In the last two weeks gold gained over $40.00 in value and settled at today’s close of $951.60 an ounce.

Here’s a chart of gold’s activity over the past six months. I’m waiting for the value to rise above $1,000.00. If it does, I might decide to sell my ounce of gold.

Individual Retirement Accounts, (IRAs) are a worthwhile savings option to consider, regardless of how far away your retirement is. An IRA allows the individual the opportunity to save money for retirement while enjoying some very nice tax benefits. Most young people think, “Well, retirement is such a long way off for me, I don’t have to think about that until much latter. Besides, only old people save for retirement.” This statement couldn’t be farther from the truth! In fact, as long as you are earning income, you don’t even have to be an adult to open an IRA.

Many financial institutions offer IRAs. The two most common types are Traditional and Roth.

With the Traditional IRA you might qualify for tax-deductible contributions. This means that when you file your income taxes each year, you won’t have to pay taxes on the money you deposit into your IRA. In addition, with the Traditional IRA, your earnings as well as contributions will not be subject to income tax until withdrawal. This means that the money in your IRA will not be touched by Uncle Sam until you withdraw it, which is a good thing, because if more money stays in your IRA, more earnings will accumulate from it.

The Roth IRA is different. You invest your money, which has already been taxed, and when the time comes to make withdrawals, your contributions and your earnings remain tax-free.

Many people say the Roth IRA is better than the Traditional, and I would have to agree. Since you’ve already paid taxes on the money you’ve deposited, you won’t have to worry about taxes in the future. And if there are tax increases in the next 30 or 40 years, you won’t have to pay a dime of the difference. Also, with the Roth IRA, the money you gain from your contributions will be tax-free!

What will your future look like after you retire? Will your lifestyle be modest and your budget poor? Or will you enjoy doing new activities and living in comfort? The choice is up to you.

This week, gold slumped bellow $910.00 per ounce as falling oil prices made the metal less desirable to investors. The market closed today at $913.00 an ounce. In the last month, gold has lost a value of $77.00! Things are not looking good for investors right now, but for people who want to start investing, the price is coming down to a point where it’s safer to say that you’ll be able to make a profit.

Another week of inactivity in the gold market. The charts show that gold is in a sideways channel, meaning that the market is not moving up or down but is keeping relatively stable. This week gold stayed between $930.00 and $945.00 per ounce and closed at $931.80.

Gold is making a slow comeback. The market closed today at $939.00 per ounce with today’s high reaching to nearly $950.00.

If you’re thinking about investing in gold, a good way to familiarize yourself with the terminology is to read auction listings on eBay. Try searching for “gold American Eagle” and just start reading. You can really learn a lot about the different kinds of coins, including how their condition affects their price. And you’ll also notice that they are in high demand.

This week gold closed at $933.70 an ounce. Hardly a difference from the close of last Friday, and though it ended lower, it looks like it might recover some ground soon.

In my opinion, now is not the best time to buy gold. Though the value may continue going up from here, I would not risk buying at this price. However, experts say that gold will rise far above the $1,000.00 an ounce mark. While that might happen, I’m not one to risk that much money on an investment right now. But if you are that sort of risk taker, then hop onboard! Buy now while gold is at a six week low.

In spite of hopes for gold going up this week, the downward trend continued and gold closed lower than it did last Friday at $938.30 per ounce. I’m still hanging onto the gold ounce I bought last November, but if I sold it now, I would make a profit of about $192.00. While that would be good, I’m still hoping to make more from it.

Let’s face it; there are a lot of people out there who are currently unemployed. If you happen to be one of these, I’m sure the idea of investing money at this time is the last thing on your mind. Probably even the idea of having any kind of savings is just ridiculous. In this case I’m not going to tell you to devote every extra penny to an investment. Instead I wanted to share some ideas on how to minimize living expenses at home so you can live more comfortably with the money you have. My wife and I have implemented these ideas into our lifestyle and we have been seeing them work very well for more than a year now.

Save On Electricity

1) One of the most effective ways of lowering your power bill is by simply turning down the temperature on the hot water heater in your home. When my wife and I moved into our apartment, the temperature was set to 130ºF. It was pretty hot! If you stick your hand under hot water from the faucet and it starts burning your FLESH, you will definitely save money by turning it down. Not only will you save on power, but your hospital bills will be reduced as well! I turned our temperature down to 105ºF and the difference in our next power bill was about $30.00 less! I can’t say exactly how to adjust the temperature as it may vary depending on the modal and brand of water heater. Try doing some research online for your particular heater and be sure to read ALL the warning labels on the tank before attempting anything.

2) An obvious power saver is to turn off lights when you’re not in the room.

3) A not so obvious way to save power is by living in an apartment that’s above the ground floor. This is only effective during the cold months of the year when the residents below you have their heaters on. The heat from their apartment will rise up through the floor into yours, making it so you don’t have to use as much of your own heat. It almost sounds like cheating!

Save On Your Water Bill

4) Lots of people run the water constantly while brushing their teeth. Turn the water on only when you need it.

5) When showering, get wet then turn off the water. Get all soapy clean and turn the water back on to rinse.

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I wish you the best of luck with minimizing your expenses and I hope these ideas will help you to achieve that goal!

Gold made some big moves this week. First it went up to around $990.00 per ounce, then it dropped down to about $965.00. The day after that it was back up to $980.00, followed by today’s activity, which brought the value down to $954.60. These market swings are pretty crazy. It’s taken a slight down trend over the week but, of course, it may go up again.

Gold is really making a comeback! Today, reaching a three month high, gold rose to $980.00 per ounce. It’s coming close to its record high from March 2008. It would be cool if it went over it.