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I.O.U.S.A. Movie Review
2008-08-23 22:51:00
I just got back from seeing I.O.U.S.A. -- and it was certainly a very eye opening experience. Done in the same vein as documentaries like An Inconvenient Truth and Who Killed the Electric Car?, I.O.U.S.A. takes a hard look at United States’ current Federal deficit and spending problems, discusses how we got into ...
More About: Movie , Movie Review , Review

The Recession – Short Term Pain, Long Term Gain?
2008-08-11 01:45:00
Here’s the bad news: this recession – yes, we are in a recession – is going to last a long time and will likely lead to a great deal of pain in the short-term. But, there is some good news: the long term changes and gains brought about by this recession are going ...
More About: Pain , Short-term , Long , Short , Recession

If You Need to Refinance, The Sooner You Do It, The Better
2008-01-08 00:00:00
Many Americans who have adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are facing the harsh reality that when their mortgage rate resets, they will have a higher monthly payment on a property that will likely be valued less than what it is today. Unfortunately, some of these home owners with ARMs are too far upside down in the ...
More About: Refinance

Higher Food Prices May End Up Being A Blessing In Disguise
2007-12-25 00:00:00
Have you noticed that your grocery bill has gotten more and more expensive over the last couple of months? Turns out you’re not alone. I think that while in the short term this is going to hurt a lot of people financially (last time I checked, we do have to eat, so we’re probably ...
More About: Food , Higher , Blessing , Prices

When Do You Think Housing Will Rebound?
2007-10-11 00:00:00
With the United States is stuck in the worst housing slump since the Great Depression, it’s easy to see why most of the national media and many of us have bought into the “Chicken Little” (aka “the sky is falling”) mentality. Prices of new and existing homes continue to fall, the inventory of unsold homes ...
More About: Housing

The Case For an Economic Depression
2007-09-23 00:00:00
The more I think of it, the more I can’t help but believe that we’re on the verge of an economic collapse on par with The Great Depression . The American economy is built on a house of cards. Consumer spending makes up two-thirds of our GDP, which means we’re not a productive country, like ...
More About: Case , Economic

Helicopter Ben Shocks the Markets and Proves Me Wrong
2007-09-21 00:00:00
So much for the Federal Reserve holding steady and keeping the federal funds rate at 5.25% for another month. As I’m sure you’re well aware by now, Ben Bernanke and the Federal Open Market Committee today announced that they had lowered the federal funds rate by 50 basis points (most economists expected a 25 basis ...
More About: Markets , Helicopter , Wrong , The Mark , Prove

Wake Up! The Fed Is Not Going to Cut Rates
2007-09-15 00:00:00
On September 18, the Federal Reserve is going to take the unpopular stance and will announce that they have decided to leave the federal funds rate at 5.25%, where it has been for over a year. It’s going to shock Wall Street - who apparently believes it’s a foregone conclusion that the Fed will drop ...
More About: Wake , Wake up , Rates , Rate , Going

The Second Great Depression or a Blip on the Radar?
2007-09-01 00:00:00
Depending on who you ask, the “crisis” surrounding the United States housing market is likely to go one of two ways: 1) the decline in the price of homes, and the subsequent drying up of the housing ATM is going to lead the country into the second Great Depression ; or 2) yes, home prices ...
More About: Radar

The Flipside of my Argument Against a Housing Rally
2007-08-17 01:10:00
Okay, so I sat down and thought more about what I wrote yesterday. After some careful consideration, I still think the housing market is in for some trouble, but I think that the light at the end of the tunnel might actually be closer than what I initially thought. First off, I think it’s important to state what type of investor I am; I think that might give a little bit of insight as to how I think about investments and markets. Obviously, there are a million different ways to invest and none of the ways seem to be particularly right or wrong - unless you invest like Warren Buffet or Peter Lynch because then you’d almost always be right. Anyway, I like to look at myself as the anti-trend investor. As a market’s climb becomes more pronounced and the number of people talking about how great things are increases, the more bearish I become. Conversely, as a market’s fall become more pronounced and the number of people talking about how terrible things have b...
More About: Rally , Housing , Ally

Home Sales Fall to Five Year Low - When Will it End?
2007-08-16 00:00:00
As a recent home buyer, it pains me to no end to write the article. At the same time, it pains me ever more to hear people say, “don’t worry, the home prices will bounce back soon,” when speaking about the currently woeful housing market. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, ...
More About: Sales , Home , Fall , Year , Five

Thanks Mr. Greenspan!
2007-08-13 00:00:00
Let me preface everything I’m about to write by reminding you that despite having a degree in business/finance, I am nothing more than an arm-chair economist. I find economic theory to be completely fascinating, but at the same time, I’m not exactly well versed in it. That being said, I don’t think it takes ...
More About: Greenspan , Span , Hank

3 Ways to Save Money and Energy
2007-06-27 00:00:00
One of the things that I’ve been trying to read more about is simple ways that I can reduce the amount of energy that I use around my house. With all the talk of trying to become more environmentally aware, I wanted to make sure that I was “doing my part” in an ...
More About: Money , Save Money , Energy , Save

Alan Greenspan’s New Book
2007-06-06 00:00:00
It looks like Alan Greenspan is about to cash in in a pretty big way. Greenspan is due to collect $8.5 million for an upcoming memoir entitled The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, which to me sounds more like a science fiction novel as opposed to something by a former Chairman of ...
More About: Book , Span

Examine Your Last Credit Card Bill
2007-05-24 00:00:00
This post is about as close as I’ll ever get to advocating that you start a monthly budget, but it is something that I’ve done over the past couple of months that has really helped me reduce the amount of money that I’ve spent on useless “want” items. If you’re anything like me, you probably ...
More About: Card , Credit , Credit Card , Ne Yo , Exam

