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When I first started in the mortgage business, at least one in four of all of my buyers got an FHA loan. The rates were fantastic, the down payment requirements minimal, and the credit requirements were close to meaningless. Most first – time home buyers got an FHA loan.In the last three years, over 600 families have trusted me with their home loan needs. Of those 600, I did a total of two FHA loans over that time. One in 300.I wasn’t alone. FHA guaranteed less than 5,000 loans in California last year. In 2003, they did over 100,000. A 95% decrease in demand. Nationally, FHA loans are down 50% from a few years ago.FHA loans lost their popularity in the past few years for numerous reasons. Loan limits were too low for the fast-appreciating real estate market, income documentation guidelines were too strict, and appraisal restrictions were very difficult.Subprime lenders, with looser guidelines, capitalized and met this demand.Home values increased more than FHA lending limits did. The average home in Las Vegas was around $300,000. The FHA loan limit was around $270,000. Subprime lenders would go over $1 million.FHA requires full documentation of your income and a 3% down payment. Subprime lenders were doing 100% loans with stated income with scores as low as 600.Although sometimes flexible, FHA guidelines limit your debt-to-income ratio to 41%. Many subprime banks were letting borrowers go to 55%.With rising sale prices, more borrowers went with stated income loans. FHA wouldn’t allow this. Subprime did.The FHA appraisal requirements were much more strict and this also turned off many sellers. Subprime lenders had no additional requirements.The FHA loan was, quite frankly, a last resort. Subprime had taken its place.Today, that has changed. With all of the recent guideline changes, the subprime loan is nearly dead with anything less than 5-20% down. Many subprime banks have gone out of business. Many more will.FHA is back!! Once again, borrowers are looking at this as a primary option, especially first time homebuyers.There are two types of mortgage loans; government loans like FHA and VA, and then there are the rest, which are called conventional loans.100% financing on conventional loans is not as readily available as it was, particularly for those with marginal credit. FHA has not changed. 97% financing was and is available regardless of credit score. In the last three months, I have closed five FHA loans.FHA recognized their business was getting hurt by increasing home values so they dramatically increased their loan limits.In Las Vegas today, the FHA loan limit is $304,000. This is right in line with our average sales price. The timing could not be better and, as a result, FHA loans are back as a very viable loan option.If you have very little or no money available for a down payment, bad-to-fair credit and feel like you have way too many bills, FHA may be your key to homeownership today.FHA does not loan money, they insure loans. You don’t go to the FHA to get a loan. You go to a mortgage company that has been approved with the FHA. These companies have special permission to underwrite and close the loan.You can buy a single family home, a duplex, triplex, or 4-plex. FHA will even insure loans on manufactured/mobile homes.As an approved FHA lender, when we do an FHA loan, it is insured by FHA. If the loan goes into default, they guarantee it. This means the loan has very little risk to the lender. As a result, the rates are nearly equal to that of a conventional loan, even though the credit scores may be way worse.Rates on conventional loans are usually based on credit score. The better your score, the better your rate. This is not so with FHA. Everyone, regardless of score, gets a great rate.FHA was started in the 1930′s to assist first-time homebuyers. The goal was to help families with lower and moderate income get home financing. The program was geared for minorities as well.Many lenders in today’s subprime mess are pointing the fingers at each other. They believe that countless numbers of the homes going into default today are because of high subprime rates. They believe these homes would not be in jeopardy with an FHA loan with a much lower rate.For example, last week I closed a borrower on an FHA loan. His credit score is 611 with limited trade lines and 3% down. His interest rate is 6.250% on a 30 year fixed, which he will never have to refinance if he doesn’t want to.Last year, because of the loan amount, this loan would have probably gone subprime with an interest rate of closer to 8.000% on a 2 year fixed rate, that would have likely forced a refinance in 24 months.And he doesn’t have a prepayment penalty!! FHA doesn’t have prepayment penalties. As you know, most subprime loans have prepayment penalties and if you want it waived plan on the rate going up by 1-2%.The program works and provides incredible options for borrowers whose only choices in the last few years have mostly been awful.There are many advantages to an FHA loan.You are only required to put down a 3% down payment and the lender can help you get it. It can also be gifted from a close friend, a relative or a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance.There are many private down payment assistance companies (DAPs) that can help you with the 3% down payment. The FHA allows this and works with these companies. You have likely heard of a Nehemiah. Nehemiah is a DAP. If you do a conventional loan, this is not allowed.You can have less than perfect credit. In fact, your credit can be pretty bad. FHA is far less concerned about your credit score than they are your history over the last two years in paying your bills on time. They will often ignore previous financial troubles and other blemishes on your credit report.There are no “set” guidelines about credit. There is much more flexibility at the underwriting level.For example, I recently had an FHA loan where the borrower was putting down his own 3% and not using a DAP, he was employed for over two years, and he has no late payments for the past two years. He also had four months reserves. His credit score was under 550, his debt to income ratio was 47%, and he only had one current trade line. The loan was approved. The FHA rate at the time was 6.125%.As opposed to most conventional lenders, which have strict guidelines, FHA underwriters have some discretion to look at the overall strength of the file and make a decision. For example, even though it is commonly thought your debt to income ratio must be 41% or less to qualify; I have seen FHA loans approved with debt to income ratios over 50%.Some of the FHA guidelines are more strict. You do have to be two years out of bankruptcy from the date of discharge and you must have some good re-established credit to get an FHA loan.If you had a foreclosure you likely need to wait at least three years for an FHA loan and your credit should be pretty clean after that date.If you can prove the foreclosure occurred because of extenuating circumstances like the death of a spouse or a serious illness that prevented you from working, they will sometimes make an exception to this as well.The FHA has many different choices of loan programs like 30-year fixed, 15-year fixed, 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 year ARM’s too. Interest only is not available.The rates are excellent as I discussed above. The fees are controlled by FHA so you usually pay less for the mortgage too.In today’s market, there is a lot of bank-owned on the properties that are in need of pretty substantial repair. The FHA has a program that allows owner-occupied borrowers to finance up to $35,000 in the mortgage to make these repairs.In a conventional loan, these repairs need to be made before the close of escrow. In many cases, the seller doesn’t want to make these repairs and offers the property “as is.” The buyer can’t afford to make the repairs and certainly doesn’t want to make them before they own the house. This usually kills the deal after the home inspection or appraisal.The FHA has a plan for this. The program is called a 203(K) and it allows for the appraiser to consider the value of the home after all of the repairs and renovation is made. You get to buy the home, fix it up to be livable, and then you get to include all these costs in one easy loan. And you still only have to put 3% down. No other loan program allows for this.When the loan is closed, the repair/renovation money is withheld in escrow, as well as additional reserve funds of 10-20%, to pay for these improvements and any overages that may occur that weren’t factored at the time.The contractors go in, fix the house, and then they get paid through the withhold account and reserves. The biggest catch here is, once again, the home has to be owner-occupied. This program is not available for investors or second home buyers.In today’s market, the only negatives to an FHA are loan are loan limits, which are $304,000 and that unless you put down 20%, which most people don’t, your FHA loan will require mortgage insurance.Mortgage insurance (MI) is handled a little differently than you are used to with a conventional loan. For one, it’s usually a bit cheaper. FHA mortgage insurance is not based on credit score like conventional loan MI is. It runs 0.5% of the loan amount and is broken down over your monthly payments.FHA also has an upfront insurance premium that is 1.5% of the loan amount. That premium is due at the close of escrow and can either be paid in full at close or added to the loan amount. As most FHA borrowers have very little money to put down, this premium is usually financed into the loan.The good news here is that mortgage insurance, as of January 1, 2007, was made tax-deductible, so that helps as well.And how about this? FHA loans are assumable!! If you want to sell your home, you can simply transfer it over to your buyer and he doesn’t have to go out and get a new loan. The buyer does have to meet the FHA credit standards, but as I have already touched on, those are very reasonable.The bottom line is if you are a first-time homebuyer or you are a bit more credit-challenged and your lender suggests a subprime loan you should ask for FHA as an option.In addition, if you are being quoted more than the “going rate” for a loan, you believe you can support your income with paycheck stubs and W-2′s, and the loan amount is $304,000 or under in Las Vegas, you will also want to ask about an FHA option.If your preferred lender says FHA is not for you for any other reason other than loan amount or income documentation, and suggests a subprime loan, you may want to get information from a different lender. Not all lenders are permitted to do FHA loans. You want to make sure the reason why you are being steered away is not simply because they can’t do the loan.

