My Financial Implosion: What to do with a Windfall

“Spending is quick, earning is slow.” – Russian Proverb For the past eight years, my wife and I have been self-employed.  We correspond at least quarterly with our CPA to ensure that we pay the correct amounts on our estimated taxes.  Since our business income and expenses can vary so wildly, we’ve pretty much given up on trying to forecast the number at the beginning of the year. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 17:33:56

Blog posts (415) | Videos (125)
 

Benefits Of Student Loan Consolidation

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!by Layla VanderbiltAre you having difficulties making your monthly payments for the student loans that you have availed of? If you are facing some financial problem due to which you are unable to service your loan, you should go for student loan consolidation. Whether your financial miseries are due to poor credit score, possibility of forbearance or deferment, loan consolidation is a way out of your financial mess. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 14:26:36

How Much Is Debt Costing You in Opportunity?

  Photo courtesy of Afroswede While perusing my ever growing backlog of feed reader favorites I ran across an article that caught my eye from One Caveman’s Financial Journey.  He makes the point so many of us who have been paying off debt ... !  As I sit down to pay bills each month, and schedule yet another debt snowball payment, I just cringe [more...]

Date: 2008-10-30 11:00:05

Mortgage bailout plans: options as they stand, today

It’s as good a time as any to outline several of the government’s proposed “bailout” plans. (Proposals followed by my own comments, of course.) ... bailout funds to help 1.5 million households avert foreclosure. The FDIC would guarantee 2.2 million ... to ever be paid-off; borrowers have little invested, and they (meaning, “us”) may be better off taking [more...]

Date: 2008-11-19 15:40:18

Get Your Credit Card Debt Paid Off

In an ideal world, the way to avoid debt is to never get in it. This is probably unavoidable as you are deep in debt as you read this. You may have liked the low interest rate when you first open the account. Then life happened and you had the charge everyday items on the credit card. And before long you found yourself suffocating from a massive debt load. In addition to credit card debt you may also have tons of student loan debt or medical debt. You could also have student loans from your college days. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 14:16:34

Vehicle Buyback Programs Help Used Car Dealers, Not Consumers

Photo courtesy of tomeppy A few years ago I paid some stupid tax.  Suffering from an incurable form of car fever, I went out and financed a late model, used Chevy Silverado pickup truck.  It ranks right up there with the dumbest financial moves I’ve ever made.  I fell victim to the “I work hard, so I deserve it” line of thinking [more...]

Date: 2008-10-29 11:00:18

No Credit Check Loans – Help and Advice

by Jimmy Tyrrell Thinking about a no credit check loan but not sure of all the facts? If so, you should invest a few minutes reading this. By the end of this article you should be better informed to decide if no credit checks loans are for you, and as there is more than one type of no credit check loans which one you should consider. Firstly, we must address the subject of no credit check payday loans. Because of the reasons described below these loans might not be an option. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 11:35:37

Advice to Pres. Obama #1: An Actuary's Impractical Perspective

The suggestion was made to Oil Drum staff that some of us might want to write recommendations relating to President Obama's energy policy ... our financial problems behind us. This is a tough one. There is vastly more debt in the world than can ever ... . A fractional reserve banking system requires continued growth, in order to pay back all of the debt [more...]

Date: 2009-01-12 14:42:43

Some Useful Facts About Bankruptcy

by John Steed Insolvency is the state affirmed by the court of law that someone or an institute has been powerless to clear its liability ... up the amount overdue themselves since they had authority but only to run off their kin into slavery toil until the debt was roofed The genesis of this situation came from Latin posturing a broken [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 04:53:45

ScamBuste 286

NOTIFICATION OF PAYMENT VIA ATM CARD This is to officially inform you that we have verified your contract/inheritance file presently on my desk, and I found out that you have not fulfilling the obligations giving to you in respect to your contract payment. Secondly, you are hereby advised to stop dealing with some non-officials in the bank as this is an illegal act and will have to stop if you so wish to receive your payment immediately. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 08:54:51

