Account Opening – Investing Education

Steps To Open An Online Currency Trading Account

By George Madison on Tuesday, September 11, 2012

With the advancement of the World Wide Web, everything in the world has shrunk and come into a nutshell. Even Forex market is no exception. Today, you can easily open a currency trading account through simple steps, by just the click of your mouse. You can consult with online currency trading brokers and get the best currency trading account for you sitting cozily at your home and become online currency trader.

Here are the simple steps about opening an online currency trading account explained:

Choose the type of online currency trading account that you wish to open
Get yourself registered as an online currency trader
Activate your online currency trading account to get started your career as online currency trader

Choosing the online currency trading account:

Being an online currency trader, you can either get the currency trading account opened in your name or in the name of your business. There are also a wide variety of options available such as a standard or a mini currency trading account. The currency trading account is just like a brokerage account that is used by the online currency trader who is just a beginner in the foreign exchange market. Those who are new to trading are recommended to open the mini currency trading account for all transactions. The mini account allows the online currency trader to take smaller position in a currency; instead of the trading through standard accounts that is mostly used by regular online currency traders.

Usually in a ‘forex mini account’, the online currency trader is allowed to trade in agreement size of 10,000 units, in the place of the standard 100,000. The forex standard currency trading accounts are usually for the regular and experienced online currency traders.

Completing the currency trading account Registration formalities

You need to follow certain formalities in order to get registered and get a currency trading account. The account opening formalities may differ from one online currency trading broker to the other. Most of the online currency trading brokers hands over the trading account opening application forms to the traders in PDF format. The information that is asked for in the forms is generally very basic and can be easily provided.

Getting your currency trading Account Activated

After you submit all the required current trading account opening documents to your online currency trading broker, you will get notified by an email. After receiving the email, you may need to complete several other formalities online, in order to get your currency trading account activated. Once, all the formalities are over, your online currency trading broker will send you all the details of currency trading account through mail. The details contain instructions, username, and password to start acting as online currency trader.

If you are new to forex trading then it is recommended that you first get a demo account opened. The demo accounts are practice accounts that are provided by all online currency trading brokers for free. You can easily get these demo accounts from any of the online currency trading brokers by just following a few simple steps. These accounts help you to practice the rules of the stock market and how to make transactions without loosing anything. It provides an excellent platform to learn the tricks of trading before acting as online currency trader. It is also helpful for the regular online currency traders to experiment their strategies before applying them in real.

Account Opening Guides

Guide to Opening an Ally Bank Account

By Ariel Hulse on Monday, August 6, 2012

(Guide to Opening an Ally Bank Account)Problem: “How do I open an Ally Bank Account.”
One of my investments required me to open an Ally Bank account. The whole process was relatively painless and easy. I for the most part would recommend Ally Bank. They offer ultra competitive rates, and great service, two things no other bank is offering right now unless you have a million dollars you want to invest with them. Most likely the reason for this is they are beyond desperate for customers, but who cares their loss and our gain.

The main reason to open an Ally account is for a place to store cash you wont be using but don’t want to risk on the stock market at large. Ally offers some of the best CD rates (Up to 0.93% for a APY!) to entice new customers and offers them without a minimum investment amount, most other banks have a minimum of $1,000.

To sign up for a new Ally account first go to Ally.com.

On the top of the screen will be a button that says “View Rates” press this.

From this screen Ally displays the current rates it is offering on Certificates of Deposit, Checking accounts, Savings accounts, and IRAs. After checking the displayed rates and choosing the product you want press the purple “Open an account” button in the middle of the screen.

There is a six step process to opening an Ally bank account:
1. The first step of course is choosing to create a new account, by selecting “I am a new customer.”

2. The second step is selecting what product is best for you. In my case I chose a $100 certificate of deposit.

3. The third step is to enter your account information. Including, last name, first name, social security number, address, and phone number.

4. The fourth step is the creation of the account. Including agreeing to the terms and conditions set forth by Ally bank. As well as giving your consent to receive account information electronically.

5. After agreeing to all the terms and conditions you then need to fund your new Ally bank account. To fund your new Ally bank account you can either make an online transfer from another bank. Or make an opening deposit by mail or wire transfer. For my CD I chose to use the electronic transfer since it would fund the account the quickest (in my case in just three days).

After choosing my funding method another confirmation screen appears to confirm that I want to electronically fund my new Ally account with money from the bank account I added.

6. Hitting next takes you to a congratulations screen since you have just completed the creation of an Ally bank account.

Pros: Some of the best things I have found about Ally bank so far, is the sleek easy to use website they have. As well as the ease of adding new accounts and checking on your current ones. If any of you have experienced other online banking (cough, Chase, cough) you will really appreciate the simplicity and clean cut user experience of Ally.com.

