Free Republic

The stale old stock pickers’ debate about whether to bet on the right jockey or the right horse might leave out the most important long-term factor for building a diversified portfolio…you just might do better betting on the right track. In other words, and for whatever reasons, it might be true that highest amount of value (best mix of return and risk) might come not from the choice of which CEO is in charge or which sector the company works in, but rather on the policy environment in which the companies are forced to operate. Over time these differences in...

Trying to focus on the markets for today and each day and the economic news A number of people have talked about such a thread. Lets see how it goes. This is where you can impart some investment wisdom to your fellow freepers. You can vent about the big one that got away. You can chime in how Obama is out to wreck American capitalism. If you see another FR economic thread you like and want to link to it here, please do Post your favorite economic site links. Your favorite precious metals blogs and sites Apmex.com is a solid...

Trying to focus on the markets for today and each day and the economic news A number of people have talked about such a thread. Lets see how it goes. This is where you can impart some investment wisdom to your fellow freepers. You can vent about the big one that got away. You can chime in how Obama is out to wreck American capitalism. If you see another FR economic thread you like and want to link to it here, please do Post your favorite economic site links. Your favorite precious metals blogs and sites Apmex.com is a solid...

Trying to focus on the markets for today and each day and the economic news A number of people have talked about such a thread. Lets see how it goes. This is where you can impart some investment wisdom to your fellow freepers. You can vent about the big one that got away. You can chime in how Obama is out to wreck American capitalism. If you see another FR economic thread you like and want to link to it here, please do Post your favorite economic site links. Your favorite precious metals blogs and sites Apmex.com is a solid...

If Mama June knows what the rest of America knows about living within your means, why can't President Obama and the Democrats figure it out? You know what happens when an American family runs out of money in the bank or available credit on their charge cards? Of course you do because every American, other than those who play with taxpayer money, have to live somewhere within their means or face the prospect of getting cut off. Only in Washington and in the State Houses around the country can you take in $1 and spend $3. The reason for...

Dear Carrie: I'm getting married in six months. My fiance and I both have steady jobs, but he has a lot more debt than I do, especially student loans. Once we're married, am I also responsible for his debts? I want to be a good partner, but this kind of scares me. --A Reader Dear Reader: This is a great question, and you're very smart to be asking it now. As much as we all want to focus only on romance as we approach marriage, finance also plays an important part in a happy and long-lasting relationship. To initially put...

Dear Carrie: We are getting older and need help managing our investments. What do you suggest for people in our circumstances? --A Reader Dear Reader: You're wise to be asking this now because, as much as we don't like to think about it, the older we get the more likely it is that we'll need help managing our finances. In fact, a study out of Texas Tech University last year measured how our knowledge of the basic concepts needed to make good financial choices changes as we age. It found that financial literacy scores declined by about 2 percent a...

Dear Dave, We’ve read about your plan, and we’re in pretty good shape financially, but we don’t know what to do next. We have $400,000 in a 401(k) for retirement, but we don’t have an emergency fund or any other savings. The only debt we have is our house. What should we do about Baby Steps 4 and 6?MaryDear Mary,You guys have done a great job of saving for retirement and staying out of debt. Let’s go over the Baby Steps you mentioned. Baby Step 4 is putting 15 percent of your income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement plans....

Dear Dave, I have old credit card debt that goes back a few years. The account has been sold and re-sold to several collection companies. The limit on the card was $300, but with late charges and fees I now owe $1,500. Am I liable for the extra $1,200? Monica Dear Monica, You agreed to their terms, which included the right to charge fees and penalties. Legally, they can do this. The honorable thing would be to send the company you contracted with a check for the full amount. However, that company no longer owns the debt, and they won’t...

Dear Carrie: I am relatively new to investing. I have set money aside and plan to take an aggressive approach to paying off my student loans. Can you offer an ideal action plan for both investing and lowering student debt? --A Reader Dear Reader: With money set aside and wanting to put a plan in action, it sounds like you're already headed in the right direction. Now it's time to get down to specifics so that, ideally, you can accomplish both your investing and debt lowering goals -- and then some. Student debt can be daunting, and you're right to...

