With the benefits that it brings along in the form of cost reduction, better productivity and reliability wholesalers have ventured into this field to substantially increase their market standing and earn maximum profits with minimum risk involved. Wholesale VoIP supplier opportunities are only increasing with time.

Ideally in order to provide wholesale carrier services one needs to make a substantial though not significant investment in order to build up the required infrastructure and technical equipments.

Wholesalers should be very careful while opting for a particular service provider. Among a range of providers offering voice over IP, select the one which is offering you the best rates. Cost reduction is and will be the most important feature of Voice over internet protocol. So, make sure that you are able to make the best use of this feature of internet telephony service.

It is always a better option to utilize the services of an established player in this field, so, as to be confident about getting enhanced quality and superior clarity of voice. Factors like ACR, PDD and ACD should be taken into consideration while rating the provider in terms of quality.

A professional and an established voip service provider should provide you with professional training that is necessary for smooth operations on an every day basis. Also, they should have a strong and dedicated technical support team to help you deal with daily issues that are a part and parcel of any new technology.

Features like customized billing proves to be very effective for your daily working and helps you to give a detailed report about the call duration of every single client, as well as the liberty to set up limit on minutes to be used by the clients, thereby giving you complete control and flexibility of operations.

Keep these pointers in mind the next time you are looking for a voice over IP service provider in order to make the most out of this revolutionary service. Call termination wholesale service providers can search for clients who are dealing with call back services, contact centers, call shops, system integrators or hardware and software programmers.

Call shops offer local, national and international telephony services to its clients. By utilizing VoIP technology, they can attract customers by providing calls at a much cheaper rate than traditional public switch telephone network and also increase their overall profit.

Taking all these factors into consideration, it would be in the best interest of the corporates to step into this service now so as to reap maximum benefits.

To Know More, visit: Wholesale VoIP

Author: Kristen Kiya
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Import duty tariff

Telecom infrastructures and equipment transmit and receive information or voice and data packets over different modes over very long distances.

Telecommunication is a broad term as it also covers not only data communication such as the internet but includes voice telephony as well. Land line, mobile phone, satellite phones and even Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) are forms of voice communication under telephony technologies. Without Telecommunication services all e-commerce and internet business-related activities would come to a grinding halt.

There are now a vast array of telecom services that connects all type of devices including computer networks, public telephone networks, television networks and radio networks.

Telecom companies are like hauling companies. They can haul information from one point to another and vice-versa. It can dedicate one particular communication channel to connect a private computer network of one company say to its branch’s computer network located in another country. The service is called international lease line service. Telecom companies offer a variety of service, voice and internet access services are most in-demand.

To get the best and cheapest telecom service, check-out this page on best voice and internet rates. The importance of finding the best telecom service should be stressed especially for start-up internet business.

As mentioned, the internet is a system that interconnects computer networks across the globe and its telecommunication that makes possible.

The internet is a public network free for use by anyone. Users of the internet however will have to pay telecom companies for the service of bringing internet access to their areas and for providing value-added service. Telecommunication companies have to invest millions of dollars on telecom infrastructures

In rural areas,less-populated or less-dense areas, reliable access to internet is a major problem. Despite widespread advances in communication such as GSM/CDMA, Fiber Optics, Satellite and Wireless Systems, some areas are making do with low-speed dial-up access.

Internet business needs access to reliable telecommunication services (e.g- telephone and broadband internet access is essential). Access to voice and data communication is hard especially in rural, remote and isolated areas. Few telecom companies dare to venture in because of very low potential return on investment. Telcos just won’t expand in areas with low projected return on investment.

Internet access via satellite or VSAT is the easiest but not the most cost-effective way due to high cost of subscribing a VSAT service.

In remote regions, local communities and entrepreneurs bonded together to put up a local communication systems in order to have access to telephone and the internet. You can find telecentre or community technology centers that serve as communication hub for the community in remote places.

The author , Allan Amps is a telecom sales & marketing employee with passion and interest for rural, remote internet connectivity solutions, wireless gadgets and internet home-based business.

