ZimZum

One of the fundamental principles of finance is the concept that $1 today is more valuable than $1 a year from now.

Making adjustments for inflation, the dollar will buy less goods and services next year.

But I can invest that dollar today and earn a ROI (Return On Investment) in the form of dividends, interest or capital gains.

The best money advice anyone can ever give you is to firmly establish this time value of money concept in your head.

The key to financial prosperity is realizing the potential value of every dollar that comes into your hands. In fact, I think of cash as a seed - you can either eat it (spend it) or invest it (sow it).

If you find a $20 bill on the side of the road you can run and put this money in your supposedly tax-free retirement account or buy dinner. But if you use the time value of money formula, you will discover that you actually spent $140.00

Calculate the real economic cost of not investing that cash or having enough income to invest.

FV = pmt (1+i)n
FV = Future Value
Pmt = Payment
I = Rate of return you expect to earn
N = Number of years

To perform the calculation, we make a few assumptions.

*We assume you are 30 years old (and hence 35 years away from retiring at 65). That means that the $20 can compound for 35 years. We will substitute 35 for “n” in the equation.

*Next, we must establish your expected rate of return. Historically, the stock market has returned 12%.

If you want to invest in bonds, your return will be lower. Assume that you invest in a combination of both and expect to earn a 10% rate of return.

This will be substituted for the “i” variable in our equation.

The “pmt”, or payment, is the value of the single amount you want to invest (in this case $20).

Now that we’ve figured out the variables, the formula looks like this:

**FV = $20 (1+.10)35
Enter 1.10 into your calculator (this is the sum of 1+.10).

**Raise this to the 35th power.

**The result is 28.1024.

**Multiply the 28.1024 by the pmt of $20.
The result ($562 and change) is the true cost of spending the $20 today

(if you adjusted the $562 for inflation, it would probably work out to about $140 in today’s dollars.

That means your real purchasing power would increase approximately 7-fold).

Once you understand this concept of time value as it refers to money it becomes obvious that the trips to MacDonald’s costs you millions and millions of dollars in future wealth.

Then you must expand your reach to get to your financial goals. Find a home-based business that will make you money.

You can create multiple streams of income to help fund your new home, car and retirement. By increasing your income and investing extra money you can maintain your standard of living while still providing extra cash for the long and short term.

Virginia R. Sanders is a graduate of the University of Texas in Arlington, Texas. She is the mother of twin daughters, and grandmother to a rambunctious 7-year-old genius named Gary.

Virginia was born in Fort Worth, Texas but now lives in Sacramento, CA. Virginia states that she decided to go full-time in affiliate programs when her grandson asked her the fateful question “Nana, Are You Fixed Yet”

Virginia plowed head strong into affiliate marketing starting with The Cash Mall Concept whose flagship product is the CBMall http://www.thecash-mall-concept.com as a cash generator so she could start investing in real estate.
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What is FOREX (Foreign Exchange)?

Forex (Foreign Exchange) simply means the buying of one currency and selling another at the same time. In other words, the currency of one country is exchanged for those of another. The currencies of the world are on a floating exchange rate, and are always traded in pairs - Euro/Dollar, Dollar/Yen, etc. In excess of 85 percent of all daily transactions involve trading of the major currencies.

Four major currency pairs are usually used for investment purposes. They are: Euro against US dollar, US dollar against Japanese yen, British pound against US dollar, and US dollar against Swiss franc. The following notation is used for these currency pairs: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, and USD/CHF. You may consider them as “blue chips” of the FOREX market. No dividends are paid on currencies. The investment profits come from well known “buy low - sell high”.

If you think one currency will appreciate against another, you may exchange that second currency for the first one and stay in it. In case everything goes as planned, some time later you may make the opposite deal - exchange this first currency back for that other - and collect profits.

Transactions on the FOREX market are fulfilled by dealers at major banks or FOREX brokerage companies. FOREX is the world wide market, so when you are sleeping in the North America some dealers in Europe are trading currencies with their Japanese counterparties. Therefore the FOREX market is active 24 hours a day and dealers at major institutions are working in three shifts. Clients may place take-profit and stop-loss orders with brokers for overnight execution.

Price movements on the FOREX market are very smooth and without gaps that you face almost every morning on the stock market. The daily turnover on the FOREX market is about $1.2 trillion, so investor can enter and exit position without problems. The fact is that the FOREX market never stops, even on the day of September-11, 2001 you could obtain two-side quotes on currencies.

