America and many of our European partner states are now officially out of the recession, while good old Great Britain languishes in the longest ever recorded recession on record. Many UK businesses are in a state of panic and chaos.

In the grand scheme of things it\’s unfortunate that many of these business owners don\’t know that there\’s a reason why the Chinese view chaos as opportunity.

It is because during business chaotic times many business owners adopt the \’Ostrich Syndrome\’ i.e. they bury their heads in the ground waiting for the recession to end. However if they were to poke their head above the parapet they would realise that business opportunities abound in times of chaos.

During the past few years a number of my business clients have been involved in the UK and overseas film industry. I have dealt with various aspects of film financing and film investments for film investors. Every individual film investor or consortium of film investors understand that film investment is classified as a very high risk investment.

It is on this basis that film investors are seeking creative alternatives like personally identifying film scripts for sale and approaching the script writers direct. Their main aim is to build a 3 to 5 film portfolio to minimise and spread the risk of their investment.

In today\’s economic uncertainty a film investor is looking to identify a 5 film portfolio development slate. In this film portfolio the film investors might include a comedy film, a horror film, a romantic film, a drama and an action film.

By structuring their film portfolio in this fashion film investors can reach out to different audiences as opposed to producing five comedy films and only attracting the same audience. Film investors know that if one movie from their 5 film portfolio is successful then the film investment is also likely to be successful.

Business owners should look at the tactics of film investors when seeking film scripts for sale & film investments. In today\’s economic downturn, every savvy film investor is looking to get the most bang out their film investment bucks.

In this article the writing guru highlights how obtaining film funds & film money to spread the business risk by diversifying into a film portfolio & going direct to the secret source is proving a viable option.

Historically a film investor would have been approached a screenwriting agent offering an investment prospectus of one single film and seeking film financing. Every film investor who provided the film funds then took a huge risk on this single genre film becoming a box office hit.

In order to minimise their risks and maximise their success rate, many film investors are adopting a more proactive business approach by contacting a screenplay writing guru who has their own development slate of film scripts for sale. It\’s a match made in heaven as the writing guru has the film scripts for sale and the film investor has the film money to develop the film portfolio.

Imagine for one moment you are a film investor and you are approached to invest film financing in one of the following two opportunities. Obviously your main concern is gaining a maximum return on your film investments.

Film Investor & Film Investors Secret Film Scripts For Sale – Film Investment Opportunity #1 Single Feature Film

Film Title: The Oldest Hells Angel. Genre: Docu-Drama. Audience Age: 50 years and over. Investment: £5,000,000M.

Every film investor understands that on the face of it, this feature film has a very limited audience. Although savvy film investors would probably insist on a Hollywood A list actor playing the lead role which would broaden the audience viewer age.

However from a film investment perspective providing the film money for this type of single film investment can only be deemed as extremely high risk. Recouping these types of film investments are extremely difficult which is why more and more film investors are seeking to invest their film financing into a film portfolio.

Film Investor & Film Investors Secret Film Scripts For Sale – Film Investment Opportunity #2 Five Film Portfolio

#1: Film Title: The Farm. Genre: Horror. Audience Age: 15 years to 35 years. Investment: £1,000,000M.

#2: Film Title: Bouncers. Genre: Comedy. Audience Age: 13 years to 45 years. Investment: £1,000,000M.

#3: Film Title: SOG Special Operations Group. Genre: Military/Action. Audience Age: 18 years to 50 years. Investment: £1,000,000M.

#4: Film Title: Devils On Horseback. Genre: Western. Audience Age: 15 years to 45 years. Investment: £1,000,000M.

#5: Film Title: The Irish Governess. Genre: Romance. Audience Age: 13 years to 75 years. Investment: £1,000,000M.

As a film investor, imagine being approached by a writing guru with a pre packaged film portfolio which includes the above five film scripts for sale.

Which film investment would you consider providing your film financing for? On the face of it, it\’s a no brainer. You have a five to one shot at recouping your film money and this is one of the reasons how film investors are seeking to minimise the risk of their film funds.

Just as film investors are changing track so should other conventional business owners. Economic hard times never last and it\’s frequently those business owners who make hay while the sun shines who are the winners in times of economic hardship.

The sad part is that many film investors have no idea where to go to find a writing guru with a film portfolio of film scripts for sale. In fact very few screenplay agents are aware of these people.

However they exist and some of them are members of writing groups strategically located around the world. Many of them live an almost secretive lifestyle. You might try a Google search for Writing Guru as the first step of your research.

