As featured on:
Are You Ready To Take Charge of Your Financial Life?
Timmy The Tractor
It’s always excited to see local professionals attempting to leave their mark across different channels. Today’s interview is with Angie Wyatt, lead anchor for WSIL Tv-3 and her story about trying to create a kid’s book.
Read this article →
photo by joiseyshowaa
This report was prepared by my firm LPL Financial
Geopolitical events have been reasserting an influence on the markets after a brief honeymoon period with a new U.S. administration for foreign leaders to assess and a global financial crisis to deal with.
Last week we witnessed India‘s election igniting a powerful global stock market rally on Monday, May 18 when the ruling Congress Party emerged victorious. If the hard-line nationalist main opposition party had won, Indian restraint against Pakistan would not be assured in the event of another largescale militant attack like the one that took place in Mumbai in November 2008. With the surprisingly strong showing by India’s ruling party, India is staying on the sidelines and looking to the United States to manage Pakistan’s jihadist problems. [.....]
Read this article →![photo by yushimoto_02 [christian]](http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/should-father-help-son-get-out-of-debt.jpg "should-father-help-son-get-out-of-debt")
photo by yushimoto_02 [christian
Q: I am single, 25 and have $26,000 of debt. I was making some progress on getting this paid down, and had never been late on a payment when my credit card companies hiked their rates. Now I struggle just to make minimum payments. My father offered to open a line of credit in his name to pay off my debts with the understanding that I will pay off the line of credit. I like this option because it will allow me to be debt free and, with the lower interest rates, once again start making progress on getting the line of credit paid off. Should I take him up on this offer?
A: Your father is offering to borrow the money he is going to loan you. This is generous of him, but nevertheless a short sighted solution, for several reasons. [.....]
Read this article →
Buying a House at Auction
Auctions can be great fun, as well as places for genuine bargains. The key is to know how the auction process works and to take advantage of a bargain if it fits your plans.
Prior to attending an auction, potential buyers should try to find out as much as possible about specific properties they are interested in. While most real estate auctions allow prospective buyers some inspection rights, direct contact with the administrator of the auction is frequently needed to arrange personal inspections. [.....]
Read this article →
Memorial Day 2009
Memorial Day is always a challenging day for me. It’s a day where I feel so thankful to be at home with my family and realize how fortunate I am to have survived a deployment to Iraq. There have been countless times where people have thanked me for my service and it always leaves me speechless. What does one say to that? Typically, I just respond with, “Thank you for the acknowledgment”. I mean I just did what was asked. That’s it. But there have been thousands of fallen soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice and that’s what Memorial Day is about.
If you know somebody who has lost a loved one in the war, tell them your thinking about them. This day is for them.
You can find a good memorial day read over at Art of Manliness. He has a guest post from Lt. Buck Compton who is one of the last survivor members of Easy Company (from the HBO documentary Band Of Brothers). When I think of heroes, these are the guys that I think about it. [.....]
Read this article →
Tasty Protein Health Shake
Anybody interested in losing weight, feeling better, improving your health and doing so in less than 7 minutes? If so, you may want to read this article. You are probably asking yourself if this is an infomercial and I assure you it is not. This is a self discovery that I made several years ago that I attribute to my exceptional health and well being. First, a little background…..
I became a workout buff right about the age of 19. During college, it was typical for me to frequent the gym 4-5 days per week. I did the protein powders, creatine, vitamins and everything else an obsessive fit person would do. I even ate canned tuna fish mixed with cottage cheese during a low carb phase I was doing. (Ewww. Would never do that again!). But then a little thing happened after college…..LIFE. I became career focused and the gym and “eating right” took a backseat.
I slowly saw my weight start to creep up. I’m not sure what the defining moment was, but I knew I needed to do something. I also knew that it all starts with the diet. But being extremely busy I had to figure out something that I could prepare the night before and would be easy to fit in my unpredictable work day. Introducing: The Busy Man’s Health Shake. [.....]
