5 simple ways to achieve your financial goals

4:30 PM achieve, financial, goals, simple No Comments

Business Week | By Trent Hamm, U.S. News & World Report

Want to be debt-free? Retire early? Build your dream home? Just follow these steps.

All of us have financial dreams.We'd like to be completely free from debt. We'd like to retire early. We'd like to build our dream home. We'd like to pay for our children's college education at a top school. We'd like to open our own shop.The challenging part is transforming those financial dreams into financial goals. Taking something so enormous and so nebulous and turning it into something that you can actually achieve in a specific timeframe is hard. It's not easy for anyone, even the people who achieve their goals. Regardless of your specific goal, there are five steps you can take that will drastically increase your chances of success.

Ask yourself: How exactly are you going to get from where you're at to where you want to be? What is the timeframe you desire for achieving that goal? What do you have to achieve each year to make it? Each month?

Your plan for achieving your goal should involve clear answers to all those questions. At the same time, it should allow for some flexibility, as you never quite know what the future will hold for you. Naturally, major life changes might upend a financial goal, but many goals are actually ended by minor life issues.

Your entire plan shouldn't fall apart if you struggle to make one step of the plan. Instead, your plan should flex a little to account for that.

How do you add that kind of flexibility? The best thing you can do is make sure your plan is based in reality.

Quite often, people establish savings goals or other goals that are simply outside the realm of what can easily be achieved. A person who lives paycheck to paycheck isn't suddenly going to be debt-free in a year.

Instead, look at what you can realistically pull off. If you are setting a goal for debt freedom in five years, can you realistically come up with 1/60th of that amount this month? If your goal isn't realistic in the short term, it won't be realistic in the long term.

In fact, focusing on shorter timeframes is a powerful way to achieve a financial goal.

Let's say your goal is to save $50,000 for seed money for a business. Rather than setting such a large number as your goal after, say, five years, break it down into smaller milestones. Your goal is to save $10,000 this year. Your goal is to save $800 this month. You need to save $175 this week.

When you break your goal down into small pieces with milestones, the day-to-day actions you need to take to achieve those goals becomes clearer. It's easier to figure out how to save $175 this week than how to save $50,000 over the next five years.

Once you have your goal broken down into small milestones, automate the entire plan. Set up an automatic savings transfer at your bank that transfers $175 per week to a savings account.

Doing this serves two purposes. First, it locks you into a plan that moves you toward your goal without having to make active decisions along the way. Second, it puts you in a position where you focus on dealing with how to live after making room for your goal – not trying to decide whether to make room for it.

Once your saving begins, it can be very tempting to tap into that money for other purposes. But there should be no way for you to access that money immediately because impulsive decisions will do nothing but undermine your goal. You should not be able to access your savings via an ATM card, for example.

Instead, save your money in a remote financial institution. The decision whether to use a savings account at a bank or an investment account at an investment house is up to you, but your savings for your goal shouldn't sit in a place where you can grab it at a whim. That's what an emergency fund is for.

Taken together, these steps can help guide you toward almost any financial goal you can imagine. All that's needed is the dream and the commitment.

Read More

Has your partner committed financial infidelity?

10:00 AM committed, financial, infidelity, partner No Comments

| By Trent Hamm, U.S. News & World Report

If you are in a relationship with a sneaky spendthrift it's time to have a serious talk.

The core of any marriage is trust. You are trusting virtually every aspect of your life to your partner, and you reasonably expect the same in return.

One of the biggest elements of that trust is with money. You work hard, as does your partner, and you expect to share the resources in some way that benefits you both. Ideally, you've worked together on the basics of budgeting (whether you have a formal budget or not), and you have some shared financial goals that you're working together to achieve.

When you discover that your partner has been making financial moves that undermine that hard work and those goals, it can be an incredibly bitter pill to swallow.

