Complete Finance Blog

Even as Libyan rebels marched on Tripoli, raising hopes the North African country’s oil production would soon resume, crude oil prices rose again.

For months, climbing crude and heating oil prices have been blamed on disruptions to world oil supplies following a bloody civil war to topple Libya’s embattled leader Moammar Gadhafi.

But as the world’s gaze turned to dramatic fighting in Tripoli yesterday amid hopes the dictator would finally be forced from power, traders bet oil prices would continue their upward trend.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude added $1.86, or 2.3 percent, to settle at $84.12 a barrel. Heating oil edged 0.2 percent higher at the NYMEX.

As the two contracts gained in value, however, Europe’s benchmark crude contract Brent lost ground as oil speculators bet Libya’s 1.3 million daily barrels of light sweet crude would soon return to the market, increasing global supplies and dampening prices.

Brent is more closely tied to the fortunes of Libyan oil than US crude. The Libya

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Ive taken part in a number of giveaways on this site over the years ranging from books to iPads, but this giveaway is by far the biggest. Me and a few other personal finance blogs have teamed up with IRAmarket to give away $5,000 to fund your Roth IRA.

This giveaway comes at a good time because there is also a #RothIRAMovement taking hold. Next week there will be over 100 personal finance bloggers taking part to raise awareness of the Roth IRA and there will be a lot of special events and posts, so stay tuned for that.

IRAmarket is a new service that helps you compare banks and brokers IRAs.  In addition to profiling 20 of the leading IRA providers, IRAmarket helps you see all the current offers for opening an IRA or rolling over an old 401k or 403b to an IRA.  Offers include cash bonuses from companies like Schwab, E*TRADE and Scottrade, and free trades offers from Fidelity, Wells Fargo and USAA.

IRAmarkets mission is to help Americans save more for their future. Articles and tools on the site help you learn about the cost of 401k plans, and how you may be able to save more by rolling over to an IRA. You can

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If you need cash and you need it fast; you could go for a fast cash solution like a payday loan. It’s easy to get and there are no credit scores, what can go wrong? Well a lot of times nothing. Nevertheless you have to be aware of the double sided nature of any loans you are going to take.

The Good Side: These loans are fast, they don’t require credit scores and you can pay them off quickly. These are the plusses. As long as you have a job, you are over 18 and you have a valid bank account that will accept the transfer of the loan you are good to go. This makes this type of loan the perfect fast credit choice in emergencies.

The Bad Side: You are at the mercy of loan companies so you have to be sure to pick the right loan company. Be aware of the interest rates they are offering and shop around to choose the best you can find. Often unscrupulous companies will put huge interest rates on their products so they can get a quick profit from small loans of this type. Be sure to look at reviews of these companies and pick the ones that have the best reputation. Al Read more…

So, after doubling in three years what is next for the bull? More gains, when using history as a guide. The average return in year four of bull markets was 12.7% (six of the 10 post-WWII bull markets lasted that long). While a slightly different time period, this historical average for year four (March 9, 2012 March 9, 2013) is very close to our 8 12%* return expectation for stocks in calendar year 2012. Interestingly, only one bull market ended in year four. That was in February 1966, and the S&P 500 renewed its advance eight months later, recouping the losses after about a year. The average bull market lasted 58 months, just short of five years.

While corporate earnings have been a key driver of stocks, the return of economic growth and the confidence in the durability of that growth have also been important. The bull market has been rising as recession fears have faded. In fact, the path of the S&P 500 and the Google search trends for the word recession are a nearly perfect mirror image of each other.

While the stock market faces significant challenges ahead, we expect another year of gains for stocks. But that gain may be accompanied by the return of volatility.

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