When a company is considering embarking upon a search engine optimization campaign, the first discussion that normally is had is whether to take care of the campaign in house or to hire an outside SEO firm. Handling an SEO campaign in house is an attractive and popular option for many companies – after all, the staff is already being paid to perform other functions, so the company might as well use its resources. In addition, a company may in fact have technically savvy people on staff that know at least a little bit about SEO, making the choice to take the campaign in house appear to be a no-brainer. But the real issue is how to compare the actual cost of an in-house campaign if you are expecting the same type of results that you would get with an outside SEO firm.In House or Outsourced – Consider Your ResourcesThere are several basic assumptions that can be made about any company that is interested in SEO in general. First, the company likely wants to see immediate results from the campaign – or, at the very least, results as soon as possible in the organic search engine rankings. Quick results, by necessity, mean that the company has to have immediate skill available on hand.And immediate skill, it is important to recognize, means something different than having a staff member who has a technical background but who will take several months to learn about SEO and the best way to go about it before starting a campaign from scratch. In this case, there is no way the company will get results for several months – or longer. Meanwhile, an SEO firm that has experience and expertise and that specializes in this very specific discipline can begin the project on day one and bring results far more quickly.In addition, a company will want to ensure minimal risk to its website. However, in order to make sure that the site is not placed in jeopardy of being penalized by one of the major engines, the person running the campaign must have experience with SEO and must be well versed in the terms of service of those engines. Again, handing off the project to someone with no or little experience in SEO can backfire because he or she may risk introducing dangerous changes onto your site based on outdated information or simply on a lack of understanding.Analyzing Your Company’s Situation – What’s Your True ROI?At this stage, a company that wants to take its SEO campaign in house needs to analyze its situation. Does the company have someone on staff right now with extensive SEO experience, preferably with an SEO firm? Moreover, does that person, assuming he or she exists, have the time to devote in his or her schedule to begin undertaking the SEO campaign immediately? Bear in mind that an SEO campaign is not something that can be worked on as a side project or in someone’s spare time, particularly when that person has a primary job function with which to be concerned. SEO takes a great deal of time and management in order to not only achieve results but also to maintain and improve those results over time. You also need to determine whether this person has the clout – or access to those who have the clout – to get the necessary changes to the website made and to get buy in for the entire SEO initiative.If your company cannot answer a solid yes to all of the above questions, then you need to compare the relative costs. It is likely that your company has a finite budget for this initiative – everyone does. Therefore, the company must determine if it can afford to bring a full-time expert in SEO onto the staff – someone who generally commands a salary of near or above six figures – or to pay an existing staff person to handle the project. On the other hand, an SEO firm with an excellent reputation can cost around $30,000 per year for full optimization of your website.But this issue goes beyond cost and also encompasses your total return on investment. Even if you have a person on staff with extensive SEO experience and a great deal of time to devote to an SEO project, and even if they have the clout to get changes implemented on the site, they still will only be working on one site (along with any other job functions with which they need to be concerned). On the other hand, an SEO firm will have many sites – possibly hundreds – to work on, which means that it will constantly be staying current with all of the best methodologies and will be able to immediately apply new tactics to these sites to get the best possible results. Plus, the SEO firm will not have other functions to take care of, because SEO is its entire focus.ConclusionThere are, of course, companies that successfully handle SEO campaigns in house. But when an SEO campaign falls to somebody that already has a separate job function and that is new to SEO, it can take much longer to get things started than it would when working with an SEO firm hired for this specific purpose. In addition, an internal person cannot necessarily guarantee that a site will not get penalized – the terms of service for the major engines are constantly changing, and it’s the job of the SEO firm to stay on top of this. What’s legal today may be illegal the next day, and an internal staff member may not have the resources to know what has changed.Finally, it is important, when comparing the cost of outsourcing to an SEO firm vs. handling the campaign in house, to make a real comparison of the actual cost involved in terms of your company’s annual spend based on hours, ROI, and the opportunity cost due to the length of the campaign – whether it’s handed off to a new, inexperienced person or to someone with an SEO background who has other duties to attend to. And in the end, let’s face it – if you’re not getting the results you want, it’s always much easier to end a contract with an outside SEO firm than it is to fire someone internally.© Medium Blue 2007

