The United States is going through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Are the government’s efforts to pull the economy out of a devastating recession beginning to show signs of progress?
By no means are we out of the woods just yet, but we are beginning to see glimmers of hope, according to the White House. Banks are freeing up lending and homeowners are taking advantage of low mortgage rates.
Global economists are in agreement that the recession has reached the bottom or is very close to the bottom. Some are saying we have begun a very weak recovery already and are predicting a moderate improvement in 2010.
It seems almost self-evident that everyone borrowed too much, creating a level of debt that is crushing our economy.
Do we really have the hope that the economy may pull out of recession by the end of 2009?
US officials are hoping that the sharp decline in economic activity may be slowing, but 2009 continues to be a difficult year. In a report today, employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate climbed to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent.
How much worse do things have to get before they start getting better?
Tags: economy economic recovery, global downturn, government, home mortgage, lending, recession, unemployment rate
Did you ever wonder what someone dying really means? How many people are actually worth more after their death? In the case of Michael Jackson, his death will make him an even bigger star. The King of Pop’s death is likely to yield a financial bonanza more lucrative than any comeback tour ever could.
During his life, Michael Jackson sold hundreds of millions of records. His musical legacy should easily have led him to amass one of the greatest fortunes in show-business history. But instead, a history of bad management, excessive personal spending, and big legal bills left him almost broke.
Jackson’s financial problem stems from the fact he continued to spend tens of millions of dollars a year even as his musical output—and his income—slowed down. In recent years Jackson financed his personal debts by borrowing against assets, and by some estimates his total borrowings at his death may have exceeded $400 million.
His death parallels that of Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 at age 42. Like Jackson, at the end of his life, Presley hadn’t had a hit album in years. He was mostly relying on royalties from his past hits and doing shows in Las Vegas. But in death he became a moneymaking phenomenon.
Might not be a bad time to become a Michael Jackson impersonator.
Tags: debt, financial management, income, personal finances, spending
Moby’s new album, “Wait for Me” came out this week. One of the songs is called JLTF. When discussing the inspiration for the song, Moby states:
“the reason people do drugs more often than not is they want to be happy. We think of drug users as being subhuman and living in gutters and the people who sell drugs are mean people who use guns. At the end of the day, someone whos doing drugs wants to feel good, like a child eating Oreos. Theres nothing nefarious about their intentions its just someone trying to feel better than they normally would, with that added bonus of nihilism thrown in there. “
For many, purchasing goods/services they don’t need is a kind of ‘drug’. Its a way to try and make yourself feel better instantly. However, much like hardcore drugs, in the end, you feel worst because you have the added stress of not being able to pay off your purchases. If you find yourself compulsively shopping and loading your credit cards with more and more debt, its time to take a look in the mirror and ask if you really need all those things to make you feel ‘happier’.
Tags: credit cards, debt, help
In these hard times it can be challenging to consider making money, let alone saving money. But regardless of your current financial situation, and in good times and bad, money matters and the more you know about how to save money, the better you’re able to take the good times with the bad.
Saving money doesn’t have to be as hard as you think. It starts with focusing on creating a basic savings account.
First start where you are: People often sabotage savings plans because they feel that “we don’t have enough to start saving yet” or “there won’t be enough in checking if we move this over…”
You’ll never begin if you don’t start somewhere. Don’t wait for someday to start your savings account; start from where you are, even if it’s just a few dollars. By committing to this amount, even this small of an amount, every week, you can and will have a savings account to be proud of.
Make goals, create limits on spending, on borrowing, on lending and on having cash on hand. Define your limits, stick to a budget. Don’t start a savings account with some pie-in-the-sky dream of having a million dollars by the end of the year, instead have a specific, realistic and attainable goal in mind.
Be committed by making long-term commitments to your financial success. You can’t save money if you don’t commit to success for a set period of time.
Consider automating your savings account, not just to ensure that you regularly contribute to it but also to ensure that it continues to “roll over” as it profits. Your banker can help you set up such an account.
Don’t try to save too much, too fast, or so much, so soon that you short-circuit your savings before you even begin. Crunch the numbers safely so that you can save enough for it to be a sacrifice, but not so much that it becomes a slaughter.
Once your savings account is up and running, do not allow your money to sit there and grow moss. Diversify to increase interest on existing capital. It is important to weigh your options to ensure that not just are you saving money, but you’re making money as well.
Saving money isn’t easy, especially in these tough and trying times. However, the benefits of a healthy, growing savings account can ensure the financial success of your future.