We've all heard the stories, and many of us have experienced it. Someone is spending far more money than his or her partner imagined, racking up bills and quietly paying them out of the shared checking account. Eventually, the partner starts wondering where the money is going, or they find some receipts or a credit card bill in the mail, and is naturally upset. A fight ensues -- a painful one.

This happens in a lot of marriages for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes, it happens as a result of one partner not understanding the expectations of another. Sometimes, addiction is at the core. Other times, the spending is just a symptom of a relationship experiencing much deeper problems.

If you find your partner is spending far more than you expected and is hiding his or her spending from you, you have both a financial issue and a trust issue staring you in the face. Here's how to solve it:

Step 1: Decide what you want from the situation. You need to do this before confrontation, so you can give yourself time to cool down and get your thoughts in order. What is the outcome you want to see from this? Do you want a change in that spending behavior? Are there other issues going on that you need to or expect to resolve?

Step 2: Ask yourself why your partner is doing this. Is an addiction at the core of it? Does your partner simply not connect his or her spending to the goals you have together? Does your partner perhaps not agree with those goals you share?

Figuring out the cause of this problem requires you to spend some time really paying attention to what your partner is doing. What does your partner seem to care about most? What things are stressing your partner right now?

You may find that you actually understand much of the problem before the confrontation. It may simply be a matter of stress, a personal shopping addiction or it may be a difference of opinion about your life goals.

Step 3: Have the conversation. The matter can likely be resolved with a calm conversation, one in which you both agree not to get angry.

If emotions boil over: Simply end the conversation and give the situation more thought until cooler heads prevail.

If you can't come to a resolution: Then there are deeper problems in your marriage than merely financial ones. In this situation, you shouldn't immediately respond by contacting a divorce lawyer. Quick and extreme responses like that are borne purely out of emotion and are usually a mistake in which the only winners are the divorce lawyers. Instead, give yourself several days to calm down, and then suggest to your partner that you undergo some form of marriage counseling.

No matter what, the most important part is to not react to financial infidelity with pure emotion. A partner who spends too much money is not a reason for a marriage to fall apart, though it can be upsetting. Spend some time evaluating what you want out of the situation and making sure your marital communication is strong -- then move forward from there with a calm head.

It's likely you'll come out on the other side with a stronger marriage and a deeper understanding of each other.

Read More

5 financial numbers, what you need to know

11:00 AM financial, numbers No Comments

| By Mike Anderson, US News & world report

Stay in solid financial shape requires more than just knowing the balance of your checking account.

When we talk about personal finance, we throw a lot of terms: APRs, credit scores, mortgage principals... you get the idea. It is easy in all these numbers, so that we're here, lost to enter it for you.

These five may be the most important. You are the difference between a healthy bank account and debt collectors knock at your door:

This can be the most important number that ever linked with your name. Their credit score determines your agreement for a mortgage or car loan; It also plays a role in the credit card, that offers itself to qualify. It affects your interest rates for loans, too, and much more. In addition, many employers evaluate the applicant's score during the hiring process.

To create a high score you have to responsible borrowers. This task is a bit more complex than it may sound, so that we can start at the beginning: to pay your credit card bills on time and in full.

Once you have, is another way to increase your credit score, make several types of loan lenders to impress. Their thinking is: If you can handle such tasks, you are creditworthy.

That is, let's not all these loans at the same time, because each results in a tough investigation, to taking a flip on your credit score. Your length of credit history affects your guests and opened at the same time too many accounts can creditors you're desperate.

If you file taxes this year, you find yourself in one of the six clips from 10% to 35%. Don't assume, but if you fall 15% in the mounting bracket, you flat 15% the Federal Government annually pay - pay less.

Therefore, because the 15% bracket is not your effective interest rate (the final amount you pay at the end); It is your marginal tax rate, indicating how much to tax your last dollars.

Confused? Think of taxes as a ladder: for individuals, 10%-Klammer ends at $8,700. The next step on the ladder is 15% from $8.701, the clip $35.350.

