I know this is a gag, but at the same time, I know quite a few people that would be more than willing to invest their money with a investment firm that practiced like this if they consistently beat the market. I don’t know if I would venture to say that most people would, […]

I came across this personal finance article today in the Philadelphia Inquirer today that gives the following advice regarding I-Bonds:
Thinking of buying inflation-adjusted U.S. savings bonds? Then gather your cash quickly. Chances are, you’ll get a better deal with I-bonds purchased this month than with the ones coming to market Nov. 1.

The reasoning?
Bonds sold from […]

People do get creative when it comes to figuring out how they are going to survive during retirement, including this jail before Social Security kicks in plan. Placing yourself in jail for 3 years until your Social Security checks begin to get distributed is certainly not a financial plan that I would recommend […]

**Warning: there is some foul language in this video**
This video is a classic example how not to invest in a business (in this case a roller skating party). While studying the correct ways to invest your money is helpful, it can also be just as helpful to see examples of the incorrect way to start […]

Here’s a little video I came across that gives the numbers on why it’s important to start investing early and the power of compound interest - since I know people learn in different ways, I thought a visual might be helpful for those that have a hard time grasping the explanation in written form. For […]

Some more support for my contention that most people are better off concentrating their time on learning how to save money rather than learning how to pick stocks.
But are you good enough at it to make it worth your while? To come out ahead buying individual stocks, you must have some special insight that […]

While 529 plans had their federal tax deduction permanently extended recently, Coverdell Education saving accounts lost some of their appeal. A nice advantage of the Coverdell saving accounts was that the money in the accounts could be used for private elementary, jr high school and high school expenses. Beginning in 2011, however, this will no […]

For those of you that have an interest about how the brain affects our decisions in regard to money, you’ll want to take some time and read a thorough (but rather long) article on neuroeconomics in the New Yorker. A few of the observations from the piece:
On people’s dislike of losing money:
During the past decade […]

A little humor to start off the week stolen from the forums:
If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.
With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.
With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left.
BUT, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one […]

Some good news for those that are saving money for your kids using 529 plans or who have been considering beginning college savings with them. One sticky point for many people was that the federal tax deduction for the 529 plans was set to expire in 2010. Most people felt that this deduction would […]

I’ve talked about this quite a bit before. - the fact that saving money is a two step process and that paying less for something doesn’t necessarily mean that you have saved money.
After you have found a way to cut an expense, you actually have to place the difference between what you were […]

If you had any doubt that you could use your instincts to predict virtually any future event and make money, that doubt should quickly be fading. HedgeStreet, an online futures market which is government regulated has launched “hurricane contracts” to speculate on the damage they will cause.
There are two types of hurricane speculation in […]

I met up with a friend this weekend along with a group of his friends who I didn’t really know. When they found out that I write about money matters and personal finance, I received the question that I almost always receive: “So, do you have any hot investing tips?”
Now I know what they are […]

I mentioned that we had picked up a few new blogs that we added to our growing family last week. We found a writer for one of them. I’d like to extend a big welcome to Khyron who will be writing the Alpha Guy from now on:
…As for my background, I studied electrical engineering in […]

I can tell I’ve been out of the US for awhile - there are just a crazy number of paid programming shows on TV these days. There also seems to be a huge number of “money making” paid programming advertisements on TV. What this tells me:
1) That these paid programming commercials make money (if they […]

For those that are trying to reduce their debt, the sad facts are there are a number of scams out there that prey on people with money troubles that promise them a way which will only leave them even more in debt. One of these is one where they claim bank credit cards are operating […]

I was recently reading an article about domain names and the prices that some of them are fetching and it occurred to me that this is an area where we should start investing. That’s not to say that I believe that I will pick five figure domain names to sell, but it seems to me […]

It’s the start of a new week and here is some more reading on a number of topic that may be of interest:
There are some investing basics to remember that come handy when investing during a volatile stock market:

Diversify
Keep A Long-Term Perspective
Invest In Bad Times And Good
Don’t Forget Those Dividends
Market Declines […]

If you are thinking about remodeling, getting ready to sell or just want to know where is the best place to spend your hard earned money in relation to your house, you need to be aware that the majority of home improvements fail to increase the value of your house enough to recover the cost […]

The news from the Bureau of the Public Debt regarding the current I-Bond wasn’t pretty. While I-Bonds had been paying 6.73% during the previous period (November 1, 2005 to April 30, 2006), the new rates plunged to a measly 2.41%. I had written that I believed that something like this would happen so it really […]