Perhaps Ally’s best quality at the moment aside from industry high CD and money market rates, is it’s customer service. One of the first things you will see when going to Ally.com is an up to date counter of how long it will take to reach a live assistance if you need help. While more and more companies are cutting service especially in the banking industry Ally is making it front and center.

This is in no way more obvious than on the mobile Ally App, is it has an option right there smack dab in the middle to call a real live person for help. In this day and age where more and more places don’t have any way to reach them Ally tries to make it as easy as possible.

Cons: GMAC. No its not a secret new burger at McDonalds, it is what Ally bank used to be called before the financial crash. Although my money in my $100 CD is FDIC insured it is still worrisome that the new and improved Ally bank used to be one of the biggest losers of the financial crash. Lets just hope it learned its lesson.

I hope this guide on opening an account at Ally bank helped you. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to email me at Brett@investinged.com.

Account Opening Banking Credit Cards Guides Saving Tips

How to Apply for a Credit Card Online

By Ariel Hulse on Sunday, June 24, 2012

With busy work schedules taking up most of the day and half their night, people are engaged in online activities more than ever. They send emails to keep in touch with friends and business colleagues, to contact business partners, listen to music, to bid and shop online and do a number of other activities too. Apart from that many people manage their businesses with the help of the internet. They do all kinds of banking transactions, pay their utility bills, pay the employees and get engaged in several other activities. To do all this one needs the help of a credit card. If one can do everything over the internet, why not apply for them online too?

Credit Cards

There are different types of credit cards all meant for different purposes in life. A person can go for:
– Gas Credit Cards
– Restaurant Credit Cards
– Hotel and Travel
– Home Improvement
– Airline
– Automobile
– Sports Credit Cards
– Financial Credit Cards
– Charity Credit Cards
– Student Credit Cards

There is a special type of credit card called the emergency credit card and emergency replacement credit card. In both cases, the applicant will be issued a card, the first, if he needs a card in a hurry and the second, if he loses his first card.

One should have an idea of all the major credit card banks in town so one can do a comparative study before one really makes a choice. He should visit a website that will compare not just the banks, but the credit cards offered by them. This is quite easy and one can definitely get a better deal. Here are some banks that are well worth their credit cards – HSBC, BankWest Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Virgin Money, ING, Citibank and so on. One can review all the credit cards to know the differences between their purchase rate, cash rate, annual fees and how to apply for them. Often the differences are graphically represented so the applicant can search through them quite easily and without wasting much time. Armed with all the information, the user can send in an application to the bank after making sure he is sending in a secure application. There will be an ‘Apply Here’ or ‘Apply Now’ button on the bank’s website; it is as easy as that. It is very important that the user enter all his personal information, address and social security number honestly and accurately.

How long the applicant will have to wait for news of his credit card will depend on which bank he is getting it from. Some banks give instant approval and some will take weeks to reply. The applicant will be informed through snail mail, e-mail or phone when his card is ready for processing. If the user already has a card, he can apply for another credit card; it doesn’t matter if he already has one or two more. But if the applicant’s total available credit is of relatively high proportion when compared to his income level, then he may be denied the card. Too many credit scores might dampen a user’s credit rating.

Account Opening Banking Saving

What are Custodial Accounts?

By George Madison on Sunday, June 24, 2012

A custodial account is simply a financial account that is set up for a minor. This is because a minor has not attained the legal age of majority. The custodian of this account is usually the parent. A custodial account can actually be opened at a bank, brokerage or at a mutual fund where the adult or the parent is the custodian.

Custodial accounts are actually a new concept under finance. They came about 1956 with the aim of letting a common man pass funds over to their children in the future with a relatively low fee in setting up the account.

The logic behind setting up a custodial account is actually very simple: children are young and cannot manage money at that tender age instead they waste it in minor expenses. The custodian (parent of guardian) manages fully the custodian account. He or she determines the required amount to withdrawal from this account and settle down the demands of the minor. Once the minor reaches the maturity date which is; 18, 21 or 25 years depending on the state you are in, all the assets in the custodial account gets transferred to the minor.

The custodian is the one who determines how much to deposit in the custodial account, how much to invest and also how the account earnings will be reinvested in order to bear much profit. The custodian or the parent for that matter should determine the amount to take out of this account and cater for the needs of the child. Remember that this account is set up to help the child not the custodian. The role of the custodian is only to manage the account on behalf of the minor simply because he or she has not attained the maturity age.