Your business may not require film investments,film funds or film money which I have only used as an example for this article. But in tough trading times every business owner needs money, funds and this may come from external investment or from internal investment from identifying new income generation streams.

It may sound cliché, but it\’s relevant to mention, \’when the going gets tough,the tough need to get going.\’

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/film-investor-film-investors-secret-film-scripts-for-sale-1483748.html

About the Author

Dr. Mark D. Yates The International Business Guru & Growth Consultant grows businesses fast delivering exponential growth, increased turnover & profit margins. He delivers business support to small, medium & large businesses in 42 countries. To claim his FREE business case files e-mail him at drmarkdyates@aol.com

Author: Forex King

What have you put off today? Something important you had to do that you ended up not doing? Well i am sorry to say this but Forex doesn’t like you very much, it won’t actually come out and say this, but it will definatley show you by eating all your money.

Why do lazy people flounder in the forex market?

1. They put off getting a broker too long and then often make a bad choice.

2. They don’t do any research or engage in education and therefore end up gambling.

3. They clutter up informative blogs and forums with their incessant whines about how forex is a scam and can anyone lend them $20 because they are good for it.

4. They are often emotional about trades and will either get too excited after a good trade or try to take revenge on the market after a bad loss.

Does this look like a successful traders mindset to you? Of course it isn’t. Are you guilty of any of these things? If you are get it sorted ASAP, not or my sake, but for your own. It isn’t my money you are gambling away. “But i thought forex is investing not gambling?” Thank you! I don’t gamble in forex, i invest, many other traders i know invest as well. Whats the difference? Education my friend, education. We know what we are doing, and make educated decisions about where we want our money, a forex gambler wakes up in the morning and just decides then and there where he is going to flush away some more money. They don’t research, they don’t even know what a chart looks like, they just go with uneducated gut feelings.

But let’s stop talking about forex gamblers before i have a stroke, what about successful traders?

1. They research brokers and then choose one and stick to it until the broker gives them reason not to.

2. They are always learning. What is a better indicator to use? What have i done wrong in the last week? This is the kind of thing that sharpens their trading sword so sharp it could cut space and time.

3. They don’t post often, they might not ever post on a forum or blog. To them forex is about learning and they would rather listen then speak. Humble eh?

4. They keep their cool. They know that a win can turn into a loss and the other way around within the next 5 minutes. They have the experience and they have already set up their trades to accomodate for a turn in fortune. They are in control. Well mostly.

So the main point of all this text is to realize that if you can’t even bother having a shower when you wake up in the morning, how are you ever going to be successful in something as demanding, but equally as rewarding as forex? You aren’t because forex hates you.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/currency-trading-articles/successful-forex-trading-forex-hates-procrastinators-739222.html

About the Author

No other market in the world offers the potential for profit like FOREX. . So just how long will you wait until you make the decision to join this $3 Trillion daily market?

Start laying the foundation to your financial empire right now! Free resources, free education, and free forex accounts are right here.

Author: Jose D. Roncal And Jose N. Abbo

Anyone following the financial news has likely heard opinions right and left about what’s behind the current crisis. In addition to the usual suspects-Wall Street greed, lack of oversight, and predatory lending-you’ve doubtless seen fingers pointed at other culprits, such as short selling and hedge funds.

Let’s take a closer look at those last two subjects by answering these questions: What exactly are hedge funds? How do they work? Who is eligible to invest in them? And finally, why have these funds been grabbing headlines during the recent Wall Street crisis?

First, let’s examine what they are and where they came from.

Hedging against risk

Back in 1949, Alfred W. Jones, a sociologist, author, and financial journalist, came up with a revolutionary idea for an investment fund. To hedge against potential losses for investors, Jones combined leverage and short-selling of securities. He was so successful at hedging the market, his fund outperformed the mutual funds of the day-and the term “hedge fund” was born.

Despite his success, hedge funds didn’t really get traction until the 1960s when wealthy entrepreneurs like Warren Buffet and George Soros got on board. Suddenly hedge fund became a Wall Street buzzword, and by some estimates, these funds currently manage close to $3 trillion in assets.

While Jones’s strategy focused on short selling and leverage, there are a variety of other methods today’s hedge fund managers use.

Bigger risks, bigger rewards

Hedge funds are a bit like exotic mutual funds, but with bigger downside risks, and greater upside rewards. They’re similar to mutual funds in that hedge fund managers pool investors’ money and re-invest it in hopes of getting a positive return. But that’s where the similarity ends.

