How To Handle Your Finances During A Tough Time

We’re all capable of going through hard times, and those can be particularly tough when they involve your finances. 

Whether someone in your household loses their job or a pandemic like COVID-19, puts you at risk of losing money, it’s certainly handy to know how to cope with this time in your life. 

Here are some tips to handle your finances during a tough time.

Take A Look At Your Spending

Firstly, it’s a good idea to take a look at your spending. 

See how much you’re currently spending on food, bills, and other items whatever they may be. Sometimes, we end up spending more money than necessary and on things that are luxuries or that maybe we don’t need. 

With that being said, it might be a good idea to cut out all these extra expenditures so that the only payments you are making are those towards your utility bills, rent or mortgage payments, and for food. 

These are the necessities that are keeping your family safe, warm, and alive. 

Anything else is something that’s not needed and can, therefore, be put on hold temporarily until you’re back on your feet again. 

It’s going to be hard to cut things out, but it’s important for the sake of your finances.

Ask For Help From Friends & Family

Asking for professional help, for example, when you’ve been injured, and a no-fee guarantee might be beneficial, is important. 

Your friends and family won’t want to see you in a position to be struggling, and so it’s important that if you’re in a time of need where you need financial help, it’s good to reach out. 

You might have friends and family who can really help you out, and it’s something that you’d do if they were in the same financial situation and needed money. 

Don’t feel like you’ve failed or that you consider it being a charity case because sometimes, we all need a little help.

Create A Plan B To Bring In Money

A plan B is always something that’s worth having when you’re in financial disarray. 

It’s the plan that you put in place when your financial hardship isn’t getting any better, and perhaps you need to make other decisions in order to bring money in. 

Whether that’s selling things around the home, selling your home if you own it, or selling a vehicle if it’s possible. 

You might want to think about getting another job or finding a new one if you’ve been fired from your old one.

Become More Astute With Numbers On Your End

You can use all the tricks and have all the techniques in the world, but if you don’t have a fundamental grasp of numbers and the financial world, then you’re going to struggle a little more during testing times.

You don’t need to become the most efficient mathematician, but brushing up on your knowledge could do you a world of good.

Figuring out how to calculate percentage of a particular sum or learning how to plan out your finances from a numerical standpoint could save you from any future money troubles. 

Prioritize What You Pay For

When it comes to your spending, try to prioritize what you pay for, and so that way, you have the necessities paid ahead of time, and then you can focus on the rest. 

By prioritizing, you can get ahead of yourself in trying to find ways to help make your money stretch further and perhaps get help from your bill payers while struggling through this time.

Handling your finances in a tough time can be hard, but you will get through it.

Building a Career Helping Other Businesses

There are many ways you can build a career. You can create your own company, or you can serve the public in the public sector. 

Another way is to build a career in which you help other businesses. In terms of job security and longevity, this is one of the more robust options. 

After all, there will always be companies out there that need help. Choose a career that helps other businesses, and you’ll likely always find work available. 

We take a look at a few examples of jobs that involve helping others. 

Hiring Matters

One of the best ways to help other businesses is to solve their problems. 

And now, and in the future, that problem is that they’re unable to find quality candidates for their open positions. 

If you’ve got an eye for talent, then why not look at working in recruitment? 

In this role, a company will come to you with a position that needs to be filled, and then you’ll go out there and find them a suitable candidate. 

The base pay for working in recruitment is fine, but there’s a lot of potentials when it comes to commission, making it a lucrative career choice.

IT Setups

Every company knows that they need to have the right IT setup if they’re going to succeed. The problem is that they don’t know what the IT setup entails. 

If you feel comfortable with tech, and know-how to listen to people’s needs and then meet those needs, then take a look at working in IT. 

We tend to think that the digital world has already arrived, but that’s not the case — most companies aren’t reaching their full tech potential. 

In any case, most companies can’t do these things in-house, so they will always need outsiders to handle the job for them.

Internal Auditing

Companies need outside experts to help them in all manner of things. 

They do this for two reasons: they’re either too close to their operations and thus can’t see them properly, or they don’t know what they’re looking for. 

That’s why internal auditors are so important. They can tell companies how they can save money, or the changes they need to make in order to be compliant with local laws, and so on. 

