3 must-know money tips for young professionals

It's not rocket science. Neither does it entail you living like a monk. Just follow these three tips and you are building a solid foundation.

Avoid credit card debt:

It's time you stopped your intense love affair with your credit card or else you will rapidly be sucked into a black hole called the debt trap. It starts off as a convenience, more of a stop-gap arrangement. You pay just the bare minimum amount and walk scot free. But as you well know, or will soon learn, there is no free lunch.

Remember this. When you use your card, you pay for an item with money that is not yours. So basically you enjoy life on borrowed money. This instant gratification can put you on a slippery slope. If you have started revolving credit, which means that you could not afford to pay your monthly bill, then the only way out of this ditch is to stop using your card till your debt is cleared.

Let's say you are revolving your debt at a rate of 2.75%/month. This works out to an obscene 33% pa which will rapidly eat into your disposable income and dramatically hinder your savings potential. And, it will not be just the debt that you are servicing. Every single purchase you make on that card will result in the interest rate being levied.

The way out:

Once you start revolving debt, make it a priority to clear it Stop using your card for additional spending once you are in debt If you are struggling, talk to the bank and see if they are open to negotiating the interest rate Get medically insured:

Numerous illnesses and accidents are pretty much age agnostic. So don't live under the deluded notion that you do not need medical insurance. Should you need it and not have it, you will watch your savings rapidly disintegrate.

Granted, you may have a medical insurance provided by your employer. But what if you quit your job or get handed the pink slip and between jobs you fall ill or meet with an accident? What if you decide to become a consultant and the employers no longer provide medical insurance?

Get a medical cover. The younger you are, the lesser your premium so you won't even feel the pinch. Not to mention the tax benefit. You can claim deduction from total income under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961, against premium paid towards the policy.

What's good:

Existing illnesses are excluded from the cover, so being young with no pre-existing ailments gives you a complete coverage When you are young you will not have to take a health check-up to qualify The more years go by without you making a claim, the greater your claim bonus Start investing:

The longer you wait, the more you lose.

You have time on your side today, this benefit won't last forever.

Let's say you invest Rs 1 lakh to withdraw when you are 70. By delaying your investment by just a few years, you pay a heavy cost. Here's how it will pan out.

Age you invest Rs 1 lakh	Its worth when you are 70
30	Rs 1.18 crore
35	Rs 65.30 lakh
40	Rs 35.94 lakh

 

 

 

 

If you don't have any savings, start now.

All you need to do is cut down on your savings by just Rs 1,000/month and invest that amount in an equity mutual fund. Within the next 10 years, you would be patting yourself on the back.

Let's say you invest Rs 1,000/month in a systematic investment plan (SIP) for 10 years in an equity fund that returns 12% pa. By just increasing the SIP amount every year by a very affordable Rs 500, the end result is amazing. A teeny-weeny push from your side, will go a long way. Start now!

If  you invest	You would have invested	Your corpus would be worth
Rs 1,000/month for 10 years	Rs 1.20 lakh	Rs 2.30 lakh
Increase your SIP by Rs 500 every year; so in the first year the SIP will be Rs 1,000, the next year it will be Rs 1,500, the third it will be Rs 2,000 and so on……	Rs 3.90 lakh	Rs 6.36 lakh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All investment calculations are on the assumption of an annual return of 12%.

The author is an Editor at Fundsupermart

Daily ETF Roundup: ITA Tumbles On Boeing, IYG Rallies

U.S. equities ended little changed today as investors digested a slew of corporate news and earnings, as well as Bernanke's commentary from earlier this week. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) reported earnings and revenue that were well above Wall Street expectations. Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) also posted better-than-expected results, with profit rising 20% in the second quarter. Shares of Boeing (BA), however, tumbled after a fire broke out at London Heathrow Airport on one of the company's Dreamliner planes .



Global Market Overview: ITA Tumbles On Boeing, IYG Rallies Following today's upbeat earnings reports, all three major U.S. equity indexes managed to close in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF slipped 0.14%, though its underlying index closed up 0.02% after being dragged down by Boeing. The S&P 500 ETF inched 0.04% higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq ETF gained 0.61%.

In Europe, markets erased earlier gains to end lower; the Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.1%, snapping a four-day win streak. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.2%, while China's Shanghai Composite fell 1.6% after China's Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei hinted that GDP could fall short of the government's 7.5% target.