If you $30,000 last year made the first $8,700 made taxed 10%; and the rest, the other $21.300, which you earned is taxed 15%. To sum up, $4,065, which is at the end of numbers, again assuming you do not claim your effective interest rate not 15% but rather 13.55%, that tax deductions, credits or how.

Here's why this is important: If your employer withholds more than you clearly the Federal Government thanks to, you might wonder to hold back a little. This way instead of spending more money as a federal tax return in spring back, can immediately deposit the money into a savings account and earn interest.

In America may be a large part of his income save the past. The personal Sparquote--how much of your income is hidden way is rather verbracht-- just 4.6% from the fourth quarter of 2012.

While this shocking deep has improved by one by 1.5% in 2005, it is still a major decline decades past, if Americans saved more than 10% of their income. What is worse, in the year 2010, according to the Federal Reserve, only 52% of Americans spent less than she deserve.

With interest rates so low, it is no surprise, the people are not depositing as much as in the past. Even long-term CDs, the usually much higher yield than the daily savings account, not much; CD rates are on average less than 1% APY. Nevertheless, consumers are out of options. If you are looking to save, check out online banks or local credit unions that offer usually better prices than the big banks.

Americans keep more student loan debt as credit card in the amount of $1 trillion. Although interest rates for most public and private loans than on credit cards, can the shear amount of debt-sometimes more than $100,000 or more - even the minimum payments make it difficult. Make sure know your future obligations for student loans, and benefit programs from beneficial repayment of your lenders offered.

You need to get student grip on your debts, because the loans you take out influenced it in the future. How treat your student debt and really no debt, has an influence on your credit score, which in turn affect your interest rate-has or if you are approved for the loan.

It sounds scary to try your name set a dollar value, but know this value helps to put you to smarter objectives and to create a solid financial plan. To calculate your equity, you need a list of everything you have to do, you debt, and then subtract to learn the difference.

First add your assets then your liabilities (or Their total debt). Its gross assets equation should read as follows:

NET value = (cash + properties + investments)-(credit card debt + loan + outstanding payments of any other kind).

If you are positive, issues you are: "I'm resource allocation I mean so well to my short-, medium - and long-term goals can?" If everyone sits in a low yield savings account, your money hard to beat inflation, invest a part of it, to diversify your portfolio.

If you are negative, is not stress but rather to develop a plan. The most important step, which you can take, you begin your debt as quickly as possible, starting is the loan, downloaded the most in the interest.

Once you know where you stand as a whole, you can get better for future expenses, such as preparation, to buy a car or saving for a retirement budget.

Read More

Why financial plans aren't just for the rich

12:30 PM arent, financial, plans No Comments

| By Laura Shin, Forbes.com

Only 31% of financial decision makers in families say they have created a comprehensive financial plan. Here's why that should change.

Financial plans are only for people with so much money, they don't know what to do with it, right?

Actually, studies show that a comprehensive financial plan can benefit people at all income levels -- but not a lot of Americans know this.

Only 31% of financial decision makers in families say they have created a comprehensive financial plan either on their own or with professional help, according to the 2012 Household Financial Planning Survey conducted by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. The Board defines a comprehensive financial plan as one that covers savings and investments; planning for retirement, education, emergencies, major purchases, and other financial goals; and insurance needs.

But few people have plans in place to cover even a part of their finances: The same study showed only 35% of people have a plan to save for emergencies. And only two-thirds have a plan to meet any of six savings goals, such as for emergencies, retirement, a child's education or a down payment on a house.

It's too bad those figures aren't higher, given that the same survey showed that comprehensive financial plans benefited even people at lower income levels.

As Tom Pemberton, a certified financial planner and owner of Charlotte-based DBA Pemberton Financial Planning, said, "The way you get into the higher income bracket is to have a financial plan."

And don't dismiss financial plans as being for older people. Pemberton, in fact, recommends financial plans for people in their 20s, to help prevent them from making financial mistakes.

