Written by Benjamin Woods on March 1, 2012.
The Economic View in Sunday’s New York Times by Harvard economics professor N. Gregory Mankiw defending special tax rates for carried interest, brought to mind the old joke about a tourist asking a Maine farmer for directions to Augusta. The farmer hems and haws and finally says “Come to think of it, you can’t get theyah from heyah.” The exasperated tourist responds “You live in this state and can’t tell me how to get to the capital? How stupid can you be?” To which the farmer retorts “Well Mistah, I may be stupid, but then again, I ain’t lost.”
So why did the Times piece remind me of the old joke? Because it seems to me that the carried interest crowd – those Mitt Romney supporters – often justify the special low tax rates for carried interest by confusing the issue. In
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Written by Benjamin Woods on February 25, 2012.
Hobbies are an essential part of keeping a balanced life. They give us an outlet, allow us to stay sane in a sometimes not so sane world, and provide an opportunity to release stress. It sometimes seems that in order to save money we need to give up the things we enjoy (our hobbies). Though it may seem like a budget is designed to suck the fun out of your life, that is not necessarily the case. The opposite is true; in order to actually maintain a realistic budget it needs to include entertainment. Everyone has some sort of hobby that they enjoy, whether it is scrapbooking, golf, dining out, or playing tennis, chances are it definitely isn’t free.
For me, it’s scrapbooking. Not only do I enjoy the scrapbooks themselves, I sincerely enjoying sitting for hours and designing each individual page. I have made 11 scrapbooks, pretty much one for every year since I entered high school. And
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Written by Benjamin Woods on February 20, 2012.
Payment history
Your payment history is 35 percent of your credit score and impacts your score the most. It is important to pay your credit obligations on time. This can be difficult if you are unemployed.
Most of those that are unemployed have reduced income and are unable to pay their bills in full or on time. Bills may have to be prioritized with limited income and or resources. This can lead to bills being paid late, if at all. Those with underwater mortgages don’t see the purpose to pay something that is worth less than they owe. They are more concerned about paying for their car, gas, food and utilities.
Using most of your available credit
The amount of your available credit that you use is 30 percent of your credit score and is the second most important item in it. This is also called credit utilization. This is the ratio of your total credit card balance compared to your total credit limits. In other words, the more you owe on your credit cards impacts your score. The ideal ratio is 20 percent. For examp
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Written by Benjamin Woods on February 6, 2012.
On June 12 North Dakota voters will decide whether to pass Constitutional Measure 2. That measure will repeal all property taxes. It is the most ridiculous idea ever proposed in the field of state and local public finance. The property tax remains the only source of revenue that insures local autonomy. With no property taxes, there is no localism to speak of. Property taxes are also the best means of limited government. Shifting local finances to the state gives the appearance that the local services are free. It creates a fight over resources at the state level. And ultimately results in less democratic and responsive government. I keep saying this; I wish someone would listen. What do you think?
Written by Benjamin Woods on January 23, 2012.
If youve been on the internet today, youve probably encountered big websites such as Wikipedia, Mozilla, Craigslist, and Reddit closing their content down today to protest SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) in the House, and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) in the Senate. Learn what this legislation means, and what you can do about it.
Many websites, experts, and news teams have explained what these acts are (better than we could) and why they are so dangerous. It basically has to do with online copyright infringement and piracy, but these acts propose drastic actions that could alter the very structure of the internet. Find out the details here
CBS News SOPA and PIPA- What You Need to Know
PC Mag Where Do You Stand on SOPA/PIPA
DONT JUST READ DO SOMETHING
It is your civic duty, your responsibility to let your congressmen know if you oppose this bill.
I was a Political Science major in college. I
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Written by Benjamin Woods on January 16, 2012.
You should care because credit unions hold a significant advantage over banks (a fact not lost on bank lobbyists calling for more credit union oversight). The advantage is that they don’t have to chase profit and they’re not pushed around by shareholders. What, a financial institution that doesn’t care about profits? Exactly. Credit unions are by definition, non-profit institutions.
They exist to serve their members, not shareholders. Who are the members? You are, when you make a deposit. You’ll actually be called a “member” not a “customer” when you join! How cool is that? In other words credit unions seek to serve the financial needs (checking, savings, lending etc) of their members in a way that does not create profits. Think of it as a financial coop. Your savings gets lent to your friends!
Okay but won’t I feel safer at a bank? I mean they’re “too big to
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Written by Benjamin Woods on January 7, 2012.
Russell Investments, the money management and indexing firm, filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to bring to market what it called three high-yielding dividend ETFs, targeting an increasing popular segment of the market that includes one of the most successful recent ETF launches.
The three equity funds, for which Russell didn’t provide expense ratios, are:
- Russell High Dividend Yield ETF, which will trade with the ticker “HDIV”
- Russell Small Cap High Dividend Yield ETF, which will trade with the ticker “DIVS”
- Russell International High Dividend Yield ETF, which will trade with the ticker “IDIV”
The three new funds suggest the company is positioning itself to get a piece of the ETF market investors are moving toward at a time of great economic uncertainty. Some of the mo
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