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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Medical Insurance For College Students

By J. D Theis

While all grownups get coverage from their jobs, it might be a little different in the case of college students. Not every student has good medical insurance and consequently, might have to look at their options in order to account for their health coverage. This can get tricky and might require the help of someone knowledgeable to understand how to go about it and get the kind of coverage that is affordable as well as adequate for their needs. There are some distinct options available for college students to choose from and depending on their situation, they can opt for one of them.

The first option that college students have for medical insurance is to just go in for the health plan offered by the college. All colleges today have some sort of health plan that you can choose from, and it is important to know the kind of medical insurance that is being offered by your college so that you can be sure that your protected and are covered in case of an emergency. In fact, most colleges today have tie-ups with leading healthcare providers to bring very good policies at extremely nominal rates.

The second option that you have is to join the family health plan. Since most parents have healthcare from their company or have purchased healthcare on their own, there might be provisions for children to be add-ons in these plans for some extra amount. Usually, the child can be on the plan for up to 24 years of age, regardless of the physical location of the child. Hence, even if your child goes to a college in another state, you will get some kind of reimbursement if he ever makes use of the healthcare near her/his campus. This is a convenient option, and is used by a significant number of parents today.

It is wise to do research before choosing on either of the above options. Often, medical insurance is probably the last thing on the mind of the parents and the students before heading out to college. Luckily, most colleges are readily equipped to offer medical insurance for the student even if they havent seriously considered the prospects of getting one before heading away from home.

On the other hand, if you feel that your health coverage is better than what the college offers, talk to your insurance company and have them know about you adding your family member to the plan. Most companies will be okay with this, unless they have specified some rule earlier on that prohibits you from doing so. - 23211

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Euro Currency (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

It was necessary for many countries to hold large amounts of every individual European currency before the coming of Euro. As a result the currency reserves tended towards US Dollar. In 1990s, 65% of the global reserves were in US Dollar.

However, with the introduction of Euro, foreign reserve assets are shifting in favor of Euro. This trend is expected to continue as EU becomes one of the major trading partners for most countries around the world.

The European Central Bank: The European Central Bank (ECB) is the governing body that determines the monetary policy for the EMU countries. The Executive Board of ECB comprises the president, the vice president and four other members. These individuals along with the governors of the member national banks comprise the Governing Council. The Executive Board implements the policies made by the Governing Council.

New monetary policy decisions are usually taken by a majority vote. The president has the deciding vote in the event of a tie. The policy meetings are biweekly. Although ECB meets biweekly and has the power to change the monetary policy in any of these meeting, it is only expected to do so where an official press conference is scheduled afterwards.

The EMUs primary objective is price stability and growth. So ECB has a strict mandate based on inflation and deficit. ECB tries to keep the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) below 2% and M3 (money supply) annual growth below 4.5%.

The ECB and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) are independent institutions from both national governments and other EU institutions. This operational independence is granted to them as per Article 108 of the Maastricht Treaty.

How ECB achieves its policy targets of price stability and growth? The primary tools the ECB uses to control monetary policy are the Open Market Operations. ECB has at is disposal four categories of open market operations that it can use to manage interest rates, control liquidity and signal monetary policy stance.

Main refinancing operations are regular liquidity providing reverse transactions. Bulk of refinancing for the financial sector is done through these operations. These refinancing operations are conducted weekly with a maturity of two weeks.

Fine tuning operations are executed on an ad hoc basis with the aim of both managing the liquidity situation in the market and steering interest rates. Longer term refinancing operations are liquidity providing reverse transactions with a monthly frequency and a maturity of three months.

ECB uses structural operations to adjust the structural position of the Eurosystem vis--vis the financial sector. It involves the issuance of debt certificates, reverse transactions and outright transactions. The ECB minimum bid rate is the key policy target for the ECB. It is the level of borrowing that ECB offers to the central banks of its member states.

If it believes that inflation is of concern, ECB is not constrained from intervening in the forex markets. Therefore, ECB does not usually have the exchange rate target but can factor in exchange rates in its policy deliberations as exchange rate impacts price stability. - 23211

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Forex Made Easy - Helps Generate More Profits In Forex Trading

By Bart Icles

Regardless whether or not you've already heard of Forex trading and of the stories how many Forex traders became overnight millionaires from making successful deals, Forex trading still is a very risky business venture to go into that could make you lose all your money if you don't know what you're doing, if you don't have the right tools for it and if you aren't well-versed in all its aspects. In order to tip the balance in your favor, you will need to have help in the way of some Forex Made Easy guidelines as listed below.

* New and experienced Forex traders alike regular need to have some training and education on all the aspects of Forex trading before going into actual trading. It may be in the form of going to Forex classes in a school setting, or it might be through an online course from the Internet. Both options are good ones that all depends on the preference of the student/trader in regard to his needs and expectations. By being able to learn even the most basic of knowledge about Forex trading helps a lot in making more positive trade decisions and in avoiding common mistakes that lead to money losses.

