Forex Yellow Pages

Long-time personal finance columnist Scott Burns writes that by working for four summers starting at age 16, putting the money in a Roth IRA, investing it wisely and waiting until age 67, it’s simple to become a millionaire. That’s the 51-year plan. But what if you’re not that patient – or that young? Lucky for you, there are many ways to hit the million-dollar mark, but the faster you try to get there, the harder it becomes.

$1 Million the Hard Way

Let’s say you want to become a millionaire in five years. If you’re starting from scratch, online millionaire calculators (which return a variety of results given the same inputs) estimate that you’ll need to save anywhere from $13,000 to $15,500 a month and invest it wisely enough to earn an average of 10% a year. That means taking calculated risks, diversifying and avoiding investment fees like loads and broker commissions. Read more…

This article is part of a series on Trading Today’s Market.

As the historic market collapse felled many investors, a handful set themselves apart by scoring big profits.

Now, several of these money managers expect more bad times ahead, including struggles for consumers, limp earnings and a possible surge of inflation.

They also see pockets of opportunity.

George Soros is bullish on China, India and Brazil. John Paulson is investing in distressed debt, residential mortgages, even companies in bankruptcy proceedings. Alan Fournier, a lesser-known investor with a strong track record, likes some health-care shares, while James Melcher, also successful lately, likes corporate bonds.

“We’re trying to make hay while the sun’s still shining,” says Mr. Fournier, who runs $2.8 billion Pennant Capital. “Maybe we can rally through the summer, perhaps for another year, but there are a lot of difficult issues that we’re going to have to deal with.”

Mr. Soros is just as wary. The renowned 78-year-old investor and philanthropist calls the current terrain a “trading market,” saying in a recent interview that investors should take profits when shares surge, even if they look promising long term. Read more…

Small investors, afraid of being left behind in a big rally, are piling into mutual funds that invest in emerging markets, junk bonds and volatile energy businesses.

It’s amazing the difference a rally can make in investors’ appetite for risk.

A few months ago, mutual-fund investors were yanking money out of stocks and high-quality corporate-bond funds and parking it in safer places, like money-market funds and U.S. Treasurys. Lately, however, as stock and bond markets have rebounded, mutual-fund investors have had a split personality.

They’re back to buying relatively safe investments like high-quality corporate bonds. But they’re also pouring money into the riskiest investments. They’re lukewarm toward U.S. stocks but plunging into high-octane vehicles like emerging-market companies, commodities and junk bonds—making these among the 10 best-selling mutual-fund categories this year.

“Some have said, ‘Well, if we’re going back in [the market], let’s take a real risk,’ � says Iain Clark, chief investment officer of Henderson Global Investors.

Some market watchers think these investors are trying to quickly recoup their massive losses from last year. Or they believe these investors are simply chasing performance.

Whatever the motivation, though, they may be overdoing it.  Read more…

Managing your career: Ariane de Bonvoisin and John Kilcullen identify 10 skills you need to survive the next round of layoffs at your job

What’s triggering fears and sleepless nights for many of us about the unemployment abyss is not the job-loss stats themselves, but the depth of the cuts—and the qualifications of some of the people getting jettisoned. The questions we keep hearing are: Why do highly skilled, seemingly essential people get cut while others don’t? Are there patterns? How can I make myself indispensable?

In talking with employers about what they most value in employees right now, it became clear that the key to surviving isn’t so much about the skills you have, the awards you’ve won, or the tasks you perform day in and day out. It’s as much about qualities, habits, and capacities.

This is no time to keep plugging along head down, half expecting every meeting invitation you open to be your exit interview. You must take action to embody the qualities of those employees who always get promoted and always avoid the next round of layoffs.

And don’t think that just because your company isn’t downsizing or has said it has no plans to that you’re safe. Things can and do change fast in this environment, so take preventive measures. Plus, the kinds of qualities we’re talking about will serve you well when things turn around. Read more…

Thank you, fellow taxpayers, for your generous contributions to the Angelo Mozilo defense fund. Bank of America(BAC Quote) confirmed on Tuesday it is covering the legal fees for the former Countrywide CEO who has been charged with securities fraud and insider trading. BofA, America’s biggest bank, says it is obligated to shell out for Mozilo’s defense as a result of an indemnity clause in place when he ran Countrywide.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against Countrywide’s co-founder last Thursday, alleging he raked in more than $139 million of improper profits by exercising stock options in 2006 and 2007 while the nation’s housing market and Countrywide’s finances were collapsing. Read more…

WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department has approved 10 of the nation’s largest banks to repay $68 billion in government bailout money.

The department on Tuesday said the banks, which were not named, will be allowed to repay the money they received from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program created by Congress last October at the height of the financial crisis.

The banks have been eager to get out of the program to escape government restrictions such as caps on executive compensation.

Among the banks that last month passed government “stress tests” and confirmed that they received permission to repay the bailout funds were: JPMorgan Chase & Co., American Express Co., U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and BB&T Corp. Read more…

Lehman Brothers Holdings

Rank: 1
Date of bankruptcy filing: 09/15/08
Assets: $691 billion

One of the biggest calamities of the current recession is the fall of the once highly regarded (and onetime fourth-largest) Wall Street investment firm, which was forced to file for bankruptcy protection last September, the largest corporate filing in the history of U.S. bankruptcy court. As a result, the company’s North American investment banking and trading businesses and New York City headquarters were sold to British bank Barclays. Some of Lehman’s U.S. businesses, including wealth management firm Neuberger-Berman, continue to operate as stand-alone entities under new ownership. And because of the company’s global reach, its bankruptcy proceedings are complex, ongoing, and have resulted in the closing of 80 of the bank’s smaller subsidiaries. Read more…