Money: Many battles fought, some lessons learned
The year we wish wasn’t is nearly over, and It’s Only Money is shying away from a year-in-review or -ahead column for the good of readers and its own safety. Think about it. We could debate the personal finance coups of the decade, but I’d have to remind you I’ve been at this for only a year. We could predict next year’s hot stocks, but you’d be better off going to Vegas. To stake out Tiger Woods. Instead, let’s check in with the folks so kind as to share their dinero dilemmas with us. Where are they now? Has 2009 progressed for better or worse? Results vary. But one theme is clear. The reputations of big banks have taken a hit. Too big to fail or not, people in this column have taken their business elsewhere. Many swear it’s for good. “We were hippies in the ’60s and ’70s, and we had it right then,” says Kathy Kieselhorst, who shelled out a couple of thousand to save her son from a skyrocketing interest rate on a credit card. “We got massaged into believing we could be part of the system. Now I Full Article…
Business and Financial News
Archive for December, 2009
We made it through tough year — mostly
Stretch Your Food Dollar: Grown Up Fudge
If you’re in a rush to get some last minute gifts together, either for a friend or a coworker, or you just want to get down with your bad self in the kitchen, fudge is an awesome holiday present. Although the fudge is easy to prepare, you do want to budget enough time for the candy to cool before you cut it and package it up. I would plan to make the fudge the night before you plan to give it away.
Here’s a recipe for grown up fudge. Just a few tips before you get started. For starters, use a larger saucepan than you think you will actually need. Think twice as big. The first time I made fudge, I ended up with hot chocolate lava all over the stove, counter, and kitchen floor because I didn’t use a big enough pan.
Second, you’re going to need a kitchen thermometer that reads up to 236°. (This is not the same kind of thermometer that you use to take your temperature.) You should really consider keeping one in your kitchen, anyway, so that you can ensure that you’re cooking meat to the proper temperature. Maybe you
OFT drops bank account charges investigation
The OFT has dropped its investigation into bank account charges. Full Article…
Reminder: Bad Credit Can Affect Your Employment.
Bankrate.com’s Steve Bucci recently answered a question from a reader about whether bad credit can hurt your job prospects.
The reader’s roommate defaulted on 2 payday loans while he was out of work (ouch!), and subsequently relocated to Washington, D.C. (debtor’s capital of the world!). He managed to get a job, but two months into it his background check came back and showed the defaults. His employer then let him go. I can’t imagine why they hired him before the background check was cleared, but that’s just me.
The reader wanted to know if this is legal and how he can clean up his mess.
The short answer is that the employer can absolutely terminate his employment for the past delinquencies – provided he was notified of that possibility. Since they did a background check on him, he was likely notified.
He made his mess, now he has to deal with the repercussions.
As for getting out of the mess, he has to get a less desirable job (that doesn’t do background checks!) and pay off the outstanding balances on his defaulted payday loans. It’s likely
Car insurance customers worried by wintry weather
Wintry conditions can put many people off driving. Full Article…
A Method to the Madness
Think you’re busy? The consummate multitasker? Well, meet Brenda Grigsby. Grigsby owns five businesses, and 6 a.m. finds her happily in bed, typing e-mail with one hand and working a cup of coffee with the other. “It’s my way of finding out what my day is going to look like and what I need to prioritize,” says Grigsby. “For me, it’s actually relaxing.”
If only we could all conquer the madness as serenely as Grigsby. Basex, a New York-based business research firm, estimates information overload costs the U.S. economy $900 billion a year in lost productivity and stifled innovation. “It’s not just e-mail overload, it’s too much content, not being able to find things when you search, and interruptions, which is one of the largest culprits,” says Jonathan Spira, chief analyst for Basex. “You can lose more than 25% of the day from interruptions alone.” While a simple 30-second interruption may seem trivial, the real time-waster comes when you try to retrain your attention on the task at hand. Research from Basex shows that recovery time from a seemingly minor interruption is 10 to 20 times longer than the interruption itself.
How’s Your Holiday Budget Looking?
We’re smack dab in the middle of the holiday season. How are you doing on your spending goals?
I’ve never been one to go on a huge spending spree during the holidays. Don’t get me wrong – I love to give and receive gifts. However, I just don’t see the point of wracking up credit card debt to do it. If I don’t have the cash to pay for something, it doesn’t go in my shopping cart.
Nevertheless, last year my partner and I went a little overboard buying presents for each other because it was our first Christmas together. This year my partner and I agreed to a very low spending limit for buying holiday presents. We agreed to limit the number of people that we bought gifts for, and we only spent $10 per person. For gifts for each other, we agreed to stay under $75 total, including stocking stuffers.
It’s been both a challenge, and a little bit exciting to stick to our spending goals. Lots of homemade presents are making their way to family and friends this year in order to meet our goals. We’ve baked a lot of cookies, and this weekend was a fudge-packing extravaganza (pun intended).
Here’s how we were able to stick to our budget:
1. We made a list of everyone we wanted to send a holiday card, then decided if we wanted to include a photo from our wedding. Since we kept the number of people we invited to the wedding to a minimum, we only needed to order a few prints to send out with holiday cards.
2. Just like Santa, we made a list of gifts that we were going to give, (checked it twice), then marked items off of the list as we bought or made them. It’s funny, but without keeping track of the gifts you’ve bought, it’s really easy to buy more gifts than necessary. For example, I forgot that I had bought a present for my aunty, so I made her some Christmas tree ornaments. In the end, it only adds up to a few extra dollars spent on crafting supplies, but just imagine how much money I would unintentionally be spending if I didn’t keep track of everything.
3. The dollar bins at Michael’s and Target are a g
Beware Private Student Loans!
Private Student Loans were big business, until 2007-2008.
The number of private loans has grown more than 3 times in the past decade, going from 7% of all loans in 1998 to 23% in 2008. Then the credit crunch hit, and private loans market dried up for a while. Now, private loans are making a come back and this new round is more expensive and harder to get.
Federal loans have fixed rates, and flexible repayment terms, but private loans are often variable rate (usually in the double digits when all is said and done) and are less flexible in repayment.
Because of this, you should avoid private loans where you can by maxing out federal loans first, and then only use private loans sparingly if you cannot avoid them altogether.
4 things to watch for with private student loans.
1. Cosigning.
Cosigning is best avoided, if it can be. The problem is that most students don’t have a credit history, or if they do it’s likely to be lacking. So they often come to mom or dad to cosign. Two
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