Bond ETF Roundup

U.S. Treasuries traded higher today after Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser announced his support for the central bank scaling back its bond-buying program in September. Yields on 10-year notes rose 2 basis points, while 30-year bonds and 5-year note yields rose 1.5 and 3 basis points, respectfully .

Commodity Roundup

Crude oil futures traded higher today, settling above $105 a barrel, posting its third-consecutive week of gains. In other energy trading, natural gas and gasoline futures were also higher. Meanwhile, gold futures traded slightly lower, settling at $1,277.60 an ounce, on a stronger dollar.

ETF Chart Of The Day #1: The U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF was one of the worst perfo! rmers today, shedding 0.66% during the session. Following news of a fire on one of Boeing's Dreamliner aircrafts, this ETF took a steep tumble during the afternoon hours. ITA eventually settled at $85.85 a share .

Click To EnlargeETF Chart Of The Day #2: The U.S. Financial Services ETF was one of the best performers today, gaining 0.86% during the session. After JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) posted better-than-expected earnings results, this ETF gapped higher at the open. IYG traded higher throughout the day, eventually settling at $74.89 a share .

Click To EnlargeETF Fun Fact Of The DayThe best-performing regional strategy year-to-date has been the Global Titans ETFdb Portfolio, which has gained 6.91%.

Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.

JPX Says It’s in Talks With Tocom on Trading System

Japan Exchange Group Inc. (8697), the operator of the world's second-biggest stock market, said it's in talks to provide its trading system to Tokyo Commodity Exchange Inc.

Tocom, as the bourse for gold, rubber and soybean contracts is known, is examining options beyond next May when its five-year contract to use the trading platform of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. comes up for renewal, said spokeswoman Sayaka Sato. It may keep and upgrade the Nasdaq system or shift to a platform provided by a different domestic or overseas exchange, she said.

"JPX is in discussions with Tocom," said Naoya Takahashi, a spokesman for the exchange. "Nothing has been decided at this time." Sharing systems would bring revenue for JPX and reduce Tocom's systems development costs, he said.

About 25.5 million contracts changed hands through Tocom in 2012, down from a recent peak of 87.3 million in 2003, according to the bourse's website. The exchange reported net income of 20 million yen ($201,126) for the year ended March 31, compared with a 205 million yen loss the previous year, as investors increased holdings of risk assets and gold prices reached new highs in February, amid receding risks from Europe's debt crisis and economic-growth concerns in developing countries, the bourse said.

Tocom, CME

Tocom President Tadashi Ezaki said on July 12 the bourse is also in talks with CME Group Inc. about the possibility of sharing trading systems and met with CME Chief Executive Officer Phupinder Gill. CME has tentatively offered the use of its trading systems for around 8.5 billion yen over five years, the Nikkei newspaper reported today without attribution. JPX is asking for as much as 7 billion yen for the same period, Nikkei said.

JPX subsidiary Osaka Securities Exchange Co. uses the J-Gate trading system, also developed by Nasdaq OMX, for derivatives. The Osaka bourse and Tocom agreed in December 2010 that the commodity exchange can use the OSE's J-Gate backup facilities in case of emergencies.

Coca-Cola's Stock About to Get Personal

Over the years, Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO  ) has created advertising as iconic as its "red wave" logo, but its newest campaign could be among its most ambitious to invigorate sales and its stock.

Across Europe, Coke is replacing its own brand name with personalized names that are among the 150 most popular in the local markets it's targeting. Begun first in Australia two years ago, the beverage maker is expanding the campaign to 32 countries across the continent. If your name doesn't appear, you can visit a kiosk to have one personalized for you.

Companies have been experimenting for some time with using their label for further imprinting their brand on our brains. H.J. Heinz (NYSE: HNZ  ) offers up personalized ketchup bottles, but they're more of a limited-run novelty. It also more broadly offers other labels with witty or pithy sayings on them, more reminiscent of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group's fun facts found under their bottle caps than something that would allow a person to identify with a product.

The label, as a mini-billboard for a business' brand, have been tinkered with to create a new, different, or refreshed image. Over the years, General Mills (NYSE: GIS  ) has updated both Betty Crocker and its Pillsbury Doughboy, while PepsiCo's (NYSE: PEP  ) Quaker Oats slimmed down its Quaker mascot "Larry" while also modernizing Aunt Jemima. The Campbell Soup kids were also slimmed down a few years ago to highlight a healthier image.