The currency (foreign exchange) market is the largest and oldest financial market in the world. It is also called the foreign exchange market, or “FOREX” or “FX” market for short. It is the biggest and most liquid market in the world, and it is traded mainly through the 24 hour-a-day inter-bank currency market - the primary market for currencies. The forex market is a cash (or “spot”) inter-bank market. By comparison, the currency futures market is only one per cent as big.

Unlike the futures and stock markets, trading of currencies is not centralized on an exchange. Forex literally follows the sun around the world. Trading moves from major banking centers of the U.S. to Australia and New Zealand, to the Far East, to Europe and finally back to the U.S.

In the past, the forex inter-bank market was not available to small speculators due to the large minimum transaction sizes and often-stringent financial requirements. Banks, major currency dealers and the occasional huge speculator used to be the principal dealers. Only they were able to take advantage of the currency market’s fantastic liquidity and strong trending nature of many of the world’s primary currency exchange rates.

Today, foreign exchange market maker brokers such as FX Solutions are able to break down the larger sized inter-bank units, and offer small traders the opportunity to buy or sell any number of these smaller units (lots).

These brokers give virtually any size trader, including individual speculators or smaller companies, the option to trade the same rates and price movements as the large players who once dominated the market. Market makers quote buying and selling rates for currencies, and they profit on the difference between their buying and selling rates.

Learn about FOREX @ 123 Forex

I find it amazing that nearly everyday I receive something online or offline that is the greatest break-through in Trading. You know the stuff. This system or that method has been thoroughly tested and back-tested in every conceivable fashion and is wildly successful. Some work for a period of time but most do not. The decades old statistical fact still remains, 90+% of Futures Traders will lose all of their trading capital within their first year of trading. Now there is a new and promising alternative.

Enter e-Currency Trading. In simple terms e-currency is Internet Money. E-Currency allows the purchase of Internet goods and services at lightning speed and most importantly with a high level of security. Much higher than credit cards, bank transfer etc. The demand for e-currency should only grow as Internet Commerce grows.

So what does this have to do with trading? There are literally hundreds of different e-currencies. Each is backed by an underlying Currency or a precious metal. The need arises to exchange between these e-currencies or convert an e-currency to hard cash. Much like the Euro is to the European Union. We can profit from the exchanging process and profit from the fluctuation of the underlying currency value.

The same basic strategies apply to e-currency trading as with futures trading. Supply and demand dictates price primarily. You could buy e-currency that has historically performed well (buying the trend) or go the opposite way and buy those that are under-performing, looking for a turn-around. You can even chart them if you like.

Leverage, that double-edged sword that Futures Traders are so familiar with is also present in e-Currency Trading. You can borrow against your portfolio to buy more e-currency. The compounding affect is almost outrageous. Some would argue that you never have to pay back the leverage. I contend that it is paid back if you closed your e-Currency account, because your final balance would be less the amount leveraged. The point here is the leverage in futures trading is often times the demise of a well intended trader versus the leverage afforded an e- currency trader combined with the daily compounding affect creates portfolio growth at a phenomenal rate. It is not uncommon to see portfolio growth of 20 to 40% per month.

Futures Trading and e-Currency Trading have a common downside. The learning curve is huge and can be frustrating and costly. Each has unique terminology, which is impossible to work around until you have a good understanding of the meaning. Thankfully in this world of information, we are able to find resources online and offline that shorten that curve. How much it is shortened is dependent on how much time you want to dedicate.

Industry experts have debated for years the optimum amount one should fund their futures trading account with. The obvious moving target is enough capital to withstand the drawdown periods. Many factors go into this but I have seen numbers range anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 and up. If this is the case then there is little doubt why most futures traders lose as most are willing to fund only the amount required to cover Margin or the Brokers account minimum usually a few thousand dollars. One of the biggest reasons for small business failure is being under capitalized, the same holds true in futures trading.

E-Currency Trading is different in that the experts recommend starting with a few hundred dollars and let the system build your account. Whatever route you choose, only trade with risk capital.

E-Currency Trading certainly has advantages over traditional futures trading and may well be worth your serious consideration. Internet Commerce is in the Billions and is forecast to triple over the next 10 years. Many are seeing E- currency Trading as a ground floor opportunity with huge growth potential.

