Debt Consolidation Credit Counseling In Phoenix

Many retirees are faced with the possibility of a long-term care event. How will I pay expenses if I cannot take care of myself? I do not want to put the burden of long-term care expenses on my family or children. The good news is that we are not alone, millions of seniors across America are facing the same dilemma and many are making plans now. There are a lot of things we can do but it is coming down to two main options. The first is long-term care insurance and the other is a reverse mortgage. Some are combining both options. These options are important factors in planning for the time when we may need the money the most but will not be able to do much about it.

A reverse mortgage is a loan that is made to individuals 62 years and over in the United States, which is used to release home equity on a property in one large lump sum, or multiple payments. The homeowner is not obligated to repay the loan until they die, the home is sold or they leave into a nursing home.

For a typical mortgage, the owner of the house will pay a monthly payment to the lender, whereas in a reverse mortgage, the home owner makes no payments and all interest is added to the lien on the property. Now, it may seem odd that there are no payments on the reverse mortgage, but the way that the loan is paid off is that if the home owner moves, goes into a nursing home or dies, is from the proceeds in the sale of the house, or in the event the heirs refinance the estate of the homeowner. If the proceeds of the sale exceed the amount of the loan, the owner of the house gets the difference. In the case of the heirs, they would receive the difference. If the sale does not pay off the loan, then the bank will absorb the difference.

This option is becoming very popular with some seniors when they have to choose between reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance because they get a lot of the money upfront, which can then be applied to savings. The draw back is that it could severely effect the inheritance that you may want to leave behind. Long-term care insurance is an inexpensive way to insure that your family is taken care of.

Conclusion For many seniors, the possibility of their children paying out of their own pocket to take care of them is simply too much to bear. As a result, seniors will look at the options of reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance to find a way that they can pay their own way through either a loan or a government program. In the case of reverse mortgages, they will be able to get a loan that they will not have to pay back until they die or move, and even then the loan is paid off on the sale of the home. This allows them to get the money up front to help pay for their own long-term care at home. It is of little surprise it has become such a popular trend for seniors looking for a way to pay their own way.

As you grow old, some things like dinners out and movies become cheaper due to senior discounts. However, conversely other things become more expensive, and usually those things are insurance. As a result, when you are getting a long-term care policy, your age is going to have a big effect on the price of a long-term care policy.

Look at it from the insurance company's perspective. They have a 30-year-old computer programmer who works from home and rarely travels. As a result, he is considered low-risk and his insurance premium costs are going to be as low as $20 per month. However, for an individual who is 67 and has a heart condition, the costs become much greater because there is an increased risk that the individual will have to collect on the policy soon.

A 30-year-old can pay $20 per month for years and offset the cost of the long-term care expenses for the company very early on. This is not the case for the 67-year-old. The insurance company will need to collect as much money as they can before the individual needs long-term health care so they can offset the costs of his care.

As a result, age has a huge affect on the price of a long-term health care plan. The younger you are, the less you will pay, while the older you are the more you will pay. Hence the reason you should try and get the care you need at an early age so you can benefit from those low costs.

As you get older, you are in a greater risk area of suffering several debilitating health problems. The insurance companies look at this and they determine your eligibility for long-term care insurance programs as a result.

Do not be surprised if you end up paying over $100 more than someone 20 or 30 years younger than you. If you want to save money on your premiums, and not put more financial strain on yourself to make the payments each month, you are going to need to try and get yourself into a long-term care insurance plan early so that you have a low price for long-term care.

Conclusion It is an unfortunate reality of life that the closer you get to needing long-term care, the more you will pay on the price for long-term care insurance. Insurance companies will look at you in terms of risk, and if there is a greater risk they will be paying out sooner than later, they are going to attach higher monthly premium payments as a result. You have less time to pay towards your long-term care insurance policy, and as a result, they need to offset the potential costs of that plan by getting as much money before you need long-term care as they can.

As with anything to do with money and saving, starting earlier is always better than starting later. Long-term insurance plans are no different and early planning on your part, will mean an easier premium payment from the insurance company.

You should just ask for help from an insurance representative who specializes in long term care insurance to answer any questions.