More recently, other brands have sought to change their label in hopes of boosting stagnating sales. Boston Beer updated its Samuel Adams brand, hoping to reverse slowing sales of the craft brew, while Walgreen (NYSE: WAG  ) brought all of its private-label brands under a new, updated Nice! label.

Personalization such as what Coke is doing, however, is a different means of making a connection with the consumer. While you might end up having to drink someone else's "brand" if your name isn't so popular, it points to the marketing muscle Big Red carries that it can launch such a strategy. 

Yet the name game does carry risk. Apparently there are no Arabic names in its Israeli campaign, despite an Arab population in the country of 1.5 million. And it's prohibited the use of the name "Mohammed" in Sweden, despite its ubiquity, because it wisely didn't want to use the religious prophet's name used in conjunction with a commercial enterprise.

The initial Australian launch caused sales to rise Down Under by 4%, so rolling out the "share a Coke" campaign across Europe indicates that it wants to reverse the 6% slide in revenues it experienced in the fourth quarter of 2012 that was followed by 2% decline in the first quarter of this year.

Coca-Cola just might be able to teach the world to sing its praises once more.

Coca-Cola's wide moat has helped provide its shareholders with superior gains in the past, but the company faces some new threats to its continued market dominance. The Motley Fool recently compiled a premium research report containing everything you need to know about Coca-Cola. If you own or are thinking about buying shares in the company, you'll want to click here now and get started!

Why Movado Has Lagged Its Luxury Peers

On Wednesday, Movado (NYSE: MOV  ) will release its latest quarterly results. The stock has hit some bumps in the road lately, raising questions about whether it can successfully compete with its luxury-retail peers.

Overall, the luxury space has done relatively well lately, with the upper end of the income scale holding up better than broader-based retailers relying on a mainstream customer base for the bulk of their revenue. Movado has made some interesting strategic moves, but investors haven't been certain about its long-term success lately. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Movado over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report.

Stats on Movado

Analyst EPS Estimate	$0.22
Change From Year-Ago EPS	(15.4%)
Revenue Estimate	$115.91 million
Change From Year-Ago Revenue	11.8%
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters	4

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Is Movado a timely stock right now?
Analysts have reduced their views on Movado's earnings substantially in the past few months, reducing their estimates for the April quarter by $0.06 per share. However, they've been less nervous about its longer-term prospects, cutting their full-year estimates by only half that amount. Nevertheless, the stock hasn't done too well, falling 5% since late February.

Movado has put in place a number of lucrative partnerships, going beyond selling its own line of luxury watches by creating watch lines for other luxury retailers. By latching onto the success of fellow luxury retailers Coach (NYSE: COH  ) and the Juicy Couture division of Fifth & Pacific (NYSE: FNP  ) , Movado ensures that it's able to get customers from multiple sources targeting different demographics.

But competition in the watch industry has gotten incredibly fierce. Archrival Fossil (NASDAQ: FOSL  ) has pushed ahead with partnership and expansion plans of its own, with its acquisition of Skagen last year helping to push sales higher. Earlier this month, Fossil posted its own strong earnings report, with a 24% jump in net income coming from a better-than-15% gain in revenue. Although direct sales through its own stores brought in the best margins, Fossil's partnership with Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS  ) and other third-party sales also led to substantial growth.

The big issue for Movado this quarter is whether its near-term results turn out as badly as it projected back in March, when it gave negative guidance along with its January quarter results. Yet despite taking a charge related to aligning its partnership with Coach to reflect Coach's strategic shift, Movado expects long-term sales growth in the 10% range throughout the next several years.

In Movado's report, look for signs of whether the retailer is falling behind Fossil in the watch space. In the fashion world, falling out of favor is always a troubling sign, but with so much promise, Movado needs to post the same strong results that Fossil did in order to reassure investors of its long-term success.

Michael Kors is one of today's hottest high-end fashion brands, and that's translated into one of the best-performing stocks in retail -- since its debut on the market in late 2011, the share price has more than doubled. But with all that growth, has the stock finally become too expensive, or is there still room left to run? The Motley Fool's premium report on Michael Kors gives investors all the information they need to make the right decision. We cover the key must-watch areas, opportunities, and threats to the company that investors need to know. To claim your copy, simply click here now for instant access.

Click here to add Movado to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.

