personal finance
MLP (Part I)
If you are interested in investing in companies that are involved in the production, transformation and distribution of commodities, than one of the best ways to do so is through investing in the Master Limited Partnership (MLP).
So how do you go about investing in an MLP? The shares that an MLP issues are called Units and the investors who own them are known as Unit Holders. MLPs are public entities that trade on public exchanges. An MLP issues shares that trade on an exchange just like a company stocks that trades on an exchange. You can invest in an MLP by buying its shares on an exchange. You can instruct your broker to buy the units of an MLP that you are interested in investing.
When you invest in an MLP, you are essentially investing in public partnership. There are tax advantages to investing in MLP. Unlike regular corporations, an MLP is only taxed once. Now most of the MLPs trade on the New York Stock Exchange. A few MLPs also trade on the NASDAQ and the AMEX.
Congressional Legislation, any MLP that derives 90% or more of its income from the production, distribution and transformation of commodities qualifies for this tax exempt scheme.
This tax advantage gives an MLP competitive advantage as compared to other corporations when competing for assets. This means a huge advantage for an MLP. Now an MLP is run by a General Partner (GP). In most cases, the majority of these GPs in MLPs are other corporate entities setup with the specific purpose of running an MLP.
The role of a GP is very important in an MLP. You as an investor in the assets of MLP might have a very limited role or say in its running. You can think of yourself as a sleeping partner in the MLP. In most cases, the majority of these GPs in MLPs are other corporate entities setup with the specific purpose of running an MLP. This tax advantage gives an MLP competitive advantage as compared to other corporations when competing for assets. This means a huge advantage for an MLP. Now an MLP is run by a General Partner (GP). But you don’t have to worry much about the GP. Most GPs do a good job of running the MLP as it is in their financial interests. GPs know that if they don’t make sound management and investment decisions, most of the investors my eventually deicide to divest themselves from the units of the MLP. Now you must know as a limited partner in an MLP, you have limited voting rights. This means when you invest in an MLP, you are giving away the keys of ownership to the GP. This means you are out of the decision making in an MLP.
Investing in MLP units can give you quarterly cash flows as well as appreciation of the unit price. An MLP is obligated to distribute all available cash back to its unit holders on a quarterly basis, so you will be getting a quarterly income from your units. Secondly as the MLP expands and grows overtime, its units may give you capital gain as well.
Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Trade Dow Futures . Learn Commodity Trading ! Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service
Ways to Save on Your Car Insurance
Insurance is necessary, and expensive. Fortunately, there are many ways you can save on insurance premiums. If you own more than one vehicle, if you carry home or life insurance, the simplest way to save on your insurance costs is purchase all your policies from the same company. Putting all your policies together under the same company is called bundling. Companies, understandably, offer substantial discounts on insurance when you purchase more than one policy. It’s also much easier to manage your bundled policies. You only need to see one agent in case of a claim, and you only need to pay one bill.
Another easy method of lowering your auto insurance premiums is choosing a higher deductible. Raising your deductible always saves you money, but there is a catch: You absolutely must have the funds on hand to cover your deductible if you suffer a loss.
Get quotes from more than one qualified insurance provider. They may offer you a better deal on your car insurance premiums once they find out you are checking with the competition.
If you are a senior, a student, a member of AARP, in the military, over 25, or a woman, you may get a price break on your auto insurance. Make sure you choose policies that reward you for being in one of these categories.
You can save even more money on your premiums by taking driver education or defensive driving. You will have to save the certificate you get for completing the course, but when you present it you may get as much as 10 per cent off your policy for the next two year?a sizeable saving for a few hours in a class.
Keep in mind that where you live impacts your car insurance rates. Drivers who live in urban areas will pay more than drivers who live in rural areas. Drivers who live in high risk areas will also pay more for car insurance than drivers who live in areas considered less of a risk. This is another reason why you want to obtain more than one car insurance quote. Different providers look at and define risk differently. What may be considered high risk to one provider might be considered safe to another provider.
Own a sports car? Consider trading it in. Sports cars demand higher insurance premiums for the simple reason that they are much more often crashed or stolen. But if you buy a car that is not considered high-risk, you will have a much easier time negotiating a lower rate. Contact your agent for details.
Finally, if you can’t find a discount from the list above, ask your authorized insurance agent. Many insurance companies have their own programs that help you lower your costs down to an affordable level. Whatever your personal insurance needs may be, your professional insurance agent can work with you to get exactly the coverage you need.