He recently established a website – http://www.tech-ware-tips-startup-internet-business.com and [http://www.advanced-multi-profit-site.com] with the aim of generating income out of his interest and passion. The goal is to reach those people yearning to start their own home-based business by providing valuable tips, guides and info of the best available solutions and programs that one can go into.

Author: Allan Ampoloquio
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Creditcard Currency Conversion Fee

Does this sound as an exaggerated claim? A promotional gimmick?

Well, today, it is actually possible to talk to your near and dear/ your customers and business associates absolutely free (or with a nominal calling charge). With the latest VoIP technology sweeping the arena of telephony, talking free of cost is no longer a long-cherished dream. It is a hardcore reality!
VoIP is indeed a revolutionary technology that will eventually change the face of the existing telephony system.

What is VoIP?
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a technology that is used to transmit voice or audio files over the Internet via a packet-switched network. The voice/audio files can be received by:

• a computer
• a VoIP phone
• a standard telephone

The VoIP technology enables the transmission of voice/audio data as digital data over the Internet.

A number of practical applications based on the VoIP technology are gaining popularity among people as a means of economical communication. They are:

• VoIP phones

dedicated instruments to make calls over the Internet

• ATA sets

telephone-like boxes that connect to a computer and convert the analog voice data into digital signals

• computer to computer calls

need a computer system, headsets and Internet connection

VoIP phones are slowly gaining foothold in the market due to their efficiency in meeting the financial and infrastructure needs of corporate houses. These phones are also known as ‘broadband phones’ as they can be used to make calls over the high-speed Internet connection.
A VoIP phone converts voice data into digital data so that the data may be transmitted over the Internet. You need to connect the phone to a computer to enable voice communication.
VoIP phones look just like the standard telephones with the cradle, the buttons and the handset. So, you can make calls in the usual way…but with better sound quality and in an economical manner!

Dennis Jaylon is a renowned business writer who has years of experience in writing technical reviews, product descriptions and product feature analysis of technical gadgets and gizmos. He has won appreciation especially for enlightening people about the latest communication gizmos…the Voip

Author: Dennis Jaylon
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker

Encased in an attractive stainless steel casing, the Nokia 6300 packs full of fun and highly usable features. There is a 2 inch 16.7 million colour TFT QVGA screen which delivers a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. Satisfy the photographer in you by exploring the camera feature of the phone. The phone is equipped with a 2 megapixel camera which comes complete with 8 x digital zoom. The camera not only captures nice pictures, but also records quality videos.

Apart from the solid imaging feature, the Nokia 6300 carries some other important features like integrated music player, stereo FM radio, visual radio, embedded Java games, downloadable games, handsfree speaker, voice commands, push-to-talk, flight mode, Bluetooth, SyncML, USB, EDGE, GPRS, XHTML Browser, 7.8MB shared memory, 128MB MicroSD memory card and so on.

On the other hand, the Nokia 7373 is a pure fashion instrument. Being one of the members of the popular L’Amour Collection, the handset sparks tribal motifs and ethnic patterns-credit goes to its funky and colourful built. The swivel opening mechanism helps you to discover a whole new world-a world full of fun features. The phone is stuffed with a 262k QVGA colour screen with an effective resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Pictures and videos captured with the 2 megapixel camera feature (with 8 x digital zoom) of the phone can be best viewed on this bright and clear screen. Other features like digital music player, FM radio, visual radio, voice commands, voice recorder, voice dialling, Bluetooth, Pop Port, GPRS, EDGE, HSCSD, push-to-talk, WAP, XHTML and HTML Multi Browser, 128MB onboard memory plus MicroSD memory card support give you the ‘maximum’ in mobile telephony.

For more information on latest Nokia6300 and Nokia7373 on 3 mobile, t mobile, orange, O2, Vodafone network, please visit our online Mobile Phones Shop.

