If you’re like many Americans, you move homes fairly regularly. In fact, more than 40 million Americans move every year, according to the Census Bureau. For many folks, moving is about getting into a bigger or better home. Whatever the reason, moving always brings stress and extra expense.
This month, I’m organizing my family’s move from Phoenix to Texas. We’re a family of re-locaters. With a husband in the service, I’ve gotten used to moving on a moment’s notice. But, with each move comes the task of organizing our junk much-treasured belongings, getting all the members of our family ready, scheduling appointments with Realtors, calling ahead to turn on utilities, figuring out car licensing, etc.
With each move I’ve made, I’ve learned a few things. Here are five helpful moving tips that will hopefully make your next move a little easier:
Packing Can Be Expensive, Time Consuming and Hard
Boxes are not cheap. Check out Craig
Read more…
John Garcia August - 29 - 2010
Nobody likes to make mistakes. However, the simple reality of life is that at some point, all of us are going to be wrong, do something bad, or somehow screw something up. That’s just life, and it has been since we learned how to walk, write out the alphabet, and do calculus. We are going to make mistakes. The trick is to learn how to fail fast, so that you can get back to doing things right again. Let’s look at a couple examples and see how failing fast will help us earn more money and save more money.
Small Business
Imagine you are thinking about starting a small business. You want to open a dog sitting company. You’re not sure how much to charge, or how to advertise, but that’s pretty normal when you’re embarking upon a new adventure. Instead o
Read more…
Gerald Conrad August - 28 - 2010
In a market environment like this, investors looking to stash some cash in safe, high-yielding instruments could do a lot worse than the telecom sector.
It is certainly noteworthy that in the past month, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are both down about 4%, the shares of AT&T (NYSE: T), CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) are all positive.
All of those stocks and others in the telecom space are backed my juicy dividend yields, making this sector a good bet for some outperformance in a trying environment such as this one.
For the trader looking to turn a boring sector into something a little more exciting, there is the ProShares Ultra Telecommunications ETF (NYSE: LTL), which is a doubled leveraged play on the Dow Jones Telecommunications.
The yield on LTL is decent at almost 2.5% and a bullish ascending triangle formation can be spotted on the chart.
Read more…
Marie Conklin August - 27 - 2010
Being away at school offers a plethora of spending opportunities. Some are to be expected, like books, groceries, rent, utilities and random university fees. And some, like hospital and auto expenses, are not so expected.
Usually such expenses might be covered by parents, but the dismal economy has made it so parents are often unable to contribute allowances to their college-aged children. And the truth is that student loans, even a PLUS Loan that’s supposed to cover the entire cost of education, including living expenses, can only pay for so much.
This is when most college students turn to credit cards and likewise expose themselves to the wonderful world of credit-card debt. Th
Read more…
Gerald Conrad August - 25 - 2010
Do you require a credit advisory or debtor book valuation, contact Debt-In. We will assist you with quick debt valuations. We have performed valuations on both the buy and sell side, of distressed and performing debtor portfolios. These valuations may be performed on behalf of distressed debt investors (such as hedge funds), for potential sellers of distressed (or performing) loan books, or as part of due diligence exercises in mergers and acquisitions. Our service involves the audit and rating of debtor books on behalf of finance institutions, where these institutions hold aforementioned debtor books as collateral against funds advanced. Our directorate possesses extensive audit experience and is qualified to perform the attest function. Debt fair values are nothing new to financial reporting. In the U.S., they have been required for many years as a FAS 107 footnote disclosure.
Read more…
Gerald Conrad August - 25 - 2010
Dealers’ Room Commentary Overview Asian stocks rose on Thursday as investors hunted for bargains among recently beaten-down shares, while the yen pulled further away from 15-year highs as investors wondered whether Japanese officials would take fresh steps to curb the currency’s strength and spur economic growth. Risk assets staged a comeback on with Gold steady on Thursday, hovering near its strongest level in eight weeks hit the previous day, with worries that the U.S. economic recovery was stalling likely to drive the metal to new highs. Oil rose for a second day on Thursday after a five-session losing streak took prices to 11-week lows, rekindling interest on the basis of technical indicators pointing to a rebound. U.S. sto
Read more…
Greg Fowler August - 24 - 2010
I recently became one of the many in the world carrying a smartphone in my pocket. I made the jump to an iPhone4 this month and it has opened my eyes to a whole new world. The one thing I was amazed at was the number of barcode scanner apps that you can download. Some of them are free (which I obviously prefer) and some are the usual .99 cents. I downloaded a couple of the free barcode shopping apps and was suprised how easy it was to get prices on the items you use everyday. You just scan your items with your iPhone camera and from there you can compare internet and local prices and in some cases you can even read product reviews. If you have the time and are really interested in what prices you are paying then this might be something you are interested in. Here is a photo from one called ShopSavvy.
Read more…
Marie Conklin August - 22 - 2010
The economic and housing downturns have left many families without savings and home equity, and some even without jobs. If you’ve fallen behind on payments or simply want to get out of debt fast, you may be considering debt consolidation. It can be a good solution, but it isn’t for everyone. When researching the debt consolidation option, consider the following:
What do you want to accomplish?
Some of the “services” offered by debt consolidators are things you can do yourself. For example, many companies will negotiate lower interest rates on your accounts (both credit cards and loans). But you can do that too, simply by calling your creditors and asking for lower rates. A debt consolidation firm isn’t likely to have any better results than you will.
How much can you afford to pay each month?
Are you currently able to pay more than the monthly minimums on your debts? If you ca
Read more…
