The James Dicks Blog

There is absolutely no other group of individuals in this nation who should be honored as much as those who toil for us around the world, and in many instances, sacrifice their very lives. Our military forces and their families are forced to live through great times of difficulty in order to carry out the various requirements deemed essential by the Commander in Chief of our country.

In this time of war around the world, many of our military forces are on their fifth or sixth tours of duty overseas on very dangerous fields of battle. The sacrifices that our military families endure are enormous. These very special individuals must suffer long periods of separation, unspeakable danger, and, in most cases, inadequate pay. Today they are experiencing another hardship upon their return from overseas duty – the lack of employment.

Upon their return, many military members have been finding a higher-than-average unemployment rate and a tough time transferring their military skills to the private sector of American business. And as more military veterans look for employment jobs after returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the job market still doesn’t offer much hope. There is a positive side to all this since the military itself offers separating military access to programs that can help them transition into the civilian work force. But a slow job market and an overabundance of military talent trying to find jobs are over tasking these programs.

Those Reservists and National Guard members due have federal law on their side. Upon return from military service, The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) is designed to help Veterans regain the positions they were forced to leave in order to serve the nation’s military force. But sadly, with the downsizing of America’s business community, many vets are returning to find the company they left is now out of business and the job they once had no longer exists.

Employers have differing attitudes about hiring military veterans. Some businesses see veterans as the ideal candidate because of their proven leadership skills. But others are unenthusiastic to hire returning military members; concerned that former military may be too inflexible or that they might bring unwanted baggage with them, including mental or physical problems. I urge businesspeople across the country to seriously consider rewarding our returning military troops with honor, reverence, and jobs. You will never find better employees – people who are dedicated, responsible, drug-free, educated, and reliable. Hire the military and respect them every day for their selfless service to this nation.

I am writing this from personal experience because I was once a member of our country’s gallant force of the U.S. Armed Forces. I know first-hand the rigors that they and their precious families must live through in order to endure a military lifestyle for our sake. Now that I am no longer on active duty, I still feel an commitment to continue to serve this nation by helping these exceptional people in any way I can. I hope you will too.

In the past few years, we have witnessed a rash of massive personnel layoffs and the loss of thousands of small business structures in the U.S. and around the world. But at this point, I must admit that I still don’t see an end to our financial crisis. We’re not likely to as long as the price of a barrel of gas continues to rise and inflation threatens our way of life.

For the first time since September 2008, oil prices rose to reach levels of over $ 110 a barrel, due to the continuing tensions in the Arab world and after a good indicator in the United States. On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of light sweet crude for May delivery finished 110.30 dollars, which was up $ 1.47 from the previous day. Libya is the 16th largest global producer of oil in the world. This one nation that has been in unrest for weeks now, was responsible for about 2 percent of world oil production, which is about 1,600,000 barrels per day.

Other major oil producers are also in turmoil. Both Yemen and Bahrain are big oil producers — but far smaller; Bahrain pumps approximately 45,000 barrels per day; and Yemen just 260,000.

And according to one gas price expert, Trilby Lundberg, gas prices at the pump could hit five dollars a gallon by Memorial Day. The Lundberg Survey, an independent research marketing group that focuses on the petroleum industry, reported on April 11th, that prices jumped 20 cents during a two week reporting period to a nationwide average of $3.76 a gallon.

Lundberg’s survey, showing gas prices on the increase and the harsh impact prices are having on American households from coast-to-coast, is concerning. Many are worried about how gas prices will influence the economic health of the country. If people pay more at the pump there will be less disposable income for them to share with the national retail community and that has them nervous about sustaining sales that will, in turn, push their earnings and the U.S. economy in a positive direction.

Then there’s the question of future inflation. A weak dollar will affect everything from our exports to how much we, as a population, will be able to spend. A recent report showed grocery prices increasing 6.5 percent in March from early January. In the report, Consumer Growth Partners said the increase in food prices was the “sharpest in a generation.” A 25 percent increase in gas prices this year has joined higher food prices, which pulled $18 billion out of the monthly household spending on discretionary items. If the consumer doesn’t spend, the economy goes nowhere.

On top of all this, claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased above the key 400,000 mark recently. Like I said at the beginning, times are still tough and because of a number of issues that are not being resolved, the current situation is likely to remain so for quite a long time. Even though the government announced a few years back that the recession officially ended, it’s evident that millions of people remain out of work and that’s a reality for them and their families. In order to fix the problem, people must directly reconnect themselves to the economy but as long as they continue to lose their homes and are unable to find suitable employment, the possibility of that happening is nearly impossible. Not because they don’t want to, but because they just don’t have the disposable income to do so.