Many retirees are faced with the possibility of a long-term care event. How will I pay expenses if I cannot take care of myself? I do not want to put the burden of long-term care expenses on my family or children. The good news is that we are not alone, millions of seniors across America are facing the same dilemma and many are making plans now. There are a lot of things we can do but it is coming down to two main options. The first is long-term care insurance and the other is a reverse mortgage. Some are combining both options. These options are important factors in planning for the time when we may need the money the most but will not be able to do much about it.

A reverse mortgage is a loan that is made to individuals 62 years and over in the United States, which is used to release home equity on a property in one large lump sum, or multiple payments. The homeowner is not obligated to repay the loan until they die, the home is sold or they leave into a nursing home.

For a typical mortgage, the owner of the house will pay a monthly payment to the lender, whereas in a reverse mortgage, the home owner makes no payments and all interest is added to the lien on the property. Now, it may seem odd that there are no payments on the reverse mortgage, but the way that the loan is paid off is that if the home owner moves, goes into a nursing home or dies, is from the proceeds in the sale of the house, or in the event the heirs refinance the estate of the homeowner. If the proceeds of the sale exceed the amount of the loan, the owner of the house gets the difference. In the case of the heirs, they would receive the difference. If the sale does not pay off the loan, then the bank will absorb the difference.

This option is becoming very popular with some seniors when they have to choose between reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance because they get a lot of the money upfront, which can then be applied to savings. The draw back is that it could severely effect the inheritance that you may want to leave behind. Long-term care insurance is an inexpensive way to insure that your family is taken care of.

Conclusion For many seniors, the possibility of their children paying out of their own pocket to take care of them is simply too much to bear. As a result, seniors will look at the options of reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance to find a way that they can pay their own way through either a loan or a government program. In the case of reverse mortgages, they will be able to get a loan that they will not have to pay back until they die or move, and even then the loan is paid off on the sale of the home. This allows them to get the money up front to help pay for their own long-term care at home. It is of little surprise it has become such a popular trend for seniors looking for a way to pay their own way.

Many retirees are faced with the possibility of a long-term care event. How will I pay expenses if I cannot take care of myself? I do not want to put the burden of long-term care expenses on my family or children. The good news is that we are not alone, millions of seniors across America are facing the same dilemma and many are making plans now. There are a lot of things we can do but it is coming down to two main options. The first is long-term care insurance and the other is a reverse mortgage. Some are combining both options. These options are important factors in planning for the time when we may need the money the most but will not be able to do much about it.

A reverse mortgage is a loan that is made to individuals 62 years and over in the United States, which is used to release home equity on a property in one large lump sum, or multiple payments. The homeowner is not obligated to repay the loan until they die, the home is sold or they leave into a nursing home.

For a typical mortgage, the owner of the house will pay a monthly payment to the lender, whereas in a reverse mortgage, the home owner makes no payments and all interest is added to the lien on the property. Now, it may seem odd that there are no payments on the reverse mortgage, but the way that the loan is paid off is that if the home owner moves, goes into a nursing home or dies, is from the proceeds in the sale of the house, or in the event the heirs refinance the estate of the homeowner. If the proceeds of the sale exceed the amount of the loan, the owner of the house gets the difference. In the case of the heirs, they would receive the difference. If the sale does not pay off the loan, then the bank will absorb the difference.

This option is becoming very popular with some seniors when they have to choose between reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance because they get a lot of the money upfront, which can then be applied to savings. The draw back is that it could severely effect the inheritance that you may want to leave behind. Long-term care insurance is an inexpensive way to insure that your family is taken care of.

Conclusion For many seniors, the possibility of their children paying out of their own pocket to take care of them is simply too much to bear. As a result, seniors will look at the options of reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance to find a way that they can pay their own way through either a loan or a government program. In the case of reverse mortgages, they will be able to get a loan that they will not have to pay back until they die or move, and even then the loan is paid off on the sale of the home. This allows them to get the money up front to help pay for their own long-term care at home. It is of little surprise it has become such a popular trend for seniors looking for a way to pay their own way.