If the idea of working with companies in this way appeals, then take a look at studying at Northeastern University

Once you’ve graduated, you’ll be able to get your career underway. 

Environmental Transitions

The business world is always in flux. What was normal ten years ago is positively outdated today. And it’s reasonable to assume that things will look different in ten years’ time, too. 

While most changes happen organically, there’ll be on a change that is enforced on companies: the switch towards more sustainable practices.

Companies will have to change through social pressure or legislation, and nearly all will need to help to do so. 

If you’re environmentally minded, then becoming an energy consultant could be the right line of work for you to go into. 

How Installment Loans Online Are Helping You Out With Your Business

It is no secret that loans have proved to be useful to fulfill your business endeavors. 

They help you out financially when you are neck-deep in dues and facing a cash crunch. There are a countless number of loans that you can find to help you out. 

Banks and some private companies both offer different loan schemes, so which one should you be selecting to help out with your business?

Well, research shows that online installment loans from private companies are the favorite choice of most businessmen. 

You could always go on the internet and read more on online installment loan but we’ve done some homework for you. 

Installment loans let the borrower pay back the money in small installments. It is a very convenient structure in general but that is hardly the reason why these are popular. 

So let’s have a look at the top reasons why online installment loans are the best for your business endeavors.

getting loan onilne

Installment Loans Online Can Work With a Bad Credit Score

Probably the most common reason for the rejection of a loan is a bad credit score. 

If you apply to a bank or a company that believes in ‘hard credit checks’ then you would certainly be facing rejection if you have a bad credit score. 

The reason why online installment loans through private companies are so much in demand for businessmen is that these companies link you with private lenders who don’t always look at your credit score. 

Since a lot of businessmen suffer from a low credit score, their chances of getting a loan increase by a lot.

Low Processing Time

Another reason why businessmen prefer online installment loans is that they are incredibly quick with their processing time. 

It hardly takes 2-3 minutes to fill out an application form online and your request is processed in the next few minutes. 

The money is transferred to your account in the next 24 hours. Since banks take around 2-3 weeks to process a loan it is just not suitable for any business. 

No business can survive such a long waiting period if it is running low on working capital.

Small Loans for Small Needs

Banks and some institutions that provide loans don’t always agree to give out a loan of a small amount since it is not beneficial for them. 

There are some companies, however, who do not discriminate on the basis of the size of the loan. 

When you take an online installment loan then you can easily borrow an amount as low as $300. 

Even a small amount of financial aid can sometimes be the difference between the success and failure of a business model.

Spend The Money at Your Will

You sometimes require money for a lot of reasons concerning your business which you can not always pen down. 

This acts as an obstacle when you take an installment loan from a bank instead of taking it online. 

Banks always keep a tab on the money they lend. They don’t let you spend it anywhere apart from the listed reason. 

This inconvenience isn’t experienced through online installment loans where you have full liberty to spend the loaned money in whatever manner you wish to.


getting a loan for business

Online installment loans have proved to be a blessing for a lot of businesses that required financial help to be successful. 

Getting help on time makes sure that the business does not lack in running capital and essential resources.

The Power Of Consistency In Business

Consistency can be key to success in business. 

This involves being able to stick to a certain formula and continuously meet a certain level of quality. 

Below are just a few benefits to being consistent and how you can encourage consistent behavior.

Consistency builds loyal customers

While some customers like to be continuously surprised, most loyal customers will keep coming back because of certain signature products and services that you provide. 

If you offer a large inventory of products and services that is constantly changing, consider keeping a few familiar products and services that are popular and profitable.

A consistently high level of customer service will also gain customer trust and encourage customers to return.

There are many ways to provide good customer service from knowing your product to constantly being friendly – this site https://www.thebalancesmb.com offers a few tips on giving great customer service.

You can attract new customers with a clear brand identity

Consistency with brand identity is also crucial for the wider aspects of your business operations.

This is especially true for manufacturing businesses which require a lot of raw materials.

For example, whether you prefer to ‘grow’ your materials or purchase them wholesale from china, you need to maintain consistency in the quality of the materials you choose. 