Here’s a brief overview of some of the most popular tools for managing personal finances. **** 1. Some of the most popular buzzwords in recent years have been “Dave Ramsey” and “Financial Peace University.” Ramsey’s program is a 13-week course (usually two classes a week) that claims families pay off an average of $5300 in debt and save $2700 in the course of those three months. The classes are typically around $100 and are offered in multiple locations, led by “Financial Counselors” who have gone through a training course within the program. Visit www.daveramsey.com for more information. 2. Other families...

high earners need to save extremely high percentages of their income -- as much as 77 percent for the 45-year-old just starting to save for retirement at age 62 -- to produce that 80 percent. The concept underlying Munnell's paper, and a lot of other retirement planning advice, is that you can figure out how much you need to save once you have a number for that 80 percent replacement rate. But there's reason to believe that oft-quoted 80 percent figure is wildly on the high side. That, in turn, makes the retirement calculations based upon it also wildly off....

Dear Dave, My husband is a landscaper who works for the state. He has his technical license and wants to start a business doing private work as well. What advice would you give to someone just starting out in this field?AmyDear Amy,First, I’d check to see if there are any additional licenses required for doing that kind of work in your state and the cities in which you’ll be operating. You want to make sure you’re starting off on the right foot with any authorities or governing boards.The next thing I’d advise is to keep it simple. There’s no reason...

Dear Carrie: I'm about to get married for the second time. I have two kids, 8 and 10, and my fiancee has two teenagers. Everyone gets along well, but my husband-to-be is a lot wealthier than I, and his kids have been raised with very different financial expectations. It's not that I necessarily expect him to now pay for everything for my kids, but at the same time, I don't want them to feel like they get less because they're less worthy. What's fair in a situation like this? --A Reader Dear Reader: Even the most compatible couple can have...

The retirement investment press is vibrating over new federal regulations that will seize sizable portions of 401k accounts and make it very difficult to own gold. While it took the cooperation of hundreds of congressmen to enact the new provisions – laws and regulations which modify the basic interpretation of the search and seizure provisions of the 4th Amendment and the tax codes that offer incentive to save for retirement – one particular California Congresswoman has come in for severe criticism. A Santa Barbara member of the New Democrat Coalition, Lois Capps, Dist. 23, is in her 8th term representing...

Dear Carrie: I'm 60 and will probably retire between age 66 and 70. I currently have $375,000 in IRA/401(k) funds and I'm adding 8 percent of my income annually. My employer matches a portion. I still have a mortgage of over $165,000 at 4.75 percent. I'm wondering... should I stop my 401(k) contributions and apply that money in extra principal on my mortgage? If I do, I'd pay my house off in about 10 years, making life a lot easier when I retire. But I'd lose the tax advantages as well as the employer match. One idea is to contribute...

SHE had so much. Yet Tammy Strobel wasn’t happy. Working as a project manager with an investment management firm in Davis, Calif., and making about $40,000 a year, she was, as she put it, caught in the “work-spend treadmill.” So one day she stepped off. Inspired by books and blog entries about living simply, Ms. Strobel and her husband, Logan Smith, both 31, began donating some of their belongings to charity. As the months passed, out went stacks of sweaters, shoes, books, pots and pans, even the television after a trial separation during which it was relegated to a closet....

Chase plans to eliminate by the first quarter of next year a common industry practice that enraged many consumers. Instead of lumping a day’s worth of debit card and A.T.M. transactions together and then processing the highest amounts first — a practice that has caused large numbers of consumers to overdraw more quickly and pay more fees — it will credit the transactions chronologically. Chase also plans to allow customers to opt out of overdraft coverage. Consumers who overdraw often do not realize that overdraft coverage is automatic and that the bank will not simply cut them off when their...

As banks shy away from making risky consumer loans, a mediocre credit history just won't cut it anymore. To get the best rates on mortgages, credit cards and auto loans, you need a killer score. Your FICO score is a numerical measure of your creditworthiness that ranges from 300 to 850. While there are a few different credit scoring systems available, it's the FICO score, created by the Fair Isaac Corporation, that most lenders look at when they check your credit. Lenders have already raised their standards by about 20 to 40 points this year, according to Barry Paperno, consumer...

Some homeowners who sign up for the government's mortgage assistance program are getting a nasty surprise: Lower credit scores. For borrowers who are making their payments on time but are on the verge of default, the Obama administration's loan modification program can reduce their credit score as much as 100 points. That makes it harder to get a loan and can present a problem when applying for a new job.