Working Capital business financing is never a question of why – it’s just simply a matter of when! Working capital and cash flow are of course the heart of every business. The challenges of obtaining that financing become a question of time.Perhaps you need cash for for your regular ongoing business cycle – that’s the simple one – you buy inventory, your produce things, you sell, bill and collect. In a perfect world your suppliers give you unlimited time to pay, and unlimited credit limits. And of course your customers pay you in exactly 30 days. Guess what? It’s not a perfect world!If you are a traditionally financed firm you have access to bank capital for revolving credit lines based on your business needs. But for a growing number of Canadian firms that access to traditional bank capital is not available. Those scenarios require a special expertise in identifying sources of business financing that work for you. The solutions actually are quite numerous – its becomes a questions of which solution works for your firm, what are the costs involved, and does the solution fit within your business model.The business financing we are talking about can take many different forms – it might include an asset based line of credit, inventory financing or purchase order financing, a sale leaseback on unencumbered assets,, working capital term loans, or accounts receivable financing, otherwise known as factoring.One of the most important things you can do for business financing is to ensure that the type of financing you source matches your needs. What we mean by that is that you should match short term needs with short term financing. Factoring might be a good example. If your receivables aren’t financed, and you need cash to meet inventory and supplier commitments that type of financing is immediate and addresses your needs. Why would you enter into a five year term loan at fixed payments for a short term capital need or requirement?The best way to think of short term financing is to focus on the current assets part of your balance sheet – those items include inventory and accounts receivable typically. Those assets can quickly be monetized into a working capital facility that comes in a variety methods. The reality is that your inventory and accounts receivable grow lock step to your sales and your ability to finance them on an ongoing basis will give you access to, in essence, unlimited working capital.There are some solid technical rules of them around how you can generate positive pricing for operating facilities. By calculating and analyzing some basic financial ratios (we call them relationships) in your financial statements you can get a strong sense of whats available in working capital business financing and what pricing might be involved. Those ratios are your current ratio, your inventory turns, your receivables turns or days sales outstanding, a, and your overall debt to worth ratio. Depending on where those final ratio calculations come in will ultimately allow your working capital financier to put your firm in a low risk, medium risk, or high risk band of pricing?In Canada working capital rates range from 8-9% per annum to 1-2% per month, depending on what assets are financed and how they are financed.So whats our bottom line in working capital business financing? It is simply there are alternatives available and you as a business owner of financial manager can assess those alternatives in terms of short term needs or long term needs. Pricing and solutions vary, and your ability to convey the positive aspects of your business to the working capital lender will ultimately lead to a final pricing and solution. Speak to a credible, experienced and trusted working capital business financing advisor to determine what solutions are the best for your firm.