"If you look at people who are financially successful," he said, "most of them have been making very smart financial decisions all their life. The sooner you start making smart decisions, the sooner you know where you want to go, and if you have a plan to get there, the more likely you are to attain it. Time is the one thing nobody can give us. If you start in your 20s, you don't have to save that much. The longer you wait, the more you have to save to make that goal." (He was referring to the fact that, the more time investments have to grow, the less money an individual needs to put away in order to achieve the same returns as someone who gave their money less time to grow. This principle is especially helpful for long-term savings goals such as retirement.)

Here are 10 reasons to get a comprehensive financial plan if you don't have one yourself:

Most financial planners will begin your plan by asking you what your financial goals are. For couples, sometimes doing this exercise alone is enough to get the two partners on the same page. "Most people spend more time planning their vacation than planning for retirement or for their financial goals," said Pemberton.

After taking a look at the goals, Pemberton looks to see how you can get there -- how much to save, what types of investments to make. "Then, the planner can do a cost-benefit analysis. Are your goals realistic? Are they attainable? Most of us have more goals than financial resources," he said, adding that time is a huge factor. "It's usually not that the goal is not attainable, it's that the timeline is not attainable," he said, noting that many goals, such as saving for retirement, a mortgage or a child's college education and paying off debt, take years to accomplish.

Once you know where you're headed and how long it will take to get there, then you can look at your cash flow to find out if you're spending more money than you're taking in. "If you have negative cash flow, there's no way you can meet your goals," said Pemberton. The exercise of analyzing expenses often surprises people. "They say, 'I had no idea I was spending that much on Starbucks (SBUX) or eating lunch out,'" he said.

Aside from spending too much, Pemberton says analyzing not just spending but the overall financial picture sometimes exposes mistakes -- and easy fixes. Pemberton said, sometimes people look at their credit card debt and say, "I'm paying 18% on interest to a bank. Am I making anywhere near 18% on any of my investments?"

Read More

6 signs your financial planner is bad

4:03 AM financial, planner, signs No Comments

| By Karen Haywood Queen, MoneyRates.com

It's your money: Don't leave your financial decisions in the hands of a financial adviser who doesn't know what he's doing.

A good financial planner can guide you toward useful products, boost the returns on your investments and help you design a sensible approach to retirement. A bad financial planner, on the other hand, may fail spectacularly on each of those counts -- and others.

How can you tell if you're stuck with an incompetent or unscrupulous financial planner? Here are six red flags you may encounter.

If your prospective adviser has switched jobs frequently, it could mean trouble, says Jayne Di Vincenzo, CEP, president of Lions Bridge Financial in Newport News, Va.

"I've had advisers apply to work with me who have changed firms every two years," Di Vincenzo says.

When looking at an advisement firm, it may be wise to look into the turnover among the firm's advisers and staff, says Robert Schmansky, CFP, founder of Clear Financial Advisors in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

"If there has been a lot of turnover among the professional staff, among the advisers specializing in certain areas, that could be a sign that those people aren't comfortable with the way things are being run," Schmansky says.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But if you encounter a financial planner who fails to look deeply into your individual situation, you may be better off looking elsewhere for advice. Di Vincenzo says these advisers are frequently more interested in selling products than they are in helping clients.

"Whatever your financial needs are, there's only one answer, such as an annuity, whole life insurance, one hot stock, etc.," Di Vincenzo says, describing how some planners promote a single approach. "Or everything you need is one product or one fund family. They're a product pusher, not a financial planner."

Be wary if every time you meet with your adviser, he or she is recommending a change in investment strategy or hot new product, Schmansky says.

"I would be very cautious of an adviser who sees his value as offering you a product or service you can't get on your own," he says. "The reason they're recommending a new annuity may be the old annuity has stopped compensating the adviser as much. I saw that quite a bit with one adviser who focused on annuities."

Failing to define your target return number is a definite red flag, Di Vincenzo says. When building an investment strategy, the planner should set a target return and a standard deviation the client is comfortable with, she says.