To save costs, small business owners are often tempted to settle for using a certain amount of low quality materials, but this only results in inferior products and loss of trust with your customers.

If you’re opting for low-quality materials for the purposes of affordability, then maybe find other ways of cutting costs as it may well prove to be a bad idea to try to mix low and high-grade materials.  

Using the same brand name, logo, color scheme and tone of voice in your marketing can help to create familiarity if consumers continuously see your adverts – which can help to build trust and attract new customers.

Decide which elements will make up your brand and keep to a style guide. 

Tools like https://www.templafy.com/ can help you to maintain certain branding when producing documents. Videos, display ads, and your website should also follow a distinctive style.

It’s easier to train employees

In order to consistently meet a certain quality of work, it helps to establish a formula. 

This could be a recipe when serving a meal, a script when talking to people on the phone or a routine when operating industrial machinery. 

This allows you to follow a tried and tested method of success.

Such formulae can be very important when training employees. If you don’t have a formula in place, employees will make up their own routines and you could displease customers by not providing the product or service that they’ve come to expect.

Certain consistent routines could also be important for the health and safety of your employees.

Small measures such as getting employees to bend at the knees when lifting heavy boxes or wearing PPE when dealing with chemicals could prevent injuries. 

https://www.oshcr.org/ delves more into the benefits of health and safety protocol for employees.

But be wary of being too rigid

While consistency is important, there are times when changes are needed. When something isn’t working, you need to be able to change it in order to improve your business. 

You could find that a once successful product falls out of popularity or that technology enables a process to be done faster. 

In these cases, you don’t want to be stuck using old and ineffective methods for the sake of consistency.

Variety can also be important for motivating yourself and your employees. While routines can be important, make sure that you’re finding new ways to keep work engaging. 

This could include finding new ways to entertain employees and offering the opportunity of progression or to learn new skills.  

Tips For Coping During The Coronavirus Pandemic

The world is going through one of the most challenging times in recent history. 

Over the last few months, everything that we know has changed due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Countries have gone into lockdown, people all of the world have started to socially distance, hundreds of thousands have contracted the virus, and a global recession is imminent. 

We will get through this situation and life will go back to normal. 

It may take a very long time for that to happen though, and in the meantime, we all need to adapt to the new world that we are living in. 

During these stressful times, our physical, and mental health may suffer, and we may struggle financially due to an inability to work. 

However, there are healthcare centers that can offer help with Humana plans during these tough times for regular checkups.

Coping during coronavirus is going to be a challenge, but here are some tips to help make life easier. 

Review Your Finances

Unless you are still working throughout the crisis, you will need to review your finances to look for ways to save money during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Go through all of your outgoings. Find any that are not 100% necessary and cancel them, such as gym memberships or subscriptions to services that you are not getting the full use out of.  

You can always reinstate them at a later date. 

Get in touch with any companies that you have debt with. Many lenders will have plans in place for supporting those affected financially by the coronavirus.

They may allow you to make reduced payments on any debts, or to defer payments. 

Think Of Others In Need

Keep yourself busy and mentally occupied by helping those who may not be able to look after themselves so much. 

If you have elderly relatives or neighbors, call them up for a chat, they will probably appreciate it. Offer to do their shopping for them. 

You may be able to help them deal with practical matters such as looking into do senior citizens get the stimulus check from the government?

money tips during covid

Take Care Of Your Mental And Physical Health

Taking care of both your mental and physical health is essential during these difficult times. 

There will be a lot of things that could cause you to stress, so in order to deal with that in an effective way, you need to stay as healthy as possible. 

Make sure that you are eating a balanced diet with regular meals containing plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Drink plenty of water too. 

Rest is essential. Do your best to try and get to bed at the same time every night and get a full eight hours sleep

It can be easy during a lockdown situation to start to form odd sleeping habits. To avoid this, set an alarm and make sure that you get up and have a productive start to your day. 

Get some exercise. If you are permitted to go outside, run, walk, or cycle to get your blood flowing and get some fresh air in your lungs. 

Managing Your Finances as Best Possible

Managing finances can be a difficult task. 

Most of us don’t go completely overboard and tunnel ourselves into debt, but many of us will occasionally overspend and find ourselves struggling to get back on track. 