The wrong entertainment can ruin an event and, worse yet, project the wrong image about your organization. The right entertainment creates a positive buzz among participants and a favorable impression about your company or non-profit.How do you tell right from wrong when booking entertainment? The more you know – both about your event and the talent available – the better off you will be.1. Know your objective.
What do you want your event to say about your organization? Do you want to come across as cutting-edge and daring, or is a more conservative image more appropriate? Choose entertainment that reflects the right image for your company.2. Know your budget.
Entertainment can run as little as $500 for a local act, to well over $1 million for nationally-known talent. Don’t waste time pursuing entertainment that you can’t afford. Set a budget to narrow your choices.3. Know your audience.
Is your audience young, older or a combination? Is it mostly men or women? Will couples be attending, or will you be hosting a crowd of co-workers? Do you want to book an act that will encourage dancing? Will people be relaxed and in a partying mood, or will they be more sedate and professional? If you understand your audience demographics and mindset, you can avoid booking entertainment that might annoy, offend or even bore participants.4. Know your theme.
A 50′s sock hop or a disco ball can be a lot of fun, but your audience may not want to listen to 50′s music or disco for the entire night. Pick an event theme that is broad enough to accommodate entertainment that appeals to a wide range of tastes. Use décor to create your theme. Better yet, select the perfect entertainment first and build a theme around it.5. Know your production costs.
You may be able to afford the talent, but can you afford the cost to produce the show? Many people overlook or may not be made aware of additional expenses associated with lighting, sound system rentals, union regulations, insurance, overtime fees, and stages when they book an act. Make sure you know all your production costs and budget accordingly.6. Know when to hire a pro.
A talent agency is often the fastest – and most economical – source for entertainment for an event. A talent agency can quickly connect you to the best acts in the business and help you choose entertainment that will be right for your event. Talent agencies with experience booking national acts have the expertise necessary to negotiate contracts and, even more importantly, hospitality and performance riders. They can make sure you don’t end up paying for non-essential or duplicated expenses. Talent pros can also clue you in to hot entertainment trends or less expensive routing dates on a specialty act that might turn your function into the “event of the year.”