For example, a client's average target return might be 7.5% with a standard deviation of 10% in a bad market and 20% in a horrible market. But that client might average 14% during good markets, she says. "You try to position clients for good returns in good markets," she says. "That's part of our whole planning process."

Failing to account for taxes can be a sure sign that your planner isn't taking a comprehensive approach. Look instead for a professional who folds tax concerns into your larger investment strategy.

"Make sure your adviser has a tax-plan strategy and make sure it's integrated," Schmansky says.

Your planner should occasionally recommend rebalancing your portfolio based on your target return goal, Di Vincenzo says. "I recently had a portfolio come over that hadn't been rebalanced since 1998," she says. "The clients were getting ready to retire and hadn't heard from their adviser."

If you haven't heard from your adviser in 15 years, the red flags above may be the least of your worries.

Read More

Pick your financial adviser wisely

1:30 PM adviser, financial, wisely No Comments

Your money is personal, so make sure you know who you're talking to about your assets.

While money may seem like a logical, rational topic, you probably have noticed that your relationship to your own money is deeply personal and emotional. It makes sense -- the amount of money you have in the bank is closely tied to how secure you feel about your future. Major shake-ups in your financial situation also usually accompany larger life transitions, such as getting married or having children.

So when you're looking for a financial adviser, you're actually looking for someone to help you manage that personal relationship with your finances. With more than 300,000 credentialed advisers in the United States, how do you find the person with whom you can establish a close, trusting relationship? Many directories that are available from industry groups online -- such as the listings from the CFP® Board -- give little more detail than a phone book, making it hard to know what the experience of working with at adviser would be like.

With that in mind, check out these tips on finding the right adviser for you:

1. Find someone you like. You might picture a typical adviser as an uptight old man in a suit, who will drone dull and impossible-to-follow financial advice at you -- but that isn't the case at all. We researched the San Francisco Bay Area financial adviser community and got a chance to learn about the wide range of personalities represented there.

Becoming a financial adviser is a second career for many -- if you think you can't get along with a Wall Street type, never fear, that isn't your only option. Plenty of advisers also specialize in working with specific communities, so if you want to work with someone of the same faith, ethnic background or gender as yourself, there is an adviser out there for you.

2. Think about what you want to get out of the relationship. Advisers are not identical. There's a huge range of services they offer: from creating a budget, to helping you invest your money, to helping you plan your charitable giving or execute a socially responsible investing strategy, among other financial tasks. Make a list of your goals before you start interviewing advisers.

3. Understand professional designations and different fee structures. The initials after financial advisers names that are intended to tell you about their training and areas of expertise can often feel like little more than alphabet soup. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority provides a guide to financial adviser designations -- but the guide contains hundreds of specialties. So before you meet with an adviser, be sure to look up their designations, in order to know more about their training and ability to help you reach your goals. Similarly, be sure to understand an adviser's fee structure -- when you're trying to find a financial adviser, "how do you get paid?" is not a rude question to ask at the first meeting.

4. Don't wait to hire an adviser to start your financial education. Beyond hiring an adviser you like and trust, personal finance questions are a part of day-to-day life, and your financial education should start well before you sit down with an adviser for the first time. Do your own research, and don't be discouraged if information online seems confusing. An adviser can be a trusted ally and a teacher to you as you manage your finances, but build your own knowledge so you're not following them blindly.

Read More

Anglican Church head backs protesters on financial reform

1:44 AM Anglican, backs, Church, financial, protesters, reform No Comments

LONDON — St Paul's Cathedral, in the heart of London's financial district, has for centuries occupied a delicate position between God and Mammon, benefiting from the generosity of rich financiers while supporting the more numerous poor.

The tents erected on its doorstep by protesters against the excesses of modern capitalism and its huge inequalities in wealth have presented the Church with an excruciating dilemma -- should it side with them or the bankers they criticize?

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the head of the Church of England, stepped into the debate Tuesday, backing calls by the Vatican last month for sweeping reforms of the world economic system and the creation of ethical regulation of financial markets.