How Stores Trick You Into Spending More
2007-05-18 00:00:00
While scouring over Digg, I came across a very interesting (and popular) article from MSN Money which talks about the different ways that stores trick you into spending more money. Upon first glance, these tricks seem pretty subtle, but the more you think about them the more obvious they become. For example, have you ...
More About: Trick , Spending , Stor , Ending , More

Do a Little Spring Cleaning
2007-05-10 00:00:00
While today’s topic really isn’t too much about saving money - although it might help you make a couple of bucks - it’ll help you declutter your home and make your living space much more presentable. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got tons and tons of stuff around your house that you don’t use, ...
More About: Cleaning , Spring , Little , Litt

How to go About Getting a Raise
2007-05-09 00:00:00
First off, I apologize for the amount of time between posts - last Saturday I thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and strip and restain my deck. I thought that I would be done in a day or two, but unfortunately I was off by about a week. So, ...

Real Estate’s Coming Death Rattle
2007-05-09 00:00:00
Lately there’s been rampant speculation on where the housing market will go from here; you’ve got the optimists who say that we’ve hit the price floor and the market will only go up from here, you’ve got the pessimists (like me) who say that the worst is yet to come, and you’ve got a ...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Death , State , Real

Rollover Your Retirement Plans - Don’t Touch the Money!
2007-05-03 00:00:00
The other day a buddy of mine was asking about what to do with his 401k - he had recently switched jobs and wanted to move all of his money from the old company’s plan to the new company’s plan. Simple enough. However, when he told me how he planned to do this, I ...
More About: Retirement , Money , Plans , Over , Touch

Why the “10% Rule” is Actually a Good Thing
2007-04-29 00:00:00
The other day I was reading an article by Walter Updegrave, Money Magazine’s senior editor, in which he states that the “10% Rule ” - the notion that you need to save 10% of your salary each year in order to have enough money when you retire - isn’t a very good savings plan. Updegrave ...
More About: Good , Thing , Ally

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease
2007-04-26 00:00:00
This past weekend, aside from enjoying the nice weather, I did something that I’ve done before - I went back to a company that had “done work” for me, told them that I wasn’t satisfied with their work and that I would like to be reimbursed for the costs I incurred for fixing their error. To ...
More About: Gets , Wheel , Grease , Ease , Heel

Most People Believe They Are Fiscally Responsible
2007-04-26 00:00:00
According to a recent poll on Saving Without A Budget, nearly 60% of people believe that they are doing a good job with their personal finances and would deem themselves “fiscally responsible.” When asked, “do you consider yourself to be fiscally responsible,” 59% of respondents stated that they are fiscally responsible, 38% stated that they ...
More About: People , They , Most , Call , Believe

Financial Urban Legends Dubunked
2007-04-23 00:00:00
The other day I came across a rather humorous/somewhat scary article on MSN Money regarding common financial urban legends. I thought the article was funny because so many of the situations were completely absurd and unlikely. However, the scary part is that many people actually believe these urban legends to be true statements. ...
More About: Financial , Urban , Urban Legends , Ends , Legend

Gap Between Ultra Rich and Regular Rich Continues to Grow
2007-04-20 00:00:00
We spend a lot of time talking about the growing gap between the haves and the have nots, but it turns out the gap between various levels of the wealthy may be growing at just as rapid a pace. According to an article published in The Wall Street Journal Online, a recent survey conducted by ...
More About: Rich , Ultra , Between , Regular , Grow

Many Americans Not Saving For Retirement
2007-04-18 00:00:00
According to an article published on CNN.com nearly half of us working stiffs have saved less than $25,000 for retirement - with nearly 1/3rd of the work force having absolutely nothing stashed away. I know I’m a little late to the game on this article, but I think it’s worth reiterating how scary these numbers actually ...
More About: Retirement , American , Americans , Saving , Retire

Start Paying Cash and Watch Your Expenses Decrease
2007-04-18 00:00:00
This afternoon while I was on Yahoo! Finance checking out the stock market results, I came across an interesting/scary daily poll.  The question was, “What type of debt causes you the most stress?” to which the answers were: 1) mortgage, 2) student loans, 3) credit cards, 4) auto loans and 5) other. I went ahead ...
More About: Watch , Your , Start , Star , Pens

90% of People Believe Personal Finance Should be Taught in School
2007-04-17 00:00:00
Thanks to a recent poll on Saving Without A Budget, it appears that I’m not alone in the belief that personal finance should be incorporated into the core curriculum of America’s schools. According to the poll, 89% of respondents stated that they believed that personal finance should be a required part of every child’s education. The ...
More About: Personal , People , Personal Finance , Finance , School

What to do With Your Tax Refund
2007-04-14 00:00:00
For a lot of us, tax season really isn’t that bad thanks to the fact Uncle Sam is going to cut us a nice fat check for all of the taxes we overpaid throughout the year.  Whether it’s $100 or $10,000, it’s always nice to get that “unexpected” money. So, what should you do with your ...
More About: Fun , Tax , With , What , Hat

CouponWinner.com - One Stop Online Coupon Shop
2007-04-14 00:00:00
I’m 25 years old and I’m a coupon addict.  Seriously, if I go to the store and I buy something, I feel like I’ve cheated myself if I haven’t used a coupon. Unfortunately, over the past year or so I’ve been doing a lot of my shopping online and I haven’t been able to take advantage of my ...
More About: Upon , Coup , Shop , Online , Stop