Tackling Cancer: Leukemia's Biggest Current and Upcoming Players

As I noted 11 weeks ago, cancer statistics are both staggering and disappointing. Although cancer deaths per 100,000 people have been on the downswing since 1991 thanks to access to more effective medications and better awareness about the negative health effects of smoking, there is still a lot of research and progress yet to achieve. My focus in this 12-week series is to bring to light both the need for continued research in these fields, as well as highlight ways you can profit from the biggest current and upcoming players in each area.

Over the past 10 weeks, we've looked at the 10 cancer types most expected to be diagnosed this year:

Prostate cancer Breast cancer Lung cancer Colorectal cancer Melanoma Bladder cancer Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Thyroid cancer Kidney cancer Endometrial cancer

Today, we'll turn our attention to the projected 11th-most diagnosed cancer: leukemia.

The skinny on leukemia
This year, nearly 49,000 new cases of leukemia are expected to be diagnosed. While that's well below some of the previous cancer's we've examined, the virulence of leukemia -- which is a cancer of the bone marrow or blood -- is higher than many we've reviewed in recent weeks. Leukemia is forecast to claim close to 24,000 lives this year, which makes it the sixth-deadliest cancer for both men and women.

There are four primary types of leukemia: acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), which is a cancer that starts from white blood cells called lymphocytes and is most common among children; acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is a cancer usually found in adults where the bone marrow makes abnormal myeloblasts; chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), which is where the bone marrow makes too many white blood cells; and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which is the most common adulthood leukemia and causes a slow increase in white blood cells called B lymphocytes, which helps spread cancer.

Although early stage detection really doesn't exist unless you're already presenting symptoms (fatigue, paleness, weight loss, bruising easily, etc.) or happen to be in the right place at the right time and are diagnosed during a blood test, the curability and severity of symptoms depends on which of these four diseases you have. Five-year survival rates for all leukemias have increased dramatically, from 34% in 1975-1977 to 58% as of 2002-2008, according to the American Cancer Society (links opens PDF file), but some offer better hope than others. As the ACS notes, those with CLL have an 82% chance of five-year survival, whereas AML patients have just a 25% chance.

Sources: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program and the National Center for Health Statistics. 

The risk factors associated with leukemia are just as varying as the statistics with regard to five-year survival. Cigarette smoking, for instance, is a big risk factor for AML, while the probability of CLL has a lot to do with the genetics in your family. One common theme that appears to be a risk factor across all types of leukemia is radiation exposure -- especially through the course of receiving chemotherapy or treating an existing cancer.

Where investment dollars are headed
Although there are numerous medications targeting leukemia, we'll stick to these four most common types listed above. Here's a look at some of the most common therapeutic agents used to treat leukemia.

Sprycel: Developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sprycel was approved in 2006 as a second-line treatment for patients who had Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) ALL or Ph+ CML, and had resistance to prior therapy. In trials, 42% of patients with Ph+ ALL showed a complete or partial response while taking the drug and it delivered a median response time of 4.8 months.  Gleevec: Marketed by Novartis, Gleevec is also a secondary treatment used to treat Ph+ ALL and CML in patients who haven't responded to previous treatments. More recently, Gleevec was granted FDA approval to treat children with Ph+ ALL, which is an important win for Novartis because, as I mentioned, ALL is the most common form of leukemia in children. Gleevec is part of a class of drugs known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors that blocks a protein crucial for cancer cell development.  Iclusig: Approved by the FDA this past December on an accelerated approval basis and developed by Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARIA  ) , Iclusig is also approved to treat Ph+ ALL and Ph+ CML. In trials, 54% of patients experienced a major cytogenetic response that had chronic phase CML, while 41% of patients with Ph+ ALL were noted as having a major hematologic response with a median duration time of 3.2 months. Iclusig does come with a black box warning label, though, that arterial thrombosis and liver toxicity have occurred to patients while on the drug. Bosulif: Also approved recently (back in September) and developed by Pfizer (NYSE: PFE  ) , Bosulif is a tablet that targets Ph+ CML in patients with resistance or intolerance to prior treatments. In trials, of those with chronic phase CML, nearly 34% received a major cytogenetic response. Even more impressive, 53.4% of all patients had a major cytogenetic response if they'd previously taken a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, with more than half of these patients demonstrating a response time in excess of 18 months. Erwinaze: Now owned by Jazz Pharmaceuticals via its purchase EUSA Pharma, Erwinaze is more a symptom-treating therapy than a curative agent. Erwinaze is approved for patients with ALL that have developed hypersensitivity to E-coli-derived asparaginase and was given the thumbs up by the FDA based on a single clinical trial involving 58 patients.

