News

In-Depth Information on Banking Crisis

by

The Economist magazine has a 14-page report on the stat of  banking and the future of finance.  I happens to be a bit less alarmist than the reporting you typically see, and as a British publication it also has a solid look at how the current situation affects more than just the United States. If you are interested in the current situation and want more in-depth coverage than you normally get, it is a good read.

SEC Thinks Prospectuses Are Too Big!

by

laugh I laughed so hard I ended up crying. The [tag]SEC[/tag] is concerned that the prospectuses that mutual fund companies send to their clients are too big and full of legal mumbo jumbo to be useful to the general public. How many of you think that mutual fund companies WILLINGLY CHOOSE to spend the money to develop, write, print, and mail a 38-page book to your house, not just once, but every single year you own the fund?

Read More

Selling Your Own Home – Day 8

by

Sunday and two showings. Not too shabby. Overall, 7 showings for our first weekend on the market. We’ll take it. So far, no one seems shocked at the price which is good. We had to set our price in a bit of a vaccum since no one has sold a house in our neighborhood in a while. Otherwise, everything is pretty normal.

Selling Our Own Home – Day 7

by

home-for-saleSaturday and we’ve ended up with 5 showings. Not bad for a first weekend on the market considering how things are going in [tag]real estate[/tag] right now and the fact that it is still early April. Actually we weren’t really looking at selling in April but it was important for us to get out there first to help set the price in our market. Here is how to handle showings when you are [tag]selling your own home[/tag].

Read More

Money Psychology

by

I’ve decided to do a new series here at Finance Gourmet on the psychology of money.  Virtually all the emails I get and questions I’m being asked from both online and in person lately have to do more with psychology than they do with raw numbers and math.  I already have about eleven topics ready to go and I’m sure more will pop up as I go along.  Don’t miss out on any of them by: Getting the RSS feed

Bear Stearns Goes Belly Up

by

The official headline is J.P. Morgan buys Bear Stearns for $2 a share. The real headline is that for the first time since the savings and loan crisis in the 1980s, a major US bank has gone belly up.

How to Get a Bonus On Your Tax Rebate!

by

Tax Graphic Ok, it’s official. Pretty much everyone in America is getting a [tag]tax rebate[/tag] this summer. The IRS says they’ll start mailing checks in May. So how would you like to get a nice tax-free bonus on your tax rebate? Here’s how.

Your tax-rebate is part of the [tag]economic stimulus[/tag] package recently passed by Congress and signed by the President. You will get up to $600 per person or up to $1200 per joint couple. You also will get up to $300 per child. That money will be a tax free payment from the government. So how do you collect your bonus?

If you qualify for a deductible traditional [tag]IRA[/tag] contribution in 2008 and you put your rebate into a traditional IRA then you will get to deduct the amount of the contribution. So, if you are in the 30% tax bracket, it’s like getting a 30% bonus in the form of a deduction on your 2008 taxes (which you will file in 2009). If you are self-employed you can accomplish the same thing using your SEP or SIMPLE IRAs.

Read More