Analysis Topic: Personal Finance
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, November 03, 2013
Home Winter Weather Proofing 22 Steps to Save Money on Energy and Repair Bills / Personal_Finance / Home Maintenance
By: Sami_Walayat
Now is the time before the temperatures drop to conduct a relatively quick preventative home winter weather proofing survey that than can save on costly repair bills such as damage form blocked drains, gutters, leaking roofs, and burst pipes that can result in soaring insurance premiums on claims, as well as save on costly excessive energy usage due to drafts, poor insulation and boiler problems.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
A Million Dollars Isn’t What It Used to Be / Personal_Finance / Money Making
By: Don_Miller
We all share a common goal: to grow our nest eggs and make sure they last over the long haul. Our generation was taught to live off the interest and never touch the principal, but interest rates for CDs and Treasuries no longer allow for that. Frankly, they don’t even keep up with inflation, so we have to invest our money elsewhere if we want it to last.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Whom Would You Trust with Your Savings: Your Grandfather or Big Brother? / Personal_Finance / Money Saving
By: Don_Miller
My grandfather was named William Smith, and he was about as common a man as his name implies. He was an army sergeant in WW II, then came home and ran the family farm when the war was over. I doubt he ever heard of Keynesian or Austrian economic theories, but his words of wisdom made it clear just where he stood.
Friday, October 18, 2013
British Gas Freezing Pensioners Not Prices, 9.2% Price Hike, Exponential Inflation / Personal_Finance / Household Bills
By: Nadeem_Walayat
It's that time of the year when Britain's cartel of 6 energy suppliers steps forward one by one to announce extortionate price hikes with SSE's 8.2% of a few days ago now being followed by British Gas announcing that they will hike energy prices by 9.2% (gas prices by 8.4% and electricity by 10.4%).
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
The Simple Secret to an Early Retirement / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Money_Morning
Robert Hsu writes: In my early career, I was fortunate to do well financially while working at Goldman Sachs. I also made the decision to live below my means, and to invest intelligently. By my late twenties, I had amassed a seven-figure nest egg, and in my early thirties, I actually took an extended vacation for about five years.
What I came to learn, however, is that you don't have to work for Goldman Sachs - or be a multi-millionaire - to be able to retire comfortably or early.
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Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Puny Savings Interest = No Hope of Matching CPI Inflation / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
By: MoneyFacts
Inflation figures released today show the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) stuck at 2.7% during September.
To beat inflation, a basic rate taxpayer at 20% needs to find a savings account paying 3.38% per annum, while a higher rate taxpayer at 40% needs to find an account paying at least 4.50%.
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Thursday, October 10, 2013
How to Avoid a Devastating Retirement Planning Mistake / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
Think you have reached the holy grail of retirement? Good financial planners use sophisticated computer programs to help us set retirement savings goals. They input dozens of variables based on assumptions about how the world works, and out pops a number telling us how much we should save during our working years. That number, combined with Social Security and any pension we're lucky enough to have, is supposed to be the holy grail of retirement. Reach it and you're set for life.
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Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Zero Interest Rates - The Federal Reserve’s War on Seniors / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Jeff_Berwick
Antonius J. Patrick writes: The Federal Reserve’s “zero interest rate policy” (ZIRP) of the last half dozen years or so has been a financial act of war on the country’s seniors and, for that matter, on all savers. Under ZIRP, interest rates are artificially lowered through the Fed's monetary policy popularly known as, "QE," quantitative easing.
Monday, September 30, 2013
UK Fixed Interest Bond Rates Plummet / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
By: MoneyFacts
The Government’s Funding for Lending Scheme started in August 2012 and it took roughly a month for it to devastate the savings market.
As rates started to tumble, many people will have opted to invest their savings in fixed rate bonds to protect their returns.
