Fortune Watch

A big rate cut by the Federal Reserve this week, or at a hint more cuts are coming, coupled with this weeks sub prime rescue plan could lift investor confidence and inspire a pre Christmas rally.

While most investors are banking on a cut of at least a quarter percentage points in the bench mark fed funds rate, many think a deeper reduction is needed to unfreeze credit markets and boost confidence.

On Thursday, President George W. Bush announced a plan to stern US home foreclosures, sending stocks surging on optimism it would keep the economy from sliding into a recession.

“The big focus next week is on the Fed meeting” The market was pricing in an interest rate cut, there was still speculation about how big such a cut would be and whether the Fed would also cut the discount rate.

Encouraging data this week, including a resilient payrolls report on Friday, eased some concerns about the economy, decreasing the likelihood of an aggressive 50-point-basis cut in the fed funds rate.

And with just a few more weeks left in the year, the Dow is up 9.3% so far in 2007. The S&P 500 is up 6.9% for the year to date and the Nasdaq is up 12%.

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A remarkable number of investors are deeply concerned about the size of the company to invest in. Unfortunately, unlike some other kinds of prejudices, not having a prejudice about size is not good. Let me explain. A few days ago I was talking to (or rather, I was being talked to) by a group of very enthusiastic investors. These were people who had dropped in to extract investment advice from me, despite my strong protestations that I had no advice to offer about any specific stocks.

However, it did not really matter because what they were interested in was displaying the high quality of the research that their brokers had provided them with. This research consisted, in its entirety, of a list of stocks that were about to go up. No actual reasoning and logic accompanied the list. In the olden days of the stock markets, this kind of research went under the term ‘tips’ but it has been re branded now

Anyway, one of things that struck me about the research-led investment strategies that they were discussing was the utter lack of any consideration for size. They consider the stock of a large company, with a high market value, and that of a company with a lower market value as alternatives to each other. This is so because the ‘research’ they are going by says that all these are likely to rise. This is deeply misguided way of evaluating stocks.

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Disability Income Insurance protects your most valuable asset, your ability to earn an income. It’s easy to forget that your income is dependent on your ability to earn it.

When a disability leaves you unable to work for an extended length of time, you lose the ability to earn an income- the one thing you’ve always relied on to provide for yourself and your loved ones. Meanwhile, your living expenses continue-in fact, they’re likely to increase for a number of reasons.

You could need help around the house or have higher medical expenses, for example. That’s where disability insurance comes in. It’s designed to help you maintain your standard of living when you cannot work. If you don’t have much in the way of assets for a financial cushion, you need enough to cover costs and supplement your income until you can go back to work.

Individual disability insurance is truly a basic concept. It is an insurance product designed to replace anywhere from 60-70% of your gross income should a sickness or illness prevent you from earning an income in your occupation. All disability insurance quotes and coverage from every insurance company are very different; this is not a product to simply shop for the most competitive rate.

If you became sick or hurt and couldn’t work, how would you pay your bills? How would you maintain your living standard? If you’re like most people, your ability to get up each day and earn an income is one of your most valuable assets. Furthermore, your chances of becoming disabled at some time during your working career are probably higher than you would expect, so you also need more disability insurance information.

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In your lifetime, you will use plenty of banking products that were previously not available to the ordinary person. Whether you are starting out with a small company or whether you run an established business it is important to ensure that you have the right business account in order to aid the smooth running of your company’s finances.

You can enjoy a choice of popular Business Banking accounts these days from a range of banks and financial institutions, so finding the right business account to suit your needs and those of your business should not prove too much of a problem. Business accounts offer increased convenience and financial support for commercial businesses, and you can enjoy a range of benefits when you open a business account.

Due to laziness alone, we often do our Business Banking with the same people our personal bank account is held with. If you shop around, you wont get much of a better deal financially (rates and services are generally almost identical) but you will find banks who offer better service, better personnel and advice. Depending on the size of your business a large part of Business Funding products are tailored to suit your business needs.

Banks are confident that through their Free Business Banking schemes you can save your business a lot of money. With a simple online calculator you can see how much you can actually save.

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Recent changes made by many travel insurers expand the cover offered by their policies in case of terrorist acts, but there’s a wide variation in what expenses are covered.

Many insurers reviewed the terms of their travel insurance policies and/or the way their policies are applied to specific events after terrorist attacks in early this decade. The definition of terrorism and the nature of cover for terrorism may vary from insurer to insurer.

It is worth taking the time to understand how terrorism is dealt with in your travel insurance policy if you are considering buying travel insurance for a future trip or you already have travel insurance and are about to travel or are considering canceling a trip because of the threat of terrorism.

Speaking of not being covered, if a policy you are considering says that it covers acts of terrorism but then has a huge laundry list of exceptions, you might want to look elsewhere. If you are considering buying a policy you should find out exactly what it does and what it does not cover by asking for a copy of the document and reading it carefully, paying particular attention to the exclusions or contacting the insurance company directly.

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