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I absolutely loathe getting calls from private, unknown, or 1-800's numbers. Nothing ever good comes from these calls—bill collectors, scammers probing for my background, and exes. Typically I don't even answer my cell when these numbers come up, but for some strange reason, something felt particularly "wrong" when I received a 1-800 call a few weeks ago. My intuition was right.

"Hi yes," said the woman on the other end, "I'm calling from Chase Bank and we've noticed some unusual purchasing activity on your account." At first I thought it was a scam, some criminal trying to swindle me for my account number. "Did you spend $2,000 at Ralph Lauren and Bebe's clothing and apparel on May 1?" she continued. Of course I didn't spend nearly an entire pay check on two frou-frou luxury clothing stores that I don't even dare walking into because I know I can't afford anything in there. I took a moment to excuse myself as I logged in my bank account online. And that's when my heart sunk. Stolen from my account? A whopping $2,000. I was a victim of identity theft.

While Chase assured me that if I filled out the right paperwork I'd get "most" of my money put back into my account (and I did), in retrospect, there was so much I could of done to try and prevent such a "inconvenience" from happening –and I do mean inconvenience. I had bills to pay and a trip I was taking in just a few short weeks. It couldn't have occurred at a worse time. That said, below are some ways you can learn from my mistakes and help protect yourself from credit card identity theft.

 Shred all of your Bank Statements 

The easiest thing you can do is invest in a shredder and properly dispose of all of your paper bank statements and credit card/debit card receipts that you don’t need anymore. You'd be surprised to learn how much a "professional" can do with just your name and the last four digits of your credit card number. Some scammers intentionally dig through trash in order to retrieve this information, so don't make their jobs any easier by throwing your sensitive documents in the dumpster whole—especially public trash cans like those found in parks.

Only use "Secured" Sites when Making Purchases

Ensuring that the website you're browsing is "secured" when making online purchases is essential. Otherwise, your credit card information, including your EFC and your billing address could potentially be a free-for-all. There are several different ways that you can make sure the page you are viewing is secured. The first is to look at the address. A secured website will read https:// ; an unsecured site will read http:// – notice how the secured website has an "s"? Pay close attention to these details. Another indication that the website is secured is that there will be a visible locked padlock on the address bar as well, before the https://. Click on the pad lock to make sure its certificate of authenticity hasn't expired. Some scammers are smart enough to forge fake padlocks on their malicious sites.

Change Pins and Passwords Frequently

It might be a tad annoying having to remember new passwords to your accounts, online log-ins, and debit card every six months or so, but doing this can really help potential criminals from hacking into your information. Don't ever make an "obvious" pin or password either, such as the last four digits of your social security number, phone number or your name.

Set up Alerts 

Last but not least you want to set up alerts whenever money is taken out of your account to be sent to your phone. My bank was gracious enough to personally call me when my unfortunate circumstance happened (after all, my bank knew I never spent that much money at one time) but don't depend on your bank to give you a heads up. Always monitor your own account. This will help you catch unusual activity much more quickly which means the chances of you getting reimbursed are higher. This will also help you catch any discrepancies—perhaps a restaurant or hotel over charged you for something.

Criminals and hackers are smart. The smartest of the bunch may just very well find a way to your information despite your efforts. However, following the tips above can leave some sense of security that you're not handing over your information on a silver platter.

With knowledge of the best background check companies and tactics, Jane Smith provides vital information and tips throughout her blogs. Email her your thoughts or concerns at janesmith161 at gmail dot com.

If you've never come across the words 'spread betting' in a financial sense, you would probably be forgiven for thinking that it has something to do with bookies and sporting events.

So what exactly does it entail?
In essence spread betting is a fairly simple concept. It merely entails placing a bet on which way you think a particular market is going to go. If you think the market is going to rise and you have bet on it going up (going long), then when it does you make a profit. If on the other hand you predict that the market is going to fall and you bet on that exact scenario (going short) and it does, then again,you make a profit. When you close your bet you can claim your profit.

Let's put this into a proper scenario...

Okay let's say that we bet on the NASDAQ and based on some recent news we think that it may go up, so we place a 'long' bid. If the index does exactly what we want it to do and rises, then we are in profit. How much profit depends on the spread. For example, say that the index started off life at 100 and it rises to 200. If we close the bet at this point then the spread would be 100. Therefore if we placed a £1.00 bet then we would have made a healthy profit of £100.

