Month: February 2009

In an ominous sign that the financial and economic fear has spread far and wide, a once laughable and highly unlikely event has come to pass. Our biggest banks are on the verge of being nationalized. That’s right – the government may soon step in and take over America’s biggest banks…

Before pulling the trigger on buying your house, you need to consider the case for buying now versus waiting for conditions to improve. In today's housing market, which is characterized by a "locked-in" effect where many existing homeowners with low mortgage rates are reluctant to sell, there is a strong…

What a month! The nearly trillion dollar economic stimulus package was finally approved by Congress and signed into law. The size of the stimulus is truly mind boggling - $787,000,000,000 (9 zeros!) - and works out to about $2,600 per American. To put in perspective, if the stimulus were a…

When I was younger and whenever my mother took me to the doctor or a professional like her banker, accountant or stock broker, she would always say: "Don't worry son, you're in good hands, these people are super smart." Well, lets take a look at some of these "smart" professionals…

See the latest on unemployment benefit extensions. [2008 Stimulus Package] Continuing with my in depth coverage of "Your Money in the Stimulus" series, it is was good to see that the final version of President Obama's economic stimulus package retained benefits for the unemployed, disabled and under insured. With millions…

Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a $7,500 EV Tax Credit Extension was funded. This would be available for single filers making less than $150K a year, or $300K for joint filers. There is a cap on the price of eligible vehicles at $55,000 for eligible new cars and $80,000…

Market watch reports that the total final cost to taxpayers of the much-maligned $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (details below) will be around $50 billion, the Treasury Department estimated on Tuesday. The two-year TARP program, which officially expired on Sunday, initially used government money to make capital injections into…

I get so much junk mail nowadays - Credit Card Offers, Investment/Real estate flyers, Magazine offers, etc - that it is sometimes hard to find the real mail amongst all the junk. I read somewhere that by reducing your junk mail for 5 years, you’ll conserve 1.7 trees and 700…

President Barack Obama, along with newly appointed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, called recent bonus payouts at firms receiving tax payer funded bailouts “shameful” and announced the government will require financial companies getting aid in the future to cap compensation of top officials at $500,000 a year. The compensation restrictions announced…

[Updated] Looks like credit card reform is gaining steam as the Senate is expected to vote (and approve) the controversial bill this week. The Credit Card Reform Bill, approved by the House on April 30th, is expected to pass in Congress with more than 20 amendments to the original house version…

[Updated] Gold prices reached record levels following S&P's sovereign credit downgrades and ongoing fears of Euro market/region instability. Coupled with volatility in global equity markets many investors and sovereign nations have rushed to invest in the yellow metal for protection and price speculation. A number of analysts are predicting that ongoing…