If you had a million dollars, what would you do?

You wouldn’t have to ever work again. You could just sit on the beach and relax. You could pay all your bills and set your family up to live comfortably forever.

What else could you wish for?

When you wish upon a star, if you’re like most people, financial freedom is one of the first things on your list.

A crystal ball, perhaps. Or tomorrow’s newspaper, just like on the television show “Early Edition.” You would be able to know what the masses were going to do tomorrow. You could anticipate their every move with unfailing accuracy.

Think how easy trading would be? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to predict the future?

In The Wishing Mode

It’s fun to wish that we could trade more profitably, but beware, wishing “could” be a sign of desperation.

When you are in wishing mode, you may passively wait instead of taking decisive action. Hoping for miracles and wondering if you’ll ever see huge profits.

But if you take proactive steps, you won’t have to wonder. Profitable market timers do not “wish” or “wonder.” They act. What is the number one proactive step? Following a tried and true timing strategy.

Many novice market timers have trouble following a strategy. They make the decision to follow the plan, but when the time comes to execute a buy or sell signal, often at odds with current market sentiment, they find reasons “not” to make the trade. Or they delay executing the trade, and sometimes make a late entry after watching the trade work.

But the consistently profitable market timer maintains discipline, and that means not only deciding to follow a solid timing strategy, but also trading it through thick and thin.

With a tested strategy you can trade without fear. You do not need a crystal ball. A good timing strategy works across a variety of market conditions. It may not win on any single trade, but its methods give those who follow it that all important trading “edge.”

Murphy’s Law

When trading the markets, do you often feel that Murphy’s Law says it all: “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.”

Have you found yourself saying, “When I take a bullish position, the market always reverses and goes down.”

Or, “When I am certain the market has topped and pull all my funds out, you can bet that will be the day a new rally starts.”

Surprise! This is “not” Murphy’s Law. This is simply a trader who is trading by the emotions of fear, greed, hope or wishful thinking. Not following a plan.

A market timer who follows a good timing strategy may not always have a winning trade, but they know that the odds place them on the profitable side over time. Murphy’s Law does not apply to those who follow a plan.

Predicting What The Masses Will Do

Can you predict what the masses will do? Sometimes, but not always. Profitable market timers, however, rely on their strategy. They do not try to predict.

A timing strategy removes emotion from the trading equation, and emotions, as we know, are the single most common reason that timers and traders lose.

All market timers should be students of the markets. They should study the markets and develop an intuitive feel for how they move. It is common sense to develop a good knowledge base when investing your money.

But unless you have magical powers of prediction, a time proven crystal ball or a star to wish upon, be sure follow a time tested and unemotional timing strategy for profits.

Crystal balls are great toys and fun for party games, but they are not tools for investing your money. Wishing upon a star worked for Jiminy Cricket in the Disney movie Pinocchio, but it does not work in the financial markets.

Are you looking to make a little extra money for you and your
family? Do not have the time though to work another job. Learn
the E-currency Exchange program and how it can help you earn a
extra income each month starting with as little as $25. Only
takes 15 minutes to do any time of the day. Learn how millions
of people each day are tapping into profits that E-currency
makes each day from people trading online. This simple system
works for you. You invest money and that money is transferred to
other people who need to take out money. For you allowing them
to borrow the money you get yours plus a small % which is about
.35% back. Unlike other investments this one compounds daily and
is updated each night so you can see the gains that you have
made for that night. Find out more how E-Currency can help you
at Mazu Money

HSBC Holdings Plc is halfway through a five-year plan to build an investmentbankingce ntralbusiness.

HSBC is the world’s third-biggest bank by market value, wants to add global capital markets and merger advisory businesses to its corporate lending to boost profit.

The bank has hired about 2,000 bankers, raising pay rates and spending to break into the top tier. But despite some successes, its progress in the league tables so far has been limited.

HSBC combined various businesses in 2002 to form the corporate, investment banking and markets (CIBM) division. A year later it hired former Morgan Stanley dealmaker John Studzinski to run the business with HSBC veteran Stuart Gulliver and made CIBM a key plank of its plan for growth.

CIBM made 27 percent of HSBC’s $17.6 billion pretax profit last year. The division had total assets of $583 billion at the end of 2004, and its clients include 70 percent of the Fortune 500 list of the biggest U.S. companies.

