I scoured the web for a few interesting articles to highlight here today. Here were a few I liked:
Good Financial Cents: Bernie Madoff has been in the news lately, having received a stiff 150 year sentence for his role in the biggest investment scam our nation has ever seen. So how can you avoid becoming a victim of investment fraud? Jeff Rose gives us some tips.
Free Money Finance: I thoroughly enjoy reading FMF’s blog. This week, he tells us about what jobs he’s held, pre-college, and what he’s learned from his experiences. I actually never had a job until I was in college, and when I did snag my first job as an intern, it was at a Silicon Valley startup where I was worked to the bone, 14 hours a day.
Studenomics: Speaking of college, let’s stop by Studenomics (a blog that focuses on the younger demographic) for a bit. Studenomist shares with us some warnings about making short sighted financial decisions while you’re in your twenties. I think we need to balance how we make decisions about our money: we should keep both short term and long term goals in mind when we do our financial planning.
Ask Mr. Credit Card: What do you do if you’re scammed by a credit card thief? Mr. Credit Card discusses this dilemma with a whole lot of common sense. If you’re a merchant, stay alert about the credit cards that customers pass on to you — they may just be stolen!
Enjoy these articles!
by Jacques Sprenger on June 30, 2009
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Another way to describe a “bad job environment“.
Whenever a group of people are asked to perform a certain task, whether in an office, in the National Guard or on a factory floor, some members manage to poison the atmosphere for everybody else. These persons have a serious underlying psychological problem which they try to solve by being rude and unprofessional. Sometimes they even vent their anger on the public they supposedly serve. Remember the “Soup Nazi” in the Seinfeld show? That’s an excellent illustration, albeit a bit exaggerated, of a toxic human character that enjoys humiliating or bullying unsuspecting people.
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by Stacey Doyle on June 30, 2009
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What kind of debt collection practices by debt collectors should you be wary of?
Is your phone ringing off the wall because of phony debt or bill collectors? In today’s difficult economy, more people are facing unpaid debts and finding themselves having trouble managing debt. When a debt collection agent calls you during dinner, what do you do? Do you feel resigned to admitting your debts? But if you do, acting this carelessly about your finances can cost you more than you think.
How Fraudulent Debt Collectors Can Scam You
I recently watched an ABC News report about phony debt collectors trying to collect fake debts or steal your identity. How do those fraudulent debt collectors know about you? Consider just a few of the ways you might become a potential victim of collection abuse:
- If you took out a payday loan within the past two years, fake debt collectors may have figured out a way to access your personal information. They already suspect you’re in financial duress because you took out a short term loan, so they may attempt to get additional personal information to steal your identity and money.
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When you submit personal information online, you may not always be visiting a secure website. Check websites for an SSL certificate so you know online scammers won’t be stealing your information.
- Zombie debts are sold to debt collection agencies who attempt to collect overdue bills 7 years or more past due. These bills often do not belong to the person called (wrong phone number by this time) because so many years have gone by. Never admit a debt belongs to you unless you are sure. If you admit you owe the money, you will usually be responsible for paying it — even if the debt turns out to be someone else’s.
- Your credit report is public information. Lenders have access to your credit report so they know when you are applying for loans and if debts are unpaid. When you are contacted by a predatory lender or ruthless collection agent, it is rarely a coincidence.
Fake debt collectors can do serious damage to your finances and credibility. If you give out personal information to a phony, they may use it to steal your identity. Admitting to a bill that isn’t yours can mean you wind up paying a debt you didn’t incur. And even if you owe money, debt collectors are not allowed to be abusive. So how can you protect yourself against debt collection scammers?
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As part of our coverage of various investment markets, we take a look at how recent spot gold prices are behaving. Over the last 10 years, gold prices have been climbing steadily, and have been experiencing a general upward trend, interrupted somewhat by the volatility experienced during 2008. Here is what gold looks like over the previous 10 years.
While here is how the gold chart looks like over the last 5 years.
Long Term Investing In Gold
If you are a long term investor who has taken the passive investing approach, then you probably already have a diversified asset allocation with some gold representation in your portfolio. Investment experts often recommend that we buy gold (or precious metals) as a way to hedge the rest of our investment portfolio, which would normally contain other asset classes such as stocks, bonds, cash and maybe even REITs, or commodities.
So how much of your funds should you put into gold, assuming that you want to invest for the long term? It depends on how you feel about the current investing environment and the economy. Do you feel nervous about the future? Do you think the dollar will crash or inflation will rise? If so, then perhaps gold should carry a little more weight in your overall allocation. A reasonable gold or precious metals allocation may be around 5% of your total investment funds.
