Find excellent banking tips to see great returns

You have waited all year for this day. Today, you will empty every coin left in the bank to get what you want. Your victim lies beneath you, unmoving and unable to stop or delay your actions. The creature is completely helpless against your will. From the way you see it, you have worked hard in life, so you deserve to get what you want. Nothing and nobody is going to stop you! You steady your weapon in the air and then bring it crashing down upon your victim. Crack! Your victim – your plastic piggybank – splits, revealing a pile of coins large enough to buy the new sneakers you have been saving for. As we become adults, coins are not enough to buy the houses that we want. For those who have been unable to save enough before purchasing one, no money down loans are ideal.

Piggybacking Loan
Few people are able to buy houses in cash, but many are also unable to make a down payment before buying one. For them, no money down loans is the solution. These are perfect for the recent college graduate who has a good job and good credit, but has been unable to save up much money. Recent college graduates typically rent an apartment for the same cost as a house payment. It seems to make more sense to shift the rent money to mortgage money. Without money to put down, however, a standard loan cannot be availed of. You may need to get a piggyback loan. It equals 20% of the home’s cost, while the first loan equals 80% of that value.

Pygg and Pig
Even if you must search for no money down loans to purchase a house, it is never too late to start saving. Perhaps nothing symbolizes the act of saving more than the piggy bank. But have you ever wondered how the piggy bank got its name? Near the 1400s, the term “pygg” referred to a form of orange clay. Then by the 1700s or so, the word “pygg” sounded the same as the animal known as a “pig.” So somehow, someone had the idea to create a “pygg” jar that was shaped to look like the animal.

Saving after Piggy Banks
After taking out no money down loans, adults usually start saving in accounts rather than in piggy banks. Still, with the added expense of paying off a mortgage, it is wise to engage in practices that will increase how much one is able to save. Here are some tips to achieve that goal.

* Stop trying to always have the biggest and the best products. We often spend more money to buy products that are more extravagant than what we need and can truly afford. If you stop and think about what you are spending money on, you can surely find ways to save a few bucks here and there. This will definitely help to pay off no money down loans.

* Try before you buy. If you are planning to buy something with a big price tag, try, borrow, or rent one first before you open your wallet. For example, after buying a pair of self-shaking salt and pepper shakers, you may realize that the product is either boring or unnecessary.

* Carefully define what you want and need. You need things such as shelter, clothing, transportation, and food. You want a mansion, a designer suit, an SUV, and steak dinners.

For those who have not been able to save much, no money down loans are ideal. However, after securing the loan, it is never too late to start saving.

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Because we live in a day and age when it is easy to instantly connect to other parts of the globe, our economy and financial world has become much more global in scope and significance. When investment abroad looks attractive, there are also numerous ways to participate in foreign investments, without having to leave the comfort of home.

Here are four examples of international investment tools, for those who are looking to diversify by putting their homegrown money to work overseas.

1)Stock Mutual Funds

Many mutual funds which are bundles of stocks managed by professionals and available in share form to mutual fund shareholders invest specifically in foreign companies. You can invest in a particular regions, such as Latin America or Asia, or you can invest in several regions at the same time.

2)Foreign currency

Because most nations have their own currency, and because it is valued according to the assets of that particular country, you can invest through buying and selling foreign money. You might, for example, buy the Japanese Yen if you think that the Japanese economy and its currency are going to outperform your own USA dollars. Some people buy and sell currency several times each day, in fact, to take advantage of the rapid fluctuations in this rather volatile kind of investment.

Others do it in a way that is much more time, when planning their vacations. If you are going to Europe next summer, for instance, you might want to buy Euros (European dollars) now, in anticipation that they will be cheaper than they are going to be next year.

3)Overseas property

If you like to invest in real estate but want to diversify to foreign holdings, you can buy property in other places. And you can even combine business with pleasure, by buying property in another country and then using it as your own vacation destination. Or you can buy overseas and let a professional manage your property for you, without ever leaving your own home.

