Zero Fraud Liability

Posted on Monday, 9th January 2012 by Nate Sawers

There’s no better time to take a good hard look at your portfolio than the beginning of a new year.

I know this may not be your first rodeo and chances are you’ve already done at least a little thinking about how your investments came through 2011, and what you’d like to achieve in 2012.

If not, there’s no time like the present.

Especially when it comes to something I call “Ditching the Dogs,” which is a variant of the well-known and very popular “Dogs of the Dow.” You’ve probably already guessed from the name that I’m talking about unloading those investments that have underperformed, or which are likely to hold my portfolio back in the next twelve months.

Obviously this is a highly personal process and every investor is different, but here are five stocks I’d avoid like the plague right now (and the reasons why):

1. Read more…

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Posted on Thursday, 5th January 2012 by Admin

If you are faced with insurmountable unsecured debts and you don’t know how you’re going to pay them, you may have considered bankruptcy. However, there is an alternative to bankruptcy that could also write off part of your debt called an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement). If you’re a homeowner, it could potentially help you avoid the forced sale of your home (although you could be asked to release some of the equity in your home as part of the agreement).

This site can provide Individual Voluntary Arrangements, or read on to learn more.

What happens on an IVA?

On an IVA you would normally make monthly payments for 60 months, or five years (although the length of the agreement can sometimes vary). If the IVA is successful, the rest of your unsecured debt will be written off at the end.

An IVA is overseen by an Insolvency Practitioner (IP) – a legally trained expert who is responsible for arranging your IVA. Read more…

Tags: Individual Voluntary Arrangements
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Posted on Sunday, 1st January 2012 by Nate Sawers

Once upon a time investors believed in the January effect. The story is that there’s gold in them ‘thar hills for equity returns during the first month of the year. The idea that January dispenses richer results than the other months dates to economist Sidney Wachtel’s 1942 study on seasonality effects in the market. It’s been a winning idea ever since, judging by all the attention it receives. As an investment concept, however, it looks distinctly unimpressive, or so recent history suggests.

The average return in January for the S&P 500 since 1991 is 6.7%. Not too shabby, you say? Well, seven other months of the year provided stronger results over that two-decade stretch. April was unusually strong with average returns in excess of 40%.

If we restrict our analysis to the last 10 years, the January effect slips into negative territory, with the month posting an average decline of just over 16%.

Read more…

Tags: Effect, January Effect
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Posted on Thursday, 29th December 2011 by Archie Norton

Information from ScamBusters:

1. Phishing and Identity Theft. As we said earlier, our biggest concern is the amount of information hackers have shown themselves capable of stealing by breaking into the networks of firms that hold our personal records. We think this will continue to grow, along with persistent attempts to capture our confidential information through phishing tricks via spoof sites, emails and cell phone text messages.
2. Malware. Law enforcement agencies and software companies have been moderately successful in shutting down botnets, used for spamming, and fake anti-virus alerts that trick victims into paying to supposedly secure their PCs. But the scale of the malware industry is phenomenal.

Read more…

Tags: Scam, Top 10
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Posted on Saturday, 17th December 2011 by Archie Norton

Tax time has long been a popular time for identity theft, with forms filled with personal information flying through the U.S. postal system. Some of them come from legitimate taxpayers and some of them come from individuals pretending to be legitimate taxpayers and looking to cash in on ill-begotten refunds. To help individuals who have been victims of this type of identity theft, and to help prevent future crimes, the IRS has instated some new rules for tax year 2011.

Tax returns from past identity theft victims will be red flagged, and extra checks will be put in place automatically to insure that the return is legitimate before it is filed.

Most tax returns will have to be filed electronically so that the computer system can pass them through electronic filters for manual review if anything appears to be suspicious.

Read more…

Tags: Identity Theft, Tax
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Posted on Sunday, 11th December 2011 by Nate Sawers

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) December 06, 2011

The record-breaking 226 million shoppers that came out in droves Black Friday weekend were certainly welcome to small businesses, but the sales came at a price, says FeeFighters.com, a comparison shopping site for credit card processing services. With increased use of credit cards, smaller retailers will feel the hit of unnecessary credit card processing fees immediately and throughout the holiday season.

It is estimated that small businesses will rack up more than $340 million in unnecessary credit card processing fees over this holiday season. Unlike big box retailers that have the clout to negotiate low credit card processing rates, small business owners get mired in fine print and high fees from credit card processors which can severely hurt their bottom lines.

With 25 to 40% of a retailers annual revenue coming from the holiday season, its absolutely imperative for businesses to save where they can.

Read more…

Tags: Million, Small Businesses
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