A Historical Look At Guaranteed Investment Certificates

By Amy Nutt

Guaranteed investment Certificates, (GIC) are Canadian investments that provide a guaranteed rate of return over a fixed period of time. GICs are normally provided by banks, credit unions, and trust companies.

The earliest forms of guaranteed fixed-income investments included such investments as bank notes and mutual funds. The first Canadian fund, Canadian Investment Fund Ltd. (CIF), was established in 1932. It changed its name to Spectrum United Canadian Investment Fund in 1996, and this fund changed name at the end of August 2002 to CI Canadian Investment Fund. Investing in guaranteed investment certificates, or GICs, has been the safe and sound choice from the time when registered retirement savings plans became available in 1957. GICs were created to give people a guaranteed return on an investment. Back in the 1970's, interest rates on investments were higher averaging about 7.7 per cent and as much as 15.8 per cent in 1982. Part of that high interest rate was due to higher price inflation than today.

Interest rates are lower now. Over the past five years, GICs with a five-year term have paid an average of less than 3 per cent a year. Because Guaranteed Investment Certificates are low risk, there is normally a lower rate of return. With a GIC, the financial institution will borrow the person's money for a specified amount of time which can be six months, one year, two years, or up to 10 years. When the GIC period has ended, your initial investment will be returned plus any accrued interest.

To own a GIC you must deposit at least $500.00. When the period has ended, one can then cash them as taxable income or renew it for another term. If you cash out before the term as ended, you will be required to pay a fee. GICs tend to pay a higher interest rate than bank savings accounts, but less most other investments. Interest rates tend to range from 1-9%.

There are other types of GICs such as Market Growth GICs. Their interest rates depend on the rate of growth in the stock market. This is a bit more risky as the market rates tend to fluctuate. Just like regular GICs, Market Growth GICs are low-risk because your original investment is guaranteed to be returned.

GICs are a popular investment choice due to their safety and security, guaranteed growth. (The interest rate is guaranteed with fixed-rate GICs,) flexible terms, and flexible payments. With some GICs, you can decide how you collect the interest you earn, such as monthly, annually or at maturity.

Guaranteed Investment Certificates make for a sound investment if you want a protected place to save your money. GICs could be used as a part of a fixed income portion of your portfolio, used for retirement supplemental income, or just to hold your money until you come up with a number of long-term financial strategies.

Guaranteed Investment Certificates have had a long history of providing Canadians with low risk financial planning investments for retirement or other investment endeavors. Investment portfolios will benefit from having an investment with a guaranteed rate of return. As well, these investments are often selected during periods of market volatility. - 23162

About the Author:

Whether you're looking for mortgage rates or great GIC rates, with Meridian Credit Union you'll have a customized financial plan that makes sense for you. Just for you.

4x Trading Made Simple: Forex Money Management 101

By Phil Jarvie

is 4x trading easy? Or is it hard? It really is neither. 4x trading is just different. It is nothing like trading stocks, bonds, shares, options or warrants. It is 4x trading. It is the home to emotional investing, 4x gambling losers. So, to protect yourself you need to understand the rules of Forex Money Management, and the first rule is:

Forex Money Management 101. Do not look for a holy grail of trading. Just don't lose money!

The 4x market turns over more cash in 1 week than the whole USA economy does in 1 year. But add to that concept, how much does every up and down tick in the market all add up to? How many pips movement in a day do we miss? Forget about it. There is no such thing as Albert Einstein and the theory of everything with 4x trading. No super computer can help you. 4x robot software is useful but clumsy at the micro level. Missing opportunities is a big part of forex trading. The real heart of the matter is not losing money. Profit is about making profitable trades only.

2% of your 4x account is more than you should be risking on a trade if you have proper and effective forex money management.

The first rule of Forex Money Management is to be used, not abused. Let me run you through a typical day for me in a volatile forex trading market. I have my $10,000 4x trading account. I am only allowed 4 pips for my stop losses because I am going to be trading with 5 lots. 5 lots is $50 per pip, and with only being allowed to risk $200, I must not lose more than 4 pips.

I'm sure you think I am crazy, but hear me out. Open up your forex platform software of choice - metatrader is fine. You want H1 hourly chart for EURUSD on the 19th of August, 2009. Note the huge rise of the Euro from 1.4111 to 1.4265 in 3 hours - all of which happened after bad USA economic data and a billion dollar trader from the Middle East put his weight behind the Euro at the same time.

Not even a super computer could predict to buy at 1.4111. News traders would have got on board based on the USA problems sure. But actually, I was lucky enough to be already long a few hours earlier. But with only a 4 pips stop loss? Luck or stupid?