But at the end of the day, your finances are of the utmost importance, as they can largely determine your quality of life. 

The better controlled and organized your finances are, the more likely you are going to be to keep on track, out of debt and maybe even have some money put aside in order to tide you over should a rainy day ever arrive. 

So, what can you do to manage your finances as best possible? Here are a few tips and tricks to help you along the way!

Set a Budget

A budget is an absolute essential for anyone – no matter how much you earn or how much your outgoings may be. 

A budget basically allows you to fully understand how much you earn, how much of that sum you take home (and how much you need to pay out in taxes and other fees), how much you need to fork out for bills and other obligatory payments and how much is left over as “disposable income”. 

Your disposable income will determine exactly how much you have available to spend on luxuries, how much spare you have to chip off any existing debts or how much money you have spare to save. 

How you spend it is up to you. 

By overspending when it comes to disposable income, you can find yourself unable to pay essentials or you could have to take out credit cards or loans to get by. 

So, work out your budget and make sure you don’t overspend. 

If you’re struggling, there are plenty of budgeting calculators out there, or you could always use the services of a professional financial advisor.

Cut Essential Costs

Sure, there are costs that you may need to fork out. 

For example, you can’t get by without shelter so will have to pay rent or a mortgage; you can’t get by without food; you can’t get by without heat and energy so will need to pay gas or electricity bills; you can’t get by without water so will need to pay a water bill. 

However, there are ways to cut the costs of essentials. 

Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to use price comparison sites to check the different offers, deals, tariffs, and plans of essentials that you need to buy. 

There’s a good chance that there’s a cheaper policy out there than the one you currently have. When it comes to matters such as food, try buying a supermarket own brand or unbranded products. 

These tend to be a lot cheaper and can often taste pretty much the same.

Plan Your Retirement

Of course, you don’t want to work your whole life. But when you reach your elderly years, you’ll still need an income to tide yourself over. 

This is why planning a pension while you are still working is absolutely essential. It will allow you to put away for funds that can keep you going long after you have stopped working. 

Take a look at Accuplan Benefits Services for a better idea of how to start saving for your pension and what plans can benefit you best.

Make sure you have everything you are entitled to

Depending on your income and circumstances, there may be welfare and benefits and grants that you are entitled to, so do some research or speak to a financial advisor and see if there is anything you should be getting but aren’t.

Also, consider if you have been injured recently in an accident that was not your fault and have been affected financially – might you be entitled to some compensation to cover the loss of earnings and any expenses incurred as a result?

This is where you may need to seek some legal advice, although be aware that not every personal injury lawyer will be able to work with you, so make sure that you find the right one for your situation.

Put Savings Aside

As we’ve briefly asserted, it really is important to have savings put aside for a rainy day. This will help to keep your head above water during rough times. 

Sure, we don’t want to be pessimistic or negative. 

But you do need to prepare for potential negative life situations, such as injury or illness that could see you have to take time off work, gaps between jobs or other scenarios.

Take Out Insurance

In a similar vein, it’s a good idea to take out insurance policies

This will cover you if you experience other negative situations that could financially impact you. For example, theft, broken appliances, veterinary care for a pet or flooding in your home.


online-loans-covid

These are just a few different areas to think about, but they’re all definitely worth taking into consideration. 

Each will really help you to better manage your finances and protect you from financial problems that could crop up at some point or another. 

They’re definitely worth your time, effort and financial investment!

How to Get a Maximum Claim with the Help of an Experienced Attorney

Personal injury claims can be innately complex compared to other types of claims.

What you do after the accident will affect your chances of getting justice.

Now, a lot of factors such as economic damages and lost wages, pain and suffering, medical examination, and the likes come to play.

This makes winning or receiving maximum compensation for a claim quite a lengthy and complicated process that can only be achieved with the help of a skilled attorney.

Let us look at some useful tips to help you get maximum compensation for your claim.

Gather and preserve evidence

For starters, having good evidence is your number one ticket to getting maximum claim compensation.

The evidence you present helps to detail the severity of the accident, which will help your lawyer build a strong case. 

It’s recommended to start the process immediately after the accident to avoid any type of tampering. 