* One way of getting experience without losing real money is to regularly practice paper trading whenever possible. The Internet is not in short supply of many good software programs that offer invaluable services with this purpose in mind, so feel free to mix and match whatever Forex strategies and methods works and suits your kind of trading to help you become adept with the trading process. Forex currency trading is open to everyone, regardless of personal qualifications, so traders who have done their homework and other preparations like getting the proper education, training and practice, will able to make more money compared to those who are not.

* Another important thing to remember is to always have a disciplined mind regardless of how every trading transaction turns out; whether profitable or losing deals have transpired, it?s best to stay focused at all times and to stick to the game plan. In currency trading, some people who are in a roll don?t know when to pull the plug until it is already too late. Instead of ending up a sizeable amount of gains, they end up with nothing at all.

By simply reading this Forex Made Easy guide, you will view Forex trading in a new light which will surely enable you to be more successful in your trading. If you remember at all times to follow the above guidelines and also to be in control at all times and not the other way around, you'll surely be making more and more profitable deals in the near future. - 23211

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British Pound Profile (Part III)

By Ahmad Hassam

UK tends to share a more common set of views with the United States. Economically, the United Kingdom is more free-market oriented than Europe. The United Kingdom cant totally disassociate itself from Europe at the same time, given its history and its geography. The upshot is a currency that is affected by politics at home and on the two continents to which its destiny is so closely related.

6% of the all the global currency trading involves GBP as either the base or counter currency. The GBP/USD is one of the most liquid currency pairs in the world. The British Pound GBP is active against the dollar and the euro, offering good opportunities to trade both pairs (GBP/USD and USD/GBP).

One of the reasons for GBP liquidity is the countrys highly developed capital markets. GBP is also in the four most traded major currency pairs EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and USD/CHF in the world.

Many foreign investors seeking to diversify their investment other than the United States send their funds to the UK. In order to create these investments, foreigners need to convert their local currency into GBP.

GBP had one of the highest interest rates in the developed countries. Although Australia and New Zealand had still higher interest rates but their financial markets are not as well developed as UK. GBP was full of speculators one two years back.

Carry trading was popular with many hedge fund managers. It is a long term fundamental trading strategy. Carry traders would use GBP as the lending currency taking advantage of the high interest rates and would go long against USD, JPY and CHF.

UK Treasury had to intervene heavily in the market by pumping money into a number of failing banks in order to stabilize the financial markets. The present global financial crisis has taken a heavy toll on the British Banks as well. There have been a number of high profile bankruptcies.

Interest rates have been lowered. With the lowering of the interest rates, an exodus of carry traders took place that increased volatility in GBP. Interest rate differentials between UK gilts/US Treasuries is a barometer for GBP/USD flows and UK gilts/German Bunds is a barometer for EUR/GBP flow. These interest rate differentials are widely watched by the professional forex traders.

Will UK join EMU? This is an important question that still can determine the long term fundamentals of GBP. Indications on adopting the Euro usually put negative pressure on GBP while further opposition to Euro boosts GBP. The three month eurosterling futures reflect market expectations on UK interest rates three months into the future and can help predict fluctuations of GBP/USD.

GBP/USD currency pair tends to be more sensitive to the developments in the US economy. GBP/USD currency pair is more liquid than EUR/USD pair. However, EUR/GBP is the leading gauge for GBP strength. EUR/GBP is a more pure fundamental pound trade as EU is the UK primary trading and investment partner. GBP has positive correlation with the energy prices. You must keep these facts in mind while determining your bias for GBP as a currency trader. - 23211

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Importance Of Choosing The Right Health Plan

By J. D Theis

Almost all of us have some sort of health plan taking care of ourselves as well as our families. It is unfortunate that a sizeable number of people still dont have health coverage, but once they understand its importance, they might think twice about it and go out and get coverage for themselves. Health care is something that you need to provide for your family members as one can never be too sure about what holds for them in the future. With the right kind of plan, you should be able to go ahead and take risks without worrying about you are going to do if you fall ill.

Most of us receive health coverage from the place we work itself. Hence, it is not something that we would separately invest our money. We are better off opting for the health benefits that we get at our place of work. However, it is possible that we might have been removed from our job recently and lost health benefits along with it. It might be of interest to know that even if you have lost your job, you might still have health coverage as it is something that is provided to someone who might have recently been removed from their job by the company itself.

Although the coverage is not permanent, it will continue for some more time, which should help you find a new job and consequently, a new health cover. For people who want to go on independent policies, there are still a number of options to choose from. One can opt for the independent cover if they find it to be more lucrative than to take chances and wait till they get into a group policy.

Alternatively, you can even check with your state to see if they have any policy that provides health benefits for its residents. Many states provide some form of health cover that you can use. If you fall under the requirement for the sate based policy, you can go ahead and try to see if it is the kind of policy that you need and perhaps provide you some basic cover till you can afford one of your own.

Additionally, it is also possible for you to try and get into a group policy with several people and share the premium between yourselves. Considering the number of people who are opting for a health cover, you can choose one by just forming a group together and enjoying the benefits. - 23211

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