Tom Martens is the content syndication coordinator for Carinsurancesa.co.za. South Arica?s leading car insurance portal.
Points To Consider When Purchasing Gold Eagle Coins
When collectors or investors first start out to amass gold coins they often find themselves confused by the myriad of coins that are available. There has always been a huge amount of choices for people when they wanted to purchase gold products, starting with the first gold Krugerrands targeted by collectors, right on through the incredible assemblage available for purchase in today’s gold products market.
In regard to American Gold Eagle Coins, you’ll find that you are astonished by the amazing detail in the design on the face. You can see Lady Liberty and the Capitol buildings on the coin’s front, a great design from Augustus Saint-Gauden. Flip it over to find a beautiful picture of an eagle that is soaring through the air, a nest underneath it. You can also see the typical “In God We Trust and “E Pluribus Unum.” Its value comes in down its symbolic design and its actual gold make up.
If you are a beginning investor, it’s worth noting for you that the Gold Eagle coins may be a great choice because of the variety of sizes that are available. The American Eagle is made available in denominations of 1/10oz, 1/4oz, 1/2oz and 1oz. Even though the spot price on gold has it’s daily fluctuations, these coins seem to maintain their price at a small premium just above the price of gold. So how that works would be if gold is $950, then the 1oz coin would probably be selling for about $1,000. Actually, there was a’99 1/10-ounce gold eagle coin listed on eBay that will sell for at least $117. Since this is above the $95 (or so) spot price value, it would seem to be a reasonable premium.
It would be very easy to just talk about it as a piece of gold, but its value as a collectible and a particular product is also very important. In the case of gold eagle coins, it’s the backing of the American Government that investors are concerned with.
Purchasing any collectible has an element of risk, but the safest bets are available from the larger, more reputable companies established within the USA Government involvement provides a certain guarantee of a quality product. Because of this, golden Eagle coins may be the safest and best item for new collectors.
The American Eagle coin, with its U.S. government endorsement, as well as it sheer beauty and majesty, definitely has a place in any coin investor’s collection. There are also silver and platinum Eagle coins, if you prefer to add some diversity to your portfolio.
Franklin Kelly writes articles on gold bullion coins, including Gold Proof Eagles and Gold Proof Anniversary Eagles for your precious metals portfolio or coin collection.
The Benefit Of Investing In American Platinum Eagles
In’97 United States Mint created the American Platinum Eagle coin. This is known as the official bullion coin of the United States. Each bullion coin is almost pure .9995 fine platinum. This is why even just one ounce Platinum Eagle can be so valuable.
Each Eagle consists of raw platinum minted only from the United States, adding a sense of pride to the ownership of these beautiful coins. The Platinum Eagle coins can be found in 3 different sizes. Their price will depend of the size.
American Platinum coins are unique to the American Eagle coin program because of the differing designs that are created each year for the reverse. These images change each year, and collectors are very interested to have all the models of the Eagle coins.
If you do own some American Platinum Eagle coins, it may be nice to know that you can save them in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). They are considered to be a commodity and not a rarity. One very interesting thing to note is that they tend to be the most expensive coin in the American Eagle Coin Program. You should expect to pay over $3,000.00 for just one proof $100 coin. The price depends of how large the coin is.
If you are considering the purchase of a Platinum Eagle coin, you should fist get all the information you can find. You can find information about the platinum coins on the internet. For example you should note that the United States Securities considers that the platinum coin will maintain a value that is consistent with it’s platinum content.
The American Platinum Eagle coins is the first and only platinum investment-grade coin. In’96 it was authorized by the Congress. One year later the coin was released.
On the back side of the coin you can see the head of the Statue of Liberty. The design was made by John M. Mercanti. The Silver American Eagle coin was also designed by him.
The platinum coin has a very interesting design. One bald eagle soaring through the air with the sun in his back and a few inscriptions. Some of the inscriptions are ”E Pluribus Unum” and ”In God We Trust”.
The smartest thing you can do for you and your family is to make some good investments for the future. This is why you should think about adding physical platinum to your portfolio. Precious metals have traditionally safe investment because platinum will always be in high demand as a commodity. Thinking about your future will also assure the financial safety of you and your loved ones. Because Platinum Eagles can be contributed to your retirement savings account you will find a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that you have taken a large step into safeguarding your financial future.
Find out more about Platinum American Eagles, please check out Roger Denton’s other informative articles on Proof Platinum Eagle Coins and more platinum bullion.