Types of evidence to collect:

  • Physical evidence- Tangible or visible items like plate number or cracks, etc.
  • Police report- Notify the police immediately when the accident occurs. They will document with a report of what happened
  • Witness statements- record witness statements and get contact information in case of trial
  • Photography and video evidence- record the area and accident scene

Tips: 

  • Do not wipe off or clean tangible items. Store them in their original state
  • Do not post statements and evidence collected online or on social media pages. 

Get medical examinations and reports

This is another crucial element in personal injury claim settlements.

Medical reports from your doctor will help your personal injury attorney prove that you are entitled to recover from the pain, and mental anguish suffered from the accident.

A well-documented medical report allows you to claim for damages that will aid uninterrupted medical care. 

Tip:

  • Present medical bills, prescriptions, statements, receipts, discharge information, and receipts from hospitals to your lawyer.

Don’t be too quick to accept or decline an offer 

After an accident, there are too many emotions involved, and sometimes you might find yourself accepting the first offer on the table to move away from everything.

On the other hand, you might reject an offer because you do not understand matters settlement.

To be on the safe side, you need to work with an attorney who is rational and will fight for your case with no mixed feelings. 

Hire a Skilled Attorney

How to recognize fraud and undue influence in wills and estate.

Again, the best way to get maximum claim settlement is to hire a skilled personal injury attorney.

Yes, find an attorney with a track record in the accident you suffered to help build your case.

Let your personal injury claim attorney know how the accident has affected your life, but ensure that you are honest about it.

Please note that pain and suffering are not confined to discomfort and pain.

It also factors in detrimental effects that you are likely to suffer in the future.

For instance, you might find yourself struggling with eating, sleeping, or mentally distressed, plus you can lose your income.

You should perhaps keep a journal to document the pain and suffering as you progress with treatment and the case.

The sooner you file, the better

One of the hindrances to maximum claim compensation is the time taken to file.

For every type of accident, there is a state law that stipulates a deadline for filing a case and going to court.

Although accidents may linger for weeks and months or even years, it is essential to file immediately so as not to miss the deadlines.

Additionally, filing a case immediately allows you to collect evidence formally, which can be used to build your case.

It also sends a signal to the party you are suing. 

Listen to your attorney

The frustration that comes with accidents can be a daunting experience.

You might find yourself doing the opposite of what your lawyer recommends because you feel overwhelmed or angry with the process.

For example, you could find yourself venting on social media or posting evidence because of a bad experience you have had.

However, such acts could jeopardize your case.

No matter the circumstances, you should listen to your attorney to enjoy a smooth process and maximum claim.

Doing the contrary could lead to a breach of contract or little to no compensation. 

In Summary… 

Remember, every party will think of their interest when it comes to personal injury cases.

Settling with them might seem easy but might not guarantee maximum compensation.

The best approach is to consult with a top personal injury attorney to assess your case and advice on the proper cause of action.

You should also play your part to ensure you get justice for the damages incurred in the accident.

 

6 Common Tax Mistakes You Ought to Avoid in Your Startup

As a startup, your biggest goal should be to lower your tax bills by avoiding tax audits, fines, and penalties from the taxman. 

Think of it like this, if you are paying huge penalties due to tax mistakes, how else are you going to make money or grow?

 Luckily you don’t need to be an expert to plan and avoid common tax mistakes. You simply need to be aware of the slips and keep them at bay. 

To help you stay on top of your startup tax, let us get you acquainted with common mistakes that you ought to avoid.  

personal tax

1. Failing to Separate Business and Personal Expenses

As an entrepreneur running a startup, you might struggle with separating your business and personal finances.

It’s common to find many startup owners mixing business finances with personal ones.

Well, sadly, once you are a registered entity, you are expected to be accountable.

Remember, if you are found commingling, you will be forced to pay extra money or even face deregistration.

So, start by obtaining an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS so that you don’t use your social security number in business tax.

2. Not Knowing The Correct Legal Entity to File

Did you know that the business structure of your enterprise determines how you file and pay your taxes?

For instance, filing as LLC is different as filing as a sole proprietor; several factors come to play.

You must take the time to understand your business legal structure to avoid problems.