Many retirees are faced with the possibility of a long-term care event. How will I pay expenses if I cannot take care of myself? I do not want to put the burden of long-term care expenses on my family or children. The good news is that we are not alone, millions of seniors across America are facing the same dilemma and many are making plans now. There are a lot of things we can do but it is coming down to two main options. The first is long-term care insurance and the other is a reverse mortgage. Some are combining both options. These options are important factors in planning for the time when we may need the money the most but will not be able to do much about it.

A reverse mortgage is a loan that is made to individuals 62 years and over in the United States, which is used to release home equity on a property in one large lump sum, or multiple payments. The homeowner is not obligated to repay the loan until they die, the home is sold or they leave into a nursing home.

For a typical mortgage, the owner of the house will pay a monthly payment to the lender, whereas in a reverse mortgage, the home owner makes no payments and all interest is added to the lien on the property. Now, it may seem odd that there are no payments on the reverse mortgage, but the way that the loan is paid off is that if the home owner moves, goes into a nursing home or dies, is from the proceeds in the sale of the house, or in the event the heirs refinance the estate of the homeowner. If the proceeds of the sale exceed the amount of the loan, the owner of the house gets the difference. In the case of the heirs, they would receive the difference. If the sale does not pay off the loan, then the bank will absorb the difference.

This option is becoming very popular with some seniors when they have to choose between reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance because they get a lot of the money upfront, which can then be applied to savings. The draw back is that it could severely effect the inheritance that you may want to leave behind. Long-term care insurance is an inexpensive way to insure that your family is taken care of.

Conclusion For many seniors, the possibility of their children paying out of their own pocket to take care of them is simply too much to bear. As a result, seniors will look at the options of reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance to find a way that they can pay their own way through either a loan or a government program. In the case of reverse mortgages, they will be able to get a loan that they will not have to pay back until they die or move, and even then the loan is paid off on the sale of the home. This allows them to get the money up front to help pay for their own long-term care at home. It is of little surprise it has become such a popular trend for seniors looking for a way to pay their own way.

Many retirees are faced with the possibility of a long-term care event. How will I pay expenses if I cannot take care of myself? I do not want to put the burden of long-term care expenses on my family or children. The good news is that we are not alone, millions of seniors across America are facing the same dilemma and many are making plans now. There are a lot of things we can do but it is coming down to two main options. The first is long-term care insurance and the other is a reverse mortgage. Some are combining both options. These options are important factors in planning for the time when we may need the money the most but will not be able to do much about it.

A reverse mortgage is a loan that is made to individuals 62 years and over in the United States, which is used to release home equity on a property in one large lump sum, or multiple payments. The homeowner is not obligated to repay the loan until they die, the home is sold or they leave into a nursing home.

For a typical mortgage, the owner of the house will pay a monthly payment to the lender, whereas in a reverse mortgage, the home owner makes no payments and all interest is added to the lien on the property. Now, it may seem odd that there are no payments on the reverse mortgage, but the way that the loan is paid off is that if the home owner moves, goes into a nursing home or dies, is from the proceeds in the sale of the house, or in the event the heirs refinance the estate of the homeowner. If the proceeds of the sale exceed the amount of the loan, the owner of the house gets the difference. In the case of the heirs, they would receive the difference. If the sale does not pay off the loan, then the bank will absorb the difference.

This option is becoming very popular with some seniors when they have to choose between reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance because they get a lot of the money upfront, which can then be applied to savings. The draw back is that it could severely effect the inheritance that you may want to leave behind. Long-term care insurance is an inexpensive way to insure that your family is taken care of.

Conclusion For many seniors, the possibility of their children paying out of their own pocket to take care of them is simply too much to bear. As a result, seniors will look at the options of reverse mortgages and long-term care insurance to find a way that they can pay their own way through either a loan or a government program. In the case of reverse mortgages, they will be able to get a loan that they will not have to pay back until they die or move, and even then the loan is paid off on the sale of the home. This allows them to get the money up front to help pay for their own long-term care at home. It is of little surprise it has become such a popular trend for seniors looking for a way to pay their own way.

