More Shoppers Avoiding Credit Cards.

December 29th, 2009

According to a recent AP article, more shoppers are wary of using credit cards this year despite the passage of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009.

Shoppers were so loath to use credit this holiday season that they were paying with cash, debit card and even cashing in frequent flyer miles and using free financing. They attribute this change in shopping behavior to a desire on the part of recession weary Americans to stick to a budget, and avoid rising interest rates.

That’s certainly a good thing.

What’s not a good thing is an increase in the use of layaway. That’s evidence that shoppers are still buying things they can’t afford to, and are living beyond their means. Maybe t

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2010 Resolution #2: Pay Cash for a Replacement for My Truck

December 29th, 2009

In an effort to talk about the power of goal-setting along with some methods of setting and achieving goals, I’m going to discuss my four resolutions for 2010 this week.

In 2001, I purchased a used 1997 Ford F-150 pickup truck. Over the ensuing eight years, I put nearly 120,000 miles on that truck.

As the truck approaches fifteen years of life, it’s showing some desperate signs of wear and tear. There’s a flood of repairs that are imminent on it. It also lacks in four wheel drive, which is something that we’ve decided we need due to the winter driving that we do. Perhaps most importantly, the truck will not seat five people – which is how many people our family will have come April.

To put it simply, the truck needs replaced. 2010 is t

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2010 Financial Resolution Guide: 10 Choices – A La Carte Style

December 28th, 2009

Looking for Financial Resolutions that you can Actually Stick to this Year?

If anyone knows how hard it is to stick to resolutions, it’s me. If I had a dollar for every time that I vowed that I was going to… stop talking about how real Sasquatch is, or… stop farting in the company of my dog and blaming it on him – then I’d be rich.

Giving a one-size-fits-all personal finance resolution list is incredibly unrealistic, and just downright arrogant. That’s wh

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Learn About Joint Life Insurance For Retirees Plans

December 28th, 2009

No wealth in the world can stop the inevitable ; no human in this world can envision what is going to happen tomorrow. If a untimely death has took place in your circle of relatives it is then when you realize that there isn’t any power in our hands.

The loss of loved one can give you a jolt and you concentrate on how life would be after you place yourself in this situation. An insurance policy is oneefficient way to ensure that your friends are having a safe future after you are now not around. Having insured is the best present you can give your folks so they can have a steady future to anticipate.

If taking insurance is on cards then a policy that can work for you is joint term life insurance. I

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What Investment Firms and Gamblers Know About CDOs, And You Don’t

December 27th, 2009

As expected, my last post, “Fiduciary Duty and the Victim Mindset” sparked a lot of discussion. There are several intelligent comments on both my site, and on the republished version at Seeking Alpha, most of which I’ve done my best to respond to with clarifications of why I think my post is reasonable and accurate.

I had the epiphany this morning that the proper analogy with these CDO’s lies in sports betting. I left the following comment (edited slightly here) on another blog this morning:

To me, financial markets are not unlike sports bookmaking. In the bookie world, you have the “Squares” who are analogous to the retail investors.

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