Benefits Of Student Loan Consolidation

by Layla Vanderbilt If you are struggling to pay off your student loans, or to balance the payment of multiple student loans, you may want to consider student loan consolidation. This approach is particularly helpful for borrowers facing forbearance or deferment, or if your level of debt is effecting your credit score. You can often decrease your level of debt, interest rates and number of loans in one step through loan consolidation. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 14:34:45

Fast Student Loans Master Key- Pointers to Reveal the Good Colleges

Fast Student Loans Master Key- Pointers to Reveal the Good Colleges by Andrea SouthIf you are requiring bad credit student loans, you have fought with ruined finances in the past, or have not had time to get a great credit rating. Both of these aspects contribute to what is known as bad credit history, and acquiring student finances under both of those categories can be difficult at best.There are a few methods you can utilize to make bad credit student loans possible to gain. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 17:21:06

Preparing for the coming year

I was shocked to see a Labor Party politician on the TV news yesterday say that now we've had our retail therapy over Christmas (his words, not mine) we should all go off and book a holiday. I won't be taking his advice, I, instead, thought of how sad it is when people bend and compromise their values for the sake of power. Despite [more...]

Date: 2008-12-30 18:57:00

‘Cash for Clunkers’ Finds its Congressional Sponsors

How’s this for a stimulus plan? A trio of senators introduced legislation today allowing owners of gas-guzzlers to trade their vehicles in for ... and highways would help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and stimulate the economy. In addition, it would help boost demand for manufacturers of newer, efficient [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 22:54:42

Moral Hazard of the Coming Mortgage Bailout

“Why am I being punished for having bought a house I could afford? I am beginning to think I would have rocks in my head if I keep paying my mortgage.” -Todd Lawrence, Norwich, CT homeowner with a traditional 30-year mortgage > Herein lies the simple problem in trying to “save” so many mortgages: A huge swath of them should not be saved [more...]

Date: 2008-10-31 14:09:11

Uncle Sam

To be fair, illustrating the personal finance page is a difficult and thankless job. Being asked, week after week, to draw a picture of abstract ideas like "the importance of maximizing your 401(k) contribution" -- on deadline -- is not an easy task. There are only so many giant piggy banks, ladders and staircases one can get away with. [more...]

Date: 2009-01-10 00:26:08

Will Your Credit Score Be Ruined By Credit Card Debt Consolidation Negotiators?

Amazon.de Widgets Credit card debt negotiators claim that they can help you pay less than you owe. Read the truth about credit debt negotiation scams. Protect your credit history.There are different reasons why people fall into debt. All of a sudden you may realize that you just can not make your regular payments. All of your bills and credit card statements drive you to the point of insanity and it seems that you will be unable to get out of this pit without help. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 11:50:50

Full Court Press by digby Oh Goody. More bipartisan establishment institutions join with Pete Peterson to give the Republicans and the Blue Dogs excuses to ensure that the government can't do what's necessary to stave off a depression: To modernize an outdated Congressional budget process in light of the daunting economic challenges facing the [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 04:51:00

Accepting a down payment

Well I’ve discussed borrowing money from family in times of need, boomeranging home, and finances for a young couple starting out ... they were fortunate to get a $50k gift from a relative to pay off their student loans.  So should ... off debt, take it.  BUT not at the expense of your parents. My roomie will get a paid for wedding [more...]

Date: 2008-11-13 13:00:16

Short Term Positives, Long Term Questions

Good Evening: The forces of poor economic fundamentals clashed again today with government programs created to address them ... well off. The mere fact that stocks held on to their huge gains since Friday has to be viewed ... straight closing bells. The contempt many will feel about paying higher taxes to pay for cleaning [more...]