Author: Amanda Dorthy
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable Multi-cooker

VoIP is nothing but Voice over Internet Protocol, which has taken the world by storm. VoIP is both the cause and consequence of a shrinking world. Now one does not need to spend huge amount of money on making international calls. Simply with the help of Internet, one can make calls in any part of the world without having to burn a whole in the pocket.

VoIP, also known as IP Telephony or Broadband telephony, is basically routing the voice messages over the Internet or through any other kind of IP based network services. There are dedicated service providers which are basically companies that provide such VoIP services to common people on an individual basis or in a group, however VoIP services are mostly used by corporate houses. These service providers use protocols to carry out voice signals over the IP network and they are commonly known as Voice over IP or VoIP protocols.

VoIP is increasingly replacing the POST or Plain Old Telephone System. Now more and more organisations are switching over to the latest mode of communication. This has become a necessity as companies are extending their client base abroad and till far away from their country. Now you can speak to your client sitting in Middle East or China or USA or just about anywhere where Internet has touched the human life. VoIP ha s decreased the requirement and therefore the cost of traveling tremendously and therefore it is reaching out to more number of people in more number of countries.

Suppliers of VoIP

VoIP has spread its wings far and wide. And the spread has become possible due to increasing number of VoIP service providers. These suppliers provide the VoIP services on the basis of plans. One can choose services as per the requirements or the frequency at which one needs to make international calls. You can also choose to take the help of leading suppliers of traditional telephones or cordless phones, who are providing VoIP services.

Dennis Jaylon is a renowned business writer who has years of experience in writing technical reviews, product descriptions and product feature analysis of technical gadgets and gizmos. He has won appreciation especially for enlightening people about the latest communication gizmos…the VoIP. For more information contact: VoIP

Author: Dennis Jaylon
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Electric Pressure Cooker

I’d say that it depends on what kind of service and QoS you are looking at. For example, when you say “video” you mean video conferencing and not something like VoD. The Bandwidth requirements will vary according to your service requirements.

For example: For IPTV services, the image quality depends on the encoding deployed: MPEG-2 consumes approx. 3.75 Mbps, whereas MPEG-4 needs approx. 2 Mbps for the same high-quality image production. Also broadcast TV is delivered using IP Multicast which makes the bandwidth required dependent on the number of channels offered and the encoding rate. 200 channels of MPEG-2 in standard definition will take approx. 750 Mbps of bandwidth. VoD, on the other hand, is a unicast per-viewer channel. 1000 standard definition VoD users will need appro. 3.75 Mbps.

The QoS requirements for video conferencing using H.323 (SIP could be different again) can be planned on the “Rule of 75″ as follows: Calculate the minimum bandwidth required by each of your applications ( e.g., video, voice, data). The total of this bandwidth is the minimum requirement for any given link and it should consume NO MORE than 75% of the total available bandwidth on the link. The 75% rule makes allowances for bandwidth required for over head traffic, such as routing, Layer 2 keepalives and other applications, such as, email, HTTP etc.

So, Capacity planning for H.323, should look like something as follows:

Video data + 20% = bandwidth required.

Example:

Video data rate: Bandwidth Required:

512 kbps = 614 kbps
1.5Mbps = 1.8 Mbps …

For issues such as number of concurent users and more stuff on video conferencing you can perhaps consider looking into Cisco’s solutions offered and also TANDBERG boxes.

Cisco considers anything 766Kb to be a “slow link” for VOIP. Also you need to consider the criticality of the sites so you may need two separate connections. All multi-media applications run on top of your other applications so QoS only allows a preference of who goes first.

You need a good baseline of non-multi-media applications (VOIP). So bandwidth needs to be able to handle all necessary applications in the network.

Also, you’ll need to remember that the bandwidth aggregation at the Data Center needs to meet or exceed all inbound remote site traffic. In other words, if I have three remote sites all with T1s. I’ll need more than one T1 at the Data Center to manage the traffic. Remember unless this is a greenfield then baseline, baseline, baseline!