Unlike most security offerings, which are tightly monitored and regulated, hedge funds are not required to register with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) or to file periodic reports. Hedge fund managers aren’t even required to disclose what they’re doing with investors’ money. In fact, what they’re doing is investing in everything from stocks and futures to commodities and currencies, real estate, art, even website domain names – not to mention other risky investments. There’s no regulatory body overseeing hedge funds, so investors are virtually unprotected.

It’s an environment that attracts the wealthy in search of higher than average returns-investors who may even prefer the lack of government oversight. Hedge Fund managers have free rein to take risks tightly regulated mutual funds cannot. To do so, they use a variety of sophisticated investment strategies. Two of those strategies are short-selling and arbitrage.

Short Selling is like placing a bet that the stock price will go down. The hedge fund manager borrows shares of stock he feels are about to slide and immediately sells them on the promise of returning the shares later. If the manager’s assumptions were correct, he can purchase the shares back at the lower price and keep the profit before returning the stock to the lender. Short selling on a massive scale upsets the balance and order of the market.

Arbitrage takes place when you simultaneously purchase and sell the same investment to take advantage of inefficient markets. Here’s a simple example: A hedge fund manager buys securities in one country and immediately sells them in another, to take advantage of a lag in foreign exchange rate adjustments (and possibly different time zones). This risky technique requires careful monitoring of global currencies.

Who’s eligible to play this high-stakes game?

Unlike mutual funds, hedge funds are small, private partnerships with stringent eligibility requirements. The widespread availability of hedge funds has changed a lot since Buffet and Soros first favored them, but one thing hasn’t changed. These funds are still for big hitters only-institutional or individual investors with deep pockets, wealthy enough to absorb heavy losses and savvy enough to understand the risks.

Typically, a pool of investors in a single hedge fund may be comprised of 100 “accredited investors” or an unlimited number of “qualified purchasers.” To join the ranks of qualified purchasers, you typically must meet these criteria:

• An individual with investments worth at least $5 million including those held jointly with a spouse.

• A family-held business with $5 million or more in investments.

• A business with control of at least $25 million in investments.

• A trust sponsored by qualified purchasers

The requirements to qualify as an accredited investor are similar, but typically apply only to individuals, not businesses or trusts:

• An individual with a net worth in excess of $1 million-or that amount when combined with a spouse.

• One who has had an individual income, excluding spouse’s income, of more than $200,000 in the previous two years with reasonable expectation for same in current calendar year.

• A married couple with joint income of more than $300,000 in the previous two years and a reasonable expectation for the same in the current calendar year.

Minimum investments:

The minimum investment is set by the General Partner (GP) and varies between funds, but $250,000 or $500,000 is the typical amount for a new fund. Minimums for established funds can run as high as $10,000,000. Generally the GP can waive the minimum if he wants to accommodate those investors that pledge to invest that amount over time.

Hedge funds get in trouble

The strategies hedge funds use are designed to work to the investors’ advantage whether markets are rising or falling. In fact, these funds usually thrive in volatile markets because they can capitalize more fully on market opportunities using leverage, short-selling, options, futures, arbitrage and other strategies.

But now even hedge funds are struggling to hang on as they ride the financial roller coaster. Before the Wall Street meltdown and $700 billion bailout for financial institutions, hedge funds were already seeing their worst year on record. By the 2nd quarter of 2008, the average fund was down nearly 5 percent – a bitter pill to swallow when average annual returns on investment were often in the double digits.

No one can afford to be invested in an underperforming hedge fund right now – and half of the hedge funds in America are underperforming. Even billionaire Boone Pickens, founder of BP Capital LLC, who lost more than $1 billion of his own money in energy trades this year, reports that 15 percent of his hedge funds’ holders opted to cash out.

Most hedge funds set a quarter-end deadline for clients to request having their money returned. If the predictions are accurate and hedge fund investors want out en masse, it will push fund prices down far enough to force many smaller and poorly managed hedge funds out of business.

That won’t happen overnight, of course. The wave of closures would be gradual and most likely span a six month period. Experts predict the wave could kick off in November and December at the end of the typical 45- to 65-day waiting period, when fund managers must return investor money.

Many financial analysts predict the demise of as many as 2,000 smaller hedge funds between October 2008 and March 2009. Fear over a mass investor cash-out have become far more worrisome to hedge fund managers than the recent temporary worldwide bans on short-selling that hamstring trading strategies such as arbitrage.

Those bans were put in place in late September when, in an effort to quell market volatility, the SEC banned short-selling in 799 financial stocks and required hedge-fund managers to disclose their short positions.

Disclosure? That was a first! Naturally there was immediate pushback, with some arguing that asking a hedge fund to reveal its inner-workings is like asking Coca-Cola or Colonel Sanders to reveal their formulae.