Read this article →
photo by kenyee
In November 2008, the FDIC launched the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee (TLG) program to help issuers of corporate bank debt obtain financing during extremely illiquid and volatile market conditions. Banks participating in the program had to pay a fee, but it was more than offset by the substantially lower borrowing costs of issuing TLG debt rather than traditional Corporate Bonds. The FDIC guarantee of principal and interest payments that gives the bonds a AAA rating expires in December 2012, so bonds must mature before that date. TLG Corporate Bonds are considered “Agency” Bonds, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac traditional debt securities, and therefore included in government bond indexes. [.....]
Read this article →
DonorsChoose.Org
Isn’t always exciting to win a contest? I had the privilege of winning a contest that was sponsored by Green Panda Treehouse. What I won was a gift that keeps on giving. Green Panda had purchased a gift card to to an online charitable organization called Donors Choose.org that contributes to public schools. With the card I was able to go the site and pick a charity that was near and dear to me. Which one did I choose? Well, you know it had to be personal finance related. The name of the project was called Bail Out Or Budget?. The goal of the project was to prepare the students with the important basics of personal finance and budgeting. It didn’t take me long to figure out that this was the project for me. [.....]
Read this article →
This is another guest post from Joe Plemon from Plemon Financial Coaching. Joe is the Money Columnist for The Southern Illinoisan.
In February, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This act includes a tax credit on “earned income” which should have been reflected on your pay checks starting in April. Specifically, individuals with MAGI (modified adjusted gross income) of up to $75,000 will receive the lesser of 6.2% of their MAGI or $400 credit in 2009 and 2010. Married couples with MAGI up to $150,000 will receive the lesser of 6.2% or $800 credit this year and next. [.....]
Read this article →
photo by Τchasty ♥
The Traditional IRA and its offshoots (SEP, SIMPLE, rollover and Roth IRAs) play a leading role in helping millions of U.S. taxpayers invest for retirement. However, many IRA owners are unaware of the opportunity they have to consolidate their multiple IRAs by using a “Super IRA” strategy (most common is a rollover 401k). An IRA consolidation strategy can lead to reduced fees and increased buying power. I’ve had several instances where an individual has had several old retirement plans from previous employers. That has included defined benefit plans, 401k’s, TSP’s, 403b’s and Keough plans. The paperwork alone was cumbersome and consolidating has made tremendous sense. [.....]
Read this article →
Overwhelmed by the storm's aftermath
Living in Southern Illinois there aren’t many emergencies that we have to be prepared for. We will have the occasional ice storm in the winter. During the summer humidity is almost unbearable, but we’re not accustomed to much more than that. That was until Friday, May 8th, when I experienced a storm like no other.
I was set to play in the annual Carterville Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Golf Scramble that had a tee time of 1 p.m. It had rained all morning, but I was hopeful that it would still not prevent the days festivities. I had no idea by the end of the day that my main concern would be whether my home was still standing and not that I had shanked my drive on Hole #9 (or every other hole for that matter). [.....]
Read this article →
Meltdown or Meltup?
Dear Clients:
Have you ever noticed that there are lots of words to describe a meltdown—catastrophe, calamity, disaster, crisis, cataclysm—and comparatively few words, if any, to describe the opposite?
As we clearly recall, in 2008 the financial meltdown stunned the economy and drove severe declines in the stock market. Those losses extended into 2009 with a 25% drop in the S&P 500 in the first nine weeks of the year. Reporters and pundits were forced to break out their thesauruses to find more ways to describe the meltdown. Then, suddenly, conditions began to improve. Over the following nine weeks the economy and markets demonstrated a rapid pace of improvement with stocks rebounding into positive territory for the year. This “meltup”—to try to coin a new term—was driven by the steady improvement in key economic indicators, the credit market, the labor market, and the outlook for profits. [.....]
Read this article →
Jeff Rose is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and founder of Alliance Wealth Management, LLC.
Learn more on Good Financial Cents. Read more on my about page and learn more on personal finance, financial management and how to dump your debt.
Alliance Wealth Management, LLC
Jeff Rose, Certified Financial Planner™
115 S. Washington St.
Carbondale, IL 62901
(866)267-2591
Copyright © 2008-2012 Good Financial Cents. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimers.
Powered by SI Small Business Solutions
