I really think this is key to the difference between "then" and "now." In my childhood, few had credit cards (it was a big deal when my father got one for his business). I think for most the only monthly expense was the mortgage.
Paying off my house early eliminated the biggest fixed expense we had. I have never regretted it, even several years ago,when the financial press derided such decisions (b/c "you could always take money out of your house...").
Philip,
Good point here. I think everyone should do a minimum fixed cost calculation. That is what is the minimum monthly payment that you would have to come up with just to subsist. Include rent, mortgage, minimum utilities, taxes, transportation, basic food, etc. Add it all up and that's how much you need just to get by, so if the income went down, you would need to come up with this.
Take your unemployment and other guaranteed income and then calculate your gap. Now compare that to your emergency fund. If you are going to burn through your emergency fund in less than 6 months, you need a lot more savings.
The interesting thing about this Recession is that things like Cable or Cell phone service that people used to consider must haves are starting to get discarded or at least heavily downgraded.
is there something like this that actually runs an inventory? I'm one of these rabid couponers who has amassed a stockpile of "deals" from cutting coupons and shopping store circular deals, but I sometimes forget what I then have in the stockpile and either run out of something thinking I have it or don't remember so buy it again. Rather than compiling and maintaining a spreadsheet, I figured a barcode scanner-based inventory app would be so cool :) Just wondering if it maybe already exists...
I actually have become savy to the 24 hour period overdraft. i started to bank with a new bank - Key Bank- I deposited in my account a check on saturday in an ATM (because the lines were long in the bank and i had to get my child to school. Apprently at THIS bank they charge you overdraft fees during the day. Becuase I deposited in the ATM the deposit did not hit my account till 8 pm on Monday. I also made an in person deposit on Monday as well which was approximately around 12:00 pm. During the day say at 1 pm and 3 pm checks were cleared through my account. They didn't take into consideration of my pending deposit from Saturday - it didn't post till 8 pm. so at 10 am and 11 am I was charged because my deposit was not in my account at this time. I have never heard of bank that didn't go by the end of the day balance. Like I said I had known about the largest check first for a long time- but this was new to me. Anyone else had this experience???
The point of the article is not that the issuing bank is not justified in their initial overdraft fee(s) - the point is that there is ZERO grace with banks now-a-days. Last year, my bank told me that if I made a deposit in the drop box over the weekend, the deposit would get processed before the debits on the next business day. This policy CHANGED. Consequently, my bank (and others)have chosen to notify me (and the author, and other customers) of this policy change by charging overdraft fees. Then NOT offering to give grace the first time it happened.
If the policy changes - fine.
If I deserve overdraft fees - fine.
If I've been a loyal customer without overdrafts in the psst - give me a break at least the first time this happens!! That's just customer service 101.
Give me the benefit of the doubt the first time I overdraw and I won't complain.
In an ideal world, I would have over $100 cush in my checking account at all times. No doubt. Quit saying this isn't an article that belongs somewhere fiscally responsible people operate. Quite a few of us fiscally responsible people have been biten by the banks on this one.
Thanks for reading my two cents.
Fiscally responsible in Fort Worth, TX
Dear I Need Help....You sound like a very interesting and sensitive person. Sometimes it feels like God is not here for us, but I believe He is waiting on us to sincerely want and need His help, not just a temporary fix for a passing need, but a true Friend and Savior. An all day everyday God. I just pray you don't give up, because you sound like you have so much to give back(to others). And isn't that "what it's all about"...When we get our eyes off of ourselves and see the needs of others our needs are met.
Keep on searching.
Most likely, your state expects you to self-report and pay use tax on the item you bought online. This doesn't make it as great a steal, but it could be useful as far as cash flow goes.
I am so excited about this app. I remember one of my co-workers telling me about this when he tried the google phone from T-mobile. I just checked and it is available on the iphone as well. Soon to be mine you little pretty...
I reviewed Shop Savvy for a tech site a few months back, but sadly it was only available on the Android platform. So glad that I can now use it with my iPhone. I love this app, too!
My wife downloaded this a few weeks ago after seeing a co-worker displaying it. It was a novelty at first, but it rapidly turned into a nifty tool for comparing prices.
There are laws that require that banks (and other financial intermediaries) report large cash transactions to the Federal government, in order to create a paper trail that makes it easier to detect money laundering.
The laws provide loopholes. Small cash transactions don't need to be reported. Certain large transactions don't need to be reported either, if the intermediary understands where the money comes from and can confirm that it's part of a legitimate cash transaction. (Otherwise they'd be filing daily reports on many businesses that did a lot of cash business.)
As with any loophole, criminals try to take advantage of it. For example, when the reporting threshold was $10,000, criminals would divide their money up into multiple separate $9900 deposits--structuring the transaction to avoid the reporting requirement.