This article is sponsered and published by investmentbankingce ntral

I have stayed in a few alpine ski holiday resorts for example Val Thorens, Tignes-les-Brevieres, La Tania and Superbagneres, however in my experience during all our ski holidays Chamonix France constitutes our number 1 mountain to go for French ski holidays.

The place of birth of French Alpine history and dwelling to the majestic Monte Bianco - at 4807m European Unions’ loftiest point - Chamonix town touts a unmatched historical snow record, a long skiing season (December-May), unmatchable exhilarating skiing, and views horizons to die for. Not withstanding Chamonix France has an multinational reputation as having more or less the most prominent, stimulating, and stimulating skiing on hand anywhere in the globe.

Chamonix Mont Blanc is large likewise it is confusing, and that’s before we even look at the linked ski towns; for example Bessans, Gourette, Les Deux Alpes, Avoriaz and Les Menuires.

The Mont Blanc Unlimited ski lift pass includes ten near, and 11 departmental ski areas; with skiing as high as 3841 metres, over 260 chairlifts, and 800 kilometers of skiing tracks - with the majority of the ski regions preceding 2030m. They caters for every tier from initiates as well as experts. Visit our snowboarding fields page for an in depth look at all of the popular areas: Les Orres, Meribel, Grand Massif, Brevent, Araches-la-Frasse and Samoens.

Before purchasing an investment property for rental purposes it’s always a good idea to calculate whether it will be cash flow positive or cash flow negative. That is, will the property generate an income (positive) or will it require a monthly cash injection (negative)?

This article will outline and briefly describe many of the main Purchasing and Annual Holding Costs incurred when buying a rental property. Please keep in mind that these items will vary from country to country and they do not take into account personal tax implications.

Purchasing Costs

Purchase price - the agreed price for which the property will exchange hands.

Renovation Costs - money budgeted for renovations prior to the property been made available for rental.

Agents Fees - in some countries it is common practice for the buyer to pay some or all of the real estate agent’s selling fees/commission. However, in most cases these fees are paid by the vendor.

Stamp duty - a duty placed on the purchase of a property charged by the local government for the registration of the property into the new owner’s name.

Mortgage Application Fees - charged by lenders upon application to secure a loan to buy the property.

Travel Expenses - flights, car hire, and hotel costs incurred when travelling to personally inspect a property.

Solicitors Fees - payable to the solicitor for all of the relevant legal work for the transfer of the property.

Research - books, local suburban reports purchased to research a suburb.

Accountants Fees - the property may be purchased in the name of a Trust or Company. There may also be a crossover here with the solicitor’s fees.

Council Rates Cutover - A vendor may have paid rates up to a time after the transfer of the property. The amount is then split between the buyer and vendor on a pro-rata basis.

Independent valuation / Engineers Report - a vendor may choose to pay for their own independent valuation or engineers report to highlight areas of concern.

Miscellaneous - this will include postage, telephone calls etc. It’s also worthwhile to include a contingency should some of the above costs be more than anticipated.

Annual Holding Costs

Mortgage Repayment - payable to the mortgage lender to repay the loan used to purchase the property.

Property Management Fees - if a professional property manager is appointed they will either charge a percentage of rent or a monthly flat fee.

Council/Municipal Rates - charged for collection of waste and upkeep of local services. Sometimes these are paid by the tenant.

Maintenance - costs for repairs and maintenance on the property and it’s fixtures and fittings.

Bank Fees - account keeping fees charged by the bank.

Landlord Insurance - protection against theft, damage, non-payment of rent, legal costs.

Letting Fees - some property managers may charge a letting fee for finding new tenants.

Pest Control - protection against pests and termites.

Cleaning - the property may require a thorough professional clean in preparation for new tenants.

Travel Expenses - incurred when visiting the property at times such as showing it to potential tenants or collecting rent.

Local Income Tax - may be charged by some local governments for the rental profits after any allowable deductions.

Land Tax - an annual tax on the value of the land on which the rental property is built.

Accountants Fees - payable for the administration of legal structures if a property is owned by a Trusts or Company.

Miscellaneous - again, this will include a contingency should some of the above costs be more than anticipated.

Once all of these costs have been factored into your calculations you will be able to determine whether a property will be cash flow positive or not.

Visit http://www.bulgarianpropertybuyer.co.uk/freetrial.htm to download your free “Estimated Returns Calculator” which allows you to quickly calculate the net return on a potential investment property.