Tags: budget, financial goals, financial success, recession, saving money
The unemployment rate continues to rise month after month. If you are currently working, count yourself lucky, but keep in mind that tomorrow you may be faced with the real possibility of job loss. There are things you can do now to help you meet your financial obligations in the event of unforeseeable circumstances.
Income Protection Insurance
In its most popular form, income replacement is called ‘disability’ insurance, which helps replace income for those who are injured and unable to work.
There are insurance companies that will sell unemployment income protection policies, however. You can choose a policy that will start replacing a portion of your income, usually about 1/2 or 2/3 of your normal monthly earnings, approximately one month after you become unemployed. Rates can be high for this insurance, but the money you receive while unemployed can save your home and support your family while you find other work.
Mortgage Protection
This type of insurance will continue to pay your mortgage or a portion of your mortgage should you become disabled and unable to work or become unemployed. Though most mortgage protection insurance policies pay your full mortgage upon your untimely death, there are policies available that will simply take over payments if you become financially unable to do so.
Savings
You should have an emergency savings account with at least three to six months of living expenses available. If you suddenly lose your job, you will need this savings account to continue paying your mortgage and supporting your family. If you do not have an emergency savings account, set one up today and begin contributing funds into it as soon as possible.
Annuity
Annuities are a type of investment option, usually through insurance companies, where you pay a lump sum or a monthly amount into the annuity, and at an agreed time, the insurance company begins paying you a regular monthly income. The payments to you are based on the interest returns on your money and how long you wish to receive payments. If you have a lump sum of money that you can afford to put into an annuity, the returns can be greater than leaving the money in a small interest-bearing savings account.
Protecting your income due to unforeseen events should be a high priority for everyone. Save or buy insurance or an annuity so that you will have income if you are out of work for any reason.
Tags: annuity, home mortgage, insurance, loss of income, savings
Visualizing is the key to realizing…..it’s the key to realizing your dreams, passions, business growth, relationships, your health, and the money in your pocket.
There are many benefits to visualizing, and several ways you can use it for creating success in your life.
Many people think success and wealth are given to us or endowed to certain people. That’s far from the truth. The truth is that success and wealth are already programmed within us. They are birthrights, available to us at anytime we choose. All we have to do is tap into our given right for success and wealth.
You can tap into your unlimited success by using creative visualization. Plain and simple, when you visualize, you’re projecting out to the Universe the result of the thing you want.
If you want to grow a particular business of yours, visualize the outcome as if your business is already a success. Get a clear picture in your head of exactly the way you want your business to look 1 year from now, 5 years of now, and 10 years from now. Play it like a movie in your head. Make the vision bright and colorful. Incorporate all of your five senses. The goal here is to make it as real as possible. The more real you make it, the more believable it will be and become a fact in your life.
You can take your mental picture and apply it into your life so you start getting results. The first step is you have to decided exactly what you want. Not what you don’t want, but what you want.
Make the vision so real that you convince yourself that it has to happen. If you stick to this vision it must come to past.
To create anything you want in life you must first visualize the exact outcome as if you already have that thing. Be very specific and detailed because the mind will attract exactly what you give it. Play the vision of your desires and wants on the screen of your mind. Make it so real that you create the belief that “this has to happen.”
The more you visualize, the easier it will get. Practice creative visualization when you first get up in the morning and at night when you’re in bed about to go to sleep. These are the two quietest times of the day and when your conscious mind is at ease.
Tags: results, success, visualization, wealth
by sebastiandavies
It’s a new world out there today. You can’t help but wonder what that means for your own life, career and future. The economy is crumbling into pieces, people continue to lose jobs, and savings have been wiped out. The truth of the matter is, what’s falling apart around us wasn’t really working anyway.
It’s almost as if we were all hamsters on the wheel of life. We were all chasing after something, working harder to make more and more to keep our lifestyles going… to get to the next promotion, the bigger house, newer car and the next hot investment returning double digit growth. As a society and as individuals, we have been chasing after our lives so hard that we don’t even know if we are living the lives we REALLY want to live. It has been exhausting running on this treadmill, that frankly hasn’t made most of us any happier.
