Surviving and Thriving in 2008
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Archived Under: Financial Planning , The Moneysherpa Pages
Tags: Financial Planning, The Moneysherpa Pages
2008 started with such promise. Sure, the danger signs were everywhere, but like every New Year, optimism prevailed. Well into 2008, many wish for another new year and an end to the stream of economic woe and confusion. Before throwing in the towel, Moneysmartz offers the following ideas to survive and thrive:- Take stock of your current financial situation. Begin by calculating your net worth and determining if you have enough saved in an emergency fund. You might find that you are in better shape than you thought or that you need to act right away to shore up your financial situation.
- Prepare a budget. Sites like Mint.com make it easy and it won't take as much time as you think.
- Assess your protection against risk by inventorying your insurance coverage. In the event of a worst-case, you'll be happy you took the time.
- Avoid making investment decisions based on emotion. Understand your risk tolerance and investment time horizon to avoid selling low and buying high.
- Learn more about the big economic issues of the day so you can make smarter and more informed decisions.
- Try not to lose sleep over a loss in your home value if you don't intend to sell, refinance, or get a home equity loan. The market will eventually recover. This provides small comfort to those facing a reset on their mortgage interest rate or foreclosure, but for the majority of homeowners, a reset or foreclosure is not a concern.
- Reduce your daily spending through frugality. Go to sites like Valpak.com for money saving coupons.
- Focus on the areas where you have more control, including your job, your education, your health, and your family. If you are worried about losing your job, then prepare your resume, start calling your friends, and prepare for a change.
Suggested Sites: NetWorthIQ, Mint.com, A.M. Best, Insurance.com, CCH Financial Planning Toolkit, About.com Economics, FrontDoor, Federal Reserve Education: Foreclosures, About.com Frugal Living, Cool Savings, Vault.
Guide Categories: Assessing Your Financial Situation, Financial Calculators, Financial Goal Setting, Financial Planning, Insurance, Investing, Investment Time Horizon, Economics, The Federal Reserve Bank, Stagflation, Mortgages, Real Estate, Foreclosures, Frugality, Coupons, Compensation and Benefits.
Worst Case Insurance Planning
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Archived Under: Financial Planning , Insurance , The Moneysherpa Pages
Tags: Financial Planning, Insurance, The Moneysherpa Pages
Chances are you don't have enough insurance coverage. In fact, according to the Insurance Information Institute, nearly 60% of American homes are inadequately covered. So if you think you fall into this group, here's a way to get motivated to get the insurance you really need. Visualize your worst-case scenarios. It's a difficult way to plan, but if a worst-case occurs, you will be thankful you took the time to think ahead. To learn the basics of insurance planning and start filling gaps, visit the MSN Money and Marketwatch guide "Making sure your insurance fits." The Moneysmartz Insurance Guide offers even more links to relevant and reliable sources of Insurance information and advice.
FINVIZ
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Archived Under: Investing , New and Notable
Tags: Investing, Investing Research, New and Notable
What if you could assess the state of the financial markets in a blink of an eye? FINVIZ.com, a provider of financial research, analysis, and visualization services, helps investors visualize market opportunities in seconds, instead of minutes or more. FINVIZ.com Maps yield unique insights through a bird's eye view of the stock market, including the visualization of company capitalization, industry, and stock price movements. To learn how to use FINVIZ, click the guided tour link at the bottom of the home page for a brief video introduction. To screen stocks and find out what the analysts are saying about your favorite investment, visit the Screener page. For insight into insider trades, go to Insider. Visit Portfolio to create you own investment portfolio watchlist, tracking daily performance and linking to recent news. Registration is required to use the FINVIZ Portfolio section, but it is free and only takes a few seconds. To learn about new site features, visit the FINVIZ blog. Whether you are an avid stock picker or casual market observer, beware, FINVIZ may be addictive.
Day Trading Update
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Archived Under: Directory Updates , Investing
Tags: Day Trading, Directory Updates, Investing
The recently updated Moneysmartz Day Trading page, designed to highlight the risk of day trading, includes two cautionary listings from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). According to the SEC, "Day trading is extremely risky and can result in substantial financial losses in a very short period of time." If you still have the stomach for day trading after visiting the SEC listings, then go to the Wikipedia and Investopedia listings to learn even more about day trading, including trading strategies for beginners.