"The best outcome from the unhappy controversies at St Paul's will be if the issues raised by the Pontifical Council can focus a concerted effort to move the debate on and effect credible change in the financial world," said Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 80 million Anglicans.

The domed church, which was badly damaged but survived the blitz while London burned in World War Two, has lost two senior clergy over its handling of the anti-capitalist protesters who set up camp over two weeks ago, after they were blocked from the nearby London Stock Exchange.

The uninvited guests have ignited a clash between Church of England principles and the practicalities of running London's largest cathedral, which attracts 820,000 visitors a year from around the world.

Williams highlighted three elements in the Vatican document -- separation of ordinary retail banking from higher risk investment activities, recapitalisation of banks with public money and most controversially a financial transaction tax.

"If religious leaders and commentators in the UK and elsewhere could agree on these three proposals, as a common ground on which to start serious discussion, questionings alike of protesters and clergy will not have been wasted," he added in a commentary on the Financial Times website.

The British government has said it would support a financial transaction tax only if it were adopted globally and was not limited to Europe.

A stand-off at St Paul's between money and morality has shone an unwelcome spotlight on Britain's main Christian Church.

"It would have been impossible for St Paul's to give full-throated support to the protests," said Paul Bickley, a commentator with the religious think tank Theos.

How your car could testify against you Goodbye 'bunga bunga', hello prison for Berlusconi? NBC News: Paterno contacts criminal defense lawyer Updated 105 minutes ago 11/11/2011 2:31:37 PM +00:00 Ai Weiwei tackles tax bill, with Chinese help Helping women soar in tough economy Are there bogus charges on your phone bill? Good buddies: Truckers transport rescued animals

"St Paul's can challenge the City but it can't be against the City. Those bankers are part of its parish," he said.

DIALOGUE OPENED

Reversing its previous approach, the cathedral authorities Tuesday put on hold plans to evict the protesters and began a dialogue with them instead.

The City of London Corporation, which owns some of the land affected by the protest camp, also said it was suspending legal action against the protesters in support of the cathedral and to give time for reflection.

Bishop of London Richard Chartres invited banker Ken Costa, former chairman of UBS Europe and Lazard International, to lead a panel aimed at "reconnecting the financial with the ethical."

Giles Fraser, who stepped down from St Paul's leadership last week, will help to ensure the protesters' views are heard.

Fraser, a senior cleric in charge of the cathedral's ties to the City of London financial district, resigned last week when his initial defense of the protesters backfired as their number grew.

The Dean, Graeme Knowles, resigned Monday after first closing the cathedral doors to visitors and then reopening them after daily revenues of up to 20,000 pounds evaporated.

CORPORATE BENEFITS

St Paul's, rebuilt by architect Sir Christopher Wren in the 17th century after the Great Fire of London burned down its predecessor, styles itself a "center for arts, learning and public debate."

Its location in the financial district enables it to benefit from the largesse of big business.

St Paul's website lists the benefits for city firms of corporate partnership schemes including free entry for staff and discounts on conference and entertaining facilities.

The cathedral's 2010 income was more than 15 million pounds,

most of it from admission fees. Charitable donations in the last decade, including contributions from global banks such as Goldman Sachs, UBS and HSBC, totaled an additional 40 million pounds to help restore its white stonework.

Jonathan Bartley, a director of the Christian think tank Ekklesia, said the cathedral's location heightened the dilemma it faces.

"St Paul's will be very acutely aware of its position, its relationship with the City," he said.

The protests have also exposed contradictions in the financial stance of the Church, which has major investments in public companies. "They are embroiled in the system they are criticizing," added Bartley.

Michael Colclough, the Cathedral canon pastor, said the wealthy backers of St Paul's also had a social conscience.

"A lot of these people are very generous to needy causes, and I don't think there is this great dichotomy between London City men with money and people in need because a lot of them give far more than you and I can imagine," he said.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters.