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Forex : How To Handle A String Of Investment Losses

Everybody hates to lose and unfortunately no one is blessed with the ability of foresight, therefore losses are an unavoidable part of trading. When we enter a trade we will either be right, or wrong, and even if we broke-even we’d still be classed as being wrong – as nobody enters into a trade just to break-even! When unsuccessful traders encounter a string of losses they begin to engage in self-destructive patterns that help them escape the pain they are experiencing.

Bring to light these self-destructive actions that can help you realize what you are doing before it takes hold of your physical health. If you find yourself already engaged in these patterns hopefully this article can help you to get you back on track as quickly as possible.

What are the destructive patterns?

If you find yourself caught in a string of losses or a bad performing week/month be sure to monitor your behavior. It is during this time that you will be at your most vulnerable. You will begin to indulge in activities that at first seem harmless, but upon excessive use (or in time), begin to cause physical damage to your health.

Ask yourself the following question: during drawdown periods do I find myself over-indulging in these activities:

Food (especially junk food – e.g. chocolate, ice-cream, chips)?

Sex (includes viewing pornography)?

Alcohol?

Drugs (includes excessive smoking)?

Laziness (find it difficult to wake up in the morning)?

Entertainment?

All of the above taken in excessive doses can be detrimental to your own physical health (some even in small doses!).

These activities above during your losing period are only covering up the pain of confronting the true issue, and your body tries to rid the emotional pain by trying to “fix” it with physical pleasures. Unfortunately it is going about it in the wrong way, so what should you do?

Firstly… REALIZE WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND STOP IT!

You need to realize what you’re doing and you need to STOP doing it immediately! You can either decide to stop, or you’ll be forced to stop when your body eventually breaks down and prevents you from any form of movement. It will be much more beneficial to you in the long-term if you can decide to stop *NOW*.

Once you have stopped you now need to figure out a way to solve the pain – not by cutting out or neglecting it, but by staring it in the face. Bring your problems out into the light, be honest with yourself. There can be no growth without pain; you are experiencing the emotional pain, now it is time to find the error and therefore your growth.

Begin Your Review

The review process begins in two separate areas: You & Your System. Here are some checklists for you to go through to find out where the problem could lie:

“YOUR SYSTEM” CHECKLIST

Was your system thoroughly tested prior to trading it (or paper traded if you do not have the capacity to program your system into back testing software)?

Did you test with out-of-sample data?

Do you even have a system???? If you do not, how do you even know if the method that you are trading is even profitable??

Is your system’s code correct?

Did you over-optimize your system? (What have we discussed about over-indulging?)

Did you paper trade your system prior to placing capital on it?

Did you trade with a small amount of capital prior to placing the rest of your funds on it?

Do you know the system’s limitations?

Did you properly drill your system? (See our blog article on why I am the system designer from hell)

“YOU” CHECKLIST

Is the current drawdown you are exhibiting with your system normal?

Are you comfortable with your system’s historical drawdown performance?

Are you fully aware of the risks involved with your system and the instrument(s) you are trading?

Are you trading with funds that you are comfortable risking?

Are you relying too heavily on your performance?

Have you set realistic goals?

As you can see there are generally two areas that you need to explore: the mechanical aspect – your system – and the emotional aspect – you. Both can be responsible for making the way you feel the way you do. It will either be an error on the system’s side with how the system was tested and/or programmed, or it can be your own psychological profile not being comfortable with the system’s performance.

Your Answers = Change = Your Growth

What steps should we now take? Now that we have begun a corrective process where we have stopped the evil nature of our over-indulging ways to take control we should continue our “corrective nature” by invoking our findings and taking ACTION in correcting our errors.

If the problem was mechanical – fix it, if the problem was emotional either go about setting up new thought patterns, or change your current system. The answers lie in whether you need to expand your knowledge in system development, or whether you need to grow emotionally as a person.

Unfortunately there is no easy road, and even if there was everybody would be doing it. Hopefully this article has made you ponder over some of your behaviors during drawdown periods, be sure to keep an eye on yourself and as always take care of your body, because there’s no use in making all the money in the world when you don’t have the physical capacity to enjoy it

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How do you Maximise your Profits in Any Trade on the Stock Market?