When it comes to streaming video, bi-directional – you are going to have to consider the quality of the compression you are planning to use. If you are planning on using high definition video 1 direction it is recommended to have at least 2MB in the direction of the video being accessed.

So if you are streaming video to your computer then you need to make sure that you get 2MB download capacity. Also, another thing to keep in mind is latency and loss of packets. I would recommend staying away from wireless for this type of application as it will add latency and cause issues later. DS3 bandwidth and anything higher may be over kill, but would easily be able to handle your demands.

Without knowing specifics, it is hard to provide a precise answer, but, one can still specify a systematic method for calculating required bandwidth. Once you know the bandwidth requirement, then it is all about negotiating the most economical way to order that bandwidth from a network provider in the area.

Here is what I would suggest:

1. Calculate the peak external link bandwidth requirements (inter-office data transfer, video conferencing, email transfers. With attachments running in tens of megabytes, email traffic can’t be ignored these days.).

2. Real time applications being mostly jitter and delay sensitive – so you have to make sure that you will have enough bandwidth when they need it. The bandwidth of video depends on the mpeg profiles used (without going into specific, generally 1.5 Mbps can give you very good video on a PC (equal to VCD quality). HDTV images can take about 20 Mbps – but that is domain more reserved for IP TV service providers). Most current users of interactive video communications will be happy with the images coded and transmitted @ 512 Kbps. This includes audio and video as well as control signaling. So, one should provision at least 512 Kbps per video stream, and more the better (I would say 1.5 Mbps is the good if you are a big organization and use a large TV for video conferences)). So, multiply bandwidth for a single stream by the number of parallel streams required. Now that determines the total peak real time usage.

3. There is no specific rule – but wise men with experience advise to keep the peak real time within 60 to 75% of network bandwidth available leaving the remaining capacity for background traffic. In a small organization of 5 people – it is easy to tell people not to download gigabyte attachments when video conferencing is going on , but in larger organizations it is hard to enforce such things except with router policies (assuming they have QoS support), and you can deal with occasional unhappy users.

4. Now, once you know your bandwidth requirements, it is time to talk to the network operator how they can provide that bandwidth in the most cost effective way.

For help in finding just the right bandwidth solution for your video conferencing and multi-media applications …. take advantage of the no cost help provided at DS3-Bandwidth.

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire Communications….including DS3-Bandwidth.com. Michael also authors Broadband Nation where you’re always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, insights, and ramblings for the masses.

Author: Michael Lemm
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: How Electric Pressure Cookers Work

When you arrive for your appointment you will be asked to stand in front of the very large x-ray machine. There will be a screen in front of you where you can see your band, tubing and your port depending on where it is placed.

You will take a small sip of barium so the doctor can see how liquids are flowing through your band. You will see the liquid come down your esophagus and fill your pouch. Then after a second it flows through the band and into your lower stomach.

When you are ready for your fill you will lay down on a table with a support under your shoulder blades. This arches your back somewhat so your port “rises” and is easier to locate. Once the port is located the doctor will use a syringe and stick the needle into the port. He or she can see the needle on the x-ray and can see it going into the port. Does this hurt? It is a small needle stick. It feels like getting a shot which is exactly what it is. Some people are more sensitive than others to this.

The doctor will then inject the saline into your band. How much he or she gives you is determined totally by the doctor and the patient’s individual needs. Some give more some give less. This is something you will discuss with your doctor.

After your band has been filled you will stand in front of the x-ray again. You will take several sips of barium to see how tight the band is. If the doctor believes everything looks fine and you are able to drink you are on your way. You will be on liquids for the next 24-48 hours in order for your stomach to adjust to the tightening.

The number of fills a patient will receive is a varied as the number of patients. Some will have one, others will have 5. This is purely determined by the doctor and the patient. The same applies to the amount put into a patient’s band. Some do great with 1cc while others may go as high as 2.5cc. Everyone’s body and needs are different so their treatment will be different as well.

