Analysis Topic: Personal Finance
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, June 03, 2014
Be Very Afraid of the Underfunded Public Pensions Nuclear Solution / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
With few exceptions, state and local pension funds are woefully underfunded. Five heavily populated states—California, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, and Texas—collectively lack $431.5 billion; money that won’t be paid out to hopeful pensioners. That’s according to those states’ own accounts published in a 2012 Harvard University study that was led by former Assistant Treasury Secretary Tom Healy.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
UK Citibank USD Current Account Continues Ramping Up Fees / Personal_Finance / UK Banking
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Once upon a time the Citibank USD current account was by far one of the best such accounts on the market for depositing USD cheque's in the UK, where typically 1.75% was added to the spot GBP exchange rate and if lucky at best as little as 1.5% or at worst rarely more than about 2.2% with no other fees as long as £2,000 or equivalent was always kept on deposit.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Is It Time to Hide Your Money Under the Mattress? / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
By: Don_Miller
“I don’t know what to do,” said my good friend Rob after inviting my wife Jo and me to dinner for the third time in two weeks. “I know I should do something. Every time I think about it, it scares the hell out of me! Maybe I should just hide everything under the mattress.”
Rob is a sharp guy—he’s done well for himself and his family. He also recently settled the last details of his parents’ estate. Upon banking part of his inheritance, the branch manager magically appeared, introduced himself, and invited Rob into his office to discuss “some really good rates” the bank had to offer.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, May 09, 2014
Collateral Damage: What You and Monica Lewinsky Have in Common / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
Collateral damage can assume many forms—and though some may be more newsworthy than others, the latter are no less real, nor any less frightening.
On Tuesday, controversial radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh called Monica Lewinsky “collateral damage in Hillary Clinton’s war on women,” saying that President Bill Clinton and his wife destroyed the former White House intern “after he got his jollies, after he got his consensual whatevers.”
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Retirement Kitchen Table Economics / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
What is it about retirement that causes confident, successful businessmen and -women to lose that edge when they invest their own life savings? Many otherwise dynamic people become virtually impotent in the face of retirement investing. I have many friends who were very effective in business—folks who made sound decisions affecting how millions upon millions of dollars were spent. They would gather the facts, make a plan, and make the right call with confidence. Whywas it so taxing for these same friends to manage their personal retirement accounts?
Monday, April 28, 2014
The World's Biggest Pension Fund Just Made a Huge Bet / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Money_Morning
Peter Krauth writes: On numerous occasions, I've told you to remain on lookout for threats to your savings, including the proposed new MyRA account.
If you've been counting on your pension, whether from work or even Social Security, you may want to revise those plans, as most are way underfunded.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Puerto Rico Is the Only Way to Escape US Taxes / Personal_Finance / Taxes
By: Casey_Research
By Nick Giambruno, Senior Editor, International Man
When I hear about strategies that purport to legally allow US citizens to avoid having to pay income taxes, the first thing that usually comes to mind is that it is some sort of cockamamie scheme.
This is because the US government is no slouch when it comes to shaking down its citizens for every penny. The mind-boggling spending on welfare and warfare policies necessitates this. It would be dangerously foolish in the extreme to think you could slip one past them.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Do Not Let The Next Economic Downturn Leave You Penniless / Personal_Finance / Investing 2014
By: Don_Miller
Doug Casey is emphatic that a downturn will affect us all. When it comes, we want to minimize the damage. That’s particularly challenging for baby boomers and seniors who may be at, or past, the end of their careers.
In the past I’ve shared some experiences from speakers who had real world experience with hyperinflation. It is not pretty. They were quite candid that many previously wealthy seniors and savers ended up penniless before things got under control. That’s the ultimate catastrophic loss.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 18, 2014
Tesco Profits Panic! Back to Back £5 Off £40 Shop Voucher Promotions / Personal_Finance / Shopping
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Tesco, Britain's giant supermarket chain is once more reeling following its latest trading results that reveal another bad year with profits slumping by 7% as the discount chains such as Aldi and Lidl continue to consume King Tesco's market share that fell to a 10 year low of 28.6% that sows the seeds for the market leader ultimately to join the ranks of has been's such as Morrisons that has been floundering in the supermarket wilderness for over a decade now.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
10 Ways to Screw up Your Retirement / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
There are many creative ways to screw up your retirement. Let me show you how it’s done.
Supporting adult children. My wife Jo and I have friends with an unmarried, unemployed daughter who had a child. Our friends adopted their grandchild and are now in their late sixties raising a kid in grade school. The same daughter had a second child, and they adopted that one too. When she announced she was pregnant a third time, they finally said, “Enough! It’s time for a third-party adoption.”