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Summer is in full swing and unlike those days of yore when I’d spend days and days just vegging with a book, hanging out with friends, relaxing by a pool somewhere or taking in nature on a daily hike, I now spend summers driving my kids to their summer activities, running the household and working. Makes me envious of all my teacher friends who have the summers off! All these activities are fun but tiring. I’m still wondering when my next vacation is going to be…. Still, can’t beat the lovely weather we’ve been having lately. We haven’t experienced a heat wave here yet (knock on wood)!
If you do get a chance, you can check out my radio interview with Mr. Credit Card, where we chat about general personal finance topics and what it’s like living in Silicon Valley.
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by Jacques Sprenger on June 24, 2009
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The 7 trillion loss by the stock market earlier this year includes 5 trillion lost by people over 50. It stands to reason that after a lifetime of saving and investing, the older generation, which of course includes the baby boomers, has more to lose in a downturn than the younger ones. It also stands to reason that they have less time to make up these losses, if they can do it at all.
The economic crisis has forced many older citizens to postpone their retirement or to go back to the workforce, a difficult feat in a high unemployment scenario. For those older folks between 50 and 65, the situation is even worse since they haven’t yet qualified for Social Security benefits. So the burning question is: What must these people do in order to safeguard their retirement or recover lost assets? Financial strategy and money advice for those after 50 are naturally quite different from those that apply to the younger generation.
A Double Whammy For The Older Generation
“Older Americans are getting whacked twice,” says the director of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University, who adds: “Home equity, which is their largest reservoir of wealth and their largest expense, has taken a tremendous hit. Portfolios have taken the same hit as everyone else, but seniors don’t have the same length of time to dig themselves out.” There are many tragic stories circulating about senior citizens being thrown into poverty by the crisis. I have yet to see a specific government program to help them out, although billions of dollars are “wasted” on financial companies who are responsible for the economic crisis.
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Here’s a job hunting tip: how about thinking outside the box? Today, we explore an unconventional career opportunity: joining the armed forces of our country. What is it like? Our contributing writer, Rachel Strong, gives us a peek into what the National Guard is all about. She is the extremely proud wife of a National Guard soldier.
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, all branches of the United States Armed Forces (Army, Air Force, National Guard, Army Reserve, Marines, Navy, and Coast Guard) saw a dramatic increase in recruitment. But over the subsequent years, military recruitment has dwindled to the point that the controversial stop-loss program was implemented.
Today, with hundreds of thousands of jobs lost or looking uncertain each month and the world looking more and more dangerous, military recruitment has taken another upswing — even in a time of war. A career in the military will not only offer a paycheck, but also specialized training and even college tuition money (or student loan program pay-off) through the G.I. Bill. One of the easiest ways to serve not only your country but also your community, and still keep your day job as long as you still have it, is through your state’s National Guard.
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by Millie Kay G. on June 19, 2009
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Here’s a follow up to our post on how to sell used items. We spotlight some auction sites from where you can pick up items for less than retail!
Buying and selling through auction sites have saved me a ton of money over the years. I’m also pretty overdue for my annual spring cleaning, decluttering and garage sale(s). Personally, my favorite places to work with for dealing with second hand stuff have been eBay, Craigslist and Amazon. But I thought to list down some other resources and sites I’ve found useful for those shopping for and trading away their secondhand goods. Why not check out other auction sites?
Over the years, I’ve purchased everything from clothes to yarn on eBay. But staying close to just one online auction site might mean I’m missing out on good deals elsewhere. In the interest of saving more on the stuff I like, I decided to check out the following auction sites:
Online Auction Sites For Savings and Profit
uBid.com
uBid.com is an online auction site that can connect buyers with the goods they want. The site’s partners provide excess inventory in categories like computers, electronics, TVs, watches, fine art, and more.
My browsing yielded interesting finds like low-cost cameras, HDTVs, and Blu-ray DVD players for a steal. To try out their search feature, I went looking for an iPod Shuffle this time out. I joined an auction but didn’t win; still, it was an interesting experience. Now instead of participating in an auction, you can also buy an item outright through a uBuy It transaction.
To review your costs, you can tinker with a shipping calculator to see how your costs would increase. There’s a transaction fee of 3%, with a minimum of 50 cents and a $3.99 maximum. This fee is non-refundable.
Easy Payment Methods
As for payment, you could use the following payment methods: the usual credit cards, Bill Me Later, or even Google Checkout for uBuy It purchases. There’s even an option for an Extended Protection Plan if you feel that’s necessary. Like other auction services, uBid.com offers useful tools such as Auction Alerts to help you track specific items, and My Page, where you can look at the auctions you’re bidding on as well as your past auctions.
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