Later amendments to the law prohibited that activity as well. It's now a federal crime to "structure" your transactions so as to avoid the reporting requirements in place to detect money laundering.
As a response to the financial panic, the Federal Reserve started pushing interest rates down in 2007, and kept pushing them down until reaching zero in late 2008. The Fed can control short-term interest rates because it can create or destroy money--adjusting the supply to whatever produces the interest rates it wants.
This is pretty much a unique situation historically in the United States, but other countries (in particular Japan in the 1990s) have tried what's called a "zero interest rate policy."
The average investor is pretty much stuck waiting for rates to go up.
Julian - have a look at the EU Erasmus Mundus programmes. These are two year Masters programs, and usually you need to take some classes and study at at least two different universities in the programme (sometimes three!). They offer quite generous scholarships for non-EU people, like yourself, covering tuition and living expenses. There are Masters programmes in a number of different areas - here is a list of them and their websites.
When t-bills are returning 0% is this an indication that large funds are buying in? If so, when has this historically happened? What can the average investor learn from this?
You can't simultaneously help people become healthier by taxing unhealthy food AND use those taxes to pay off debt, etc. -- even if both things separately are worthwhile. If you succeed on one side of the equation, the beneficiaries of the other side of the equation suffers. The way to combat unhealthy food choices is through a.) education, b.) removal of subsidies to the unhealthy food producers, and c.) supporting healthy food alternatives (local co-ops, organic growers, etc.)
Legislation that takes the power of choice away from people only makes people more dependent on the legislators to tell them what to do.
Unfortunately my kitty was completely freaked out about peeing in the toilet and took to using the bathroom sink instead. Even after bringing back the litter box I still need to keep a tray covering the sink to keep her out.
We just got some beef from a family member who had it processed at a meat market. It doesn't taste like grocery store meat. As a matter of fact, everything tastes the same. The steakes, roasts, hamburgers all tastes the same ~ dry and wierd tasting. I've had to cook it all mixed in soup or something. Why?
I really think this is key to the difference between "then" and "now." In my childhood, few had credit cards (it was a big deal when my father got one for his business). I think for most the only monthly expense was the mortgage.
Paying off my house early eliminated the biggest fixed expense we had. I have never regretted it, even several years ago,when the financial press derided such decisions (b/c "you could always take money out of your house...").
Philip,
Good point here. I think everyone should do a minimum fixed cost calculation. That is what is the minimum monthly payment that you would have to come up with just to subsist. Include rent, mortgage, minimum utilities, taxes, transportation, basic food, etc. Add it all up and that's how much you need just to get by, so if the income went down, you would need to come up with this.
Take your unemployment and other guaranteed income and then calculate your gap. Now compare that to your emergency fund. If you are going to burn through your emergency fund in less than 6 months, you need a lot more savings.
The interesting thing about this Recession is that things like Cable or Cell phone service that people used to consider must haves are starting to get discarded or at least heavily downgraded.
IM INTERESTED IN PICKING UP SCRAP METAL COULD YOU HELP?? IF SO GIVE ME A CALL...8644916304....JENNIFER
IM INTERESTED IN PICKING UP SCRAP METAL COULD YOU HELP?? IF SO GIVE ME A CALL...8644916304....JENNIFER
is there something like this that actually runs an inventory? I'm one of these rabid couponers who has amassed a stockpile of "deals" from cutting coupons and shopping store circular deals, but I sometimes forget what I then have in the stockpile and either run out of something thinking I have it or don't remember so buy it again. Rather than compiling and maintaining a spreadsheet, I figured a barcode scanner-based inventory app would be so cool :) Just wondering if it maybe already exists...
I actually have become savy to the 24 hour period overdraft. i started to bank with a new bank - Key Bank- I deposited in my account a check on saturday in an ATM (because the lines were long in the bank and i had to get my child to school. Apprently at THIS bank they charge you overdraft fees during the day. Becuase I deposited in the ATM the deposit did not hit my account till 8 pm on Monday. I also made an in person deposit on Monday as well which was approximately around 12:00 pm. During the day say at 1 pm and 3 pm checks were cleared through my account. They didn't take into consideration of my pending deposit from Saturday - it didn't post till 8 pm. so at 10 am and 11 am I was charged because my deposit was not in my account at this time. I have never heard of bank that didn't go by the end of the day balance. Like I said I had known about the largest check first for a long time- but this was new to me. Anyone else had this experience???
The point of the article is not that the issuing bank is not justified in their initial overdraft fee(s) - the point is that there is ZERO grace with banks now-a-days. Last year, my bank told me that if I made a deposit in the drop box over the weekend, the deposit would get processed before the debits on the next business day. This policy CHANGED. Consequently, my bank (and others)have chosen to notify me (and the author, and other customers) of this policy change by charging overdraft fees. Then NOT offering to give grace the first time it happened.
