Madelina Feliks

03
Oct
2019

Equity Release : An Option Available to Seniors in Boosting Financial Security and in Managing Effects of an Imminent Recession

As fears of economic recession are slowly creeping in across the U.S. and the UK, making preparations to boost one’s financial security will prove to be a wise move. Leaders arriving at solutions for different political issues, such as the ongoing U.S. trade wars and the No-Brexit deal in the UK, seem far from happening.

In asmuch as forecasts of global economic conditions present dim and cloudy possibilities, making preparations for the future can help ease the impact of a recession especially among seniors. After all, most senior citizens live off on pensions upon retirement. If ever economic recession transpires, the value of those pensions might not suffice to meet their basic needs.

Consider the Benefit of Cashing Out on a Property by way of Equity Release

If you are aged 55 or above, a sensible proactive move is to take out the potential wealth afforded by your real property by way of equity release. That way you can bolster your financial security as a senior citizen, whether or not recession happens. There is no harm in taking advantage of an equity release as soon as you become eligible, since you do not have to worry about repaying the principal and interest during your lifetime.

To help you decide, find out how much cash you can take out by getting hold of an online equity release calculator. Moreover, explore the different methods and the terms offered by lenders before agreeing to an equity release transaction.

What is an Equity Release

An equity release furnishes a no-worry type of getting hold of money using your real estate as collateral. Although similar to a mortgage, money taken out by equity release and the related interests, become due only upon your death or once you move in to a nursing home.

This denotes that the property you collateralised will be used as a means of settling the financial obligation contracted via an equity release arrangement. However, there is a likely possibility that the value of the estate you will leave behind as legacy, will be lower. That being the case, do not fall prey to enticements about investing your equity money on shady schemes, or on risky investments like cryptocurrency.

Why Investing In Cryptocurrency is Risky

Investing your money in cryptocurrency, presents great risks. First off, the blockchain platform supporting cryptocurrency transactions is still a young technology, which so far, has not developed into a sturdy infrastructure. Introduced about ten years ago, cryptocurrency operations have been hit with a number of unsolved cases of fraud and cyber theft.

More importantly, the cryptocurrency market operates on a volatile environment that is reliant on technology not supported by government regulations. Since there are no clear and specific rules governing cryptocurrency exchanges, there is always the risk of losing money. This is especially true if unscrupulous individuals manipulate exchanges in order to create a bubble economy; or introduce new applications that can circumvent guardrails securing the blockchain platform.

Even if touted as a safer alternative to carrying cash around, or for shielding your financial activities from prying eyes, only a few establishments accept cryptocurrency as mode of payment. As senior citizens, money acquired from equity release is best used for keeping your life as comfortable as possible from golden, to sunset and eventually, to twilight years

Posted by Madelina Feliks in Cryptocurrency, Finance
11
Aug
2019

Facebook and Its Libra Cryptocurrency Project Suffer from Trust Issues

Facebook’s Libra project is about combining online shopping and making other online financial transactions right on the Facebook platform, whilst using only a single digital currency as acceptable mode of payment. Facebook would call its own kind of cryptocurrency as Libra.

The mechanics looks appealing as it will make Facebook a one-stop-shop environment where people can communicate, meet, shop and transact at the same time. However, there is just one important problem that Facebook will find difficult to hurdle: lack of trust among Facebook users.

The general perception is that the social media site lacks the capability and diligence to prevent the certain forces in the Internet from gaining access to FB-Libra user’s financial information and activities if ever.

Why Many Consider the Facebook Libra Project as Untrustworthy

When Facebook revealed its “Project Libra” sometime in June, it instantly projected a picture in which people living ordinary lives will finally have a chance to dip its hands into the growing world of cryptocurrency. The project looked appealing because it made the process of dealing with cryptocurrency so convenient and at the same time not so complicated.

Yet that is exactly the problem, Project Libra seems all too easy, which if handled by a social media site like Facebook is too risky. After all, not a few million users have had the experience of getting their FB accounts hacked, or the security of their personal information breached.

Technology websites like Tech Republic can present a decade-long list of privacy information breach that the Facebook platform allowed to transpire through the years.

The worst and the most recent was the one carried out by a political consulting and strategic communications company called Cambridge Analytica. The firm was able to gather personally identifiable information from 87 million users who were enticed to take a personality quiz called “This is Your Life.”

The U.S. Congress, through the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a hearing in which FB Messenger Exec David Marcus and supposed head of the Libra project launch, was grilled on all sides. The hearing ended with Committee Chairman, Senator Maxine Waters, requesting the social media company not to go ahead with the Libra launch until such time that proper legislation governing cryptocurrency operations are in place.

Recent Poll Shows Only 2% of People Surveyed Trust Facebook’s Project Libra

A recent survey conducted by US-based CivicScience involving 1,799 American adults showed that 77% do not trust Facebook with their personal information, while only 2% put a lot of trust on Facebook.

The survey also revealed that when it comes to trusting Facebook’s Libra Project, at least 40% of those who responded say they had less trust in Libra over whatever trust they have for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Posted by Madelina Feliks
13
Jun
2019

Cryptocurrency : What are Altcoins?

Altcoins, which is short for Alternative Coins are the other types of cryptocurrency we can use in the world of decentralized financial transactions. Altcoins were introduced much later after bitcoin, around 2013. Albeit built and working on the same framework by which bitcoins are recorded and transacted, their introduction as alternative cryptocurrency was meant to address discerned limitations of bitcoins, as a medium of exchange outside of financial institutions and regulations.

Hundreds of altcoins arrived, but not all remained or stayed long enough in the cryptocurrency market like Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, Cardano and ZCash, just to name a few. To have an idea if a certain type of alternative coin has chances of achieving growth and stability as a digital currency, it would be best to understand the significance of their respective market capitalization.

What is Cryptocurrency Market Capitalization?

Similar to investing in shares of stocks, the cryptocurrency market capitalization depends on the value per coin and the number of coins circulating in the cryptocurrency market, if more will invest and use a type of altcoin, the greater the market capitalization and potential for growth.

Cryptocurrency Market Capitalization = Price per Coin x Total Supply of Coins in Circulation

Now if there is an increase in the supply of a cryptocurrency, chances are there will also be an increase in the price of the token. Some investors may venture into buying a low-priced, small cap altcoin, which therefore increases the supply in circulation. In exactly the same way, if the supply in circulation decreases, the price per token and the market capitalization also goes down.

The upward or downward trend in market capitalization of an altcoin therefore, indicates whether there is growth or the opposite.

Let us cite Litecoin as example, being one of the most popular altcoins currently in use. This digital currency had a market capitalization of $3.32 billion and price per token of $57.37 in August 2018; denoting that at that time, 58, 207, 830 Litecoins were in circulation.

Now as of this writing (June 13, 2019) Litecoin has a market capitalization of 8.38 billion. The increase of $5.06 billion between August 2018 and June 2019), denotes that there were corresponding increases in the Litecoin supply in circulation during the period. The supply of Litecoin in circulation rose to 62,198,601. As the related demand for Litecoin increased, the price of this altcoin soared to $134.6123 per token.

Litecoin’s popularity and resulting growth is mainly due to its quicker-settlement attribute. As alternative cryptocurrency, a Litecoin transaction can be settled in 2 and ½ minutes, which in contrast to bitcoin takes 10 minutes.

Posted by Madelina Feliks in Cryptocurrency