How to Make Money Fast-Tips on Earning Extra Cash in the Next Few Days

How can you make some fast money? Here are some tips on making fast money ethically and legally. Any one of these tips should help you make some quick cash. Before jumping into these money-making tips, here are a couple things to keep in mind.

First, these tips are aimed at helping you make money fast. They are NOT going to make you rich. One or two tips should earn you an extra $50-100 over the next week. Implement all the tips, and you could see a couple hundred dollars added to your bottom line. But do not expect quick riches.

Second, you need some planning and a few days to work with. That planning should include ways to start saving money.

If you are in a situation where you need quick cash today, then you're in a crisis -- and you probably need to borrow money from friends, relatives, a bank, or (last resort) a fast cash outlet. This article is aimed at those who have at least a few days (preferably a week) to work with.

So, how can you make some extra money right away? Here are your "make money fast" tips:
1. Offer Seasonal Work to Your Neighborhood and/or Surrounding Area

Use your time off from your main job (which will probably be your evenings and weekends) to offer your seasonal labor services to your neighbors and, time-permitting, residents in close-by neighborhoods. Seasonal work includes raking leaves, mowing lawns, or shoveling snow.

The best way is to blanket your target neighborhood with 200-400 flyers, offering your services for an appropriate amount per lawn, driveway, etc. depending upon its size and the amount of work involved. Make sure your contact information is on the flyer. To expedite results, you can grab your rake (or shovel or lawn-mower) and just go door-to-door, offering your services directly.

If this is "beneath you," consider how seriously and quickly you need the money. If you need money fast, this is a great way to do it.

If it's STILL "beneath you," then TEAM UP with a neighborhood teenager. You can be the one to distribute the flyers and take the phone calls. Your partner can then do the actual labor - based on appointments you set from the people calling in response to the flyer. The two of you then split the money.
2. Call a Local Contractor

Find a local contractor and see if you can hire yourself out as a day laborer. This is a particularly viable option, if you're the "handy-man" type. There are probably quite a few contractors in your area looking for day laborers to help them build and/or repair houses, decks, fences, etc.
3. Sell Some Stuff

Go through your house, attic, garage, etc. and pick out EVERYTHING that you are willing to part with. Then, depending on the weather and time of year, put signs up around the community that announce your yard sale.

If you have more time, go to eBay, register, and list the items online. Mark Joyner, a bestselling author and co-founder of Guerilla Marketing Network, says to "pick 40 of your items" no matter how "silly or seemingly worthless they are." Then, review a few books and articles on effective sales writing and marketing and (based on that knowledge) "create eBay pages to sell every one of those products."

If you have the ingredients, try baking a bunch of cookies - and then call some businesses in your area to see if you can sell the cookies to their employees during the lunch hour.
4. Offer to Distribute Stuff

Contact your local newspaper to see if they have need for a neighborhood distributor. If so, you're in luck.

Don't stop there, though. Use your phone book and/or the local Chamber of Commerce to research businesses (retail or restaurant being the best) that market to the general community. Call them up and offer to distribute flyers for them -- for a price.

BONUS TIP: See if you can combine Tactics 1 and 4 (handing out flyers for yourself AND for these businesses - at the same time).

The above tips should get you started on making fast cash. However, you need to step back and look at your overall money situation. Better planning will enable you to make even greater money in the long term. And long-term earnings is (or at least should be) your financial objective.

Free Forex Demo Account

Opening demo is a very straightforward process. One fills out a form, in electronic form, with a broker of his/her choice, follows simple steps and within few minutes new account is set up and ready to use. That is all there is to it. Depending on broker, there is 50,000 or 100,000 dollars of virtual funds available for trading.

First thing one should to do is to change to amount of money in demo to a level in line with personal means. If you have 5000 or 10,000 dollars available for trading, you should reset the balance account to that amount. The purpose of having demo account is to simulate realistic market conditions, not playing fantasy games.

Next thing one should do is to learn the mechanics of the trading platform. There are subtle variations, from broker to broker, in the way trading is conducted. They offer different types of orders. Learn how to properly market orders, how to set up targets, stop loss and any other variation platform offers. Are contingent orders available? One cancels other(OCO)? How far from market price can you place limit buy/sell order? And so on. These things are a little different from platform to platform and must be learned before trading can start. A lot of money has been lost because of improperly placed orders. You want to practice it in your demo account.

Now the fun part. Find out what analytical capabilities trading software provides. Do you do a lot of technical analysis? Does the platform provide system integration, automated news feed?Are there back testing capabilities? Software packages offered by brokers are getting increasingly more complex. Vast majority of traders will never use all the features offered, so chose what you need and keep your screen organized.

Most traders forget about demo accounts once they start real trading. A mistake. One should keep it for as long as possible. Some of them never expire, so they are always available. Some expire after 30 days. However, as long as you have a live account, you should always demo. Now, sometimes you might have to re-register every 30 days. Check your brokers policy and make sure your demo is always up and running.