Date: 2008-11-26 02:48:41

A Mortgage Calculator Can Save You Money by Calculating Overall Mortgage Cost

As soon as it comes to mortgages, there are several fees that are charged that it is at times very confusing and tough to be familiar with what your monthly payments and overall mortgage cost will be. A mortgage calculator can save you lots of money. Although you by now have a mortgage, you would like to determine how fast you could pay off your mortgage if you raise your payments to a certain amount or the amount you will need to pay every month to pay off your mortgage within certain fix time. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 18:16:05

Walking Away Relieved When Deals Were Rejected

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports from Pennsylvania. “This is supposed to be a buyer’s market ... , but don’t close a deal. Sellers sit and wait, confident that someone will pay their price - eventually.” ... We refinanced and took out a home-equity line of credit several years ago to help make ends meet [more...]

Date: 2008-11-21 15:50:35

There's always money in parking meters

And Morgan Stanley wants it. The city of Chicago is on the cusp of signing a contract to let a Morgan Stanley-backed consortium collect money from ... percentage went into a reserve fund, and a fair chunk went to pay down municipal debt. The other ... . The city, which has been on something of a privatization tear, having auctioned off Midway Airport [more...]

Date: 2008-12-03 18:48:06

Daily Digest: Hill Secrecy? "Just Absolute Lunacy"

The Hill's Intensively Secretive Nature: It was the sweltering late summer, 2007, in Washington DC. The House of Representatives was smack in the middle of debate over the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. And members of Congress, expected to render judgment on legislation that would fundamentally impact core America rights, [more...]

Date: 2008-12-03 16:55:01

What Truly Matters, Part 2

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why ... or vacations that we go into debt or try to get by without savings, even if doing so adds stress ... to your friends be too much to exchange for the higher pay? Would a house with more space best serve your family [more...]

Date: 2008-11-17 19:43:23

Writing Your Debt Collection Dispute Letter

This is the second guest post in a special How to Fight Debt Collectors series on Bargaineering.com. Writing a debt collection dispute letter is the first line of defense against a debt collector. Make them prove that the debt is legitimate before you do anything. Just because they have your name doesn’t mean the debt is legitimate. If you don’t remember it or you remember paying it off, a dispute letter can help you resolve it quickly. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 11:01:53

Stopping Foreclosure On A Biz

The Wall Street Journal: What options you have at this point depend largely on the severity of your financial situation and how you’ve tried ... with the bank or lender early — long before you get any warning notices — when you’re unable to repay ... . If a bank thinks it will get more of the money you owe by making it easier for you to repay, it might [more...]

Date: 2008-12-26 15:08:57

Roth IRA FAQ, Income Streams and Financial Q & A @ The Carnivals

new logo design is now over. As for which logo won? It was a tight vote between 2 logos. Now how about I surprise you all with it when I put it up? ... In Washington All Financial Matters: Oil Just Keeps Dropping! Rich Credit Debt Loan: How To Stop ... Decision Crackerjack Greenback: Personal Finance in the Bible: Proverbs 13:7 Ask Mr. Credit Card [more...]

Date: 2008-12-03 22:11:44

Refinances Booming? Not As Much As You Think

Discount all the reports you read about Americans lining up to refinance their mortgages and take advantage of the lowest rates ever ... down. Only about a third of U.S. mortgage debt outstanding is likely to qualify for refinancing ... or Freddie Mac in the highest-cost areas. “The refinance boom is mostly impacting the people who need help [more...]

Date: 2009-01-16 00:46:03

AEI Subprime IV.5: Whalen Presentation

Here is Housing Doom’s fifth installment of our unauthorized annotated transcript of the American Enterprise Institute’s October 30, 2008 seminar " ... we are in the kitchen with a big knife and we were just chopping fingers off one after the other and laughing about it. That’s what fair value accounting is." "… a 3rd phase in this crisis, … the off-b [more...]

