prancingbull.com

I know I wrote a review earlier about my trading account with Optionshouse.com, but I thought that I would add some screen shots to go along with the review.

Many of these screen shots will be too large to fit into the blog properly, so if you click on them you will be able to see the full size version.

This first screen shows the options chain view. In this view you can see the bid, ask, change, volume and open interest. If you click on any of the call or put prices a black box such as this one will pull up and allow you to choose many different trade options depending on what you want to do. The screen is actually much larger, but I wanted to just show a snippet to give an idea of what the chain view looks like. One nice feature of this view is that it refreshes every five seconds and flashes a different color for each option that changed in price during the last five seconds.

The second screen showes the options ticket. This is where you can initiate your trades. It also gives you the choice of either doing one trade at a time, or you can add different legs to the trade as well. A nice feature that is shown on the bottom of this image is that the total cost of the trade automatically updates each time you alter your trade.

In the third screen, you can see the watchlist which is located on one of the sidebar tabs. The watchlist is nice because it allows you to be able to see all of the stocks you are most interested in. One downfall of the watchlist is that it has to be refreshed manually. While this may be a nuisance if you need to have the most up to date quote, I can see how it would put a strain on the site’s bandwidth if it were in real time. Either way, it is still a nice feature.

I will admit to being a terrible options trader, but I can see how this site would be a great trading platform for an experienced trader, especially with the fixed commission structure.

Personal Finance, Reviews, Websites broker, brokerage house, optionshouse

An IRA (Traditional or Roth) is a great way to start saving for retirement. The beauty of the two IRAs is the tax benefits that each program offers.

With the Traditional IRA, your contributions are tax deferred, meaning you can deduct contributions from your earned income for the year. Your deposits also grow tax free until withdrawal. The only downside with a traditional is that withdrawals are taxed at the current rate. This may benefit you if you are in a high tax bracket now and expect to be in a lower bracket upon retirement.

With a Roth IRA your contributions are not tax deductible. Your funds grow tax free, and any earnings withdrawn after a certain age are not subject to income taxes. One advantage to the Roth is that you can withdraw your contributions without penalty. This can be great if you need funds for an emergency and don’t want to have the added burden of additional fees. A drawback is that you cannot deduct your contributions from your taxes.

As you can see, each has its own unique set of advantages and disadvantages. To read the official IRS rules and regulations for each type of account, click here.

One important thing that you should be aware of though is that you are only allowed to contribute a certain amount each year. If you are under 50, the 2007 contribution is $4,000 and the 2008 contribution limit is $5000. If you are 50 or older you can contribute up to $5,000 in 2007 and $6,000 in 2008. I included the 2007 tax values because you can actually make contributions to your IRA for the previous tax year all the way up until taxes are due on April 15th, 2008. By making a 2007 contribution you are giving yourself the opportunity to maximize your total allowable contributions.

Personal Finance, Savings ira, roth, taxes, traditional