Bank finance articles and tips

Lately, I've been watching the very public rise and rise of a lovely girl I've known since she was seven. For years now, she has been working towards her visions for life and her goals and at barely 20 years old, she is already a veteran of the Miss Universe pageant, has competed in Celebrity Apprentice donating $100,00 to her favourite charity and appears regularly on morning television. The biggest difference between her and the rest of us (dismissing her genetically endowed statuesque height and gorgeous personality of course!) is her ability to overcome procrastination and get on with the job at hand....

The foreign exchange market has not been behaving the way it should, and the euro has been the most disobedient currency of the majors.

In July the German ZEW expectations index (a measure of sentiment among German investment professionals) fell to a worse-than-expected 30-month low of -15.1, attributed to the European sovereign-debt crisis. The euro should have fallen, and it rose.

Days later, the flash composite PMI for July plummeted to 50.8 from 53.3, barely remaining above the boom-bust line at 50. The EUR climbed again.

So, with fundamentals not adding up, we'll instead look at technical analysis. However, depending on the time frame you look at, the EUR might be set to rise or go down. And, it isn't easy to determine which time frame to use, as the fx market is facing conditions never seen in the 37 years since the 1974 introduction of floating currency rates (and nothing has come close in the 12 years since the EUR was introduced).

With an economy that is still struggling, some businesses are having a hard time, as well as the people who run them. However, there are those who find, even in economic hard times, ways to keep their business going strong and rise to the top. While many think that men run the business world, there are many women who have made great strides for themselves and their companies...

Levels of homelessness are on the rise, as are requests and applications for IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) help. More and more people are turning to IVA help as a way to deal with their financial problems and those that can't get IVA help risk winding up on the streets. Both the increase in applications for IVA help and this year's 8% rise in homelessness are symptoms of the country-wide economic downturn.

Other than the increase in applications, the biggest change when it comes to IVA help is the people who are applying for it. IVA help was once the fall-back option for low-income families who had fallen on tough times, now increasing numbers of lower-middle and middle class earners are finding themselves with insurmountable debts and looking into getting IVA help.