Archive for December 2009

By MoneyBlueBook

Well, it looks like January 2010 has finally arrived. Goodbye 2009, and hello 2010!

According to most public sentiment surveys I've seen thus far, the overwhelming consensus is that 2009 was a particularly terrible year. The economy tanked, retirement savings were largely wiped out, and home equity values were pretty much eviscerated. However, where there's misery, there always seems to be a smidgen lining of hope. Despite most people's vastly negative opinion of 2009, the great majority of surveys indicate a very optimistic outlook for 2010. Maybe it's because this time around, we are no longer staring at the barrel of an imminent financial sector meltdown and hearing the ghastly doomsday warnings of a possible decade-long economic depression, but things certainly feel less dire than the same time 12 months ago.

Most certainly, while we are still languishing under the worst economic recession in decades with depressive unemployment rates continuing to climb, the pace at which the economy continues to worsen has drastically decreased. In other words, while the economy is still deteriorating, it's worsening at a significantly slower pace than before. This is very good news for the aspiring optimists and opportunists in all of us. Most significantly, there also does appear to be tangible economic metrics emerging to back up the growing optimistic fervor for 2010. While I personally think we are still many months away from a real and sustainable recovery, I think we are decidedly heading in the right direction as punctuated by the fact that I've been jumping back into the stock

By MoneyBlueBook

Special Promo Offer: For New OptionsHouse Accounts

Whether you're a buy and hold investor or a savvy trader of penny stocks, I'm pretty sure commissions and fees are a few of those brokerage conditions that you pay particular attention to. If you aren't too concerned with them, then perhaps you ought to be. After all, high fees and hidden trading costs have a nasty way of surreptitiously consuming huge chunks of your potential stock gains and profits. Nowadays, there really is no reason why any investor ought to pay full price for his or her stock investing needs. There are a broad range of heavily discounted brokerage firms to choose from, each offering its own unique online trading experience and each touting its own unique mix of low fees and hassle free conditions.

If you're not completely new to the world of investing, I recommend checking out OptionsHouse, a fairly intriguing newish entrant to the discount broker foray. While the name OptionsHouse may be unfamiliar to those not intimately plugged into investment circles, the company is a fairly established company, associated and backed by PEAK6 Investments, one of the biggest options trading brokerage companies around. Despite the "options" moniker in its name, the firm is not an exclusive options trading firm as it provides a large wealth of resources for stock trading as well.���� While options trading is its primary expertise and specialty, the company still caters to the stock and fund investors out there - touting trading rates that are some of the