Date: 2008-12-02 07:01:48

Credit Rating Agencies

The WSJ ran an editorial the other day arguing against the New York Fed’s proposal to create a central clearinghouse for credit default swap ... : Me: I could see why a million little shops analyzing debt and selling their analysis could make sense ... s clearly a legit problem. But what is the point of them for the private sector. Why are their opinions [more...]

Date: 2009-01-16 00:21:02

David Cameron's New Year message

Just released by CCHQ and published in full below. In his message the Conservative leader promises that he won't drop his green, ... that we have learned the lessons of Labour’s Debt Crisis and will never let it happen again. Second, we must offer constructive and positive ideas to help keep people in work and in their homes, and make sure [more...]

Date: 2008-12-30 11:21:57

Gates of Vienna News Feed 11/12/2008

Some headlines to look at:“Muslim Killed Catholic Girl in Love With Flatmate”“London Fundraisers Linked to Stoning of 13-Year-Old”“Possibly Tens of Thousands of Somalis in the US Illegally”“New Anti-Christian Attack in Mosul, Two Sisters Killed”But then there’s this:“Denmark: Ready to Ban Headscarves for Judges”So it’s not all bad news [more...]

Date: 2008-11-13 04:52:00

Who Gets Stuck With The Dead Cow?

Falling home prices haven’t just put a strain on budgets, they’ve put a strain on marriages- and divorces ... there are no assets left to help them start over. In a normal economy, couples typically build equity ... debt. Now that investments and stock values have crashed, a divorce leaves both parties with less money [more...]

Date: 2008-12-30 13:19:17

Mortgage Calculators Can Help You With Valuable Mortgage Calculations

Mortgage calculators can offer you with useful loan mortgage calculations. A high-quality loan calculator will allow you to make well-informed decision on your mortgage loan whether you plan to purchase a new home, thinking about refinancing a present mortgage loan or just want to be familiar with what your mortgage loan alternatives are. It is extremely significant to take crucial mortgage loan decisions on accurate calculations. Nearly all loan calculators will allow you to achieve that. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 18:15:56

The Bush Regime's Serial Abuse Of Consumers Is Undermining The Entire Economy

I won a little victory yesterday. Alarm companies, I found out from the California Attorney General's office, have a little scam ... and then continued to bill me. It took 6 months-- and zero help from any consumer affairs departments ... , nipping a half-ounce off that bar of soap, narrowing the width of toilet paper and shrinking the size [more...]

Date: 2008-11-14 14:00:00

Why Does Paulson Want Us to Keep Piling up Debt?

Bailout Nation turns to consumers today, as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson prepares to announce a new program to encourage lending for auto loans, ... to complain when consumers finally get their turn. I know we need to get credit moving to help the economy ... the last decade piling up debt, taking out equity from their homes to spend [more...]

Date: 2008-11-25 14:40:19

Father and Son Awarded Silver Stars on Same Day

"...CW2 Harris knelt on top of his Crew Chief, with no regard to his own safety, and spotted an insurgent charging towards their position. The attacker was within 70 yards as CW2 Harris engaged and killed the enemy fighter. Two hundred meters from the crash site enemy forces began pouring out of a compound placing sporadic gun fire in their [more...]

Date: 2008-12-02 19:04:26

G-20 Summit Blames Buyers of Poison Apples

Hopes were high that the G-20 summit would issue a statement on US dollar hegemony, currency fluctuations, a new world order, ... Race To ZIRP. It did not help Japan or the US and it will not help spur growth anywhere else ... , strengthening derivatives markets and increasing oversight of hedge funds and debt-rating firms. My Comment [more...]

Date: 2008-11-16 04:20:00

Concentrating the Wealth, Pt. 2

(See Part 1.) A funny thing happened on the way to the bailout. A number of the members of the bucket brigade - that's us, taxpayers - realized that for all the billions of dollars worth of bailing we're doing, we still appear to be sinking. Our task seems to be keeping things afloat long enough for first class passengers to fill the lifeboats [more...]