Filing taxes on the wrong entity could lead to serious tax problems in the future.

You don’t have to be tax-law savvy. Just talk to a reputable tax attorney for guidance and help at the early stages of the business setup.

An attorney will also come in handy in correcting mistakes in case you have been filling with the wrong entity. 

3. Not Understanding Your Tax Obligations in Every State

As a startup, you are legally obligated to pay taxes in every state your business operates.

However, evading to pay taxes in other areas of operation is a common mistake many startups commit.

For example, if you have employees (contracted or full time) working in different states with no physical office, you are expected to file their returns, including the sales tax in the state they are in.

You need to be conversant with the laws of every state before doing business.

This way, you will know your expectations, pay your dues, and avoid trouble

4. Improper and Fraudulent Tax Submissions

One mistake you want to avoid as an entrepreneur is to be labeled a victim of improper and fraudulent tax submissions.

Unscrupulous tax activities such as overstating deductions, including credits you are not supposed to receive, and padding business expenses are considered criminal activities.

Some of the consequences for incorrect and fraudulent returns include;

  • Penalty for filing an erroneous claim for a refund or credit
  • Punishment for a frivolous tax return ( Frivolous is an amount showing tax represented as incorrect)
  • Underpayment penalty for the tax fraud
  • Criminal prosecution for fraud and false statements, fraudulent return and identity theft, failure to file a return and supply information

5. Missing Deadlines and Quarterly Filing

This is another common mistake committed by most people. It is usually a result of not understanding tax obligations in the area(s) of operation.

A good example is a business that fails to remit their quarterly taxes like sales tax, income, and payroll tax because they were unaware of the quarterly filing obligation.

On the other hand, failing to keep tabs with the taxman’s deadlines could result in a hefty fine, not to mention the accounting fees to get everything cleared up. 

6. Failure to Track All Financial Transactions

Sometimes the tax mistake is a result of not tracking all your financial transactions.

Not being able to separate the revenues earned from expenses incurred leads to tax problems.

For example, failing to include all ordinary and necessary business expenses can take a toll on your finances.

Invest in systems that allow dual entry accounting and track those transactions.

You might also want to hire someone to handle all your tax matters. This will take away the pressure and focus your effort on business growth. 

The Bottomline… 

As you might have noticed, some of the tax mistakes are kindled from ignorance and lack of proper knowledge on tax matters.

Sadly, tax problems can impact your company negatively. So, don’t let your startup struggle with tax matters that can be avoided.

Work with the right tax professionals who can help you stay on the right side of the law. 

An Introduction To Intraday Data

At FirstRate Data, they often encounter investors looking to trade over shorter periods (under a week) and trying to understand how to interpret intraday data.

What is Intraday Data?

investment returns

Most stock investors will be familiar with end-of-day data which provides the daily high, low, close and volume for a stock on a given day. 

Intraday data provides this information in ‘bars’ at a given time-interval during the day

For example, for the Dow Jones Industrial Index – DJI Intraday, the below are the first 1-minute bars for Jan 2, 2020 : 

{timestamp, open, high, low, close, volume}

2020-01-02 09:30:00,28639.0,28666.6,28638.9,28666.5,748305

2020-01-02 09:31:00,28666.3,28670.9,28655.6,28656.6,999749

Note that there is also a second type of intraday data – tick data, which is every trade (ie ‘tick’) recorded in sequence. 

Tick data can be very powerful in short-term price forecasting. 

However, the size, cost, and complexity of using it will typically restrict its use to professionals and institutions such as hedge funds. 

The first question most investors have is what interval should be used since bars of 1-second up to 1-hour are usually available. 

The general rule is that the intraday bar should be 10 – 20 bars for the investor’s expected holding period. 

For example, if the investor is looking to hold a stock for, on average, 3 days then 1-hour bars would be appropriate since 18 1-hour bars would be generated during a 3-day period. 

By contrast, an investor looking to only hold a stock for 2 hours would probably elect to use 5-minute bars which would have 24 bars available for the 2 hours expected holding period. 

How to Use and Analyse Intraday Data

Although both daily and intraday data have open, high, low, close data points there are important differences between the two timeframes. 

