Business and Finance

Last month the United States inflation rose a startling 5.6%, the first time it has rose that fast in 17 years. With this number also came a 0.8% rise in the consumer-price index, showing consumers the effect of the increase in cost for food, energy, clothing and airfare. In the previous month there was a 1.1% rise that accompanied a 0.3% rise in core inflation (excludes food and energy). This is a significant rise of 2.5% from the previous year and well surpasses the Federal Agency’s “comfort zone” of 1.5% – 2.0%.

Economists are attributing this rise to recent reports of the U.S dollar and commodity prices. The dollar had increased to its highest value compared to the Euro since February and oil had dropped in price for over a week. As imports have become cheaper, the economy still shows weakness, leading to the inflation.

Continue reading ‘US Inflation Rate Rises As Food and Energy Costs Increase’ »

Making money is an ancient art. Even before money was invented back in the 1500′s when banking was invented, people traded in value. So money essentially is a numerical representation of value. Before banking was invented, money was owned and controlled by the monarch. The royal mint produced coin made of gold which was weighed and equal in value to the gold it was made of. However, over hundreds of years, the people realized that this gold can be filed and shaved off. Shaving a little from each gold coin before using it in a transaction allowed them to melt down the shavings and use it illegally. The monarchies of all countries failed to find a solution to this dilemma and this went on for hundreds of years.

Gold was the first precious metal assigned by authority to represent value and it is this word “VALUE” I want you to keep your eye on. Just as today, we cannot eat a dollar bill or sleep under it to give us shelter, the royal gold coin could not be used to be eaten. So the gold coin and todays dollar bill do not have an intrinsic value on their own. You cannot ride it, sleep in it, eat it, or even take it with you. All money does is count value in a decimal numerical nature. So, lets dwell on this minor revelation.

Continue reading ‘The Ancient Secrets of Making Money’ »

0% finance

An interest-free loan — you repay only the amount of money you borrow. Such loans are often offered on items that manufacturers or dealers are keen to sell, perhaps because it is an unpopular model or it is about to be replaced by a new model. The deposits might be large, sometimes up to 50% of the list price of the item.

APR

Annual percentage rate. The true cost of a loan, including all the interest and concomitant charges and fees. The lower the APR is, the cheaper is the loan.

Balloon payment

The final payment at the end of a personal contract purchase (PCP).

Bank base rate

The interest rate set by the national bank. Finance houses add their own percentage to the base rate to calculate interest on loans. When the bank base rate changes, lenders’ rates change accordingly.

Continue reading ‘Financial Terms Explained’ »

The stock market is in a tumult. Actually, it has been for about a year, ever since the subprime fiasco (anyone take a look at Moody’s performance over the past year?) Now that that particular issue has been beaten to death, other mortgage related issues are cropping up. Most of the stuff covered in the media is financial in nature, but some of those mortgage related issues do concern information security.

It’s no secret that there are plenty of companies in the US that discard sensitive documents by dumping them unceremoniously: leave it by the curb, drive it to a dumpster, heave it over the walls of abandoned property, and other assorted mind boggling insecure practices. In fact, MSNBC has an article on this issue, and names numerous bankrupt mortgage companies whose borrowers’ records were found in dumpsters and recycling centers. The information on those documents include credit card numbers and SSNs, as well as addresses, names, and other information needed to secure a mortgage.

Continue reading ‘Can Data Breaches Be Expected From Bankrupt Mortgage Lenders?’ »

People are losing their homes and many more will lose their jobs before the mortgage meltdown works its way through the system.

To paraphrase Alan Greenspan’s remarks on March 17th, 2008, “The current financial crisis in the US is likely to be judged in retrospect as the most wrenching since the end of the Second World War. The crisis will leave many casualties.”

How many casualties? Experts are predicting that in the next few years, between 15 and 20 million homeowners could have homes worth less than what they owe. Walking away from a bad situation may actually make sense for people who mortgages that are ‘upside down’ considering the fact that refinancing is out of the question and home equity is nonexistent.

It seems quite easy to point fingers at greedy Wall Street titans for causing the sub-prime mortgage crises. They after all, put together the deals that allowed banks to underwrite mortgages and then offload these liabilities to investors. What many fail to realize is that there is no shortage of blame to go around from homeowners buying more home than they could afford to real estate agents looking for more commission dollars. Mortgage brokers and bankers, the banks themselves, ratings agencies such as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, Wall Street, the Fed and last but certainly not least, the Federal Government.

