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Escaping the Credit Card Debt Prison

September 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Paying Off Credit Card Debt to Escape Financial Prison

When you find yourself in credit card debt it can feel like a financial prison.  Suddenly, you can't go out to eat, pick up a new shirt, or even go to a movie without worrying about the fact that you are increasing your debt or using cash that could have gone to paying down your credit card balances. Before you can figure out how to get out of credit card debt, you have to understand the reason you are in your current position.  As most financial articles and planners can tell you, there … [Read more...]

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At What Point Does Your Life Stop Being Mommy and Daddy’s Fault?

September 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Over at the Investing for Beginners site, I just published a blog explaining that the best investment is in yourself, as I have repeatedly said. This came as a result of a Wall Street Journal article that explained unemployment levels for college graduates, which is only 25% of the population, is still incredibly low. In fact, the unemployment level for college graduates is half that of the general population. What angers me is the guy who didn't go to college, when asked about his reason, … [Read more...]

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Factor In Your Income Sources When Seeking Diversification

September 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Are You a Stock or a Bond

When it comes to diversification, you have to look at your entire life and not just your portfolio.  Several years ago there was a book I really enjoyed that dealt with this topic called Are You a Stock or a Bond?: Create Your Own Pension Plan for a Secure Financial Future. It explained some professions, like tenured professors, are like bonds - there is little risk of you ever losing your job, the pay it steady and almost fixed with small incremental increases based upon inflation, and you … [Read more...]

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How I Structure My Day

September 3, 2010 By 2 Comments
Setting the Agenda

When I come into the office, I begin by sitting down with a white pad of narrow-ruled paper (very small lines - smaller than college ruled because that is how I like it), and set out everything I want to achieve that day.  If I knock off the top 5 things, I consider it a success. After reading a fantastic book - one of the best I have EVER read called The Millionaire in the Mirror: How to Find Your Passion and Make a Fortune Doing It--Without Quitting Your Day Job, I realized that everything … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Making Money, My Businesses, My Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

A $1,000,000 Municipal Bond Dilemma

August 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Municipal Bonds and Muncipal Bond Investments

Those of you who follow my writings at About.com, a division of The New York Times, know that I've written about municipal bonds at the Investing for Beginners site including one article that detailed some ways to help you determine if a specific municipal bond was "safe". At the wedding this weekend, I was discussing a family friend, who shall remain nameless, who is in his 80's and has more than $1,000,000 parked in municipal bonds.  As many of you know, this means he earns tax-free … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Municipal Bonds, Saving Money Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Secret Philosophy of Successful Investing – One of My Best About.com Articles

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Investing Philosophy

This is a cross-post of The Secret Philosophy of Successful Investing from About.com, a division of The New York Times because I want to highlight the piece in case any of you missed it and get you to head over to the Investing for Beginners site to check it out! Why?  I've received tons of private messages, emails, and other communications thanking me for writing this specific article, causing this to become, hands down, one of the highest rated pieces of content I've published in the past ten … [Read more...]

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The House of Creed Is the Perfect Family Business

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Creed Fragrance Counter at Harrods Department Store

This is cross-posted from the Investing for Beginners site at About.com, a division of The New York Times.  I wanted to point it out to the readers here and tell you to head over there and check it out because I had been writing so much about Creed perfume, cologne, and fragrance products the past few days and the Creed business itself.  Many of you read my About site anyway, but I just wanted to make sure you didn't miss it. For the past few days, I've been adding to my collection of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Case Studies & Profiles, Fragrances & Perfumes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Health Care Reform Taxes Will Hit Top 1% of Households

March 23, 2010 By 5 Comments
Rich Uncle Penny Bags, aka the Monopoly Man, now has to pay Medicare taxes on dividends, interest, and real estate rental income.

I don't think there is any reasonable chance health care will be overturned as unconstitutional because it is written in such a way that you aren't technically required to buy health insurance, you will just be subject to a special excise tax if you don't. A lot of very, very expensive lawyers made sure the language would stand up to a challenge.  That may seem like a small distinction but it has the effect of requiring everyone to do it through an incentive system and doesn't actually … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Politics, Religion & Culture, Taxes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Joy of Cash Dividends

March 12, 2010 By 2 Comments
General Electric Stock Certificate Framed

Over the years, I've written a lot about dividends on the Investing for Beginners site at About.com.  In fact, over the past few years it has been one of my absolute favorite topics to cover because through the Great Recession of 2007-2009, those who owned a collection of high quality dividends stocks were better able to ignore market fluctuations and avoid selling their ownership to pay their household bills. It isn't an infrequent thing I'll hear people opine, "yeah, but who has money … [Read more...]

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101 Things Every Investor Should Know About Stock and the Stock Market

March 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Wendy's Stock Certificate Dave Thomas

A Three Minute Guide to Understanding Stocks Head over to the Investing for Beginners site at About.com, a division of The New York Times, to see my newest special.  It started because last week, I sat down to create an updated version of The Beginner's Corner, which answered basic questions such as "what is the ask price and bid price of a stock?" and "what does a market maker do?". As I kept writing answers to the questions I'd received from readers over the years, what started as a brief … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Announcements Tagged With: , , ,
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