Why? Well, trading is not a static endeavor. One should always do research, work on new trading approaches, in other words practice. Created new system? Try it out in demo first. Like somebody else trading signals? Try them out first and give it some time.
Has your broker just introduced new tools to the trading platform? Give them a shot in your demo.

Don't forget your practice account. Even if you trade live, there is still plenty you can do in your demo. Great tool, so use it. One more thing- it is free.

Fed's Move to Buy Bonds Lifts Markets

U.S. stocks posted the first back-to-back weekly rally of the year after the Federal Reserve said it would buy $1 trillion in bonds and after a report showed home construction snapped the longest streak of declines in 18 years.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index pared the gain Friday after analysts cut profit forecasts for General Electric.

Dynegy led an 8.2 percent weekly gain for utility stocks, whose dividends attracted investors after the Fed's action pushed Treasury yields down the most in four decades. Sun Microsystems jumped a record 69 percent, to $8.10. IBM entered talks to buy the company, according to people familiar with the situation.

"The Fed's action helped," said Russ Koesterich, head of investment strategy at Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco. "They're willing to use all the instruments in their arsenal and be aggressive."

The S&P climbed 1.6 percent for the week, to 768.54, up 14 percent from a 12-year low of 676.53 on March 9. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.75 percent, to 7278.38. The Nasdaq composite index advanced 1.8 percent, to 1457.27. The Russell 2000 index of small companies increased 1.8 percent, to 400.11.
The S&P 500 Utilities Index had the steepest advance in its 19-year history. Dynegy, the Houston-based power producer, jumped 44 percent, to $1.74, for the fifth-largest gain among S&P 500 companies. The utility gauge's average dividend yield is 5.1 percent, the third highest among 10 industries in the S&P 500. That's almost double the yield on 10-year Treasury notes, which dropped 26 basis points to 2.63 percent.

February housing starts rose to 583,000 homes at an annual rate, a 22 percent increase from January that was propelled by a surge in condominium, apartment and townhouse sales, according to a Commerce Department report.

The Treasury will auction $30 billion of three-month bills and $29 billion of six-month bills tomorrow. They yielded 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, in when-issued trading. The Treasury will sell $40 billion of two-year notes Tuesday, $32 billion of five-year notes on Wednesday, and $22 billion of seven-year notes on Thursday. Two-year notes yielded 0.9 percent, five-year notes yielded 1.69 percent and seven-year notes yielded 1.9 percent in when-issued trading.

Obama's Mortgage Plan Includes Low-Cost Refinancing, Subsidies

Here are the highlights of President Obama's plan to help troubled homeowners refinance and to reduce the number of foreclosures, obtained moments ago by The Post's Renae Merle:

-- The plan would provide access to low-cost refinancing for 4 million to 5 million homeowners so they could get better interest rates and reduce their monthly payments.

-- It would create a $75 billion "homeowner stability initiative" that essentially is a government subsidy meant to reduce monthly mortgage payments, meant to prevent houses from going into foreclosure. Here are the bullet points of this plan:

* A Shared Effort to Reduce Monthly Payments: For a sample homeowner with payments adding up to 43 percent of his or her monthly income, the lender would first be responsible for bringing down interest rates so that the borrower’s monthly mortgage payment is no more than 38 percent of his or her income. Next, the initiative would match further reductions in interest payments dollar-for-dollar with the lender to bring that ratio down to 31 percent. If that borrower had a $220,000 mortgage, that could mean a reduction in monthly payments by more than $400. That lower interest rate must be kept in place for five years, after which it could gradually be stepped up to the conforming loan rate in place at the time of the modification. Lenders will also be able to bring down monthly payments by reducing the principal owed on the mortgage, with Treasury sharing in the costs.

* "Pay for Success” Incentives to Servicers: Servicers will receive an up-front fee of $1,000 for each eligible modification meeting guidelines established under this initiative. They will also receive “pay for success” fees -- awarded monthly as long as the borrower stays current on the loan -- of up to $1,000 each year for three years.

* Incentives to Help Borrowers Stay Current: To provide an extra incentive for borrowers to keep paying on time, the initiative will provide a monthly balance reduction payment that goes straight toward reducing the principal balance of the mortgage loan. As long as a borrower stays current on his or her loan, he or she can get up to $1,000 each year for five years.

* Reaching Borrowers Early: To keep lenders focused on reaching borrowers who are trying their best to stay current on their mortgages, an incentive payment of $500 will be paid to servicers, and an incentive payment of $1,500 will be paid to mortgage holders, if they modify at-risk loans before the borrower falls behind.

* Home Price Decline Reserve Payments: To encourage lenders to modify more mortgages and enable more families to keep their homes, the administration -- together with the FDIC -- has developed an innovative partial guarantee initiative. The insurance fund -- to be created by the Treasury Department at a size of up to $10 billion – will be designed to discourage lenders from opting to foreclose on mortgages that could be viable now out of fear that home prices will fall even further later on. Holders of mortgages modified under the program would be provided with an additional insurance payment on each modified loan, linked to declines in the home price index.