I could nearly go on all day with the therapies used to treat leukemia, but these are some of the most common branded names. There are also numerous generic treatments used to treat a broad range of leukemias. However, as we've witnessed previously, not every drug trial turns out to be a success. Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN  ) , which admittedly has one of the newest and hottest technological capabilities with its antibody-drug conjugates, discontinued its lintuzumab trial in 2010 after it failed to provide a statistical benefit to patients in a mid-stage trial. Even Seattle Genetics' ADC technology, which piggybacks a toxin on an antibody and delivers it directly to cancer cells, isn't a guaranteed winner in this tough-to-treat group of blood-borne diseases.

What's coming down the pipeline
Now that you have a better idea of what's going in in the world of leukemia treatments, let's have a look at some of the clinical-stage therapies that could be changing lives in hopefully the not-so-distant future.

Ibrutinib: There's probably no doubt that Pharmacyclics' (NASDAQ: PCYC  ) Ibrutinib would take the cake as one of the most exciting pipeline candidates. Currently, it's being tested on mantle cell lymphoma (as we saw last month), and the difficult-to-treat CLL. Partnering with Johnson & Johnson's subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Ibrutinib delivered a complete or partial response to 71% of treatment-naive CLL patients, with an incredible 96% of those treatment-naive patients showing no disease progression after two years! The 71% response rate blew every other clinical trial on CLL to date out of the water and was good enough to earn Ibrutinib the very rare "breakthrough therapy" designation from the FDA.  Idelalisib (GS-1101): Currently in early stage development by Gilead Sceinces (NASDAQ: GILD  ) , Idelalisib blocks the PI3 kinase delta to inhibit tumor growth and hopefully treat its target patient population: those with CLL. In the wake of the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in less than two weeks, Gilead reported early data from Idelalisib, and the results were phenomenal. More than half of the 54 patients enrolled exhibited meaningful tumor shrinkage, with median progression-free survival of 17 months. It's certainly an experimental drug worth keeping your eyes on. 

Your best investment
As with the treatments, I could spend an entire day talking about what's coming down the pipeline and still might leave a few dozen potential therapies out. What can definitely be said is that researchers and big pharmaceutical companies are certainly throwing their weight around with regard to research into leukemia.

If you were to look at this from an investing perspective, I think you have some clear-cut winners in this space -- although I'd say picking a favorite might be impossible.

Obviously, both experimental drugs have a lot going for them at the moment. Pharmacyclics has a collaborative partnership with J&J's Janssen that could net it up to $975 million in royalty payments. Ibrutinib has performed splendidly in trials, but it'll certainly need to keep those expectations sky high if it wants to support its already frothy valuation.

Gilead offers promise from its existing pipeline of HIV and hepatitis drugs, but is still a long way away from seeing any bottom-line impact from Idelalisib. Make no mistake about what I'm saying here: I like Gilead a lot -- but any real results from Idelalisib are still years down the road.

I think the most solid play in leukemia is Pfizer. Bosulif, which was approved last year, went head-to-head against Novartis' Gleevec in CML, and returned blood counts in 55% of patients to normal after 48 weeks. Gleevec, during the same period, was effective in normalizing blood counts in 33% of patients. Bosulif offered some of the top progression-free response times and a high cytogenetic response rate, making it the most attractive second-line treatment available -- in my opinion, at least.

Stay tuned next week, when we tackle the current and upcoming therapies for the treatment of pancreatic cancer in this "Tackling Cancer" series.

While you can certainly make huge gains in biotech and pharmaceuticals, the best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool's free report "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich" names stocks that could help you build long-term wealth and retire well, along with some winning wealth-building strategies that every investor should be aware of. Click here now to keep reading.

The Incredible Shrinking Deficit

According to an LA Times article in 2011: "Some 75% of respondents said they were following the [California] budget debate, yet only 16% were aware that state spending has shrunk by billions of dollars over the last three years."

There may be something similar happening now at the federal level. Poll after poll will confirm that Americans are worried about the budget deficit. But how many of them know it's shrinking fast?

The Treasury Department issues reports on monthly spending and tax receipts -- a version of the government's income statement. Tally up the last four years, and you get this:

Source: Treasury Department.