Date: 2008-10-31 20:39:26

I know how to spend stimulus

[ The sign for a Citibank bank branch and a street sign are seen in Cambridge, Massachusetts November 24, 2008. The U.S ... to the taxpayers. It's great that some people were able to save or pay down debt. As far as blowing it on gas ... . This time the amount should be higher to allow us to pay off our debts, mortgages and loans. This would [more...]

Date: 2008-12-01 16:48:13

Time for A Trip to the Mall

Andrew Leonard: There’s only one shopper with a purse large enough to make a difference in this kind of mess — and that’s the U.S. government ... cards, and digging themselves even deeper into debt at a time when credit card companies are raising ... t have any credit card debt, you’re gainfully employed, and you are staring at a $499 price tag [more...]

Date: 2008-12-02 15:17:43

How Canadian Retirement Affects Some Americans

by William Blake There are some Americans who live near Canada who have strong opinions about Canadian retirees ... MPH below the speed limit to enjoy it. Road rage doesn’t seem to be quite as big a problem in other ... Canadians seem to be oblivious to any problem and continue doing what they are doing. Shopping Together [more...]

Date: 2009-01-16 02:15:21

Hawking Public Assets

Yesterday, members of the Chicago City Council made a snap decision to lease off the city’s 36,000 parking meters in exchange for $1 ... of the city, it’s a good thing,” Pagano said. That means paying down debt and getting other long-term ... , that’s a problem, he tells us. The Reader’s Mick Dumke breaks down how the latest privatization [more...]

Date: 2008-12-05 18:05:50

DrumBeat: December 28, 2008

With gas falling, trucks come back NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After nearly a year of flagging sales, low gas prices and fat incentives are reigniting America's taste for big vehicles. Trucks and SUVs will outsell cars in December, according to researchers at the automotive Website Edmunds.com, something that hasn't happened since February [more...]

Date: 2008-12-28 14:31:34

Transferring Your Credit Card Balance To a Balance Transfer Credit Card

Transferring your credit card balance is one option if you have a credit card debt and you are unable to pay it off. Your other options are to suffer the interest rate that is killing you, declare yourself bankrupt, or leave the country. However, before you decide on transferring your credit card debt to a new card with an introductory low interest rate, there are some points to consider. Find out which questions to ask your new credit card provider when transferring your credit card balance. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-29 13:14:59

Book Review: Killing Sacred Cows

Carnival of Twenty-Something Finances.  Be sure to check it out.  Next week I’ll be hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance ... One Family’s Debt Roundup Posts I found interesting this week. Wenchypoo’s “why we skip ... his ownership of CNN does influence what we perceive as the “economy”. NCN gives us the lowdown on “debt [more...]

Date: 2008-11-21 03:30:56

Evil Credit Card Tricks

It was really interesting reading the comments in my Why You Should Never Live on Cash post. Many of you understood what I was talking about ... to avoid them. Do Not Pay Until 2010 This one is a classic. You’re offered a credit card with a free ... Cards are evil mindset. When it comes down to it, it’s not the Credit Card that is bad, it’ [more...]

Date: 2009-01-02 23:32:16

I Can't Stop Shopping. Help Me!

Christ With Shopping Bags, Banksy Gala Darling – I Can’t Stop Shopping. Help Me! (mp3) Right-click to save, or click to play. “I used to laugh off the fact that I was always in debt and a bit of a shopaholic. Now I realise I actually have a very serious problem. I go to uni in a city and so every day I go past shops which [more...]

Date: 2008-10-29 17:20:20

Falling Out Of A Bed That Gets Higher Every Day

The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. “Mark Brivik, a real estate investor who made a living buying, ... off her credit cards and ripped them up.” Still, even without credit card debt, Lesso is struggling ... for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. Brivik distinguished himself from other investors during the past [more...]

Date: 2008-11-24 14:34:43

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