What Are American Depositary Receipts?
May 2, 2011 | 
Author The investment known as ADR stands for American Depositary Receipts, which is a tool used to make it easier for investors to invest in foreign markets. Instead of having to find a broker with capabilities in the foreign markets where the securities trade, an investor can just receive ADR’s from a depositary bank that collects the foreign company’s shares.
These ADR’s can be then represent shares in that foreign market. There are many advantages to using ADR’s that we have talked about in class such as the liquidity of these assets. Since the whole process of investing in foreign markets has become easier, the market has become far more liquid. The annual dollar volume of ADR’s has increased from $75 billion dollars in 1990 to $550 billion in 2002. Instead of having to different brokers and red tape to sell foreign investment we can simply trade ADR’s.
As technology advances it has become easier to invest in foreign companies and we can see this through the use of depositary receipts. Not only are depositary receipts issued in America but they are also issued in other countries as well such as Euro DR’s, Singapore DR’s and China DR’s. In the Wall Street Journal on 2/24/06 there is an article, “Bank of Communications Seeks Listing” where we can see that Hong Kong-listed Bank of Communications Co. has gained approval to offer shares on China’s stock exchange and are willing to offer China depositary receipts (CDR’s). By issuing CDR’s, the bank is better able to sell shares to foreign investors.
10 Tips To Improve Your Credit Score
These days most of us avail loans to buy a house, set up a business, or buy a car. Many students take loans to further their education. How soon the loan is sanctioned, the rate of interest, and the amount sanctioned will all depend on your credit score which is based on your credit report. People with scores of 700 and more are the beneficiaries of lower interest rates and quick sanctions. Imagine if your score is greater than 700 and another person has a score of 698 then the person with score 698 will have to pay interest that is higher by one-half percentage point. And, this means over a year a person with a lower score will pay USD 19,000 and more as interest on a loan of say USD 165,000.
A credit score takes into consideration: payment history, current earnings, current debt, length of credit history, types of credit utilized, and your new credit. If two or more members of your family are earning then apply for a loan jointly.
You can take a few simple steps and ensure that your credit score is higher than 700.
• Maintain a long healthy credit history. Keep alive your oldest credit card and be sure to pay all bills in time. Never keep bills pending over a 30 day period. If in a crunch at least pay the minimum charges due.
• Do not have too many credit cards. Learn to say “NO,” to offers of free credit cards. And, maintain a good credit limit. Avoid using all the available credit on the cards.
• Ensure that the credit report you have is accurate and that there are no errors clerical or otherwise.
• Plan your finance such that it is healthy. Consider debt consolidation.
• Never suddenly close or open accounts. This leads to suspicion that you are trying to manipulate your credit report.
• If you are having problems speak to your creditors well in advance and work out a stage wise repayment. Request the creditor to refrain from reporting the late payment.
• Late or delayed payments drive your score down so always pay bills dead on time. Keep a tab on due dates and ensure that all bills are paid.
Learn all you can about credit reports and scores and keep the criteria in mind while managing your finances. Maintain the debt-to-credit limit ratio and, if need be take the help of a finance planner.
Even if advised refrain from filing for bankruptcy. All you need to do is to sit down and curtail expenses, plan you income-expenditure , and avoid spending what you have not earned.
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A Living Will Could Save Family Financial Ruin
You don’t need to be an economics major to figure out that if health care is going up 10% or more every year while income is only going up 4%, things are looking too good. It is entirely possible for a person to work their entire life and retire with a nest egg of $200,000 or more only to have it wiped out by one major medical issue. This is especially the case when machines must be used to keep you alive due to a severe injury or illness. It is in tragic times like these that a living will can be the difference between saving or breaking a family—economically at least.
A living will is a legal document granting another person the right to cease treatment in the event a person becomes unable to live, eat, and function without the aid of machines or medical care. A feeding tube may be removed, a ventilator turned off, or any other machine or device that is being used to keep a person alive may be discontinued or turned off if the executor of a living will determines so.
Of course, there are certain conditions that must be met in order for the executor of a living will to be able to make the decision to cease treatment. Unfortunately, there are no uniform and concrete set of conditions to be met in a living will because they differ from state to state.
In general, however, physicians must determine that a person is unlikely to improve and in a debilitative or painful state. Also, the person must not be able to care for themselves and thus require a machine or other medical device in order to remain alive. At that point, a person with a living will can have treatment terminated if the executor requests doctors to do so.
Of course, there are instances when a living will is contested by other family members not named in the living will. In most cases, the courts have ruled in favor of the wishes made clear in the living will and rarely ordered the continuation of treatment. And honestly, that treatment is very expensive and run into the thousands of dollars—each and every day.
No one wants to see the passing of a loved one but no one wants to see them suffer, either. If a person took the time to have a living will drafted and they found themselves in a situation covered by the document, then chances are they would want treatment stopped. While an unpleasant topic, the fact remains that medical situations arise where the person will not recover and is only being kept alive by machines. Prolonging life at that point only costs everyone more suffering, confusion, and money. A living will is the responsible alternative that takes a potentially painful decision out of other people’s hands and puts it squarely in yours—where it belongs.