In closing, it is imperative that you seek professional legal advice before you make any investment. This will clarify the process according to your own personal situation and the county you are investing in.

Happy investing!

To trade without emotional involvement. It is a necessity, and yet it is virtually impossible. Certain things in life just bring out emotion, like making decisions that effect your financial outlook. There are two things that make this uniquely harder for traders, than for non-traders. One is, we are likely to be more involved in our financial well-being than non-traders. Some people would even say our priorities are out of whack, and perhaps they are right. But nevertheless, that is the way we are, and if we weren’t that way we wouldn’t be traders. The second factor that makes emotionless trading very difficult is, this is likely to be our passion. We aren’t singers, humanitarians (hopefully we do share our wealth), writers, politicians, spiritualists, we are traders, and are likely to be passionate about it. Many of us to be honest, love it. Love it like Pittsburgh loves their Steelers, irrational, all consuming, eats us up inside love it. And yet we know in our heart of hearts, or more importantly in our logical, rational part of our persona that we can’t be emotional about it. Not be emotional about that which we love?? It is one of the hardest things in the world. That is why Doctor’s don’t treat family members.

One of the easiest traps to fall in, is to be angry at the markets. Like a new love, nothing can get your hackles up so much as that which you love. And when the markets fail you, that love has disappointed you. And when love disappoints rage can easily follow, just ask your teenager. It really fires that special spot in your belly. The problem with becoming angry at the markets, is you want to get back at it. But to traders the market is the epitome of unrequited love. The market has no emotion, you are fighting a losing battle, if you think you are going to get back at it. Because it doesn’t care. The bad thing about this is that you are likely to trade horribly because of this emotion, if it goes unchecked. You will override your systems, you will trade without thought, you will in fact mirror the very thing you are trying to defeat. Emotion not thought out, which is what huge market swings are.

The second pitfall of anger is similar to the first, but perhaps not as devastating. You are not angry so much as you want to recoup your losses. Like a horse bettor who got skunked at the track,, and borrows money from Uncle Rich, you increase your bets, throw out money management principles and press to recoup. Financially this can be more devastating than anger all on its own. Often though it is the first step to the anger mentioned in the previous paragraph. The first curl in a spiraling out of control, that will likely break you in the end.

Anger isn’t he only emotion the markets bring out in us. The opposite of anger is euphoria, everything has gone your way. Some trades have gone beyond your wildest expectations. And ca-ching the money is rolling in. Up go your trades, and you are on a roll like no other. You have figured it all out, and the market is yours. She loves you, just you, and will do what you want. Again out go the principles that got you there, and out goes your winning streak. And viola you have fallen into the anger trap. Or at least the recoup trap, you beg forgiveness, if the market will just return you to where you were before euphoria made you greedy. You confess your sins and beg for mercy. But again the market has no mercy, the market cares not for you.

In my own experience it is after this roller coaster, has cut my trading funds in half, that I begin again to trade without emotion. So how did I get to the point, where there never happens again? Where the market does not elicit anger or euphoria. Well I don’t think you ever do. It is very hard not to have emotions when you get pummeled or a positions breaks to the upside wildly. So what do you do?

You admit it, you acknowledge it, you are aware of it. You say ,yes that just ticks me off, why would that trade do that. And you go form there. You decide what to do, if anything after you acknowledge your emotions. You stick to your trading rules. You can then go back and learn from the event. Which is the real value of mistakes. You can analyze what went wrong, compare it to what has gone right in the past. Perhaps change your rules, perhaps accept that things are going to go wrong in the game of trading. And that is the price you pay for the right trades. But you NEVER make a trade based on emotion.

You can still love the market, the game of trading. I do, and then I hate it too. I think about my sailboat beckoning, and want to bag the whole thing. And that day will come. But the difference is I love the markets from a distance, from a reflection, I love it as an accomplishment of man. It has been a huge part of my adult life, and has shown me every aspect of human emotion, and has taught me one very, very nice lesson, patience.

The Federal Reserve recently raised its target federal funds rate for the first time since March 2000. This could be just the tip of the iceberg, though, as many experts believe rising inflation and a strengthening economy will spur continued rate hikes for the foreseeable future.

