What is an Amortization Calculator?

An amortization calculator is a fundamental resource used by individuals or entities that are indebted to a mortgage company or financial institution. The amortization calculator will display (subsequent to the satisfaction of a few variables) the remaining payments left on their particular loan or mortgage. By revealing this information, the individual or entity who took out the loan can observe the expected payments until maturity and thus develop an appropriate budget to ensure that they meet such obligations.

An amortization calculator is a free resource offered by the majority of lending institutions in the United States. The resource is free and easy to use and requires only the basic information attached to the particular loan or mortgage.

The loans associated with an amortization schedule typically possess a maturity date of 20-30 years. As a result of this long-term nature, the payments made towards both the principle and the interest would be difficult to evaluate without the inclusion of an amortization calculator.

In addition to revealing the expected monthly or periodic payments, the amortization calculator will reveal the percentage and total amount of the payments as they coordinate to paying off the interest and principal of the loan. Following the input of the required information, the amortization calculator will reveal the expected payments to maturity in an easy to follow and easy to understand table. The table, which effectively is known as the amortization table, will deliver each month’s payment and reveal how each payment is used to satisfy the interest and principal obligations of the loan.

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What are Banking Regulations?

What is FOREX?

What is a Bond Fund?

Income funds or bond funds are terms used to describe a particular type of investment company—primarily mutual funds, unit investment trusts, or closed-funds—that invest solely in bonds or other types of debt-laden securities.

Depending on the company’s investment policy and objective, a bond fund may concentrate its strategy in a particular type of debt or bond security. For example, bond funds may allocate the majority of their capital towards the investment of municipal bonds, corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities, government bonds, zero-coupon bonds, or fixed-rate bonds. Additionally, bond funds may develop a portfolio to combine or mix any of the aforementioned debt securities.

The types of debt securities that bond funds will possess will vary in regards to the risk, duration, return, volatility, and other features associated with the debt securities.

What is the risk Associated with investing in a Bond Fund?

 A long winter held back construction activity in Germany, which contributed to a sharper than expected drop in first quarter output across the Eurozone. German barely avoided recession at the start of this year, but its return to growth was not enough to prevent the Eurozone economy from contracting for a record sixth quarter in a row. 

Gross Domestic Product in the 17-country Eurozone dropped by .2 percent in the first quarter, largely due to France’s recent struggles. This compared to a decline of .6 percent in the fourth quarter. 

The region’s economy has failed to grow since the third quarter of 2011, making this the longest stretch of declining output in the history of the Eurozone. 

The pace of contracted eased up slightly in struggling Spain and Italy, but both economies still contracted by 0.5 percent in the quarter.

The prospects of a second consecutive year mired in a recession and tumbling inflation prompted the zone’s central bank to slash interest rates earlier this month to a record low of 0.5 percent. 

“An interest rate cut to 0.25 percent looks probable while the European Central Bank will also continue to evaluate the case for a negative deposit rate and ways of securing more credit to smaller companies,” said Howard Archer, the chief European economist at HIS Global Insight. 

The euro continue to slide against the dollar, and European stocks were weaker in early trading hours before recovering to roughly even. The recession has hurt business confidence, blown attempts to slash government debts, and has sent unemployment to record numbers. Many leaders within the European Union have signaled their willingness to ease austerity in the hope of shoring up a recovery that the majority of economists are still forecasting for later this year. 

However, Wednesday’s GDP estimate was far worse than economists were forecasting, largely due to poor growth in Germany. If the estimate proves to be accurate, the news could increase pressure on the European Central Bank to take further action to stimulate activity. 

Germany, which accounts for roughly 30 percent of Eurozone output, grew by only 0.1 percent in the quarter, as an unusually cold winter impacted construction activity. Analysts were expecting growth of roughly 0.3 percent in Europe’s largest economy. Investment and exports also dropped, underscoring the impact of the Eurozone recession and poor global growth. 

Source: Congressional Budget Office

Headed by Douglas Elmendorf, the United States Congressional Budget Office, projects this year’s deficit will be $200 billion less than it projected just a few months ago. That said, it’s not all good news over the next ten years or so. 

Annual deficits are dipping even faster than the Budget Office predicted back in February, and the nation’s total debt is expected to drop as share of the economy for a couple years. However, the downward trend will not persist since lawmakers have not implemented measures to address the long-term drivers of the nation’s debt. 

In its budget outlook released yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office now estimates the annual deficit for the fiscal year of 2013 to be roughly $642 billion or 4 percent of GDP. This is $203 billion less than the office estimated earlier this year. The office attributes the improved figure to higher-than-expected tax revenues and more payments to the Treasury by mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

By 2015, the United States’ deficit will drop to its lowest point in the decade (roughly 2.1 percent of GDP). Moreover, the deficit will remain below 3 percent until 2019, at which point it will begin to increase again. Deficits under 3 percent are regarded as sustainable because it signifies that budget shortfalls are not growing faster than the economy. 

In a similar fashion, the budget office estimates the country’s total debt—the sum of yearly deficits procured over decades—will dip to 71 percent of GDP in 2019. This figure is four percentage points below the present day. However, the debt will begin to climb higher again, reaching almost 74 percent by 2023.

“Budget shortfalls are expected to increase later in the coming decade, but because of the pressures of an aging population, increased health care costs and increased interest payments on the federal debt,” the Congressional Budget Office claimed in its report. 

The bulk of the deficit reduction that is expected to take place in the next few years will be the result of several measures that do not address said pressures. Specifically, the expiration of the payroll tax cut, increased tax rates on high-income homes, the sequester, and lower spending caps for defense and domestic programs between 2014 and 2021. 

In the meatime, the better-than-expected deficit for this year allows provides lawmakers with more time before they are required to raise the debt ceiling, which is the nation’s legal borrowing limit. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Congress will need to render a decision regarding the ceiling in October or November. 

Source: Congressional Budget Office

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission charged husband-and-wife executives at a China-based business with engaging in a fraudulent activity to overstate the company’s revenues and divert funds from a securities offering for their personal use.

Former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling has reached an agreement to reduce his fraud sentence by nearly a decade. Skilling, according to court documents, will remain incarcerated for years, but could potentially shave ten years off the 15 years remaining in his prison sentence. 

Former executive Skilling is now known as inmate #29296-179 at the Englewood federal prison in Littleton, Colorado. Mr. Skilling was convicted in December of 2006 for conspiracy, fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors in the largest corporate fraud case in the history of the United States. Mr. Skilling was originally sentenced to 24 years in prison, which would put him on pace for release in February of 2028. 

“The agreement in this matter brings finality to a long and painful process,” said attorney Daniel Petrocelli for O’Melveny & Myers. “Although the suggested sentence for Mr. Skilling would be more than double of any of the other Enron defendants, all of whom have been released from prison for a long time, Jeff would at least have the opportunity to get back to a meaningful portion of his life.”

The Federal Government submitted a series of documents to federal court in the Southern District of Texas claiming they had reached an agreement to reduce Skilling’s sentence to as little as 15 years. 

“This agreement will finally put an end to the battles surrounding this matter,” said a spokesman for the Justice Department. “This agreement guarantees that Mr. Skilling will be punished for his crimes and that victims will receive the restitution they deserve.

The spokesman for the Justice department claimed victims will receive $40 million in restitution as part of the agreement. In excess of 4,000 Enron employees lost their jobs, and many of these individuals also lost their life savings, when the Houston-based energy company declared bankruptcy in 2001. In addition to workers, investors also were hard hit from the illicit activities and ultimate failures, losing more than a billion of dollars.  

Source: sec.gov