Risks
Obviously it isn't all cut and dried and there are definite risks involved in spread betting. For example if you got it horribly wrong and instead of the stocks going up by 100 points, they went down by the same margin, then you would then be 'in the hole' for £100. This can be prevented by placing a stop order should the stocks start to fall beyond a certain point, however it doesn't eliminate the risk altogether. The potential is there to incur heavy losses if you are not careful.

So how easy is a spread betting account to set up?
In essence, setting up a spread betting account online is a fairly simple process. Many of the trading platforms offer spread betting online and will also have demo platforms for you to practice. This is where many people look to dip their toes in the water and it's worthwhile checking out the brokers product spec before opening up a pro spread betting account. Download a practise demo version - it's an ideal starting place if you are looking to learn how to make money out of the stock markets.

Like anything it pays to do your research first before you jump in with both feet as success certainly isn't guaranteed. If you are happy to go ahead and have the funds to do so then spread betting is a great way to earn some extra cash, provided that you understand what you're doing.

Speciality Restaurants is coming out with its IPO plans to raise about Rs 171-181 crore and this issue is open for subscription from May 16 to May 18. Speciality Restaurants is the owner of restaurant brands such as Mainland China, Sigree, Machaan and Oh!Calcutta among others.

The company plans to use the proceeds of IPO for developing new restaurants and partial repayment of debt. About 80 per cent of the proceeds (Rs 131 crore) would be used for the development of 45 new restaurants.
 
Issue Details:

Issue Open: May 16, 2012 - May 18, 2012.
Issue Size: 11,739,415 Equity Shares of Rs. 10.
Issue Price: Rs. 146 - Rs. 155 Per Equity Share.
Market Lot: 40 Shares.
Listing At: BSE, NSE.

Fundamentals:

For the fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 the company  reported an EPS of  3.92 and 5.48 respectively .  For the full year 2012, the EPS could be around Rs.4.25 and at the upper band, the IPO is done at 36 times the 2012 earnings. The book value of the company stands at Rs.32 for the reported year 2011 and the issue is being done at 5 times the book value. The company is growing at 30% and considering the appetite for such companies in food industries segment, the issue is worth  looking at. The only deterrent is the weak market condition and over pricing of the issue, in such market conditions. The company might do well post-listing, if not immediately.

Could be another Jubilant Foods ? Let's wait and watch.

There was huge and abnormal activity in Nifty Futures on 20 April 2012 around 2.40 pm, when it fell from 5338 to 5000, a drop of 7% within few seconds. Later it recovered and settled around 5250/5300.  During this crash the number of contracts traded were 35,000 lots or 17.5 lakh shares.  What could have happened and how can a trader protect himself from such wild swings?

To start with, there could be many possibilities which could have caused this crash.The error could be due to wrong punch or entry of  a sell order with a wrong quantity or price. Another possibility is that it may be due to algorithmic trading or prominently known as Algo trading, which is so programmed, that in case there is a fall below a particular price level, the algo will initiate a sell order no matter what the price is. There was also a similar flash crash in US markets in 2010, when Dowjones crashed about 1000 points in a matter of few seconds.

What does this all mean for a trader? As a trader, if you are long or short, you have to hedge your positions to minimize your risks in trading. One has to be prepared for such kind of  flash crashes or up-freeze market, when markets went up 20% in 2009 post-election results.Any retail trader trading nifty futures or other similar derivative products, must hedge his positions buying puts or selling higher strike price calls. Say, one is long in nifty futures at 5300, it is better to sell 5400 strike calls or buy 5200 puts. There are  many more such strategies which could be used depending upon individual trading positions.


As an investor, such wild swings give you big opportunities. Such crashes provide you an opportunity to buy good stocks for long-term, if they come down 15-20% , for no fundamental reason. As always, if wealth creation over the long term is really your objective, it is better for retail investors to invest in mutual funds and leave the rest to the market.
 

Akshaya Tritiya, by Indian tradition, is considered an auspicious day for buying gold. Nowadays, there are quite a few options for investors who want to invest in gold, other than physical gold. Prominent among them are Gold ETFs,Gold Funds and Gold coins from banks. Let us take a look some of the advantages and disadvantages of these products.



Physical Gold or Gold coins: 

Buying and selling physical gold adds substantial costs to your purchases, since jewelers always charges a making cost of 7 to 21 per cent over and above the price of gold. Also, when you want to sell it back to the same jeweler, you would be offered lesser price than the market price, which is a big disadvantage in investing in physical gold.Also storing your physical gold in lockers can cost you about Rs.1000-5000, depending on the institutions which offer you lockers and there are always risks associated with such placements.