Many have pleaded with the government to cut spending. Far fewer, I think, know that the government spent less over the last 12 months than it did during the same period two years ago. Adjusted for inflation, the government spent the exact same amount over the past 12 months as it did during the same period five years ago, before the current administration came into office.

If you just look at the first three months of the year, which is guided by the most recent deficit-reduction policies, the numbers are even better for deficit hawks. Compared with the first three months last year, federal spending is down 9%, tax receipts are up 14%, and the deficit is down 32%.

Goldman Sachs analyst Alex Phillips recently wrote:

The federal deficit continues to shrink. Through the first six months of the fiscal year, revenues have come in higher than expected, while spending has come in lower than expected. As a result we are lowering our deficit forecast for the current and next two fiscal years.

Earlier this year we lowered our FY2013 deficit forecast from $900bn (5.6% of GDP) to $850bn (5.3%). In light of recent trends, we are lowering it again to $775bn (4.8%) ...

We expect the improvement to continue for the next few years. Although we had already expected additional cyclical improvement and residual fiscal policy tightening to reduce the deficit further in 2014 and 2015, we have reduced our estimates a bit further, to $600bn (3.5% of GDP) and $475bn (2.7%).

The most important figure here is the deficit as a share of GDP, because as long as a government's deficit is lower than annual economic growth, it can run in the red forever while actually lowering its debt burden (people overlook this because it doesn't apply to households). Since 1930, the government has run an average deficit equal to 3.2% of GDP each year.

Goldman now estimates the deficit as a share of GDP will total 4.8% this fiscal year, and 3.5% next year. Over the last year, GDP grew by 4%. If growth stays pat and Goldman's estimates are right, the nation's debt-to-GDP ratio will stop rising as soon as next fiscal year (which begins this October).

Long term, the largest budget issue is the cost of health care its impact on Medicare. It will be a mammoth problem if not addressed. But the short- and medium-term budget outlook is likely far tamer than most imagine. Just like California in 2011, there is a gulf between perception and progress. 

The Check's In the Mail for Some Foreclosed Homeowners

The nation's largest banks will begin sending payments this week to millions of Americans who may have been wrongfully foreclosed on during the housing crisis. A total of $3.6 billion in cash will be distributed to 4.2 million borrowers who lost their homes or were at risk of foreclosure, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency said Tuesday. Payments will range from $300 to $125,000. About 90 percent of borrowers whose mortgages were serviced by 11 of the banks will receive payments by the end of April, the agencies said. The last group of payments is expected in mid-July. A large share of those receiving payments, about 3 million borrowers, will each get only $300 or $400, according to data issued by the two agencies. Around 80 percent of them will receive $1,000 or less. At the other end of the scale, $125,000 payments will go to 1,082 military personnel, who were foreclosed upon in violation of a law prohibiting foreclosures on active-duty service members, and to 53 borrowers who weren't in default on their mortgages but still lost their homes. Generally homeowners who were wrongly denied a loan modification are entitled to relatively small payments. By contrast borrowers whose homes were deemed to be unfairly seized are eligible for the biggest payments. The amounts apply to borrowers whose mortgages were serviced by the 11 banks. Details for the other two, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, will be announced in the near future, the agencies said. The 13 banks, which include Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, reached a settlement with the federal agencies in January. They agreed to pay a total $9.3 billion in cash and in reductions of mortgage balances. The banks settled the regulators' complaints that they wrongfully foreclosed on borrowers with abuses such as "robo-signing," or automatically signing off on foreclosures without properly reviewing documents. The settlement covers borrowers whose homes were in any stage of the foreclosure process in 2009 or 2010. It ended an independent review of loan files that the two agencies ordered in 2011. Banks and consumer advocates had complained that the loan-by-loan reviews were time-consuming and costly and didn't reach many affected borrowers. Some questioned the independence of the consultants who performed the reviews, who often ruled against borrowers. Consumer advocates have criticized the deal, saying the regulators settled for too low a price by letting banks avoid full responsibility for wrongful foreclosures. The other banks in the settlement are HSBC, MetLife Bank, PNC Financial Services, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, Aurora, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

4 Big Stocks on Traders' Radars

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Put down the 10-K filings and the stock screeners. It's time to take a break from the traditional methods of generating investment ideas. Instead, let the crowd do it for you.