In the custodial account, the parent or guardian can deposit either cash money or savings bonds to the account. The amount deposited results to some earnings which the custodian should think of reinvesting in order to bear more earnings. In the United States, the first $850 of the earnings is actually free from tax while the next $850 must have an annual tax at the minor’s rate which is usually 15%. Any extra earnings realized after that are taxed at the custodian’s rate.

The custodial account has got some benefits. First, the account is actually very easy to set up. You can visit any bank and set up the custodial account, a process that will not take more than one hour. You can contact a brokerage firm in case you want engage into a variety of investments since these firms have all the required details.

Custodial accounts have few restrictions. There is not limit of how much one can deposit into these accounts. If you feel that you want to deposit $1000 for your kid, the doors are wide open. Withdrawals at custodian accounts can actually be done at any desired time. This is done without paying penalties and is for the benefit of your child.

Account Opening Buying Guides Investing Retirement Stocks

How to Trade Stocks Online

By Richard Adams on Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Trading stocks online is very easy to do, all it takes is for someone to open up an account and deposit money. Even though the process is quick doesn’t mean a lot of research shouldn’t be done before someone chooses to pick a broker. Most stock traders open up a practice account with traders that offer it. A practice account will show you almost everything you need to know about a stock broker like execution time and the transaction fee.

Creating a practice account for every stock account can take a long time and a lot of effort. Online reviews of stock brokers can become a very useful tool to take advantage of. Once someone has found the broker that he is comfortable with the next step should be preparing to trade. A trader should decide how he wants to trade, rather if it be day trading or trading once or twice a month. A trader without a plan can become self destructive in the long run. Creating a trading strategy should be a trader’s next step. A stock trader should have a written down strategy of how he wants to trade. This strategy should include how much the trader is willing to lose before he sells his stock and how much he is looking to gain. This is a very important step because if a trader gets greedy then he can end up losing his whole portfolio instead of just a percentage of it.

Tools are a great asset when someone is trading stocks. Trading tools can be anything from stock charts or software’s that can help trading. Most brokers have trading tools on their site that traders can take advantage of. Some brokers have more tools than others so trading tools should be something to consider before someone starts to trade. If the broker that a trader signed up for does not have the necessary tools for him to trade then he can always download software’s individually from dealers online.

The next step for a trader is to fund their account. A good investor knows he should only risk money that he can afford to lose. There are different stock trading order types that are good for certain situations. A trader needs to know all of them to maximize profit. Taking notes is another great asset because learning what went wrong or right can be useful for the next trade. A lot of traders skip over some valuable steps when they are beginning to trade and end up losing all of their trading money. It is true that no one can predict the market every time but knowing certain steps and procedures can increase the chances of earning profit in the long run.

Account Opening Banking Guides Investing Saving Tips

How To Open An Online Bank Account

By Richard Adams on Sunday, June 3, 2012

Those that wish to open an online bank account will find that there are many options to choose from. Originally, only lesser known banks were offering this option in an attempt to gain new customers. Today, nearly every major bank now offers this option. Though the process is simple, there are some requirements that must be met in order to open an online bank account.

The most common requirement is a minimum deposit amount. This amount will vary by bank, but tends to be in the $100 range. These funds can be provided by using either a debit card that is linked to another bank account, or by using any major credit card. There may also be age requirements, as minors are not allowed to open their own accounts. Typically, the applicant must be 18 years of age or older, though each bank has the right to raise this minimum age requirement.

Each bank that allows for opening accounts online will advertise this fact on their website. Popular choices include: Wells Fargo, Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Citizens. However, there are many more to choose from. The benefits of each of these banks will vary, and those that are looking to open an online bank account are advised to spend some time researching which bank will offer them the highest level of benefits.

Once a selection has been made, simply find the “Apply Now” button or link on the bank website. This will initiate the process. Be prepared to provide basic information such as name, address, and phone number. Other information, such as driver’s license number and social security number may also be required. This information is used to verify the identity of the applicant. Requiring this information is standard whether opening an account online or in person.

In order to be approved, all information must be truthful and verifiable. In most cases, the account is approved within one business day, though some banks do take longer. Opening funds will not be requested until the account application has been approved. These funds must be deposited in order to complete the process. Once this is done, debit cards, checks, and online banking access will be granted (if applicable).

In addition to checking accounts, savings and business accounts can be opened online. The application process for all account types is quite similar, though business accounts may require a tad more information. Typically, there is no cost associated with opening an online bank account. However, depending on the account type and bank, there may be a monthly fee associated with keeping the account open.

The internet now provides plenty of banking options to everyone. It is no longer necessary for one to choose a bank in his or her local area. This option is especially nice for those that live in small towns that do not even have a local bank. The application process is safe and secure, and online accounts are no different than any other account. Visiting a physical bank location is no longer necessary, as transactions can be handled completely using online tools.