In trading the stock market, no-one has a crystal ball. The price of stocks can go down, as well as up. What is needed is an exit strategy that will enable you to survive the bad stocks, and make a good profit on the good stocks.
The method that I have found to work the best is a trailing stop loss. For those who dont know what a stop loss is, I shall explain briefly. A stop loss is an order for your stock broker to sell your shares if the price dips to the level that you have specified.

There are two ways of doing this. The simplest method is to decide on how much you are willing to lose as a percentage of your investment. A good rule is not to go less than 10%. Work out the price of the stock at this level and set that as your stop loss. As the price of the stock increases, keep moving the level of the stop up to keep the percentage gap the same. Some brokers offer a trailing stop loss service, where you tell them what percentage to set the loss at and they do it for you.

The second method is slightly more complicated, and comes from Nicolas Darvas in his book How I made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market. The markets tend to flow in stages. a stock on the rise will reach a peak, and then dip back down. It may do this several times at each stage. The idea is to follow the chart of the stock and see where the dips are the lowest, and set the stop loss just below them. A second part which Nicolas propounds is that when the stock breaks out of the sideways trend, to buy more of the stock, and when the stock starts going sideways again to move the stop loss up again to just below the lowest part of the dip.

Using the stop loss as an exit strategy, only works if you stick to it, and not lower it, thinking that the price will go up again in a few days. In a few cases you will be right, but what usually happens is the price keeps moving against you, and you loose even more money. As a secondary to this, the money still tied up in the first stock that is falling cant be used on another trade.

Finally, a word of warning about using the stop loss system to protect your capital. There are times when the markets undergoes a fast fall in price, there are regulations about how far a price can fall in one-day. If it falls this maximum distance, it can bypass your stop loss, and you may be unable to sell. Although these situations are rare, it is better that you know about them. So that they are not a shock when they do happen to you.

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Global Forex Trading The Easy Way To Make Money

Global forex trading was founded in 1997 and is today one of the worlds leading providers when it comes to forex real time trading. Global forex trading offer you the chance to deal in real time online currency trading that is making millions of forex brokers rich each day.

Global forex trading serves over 100 countries, using its DealBrook FX2 software and 24 hour market access with one of the highest levels of customer service available in the forex trading industry. With Global forex trading forex brokers have access to pricing for more than 60 currency pair and excellent analytical services from renowned experts. There are up to the minute currency news bulletins and advanced forex charts available. Global forex trading boasts that they provide the only forex trading platform that is suitable for both beginners and professionals.

Forex Trading Advantages

The forex trading market is open 24 hours a day and is today the most liquid market in the world. With forex and the available leverage strategy you can use 100 to 1 leverage which in turn reduces the need for large amounts of capital to be placed in your account. Forex trading is also commission free and trading is available on more than 60 currencies worldwide. Another advantage of forex trading is of course the fact that it is global and there are not restrictions placed on shorting which means that you can enjoy your profit opportunities no matter what the market condition.

Prior to reading this information you may have assumed that forex trading was only available for large investors but thanks to Global forex trading smaller transactions are now available which allows all traders to take part giving everyone the opportunity to profit from forex trading. Dont you think its time you started profiting? Well, it is. Start forexing and have fun doing it.

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3 Little Known Tips To Saving Money On Beach Vacation Travel

Heres a really simple way to save on beach vacation travel. We are going to show you 3 ways to save you some bucks when booking your next beach vacation. The beach is an incredible experience. No matter whether youve traveled to far western Australia or taken a quick weekend trip to the Jersey Shore, barring rain, the beach is usually a really enjoyable experience. Weve taken trips all over the world weve missed giant opportunities of money savings that were seemingly all around us if we had just taken the time to do a little extra research. Well, you are in luck. The travel research has been done for you, all you have to do is be willing to keep reading. Before you know it, youll be taking the beach vacation of your life, for a steeply discounted price. Here we go:

1) Buy it used. Well, not really used: more like discounted (or unused actually). Sometimes, people can put their vacation opportunities up at real discounts. Did you know that there are all sorts of people out there who own time shares but cant use them for various reasons? Maybe the season isnt right, or they cant seem to get the flight that they need. Ebay has a thriving market for timeshare opportunities. A lot of the listings are permanent (e.g. people looking for others to buy their times shares out completely), but sometimes people are just looking to monetize a weeks worth of timeshare that they cant seem to use themselves. Their loss can be your opportunity. Ebay is an auction, and the highest price wins usually.

