Too busy, no time

I haven't got the time to post more, too busy and not enough visitors. Will think about this.

The Dreaded Word

There are words in the world and in your life that people dread of hearing, even despising, that creep down our spines. Words such as genocide, politicians, AIG, the budget…wait what?!
I remember during my high school days my computers teacher gave us personal finance handbooks as a sub-lesson or something on the sideline (more work for us) and that we need to work on them along with improving our financial lives. While I was working on it (the only subject that I actually liked other than Math and Gym) I noticed in a study people dread hearing the word “Budget” and how people avoid working on it or making one for that matter. I didn’t think that was the issue and much of the advice it gave like avoid high-interest debt and saving money is a good idea I didn’t take it to heart. Today, along with the recession and identity theft, people who forget about doing a budget and lead themselves into financial chaos really make a problem almost as bad as the National Debt.
When you receive your paycheck, after FICA taxes, what do you do with it?
A lot of people who know what they’re doing say this: pay bills, pay debt (if any), save & spend leftover money. For others they usually blow it on gamble or some other expensive expenditure. Even for those who know what they are doing, having a budget is more important than ever. With that knowledge how can you create it?
You can download a free budget excel spreadsheet. Click here.

King Cash

Finding the best rate on savings or money market account is as easy as counting your pennies (okay a bad simile). These days people are holding on to their cash as much as possible and finding the best place to park it and grow is a tiresome task. Currently the best interest rate is below 2% which means you won’t grow your money as fast. However interest rates will rise when Federal interest rate rises back up, when that will happen is unpredictable. To start you can use this website: www.bankrate.com/. Before you start putting your cash in a savings or money market account (whether it be brick & motor or online is up to you) there are certain things you need to know:
1. Is the bank/credit union legit?
2. Is the bank or credit union FDIC insured?
3. Check their minimum balance to avoid fees including overdraft, ATM, wire transfer, and other fees.
4. Get the highest rate possible to grow your cash.
5. Check special rewards like flyer miles for holding cash in their account.
6. Check how often you can access your cash online.
Holding a bunch of cash is a great thing but it won’t mean much when inflation rears its ugly head in the coming years, thus eroding the purchasing power of the dollar and your cash. For short-term purposes holding cash is better but investing it in higher yielding securities like stocks or gold helps with growing wealth and preserving capital. To determine the amount of cash you should hold and your portfolio, this is the ideal ratio (5% Cash/ 10% Gold/ 85% Equities). Why gold? Gold hedges against the dollar and is protects your wealth against inflation.

Unemployed, Tired, & Above All #@$$?@!

Pardon my language but I'm really in a bind, a terrible bind! No job, little savings, and the only income I have left is the $10 a month dividend (I'm embarrassed enough to say that). With little college education and the job market filled upped or tanked, my situation is bleak. I have already paid my expenses for the month, but I really need to resolve my money woes. No more money in the bank, my house will be foreclosed, and the chance of the good life is bleak. "I don't know what to do!"

That is the story of many of my colleagues has told me for the past year. (I keep their privacy with great trust and I won't reveal any names.) They told their story about their "lack of a job" situation and how the recession has affected the industry they majored in into dire constraints. Some who did have a job and enjoyed the good life before the recession didn't prepare themselves for this. In fact few did.

As I sit here writing I noticed that the state of the economy of what I like to call to describe as the “Great Recession”. Of course not as bad as the Great Depression I like to think that people would be better off if they are prepared for the worst, or if shouldn’t call it the worst thing imaginable. What I mean is that we can recover from it just as our grandparents or great-grandparents went through. Imagine this generation going through a situation that happened over 70 years ago.

After the smoke cleared itself from all the bankruptcies, scandals, toxic assets, and all the other bad stuff people don’t want to talk about b/c they are busy trying to support themselves and others all from the greed of wall street. There is still light at the end of the tunnel and people must not give up hope just yet, if they still have a home to go to and food on the table, they are much better off than the people who have none. I remember weeks ago I gave money to a homeless man, advertising to people that he needs money from a little cardboard sign, while I was driving with my dad at an intersection. I then realize there are people who have none either take it to the streets or to the soup kitchen and swallow their pride they have lost.

Speaking of the homeless, check out this video (copy & paste) of homeless people in San Diego and the people struggling trying to keep up:

San Diego In Recession, An Envision San Diego Special Presentation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y97IQfGCVKU&feature=channel_page

Healthcare Reform = Socialism?

As many Americans have heard that President Obama's health care reform, designed to help uninsured Americans get the health care they need, is a hotly debated subject that everyone must argue.

Those for it say it'll help the uninsured and under-insured (or those who can't afford health insurance) get the health care without paying so much. Enough said.

Now for those who are against reform say that the cost to support this program is tremendous, about $1 trillion tremendous. Along with increased government bureaucracy control, little incentive for medical innovation from little profit, & decreased quality of medical services due to so many people coming in and limited services. Since this health care reform is anything like other countries who have Universal Healthcare (care for everyone) long lines are inevitable.

I see that a "right" to health care means anyone born in the nation are automatically given the right to health care. The government "must" provide medicine because citizens have the "right" to these services. Well this proposal is benevolent and all who is going to pay for all that? Health care costs rise every year and government run programs aren't always the best and with the amount of paperwork & bureaucratic inefficiencies will worsen those costs.

I don't think that throwing money into the system will resolve the problem. Throwing tax dollars into a program that not only create a long-waited medical services but also the problem of the national debt.