A long-term care insurance quote is based upon many factors. You will want know these factors and this article will give you six key points to explain some of those factors. When you receive an ltci quote, it is going to be contingent upon what you want out of the policy regarding benefits levels and where you are in your life age-wise. Using the information in this article will allow you to be a smart consumer.

Looking at long term care insurance quotes, what you want your policy to include and when you receive your policy will cause changes in the quotes you will receive. This article will give you more information about what companies you should look for among other factors.

When you are thinking about long-term care, you need to think about what types of benefits you will want. You can receive in-home service, nursing home care, or community based services to give you an idea.

One factor in the cost of your policy is your age. Getting your policy at a younger age allows the premium to be lower.

You will want to look at different types of companies. Your employer may be able to offer this type of insurance or you may want to look at individual companies.

You can choose different policies with different benefits. Some policies pay a maximum for either a daily, weekly, or monthly amount or others pay up to a certain dollar amount.

You have the option to choose when you are able to start using benefits and this will cause a change in your insurance quote. Daily benefits level is something to think over. If you want higher daily benefits limits, this will cause you to pay more for your ltci.

A long term care insurance quote is something you will want to really understand because it will take more money to take care of yourself when you are older. Putting your thoughts and the information out there to be discussed and thought about will allow you to truly pick the best policy for you.

People get their good and bad habits at an early age. If you wish to become a responsible individual, you have to practice the right things now. Handling money is a very important task because if you make it a habit to spend more than what you actually make, that is really bad and it can cause problems in the future. Opting for payday loans is not a really good choice because this is considered one of the risky solutions available to over spenders.

Payday loans can be a good solution for those who awful need money because of an pressing situation. Nevertheless, if you apply for payday loans without considering the risks, you can be caught in some form of debt trap that can only aggravate your latest situation.

There are decided disadvantages in applying for payday loans. One really plain reason is the high cost. The annual interests can reach 400 to 800%. With this rate, it would be even much better to invest on high risk stocks because you can enjoy investment returns from 20 to 30%.

Because of improper financial planning, you will often resort to borrowing. At the beginning of the calendar month, it is advisable that you determine a practical monthly budget so that you can already balance out your pay and outlays. Do not make uncalled-for purchases. Make for sure that you keep a certain portion of your wage for savings so that when something comes out of the blue, you will have money to spend. There are counseling agencies that can help you out in preparing monthly budgets.

Suppose you ended up borrowing money and now you have a creditor. Some individuals will tend to borrow once again from someone else or in all probability apply for payday loans in order to pay the creditors. This is not good and it would be better to talk to your creditors and ask if they can wait until your next wage. You can save a lot on the interest if you follow this advice

Urgent payments can be made through credit cards. The interest charges of credit cards are much lower than the payday loans. If you are member of a credit union, you can borrow a loan because the interest there is also lower. If you have the guts to talk to your employer, then you can ask him to give you a cash advance specially in the case of a medical emergency. Your employer will certainly understand the position that you are in if you just talk to him in a nice way.

If things are that bad, do not go for payday loan yet. You could always ask your friends or relatives if they can lend you some money and tell them just when and how long it will take you to pay them back. As long as you do pay them back on time, they will invariably help you out in the future.

There are also community social services that give urgent fiscal assistance to those who may need it. You can ask if you are qualified to receive such help.

Thus there you have it; you just have to know your other options before you plunge into applying for a payday loan. Payday loans have good sides too but the disadvantages are so plain and as long as you can avert it, try to do so. Just apply for one when you have taken all the other options.

If you are like most people, you do not want to be a burden to your loved ones as you age. As people are now living longer than ever before, many are living until their children approach retirement age. The last thing any parent wants to do is to burden their own children with their care.

You and your spouse have a 70 percent chance that one of you will need long term care at least once in your lifetime. If you do not have a spouse, you have a 40 percent chance of developing some condition that will require you to have long term care. This can happen at any time in your life - do you really want it to eat away all of your savings?