Read More

Factbox: UBS trader joins rogues' gallery of financial crime

3:54 PM crime, Factbox, financial, gallery, joins, rogues, trader No Comments

AppId is over the quota AppId is over the quota Switzerland's UBS AG said it had discovered unauthorized trades by a trader in its investment bank had caused a loss of some $2 billion.

Here are details of major rogue traders of the last two decades:

Oct 2010 - Former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel sentenced to three years in prison by a Paris court for his role in a trading scandal and ordered to reimburse the French bank 4.9 billion euros ($6.7 billion). The 33-year-old was found guilty of breach of trust, computer abuse and forgery.

April 2010 - MF Global employee Evan Dooley indicted on fraud and other charges after racking up $141 million in losses speculating in wheat futures contracts in February 2008. The incident was disclosed in December 2009 when U.S. regulators slapped a $10 million fine on MF Global for lax supervision.

June 2009 - A trader at London-based oil brokerage PVM Oil Futures racked up losses of almost $10 million following a series of unauthorized trades believed to have caused a spike in global crude prices. The trader, named as Steve Perkins, was later banned.

May 2009 - Former Morgan Stanley trader David Redmond banned after building up a big unauthorized oil futures position after a long liquid lunch and then hiding the deals overnight.

February 2009 - Former senior trader at Merrill Lynch in London Alexis Stenfors banned for at least five years for deliberately overvaluing his trading positions to hide his losses, forcing the U.S. bank to make a $456 million writedown.

July 2006 - David Bullen and Vince Ficarra, two former foreign exchange options dealers at National Australia Bank, jailed after a 2004 scandal that cost NAB A$252 million ($187 million). They were found guilty of making false trades to safeguard bonuses and hide losses, and joined other former NAB traders Luke Duffy and Gianni Gray in prison. Bullen had already published "Fake: My life as a rogue trader," about how he had replaced hard drinking and drugs with Buddhism.

March/April 2006 - Hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC racked up $6.4 billion in losses from natural gas contracts on NYMEX before folding in 2006. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission later charged Amaranth and its former head trader, Brian Hunter, with trying to manipulate natural gas futures prices.

February 2002 - Allied Irish Bank said rogue trader John Rusnak had defrauded its U.S. subsidiary Allfirst of $691 million. Rusnak sentenced to 7-1/2 years in prison after he admitted devising a scheme that netted him $850,000 in salary and bonuses from 1997 to 2001.

January 2001 - Former chief financial officer of the now-defunct Griffin Trading Co, Scott Szach, charged with diverting more than $5.56 million from a company bank account to a brokerage trading account to fund unauthorized trading in the 18 months before the firm's demise.

March 1998 - Joseph Jett, a former top Kidder Peabody bond trader, accused of creating false profits of $350 million to hide losses and failing to keep proper records, in a scandal that eventually led to the sale of the firm. He was ordered by a judge in September 2007 to repay $8.2 million in losses and was fined $200,000.

June 1996 - Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp suffers a $2.6 billion loss over 10 years from unauthorized copper trades, primarily by chief trader Yasuo Hamanaka. Sumitomo fired Hamanaka, once dubbed "Mr Five Percent" because his trading team was believed to control five percent of the world's copper trading. He was later jailed for eight years.

September 1995 - Japan's Daiwa Bank suffered a $1.1 billion loss from unauthorized bond trading by Toshihide Iguchi, one of its executives in the United States. He was imprisoned in 1996.

February 1995 - Barings, one of Britain's oldest investment banks, collapses after Nick Leeson, a futures trader in Singapore, lost $1.4 billion in derivatives trading. Leeson was jailed in Singapore. Barings subsequently sold to Dutch bank ING for one pound.

April 1992 - Indian banks and brokers accused of colluding illegally to siphon $1.3 billion from the interbank securities market to fuel a boom on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Top broker Harshad Mehta, the main person accused in the scandal, died in jail during the trial.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters.

Read More