I wanted to take some time and create a series of blogs that will help Forex traders better navigate the “shark infested waters” of the Spot Forex over the counter marketplace.

I have spent a tremendous amount of time over the last few months researching the forex brokers. I want to share what I have learned and how to better combat some of the tactics that brokers take to help them insure a better bottom line.

Let me just say, that I still love trading the Forex market. I think it is a great place to build a profession. The Forex market is still the largest financial marketplace in the world. To help insure that you are one of the successful traders in this marketplace you will need to start considering some positive steps.

I would first start out by calling your Broker, ask them if you are on STP, Straight thru Processing. You want to make sure that your broker is not trading against you. I would send them an email to make sure that you have whatever they tell you in writing. What you will more than likely get from your broker is Bla Bla Bla-meaning “We don’t have a dealing desk” – Well all you have to do is call your broker tell them you would like to talk to the dealing desk to place a trade. Guess what? Bet you get the so called nonexistent dealing desk.

Just because they say they don’t have a dealing desk doesn’t mean they don’t have one. You just have to ask them to put it in writing that they have your account on STP, if they won’t find a new broker. When I Was introducing customers to the Forex Brokers I asked that my customers be put on STP, I even had the broker put in writing that my customers were on STP, Again not to beat this point to death, but you can only do what you can do, just get in writing that your broker is using STP for your account. You do not want to be associated with any sort of aggregated orders.

Also take special note when you are trading as to latency-How slow your order is filled, slippage, whether you get the price for your buy or sell that you executed the trade at, or error messages. Any and all of these and others could be an indication that something is wrong, that the broker could be trading against you. Even if they tell you that your account is on STP. Even if the Broker says they don’t have a dealing desk. They could have just simply removed the vocabulary word dealing desk and replaced it with a “server” automation of sorts.

To not sound so negative you can still trade this market and find good brokers, there are lots of traders that make money trading Forex. If you want to be one of those traders then you need to become aware and understand the Forex market place, recognize that the Forex brokers are in business to make money. Then arm yourself with all the knowledge tools and strategies you can to place solid trades.

Watch for my next blog on more strategies to help you place better trades and beat your broker.

Happy Investing-James Dicks

I have been around the block a few times, and I have to say that this one simply just slipped thru the cracks. Bad thing is that I could have used it in the past to assist me in collecting money that would have been very beneficial in the end. I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and unfortunately he was in an accident the other day, good news no one was hurt. So like most of you that drive, a fender bender has been in the cards at one point or another. Like my buddy in this case who had a new truck I had a few new vehicles in which I had a fender bender at one time or another.

Here lies the issue at hand. If you have a new car, we all know that as soon as you drive it off the lot you will suffer 20-30% depreciation on the value of your new vehicle. Thus one of the reasons you will find the strategy to buy a two year old vehicle in several of my books. I like new cars and I have new cars, but I also use leases to my advantage, and I also buy used as well.

So back to my buddy, he was in an accident where someone hit his new truck. Insurance will cover the damages but what about the fact that his new truck now has a negative carfax, a history of repair and accident that will affect the long term value of the truck even after it is fixed. That is unfortunate and in most cases people just take it for what it is and move on. Later down the road a few years when they try to sell the vehicle the accident comes back to haunt them and the seller of the vehicle will suffer monetary loss because of the previous accident. The accident simply lowers the long term value. So what can you do?

Well you can buy Gap Insurance which will cover the difference in your new vehicle when you drive it off the lot and remain in effect until your car is worth the same or lower than your loan payoff thus the “GAP” or you can file a diminished value claim against your insurance company. I would suggest that if you buy a new vehicle that you look into gap insurance, some policies have it included and others you will need to add it on. Keep in mind that you can get Gap insurance at many places not just thru your insurance company and certainly don’t take the Gap offered by your dealership when you buy your new vehicle. There are also alternatives to Gap insurance such as new car payoff options etc, you can discuss with your auto insurance company.

Since my buddy is filing a diminished value claim let’s look at what and how the claim works.
Let’s say you are like my buddy and were in a recent accident with your vehicle. – The first thing you are going to do is file a claim with your insurance company for the damage to the vehicle – The initial claim will only cover your damages minus your deductable of course – But what about your Diminished Value, this is going to be what your new vehicle is worth if you sold it now with the repaired damage vs selling the same new vehicle now with no damage. You need to be familiar with the three (3) types of Diminished Value . . .

