationals are. The strong dollar makes exports more expensive and less competitive.

As for the large caps, modest rallies in airlines, autos, and retailers is to be expected on the lower commodities, particularly oil.

Commodities

The U.S. markets ended the week on a positive note, cheered by a retreat in commodities, a Fed’s decision to keep rates steady at 2%, better-than-expected results in pending home sales, and a stronger dollar. The ECB also kept its key rate unchanged at 4.25%, as concerns over the health of the euro zone economy increase.  The NASDAQ led the major indices, up 4.46% for the week, its best week since 4/18.  In addition to today’s 300 point gain, the Dow managed a 331 point run on Tuesday, marking its biggest point gain since April 1.   Offsetting the rally, disappointing retailer sales and new capitalization uncertainties from Fannie Mae (FNM) & Freddie Mac (FRE) weighed on U.S. stocks in the middle of the week.

Next Week’s Highlights:  The futures markets will closely follow economic news on International Trade, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and Industrial Production. The next batch of earnings will come mostly from retailers Wal-Mart, Macy’s, JC Penney, and Home Depot.  Hewlett-Packard will also report