2) Compare everything. Guess what? Expedia and Orbitz seem like they are juggernauts of internet travel and they control a lot of the market. BUT, they dont have every vendor available. A lot of the discount airlines like SouthWest and JetBlue dont use either of these massive companies and you can only get their deals by going directly to their website. Dont tell anyone, but from what weve heard JetBlue is supposed to have really nice seats and monitors on new planes with really good prices. We havent used JetBlue ourselves yet, but its supposed be really good (especially at delivering good value on Northeast to Florida routes). That tip alone could save you some bucks while getting you a really nice flight.

3) The first 2 points are perfectly valid in any trip planning but almost worthless when you consider that you might have to shell out a lot more bucks for destinations abroad. There is a beautiful beach state located not too far from anyone East of the Mississippi. Thats right. Florida. Florida is back and its beaches are still fantastic. Florida is still beautiful. There has been a lot of development of Florida during the last 50 years, but Florida is still a massive state with plenty of undiscovered beaches. The state of Florida can be great if you know where to look. Its pretty nice. Trust us.the undiscovered spots of Florida can really be something else. However, they are becoming more and more difficult to find as thousands of people move to Florida every month.

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1.Do not bring ‘Prohibited Items’ to the airport (common sense items like swiss army knives, lighters, etc)
2.Use carry-on luggage for valuables such as cash, a laptop, and jewelry. Also to be placed in carry-on luggage are cameras and undeveloped film (The X-Ray will not damage film under 800 speed).
3.Tape your personal contact info or business card to the bottom area of the laptop and any other valuable you deem necessary.
4.Avoid wearing metal/foil containing clothing, accessories, and items (such as coins money clips, cell phone, keys, medicine, gum wrappers, batteries, lottery tickets, cigarettes, etc). In the case of things like coins and keys, try placing them altogether in a specified bag so it’s easier to take them out and put them back in later.
5.Avoid wearing shoes that contain metal and/or have thick soles. The reason for this is because shoes do not have to trip off the alarm in order to have their own specific search procedures applied (so nothing can be hidden in the shoes).
6.Sure the Holidays are approaching, but make sure you do the wrapping of the gifts upon arrival, or ship them as opposed to bring them to the airport pre-wrapped as these will be checked by security personnel.
7.Arrive an hour to an hour and a half earlier before your scheduled departure since you will be searched no matter if you plane leaves in 5 minutes or 5 hours.

In light of the recent world events, these increased airport security (and beyond) measures are becoming a fact of life with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. However becoming educated and following a simple system can help you avoid foreseeable hassles along this turbulent journey called life.

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Money. We all need it. We all want it. Trillions and trillions of dollars, pesos, euros, pounds, levs, francs, and more change hands every day for goods and services around the world. Most of us are only familiar with the money that is exchanged for goods and services in our own country and are only concerned with getting more of that.

But there is a lot more to money than that. What is the relationship between the currency in your country and the currency of some other country and why should it matter to me? Im glad you asked. In this article we will explore some of the currencies around the world and answer some questions you may not even know you had.

First, if we are going to discuss currency and its relationship to other currency, we have to talk about Forex. Thats short for foreign exchange or the exchange of currency for a different type of currency.

There is no market in the world, including Wallstreet that can compare to Forex in volume of cash traded daily. Retailers, Governments, Currency Speculators, Banks, Corporations, and other financial institutions engage in forex or foreign currency exchange to the tune of trillions of dollars and other currency each day.