To me, the market looked ripe for a rise in the Euro. And my trading signals were confirming this. And so that I was free to go shopping with the girlfriend, I entered 2 pending orders for 5 lots, each hedging the other. That is, 5 lots buy limit at 1.4080 was matched equally by 5 lots of pending sell short order at 1.4080. If the market dipped to pick up these orders, then whatever happened, each would balance the other trade.

While I was shopping, the market dipped to 1.4069 and I was losing $500 on the long position which was balanced out by the $500 profit on the short position. Think about it. The market could do whatever it wanted and I could not lose. The first rule of forex money management was safely in place with the risk of loss limited to the 0.9 pip spread to do the trades. it only took an hour to close out the short position at zero loss and then I was free to let the long position have as much as it wanted.

After an exciting few hours at the screen I watched that long position go crazy into profits, and so I switched it to a 20 pips trailing stop, which it did do at 1.4245. That was a tidy, ultra low risk, $8,250 profit on the day. 82.5% profit on a $10,000 trading account while I went shopping. The first rule about forex money management was never broken. I was never at risk of losing 2% of my account.

Hedging people. Learn it, get serious about the first rule of Forex Money Management. DON'T LOSE MONEY, and NEVER risk more than 2%. - 23162

About the Author:

Phil Jarvie is a professional forex trader expert in 4x trading using 4x hedging for forex money management and may wish to visit his website to consider his reviews on how to make money trading currencies

Forex Currency Trading; What Is The Difference With Currency Market Trading

By Phil Jarvie

Currency Market Trading and Forex Currency Trading for all intents and purposes are the same thing. People don't trade US dollars for US dollars, except to make change at a bank for a retail shop. So the terms are referring to international currency being exchanged for a different country's money. Fact is, you can also call it 4x trading, 4x currency trading, fx currency trading, fx exchange - they all are referring to the same thing.

Confusion about the long list of names for it comes from the fact that not many people know about it. With the Internet, investors became active and excited for share trading, options trading, warrants trading and even futures trading. However most people/investors have not really (yet) expanded their horizon to include forex currency trading.

With the Internet and very smart and fast software programs, currency market trading was finally liberated from the monopolies held by large banks, brokerage firms and International trading corporations. The Internet brought forex currency trading potential to the masses. But in fact most investors focused only on stock market trading shares, options and warrants.

I find it interesting and ironic that so many people have not yet discovered forex currency trading and yet they know the stock market so well. After all, the forex currency market turns over more cash in one week when the entire USA economy struggles to do a similar amount in the entire year.

And it is not just the size of the total currency market trading that takes place that is impressive; it is more that it is so huge that it is beyond the ability of any Government to control it fully. There is no central regulation of currency market trading. Sure the USA Government can make laws for brokers and traders in the USA, but when bad laws are passed people simply trade from an International broker - often just an overseas branch of their existing USA broker.

Forex currency trading is so huge that big business and the criminal element cannot manipulate it as they often and easily do with the stock market. There are no corporate raiders or takeovers in forex, no corporate lawyers leading stock market proxy fights. Currency market trading is simply the constant process of matching one currencies value against another currency in real time.

Let's assume a Middle Eastern Prince enters the market with 5 Billion Euros which he backs the Euro against the dollar. Yes, such a heavy-weight move may push up the value of the Euro by about 1 cent or a bit more over about 3 hours. But his timing had better be on the back of some bad news coming out of the USA, because the currency market trading volumes are so large that the 5 billion Euros could just as easily become 4 billion in that same 3 hours. Forex currency trading is so large that 5 billion Euro is nothing really considering the 2,500 billion euros traded each and every day, 5 days a week.

So if big business and Governments seem powerless to manipulate forex currency trading, what chance does the small, mini or micro investor have? This is the beauty of currency market trading, because the operation of the free market allows for astute money management and strategic trading positions to be taken (like hedging). Add to this the very smart 4x trading software trading live at your desktop provides you with; even the modest forex trader can do very well indeed.

By all means visit my free website where I go into a lot of detail about currency market trading, the many forex robots and expert advisors available, and also what forex strategy can do for your forex currency trading. - 23162

About the Author:

Phil Jarvie writes extensively on 4x trading related matters and is an experienced forex trader. Feel free to visit his free website for details on forex robots, expert advisers, fx trading software, 4x trading and forex currency trading markets and currency market trading articles.