There are two choices at all of our disposals as to how we approach this new world: One, like a squirrel, grab all your nuts, keep stashing away what you can and hide out until it’s all over, as if the world will ever be the same! Or two, see this new world as a great opportunity to redefine your life and get clear on what you really want, what success and happiness really mean to you so that you can build a life that will actually make you happy and successful. You can choose to seize the opportunity of creating a new world and determining your part in it. The old security blankets have been shaken out to show that they don’t offer so much security after all, and that is freeing. No longer do you have to work and be miserable just so you can retire, or climb up some linear corporate ladder in an attempt to reach some imaginary land where you will feel successful and happy… you can actually take the restructuring of the world as a time to pause, reflect and redefine what it is that will truly get you the happiness and success you crave.
Tags: economy, financial security, success
The recent failure of several major financial institutions, widespread credit squeeze, and big drop in stock prices have led to what is considered by many as the worst financial situation in the United States since the Great Depression in the 1930s. This crisis has had or will have major impacts on most sectors of the US economy—including higher education, which now accounts for roughly 3 percent of the US gross domestic product. The global impact of the financial difficulties in the United States means that many countries around the world may face similar challenges in charting the course of their economies and in financing their higher education systems.
Most comments about the effects of this financial crisis on higher education have focused on the possible drying up of student loans. However, the impact on the ability of students and their families to pay for college will likely extend, including whether many families can still use home equities to pay for college and how the downturn in the stock market affects the growing dependence on family savings for tuition and other expenses. The financial crisis will also involve large ramifications for many aspects of institutional finance such as whether endowments and gifts continue to grow as they have in the recent past, as well as how colleges and universities price themselves.
Complicating this discussion is the lack of comprehensive or reliable data on the effects of the current financial squeeze on any of these resources for higher education. But each of these plausible effects is worth investigating and policymakers ought to consider how to deal with them.
Student Loans
Three basic kinds of student loans now exist in the United States—two of them created in federal legislation. The largest source of student borrowing in the United States is the federally guaranteed program first established in 1965. The private lenders are insured against most losses via federal and state guarantee arrangements; these loans account for more than half of all student loans in the United States, which now amount to nearly $100 billion annually.
In the 1990s, the federal government created a direct-loan program working directly with institutions to provide loans to students. Although this federal program now represents less than one-fifth of all student borrowing, it has introduced competition into the marketplace as private lenders and servicers can no longer threaten to vacate the student-loan field if their legislative demands and needs are not met.
Private loans without federal involvement or guarantee have been the fastest-growing component of the student-loan market in the United States in recent years, for they have been used to make up for the difference in what colleges charge and what aid is available from various sources, including federally based loans. These private loans have mushroomed over the past decade to account for 20 percent or more of the total student borrowing.
Based on statistics provided for the 2007/08 academic year, the current financial crisis seems to have had thus far a relatively modest impact. The federal student loan volume grew by about 10 percent between 2006/07 and 2007/08. By contrast, private loans reached a plateau, and volume stayed fairly level. This status reflects the fact that most students and parents had made their borrowing arrangements for the current academic year before the worst of the crisis hit. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: education costs, financial crisis, home equity loan, recession
The latest iteration of Apples super successful phone is released today. The iPhone 3GS boasts a new camera, a digital compass, and a faster processor that leads to an improved user experience. This version is physically similar to the iPhone 3G. The differences lie in its guts. Many people will rush to buy a the new phone because they like to have the latest toys. If you are thinking of placing this purchase on a credit card that already carries a balance you should think twice. Ask yourself if you really need the phone or any other item right now? Consider your financial situation and think about paying off your debt first. It may not be as ‘cool’ or as immediately satisfying as buying something, but paying off your credit cards is the best purchase you can make today!
Tags: credit card, debt, iphone
These days, a lot of the media and advertisers are focusing on fiscal responsibility. You hear terms like stay-cations (a vacation in which you stay where you live). It is apparent that uncontrolled spending has met its end for the near term. The values of homes is no longer rising as quickly as Saturn V rocket heading towards the moon. Instead, the realities of the economy are catching up with people from all countries. Banks are having to write off consumer credit card debt as more individuals default on their debt. Some people liken credit card use with the use of a drug. We use it often because we get hooked on the idea that buying something with plastic has no immediate consequences. A good tip to curve your household debt is to start buying things with cash. You will see an immediate connection with the purchase of goods and services and the separation of your cash. Of course, that is only a suggestion for individuals that don’t have a complete understanding or control over there finances and if you’re like many Americans, that’s you! If you’re falling behind on bills and credit card payments or are receiving harassing telephone calls from bill collectors you may want to consider a debt consolidation program. Find out more and take control!
Tags: consumers, credit card, debt, debt consolidation