Some reasons for getting long term care insurance are as follows:

It will pay benefits that your insurance or Medicare will not. After getting out of the hospital, you may end up at a rehabilitation facility for a few months. While your insurance will cover some of these costs, they will not cover all of the costs. What they do not cover you will end up paying out of pocket. This can take away most, if not all, of your savings. When you have long term care insurance, you can rely on this to pick up what your insurance company will not cover.

It will enable you quality care. If you are forced to go into assisted living because of an illness or disability, you will have to pay for any care out of your savings. Medicare will only cover a small portion of the care that you receive. The rest will have to come out of your own pocket. Once your savings are depleted, you will have to apply for public aid. This may require you to be transferred to an assisted care facility that does not offer the quality as those that are privately funded.

It will ease the burden on your children. Your children will not want to see you in a facility where they feel you are not well cared for and may try to take care of you themselves. This will be a burden on them, whether or not they admit it. As parents, we never want to do anything to harm our children, even in our old age. We do not want them burdened with our care. If we have long term care insurance, we do not have to worry about being a burden to our children. We can stay in comfort at a long term care facility that is close to their homes.

Long term care insurance can provide for you whenever you need long term care. You can choose from a variety of different plans and the cost will be determined by your age and general health. Long term care can insure that you get the best care, that you do not burden your children and that you do not have to use all of your hard earned savings paying for long term care.

Due to the credit crunch the credit industry is a little bit shaken. They don't like it one little bit. They truly are beginning to take some dramatic steps in order to ensure that they only have the best and most reliable customers. They are also using some quite cheeky methods to ensure that people can't get themselves and therefore their company in even more debt. However in the rubble of a building, flowers still grow and in this economic earthquake, who knows what may shake lose?

There is a need to compare your credit card for the reason mentioned above. The credit card industry changes so fast, because of the competition, that new offers and cards appear all of the time. Also, as the economic climate changes, the types of cards change to reflect this. Currently, for example, the credit crunch is having an effect on credit cards. You would expect economic enforced changes to be negative during a recession and positive in a growth; however this isn't necessarily the case. Even with all the cut backs and increased credit applications a few gems can and do appear.

There are signs that this may be the case - of course it could just be wishful thinking but you should remain optimistic. One of these is that balance transfer fees are in some instance being dropped. This is strange. Because people are getting worried about their financial situation, especially any debt they may have, banks are saying 'hey look at us, transfer your existing balance for free and pay it off for free'. There are two things going on here 1) people are stopping using and transferring their cards as much and the credit companies are losing out and 2) people want to pay off there cards and therefore find this deal attractive generally. It is odd because when introduced in 2004, transfer fees were designed to stop people from making serial transfers and getting away with the free pay offs.

So cards change both to outdo each other and in response to the economic climate. There are other reasons why new cards are introduced but this is the general picture. It is this constant mutating that means you, as a customer, should constantly compare your credit card with others on the market for new deals. You may seriously be missing something that could save you a small fortune or help you financially in some other way.

Of course there is a flip side to all of this that must be mentioned, albeit briefly. Credit cards are becoming slightly more difficult to get approval for. Credit checks are becoming stricter. Also some companies have slashed their customer's credit limits and put up some of their charges, for example charges for usage abroad and cash machine usage. Basically the companies are scared; they are torn between making a profit by getting more customers and cutting their loses. They want all of the best customers and none of the weaker ones. It is possible that one company may become an ark for all of the strong credited whereas other companies crumble and get washed away.

In 2006 133.2 billion was spent on credit and charge cards; this is a phenomenal amount, so there is no doubt that credit cards are here to stay and a major part of everyday financial reality. Because it is such a huge industry, new cards are introduced each year to compete with each other and to reflect the needs of the current economic climate. As it is so fast moving it is worth comparing your credit card with others on the market because you never know when the perfect credit card may come along.

What do I look for in a good company? You know that you should buy long term care insurance, but where should you look and which company should you consider? A lot of advisers either sell one company's policy, or they only sell a few policies a year, or truthfully, they really don't know. So what do you look for in a good company?