Robin McCoy was banded on February 3, 2004 and has achieved her weight loss goal of 110 pounds. Robin is Vice-President and Senior Writer for Lapband Lifestyle, a resource and support group for banded people. http://www.lapbandlifestyle.com robin@lapbandlifestyle.com

Author: Robin McCoy
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable pressure cooker

That was the clinical description of dumping.

This is what I experience when I dump: shortly after eating a food I don’t tolerate (sugar, milk, sugary milk products or starchy carbs) I begin to feel a bit disoriented, maybe dizzy and then an overall sense of confusion or panic takes over my mind and body. This is a mild state of delirium. Then I begin sweating. Profuse sweating that can completely soak my hair, my clothes; it drips and glistens on my skin. During this state of sweaty panic I feel like I’m out of my mind! A few times during extremely dramatic dumping episodes I literally thought I was dying, the state of distress was that severe.

At this point during a dumping episode I have learned it is best to lie down on my side and let it nature take its course. The body is efficiently, albeit painfully, correcting a chemical imbalance in the cell system. It takes great presence of mind to calm myself and lay down, but even in a state of near-delirium I now know this is the only action to be taken. I know the event is passing when the sense of panic is replaced by exhaustion and cold chills instead of sweating. Occasionally I have suffered diarrhea at this point. If I have the luxury I’ll try to take a nap or go to bed after dumping. If it is in the evening I’ll sleep through the night, and wake feeling like I’ve been run over by a truck.

The mild delirium associated with dumping is the result of an interruption of nerve impulses affecting cerebral metabolism. The interruptions are caused by metabolic disturbances such as fluid or electrolyte imbalance. When the incorrect foods are consumed and dumped into the digestive system the electrolytes get out of balance. Dehydration will also cause an electrolyte imbalance. This mild delirium is characterized by a reduced ability to maintain attention to surroundings or disorganized thinking. The daily routine can become confusing. In extreme cases a person who is dumping may experience rambling, irrelevant or incoherent speech.

After the dump passes the interrogation begins: what caused that dump? I have dumped on yogurt, sugar cookies, lobster bisque and blackberry sorbet. I have dumped after one margarita. A particularly impressive dump followed a love-fest with a piece of pecan pie. Salty potato chips that should have never crossed my lips knocked me flat quicker than a prize-winning boxer could have. I have dumped a few times for which I never determined a cause. In most cases eating the inappropriate food for my gastric bypass system is the culprit. Through trial and error I can predict most things that make me dump and I avoid them contemptuously.

The most efficient way to avoid dumping is to maintain the strict regimen practiced during bariatric infancy: follow the four rules. Eat protein first making sure it comprises one-half of every meal. Avoid snacking. Avoid all sources of simple sugar; and yes, this includes cookies, cakes, candy, sodas, ice cream and sorbet. Sip water throughout the day. When you practice this eating behavior your blood sugar will not fluctuate and you will not dump. Most patients, who crave a taste of something sweet, have learned they can tolerate a bite of fruit at the end of the meal. Proceed with caution and discover what works for you.

The first reaction when dumping begins is to try and make it stop. There is a feeling of helplessness – like trying to stop an earthquake. I have tried eating myself out of it. I have tried flushing it away by drinking water. I have tried physical motion – pacing – to get myself out of it. I have not successfully stopped a dumping episode. I don’t know anyone who can successfully halt a dumping episode. Sipping a sports drink like Gatorade will relieve my symptoms, although my surgical weight loss specialists do not recommended this practice. If you find something to bring relief during a dump, and it causes no further harm, then do it.

It is important to note that the dumping experience is different for every person. Some will always have extreme dumps and others more mild episodes. Individuals will notice dumping episodes will vary by incident. No two people dump the same and no two dumps are alike.

Dumping is a bittersweet fact of life after weight loss surgery. Because we must fuel our bodies by eating we will experience dumping. Adherence to the four rules will prevent dumping in most cases. However, every now and again we will be blindsided by a dump caused by a food never suspected. Keeping a list of poorly tolerated foods will help you avoid them. The acutely dramatic event of dumping is a convincing motivator to follow the rules and avoid the foods that have trigged a dumping episode.