Right now is a great time to launch your own online business, as this ever-expanding and constantly evolving new frontier has made it easier than ever to get your products and services noticed by an enormous prospective client pool. Having the correct information before setting out to start your internet business is essential, as it will help you to abide by your local business laws, target the correct niche market and make a great first impression on prospective customers. Great information sites can help you to avoid some of the common pitfalls involved with starting your own online business and put you on the path toward a successful business venture.Why Start Nowo Lower Start-Up Costs – Our current economic slump has made it difficult and risky to secure the business loans, real estate and equipment necessary to start your business at a storefront location. The internet provides a low-cost alternative to the traditional business start up, allowing you to cut most of the overhead costs from your small business launch and focus your funds on more important aspects of your new business endeavor.o More Job Security – Many professionals are finding themselves and their co-workers laid off from positions they have held for years. In this instable job market, starting your own online business can provide you with a source of income that is not dependent on a changing traditional job market.o New Markets – Prospective customers from many formerly untapped markets are browsing the internet every single day. This means that new internet business launches have the potential to reach a wide range of customers from day one. There is much money to be made from internet sales and right now is the perfect time to jump into the online market with both feet.The Basics:A few key ingredients are essential when it comes to starting your own online business. If you fail to consider any of these core elements, you may very well come to regret it in a very short period.Quick List:o Business Plan
o Business License
o Website
o Relevant Regulations/RestrictionsThe bible says that without vision, the people perish. This is certainly true as it relates to starting your own online business. One of the first things you will need to do when getting your internet business off the ground is sit down and write out a thorough business plan.Things You Need to Include in Your Business Plan:1. Which niche market you plan on targeting.
2. What you intend to sell.
3. How you intend to go about selling it.
4. How you intend to finance your venture.
5. A clear mission statement (company goal/vision in a nutshell).Once you have a clear plan for your business, you may want to look into whether or not you will need a business license to proceed. The business licensing requirements vary from state to state, so be sure that you check out your local business license office to make sure that you need one to sell your goods or services. If you are selling items on established sites such as eBay, you will not typically need to acquire a business license. However, if you are selling goods or services via your own website, many states require that you be fully licensed to do so.If you decide to sell on your own business website, you will need to invest time and money into making it attractive enough to draw and hook prospective clients. In addition to making it aesthetically pleasing, you will need to optimize your website for internet search engines, using Search Engine Optimization techniques, such as:o Key Word Saturation
o Backlinks
o Bold and Italic textWhen you are building your company website, you can spend the time researching and implementing various SEO techniques or you can hire a specialized SEO company to handle the job for you. Be aware that not all SEO companies are equal; make sure to check with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) or other watchdog organizations to make sure that your prospective SEO company will provide you with an honest and effective service for a fair price.Make sure to check into any specific rules or regulations that may apply to your new internet business via helpful information sites. For instance, the law requires that you protect the privacy of your online clients by keeping the data they share with you (i.e. bank account information) by properly encrypting and storing it against online predators. In addition, you will need to know how much sales tax to add to each sale and you should learn how to copyright your company information so that it is not stolen or copied elsewhere on the web.Local Internet Business PerksWhen you launch a new business online, your marketing potential is quite literally limitless. You can reach individuals all around the globe with your company message, goods and services. However, there are also some local advantages to launching your business online.One such advantage comes to online business owners in the form of a Google maps business directory. Google Maps has a feature on their maps/directions application that allows web browsers to find local businesses near any address or landmark entered into the search field. This means that when you list your business using Google Maps, you have the potential of being found by a huge number of locals.Being found by locals equals:o More prospective customers
o Higher customer loyalty potential
o Grassroots (sustainable) growthMany other major search engines (i.e. Yahoo) host local business directories and you would be wise to list with as many local directories as possible in order to boost your number of prospective clients by a significant sum.With the traditional job market reeling and the internet frontier expanding daily, many discerning men and women are looking for ways to launch their own internet business. Taking time to thoroughly research and plan your course of action via information sources can spare you the negative consequences of falling into one of the many pitfalls that new internet business owners are prone to fall into during the course of their journey to having an established and prosperous online business.

Among the various types of loans available in the market, the most popular one is personal loan that is borrowed by a person for a stipulated period of time and hence is paid in full in installments with interest, until the loan repayment is not complete. Personal loans are therefore also known as installment loans.A person credits a personal loan for variety of reasons and the most prominent one for seeking a loan, is home improvement or debt consolidation; to buy a big commodity as a house hold item or planning a trip for one’s family. So a personal loan can bring all your instant need for the cash into reality and fulfill the demands kept for long on pending due to insufficient funds.The other benefit for personal loans is that you can have them instantly now- a- days online; these loans with ample flexibility in most of the cases are generally approved within 24 hours after applying for them. Under the personal loans there is a short-term personal loan that is a quick method to arrange cash advance loan for a number of requirement and needs. While judging the criteria for approving a loan, a lending agency looks into the proper occupation and steady income source and capacity to repay loan within the scheduled period into an applicant’s application.There are two types of Short term personal loans that a person can secure from loan lending agency in particular, thus the short term personal loans provided on the basis of availability and security are secured and unsecured short term personal loans. In a secured short term personal loans you are expected to register one of your assists as collateral to provide you with short term personal loan at lower rate of interest and flexible payment option. In the unsecured short term personal loan there no collateral is required for the loans, instead a lender levies higher rate of interest in order to cover up risks in this type of loan. Keeping other factors aside the rate of interest for short term personal loan is generally kept higher in comparison to other types of loans.However, amount for short term personal loan is quite debated between different lending agencies. Generally, the maximum amount is qualified on the basis of an applicant’s capacity to repay the loan and the rate of interest is generally kept around 8 percent per annum. There are also a number of companies that provide short term personal loan for variety of requirements like auto and other loans.Finally, you can have number of advantages for short term personal loans as it helps you to arrange substantial amount of loan for your entire immediate money needs. It takes cares of all the imperative needs like paying medical bills, paying debts, car repair etc. The loans are also a smart way of being rescuer for people under the pressure of bad credit history for many a wonderful reasons like arrears, defaults, court judgments etc. One can also avail short term personal loan online.

