Join the conversation on a variety of economic and finance discussions.
Imagine a time when your family must take care of aging relatives. Consider a sudden need to move to a smaller dwelling. To complicate matters one of the elderly relatives is suffering from very poor health.
Here are some important tips about power of attorney and personal directive (mostly pertinent to Canada).
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Ritholtz on the recession. Maybe we're not seeing a double dip, but in fact two distinct recessions. Are the periods between 2008 and September of this year long enough to warrante distinction?
With continued expansion in US exploration and development of domestic oil reserves, expanding existing supply and temporarily decreasing foreign oil imports, Canadian companies are expecting the ramification. But will the increase supply in the US hurt Canadian exports? This article seems to think so.
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Most economists have declared September as the mark for two successive negative GDP growth quarters. That means of course another recession has dropped on the US. Are things getting worse or better? Well if we look at stats that are an indicator of economic health we should be able to get an idea. Take the largest state in the US--California--and their housing issue. If things are still bad in the job sector (which they are) then we should still trouble in the housing market.
Foreclosure data for California for the first six months of 2011 (and all months prior to 2007) look like this:
Data compiled by San Diego Bankruptcy Attorney Cecilia Chen.
A young married client had done some mental math and decided that the total of his life insurance premiums if he held the policy for the full term was a princely sum. He felt reluctant to part with that money and told me so. For the moment we can leave aside the truism that you get what you pay for. Suffice to say that life insurance with equal benefits and provisions are competitively priced. If you find a cheaper product it may be because something is missing. (I have countless horror stories of people failing to receive life insurance payouts because of fancy clauses.)
But the bigger concept arising from his question is this. Why do I need life insurance? The average person does not pay enough attention to life insurance issues which can lead to tragic consequences as life insurance is an essential part of financial planning.
Probably better off in a tweet, but most economists agree that September 2011 marked 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth which means the USA has officially fallen into a second recession (the proverbial 'double dip'). Hang on to your hats. And if your hats are in the stock market hang on to anything you still have left....
What is global centralized bank.
A committee of economists are suggesting global reform should consider a global centralized bank. THe
Committee on International Economic Policy and Reform. IN light of the dismantled financial sector in the last 2000s the committee proposes:
...central banks should go beyond their traditional emphasis on low inflation to adopt an explicit goal of financial stability....we call for the creation of an International
Monetary Policy Committee composed of representatives of major central banks that will report
regularly to world leaders on the aggregate consequences of individual central bank policies.
Fulle report here.
Back to some behavioral economics. Thaler cites three stylized facts about horsetrack betting, they are as follows:
1. Most betters bring an amount of money that represents a small amount of their overall wealth. In terms of mental accounting, this money may represent the theory that money is non-fungible. Because they are not brining their whole wealth may be indicative of the portion of money associated with a specific label. For example, perhaps the money is thought of to carry utility in the form of entertainment. So instead of using this money to pay off debt, this money is strictly dedicated to entertainment, in this case betting.
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Financial crisis seems to be the theme of the past five years. However, it is not impossible to avoid the type of money woes that seem to plague a lot of people. Whether you have just spent too much, have too much credit card debt, or sustained a job loss, there are ways to stay financially strong.
Budgeting is important for financial freedom. Having a plan for how much income goes toward bills and how much you will save can lead you to financial independence. Knowing how to budget is a great tool to help you live within your means. Continue reading this article »
As the price of gasoline tops four dollars a gallon in the US and 1.4 a liter in Canada, consumers who are driving less could save an average of 5 to 15 percent on their automobile insurance rates if they just phone their insurers.
That's according to the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), which says that skyrocketing fuel costs could mean savings on automobile insurance as drivers react to high gas prices by using mass transportation, car-pooling, taking fewer trips to the store or curtailing their vacations.
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