The Enjoyment Of Collecting Morgan Silver Dollars
Morgan Silver Dollars have been some of the most adored and most collected American coins that were ever produced by the United States Mint. These big silver coins have been sought-after for their attractiveness, design and sturdy nature. Even though it is maybe the most common of all modern silver coins from the U.S., Morgan Silver Dollars possess a vast deal of national importance historically, being a main part of America’s early expansion to the west. There are a wide number of varieties offered, making building a entire collecting of Morgan Silver Dollars a true test.
Altogether, there were 5 Mints that had a hand in the fabrication of Morgan silver dollars from the years of 1878 until 1921, these included Carson City, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Denver.
The production of Silver Morgan Dollars ceased in 1904 due to a lack of raw silver, and then was resumed once more in 1921. During that year, more than 80 million of the coins were made in Denver, Philadelphia and San Francisco. This was also the final year that the Morgan Dollar was to be made, as it was fated to be replaced by the Peace Dollar, which was produced to commemorate the end of the First World War just a few years earlier.
If you have been searching for the least costly system of acquiring Morgan Silver Dollar Coins and still putting together a collection of superior coins, you may want to focus on coins with the circulated grades of EF to AU. Use caution when deciding to purchase some high grade coins, you would do well purchasing coins that have been graded by PCGS or NGC.
With the popularity of the PCGS and NGC coin grading services, the buyer is assured of the coin’s state and legitimacy. This creates a favorable circumstance for both the buyer and seller, as the sale price is most often higher for graded coins than raw or unslabbed versions. While it may be a bit more costly, a coin purchaser can be sure that the coin he is purchasing is authentic and genuine. A panel of the top graders from their respective company’s must then independently agree on the coin’s grade and then a final grade must be approved. Each freshly graded coin is then sonically sealed in a hard plastic case and given a unique serial number that gives you the ability to monitor and keep track of all of the coins in your collection or portfolio.
Make sure to only do business with reputable dealers. Also, take the time to find the lowest price possible and pass up buying the very first coins that you come across, even if on occasion you come to find that the first price was actually the best price. Prices tend to vary greatly, and you will want to compare the prices that you have been getting from several dealers to get the maximum amount of silver for your hard-earned money.
If you have enjoyed reading this article, you can read more about Morgan Silver Dollar Coins by visiting Richard DuBois’ website on how to find great deals on hard to find 1879 Morgan Silver Dollar Coins for your collection.
The American Silver Eagle Coin Program
American Silver Eagle Coins are favorably thought of by collectors and investors equally, and are some of the most beautiful bullion coins that you can have in your investment portfolio or coin collection.
The American Eagle Coin Program began in the mid-1980’s, and has turned out to be the sanctioned silver silver bullion coin of the United States. Produced by the Mint, American Eagles are unique in that they are able to be utilized by individuals for the funding of their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA’s).
The government mints these coins with 1 troy ounce of 99.9% pure silver. This is one of the small number of bullion bullion coins in the world to be created with such a large extent of silver. The coins have a nominal face value of 1 dollar while the actual value of each silver eagle coin is based upon the actual spot price of silver.
The coins were created and produced with the exquisite Walking Liberty design by Adolph A Weinman on the obverse. If you’ve ever seen the memorable half dollar coins made from the year 1916 to 1947, you will unquestionably be familiar with this attractive interpretation of Lady Liberty. This is crucial in that these bullion coins have helped the design featured on the silver eagles to become such an legendary figure. The crest on the coin’s reverse was sculpted by John Mercanti, featuring a heraldic eagle with its wings spread.
There are countless collectors of Silver American Eagles and each has his or her individual basis for becoming caught up in the hobby. A number of collectors are in love with the coin’s dazzling craftsmanship, while others take pleasure in the silver coins for their possible long term worth.
To ascertain the value of a individual coin, many considerations should be taken into account, counting factors such as the year that the coin is created, as some years they production numbers were lower than others, thereby reducing the overall numbers of coins in the hands of the general public. Coin minted in 1993 and 1995 or anniversary editions for instance, are apt to be among the coins that collectors are searching out, and bring higher interest when sold through coin dealers or at auctions.
Nowadays, Silver American Eagles are enjoying a tremendous surge in popularity, owing to the tentative economic climate. As precious metals have a tendency to make a excellent hedge against diminishing dollar values, investors are looking for the protection to be had by silver and gold bullion goods.
If you would enjoy reading more information about Silver American Eagles, then visit please check out James Buchanan’s other informative articles on how to find great deals on Proof Silver Eagle Coins for your portfolio or collection.