Foreclosures Update
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Archived Under: Directory Updates , Real Estate
Tags: Directory Updates, Foreclosures, Real Estate
The recently created Moneysmartz Foreclosures page offers tips, advice, and solutions to consumers facing the nightmare of foreclosure. For links to agencies and organizations offering consumer assistance, visit the Federal Reserve Education foreclosure page, a Moneysmartz Editor Best Bet. When using Google to find foreclosure information, beware of the numerous foreclosure listing sites targeting real estate investors, as many offer little useful information for consumers facing foreclosure. If you are a real estate investor looking for local foreclosures, then try RealtyTrac, the self-proclaimed "#1 source of foreclosure listings." For ways to avoid foreclosures, look to About Home Buying, with links to how foreclosures work and ways to stop foreclosures.
Garage Sale Tips
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Archived Under: Money Management , The Moneysherpa Pages
Tags: Garage Sales, Money Management, The Moneysherpa Pages
Spring is finally here, your house is full of clutter, and you are looking for a few extra dollars to pay for the rising cost of gas. If you are willing to invest some sweat equity, then a garage sale is a great way to clean and get some green. Before getting started with your garage sale, visit the Yardsalequeen.com for common sense tips and more links. Wondering how to price your items? Visit Your Garage Sale Source for pricing ideas. Try Craigslist to find and advertise your garage sale. For example, if you live in Denver, visit Google, type keywords "craigslist Denver garage sale," and click "I'm feeling lucky" to view the Craigslist Denver garage sale classifieds page. In addition, many local newspapers host garage sale pages with maps and information, so try Google keyword search "your city garage sales." Finally, if you are pressed for time or feeling charitable, find a local Goodwill to donate your stuff.
Money Real Estate Survival Guide 08
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Archived Under: Real Estate , The Moneysherpa Pages
Tags: Money Magazine, Real Estate, The Moneysherpa Pages
Money Magazine's 2008 Real Estate Survival Guide offers a tale of a world turned upside down with growth predicted for Syracuse, Buffalo, and Scranton, and dire times for the darlings of real estate, including Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. With projected eye-popping real estate price declines, what can we do to survive and for the select few, even prosper?The Money Magazine Real Estate Survival Guide offers facts, tips, and insight. Here's how to make the most of the guide:
- Get the facts about your market including home price data for 381 markets.
- Learn the new rules of real estate including how homes will be financed in the future, what to ask your next mortgage broker, and a video on real estate trends.
- Try to stay positive, but if you must wallow in a little misery, take consolation in tales from the California bust.
Squidoo Personal Finance
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Archived Under: The Moneysherpa Pages
Tags: Squidoo, The Moneysherpa Pages
Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia open to editing by anyone, was the first of many collaborative web-based resources. Squidoo, a relatively new entrant into the space, with an emphasis on openness, declares, "Everyone's an expert on something!" This is bad news if you are looking to use Squidoo for definitive financial advice, but good news if you are looking for fresh perspectives on your personal finances.To get the most from your visit to Squidoo, the following tips will help guide your way:
- Use the search bar at the top of the Squidoo home page and enter a financial keyword. Let's try personal finance.
- Note the terminology on the search results page. A Lens is a page created by someone. A LensRank™ "is the secret Squidoo algorithm for ranking lenses. A LensRank of #1 is best! (Ex: LensRank #14 beats out LensRank #39,999)."
- Sort search results by LensRank or Recently Updated.
- Buyer beware. Lenses come in a variety of shapes and sizes, including thinly veiled advertisements with links to more obvious advertisements. Like so many web 2.0 websites, the ranking system is not foolproof.
- Patience is a virtue. You'll have to do some digging to find gems. Here are two (we had to do a lot of searching to find these examples): The Best Personal Finance Websites and CFP.
Moneysmarts Jargonator
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Archived Under: Financial Services , The Moneysherpa Pages
Tags: Financial Services, The Moneysherpa Pages
A recent survey by AARP Financial MoneySmarts found that Americans confusion about financial jargon leads to mistakes and lost opportunities. If you have slogged or searched your way through the mass of financial services information on the Web, or even talked with a financial adviser steeped in technical terminology, then the study results are not a surprise and are not necessarily that helpful. However, the AARP Financial microsite offers a solution, an easy-to-use tool to convert financial jargon into plain language. In case you were wondering, MoneySmarts is not related to or affiliated with Moneysmartz.
