Our Personal Finance Blog
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Jul 22, 2009, Over-Saving for Retirement?
Haruki writes in:
I am putting 15% of my salary into my 401(k) which gets a 5% match from my employer. I also contribute the max to my Roth IRA.
I followed up with Haruki and found that his salary is $46,000 per year and he’s twenty seven years old, just for calculation’s sake....
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Jul 22, 2009, How Fear and Greed Can Derail Your Stock Strategy
Fear and greed.
Those are the emotions that rule the markets, and changes in stock prices simply reflect the swing of the pendulum between the two extremes. Only lately the swings have arrived with more violence than a Transformers movie....
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Jul 22, 2009, Teaching Kids About Money the Hard Way
It’s getting harder for parents to raise financially independent young adults.
Many banks refuse to open individual checking accounts for 16- and 17-year-olds, requiring parents to jointly own the account, even if the youngsters have a job. Colleges urge parents to link their bank accounts or credit cards to the prepaid cash cards that double as their students’ ID cards, to ensure a regular flow of funds from the Bank of Mom and Dad....
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Jul 21, 2009, Manage Your Money Like Warren Buffett
If you saw a mysterious $4 entry on your income-tax return, would you sweat it? What if you were a billionaire many times over? Would it even catch your eye?
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Jul 21, 2009, Earn less money, have more time
If extra schooling seems like a lot of effort, get used to it -- the more educated you are, the more hours you're likely to work....
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Jul 21, 2009, 10 Things Your Parents Didn’t Teach You About Money
When you were growing up, you probably became accustomed to hearing some typical thoughts about money from your parents. These parents are the ones who told you that money doesn’t grow on trees. If it weren’t for your parents, you wouldn’t know that children are starving in Africa and therefore you should eat your entire dinner. When you didn’t complete your chores, you didn’t earn your allowance. Sometimes....
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Jul 20, 2009, Where to Live Cheaply
Centuries ago, Native Americans discovered a pleasant spot on the banks of the Merrimack River. They called it "Namoskeag," which translates loosely to "the good fishing place."...
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Jul 20, 2009, Where to stash $10,000
NEW YORK (Money) -- Question: If you had $10,000 to invest for short-term growth, what would you invest it in? My wife and I feel that our everyday savings are sitting stagnant. Our hope is that there is a wise financial adventure to be had by allocating a portion of this account to something new. Any suggestions? --Stuart, Trussville, Alabama...
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Jul 20, 2009, When Is the Best Time to Buy...?
Timing is everything. To get the best deals, you've got to know when to shop.
There are some purchases that are difficult to time perfectly, such as stocks, airplane tickets and gas. But many other consumer staples -- from cars to electronics to produce -- go on sale predictably at certain times of the year, saving you a bundle if you plan your purchases accordingly....
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Jul 17, 2009, Envisioning Retirement, With a Backup Plan
Promoting tourism on TV a few years ago, Gov. Ed. Rendell of Pennsylvania urged travel on old Route 6, an east-west two-lane just below the New York border that was eclipsed long ago by the interstates. So on a vacation to western New York my family and I took his advice and spent three days getting there instead of one....
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Jul 17, 2009, Safeguarding Your Income
When it comes to financial success, your most important tool is your income. Without an income you can’t pay the bills, reduce your debt, or even buy the simple things you need to survive. With a properly maintained income, however, nothing is impossible. No matter what your personal financial philosophy, an income is one thing you can’t do without....
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Jul 17, 2009, The New Stars of the Blogosphere
Americans trying to understand the nail-biting financial trauma of the past several months are flocking by the millions to a surprisingly lively source of enlightenment: blogs written by economists....
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Jul 16, 2009, How to Invest after the First-Half Rally
The first half of 2009 was another wild period for the stock market, but most investors would probably agree that things look better now than they did a few months ago. The economy has shown signs of stabilizing, and nobody is talking any more about the collapse and/or nationalization of the U.S. banking system, as some people were back in February and early March. The S&P 500 Index is up by more than 30% from its March 9 low, and other indexes are up by similar amounts....
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Jul 16, 2009, Home Ownership Was Never a Road to Riches
My wife and I have sold all of our four previous homes for more than we paid for them—sometimes a lot more.
We’ve been pretty lucky. We’ve never overpaid much for a house, we’ve always bought in good school districts and decent neighborhoods, we’ve lived in neighborhoods where prices soared during the real-estate bubble, and we’ve been hurt but not decimated by the bursting of that bubble....
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Jul 16, 2009, How to Overcome Financial Chaos
In his book "Managing at the Speed of Change", Atlanta-based consultant Daryl Conner writes, "The key difference between equilibrium and chaos is...the degree to which one's expectations are met. Some of the most frightening situations are those in which we not only lack a sense of control over our environment but we are shocked that this lack of control could occur."...
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Jul 15, 2009, 10 Things Your Real Estate Broker Won't Say
1. "Your open house is really just a networking party for me."
Hire a real estate broker to sell your home, and one of the first things he'll likely suggest is hosting an open house so that potential buyers can casually check out your property on a weekend afternoon. But while open houses are promoted as a great way of finding a buyer, a National Association of Realtors study found that their success rate is a mere 2 to 4 percent....
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Jul 15, 2009, How Obama wants to transform your finances
Our financial system allowed Wall Street to take on too much risk. Consumers were overwhelmed by too much complexity. Can the President restore some balance?...
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Jul 15, 2009, Can You Time the Market?
After watching 70% of his retirement savings evaporate in the 2000-02 bear market, Bob Parrish was determined not to leave what was left to the mercy of the investing gods. So he fired his financial adviser and decided to try something most experts say you should never do: time the market. "Most people thought 2000 was the beginning of a secular bear market," says Parrish, using a term that describes a prolonged downturn. "People said you could still make money, but instead of buy and hold, you had to take a different tack." So he vowed to buy only when he thought the market was headed upward and to bet against it at other times....
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Jul 14, 2009, Still Working? How to Handle Office Cutbacks.
So you still have your job, but you're getting a lot less work these days.
Maybe that overtime you used to count on has disappeared. Or your boss asked you to take a few weeks of unpaid vacation. Perhaps the number of hours you put in each week has been dwindling....
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Jul 14, 2009, Protect Yourself From a Credit Card Backlash
The most sweeping credit card legislation in years is good news for cardholders — but banks will respond by charging you more and giving you less. Here's what to do about it.
There's plenty to like about the credit card reforms President Obama signed into law this May....
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