Investing Success Is All About What You Know

By Jens Jackson

Investing is not easy as anyone that has been around for awhile will tell you. You put your own hard earned money on the line and when you get it wrong, it hurts. You need other traders to share with you their investing knowledge. It is very expensive to learn the hard way all the lessons that you need to learn. You can find an online investing message forum or blog. There is a lot of free information that would cost you money elsewhere but that is free on the Internet. You need to hook up with the right people to learn how to make money investing in stocks.

Think of it like this. If you team up with one person, two minds are better than one. Now imagining teaming up with a hundred people over the Internet. Do not be arrogant. Somebody else will always think of something that you did not think about. Let iron sharpen iron. You can learn a huge amount of investing know how and tips of the trade just by networking over the Internet with other stock traders. Yes you have to be careful because you can't see the person you are communicating with over the Internet and so you don't know if they have an alternative agenda. Connecting with other people is the key to success in almost everything in life and investing blogs and websites are a great way to do that.

With that in mind, also remember that there are rules for any online investment forum or blog. Different websites will usually have their rules and regulations up for viewing for any individual interested in applying, which would do you good to look at as well. Also, it is worth checking out a club's reputation: more reputable clubs may have more experienced people you can rely on, and more people to ask information from overall. This is also important when you consider that some investment clubs, especially those that charge admission fees, entrance fees or anything similar, may have a chance of simply being elaborate scams, designed to rob you of your hard earned money. It is a good idea to cross-check by looking through other message boards, reading other forum threads and generally browsing the Internet for information about the club you intend to join before doing so. Trust me on this: you will be more comfortable with your club of choice in the long run.

Enjoying others' online company, while learning how and where to invest your money, is the main reason behind the existence of any online investment club. Pick one for yourself, and watch your investments increase in value.

Make sure you do not become the victim of a pump and dump small cap stocks scam. Look at the stocks the club, message forum, or blog is constantly focusing on. Are they small caps? Small caps have low liquidity which means they are the easiest stocks to push up. You should make sure that they are not buying small caps then hyping those small caps and selling after your buying pushes the stock higher. - 23162

About the Author:

Written by Jens Jackson. Do not pay for any stock investing materials until you see Lance Jepsen's awesome free stock market blog at investing

Trading Decreased Volatility Breakout (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Third Stage-Aging Trend: Aging trend is the period of consolidation as the trend comes to maturity. This is the period where lot of profit taking will take place. As the momentum of the trend exhausts itself, volatility tends to decrease at this stage of the trend.

Experienced traders try to get out of their trades at this stage of the trend by closing their positions. This satisfies the appetites of inexperienced traders as they consolidate their positions. Both the bulls and the bears are hesitant to make daring moves at this stage of the trend.

The trend takes a short break and the volatility is low during this stage of the trend. This is the period of consolidation and the prices tend to stay calm during this period. Currency prices have moved by a large amount in the previous period of high volatility.

End of Trend: This is the last stage of the trend and this is the time when the prevailing trend ends and reverses itself after some new information is revealed about a currency that changes the opinion of the crowd. As the market players tend to absorb the information, this results in the rapid adjustment of prices within a short time.

Traders become desperate to get out of their positions especially if they have been caught on the wrong side of the market. Many stops will get triggered during this stage of the trend.

During this stage of the trend there is a sharp follow through of the prices in the reversed direction. You can see even within a trend currency prices can experience decreased volatility followed by increased volatility as the crowd psychology keeps on changing.

Traders with open positions during this low period of volatility are the most vulnerable to unanticipated news. Decreased volatility can be found during trending or ranging phases.

During this time gains can be made from the unsuspecting players and this is known as the Decreased Volatility Breakout Strategy. Deceased volatility provides an excellent opportunity to traders to prepare and profit from an imminent change from low to high volatility.

There are several technical indicators that can help you visualize the volatility in the currency prices. The success of this strategy lies in measuring the volatility of the forex market correctly.

One such is the triangle patterns. Though they maybe difficult to identify for new traders but with experience you can learn how to identify the triangle patterns on price charts. You can use triangle patterns as one of the best indicators of decreasing price volatility in the currency price charts. Combine the triangle patterns with technical indicators to confirm or deny decreasing price volatility. Two of the most useful indicators that can help you measure the volatility of the currency prices are: 1) Moving Averages and 2) Bollinger Bands.

You can take advantage of the decreasing price volatility in the forex market through identifying the triangle formations. When a particular type of triangle has been identified by the trader, a high probability trade may be in sight. All triangles show decreasing price volatility in the forex market. - 23162

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Get Netpicks Forex Signals Free. Learn Forex Trading!