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Thursday, September 26, 2013
No Bank Account, No Pension, Will Ever Be Safe / Personal_Finance / Credit Crisis 2013
By: LewRockwell
Michael Snyder writes: Now that “bail-ins” have become accepted practice all over the planet, no bank account and no pension fund will ever be 100% safe again. In fact, Cyprus-style wealth confiscation is already starting to happen all around the world. As you will read about below, private pension funds were just raided by the government in Poland, and a “bail-in” is being organized for one of the largest banks in Italy. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning. The precedent that was set in Cyprus is being used as a template for establishing bail-in procedures in New Zealand, Canada and all over Europe. It is only a matter of time before we see this exact same type of thing happen in the United States as well. From now on, anyone that keeps a large amount of money in any single bank account or retirement fund is being incredibly foolish.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Where to Find Yield Without Dividend Stocks, Bonds, or CDs / Personal_Finance / Debt & Loans
By: Don_Miller
Regular readers know how concerned I am about the number of baby boomers and seniors who are financially unprepared for retirement. It's not like the downsides of aging are a secret. As we get older, our bodies wear out and we slow down. Unless we plan to work until the grim reaper shows up at the door, we need to save and invest quite a bit of money.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Tortoises Win the Retirement Race / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
The race to the finish line—the time between an empty nest and retirement—is tightening. A major generational shift has taken place, and it's having a huge impact on when and how we save and plan.
Most older baby boomers like myself had children in their 20s and empty nests by age 50. They used that time to accumulate enough money to retire. When my children were in high school, their friends' parents were in their late 30s or early 40s. It was unusual to run across 50-somethings at a PTA meeting or high school basketball game.
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Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Continuing High Inflation Means UK Savers Left High and Dry / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
By: MoneyFacts
Inflation figures released today show the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell from 2.8% to 2.7% during August.
To beat inflation, a basic rate taxpayer at 20% needs to find a savings account paying 3.38% per annum, while a higher rate taxpayer at 40% needs to find an account paying at least 4.5%.
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Friday, September 13, 2013
Inflation, Stealth Taxes Consume Stock Gains & Retirement Plans / Personal_Finance / Inflation
By: Dan_Amerman
Why is there a fundamental mismatch between stock market performance as reported in financial headlines – and the actual retirement behavior of the many millions of Americans who own those stocks in their portfolios?
Using 15 years of stock market performance data and the type of analysis tools used by sophisticated wealth management professionals, we will solve that mystery in this research-based tutorial. The results may come as a major surprise, even for well read and financially literate investors who have been buying stocks for decades.
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Thursday, September 12, 2013
Are You Really Retired Just Because You Stopped Working? / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
From the time I took my first job washing cars at age 15 to the day I retired, working kept money flowing into my bank account. I needed money, and so I had to work (no silver spoon here). A few weeks back, I penned an article highlighting how most older folks . Several readers suggested that continuing to work as long as possible is the best way to quell that fear. Could the solution be that simple?
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Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Poland Confiscates Private Pensions - Yours Are Next / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Jeff_Berwick
We have been saying for the last four years that as Europe, the US and other Western and global nation-states continue their debt-fueled collapse the governments of these countries will continue to consider their citizens' wealth to be their own and seize more of their assets.
We have, unfortunately, been vindicated already numerous times.
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Monday, September 09, 2013
Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 - Cheapest Way to Buy or Upgrade / Personal_Finance / Money Saving
By: Sami_Walayat
Kaspersky recently announced the release of the latest version of their award winning Internet Security software. Unfortunately the Kaspersky website sells a 12month licence for the product for a cost of £40 for a single computer or £50 for 3 computers.
Thursday, September 05, 2013
UK Savings Virgin 3% ISA; Mortgages Leeds Building Society 2.39% Fix / Personal_Finance / Mortgages
By: MoneyFacts
The Moneyfacts Pick of the Week showcases the best of the latest products or rate changes to hit the consumer finance market.
Brief product details together with independent Moneyfacts analysis can be used with confidence in your finance sections. You can select one or two products to sit beside a relevant story or use them all as a general feature.
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Tuesday, September 03, 2013
How to Marry a Millionaire… And Not Die a Pauper / Personal_Finance / Money Making
By: Don_Miller
A recent article penned by Jeff Sommer for The New York Times noted that in 1953, when How to Marry a Millionaire – one of Marilyn Monroe's more endearing comedic performances – debuted, $1 million was worth much more than it is now. It was the equivalent of $8.7 million in today's dollars.
Much like the old gray mare who is past her prime, a million dollars sure ain't what it used to be. In 1953, a family with a net worth of $1 million easily resided in the top 1% of all US households; now they're just in the top 10%.
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Thursday, August 29, 2013
5 Ways To Protect and Grow Your Retirement Whatever Your Age / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
We just recently Money Weekly's first birthday, and this milestone also got me thinking… If I had a magic wand and could instantly pass along a bundle of critical information to my peers, what would that message include? Since I don't have a magic wand, I had to distill a bit of my practical wisdom down to five points (no easy task).