It is a truly amazing thing to see. People making money just by trading one countrys currency for another. Keeping up with the latest news in each country, economic trends and indicators, real-time monitoring of current currency values in comparison to another currency are all things required if you are going to speculate in this arena.

More than that, some forex speculators will tell you is, you have to have a good feel for it. You have to understand economies and be able to recognize the events and conditions that will cause people to lose confidence in one currency or another. You have to know when to hold em and when to fold em, as the Kenny Rogers song goes.

If you would like to check the exchange rates for each of these currencies against other currencies, you can open a new browser window and put this url into your address bar. Its a Forex Calculator. http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter?u

The following is a list of world currencies. It may not be every currency in the world, but it will give you an idea of the complexity of forex.

Albanian Lek, Algerian Dinar, Aluminium Ounces, Argentine Peso, Aruba Florin, Australian Dollar.

Bahamian Dollar, Bahraini Dinar, Bangladesh Taka, Barbados Dollar, Belarus Ruble, Belize Dollar, Bermuda Dollar, Bhutan Ngultrum, Bolivian Boliviano, Brazilian Real, British Pound, Brunei Dollar, Bulgarian Lev, Burundi Franc.

Cambodia Riel, Canadian Dollar, Cayman Islands Dollar, CFA Franc, Chilean Peso, Chinese Yuan, Colombian Peso, Comoros Franc, Copper Ounces, Costa Rica Colon, Croatian Kuna, Cuban Peso, Cyprus Pound, Czech Koruna.

Danish Krone, Dijibouti Franc, Dominican Peso. East Caribbean Dollar, Ecuador Sucre, Egyptian Pound, El Salvador Colon, Eritrea Nakfa, Estonian Kroon, Ethiopian Birr, Euro.

Falkland Islands Pound, Gambian Dalasi, Ghanian Cedi, Gibraltar Pound, Gold Ounces, Guatemala Quetzal, Guinea Franc, Haiti Gourde, Honduras Lempira, Hong Kong Dollar, Hungarian Forint, Iceland Krona, Indian Rupee, Indonesian Rupiah, Iran Rial, Israeli Shekel,

Jamaican Dollar, Japanese Yen, Jordanian Dinar, Kazakhstan Tenge, Kenyan Shilling, Korean Won, Kuwaiti Dinar, Lao Kip, Latvian Lat, Lebanese Pound, Lesotho Loti, Libyan Dinar, Lithuanian Lita.

Macau Pataca, Macedonian Denar, Malagasy Franc, Malawi Kwacha, Malaysian Ringgit, Maldives Rufiyaa, Maltese Lira, Mauritania Ougulya, Mauritius Rupee, Mexican Peso, Moldovan Leu, Mongolian Tugrik, Moroccan Dirham, Mozambique Metical.

Namibian Dollar, Nepalese Rupee, Neth Antilles Guilder, New Turkish Lira, New Zealand Dollar, Nicaragua Cordoba, Nigerian Naira, Norwegian Krone, Omani Rial.

Pacific Franc, Pakistani Rupee, Palladium Ounces, Panama Balboa, Papua New Guinea Kina, Paraguayan Guarani, Peruvian Nuevo Sol, Philippine Peso, Platinum Ounces, Polish Zloty, Qatar Rial, Romanian Leu, Romanian New Leu, Russian Rouble, Rwanda Franc.

Samoa Tala, Sao Tome Dobra, Saudi Arabian Riyal, Seychelles Rupee, Sierra Leone Leone, Silver Ounces, Singapore Dollar, Slovak Koruna, Slovenian Tolar, Somali Shilling, South African Rand, Sri Lanka Rupee, St Helena Pound, Sudanese Dinar, Surinam Guilder, Swaziland Lilageni, Swedish Krona, Swiss Franc, Syrian Pound.

Taiwan Dollar, Tanzanian Shilling, Thai Baht, Tonga Pa’anga, Trinidad&Tobago Dollar, Tunisian Dinar, U.S. Dollar, UAE Dirham, Ugandan Shilling, Ukraine Hryvnia, Uruguayan New Peso, Vanuatu Vatu, Venezuelan Bolivar, Vietnam Dong, Yemen Riyal, Zambian Kwacha, Zimbabwe Dollar.