We've all heard that any insurance policy is only as good as the company standing behind it, but what does that mean? It means that the company must meet the standards of an excellent and superior rating. In order to achieve a rating like this a company must meet certain requirements. Look for:

Financially sound companies Committed companies with a large client base Claims paying history Length of time selling LTC insurance History of rate increases

They all sort of blend into one another, but let's look at them in detail:

Financially Sound Companies Check their ratings with the companies that rate the strength of insurance companies. Generally you can get a good flavor of the company's financial strength by looking at their A.M. Best rating. If you want to back up your findings, you can by looking at Standard & Poor, Moody's, Fitch, Duff & Phelps or Weiss Research, A.M. Best usually gives a very good overview of the companies strength and the companies don't have to join the rating service in order to be rated.

Where do I get this? Updates are published monthly, quarterly and annually and can be found in any public library. In addition, you can usually find the ratings on each company's web site. Do this first and then ask your agent.

Committed Companies With A Large Client Base "The theory of large numbers" works here. The larger the client base the better buffer you have against rate increases. As claims come in the companies need to financially spread these over their client base. If larger claims come in than forecasted then the company has to decide whether to absorb this into its projected cost of business or to pass this along to policy holders in the form of a premium rate increase. Companies who have made a commitment to this line of business normally do not raise premiums. A smaller, uncommitted company may be more inclined to do this.

Where do I get this? The company web site should have their policyholder information readily available. Also the agent representing the company should have their marketing materials, approved by the state where you live, that give policyholder information. In addition, you can get more information from the rating agencies, A.M. Best etc.

Claims Paying History Sometimes a good financial rating may not tell the whole story. Some companies with good ratings have been known to deny or delay paying claims in health insurance. If they use that same practice in other areas, then there is a good chance it will do so for long term care insurance claims. Also, it is important to ask how many claims have been paid since they started selling LTC insurance.

Where do I get this? Call your state insurance department for information on the complaints filed about specific companies. If this isn't available then sometimes you need to use your own judgment based on size and reputation of the company. A well-known company is less likely to risk bad publicity for this type of action.

Length Of Time Selling LTC Insurance The Company that you choose should have been selling long term care insurance since the early 1990's. If they haven't then they probably have not been in the business long enough to have experienced enough claims. Without good claims experience then a company can't tell if they have set their premium rates correctly. You do not want a company to find out that they set them wrong to begin with and you are the recipient of a "rate adjustment".

Where do I get this? Once again if you look at the same sources from the above items you will find this information. The state approved company marketing materials will have this information as well as an informed LTC insurance agent. History Of Rate Increases Any company that has ever had a rate increase to its existing clients should not be a company for primary consideration. There are always exceptions to this especially when it comes to health issues and the need for coverage from a company that specializes in these problems.

Where do I get this? You can always contact your state department of insurance and ask them, or ask your agent. However, a sure fire way to do it is to ask your agent for the first page of the long-term care insurance personal worksheet for that particular company. This is a part of their application and will always show their rate increase history.

Finally! Now we know what to look for in a good company. The ideal company will be very large and financially sound. It will have a lot of long term care insurance clients and will have sold these policies since the early 1990's. In addition it will not have any complaints with your state insurance department concerning the payment of claims. And finally, the ideal company will have a good reputation and will not have ever raised rates to their existing clients in any state.

APR has so much to answer for. If all you know about APR's is that they are a number that comes with credit cards and you look at to see if one is better than another this this is the article for you. In this article APR will be revealed in all of its financial splendour. APR will be reconstructed like a surrealist text. APR will be shown for what it truly is. But seriously if you're thinking of applying for a new card, perhaps even a low APR credit card, or if you have a card and have never really thought about it, you really should know what an APR is and does.

APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate and is the overall rate of the card. This figure includes the interest rates themselves as well as any one off fees that you may be expected to pay and so on. It is different to the monthly interest rate because this figure doesn't include the fee etc. In the days before APRs companies could make their card seem better than it actually was by not disclosing all of the extra costs. Basically a card could look like a low APR credit card even if it wasn't.

In the US and the UK, disclosing the APR is now an industry and governmental requirement. This means that it has to be disclosed to consumers so that they can make an informed choice and know the real cost of having the card. The APR is the effective annual rate of the card. In the UK the need for credit card companies to disclose full details of their credit cards was made a legal requirement under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The way that is calculated in the UK, and across Europe, is different to how it is done in America so the interest rates here look higher than a similar card in the US.