As far as Gold coins are concerned, they are similiar to physical gold, involving costs of about 4-5% of the price of the gold.You can either buy these coins from the jeweller or from leading banks. You have to note that,you cannot sell the coins back to the banks as most of them don't offer such facility.

Gold ETFs:

Exchange Trader Funds or ETFs: If you have missed earlier article about Gold ETFs, you can read it here at Gold ETFs. In short, ETFs are cheaper, liquid and easily bought and sold through any stock broker with a Dmat account. Check out the list of Gold ETFs avaialble.

Gold funds: 

Gold funds ( Fund of funds) are similar to ETFs, but more simpler. They don't require Dmat accounts like ETFs and there could be some charges like entry and exit loads. These charges are less than 1%, which is the same you have to pay your stock broker when purchasing ETFs, so not much of a difference. The advantage with gold funds is that they can be bought with any amount as low as Rs.500 or 1000 depending upon the mutual fund. Also, SIP option is available, in which one can invest fixed amount every month. Check out about the features and various Gold Funds.

Conclusion:

Considering the pros and cons of all the investing options available, Gold Funds are better and ideal for retail investors and the next better option could be Gold Etfs. Now the bigger question is whether one can invest in gold at these prices ? Investors need to understand, gold as an asset class has given positive returns for the past 10 consecutive years. The prices cannot go up continously and they can correct and correct substantially. Also investing in gold should be limited to 10-15% of one's portfolio and Gold alone should not be one's core portfolio.

 Invest wisely !

What is Dividend Yield?

Dividends are payments made by a company to their shareholders and these payments are paid out of the profits made during the year. Dividend yields are returns from dividends, which can be calculated by dividing the dividend per share by the current market price of the stock. For e.g., a company quoting at 200, declares a dividend of 10, the dividend yield works out to 5%. High dividend yield stocks are for those investors who are looking for regular income as well as capital appreciation over a longer period of time.

These stocks can be picked up during market down trend or when market trend is not clear. In a downtrend, dividend yields of such companies goes up as the stock prices fall. Before investing in companies that provide high dividend yields, care to be taken that these companies have sound fundamentals, regular dividend paying and  enjoy healthy cash flows. We have picked few stocks which have high dividend yields in the range of 6-9% and with a low P/E ratio. Though the earnings growth of these companies may not be among the highest in the industry, they manage to deliver good results across business and economic cycles. During this time of the year, the companies declare their annual results and dividends. Hence, before investing in these companies, watch out for their annual results and performances as well.




The stocks that are picked have been limited to CNX 500 Index and of course, there are few other stocks outside this index with better yields also. While investing in the above stocks, an investor should limit their exposure to about 15-20% of their portfolio, since dividend-investing alone should not be anyone's investing strategy. If you find any other such high dividend yielding stock which might have missed our attention, please inform us or post them in the comment section.

What is short selling?

Short selling is a a trading technique a trader uses to profit from the falling price of a stock. It is a technique of selling a stock without owning it, with the view that the price is likely to fall further and, hence, there is profit to be made by buying it back at a lower price.

When the market is bearish or in downtrend, it presents a window of opportunity for traders to make money by 'shorting' stocks with the hope that the market will continue to be bearish and this is where short selling comes into picture.  

Is short selling dangerous?

To start with, traders should be aware that short-selling is trading and not investing. They should also be aware that trading requires lot of skills and discipline and there are risks involved with it. To find whether short selling is dangerous or not, let us look at some of the key points below.

•  Historically, individual stocks and equity markets, both domestic and global, have moved upwards (short-term movement aside). Thus, if we agree that the direction of markets is generally bound upwards, then holding on to a short position for a longer time is betting against the historical trend of a market is very risky. 
• A trader should always exit the market once the target is achieved or the stop loss is triggered. But as this discipline in market is against our natural instincts of fear and greed and lack of such discipline, makes the position riskier. 
• Theoretically, one stands to make only limited profit on a short sell with chances of unlimited loss. This is because, the stock price can rise to any level, whereas the gain is limited since the stock price cannot go below zero. 

In Indian equity markets, short selling is typically undertaken via the futures and options route, since short positions in the cash markets can be held only intra-day. One may not be able to carry forward short positions in cash markets, since stock lending and borrowing is yet to kick in a big way to facilitate short selling in cash markets. As for as the futures  are concerned, the quantity or the lot sizes of the stock futures are so high that many are not aware of the huge risks involved in short selling such instruments.

To summarize, though short selling could a profitable strategy occasionally, it could result in substantial losses and it should not be used by investors or traders who are new to the market and who do not understand the dynamics of stock market.