Eight Millionaire
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Archived Under: Retirement Planning , The Moneysherpa Pages
Tags: Net Worth, Retirement Planning, The Moneysherpa Pages
As the experts bemoan the low personal savings rate in the United States, hovering around zero percent, it's interesting and perhaps instructional to compute the modern day equivalent of a "millionaire."Before determining the magic number, a base year and inflation index are needed. First, and somewhat arbitrarily, 1955 will be the base year, a time of growth and tranquility, with "millionaire" entering popular culture and representing affluence and the "good life." Next, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of the average change in prices over time in a market basket of goods and services, will be used as an index to convert 1955 dollars to 2008 dollars.
Using a CPI inflation calculator with 1955 as the base year and the CPI as the inflation index, the magic number is a little over $8 million.
Your reaction to this number may be a shrug of the shoulders, but if you are in 20's, 30's and even 40's, with diminished prospects for receiving Social Security, being a "millionaire" may not be enough to sustain you during your golden years.
The good news is that even if you don't reach $8 million, you have plenty of time to save.
Tips From The Woodstock of Capitalism 08
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Archived Under: Investing , The Moneysherpa Pages
Tags: Investing, The Moneysherpa Pages, Warren Buffett
"The most important investment you can make is in yourself." Like much of the Q&A during yesterday's Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting of shareholders at Omaha's Qwest Center, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger offered plenty of common sense wisdom and investing advice, including tips on a variety of topics:
- Self-Improvement: Invest in your mind and body. Your best asset is yourself.
- Investing: For smaller portfolios, invest in a low cost index fund like Vanguard.
- Business Ownership: If you have a great business, then don't sell. Your business is worth more every year. If you are looking to monetize your investment, sell to someone who will be a good steward of what you have created.
- Reading Suggestions for Kids: Start with your local newspaper. The more you learn, the more you will want to learn.
- Recommended Book About Investing: The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham, especially chapters 8 and 20.
- Fish of the Day Investment Ideas: Avoid them, as most are a way to sell more. For example, the 130/30 Long-Short Equity Fund.
- Business School: Most important concepts that should be learned are "how to value a business" and "how to assess market fluctuations."
Warren Buffett
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Archived Under: Directory Updates , Investing
Tags: Directory Updates, Investing, Warren Buffett
Staid, steady, and low-key, not the ingredients to attract over 30,000 admirers to Nebraska on a blustery May weekend. However, for many, Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, and its star attraction, Warren Buffett, have enough sparks to sizzle an Omaha steak without a grill.The newly created Moneysmartz Warren Buffett category includes quotes, letters, and insight into the wit and undeniable wisdom of Warren Buffett.
For entertaining and useful investment insight, be sure to visit the link to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholder letters. To learn about how the "Oracle of Omaha" does it, visit the Investopedia Editor Best Bet.
Even if you won't be making a pilgrimage to the "Woodstock of capitalism" this weekend, don't miss the chance to learn from the master by visiting a link or two at the Moneysmartz Warren Buffett page.
The Forever Stamp
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Archived Under: Money Management , The Moneysherpa Pages
Tags: Money Management, The Forever Stamp, The Moneysherpa Pages
Until the introduction of the Forever stamp last year, the frequent rise in the price of United States Postal Service (USPS) first-class postage presented an annoying dilemma for those left with unused and under priced stamps, waste money by combining two one-ounce first-class stamps or buy smaller denomination stamps to use with the now under priced first-class stamps.Thanks to a little USPS creativity, the dilemma can be avoided through a Forever stamp, postage purchased today that is good for mailing "one-ounce first-class letters anytime in the future -- regardless of price changes."
With another penny price hike set for May 12, raising the price of a first-class stamp to 42 cents, we are faced with another, more pleasant dilemma. Stock up on the 41-cent Forever stamp today, and save a penny, or wait and buy a 42-cent Forever stamp on or after May 12. Regardless of your decision, the Forever stamp will probably save you a few pennies and make your life a little easier. To purchase stamps online, visit The Postal Store.