If the policy changes - fine.
If I deserve overdraft fees - fine.
If I've been a loyal customer without overdrafts in the psst - give me a break at least the first time this happens!! That's just customer service 101.
Give me the benefit of the doubt the first time I overdraw and I won't complain.
In an ideal world, I would have over $100 cush in my checking account at all times. No doubt. Quit saying this isn't an article that belongs somewhere fiscally responsible people operate. Quite a few of us fiscally responsible people have been biten by the banks on this one.
Thanks for reading my two cents.
Fiscally responsible in Fort Worth, TX
Dear I Need Help....You sound like a very interesting and sensitive person. Sometimes it feels like God is not here for us, but I believe He is waiting on us to sincerely want and need His help, not just a temporary fix for a passing need, but a true Friend and Savior. An all day everyday God. I just pray you don't give up, because you sound like you have so much to give back(to others). And isn't that "what it's all about"...When we get our eyes off of ourselves and see the needs of others our needs are met.
Keep on searching.
Most likely, your state expects you to self-report and pay use tax on the item you bought online. This doesn't make it as great a steal, but it could be useful as far as cash flow goes.
I am so excited about this app. I remember one of my co-workers telling me about this when he tried the google phone from T-mobile. I just checked and it is available on the iphone as well. Soon to be mine you little pretty...
I reviewed Shop Savvy for a tech site a few months back, but sadly it was only available on the Android platform. So glad that I can now use it with my iPhone. I love this app, too!
Linsey Knerl
I'd be interested in a follow up post if/when you ever use it for price matching.
Best. Ever. Sometimes I get into a store & all of the numbers fly out of my head, esp. comparing a myriad of items, like at grocery stores.
My wife downloaded this a few weeks ago after seeing a co-worker displaying it. It was a novelty at first, but it rapidly turned into a nifty tool for comparing prices.
If this works for groceries too, then this has got to be one of the best apps ever!
That is a fascinationg app, scanning the barcode. Imagine the possibilities!
John DeFlumeri Jr
There are laws that require that banks (and other financial intermediaries) report large cash transactions to the Federal government, in order to create a paper trail that makes it easier to detect money laundering.
The laws provide loopholes. Small cash transactions don't need to be reported. Certain large transactions don't need to be reported either, if the intermediary understands where the money comes from and can confirm that it's part of a legitimate cash transaction. (Otherwise they'd be filing daily reports on many businesses that did a lot of cash business.)
As with any loophole, criminals try to take advantage of it. For example, when the reporting threshold was $10,000, criminals would divide their money up into multiple separate $9900 deposits--structuring the transaction to avoid the reporting requirement.
Later amendments to the law prohibited that activity as well. It's now a federal crime to "structure" your transactions so as to avoid the reporting requirements in place to detect money laundering.
As a response to the financial panic, the Federal Reserve started pushing interest rates down in 2007, and kept pushing them down until reaching zero in late 2008. The Fed can control short-term interest rates because it can create or destroy money--adjusting the supply to whatever produces the interest rates it wants.
This is pretty much a unique situation historically in the United States, but other countries (in particular Japan in the 1990s) have tried what's called a "zero interest rate policy."
The average investor is pretty much stuck waiting for rates to go up.
Julian - have a look at the EU Erasmus Mundus programmes. These are two year Masters programs, and usually you need to take some classes and study at at least two different universities in the programme (sometimes three!). They offer quite generous scholarships for non-EU people, like yourself, covering tuition and living expenses. There are Masters programmes in a number of different areas - here is a list of them and their websites.
does this work only in the US or can a person in another continent get involved??
what do you mean structuring? can you further explain this concept?
When t-bills are returning 0% is this an indication that large funds are buying in? If so, when has this historically happened? What can the average investor learn from this?
You can't simultaneously help people become healthier by taxing unhealthy food AND use those taxes to pay off debt, etc. -- even if both things separately are worthwhile. If you succeed on one side of the equation, the beneficiaries of the other side of the equation suffers. The way to combat unhealthy food choices is through a.) education, b.) removal of subsidies to the unhealthy food producers, and c.) supporting healthy food alternatives (local co-ops, organic growers, etc.)
Legislation that takes the power of choice away from people only makes people more dependent on the legislators to tell them what to do.
Unfortunately my kitty was completely freaked out about peeing in the toilet and took to using the bathroom sink instead. Even after bringing back the litter box I still need to keep a tray covering the sink to keep her out.
We just got some beef from a family member who had it processed at a meat market. It doesn't taste like grocery store meat. As a matter of fact, everything tastes the same. The steakes, roasts, hamburgers all tastes the same ~ dry and wierd tasting. I've had to cook it all mixed in soup or something. Why?