Kaye Bailey is a weight loss surgery success story having maintained her health and goal weight for 5+ years. An award winning journalist, she is the author and webmaster of http://www.livingafterwls.com and http://www.livingafterwls.blogspot.com – Fresh & insightful content is added daily, check in often.

Copyright 2005 Kaye Bailey – All Rights Reserved.

Author: Kaye Bailey
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: PCB Prototype & Manufacturing

Obesity among the American population is a serious epidemic. The results of a 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey indicate that an estimated 64% of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese.

Millions of people approach weight control, focusing on the symptom. The symptom being the weight itself. These people put all their energy into baking it off, working it off, starving it off, or all kinds of fad diets.

They all experience the ups and downs on the weight charts and scale. This makes for a lot of upset and depressed people who think that they will never solve the problem of eliminating, permanently, those excess pounds and inches.

The only time that anyone has to be concerned with weight control is when they are eating. The fact of the matter is that people are concerned with weight before they eat and they beat themselves up after they eat. While people are eating there is no concern.

We spend a small amount of time each day eating and that is the only time that people have to increase their conscious awareness and focus on developing proper eating habits.

If you are overweight, you may be so because you formed a habit of eating improperly.

By re-educating your eating habits, you will find that you still enjoy eating and for much more positive reasons. You’ll eliminate weight — and you won’t regain it.

The plan is very basic, simple, and easy. Every week, for a period of six weeks, you are going to practice a new and different mental exercise to help you change your eating habits.

WEEK ONE: Sit down to eat and drink. Even if it’s only a piece of gum or a sip of water, sit down! This will help eliminate the unconscious snacking that is so much a part of being overweight. This also eliminates tasting foods for those who cook.

WEEK TWO: Relax! Take a minute to breathe comfortably and be thankful for the food in front of you. This will help you become aware of the foods that you eat and the way in which you eat them.

WEEK THREE: Chew your food well. Sip your drinks. Take small bites. Depending on what you are eating, chew from 25 to 40 times with each mouthful. By consuming small portions and eating more slowly, your taste buds will have a chance to get the full and wonderful flavor from the nutritious foods you are eating.

Your stomach will have a chance to tell your mind that you are full and satisfied and that you require a smaller amount of food than before. It can take the same amount of time to eat a small amount of food as it does to eat a large amount.

WEEK FOUR: Get rid of bad emotions and frustrations. if you have a problem or transaction that you are working on, clear your mind before you eat. Eating out of frustration is a very common bad habit.

WEEK FIVE: Think about the food you eat, especially the flavor.

WEEK SIX: Leave something on your plate (besides your fork). We’re conditioned to clean everything from our plates and programmed to believe that cleaning our plates will help starving children elsewhere in the world or that it’s a sin to waste food.

OTHER ATTITUDES TO CONSIDER

1. Refer to diets as menus.

2. Refer to losing weight as eliminating weight permanently.

3. Use smaller plates and glasses.

4. Serve yourself smaller portions.

5. Use one room in the house in which to eat, perhaps even one chair.

6. Keep a diary of the food you eat.

In addition to these exercises, it is important that you utilize the techniques learned in altered- states (hypnosis) to effect habit change and visualize exactly the way you want to look.

Imagine yourself standing on your bathroom scale and looking down at the weight you want to be.

Some sample weight control suggestions:

1. I weigh ___ pounds and am slim, healthy, and attractive.

2. I eat only those healthful, nutritious foods that allow me to maintain my weight at ___ pounds.

3. I eat my meals slowly and enjoy every bite. I taste and savor my food better than ever before.

4. The desire to eliminate fat from my body is stronger than ever before. I am, on a daily basis, eating less and enjoying food more, and the desire to eliminate weight is stronger than the desire to eat.

5. I see myself as being slim, trim, firm and solid. I think thin.

6. I am staying satisfied for longer periods of time. The desire to eliminate unnatural fat from my body is stronger than my desire to eat. I see fattening eating behavior and I have no desire to indulge in such behavior. I enjoy being slim, trim, thin and slender.

