Business and Financial News

This is a guest post from Evelina Kimler, a professional writer with more an 10 years experience with personal finance and investments. She also works with professional law firms like Total Bankruptcy to provide accurate information so that consumers can make the best possible financial decisions.

A bond is a savings instrument that you purchase at a fraction of its face value, then hold until it matures. For example, you may purchase a fifty dollar savings bond for twenty-five dollars, and it may take ten years for that bond to mature to its full value. You get to choose when to cash your savings bonds in, and you get what they are worth when you exercise that option. If you are considering your investment options, then you may want to consider savings bonds. Keep in mind that, just like all other investment vehicles, savings bonds come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Here are the pros and cons of investing in savings bonds.

Pros:

No risk. Savings bonds are better than low risk options.

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For many individuals, the single largest “investment” of their lives will usually be their home, as opposed to investing stock, bonds, mutual funds or certificates of deposits (CD’s). This

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Over at “Surviving and Thriving,” Donna Freedman recently blogged about her experience lending money to a friend. Her post resonated with me as I have had a similar experience. So while we talk a lot about different types of loans in the world of personal finance–be it car loans, mortgages or payday lenders–we often neglect to discuss one of the most common lending practices: the personal loan.

Shakespeare is quoted as saying, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” and I’m inclined to agree with him. I’ve been on both sides of the coin and it’s not an easy situation to be in. Having borrowed $5,000 from my father to help fix up a newly purchased condo, there was always an undercurrent of judgment. Although I do remember laughing when my father visited me post renovations and looked down at my shiny, new hardwood laminate funded by his money and said, “Hello, floor!“

Still, I was mighty happy to pay off that debt.

On the other side of the equation was the time I lent over $500 to my hairdresser whose husband had gone off on an alcoholic binge and had left her with two small kids and only half the money she needed to pay the rent. Full Article…

In a recent case, Cajun Industries, LLC vs. Robert Kidder, et al., the decedent designated his three children as beneficiaries of his 401(k) plan after his first wife died. He remarried a few months before he died and did not realize he needed to make any changes because he still wanted his 401(k) plan to go to his children. Unfortunately, when he died, his new wife successfully claimed the entire 401(k) account due to a federal law known as ERISA. This law required Mr. Kidder to fill out a new beneficiary form after he remarried and to obtain the consent of his new wife.  Because his wife had not consented to his designation in favor of his children, ERISA required the account to be distributed to his wife.

There were two other potential solutions that would have allowed the funds in the 401(k) account to go to Mr. Kidder’s children. Prior to getting married, Mr. Kidder could have asked his wife to sign a prenuptial agreement wherein she agreed to sign a waiver of his 401(k) plan. Alternatively, before he married, Mr. Ki

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