>>Buy These 5 Rocket Stocks to Beat the Market

From hedge funds to individual investors, scores of market participants are turning to social media to figure out which stocks are worth watching. It's a concept that's known as "crowdsourcing," and it uses the masses to identify emerging trends in the market.

Crowdsourcing has long been a popular tool for the advertising industry, but it also makes a lot of sense as an investment tool. After all, the market is completely driven by the supply and demand, so it can be valuable to see what names are trending among the crowd.

While some fund managers are already trying to leverage social media resources like Twitter to find algorithmic trading opportunities, for most investors, crowdsourcing works best as a starting point for investors who want a starting point in their analysis. Today, we'll leverage the power of the crowd to take a look at some of the most active stocks on the market today.

>>5 Blue-Chip Stocks to Trade for Gains

These "most active" names are the most heavily-traded names on the market -- and often, uber-active names have some sort of a technical or fundamental catalyst driving investors' attention on shares. And when there's a big catalyst, there's often a trading opportunity.

Without further ado, here's a look at today's stocks.

Lululemon Athletica

Nearest Resistance: $45

Nearest Support: $35

Catalyst: Founder Rumors

Shares of athletic apparel stock Lululemon Athletica (LULU) are up more than 3% this afternoon, buoyed by rumors that founder Chip Wilson has been meeting with bankers at Goldman Sachs (GS) over possible strategic alternatives after a prolonged drop in LULU's share price. Wilson, who serves on the board and is a major shareholder (with 27% of LULU's shares), has been a controversial figure in the past -- but after a 32% tumble in the last 12 months, investors are getting excited about the prospect of a major change.

For now, the price action isn't that compelling. LULU continues to trade below the trend line resistance level that's acted like a price ceiling for the last year. Until that changes, it's best to stay away from the long-side of this stock.

Ericsson

Nearest Resistance: $12.50

Nearest Support: $12

Catalyst: Technical Setup

Handset maker Ericsson (ERIC) is seeing big volume for technical reasons this afternoon, up 1.26% after a big block trade hit shares this morning, bidding shares higher to start the session. The timing is convenient for shareholders right now -- ERIC is testing a key resistance level at $12.50, the top of this stock's ascending triangle pattern. A breakout above that $12.50 price ceiling is the buy signal for shares.

If ERIC can make the breakout happen, then look for $1 of upside potential as shares move up to the "R2" level on the chart above. When it happens, keep a protective stop just below $12.

American Apparel

Nearest Resistance: $0.80

Nearest Support: $0.60

Catalyst: Founder Drama

Small-cap clothing stock American Apparel (APP) is seeing another consecutive day of big volume, the aftermath of a battle between founder Dov Charney and the firm's board. American Apparel has publicly struggled under the weight of a heavy debt load in recent months, and the recent ouster of the firm's controversial chief executive is still causing a stir, particularly if a battle distracts new leadership from running the ship. Shares are down more than 2% this afternoon, following the latest updates, which included news that the firm's largest private shareholder wasn't planning on supporting Charney in a proxy fight.

But bulls may still have the last laugh. Shares of APP have been forming a bullish ascending triangle setup for the last month, bumping up against resistance at $0.80. A breakout above that $0.80 cent price level is the buy signal for shares of American Apparel in June.

Rite Aid

Nearest Resistance: $8.50

Nearest Support: $7

Catalyst: Technical Setup

Last up is drugstore chain Rite Aid (RAD), a name that's been in "buy-the-dips mode" since the beginning of 2014. Now, with shares testing support for a fifth time this year, investors are getting a change to buy another dip on big volume.

Waiting for a bounce is important for two key reasons: It's the spot where shares have the furthest to move up before they hit resistance, and it's the spot where the risk is the least (because shares have the least room to move lower before you know you're wrong). Remember, all trend lines do eventually break, but by actually waiting for the bounce to happen first, you're ensuring RAD can actually still catch a bid along that line before you put your money on shares.

To see these stocks in action, check out the at Most-Active Stocks portfolio on Stockpickr.



-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.

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At the time of publication, author had no positions in the names mentioned.

Jonas Elmerraji, CMT, is a senior market analyst at Agora Financial in Baltimore and a contributor to

TheStreet. Before that, he managed a portfolio of stocks for an investment advisory returned 15% in 2008. He has been featured in Forbes , Investor's Business Daily, and on CNBC.com. Jonas holds a degree in financial economics from UMBC and the Chartered Market Technician designation.

Follow Jonas on Twitter @JonasElmerraji