1.   Immediate Diminished Value is the difference in resale value of a vehicle immediately before damage has occurred and immediately after damage has occurred (prior to repair). Most jurisdictions (courts) will use this standard as the primary measure of damage when courts are employed to seek reimbursement for damage from a negligent party. As courts are rarely the chosen venue for recovery of property damage, the standard of “Immediate Diminished Value” is rarely employed in resolving Diminished Value Claims . . .

2.   Inherent Diminished Value assumes optimal repair quality has been achieved and is defined as the amount by which the resale value of a repaired vehicle has been reduced simply because the subject vehicle now has a significant damage history. “Inherent Diminished Value” is the most widely recognized and accepted form of Diminished Value. It is also the basis upon which any supplemental form of Diminished Value would be added. A common “Supplemental” form of Diminished Value is “Repair Related Diminished Value” . . .

3.   Repair Related Diminished Value includes any additional amounts by which the resale value of a subject vehicle may be further reduced because of less-than-optimal repairs. This could include anything from minor cosmetic imperfections to major structural defects.

Determining diminished value takes basic common sense, the newer your vehicle the more likely the value would be diminished if it were in an accident. If you find yourself in a position that you think you may be looking at a diminished value situation, you will need to find a D/V appraiser, this type of appraiser has really taken off recently but you will need to be careful as some of them are not as professional as others, you may just want to ask your insurance company for the name of one that they recommend.

Do not fall prey to contingency type diminished value companies. These companies will tout that they can get you money from the insurance company for the vehicles diminished value on a contingency basis, meaning that they take their money out of the claim when paid by your insurance company. There are numerous scams out their reported with this type of business activity so just avoid them.
If for some reason you have difficulty with trying to collect on a diminished value claim from your insurance company you may need to find an attorney to assist you with the claim, in most cases your attorney fees can also be incorporated into the claim.

If you don’t receive your diminished value claim or as much as you feel you should have you still can recoup some of the loss on your taxes, Please take note that in no way do I offer tax advice, nor am I a tax attorney, please seek professional tax advice when doing your taxes.

IF you itemize your deductions, you can use Line # 19 of Form 1040 – Schedule “A” to deduct your unrecovered Diminished Value. If you have an unrecovered Diminished Value of say $ 1,500 and a tax rate of 20%, you can Reduce Your Tax Obligation by almost $ 300.00.

Yet another financial strategy that can be used to help you and your family achieve the financial success you deserve.

Happy Investing!

James Dicks

Fear plays a specific (but different) role in each of our lives. Of course, some of us are more affected than others. But at least to a certain degree, almost all of us experience some measure of fear for our own well-being. As fear relates to money, it is often a motivating force for people’s individual desire to accumulate. The need is not so much for what the money can do now as it is to protect us from unknown forces down the road.

Some people don’t seem to have this instinct at all, and this doesn’t bode well for the long-term health of the American economy. Just in the last two years people have started to really slow their spending down and foremost their spending on credit. It may have a negative effect on things for now, but in the long run we will be far better off.

(We have the lowest savings rate of any developed nation, which is a worrisome thing.) But the rest of us experience this self-protective instinct to put something aside for a rainy day. For some people, this means setting aside a small amount of money for less fortunate times. For still another group, the fear becomes extreme—even irrational—and leads to the unnecessary hoarding (and often counting) of money.

For me having to review this lesson is key; even writing it makes me think. My first time out I made lots of money, but I was over leveraged and in the end lost everything and had to start over again. The second time around I was not as over leveraged and saved money for a rainy day, problem is it seems as though it has been raining for a long time. However saving money for the rainy days has proven to be very wise. The next time around, I plan on having zero leverage, and living completely debt free. That is really the key to success, eliminate the credit and live on what you make and save, use a debit card instead of a credit card.

Let’s acknowledge first that saving money for the future is important. Having said that, the inevitable question that follows is, how much is enough? Setting aside a little money isn’t difficult, but since small amounts can seem so insignificant, it’s easy to lose the discipline to continue. But it is that very discipline that makes saving work. Well, discipline combined with the almost magical power of compound interest.

Compound interest is the key to building wealth. Simply put, it means investing some money, earning interest on your investment, and then leaving both the interest and the principal in place so that you begin to earn interest on your interest (as well as on your principal).

In other words, first your original money earns money, and then the money your money has earned earns more money. This goes on year after year. After years of compounded growth, the annual earnings reach an acceptable level. Eventually, if you’re original investment was large enough, if your rates of interest were competitive, and if you wait long enough, your nest egg will grow large enough to produce an acceptable outside income.