Buying a car is like a dream for people who have been wishing for one; however, thanks to various online lenders, it is no longer impossible for anyone to get a car. Auto loans come in many types and depending on your paying capabilities, you can choose between new car loans or used car loans.Having a car makes life better. You can travel anywhere you want to go and have freedom. There are a lot of perks when getting a car but there are responsibilities too. Your purchasing power can limit your car selection and for the sake of being practical and realistic, choose a used auto loan suitable to your budget and needs.Applying for a used auto loan is easier when you do it online. There are many online lenders who are willing to give free quotes of their loans. Once you have collected several quotes from various direct lending companies online, compare them to find the best terms and rates that would work for you. Use an auto loan calculator, which is available in many online lender websites, to have an idea whether you can really purchase a car and see how much you will likely spend every month to pay off the loan. Since every lending company offers different payments and interest rates, auto loan calculators will prove to be useful.Some online lenders, however, charge high APR or interest rates. When you find yourself in a similar situation, you can consider a refinance auto loan. Basically, having a refinanced auto loan can help you save money when paying your loan.Sometimes, car companies give you extremely high interest rates for your car. To lower your monthly payments, refinancing will aid in economizing your payments. After a few months of regularly making payments on time, you can ask your current auto loan lender to pay off the balance on your current loan. Once you have that, look for a reliable and reputable company who does auto refinancing. They will ask you to sign a few documents, and assess the payoff balance. Assuming that everything went well, your auto refinancing company will pay off your existing balance with your old lender, giving you a new loan with better rates. Through a refinance car loan, your loan will be replaced with lower rates, making it easier for you to pay your debt monthly.To ease you the load of payments, consider a refinance auto loan. When you are considering refinancing your used car loan, find a reliable and experienced lender to help you with your needs. Not all online car lenders offer this kind of loan so look for one online. Consider a refinancer which allows you to choose the terms you can work with. Once you have a refinance car loan, you can start concentrating on saving money while on the loan or attempt to decrease your monthly auto payments.A practical buyer with limited resources would choose to buy his own car through used auto loans. Although the interest rates would be high, you can always have it refinanced to lower your rates, giving you savings and a lighter loan to pay. Go online to look for the best loan options and car choices for you.

Summary
SPDN is not the largest or oldest way to short the S&P 500, but it’s a solid choice.
This ETF uses a variety of financial instruments to target a return opposite that of the S&P 500 Index.
SPDN’s 0.49% Expense Ratio is nearly half that of the larger, longer-tenured -1x Inverse S&P 500 ETF.
Details aside, the potential continuation of the equity bear market makes single-inverse ETFs an investment segment investor should be familiar with.
We rate SPDN a Strong Buy because we believe the risks of a continued bear market greatly outweigh the possibility of a quick return to a bull market.
Put a gear stick into R position, (Reverse).
Birdlkportfolio

By Rob Isbitts

Summary
The S&P 500 is in a bear market, and we don’t see a quick-fix. Many investors assume the only way to navigate a potentially long-term bear market is to hide in cash, day-trade or “just hang in there” while the bear takes their retirement nest egg.

The Direxion Daily S&P 500® Bear 1X ETF (NYSEARCA:SPDN) is one of a class of single-inverse ETFs that allow investors to profit from down moves in the stock market.

SPDN is an unleveraged, liquid, low-cost way to either try to hedge an equity portfolio, profit from a decline in the S&P 500, or both. We rate it a Strong Buy, given our concern about the intermediate-term outlook for the global equity market.

Strategy
SPDN keeps it simple. If the S&P 500 goes up by X%, it should go down by X%. The opposite is also expected.

Proprietary ETF Grades
Offense/Defense: Defense

Segment: Inverse Equity

Sub-Segment: Inverse S&P 500

Correlation (vs. S&P 500): Very High (inverse)

Expected Volatility (vs. S&P 500): Similar (but opposite)

Holding Analysis
SPDN does not rely on shorting individual stocks in the S&P 500. Instead, the managers typically use a combination of futures, swaps and other derivative instruments to create a portfolio that consistently aims to deliver the opposite of what the S&P 500 does.