By utilizing these behavior modification suggestions you will completely re-educate your eating habits and will have formed a successful pattern for creating and maintaining a slim, trim, permanent new shape.

Don L. Price — Business and Positive Change Strategist — International Speaker and Author He speaks on Optimizing Your Power to Succeed, with Strategic Performance Marketing and Closing Power, Winning Presentation Techniques and Life Enrichment Through Hypnosis.

Don can be reach at: 1800Succeed (800-782-2333)
http://www.donlprice.com
donprice@donlprice.com

Author: Don Price
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Smart cooker

* The average prediction made on January 1, 2007 by 58 Wall Street forecasters for the yield on the 10-year Treasury note as of year-end 2007 was 4.88%, an increase of +0.17% over its 4.17% level from December 31, 2006. Instead the actual December 31, 2007 yield did not rise from a year earlier, but fell to 4.02% (source: BusinessWeek).

* 82% of money managers believed in late December 2006 that long-term interest rates in the US would be “unchanged or higher 12 months later.” The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was not “flat to higher” but rather declined from 4.81% to 4.45% during calendar year 2007 (source: Merrill Lynch).

* 56 economists who were surveyed in mid-January 2007 predicted that the average price of oil would be $58 a barrel in the 4th quarter 2007, down $3 a barrel from its $61.05 price of 12/31/06. However the price of oil did not fall but rather rose +57% during 2007, closing last year at $95.98 a barrel (source: USA Today).

* The S&P 500 was up +9.2% YTD (total return) through Friday July 20, 2007, closing at 1534. The headline in Barron’s over that weekend stated “It’s Still Time to Buy” forecasting an additional +6% rise to 1625 by December 31, 2007. Instead the stock index fell 4.3% to finish 2007 at 1468. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the US stock market (source: Barron’s).

* As of Labor Day Monday last year (Sept. 3, 2007), there were just four months remaining in the calendar year. The S&P 500 had closed the previous week at 1474. Barron’s asked eighty equity strategists to predict where the S&P 500 would finish the calendar year. Seven of the eight saw a rising stock market by year-end with one prognosticator foreseeing a December 31, 2007 value of 1700. The S&P 500 actually finished the year at 1468. (source: Barron’s).

Also, from a long term historical perspective here is some more interesting “market forecast” trivia. This is also courtesy of Direxion’s “By the Numbers” publication.

* On the morning of October 19, 1987, the trading day that ultimately resulted in the largest one-day percentage loss in the history of the S&P 500, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article with the subtitle “Some Stay Bullish, Believing Downturn is Temporary.” The S&P 500 fell 20.5% that day (source: Wall Street Journal).

* On August 13, 1979, BusinessWeek ran a cover story titled “The Death of Equities.” The S&P 500 closed at 107 on August 13, 1979. The S&P 500 closed calendar year 2007 at 1468 (source: BusinessWeek). Apparently equities didn’t die…

* At the close of business on Wednesday October 9, 2002, the S&P 500 bottomed at 777 before beginning a bull market run that gained +101% to peak at 1565 on October 9, 2007, exactly five years to the day after the bear market bottom. The headline in the business section of USA Today on Thursday morning October 10, 2002 was “Where’s the Bottom, No End in Sight” (source: USA Today).

The moral of the story is that forecasts make interesting conversation and trivia. Just don’t use them to try to make money.

Dave Young, President and founder of Paragon Wealth Management, has helped his clients enhance their financial well-being since he began managing money in 1986. He was his first client after he sold his 12 franchise businesses and couldn’t find a traditional brokerage firm to meet his needs.

From his personal investment experience, he knew there was a better option to managing money. Later that year, he started his own investment firm. When he avoided the 1987 stock market crash, his methods sparked a lot of interest.

Today, this undiscovered money manager in Utah currently manages 60 million dollars plus for 150 clients.

Author: Dave Young
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Pressure cooker