Continue reading ‘Understanding the Mortgage Meltdown; What happened and Who's to Blame’ »

As you know, we have been experiencing one of the most challenging times in our country’s history.

During the past few months, we’ve encountered a housing bubble, credit crisis, a bear market in stocks, significant increase in unemployment rate, continuous increase in commodities such as food and energy prices and more.

As a result of these problems, the government has taken serious action to stabilize the country’s economic condition to avoid another “Great Depression.” According to National Bureau of Economic Research, the country is not yet officially experiencing a recession. Despite what the experts say, we should still prepare in advance for any possibility and take the appropriate steps to protect ourselves.

Remember, recessions come and go. Based on previous records, a recession may last anywhere between 8-16 months. At the same time, no other economic crisis within the last 50 years has been compared to the “Great Depression.” What does this mean for you and what should you do? First and foremost, do not worry and do panic. Not only will the economy eventually cycle back to a better condition, but you can still effectively prepare for what’s to come ahead.

Continue reading ‘5 Smart Ways to Survive a Recession’ »

If you are concerned about your retirement income and are looking for ideas to increase your retirement income there are options available to you. In todays economy it is important to remember that even though your retirement savings mys be taking a hit now you still must plan for the future.

First understand that the best retirement savings plan should involve multiple streams of income. Most people realize that social security will probably not be around when they retire. At best we should only expect a small monthly token payment. Additionally, retirees can receive a larger amount if they delay the age that they start to receive benefits. Buy having additional sources of supplemental retirement income and waiting a few years to begin receiving payments from social security can mean a few extra hundred dollars a month.

The employer sponsored savings plan is the best option even in the current extreme market conditions. Most people now understand the importance of contributing to their 401k but unfortunately are having a hard enough time paying the bills with what they bring home. The thought of putting additional income into a retirement savings account seems impossible.

Continue reading ‘Plan For Extra Retirement Income Now’ »

Though most banks offer at least some internet options, there are some banks that have an internet banking service quality that is much better than the others available. This is especially true when you consider those who have accounts that are exclusively accessed on the internet. For those who are interested in the best internet banking service quality, there are some banks that should be checked out. For those who are looking for the best overall internet banking service quality, Citibank has been ranked as having the best online bank.

Citibank online banking has the most options and is very competitive. If you meet certain conditions you can get free checking and you can make withdrawals for free at Citibank ATMS and at 7-Eleven stores. They even have a high interest savings account, though it doesn’t have the highest interest rate of any online bank. If you are interested in having good ATM access, then the internet banking service quality award goes to Bank of America, who has the online banking with the best ATM access.

Continue reading ‘Facts on Internet Banking Service Quality’ »

If you’re considering a property investment, especially overseas, then you’ve plenty of options available to you. From traditional holiday homes, to shared-ownership schemes, to off-plan apartments, they all have their upsides and downs but one type of investment is increasingly becoming the alternative of choice – buy to let hotel rooms.

Buy to let hotel rooms, apart-hotels or condo-hotels, call them what you will but the concept is incredibly simple. Hotel and resort developers offer individual investors the chance to buy hotel rooms within a high-end development. The investor sees an annual income from room rentals, benefits from capital growth and can even make use of the hotel room as a perfect holiday destination complete with all the benefits of a top-class hotel.

So if you’re considering a property investment, overseas or closer to home, could a buy to let hotel room be the right option for you? Well, here are five good reasons why it might be:

Continue reading ‘Is Buying Hotel Rooms Right For You? Five Reasons Why it Might Be’ »

The business finance world is an area many businesses have to navigate in order to get the appropriate finance to grow their business or improve cash flow. It can be complicated understanding what type of finance is right for your business so here are some of the most common business finance methods explained.

Factoring

Factoring is a form of finance that takes into account value your business has in it’s invoices that are yet to be paid by your customers. Factoring allows your business to be loaned up to 90% of the value of your invoices as soon as they are issued so you don’t have to worry about waiting to be paid.

Factoring allows a business to give control of it’s sales ledger over to the Factoring company which will do your debt collection and help protect you from bad debt.

Continue reading ‘Choosing the Right Commercial Financing For Your Business’ »