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 Hugo Pethebridge on January 11, 2012.
If you have a mortgage, loan, line of credit, or a credit card, it may be in your best interest to accept the creditor life and disability insurance that goes along with it. Although it will cost you extra money out of pocket, it may just be worth your while.
1. It can give you peace of mind. If something were to happen that drastically changed your ability to earn income, you want to know that you and your family would be protected. Without insurance, you would still be expected to make payments to your credit products. But, with insurance, you would know that it would be paid of in full in the event of your death and that your disability insurance would kick in if you were unable to work due to an accident or injury.
2. It is often very easy to be approved. Depending on your age and your current health condition, you may have difficulty getting insured with a regular insurance company.
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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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Written by Jai Borchgrevink on January 7, 2012.
I go on vacation for a week and look what happens!
First I apologize for not having any updates last week, but for what its worth I did enjoy a nice, Internet-free family vacation at a cottage in Michigan.
I managed to rest, which was much-needed and very beneficial for me.
I came back to a big surprise in the market, and figured a response to the goings on would be beneficial for readers today.
Here is your 3-step survival guide for the market mayhem:
1. Remember That God Is Still In Control
No matter what happens in the market, God reigns.
He is in control.
This should be an incredible comfort in times like this.
I cant help but think of the story in Matthew 8:23-27 where Jesus is sleeping on the boat while his disciples panicked as the fierce storm rocked their ship. Jesus finally woke up and rebuked the winds and waves, and there was a great calm.
Ultimately, if you are a believer in Jesus, you have nothing to worry about.
Yes, we may experiences job losses, investment losses or worse. But the fa
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on January 6, 2012.
When I was applying for a summer job at a retailer, meant to put employees on the fast track to middle management, I attended an employment retreat. Not only did we take a test to gauge our honesty, but we also had to answer interview questions like:
I’m going to be frank. I don’t answer those types of questions very well. In fact, whenever I had to answer such questions during an interview, I was almost certain not to get the job. I tended to get jobs that focused more on my qualifications, and past performance (it’s how I ended up working for a newspaper as an ad specialist).
Answering such interview questions one of the reasons that I now work from home as a freelance writer. I don’t have to go through such interviews. I just
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on January 3, 2012.
A positive report from the U.S. Commerce Department and encouraging news from Europe help turn the tide in the stock market early in the week and the National Association of Home Builders expects the news will lift sentiment for a third consecutive month. Builders saw a marked increase in business in November, beginning construction on 9.3% more homes than in October and 24.3% more on the year. Building permits were also up, and stocks tied to the industry are performing well with good upside potential. Some companies enjoying the climb are homebuilders D.R. Horton, Lennar Corporation, Beazer Homes and Standard Pacific. For more on this continue reading the following article from TheStreet. Positive economic data for the U.S. housing sector and brighter signals from Europe offered markets a glimmer of hope this Tuesday. The U.S. Commerce Department released better-than-expected November housing data with builders breaking ground for nearly 685,000 homes, up 9.3% from October and 24.3% in November 2010, surpassing economists’ expectations. Full Post…
Written by Benjamin Woods on December 31, 2011.
Like many, I took some time to enjoy – in my case, try to ignore – the holidays. But the nuttiness didn’t stop in the tax community. Here are my top five stupid tax things from the last couple of weeks.
1. While we were partying, our fearless leaders enacted a two-month extension of the so-called payroll tax holiday. Bar none, this is the stupidest tax policy idea I have ever seen – and, as we all know, that’s a high bar. Two-months? Clearly, these guys never had to meet a payroll – apparently, most of them never really had a real job. So, we get to watch Boehner and Cantor play games all over again in February, while the lecturer in chief tells us all what’s good for us?
What went mostly unnoticed while we were all filling ourselves with holiday cheer was that the establishment media was finally picking up on the fact that this payroll tax holiday idea may be a serious threat to Social Security. I thought George Bush was the serious threat to Social Security? Nope; it’s
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