Strengths
SPDN is a fairly “no-frills” way to do what many investors probably wished they could do during the first 9 months of 2022 and in past bear markets: find something that goes up when the “market” goes down. After all, bonds are not the answer they used to be, commodities like gold have, shall we say, lost their luster. And moving to cash creates the issue of making two correct timing decisions, when to get in and when to get out. SPDN and its single-inverse ETF brethren offer a liquid tool to use in a variety of ways, depending on what a particular investor wants to achieve.

Weaknesses
The weakness of any inverse ETF is that it does the opposite of what the market does, when the market goes up. So, even in bear markets when the broader market trend is down, sharp bear market rallies (or any rallies for that matter) in the S&P 500 will cause SPDN to drop as much as the market goes up.

Opportunities
While inverse ETFs have a reputation in some circles as nothing more than day-trading vehicles, our own experience with them is, pardon the pun, exactly the opposite! We encourage investors to try to better-understand single inverse ETFs like SPDN. While traders tend to gravitate to leveraged inverse ETFs (which actually are day-trading tools), we believe that in an extended bear market, SPDN and its ilk could be a game-saver for many portfolios.

Threats
SPDN and most other single inverse ETFs are vulnerable to a sustained rise in the price of the index it aims to deliver the inverse of. But that threat of loss in a rising market means that when an investor considers SPDN, they should also have a game plan for how and when they will deploy this unique portfolio weapon.

Proprietary Technical Ratings
Short-Term Rating (next 3 months): Strong Buy

Long-Term Rating (next 12 months): Buy

Conclusions
ETF Quality Opinion
SPDN does what it aims to do, and has done so for over 6 years now. For a while, it was largely-ignored, given the existence of a similar ETF that has been around much longer. But the more tenured SPDN has become, the more attractive it looks as an alternative.

ETF Investment Opinion

SPDN is rated Strong Buy because the S&P 500 continues to look as vulnerable to further decline. And, while the market bottomed in mid-June, rallied, then waffled since that time, our proprietary macro market indicators all point to much greater risk of a major decline from this level than a fast return to bull market glory. Thus, SPDN is at best a way to exploit and attack the bear, and at worst a hedge on an otherwise equity-laden portfolio.

Your stocks to watch for the week ahead are Cheniere Energy (LNG), S&P 500 biotech giant Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), Cardinal Health (CAH), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Genuine Parts (GPC).

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While the market remains in correction, with analysts and investors wary of an economic downturn, these five stocks are worth adding to watchlists. S&P 500 medical giants Vertex and Cardinal Health have been holding up, as health-care related plays tend to do well in down markets.

Steel Dynamics and Genuine Parts are both coming off strong earnings as both the steel and auto parts industries report optimistic outlooks. Meanwhile, Cheniere Energy saw sales boom in the second quarter as demand in Europe for natural gas continues to grow.

Major indexes have been making rally attempts with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 testing weekly support on Friday. With market uncertainty, investors should be ready for follow-through day breakouts and keep an eye on these stocks.

Cheniere Energy, Cardinal Health and VRTX stock are all on IBD Leaderboard.

Cheniere Energy Stock
LNG shares rose 1.1% to 175.79 during Friday’s market trading. On the week, the stock advanced 3.1%, not from highs, bouncing from its 21-day and 10-week lines earlier in the week.

Cheniere Energy has been consolidating since mid-September, but needs another week to forge a proper base, with a potential 182.72 buy point formed on Aug. 10.

Houston-based Cheniere Energy was IBD Stock Of The Day on Thursday, as the largest U.S. producer of liquefied natural gas eyes strong demand in Europe.

Even though natural gas prices are plunging in the U.S. and Europe, investors still see strong LNG demand for Cheniere and others.

The U.K. government confirmed last week that it is in talks for an LNG purchase agreement with a number of companies, including Cheniere.

In the first half of 2021, less than 40% of Cheniere’s cargoes of LNG landed in Europe. That jumped to more than 70% through this year’s second quarter, even as the company ramped up new export capacity. The urgency of Europe’s natural gas shortage only intensified last month. That is when an explosion disabled the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia that had once supplied 40% of the European Union’s natural gas.

In Q2, sales increased 165% to $8 billion and LNG earned $2.90 per share, up from a net loss of $1.30 per share in Q2 2021. The company will report Q3 earnings Nov. 3, with investors seeing booming profits for the next few quarters.

Cheniere Energy has a Composite Rating of 84. It has a 98 Relative Strength Rating, an exclusive IBD Stock Checkup gauge for share price movement with a 1 to 99 score. The rating shows how a stock’s performance over the last 52 weeks holds up against all the other stocks in IBD’s database. The EPS rating is 41.

Vertex Stock
VRTX stock jumped 3.4% to 300 on Friday, rebounding from a test of its 50-day moving average. Shares climbed 2.2% for the week. Vertex stock has formed a tight flat base with an official buy point of 306.05, according to MarketSmith analysis.