Can you imagine sorting out all of the relationships between each of those currencies and precious metals. Forex is not for the faint of heart it would seem, but it does make a facinating topic. In some of the currency names you can see how it relates to world history.

I hope you find this article has helped you with at least an explanation of what Forex is and how it works. There is a lot more out there about Forex. Learn more!

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There once lived a man fixated on contrarianism. If a clear sky blessed his town, he pointed to the distant storm clouds over the horizon. When the hometown team played its rival, he cheered diligently for the opponent. And as the stock market posted tremendous gains, he preached of a bear market seduction.

Dont be lured by the recent gains, you will eventually face misfortune and lose everything!

The entire town knew him as the inconsiderate contrarian and avoided him at all costs. It was his place in the community to doubt and his viewpoints proved unpopular to everyone. He disrupted their jubilant ways of life and distracted them from their daily routines. But, it was his explosive display of antagonism one particular morning that encouraged the town people to rethink their complacency.

On the morning in question, he paid a visit to the neighborhood health diner. The diner advertised itself as an alternative to fast food restaurants. As he sat patiently to place his breakfast order, he became disgruntled with the consistency of orders requesting egg whites. It seemed every patron ordered the same. Egg whites egg whites egg whites.

Stop with the egg whites! he told himself.

The contrarian, however, was an educated man and he knew the benefits of egg whites. The yolk contained a lot of unhealthy fat and cholesterol, but not egg whites. The high protein from egg whites provided the benefits of muscle building and weight loss. Remember though, he was the town contrarian and it was his obligation to propose a second opinion. As he contemplated the best way to introduce salmonella to the diners most popular topic of conversation, he had a revelation.

Give me egg yellows! he shouted rebelliously to the waitress. Every fork, spoon, coffee cup, and orange juice glass dropped. Silence breached the busy diner and the contrarian smiled with satisfaction. As the contrarian, he rejected the healthier egg white option.

With one statement of defiance, he disregarded all medical advice to limit egg yolks, he argued popular opinion, and he glorified the alternative. His personal entertainment relied solely on the responses of those he confronted and he laughed at the shocked expressions. Although the diner spoke about the ridiculous incident for years to come, some patrons began to deviate from the diet and ate the entire egg from time to time.

Most people find embracing the contrarian a difficult proposition because it goes against the tide of popular belief. Yet, there are times when one must consider alternatives.

Contrarianism has its benefits and disadvantages in the areas of investing and saving. It takes a delicate mixture of confidence, education, and control to make the theory successful. The contrarian investor often sells when the herd is fervently buying and buys when the herd is frantically selling. The contrarian recognizes the extremes of hysterical selling and overly optimistic buying. And to the contrarian, the genesis of a great investment opportunity occurs during intolerant and erratic market episodes.

Capitulation is an important concept for the contrarian to understand. It refers to sellers theoretically selling all positions as the market abandons its belief of an upward bias. In an effort to reduce further losses, investors sell positions at unreasonable prices and the market reaches oversold extremes. Some signs of a market capitulation include above average volume, negative mornings resulting in positive closures, and dramatic increases in mutual fund cash positions. For the market contrarian, exorbitant pessimism is an ally.

Arguably, the most popular capitulation event occurred in October of 1987, also known as Black Monday. In one day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 23% of its market price and devastated investment accounts worldwide. What a nice way to begin the work week. And although the United States avoided a recession and depression, the plunge resulted in widespread emotional commentaries. Potential reasons for the crash included programmed computer selling, unreasonably bullish investor sentiment, high stock valuations, and the weakened U.S. dollar.

Just as the town contrarian disrupted the diner, in October of 1987 the stock market temporarily swayed investor confidence. Yet, the next day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose almost 6% from its prior day close. By the end of 1987, the index posted an increase of about 11.5% from its October 19th lows, and on the one year anniversary, a gain of approximately 23% from the lows. Today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average price is nearly six times Black Mondays closing amount.

