Rice Rockets

The price of food in a family's budget is one of the best areas for improvement.
It's one of the categories over which we have the most control. So as with most topics here at save-your-money blog, the amount which consumers spend on food varies drastically. Just like what car you drive, or the size home you "think" you need, buying food can be a money saving opportunity or it can break the bank.

I'm outraged by people complaining that they can't afford healthy food. We live in such an unusual time in history. People, in the US and Europe at least, COMPLAIN that their food has too much fat and calories. Some go so far as suing restaurants for having "unhealthy" foods. They call it an "epidemic."

The fact is, the West has more food than they know what to do with. We actually pay more for food that has less calories. Not to mention bottled water. We call all of this dieting or being health conscious. Why? Because we have so much wealth that we can afford to eat until we are about to bust at the brim. So instead of someone saying, " I've had enough," they say, " I want it all, supersize it please, and I want to look like the models on the cover of Sports Illustrated!".

Now I will admit that the high fat, cheap meals may not have many essential vitamins. So yes there are health benefits to alternative diets. But as far as being fat, just eat less. Just look at the obesity levels among welfare recipients. Many of them are fat as kings and queens from centuries past. As I said, an unusual time in history.

So those of us with our eyes open have an opportunity. First if you are in debt, the first thing I would do is eliminate all eating out from your life. Yes that's right, there was life before Starbucks or Subway. If you are married and want a date night, take a picnic lunch or dinner somewhere. You men out there can get some big points by cooking dinner.

With packing your meals, it may seem like a lot of extra time in the mornings, but its not much different from taking time out of your day to stop somewhere and eat. All you are doing is displacing your time to a more convenient and controlled part of your day. Who knows, you might even get more work done by not needing to travel far for lunch.

These are behaviours which must first be considered and willfully planned, but like unproductive habits that you have been conditioned to follow, these seemingly difficult life style choices soon become as much a habit as taking a shower.

Now to the title of this article. Rice.....good old rice. One of my first memories is my grandmother making me a sweet desert made only of rice, milk, and sugar. She put it in the refrigerator overnight, and you could have told me it was ice cream. I think we could learn greatly from the generations that lived through the Great Depression.

I think most Americans grow up with either bread or potatoes being their primary starches, but why not rice? 20% of the world's diet consists of rice. Its the number 1 global crop followed by corn and wheat. And best of all.....you got it.....It's CHEAP!!!

By total accident I found rice on sale yesterday at the grocery store. This isn't the cheapest store either. 5 pound bags of rice were only $1.39. That's a ton of food. If your motivated, I think you could replace one meal a day with only rice. Assuming you don't eat a pound of rice per meal, you're looking at $1.39 per person before tax comprising 1/3 of your weekly grocery bill.

Just some food for thought. Pun intended.

Benjamin Dockery

www.fxperspective.com

Determining Trends in Forex

If you have ever wondered what distinguishes successful traders from unsuccessfull traders, you are not alone. The industry figure commonly quoted is that 95% of traders lose some or all of there funds and quit. But what makes the winning 5% so different? There is obviously more than one answer, but one important factor is determining the trend. Being unaware of a trend is an easy way for a beginner to suffer substantial losses.

The trend is a subjective term that is relative to a person's perspective. It is real, none the less. The main aspect that remains subjective is the time frame in which one trades. For example an intraday trader may keep his or her eye on hourly, 30 minute, and 5 minute charts. All trades are opened and closed within one day. Many transactions may occur in only minutes or seconds. For this type of trader, the trend is a fragile construct that appears in a flash, and takes a back seat to other indicators. It is true that what appears to be a trend in a 30 minute chart, can quickly succumb to any number of world events.

With a different perspective, the trend can become much more pronounced and important. Pulling up a daily chart of EUR/JPY, for example, can make it appear as if any one could determine the market direction. Sometimes pulling up the weekly chart can make one question if the page has even loaded yet. They are often mirror images. This is especially true in the carry trades. The greater the interest rate differential, the greater bias for the pair to trend.

But determining the trend on other currency pairs may not be as easy. The majors can fluctuate greatly and cause the daily and weekly charts to differ. Sometimes currency pairs are not actually trending within one's designated time frame. This is called ranging. Many traders wait for these conditions, because they are usually followed by a strong breakout and the beginning of a new trend.

Although larger trends in larger time frames are closely associated with market fundamentals, there are ways to measure the trend with technical indicators. The RSI(rate of stochastic increase) has been used with great success for daily charts. Setting the RSI to 45 makes this indicator rather stable. The design indicates an upward bias when the rate is above 50 and a downward bias when the rate is below 50. There is one problem with this setting. If the market is ranging, one will typically see the rate bounce above and below 50 giving a false indication of the absent trend. One way to hedge against this false-positive is to only accept upward bias when the rate is above 52, and only accept the downward bias when the rate is below 48. As with any filter, one is limited to less opportunities to accept the indicator, but one can be more certain of the indicator's reliability.

Being aware of larger trends and aligning one's trades with the trend is fundamental to profiting in the forex market. With a little perspective and simple indicators, one can easily determine trends in larger time frames.

www.fxperspective.com

Trading the Forex Market

One thing is sure. If you want a sustainable escape from the rat race, you have to make your money work for you. Standard investments are good places to start. But the best returns come from a more hands on approach.

The ace in the hole for me has been my forex trading. I have to be honest; I totally understand why 95% of traders lose their pants. My first six months was an emotional roller coaster. I lost a lot of sleep and only by the grace of God I broke even.

I did learn a few things. First trading on short time frames, ie 30 minute charts, was not for me. In fact I suspect much more than 95% of traders who try it lose. It's almost like gambling, and if a few people have figured it out, it's beyond me.

Second, I can't predict what will happen tomorrow. I can however determine the overall trend and when price is relatively over or under priced.

Last, and possibly most importantly, its better to buy several small positions over time than to over leverage one position and pray for dear life.

Since January 2007 I've been making money in forex. Its been really steady. My benchmark is 1% per week. That may not sound like much, but without compounding you still get over half of your initial return in a year. For example 100k would give me 50k in a year. For me that's plenty with which to live. Especially if you have all that free time to preplan and live frugally.

Do I suggest others invest in Forex? Yes and no. I think that it can be extremely risky for the beginner and not easy to pick up. I kept trying and trying and it seemed that suddenly the clouds lifted and I was able to "get it." For some that Aha moment may not come.

I have even less faith in companies out there willing to "help" traders with ebooks or signals. My introduction to the market was by getting scammed by a signal service. Before I go too far, let me explain I now do have a bias.

I've started a signals website for those who don't know how to trade or don't want to spend time keeping up with the market. Why if I'm making such great returns would I deal with signals? The answer's simple. If I had 100k starting cash I might not fool with it. But I don't.

So providing signals is an easy way to generate additional income, and sending signals only costs me about 10 extra minutes per day. What would you do if you were me?

So here's the deal. My signals are $49.99 a month. If you cancel in the first 30 days you get a no questions asked refund. It's month to month billing, and there's a cool referral policy which I don't advertise on the website. For every person you refer who subscribes past the 30 day trial, you will get their first month's fee. In other words, if you refer 10 people who subscribe all the way through their trial period, you will receive $499.90.

Not bad, huh? There's no limit on referrals. Its worth it for me to lose the initial month subscription price in hope that my business grows and clients subscribe for years.

Even without the referral policy some of you have enough investment funds to totally change your socio-economic condition.

Let me know if you have any questions.

http://www.fxperspective.com/ email: info@fxperspective.com