Use A Debt Checklist To See Where You Stand

• Your Budget   Almost nobody likes this word, which is why so many people have problems with their finances and debt. You need to know how and where your money is being spent. In addition, you should be sticking to a spending plan.

• Your Savings Account   You should pay yourself each month. To do this you need have an account in place, in which you keep your funds. At least until you can move them to an account with a higher rate of return. Visit your bank or credit union to set one up.

• Your Use Of Credit   You need to review your use of credit to see how, what, and where you are using it. Using credit to pay your bills or buying groceries is a recipe for trouble.

• Your Percentage Of Income For Debt   Nothing makes it harder to stay with your spending plan than credit card payments. You are paying for your past while trying to purchase your present. If your percentage of income going toward debt exceeds 15 you could be headed for trouble. Any amount over 20 percent, you need to put on brakes.

• Your Minimum Payments   These add up. If you are to point where you ca only make minimum payments on your debts, you will stretch your indebtedness far into future. You don’t want to extended like this. Find ways to add extra to one payment each month. Then when you pay one off move extra payments to another.
  
  

Moving Average Convergence Divergence ( MACD ) Charts

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence charts, or MACD charts for short, are a technical indicator that is derived from more simple moving average.

The MACD charts are oscillating indicators, meaning that they move above and below a centerline or zero point. As with other oscillating and momentum indicators, a very high value indicates that stock is overbought and will likely drop soon. Conversely, a consistently low value indicates that stock is oversold and is likely to climb.

THE 12-DAY AND 26-DAY EMAS

The MACD charts are based on 3 exponential moving averages, or EMA. These averages can be of any period, though most common combination, and one we will focus on, are 12-26-9 MACD charts.

There are 2 parts to MACD. We will focus first on first part, which is based on stock's 12-Day and 26-Day EMA. The 12-Day EMA is faster EMA while 26-Day is slower.

The logic behind using a faster and slower EMA is that this can be used to gauge momentum. When faster (in this case 12-Day) EMA is above slower 26-Day EMA, stock is in an uptrend, and vice versa. If 12-Day EMA is increasing much faster than 26-Day EMA, uptrend is becoming stronger and more pronounced. Conversely, when 12-Day EMA starts slowing down, and 26-Day begins to near it, stock movement's momentum is beginning to fade, indicating end of uptrend.

THE MACD LINE The MACD charts use these 2 EMA by taking difference between them and plotting a new line. Very often, this new line is depicted as a thick black line in middle chart.

When 12-Day and 26-Day EMA are at same value, MACD line is at zero. When 12-Day EMA is higher than 26-Day EMA, MACD line will be in positive territory. The further 12-Day EMA is from 26-Day EMA, further MACD line is from its centerline or zero value.

THE 9-DAY EMA

This line on its own doesn't tell much more than a moving average. It becomes more useful when we take into account its 9-Day EMA. This is third value when we talk of 12-26-9 MACD charts. Note that 9-Day EMA is an EMA of MACD line, not of stock price. This EMA (the thin blue line alongside MACD line) acts like a normal EMA and smoothes MACD line.