The expanded and extended no-short list now covers nearly one-fifth of regularly traded stocks listed on U.S. exchanges. The ban is expected to be in place until mid-October.

It remains to be seen how all of this shakes out and how the hedge fund industry will survive this major upheaval in the financial markets.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/hedge-funds-boon-or-bane-651472.html

About the Author
Co-authors Jose D. Roncal and Jose N. Abbo share some 50 years of senior executive experience in international business, finance and economics. Both have authored numerous articles on business strategy, finance, accounting, capital markets and the global economy. For more on the authors and their book, The Big Gamble: Are You Investing or Speculating?, visit: Financial Speculation.

Author: Kathryn Landry

What is a Regulation D Offering? This is a simple question with a not so simple answer. Basically, a regulation D offering allows a small business person the opportunity to raise capital and sell parts of the business without having to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Registering with the SEC can be an expensive and time consuming process, something that small businesses in need of capital probably do not have available to them. The question should not really be what is a regulation D offering, rather why would someone want to go through with one.

Answering What is a Regulation D Offering

When the Securities Act of 1933 was put into place it was an attempt to document and control and offers to sell securities. What this act did not take into account was how it would affect smaller corporations and businesses that could not afford, either with time or money, registering with the SEC. Regulation D came into place to make it easier for smaller companies to raise capital for their businesses.

A regulation D allows the small business owner to easily and quickly acquire funds without interference from the federal government. There are stringent regulations on what is regulation D offering, most of which correspond to the amount of capital being acquired. Regulation D offerings are limited to less than five million dollars and must have less than thirty five investors.

In order to file a regulation D a company must fill out a form D immediately after they first sell their securities. You should know what is a regulation D offering before you begin getting capital to ensure that you are following proper federal regulations. Contact the SEC’s office of Investor Education and Advocacy at 202-551-8090 or send an email to publicinfo@sec.gov to find the answer to your question. They can most fully assist you to determine whether you qualify and can apply for a Regulation D Offering.

In addition, check with your local state securities regulator to see if there is anything additional that is required by the state. Their address number and telephone number by contacting the North American Securities Administrators Association at 202-737-0900 or by going to their website.

In addition, most of this information is freely available in your local phonebook. Check the government section and you should be able to your state contact information. Follow these steps to ensure that your company is in compliance. Hopefully this has answered your question as to what is a Regulation D Offering.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-opportunities-articles/what-is-a-regulation-d-offering-and-how-does-it-apply-to-you-the-small-business-person-496852.html

About the Author

Kathryn R. Landry is a business writer for TIC Advisors, Inc . A company that can give you the most complete information on a 1031 exchange or TIC property ownership.

Author: Derek Both

Private equities are equity securities of companies that have not listed their stock on a public exchange and are generally thought of as long – term investments. As they are not listed on an exchange, any investor who wishes to sell securities in private companies must find a buyer in the absence of a marketplace. Investors in private securities generally receive their return through one of three ways: an initial public offering, a sale or merger, or a re – capitalisation.

It first started in the UK in the late 18th century when entrepreneurs found wealthy individuals to back their projects. This method of financing soon caught on and became an industry in the late 1970s and early 1980s when a number of private equity firms were founded. This type of investment has since become extremely popular as there are a lot of opportunities for high financial gains.

The main sources of private equity investment in the UK are the private equity firms and business angels who are private individuals who provide smaller amounts of finance than many private equity firms are able to invest.

When you are making a private equity investment it is important to ensure that you are making optimal use of your internal financial resources. Some of the many ways you can do this is by planning payments to suppliers, carefully controlling overheads and checking quality control. Once you have achieved this you can then move onto external resources such as friends and family, banks, leasing and public sector grants as well as many other options which are available.

One of the many reasons why this type of investment is so popular is because it provides long – term, committed share capital which can help unquoted companies grow and succeed. As the investment is made in exchange for a stake in your company, the investors’ returns are dependent on the growth and profitability of your business. As a result of this investors are only interested in companies with high growth prospects. However, provided there is real growth potential the private equity industry is interested in all stages, from start – up to buy – out.

The benefits of this investment is definitely worth it as private equity backed companies have been shown to grow faster than other types of businesses. This is made possible by the provision of a combination of capital and experienced personal input from private equity executives, which sets it apart from other forms of finance. Private equity can help you achieve your ambitions for your company and provide a stable base for strategic decision making.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/what-is-private-equity-investment-226060.html

About the Author

Mansion House Securities, at http://www.mansionhousesecurities.co.uk/, is a London based Investment House providing unique access to high growth business investment opportunities.