However, it is not just a simple matter of looking at the APR and going, ah that is how much I will need to repay over a year. The APR is an approximation of the amount you will need to pay. If you end up paying off your balance over the year at a higher rate than the average you will pay less money than the APR would suggest. Similarly if you pay less then you are going to end up paying considerablye more. For example, an APR of 16.9% would seem to suggest that on a 1000 borrowing throughout a year you are going to pay off, £1169 at the end of the year. This isn't the case, it could be more or less than this.

It is difficult to say what the average APR for a credit card is because there are fluctuations over time. At present it is somewhere around 16.9%. Anything higher than this could be considered a little steep whereas low is starting to get into the realms of a low APR credit card. An APR lower than 10% is extreme good whereas one approaching 5% is amazing. However high APR cards shouldn't be dismissed out of hand because often there are other benefits on offer that make them worthwhile.

APR's were introduced to make the credit industry transparent and to stop companies from being able to blind consumers with figures. These figures could be made to look better than they actually were. In 1974 things changed and the APR became compulsory. The APR allows you to compare credit cards easily at a glance and see which are good or bad. The average APR is around 17% and anything lower than 10% is very good. Obviously the lower the better. You must remember that some high rate cards offer extras that can't be found elsewhere so they are still worth looking at. Also low APR credit cards are difficult to be accepted for unless for have an excellent credit history. Having said this low APR cards are amongst the best out there and, after a little work on your credit rating perhaps, are well worth applying for.

You're probably confused as hell about what to do, where to start, which program to use, which indicator to incorporate, etc. This article will clarify on Forex Trading 101.

The Trend Is Your Friend

Trend following is the most common type of trading system. Because the majority of the market follows a clear direction, it means that the majority of the market participants agree on the direction as well.

Following the trend is following the herd. What're the pros for trend following? Your trading accuracy increases because you'll be one with the market, instead of opposing it. You'll make fewer trades following the trend than other strategies.

You still have to have a complete system, however. Here are some tips to read:

Trend Following Entry/Exit Tips:

1. Enter on retracements and not in the middle or top of a swing. Entering on support is a little bit tougher, but it's well worth it.

2. Trail your trade using the continuously forming mini-supports to maximize your profit.

Trend following is a very common, basic trading method. To qualify the common saying, "The trend is your friend, until it ends." Let's take a look at another trading style.

Fading

Fading is the opposite of trend following; it's arguing with the market's trend. Essentially, it's bottom picking. What're the potential rewards for fading?

The good thing about fading is that when you are right in your analysis, the reward greatly exceeds the potential loss. If your reward to risk ratio is 10:1, it means you can be wrong 9 times and still be profitable. Well of course, you wouldn't want to catch a falling knife, you wouldn't want to gamble and guess; your trading system still needs to have a positive edge and you still need to have done your homework.

Two entry signals include a doji and a close below the previous low (or above previous high). Fading, which is very different from trend following, requires a different set of skills. That basically summarizes fading, so now let's talk about the final forex trading style.

Breakout Trading

This type of trading is entering when price makes a new high or low. If the market breaches the 52 week high, you might want to enter then. Or if the market breaches the past 20 week's low, you might want t short it then. The keyword is "breach". Of course, you should make sure that your system has a positive edge and is profitable. Breakout trading is just another way of entering the market. Of course, the way you exit a trade is totally up to you; you might want to trail by the most recent lows. Or perhaps you'll have a predetermined exit.

So what's the difference between trend following and breakout trading? Ok, they might seem pretty similar, and they kind of are. The key difference is the entry. With breakout trading, you enter with the breach of a prior high or low. With trend following, a breach doesn't have to occur, but rather you can enter on a dip.

Where Do I Go From Here?

That last paragraph brings up another important point. You can trade however you want. These trading styles are just to expose you to different ideas. Of course, if you want to, you can follow the trend and enter on a breach on only the trend's side. You can use whatever combination that suites you.