For daily data, the most important data point is the close (as this is the final price that market participants agree on and will hold overnight). 

For intraday data, the open and close do not carry the same level of importance as the bar’s high and low price, are the most important data points. 

Broadly there are two methods of analyzing intraday data – quantitative and chart-based. 

Both methods are looking for the same patterns and trends but a chart-based approach is the most accessible for beginners. 

There are several types of charts which display intraday data, the one they normally favor is the candlestick for the depth of information it displays and ease of visually identifying trading patterns.

Below is an example of a candle for a 1-minute bar for Apple’s stock on Jan 2, 2020:

The peak of the candle is the bar high, with the top of the candle ‘body’ being close, the bottom of the body being open and the lowest point being low. 

Candles have a unique property, in that the color of the body conveys information. 

In an unfilled candle as above, the bar is an uptick where the close is above the open and the candle is unfilled if the bar was a downtick the open and close would be reversed and the candle would be filled. 

This at first appears confusing, but it becomes clear when looking at a candle chart over an intraday period as below:

The first thing that can obviously be noted in the above candle chart of Apple’s stock price on Jan 4 is the large number of unfilled (or white) candles. 

These outnumber the filled (black) by approximately 5-1 (note this does not always occur during an upward price move where 2-1 or even 1.5-1 ratios are common). 

This is an extremely bullish signal reflecting investor’s strong demand for the stock and was indeed the basis for a rally in the stock for the next three days that took the share price up 6%. 

The other bullish signal in this chart is the number of candles where the high is very close to the close. 

This indicates that even within the bar period that the price is constantly moving up and ends the bar close to the high. 

Intraday charting with candles can provide a wealth of information and insights as to a stock’s future price movements, we will examine move insights in the next article. 


This is a guest post from FirstRate Data. FirstRate Data is a leading provider of high-resolution intraday stock market, crypto and fx data. They source data direct from major exchanges and test all datasets for consistency and completeness.

Doctors in Business: Which Specialty Pays Well?

On earning a medical degree, it soon becomes clear that your education and training in your career is far from done. 

Even doctors in a general practice tend to keep developing for as long as they are working. 

However, you may choose to follow a niche and choose a specialty that can see you treating specific conditions or patients. 

Here are some of the most popular ones, whether you’re planning to find a job or start a business of your own, and why they’re popular in the first place.

doctor jobs pay well

Plastic surgery

When it comes to looking at specialties that are the highest paying, there are several that can see you earning well over $400,000 on average. 

While far from poorly paid, the primary care fields like family medicine and internal medicine are lower on the scale. 

Meanwhile, plastic surgery, which can involve a very wide range of cosmetic treatments and surgeries, is considered the highest-earning field, on average. 

You also get the benefit of providing treatments that can have a major impact on the self-image and mental health of the patients you treat.

Pediatrics

Health care professionals who focus specifically on the wellbeing and development of growing children often choose this career because they have a genuine concern and fondness for children. 

This resource can help you find pediatrician jobs, ensuring that you’re playing a direct role in the care of those who are most unable to provide it to themselves. 

You can also do the important job of educating parents on how to protect and nurture their child as they grow, beyond providing your own diagnoses and treatments.

Emergency Medicine

Most of the general practices in health care will have enough demand to sustain your career for however long it will last. 

However, providing the first-contact point of care for patients who need emergency help, as is the case with an emergency medicine career, can ensure that you get some of the best-assured job security in the market. 

Stressful as this role can be, there is a great demand for emergency medicine providers. It’s also a job that involves being on the front lines and, in many cases, directly saving lives. 

If you can handle the pressure, this could be a role that needs your skills.

Orthopedic Surgery

Alongside integrated interventional radiology and neurological surgery, this is one of the most competitive medical specialties around

As with all industries, health care tends to draw a lot of those who like to excel and to overcome challenges. Many would not make it through medical school without such a drive. 

This specialty, which involves surgically treating a host of issues affecting the musculoskeletal system, can provide the ongoing challenge that many are looking for in their career. 

It’s also among one of the more highly paid specialties out there, as well.


From job satisfaction to pay for the reliability of the market, there are different reasons to choose different specialties. There are plenty more beyond those mentioned above worth considering, too.