To be a contrarian investor does not mean acting foolishly and blindly. It is important to realize every person has unique investment policies. A thorough review of your risk tolerances, time horizons, and financial goals must be factored into your overall plan. Consult your financial advisor for appropriate direction.

Contrarian investing takes into consideration crisis driven market moves. A contrarian watches for overabundant emotions of greed and fear. Yet, acting on the irrational theories of others is not enough. Review current market conditions and the reasons behind such moves. Fundamental analysis of your positions is another key component to a well diversified portfolio. A contrarian must understand the market place in full.

The market has a curious way of introducing doubt into the minds of its investors when many seem content with the current direction. It is important to stay alert of changes and consider alternatives. Setting realistic goals, adapting to changes, and remaining focused will also aid you in developing an appropriate strategy.

And when the market menu reads just one meal, remember you may have other choices to fill your investment plate. Choices that may assist you in understanding market volatility and thus create a healthier outlook for the future. Contrarianism is not a rule to enforce at all times, however it is an approach that deserves some skeptical attention.

As an investor, you should be aware of all your options and make logical choices. Then, one day you may order egg yellows for my portfolio, please.

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Gas prices are soaring! This has resulted in elevated travel expenses. If you travel by car, YOU have some control over the costs.

Here are some ways to save money on gas:

* Switch to synthetic motor oil. It reduces engine friction and may make your car a little less ravenous at the gas station. (There are brands available claiming 5%-20% increases in fuel economy.)

* Use the manufacturer’s recommended grade of oil. Manufacturer specs are based on what is best for your specific vehicle.

* Buy gas with the recommended octane rating. Premium can actually be detrimental to many engines.

* Fill up during the coolest times of day. You get more gas in each gallon, because liquids expand in the heat. The pumps are measuring gallons, not weight.

* Make sure that the gas cap is tight after you fill up. Gas evaporates easily – you can lose an appreciable amount through an improperly seated cap.

* Check your tires before your holiday and inflate them to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Underinflated tires create drag and increase gas consumption. Always carry a tire gauge in your glove compartment.

* Never drive on bald tires! Besides being unsafe, they also increase fuel consumption.

* Don’t leave your engine idling for long periods of time. This includes pre-warming – one minute is all you need. Start off slowly, then use normal speeds after a couple of minutes.

* Don’t continually start and stop your engine. Each start burns about the same amount of gas as one minute of idle time.

* Drive the speed limit on highways – speeding devours gas. Activate your cruise control whenever possible, and when cruise is not engaged remember the ‘egg’ trick: drive like you have a raw egg between the floorboards and the gas pedal.

* Stop lights in cities are usually set to synchronize with the posted speed limit. Drive the speed limit and you are more likely to hit a long series of green lights. Stopping at red lights increases idle time and gas consumption.

* Drive in a way that entails minimal use of the brakes.

* Don’t pack more than you need. The more weight you carry, the more gas you use.

* Decrease wind resistance. A car caked with mud, snow, or ice will cause drag and burn more gas than a sleek, clean vehicle.

* Don’t use the air conditioner unless necessary. Vehicle air conditioners increase fuel consumption.

* Pamper your vehicle by ensuring that it goes in for regular tune-ups and maintenance. Slight adjustments can mean dramatic fuel savings. Ask the maintenance people to add fuel injector cleaner whenever the oil is changed.

* Some communities have websites that post fuel prices at local gas stations. Do your research before you leave to find out where the cheapest stations are. Use common sense: driving too far out of your way will gobble up more gas than you save. Try gasbuddy.com (USA and Canada) and your favorite search engines.

* If you own a gas guzzler, try trading with a relative or neighbor for a smaller vehicle while you vacation. (Make sure that insurance policies on both vehicles are in order first.)

* Use your feet! Once you get to your destination, walk whenever possible. Walking is how you really get to know an area.

Save money, save the environment – and have more cash to spend on your vacation!

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