-- The plan also includes other proposals, such as a "cramdown" provision -- enabling judges to modify home mortgages without permission of the lender -- that require congressional approval.

Was the Japanese Finance Minister Drunk?

Anyone disappointed with U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's performance last week should definitely check out (now-former) Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa's behavior at a Group of Seven press conference in Rome this past weekend.

Nakagawa announced plans to resign Tuesday after he appeared to have done a little pre-gaming before meeting with the media. Nakagawa later said he was not drunk, blaming instead an ill-fated mix of alcohol and cold medicine, according to
MarketWatch

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Loan Modifications and Other Credit Solutions – Forbearance and Legal Options To Mortgage Payment Problems

(Best Syndication News) As the unemployment rate spikes the need for loan modifications is on the rise. In some cases the bank may be limited in this process, but it may be worth a try if you are going to be behind on payments or delinquent. The bank may have sold the loan and is just providing services for the owner.

You can speak to a credit counselor certified by The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for free. Talk to these professionals about loan modifications before you talk to your bank. You can also contact a non-profit Consumer Credit Counseling organization.

1) Besides modifying a loan, there are some other things that can be done to save money. Contact your cable or satellite TV provider. In some cases the company may have a new plan available that can save you money. Contact the phone company and see if they have a better option. It doesn’t cost anything to call. In some instances credit card companies will lower your rate.

2) Take a good look at your finances. Figure out how much money you are paying out and write it down. Create a log of your payments. Determine the difference between your income and your expenses.

3) Prepare an initial proposal to the bank. This could open the door to a negotiation. A counselor may also help you negotiate with lenders.

Loan Modifications

If you have an adjustable rate mortgage that is getting ready to reset and you are certain that you can not pay the monthly payments, you can request a loan modification. They will likely ask you for a complete financial history. The bank may be able to create a fixed rate solution for you.

If the lender does not modify the loan permanently, they may be able to lower your interest rate for a limited time. For instance, if your rate was going to jump to 10 percent, you might be able to get a 7 percent fixed rate for 5 years. In some rare instances, banks could lower the principal amount.

Forbearance

Forbearance means that the bank will temporarily suspend the payments. They might do this if you lost your job and have a new one starting in the near future. The bank may also consider this if you were hit with some medical bills or other emergency.

Don’t expect the bank to forgive your payments for more than a few months. The bank will want the payments to resume and the missed payments made up.

Legal Solutions

A legal challenge may be your last resort. If you are unable to negotiate with lender and there was a mistake or misrepresentation made in your loan, an attorney may be able to convince a judge to grant you a favorable decision.

Perhaps the lender did not disclose the Annual Percentage Rate (APR). The interest rate could be inappropriately high. Maybe the borrower was unaware that the mortgage will adjust upward (an adjustable rate mortgage ARM).

It is best not to wait until you are three months behind on your payments before you contact your lender. If you are granted a modification, make sure you make those payments. Check your credit reports for mistakes before you contact your lender.

Low oil prices are not translating into low gas prices

The economy is in tatters. Oil prices are plunging. So why are gasoline prices closing in on $2 a gallon again? The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $1.97 Sunday, according to the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) and AAA. That's up 22% since pump prices hit a five-year low of $1.61 on Dec. 30.

Oil prices, despite a Friday rally, have fallen about 16% over the same period.

A big reason for the disparity: refiners. Beset by weak consumer demand and losses on gasoline sales, oil refiners have scaled back production since late December. The average utilization rate at U.S. refineries was 81.5% as of Feb. 6, the lowest in 17 years, not including hurricane-related slowdowns, according to the Energy Information Administration. As recently as early December, refineries were running at 87.4% of capacity.

Refineries typically shut some units for maintenance this time of year. But many are trimming output because demand is anemic. That tends to rile consumers who view low gas prices as a small silver lining in a dismal economy. But go easy on the poor refiner, analysts say.

"If you're losing money on something and you're producing at 90%, you're going to cut back," says OPIS chief oil analyst Tom Kloza.

"If there's no demand, … there's really not a whole lot of point to making extra gasoline," says Bill Day, spokesman for Valero, the largest independent U.S. refiner.

Such cutbacks are common in other industries, Day says. Still, Kloza says, "They probably overtweaked it a bit."

But, Kloza says, that's likely because refiners didn't slash production enough the last quarter of 2008. Back then, while the global energy market — which sets crude prices — was weak, U.S. demand for gasoline was even more feeble. Wholesale gasoline cost several dollars less a barrel than crude oil, and refiners lost money on every gallon they sold. They offset their losses with profits on diesel fuel. Now, refiners are earning about $17 a barrel, says analyst Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading.

Another reason for the apparent disparity: While the nation focuses on benchmark oil prices, such as Nymex, other types of crude, such as Brent or Maya, trade about $10-a-barrel higher, Kloza says.

Don't worry yet about $4 gasoline. If high profit margins persist, refiners will ratchet up production, Day says. Kloza says gas prices likely will head toward $2.50 a gallon through March. But they'll soon stabilize and drift down again, Flynn says.