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
How I Intend to Survive the Meltdown of America / Personal_Finance / Social Issues
By: Casey_Research
By Louis James, Chief Metals & Mining Investment Strategist
It is with a troubled heart that I look at the continued fighting in eastern Ukraine. I worry about my friends and students in the country who may well be in physical danger soon, if the conflict escalates. As an investment analyst, it’s the financial war the Russians seem quite willing to wage that has my attention.
It should have yours as well.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Escape the Toy Trap / Personal_Finance / Shopping
By: Don_Miller
The toy trap: we all have friends who’ve fallen in. I received a wave of emails after publishing Debt: The Last Social Taboo?, all sharing similar sad stories. Author Dave Ramsey summed up the problem best: “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.”
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Puerto Rico's Tax Benefits—More than 'The Better Florida' / Personal_Finance / Investing 2014
By: The_Gold_Report
Puerto Rico promises to now do for Americans what Singapore and Hong Kong have done for bankers and businessmen from London. In this interview with The Gold Report, three experts with in-depth knowledge of the pros and cons of living and investing in Puerto Rico share what it is like on the ground for investors.InternationalMan.com Senior Editor Nick Giambruno and Casey Research Chief Technology Investor and Puerto Rico resident Alex Daley join Sterne Agee's Managing Director of Equity Research Todd Hagerman in clearing up some of the confusion about this "misunderstood" island and why the tax benefits for Americans make it "The Better Florida."
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Never Loan Money to Your Friends and Family / Personal_Finance / Debt & Loans
By: DailyWealth
"Never loan money to your friends. It's a good way to lose your money... and your friend."
A friend of mine owed me a lot of money...
I gave my friend Jack a personal loan a few years ago, as he was starting his own business.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Newcastle BS Pulls 2.9% Fixed Cash ISA, Coventry and Leeds Currently Offer Best ISA's / Personal_Finance / ISA's
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Newcastle BS has pulled its market beating 2.9% 5 year fixed rate cash ISA that in my opinion amounted to the best cash account for some 18 months for the reason that it behaved more like a higher interest paying instant access rather than a typical fixed rate account.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
The Three Stooges Debunk myRA Retirement Plans / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
A little skit ran through my head the other day…
The house lights dimmed and the bright American flag glistened in the background. The crowd hushed as a tall man in a strange costume strode confidently onto the stage.
Curly turned to Larry and Moe and exclaimed, "Oh my, that's our favorite—Uncle Sam, our boyhood hero." Moe put his finger to his lips as if to say "Shhh!"
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Pensions Annuity Freedom Prompts Vultures Stock Price Crash - Budget 2014 / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Nadeem_Walayat
George Osbourne announced "Let me be clear, no one will have to buy an annuity. People who have worked hard and saved hard all their lives, and done the right thing, should be trusted with their own finances.", and with that statement the annuities vultures stock prices crashed by as much as 55% as time is now up for all of the pension funds financial blood sucking vampires as illustrated by life time accumulated savings being forced to be converted (lost) into annuities in return for a pittance in annual payments, which was the reason why for so many retirees annuities have amounted to nothing more than a scam where the pensions industry sales pitch promises never materialise.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Budget 2014 Cash ISA Allowance Near Tripled to £15,000, Current Best ISA / Personal_Finance / ISA's
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Coalition government has finally acted to correct a huge disparity in the ISA market of savers being forced to split their annual ISA allowances between Cash and Shares ISA's by allowing savers now to use the whole of their annual allowance towards a cash ISA rather than the existing 50/50 split between cash and shares, as investing in shares has never been suitable for the vast majority of savers given that they are a high risk asset class that certainly never deserved a 50/50 portfolio allocation. Even for highly experienced stocks investors such as myself tend to experience sleepless nights when portfolio allocations approach 30% of assets let alone 50%. Therefore for most investors the stock market and floating bonds should never really go above an approx 15% allocation (including pension funds) with the bulk of the rest made up by property and cash (including fixed bonds).
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Why Unemployment Rates Matter to Your Retirement / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
My biological clock is ticking—as is yours and everyone else's. With each passing day, you are either moving closer to or further past the day you quit working full time. Baby boomers are retiring at a rate of 10,000 per day and will continue to do so for the next 17 years. Whether you count yourself among that group or not, understanding where economic data—such as unemployment rates and inflation—come from will make you a better investor and savvier retiree.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Newcastle BS 2.9% Best Current Fixed Rate Cash ISA March, April 2014 / Personal_Finance / ISA's
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The zero interest rate catastrophe for savers including Cash ISA depositors continues to persist for as long as the Bank of England can get away with government debt monetization and support of the bankrupt banks (Co-op the current bank teetering on the brink of collapse) via unlimited funding scheme that is now approaching its 2nd full year of the collapse in savings interest rates that began in May 2012 and soon accelerated into sub inflation rates of systemic theft as illustrated by the table below which shows the cash ISA rates offered by apparently the often reported on best buy accounts of the Halifax mega-bank that in reality crashed in response to the Bank of England's Funding for Lending Scheme that started in July 2012.