This is bad news for bond investors, since bonds lose value as interest rates rise. The reason stems from the fact coupon rates for most bonds are fixed when the bonds are issued. So, as rates rise and new bonds with higher coupon rates become available, investors are willing to pay less for existing bonds with lower coupon rates.

So what can you do to protect your fixed-income investments as rates rise? Well, here are five ideas to help you, and your portfolio, weather the storm.

1. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS)

First issued by the U.S. Treasury in 1997, TIPS are bonds with a portion of their value pegged to the inflation rate. As a result, if inflation rises, so will the value of your TIPS. Since interest rates rarely move higher unless accompanied by rising inflation, TIPS can be a good hedge against higher rates. Because the Federal government issues TIPS, they carry no default risk and are easy to purchase, either through a broker or directly from the government at www.treasurydirect.gov.

TIPS are not for everyone, though. First, while inflation and interest rates often move in tandem, their correlation is not perfect. As a result, it is possible rates could rise even without inflation moving higher. Second, TIPS generally yield less than traditional Treasuries. For example, the 10-year Treasury note recently yielded 4.75 percent, while the corresponding 10-year TIPS yielded just 2.0 percent. And finally, because the principal of TIPS increases with inflation, not the coupon payments, you do not get any benefit from the inflation component of these bonds until they mature.

If you decide TIPS makes sense for you, try to hold them in a tax-sheltered account like a 401(k) or IRA. While TIPS are not subject to state or local taxes, you are required to pay annual federal taxes not only on the interest payments you receive, but also on the inflation-based principal gain, even though you receive no benefit from this gain until your bonds mature.

2. Floating rate loan funds

Floating rate loan funds are mutual funds that invest in adjustable-rate commercial loans. These are a bit like adjustable-rate mortgages, but the loans are issued to large corporations in need of short-term financing. They are unique in that the yields on these loans, also called “senior secured” or “bank” loans, adjust periodically to mirror changes in market interest rates. As rates rise, so do the coupon payments on these loans. This helps bond investors in two ways: (1) it provides them more income as rates rise, and (2) it keeps the principal value of these loans stable, so they don’t suffer the same deterioration that afflicts most bond investments when rates increase.

Investors need to be careful, though. Most floating rate loans are made to below-investment-grade companies. While there are provisions in these loans to help ease the pain in case of a default, investors should still look for funds that have a broadly diversified portfolio and a good track record for avoiding troubled companies.

3. Short-term bond funds

Another option for bond investors is to shift their holdings from intermediate and long-term bond funds into short-term bond funds (those with average maturities between 1 and 3 years). While prices of short-term bond funds do fall when interest rates rise, they do not fall as fast or as far as their longer-term cousins. And historically, the decline in value of these short-term bond funds is more than offset by their yields, which gradually increase as rates climb.

4. Money-market funds

If capital preservation is your concern, money market funds are for you. A money-market fund is a special type of mutual fund that invests only in very short-term money market instruments. Since these instruments usually mature within 60 days, they are not affected by changes in market interest rates. As a result, funds that invest in them are able to maintain a stable net asset value, usually $1.00 per share, even when interest rates climb.

While money-market funds are safe, their yields are so low they hardly qualify as investments. In fact, the average seven-day yield on money-market funds is just 0.70 percent. Since the average management fee for these funds is 0.60 percent, it does not take a genius to see that putting your capital in a money-market fund is only slightly better than stashing it under your mattress. But, because the yields on money-market funds track changes in market rates with only a short lag, these funds could be yielding substantially more than 0.70 percent by the end of the year if the Federal Reserve continues to hike rates as expected.

5. Bond ladders

“Laddering” your bond portfolio simply means buying individual bonds with staggered maturities and holding them until they mature. Since you are holding these bonds for their full duration, you will be able to redeem them for face value regardless of their current market value. This strategy allows you to not only avoid the ravages of higher rates, it also allows you to use these higher rates to your advantage by reinvesting the proceeds from your maturing bonds in newly-issued bonds with higher coupon rates. Diversifying your bond portfolio among 2-year, 3-year, and 5-year Treasuries is a good start to a laddering strategy. As rates rise, you can then broaden the ladder to include longer maturity bonds.

David Twibell is President and Chief Investment Officer of Flagship Capital Management, LLC, an investment advisory firm in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Flagship provides portfolio management services to high-net-worth individuals, corporations, and non-profit entities. For more information, please visit www.flagship-capital.com.