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Regret

Life

There comes a time when it’s too late to tell people how you feel.

There will come a day when the person you mean to talk to won’t be there.  Don’t wait for that day.

“There’s always tomorrow” isn’t always true.

What Is Your Binary Options Strategy?

Finance

Binary Options tradingWhen you are just entering the world of binary options trading or investing, you may be on the receiving end of a lot of advice. It is not uncommon to hear people tell you to implement different gambling strategies because binary options are based on chance more than anything else. You will also hear a lot of advice from those who say there are many good ways to develop an effective strategy using indicators and market signals. Some will insist that with proper analysis of market data, a solid strategy can be developed too.

Are they all correct? Interestingly enough, the answer is yes. The reason for this is simple, and as one expert writes, “there is no such thing as a perfect strategy for every trader. There is only a best strategy for each individual trader.” Thus, your strategy has to be shaped around a few things:

  • Your willingness and ability to follow your chosen strategy.
  • Your personality. For instance, are you restless if you are taking the safe route or a higher risk strategy?
  • Your budget and goals,

Identifying the answers to these questions is the first step to formulating a strategy. You should also understand that the winning percentage of most strategies will be somewhat constant, but the total number of successful trades varies on an individual basis and is based entirely on the strategies used.

For instance, some investors want a high percentage of winning trades and are more comfortable with risk averse trading. Others are ready to take more risk and are entirely comfortable winning fewer trades if the returns on winning trades are dramatically higher. This enables them to implement higher risk trades. The interesting thing about strategies and the kinds of trades they generate is that they are all built from the same data.

The Data of Strategy

For example, almost all strategies will look at issues like market trends, trading trends, highs and lows, reversals, and various kinds of indicators. The reason that high and low trends pay off in strategy development is simple: binary options trading applies to whether or not an asset rises above a strike price or doesn’t. It is the proverbial “yes or no” part of the proposition and analysis for either outcome pays off.

As an example, a lot of risk-averse investors will look for breakouts. They use these for trend line investing, which can be as brief as sixty seconds to a day, but can be used to coordinate investing in the direction of a short trend. Although this seems complex, it really is not. The key is that analysis cannot be broad and across all available markets. Instead, focused analysis on a specific area will allow even a novice investor to analyze for a breakout and then invest in binary options accordingly.

Just being able to detect a reversal or a downward trend over the course of a day can yield a very rewarding investment. The key is to understand your strategy based on your budget, personality, and your ability to stick with the strategy, even if it does not yield immediate success. When you do this, and use the right tools for analysis, you can create an effective strategy that brings you closer to your goals.

This is a guest post.

 

 

Birthdays on the Cheap

Finance, Parenting

Birthdays are expensive. Shoot, I’ve said that before. It’s usually true, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are five ways to cut birthday party costs.   Note:  If you’re trying to cut costs on an adult party, just replace the word “kid” with “guest of honor”.

1. Location, location, location. The amusement park/pizza place is nice if you like bad pizza, but it’s certainly not cheap. The inflatable playground may be the talk of the school for a day or two, but it’ll flex your debit card in ways it’s just not used to. Why? Kids, being kids, are capable of entertaining themselves. They’ve got imaginations that should make most adults weep with envy. If that fails, make them play a board game or in the worst case, some video games. Lock the wild young’ns in the basement and let ’em go nuts for a couple of hours. It’ll be a blast, I promise.

2. Why invite the world? How many friends does your kid actually have? I’m not talking about all of the kids in school he’s not fighting with or every kid on the block that hasn’t TP’d your house. I mean actual friendship. If they don’t play together regularly, nobody will be offended about missing an invitation. Invite the entire class? That’s just nuts. Thirty ankle-biters smearing cupcakes on the wall? No thank you. You kid will have more fun with 2-3 close friends than 20-30 acquaintances.

3. Toy flood. What was the last toy your kid played with? The last 10? How many toys have been completely neglected for months or years? How many stuffed animals are buried so deep in the pile in the corner that they are wishing for a fluffy Grim Reaper to come put them out of their misery? Don’t buy your kid clutter. It’s a hassle to clean up–and you will–and it trains them into bad habits for a lifetime. One or two things that they will treasure(or, better yet, wear!) will work our much better for everyone than a dozen things to forget in a toy box. Too many toys guarantees that the kid won’t get attached to any of them.  Down with kid-clutter!

4. Designer Cake. Who needs a fancy cake? Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you going to start a fire on the thing, then cut it up and give it to a dozen little runts to rub in their hair? If you can’t bake it yourself, a quarter sheet is cheap at the big box grocery stores and will guarantee leftovers. Nothing starts the week better than chocolate marble cake for breakfast on Monday.

5. Food. Don’t. That was easy. Scheduling is an important way to keep costs down. Don’t have the party at lunch time. For small children, 1:30 PM is about perfect. The parents won’t stick around once the kids are ready for a nap. For older kids, 4PM means they will need to be home for dinner. That cuts the menu down to kool-aid, light snack food, and cake. It also ensures that the party won’t drag on forever.

It’s possible to have a budget birthday party without being totally lame.  Give it a shot.  Your kids won’t mind.

This post is a blast from the past.

Optimized to Go, Part 1

Business, Finance

Last weekend, we held a garage sale at my mother-in-law’s house.   It was technically an estate sale, but we treated it exactly as a garage sale.

A week before we started, a friend’s mother came to buy all of the blankets and most of the dishes, pots, and non-sharp utensils so she could donate them all to a shelter she works with.   She took at least 3 dozen comforters and blankets away.

Even after that truckload, we started with two double rows of tables through the living room and dining room.   The tops of the tables were as absolutely full as we could get them, and the floor under the tables was also used for displaying merchandise.

Have you ever had to display 75 brand-new pairs of shoes in a minimal about of space?   They claimed about 16 feet of under-table space all by themselves.  Thankfully, the blankets weren’t there anymore.

We also had half of the driveway full of furniture, toys, and tools.

We had a lot of stuff.

Now, most people hold a sale to make some money.  Not us.  We held a sale to let other people pay us for the privilege of hauling away our crap.  As such, it was all priced to move.   The most expensive thing we sold was about $20, but I can’t remember what that was.   Most things went for somewhere between 25 cents and $1.

At those prices, we sold at least 2000 items.  That isn’t a typo.  We ended the day with $1325.   After taking out the initial seed cash, lunches we bought for the people helping us, and dinner we bought one night, we had a profit of $975.

At 25 cents per item.

We optimized to sell instead of optimizing for profit.   At the end of  a long summer of cleaning out a hoarding house, it all needed to go.

In the next part, I’ll explain exactly how we made it work.

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