The stock has remained consistent over recent weeks, while the relative strength line has trended higher. The RS line tracks a stock’s performance vs. the S&P 500 index.

Vertex Q3 earnings are on due Oct. 27. Analysts see EPS edging up 1% to $3.61 per share with sales increasing 16% to $2.2 billion, according to FactSet.

The Boston-based global biotech company dominates the cystic fibrosis treatment market. Vertex also has other products in late-stage clinical development that target sickle cell disease, Type 1 diabetes and certain genetically caused kidney diseases. That includes a gene-editing partnership with Crispr Therapeutics (CRSP).

In early August, Vertex reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised full-year sales targets.

S&P 500 stock Vertex ranks second in the Medical-Biomed/Biotech industry group. VRTX has a 99 Composite Rating. Its Relative Strength Rating is 94 and its EPS Rating is 99.

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Cardinal Health Stock
CAH stock advanced 3.2% to 73.03 Friday, clearing a 71.22 buy point from a shallow cup-with-handle base and hitting a record high. But volume was light on the breakout. CAH stock leapt 7.3% for the week.

Cardinal Health stock’s relative strength line has also been trending up for months.

The cup-with-handle base is part of a base-on-base pattern, forming just above a cup base cleared on Aug. 11.

Cardinal Health, based in Dublin, Ohio, offers a wide assortment of health care services and medical supplies to hospitals, labs, pharmacies and long-term care facilities. The company reports that it serves around 90% of hospitals and 60,000 pharmacies in the U.S.

S&P 500 stock Cardinal Health will report Q1 2023 earnings on Nov. 4. Analysts forecast earnings falling 26% to 96 cents per share. Sales are expected to increase 10% to $48.3 billion, according to FactSet.

Cardinal Health stock ranks first in the Medical-Wholesale Drug/Supplies industry group, ahead of McKesson (MCK), which is also showing positive action. CAH stock has a 94 Composite Rating out of 99. It has a 97 Relative Strength Rating and an EPS rating of 73.

Steel Dynamics Stock
STLD shares shot up 8.5% to 92.92 on Friday and soared 19% on the week, coming off a Steel Dynamics earnings beat Wednesday night.

Shares blasted above an 88.72 consolidation buy point Friday after clearing a trendline Thursday. STLD stock is 17% above its 50-day line, definitely extended from that key average.

Steel Dynamics’ latest consolidation could be seen as part of a larger base going back six months.

Steel Dynamics topped Q3 earnings views with EPS rising 10% to $5.46 while revenue grew 11% to $5.65 billion. The steel producer’s outlook is optimistic despite weaker flat rolled steel pricing. STLD reports its order activity and backlogs remain solid.

The Fort Wayne, Indiana-based company is among the largest producers of carbon steel products in the U.S. It engages in metal recycling operations along with steel fabrication and produces myriad steel products.

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STLD stock ranks first in the Steel-Producers industry group. STLD stock has a 96 Composite Rating out of 99. It has a 90 Relative Strength Rating, an exclusive IBD Stock Checkup gauge for share-price movement that tops at 99. The rating shows how a stock’s performance over the last 52 weeks holds up against all the other stocks in IBD’s database. The EPS rating is 98.

Genuine Parts Stock
GPC stock gained 2.8% to 162.35 Friday after the company topped earnings views with its Q3 results on Thursday. For the week GPC advanced 5.1% as the stock held its 50-day line and is in a flat base.

GPC has an official 165.09 flat-base buy point after a three-week rally, according to MarketSmith analysis.

The relative strength line for Genuine Parts stock has rallied sharply to highs over the past several months.

On Thursday, the Atlanta-based auto parts company raised its full-year guidance on growth across its automotive and industrial sales.

Genuine Parts earnings per share advanced 19% to $2.23 and revenue grew 18% to $5.675 billion in Q3. GPC’s full-year guidance is now calling for EPS of $8.05-$8.15, up from $7.80-$7.95. The company now forecasts revenue growth of 15%-16%, up from the earlier 12%-14%.

During the Covid pandemic, supply chain constraints caused a major upheaval in the auto industry, sending prices for new and used cars to record levels. This has made consumers more likely to hang on to their existing vehicles for longer, driving mileage higher and boosting demand for auto replacement parts.

Fellow auto stocks O’Reilly Auto Parts (ORLY) and AutoZone (AZO) have also rallied near buy points amid the struggling market. O’Reilly reports on Oct. 26.

IBD ranks Genuine Parts first in the Retail/Wholesale-Auto Parts industry group. GPC stock has a 96 Composite Rating. Its Relative Strength Rating is 94 and it has an EPS Rating of 89.