2008 April • economics24.com

April 30, 2008

8 Great Personal Finance Sites

Filed under: Finance — Tags: Advice Columns, Analysis Tools, Bad Advice, Breadth, Cnn, Cnn Money, Free Stock, Getting Out Of Debt, How To Manage Your Money, Internet Explorer, Investment Advice, Length Books, Money Magazines, Money Plan, Personal Finance Resources, Prosperous Life, Rich Money, Right Direction, Stock Quotes, Virtues — admin @ 1:27 am

Steve Diamond asked:

There’s lots of online information about personal finance. If you’re looking for advice on budgeting or investing, you’ll find plenty. If you want quotes for loans or insurance, they’re available. If you need help getting out of debt, you can find it online.

Predictably, some of the personal finance resources online are better than others. Some are frankly self-serving, trying to sell you some product or service. Others give information freely. Some of the information is good and some is not so good. You have to evaluate and discriminate when looking for authority and accuracy in personal finance information. After all, it’s your money that you’ll be risking if you follow bad advice. So be careful out there.

We can’t hope to list all the good online sites for personal finance. There are just too many. But here’s a short list to get you started in the right direction. We’ve included a few of the standard mega-sites plus some really good ones that are not so well known.

Necessary Virtues Personal Finance
http://finance.necessaryvirtues.com/
Specializes in information about how to manage your money efficiently and live a prosperous life. Offers several full-length books as free downloads, including these titles: “Solving the Money Puzzle: Personal Finance Made Simple,” “The Science of Getting Rich,” “Money for Life,” and the classic, “Think and Grow Rich.” Also offers free newsletter, “Your Money Plan.”

MSN Money
http://moneycentral.msn.com/
Specializes in information for investors, including free stock quotes and analysis tools. Also has sections on planning, banking, and taxes. Good investment advice columns and features. Some analysis tools require Internet Explorer for best results. (The site is owned by Microsoft.)

CNN Money
http://money.cnn.com/
More breadth than MSN Money but less depth on investing. Covers many areas and has quite a bit of unique content from Fortune and Money magazines. (This is a Time-Warner site so there is common ownership.)

Kiplinger.com
http://www.kiplinger.com/
Mostly about investing, but also has good articles on credit management, real estate, insurance, retirement. Do be aware that much of their focus is on selling subscriptions to their various newsletters, like the Kiplinger Report.

Zen Personal Finance
http://www.finance-weblog.com/
This is something completely different, a blog with a unique perspective on personal finance. Has sections on retirement, housing, credit, and investing (a mammoth 30-part series of posts on “How To Think Like Warren Buffet”). Not the place to go for everyday reference, but recommended for browsing.

The Motley Fool
http://www.fool.com/
Specializes in help with investing, particularly in stocks and mutual funds. Information is of high quality, but registration is required to access most of it, and payment is required for parts of the site and for some newsletters.

Yahoo Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/
There’s a lot here, but most of it is conglomerated by Yahoo from various third-party sources. You’ll have to be discriminating.

Carnival of Personal Finance
http://carnivalofpersonalfinance.com/
A blog carnival that offers weekly collections of recent blog posts on topics like budgeting, saving money, earning money, managing debt, and living below your means. The quality is uneven so be prepared to dig deep.

So there you have it, a quick introduction to some of the best of the web when it comes to personal finance. Some of the big sites made our list as well as some smaller hidden gems. Here’s hoping you find it useful.

Comments (0)

April 29, 2008

How can knowledge of economics can be utilized at the polls?

Filed under: Elections — Tags: Economics, Knowledge, Making Decisions, Polls — admin @ 1:02 pm

little D asked:

A knowledge of economics would make us wiser when it comes to making decisions about who to elect as our leaders. Can anyone give examples of how your knowledge of economics can be utilized at the polls? How would you decide on whom to vote for next time?

Comments (4)

April 28, 2008

Unsecured Personal Finance: Finance Your Personal Demands

Filed under: Loans — Tags: Cold Fact, Commercial Advertisements, Denomination, Finance Option, Information Gathering, Interest Rates, Lenders, Loan Interest Rate, Money Market, Money Problem, Personal Demands, Precedence, Principle, Repayment Period, Service Charges, Six Months, Technology Internet, Unsecured Finance, Unsecured Personal Finance, Worth Asset — admin @ 3:38 am

Turk Malloy asked:

Not everyone is always financially well. Also, a cold fact is that not everyone has a home. Those who have nothing to place find hard arranging fund from any outside sources. In a move to kick-start, lending authority has come up with the concept of unsecured personal finance.Innumerable loan shops are working in this prospect. You can find them online and, offline across the money market. Locating them online however is gaining precedence. You can not stop hearing various commercial advertisements on the radio or television, or the newspaper. But availability of such finance option on internet has taken a new shape altogether. You can collate information on the finance from various companies and their functioning. In today’s world of information technology, internet has proved itself the best applying tool. Your information gathering gets very easy. Everything is just couple of clicks away. You can start your search for these companies online.For all of your sundry purposes, you get a denomination of L500 to L25,000. That amount you will have to repay in an agreed time. The repayment period fixed for the unsecured finance is usually based on your financial capacity. However, you can pay your loan sum in six months. In some special cases, lenders can extend you reimbursement term further for 10 years. In the meantime, you pay the finance amount in full. The amount you have to pay is principle fund of the loan, interest rate and some service charges. You need to make sure you to look at the interest rates and also the annual rate, so that you can compare it with other loan quotes. Knowledge of the loan quote will help you find a company which best-suited to your needs.By and large, if you come across with money problem but you do not have worth asset to place then unsecured personal finance will work for you.

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April 25, 2008

How does the stock market work, Whats the difference between NasDaq and the other thing?

Filed under: Economics — Tags: How Does The Stock Market Work, Nasdaq, Stock Market Work — admin @ 4:35 am

Kammy K asked:

Anything about the stock market?

Comments (4)

April 22, 2008

What is Environmental Economics? & How useful is it as a career?

Filed under: Economics — Tags: Career, Classical Economics, Ecological Economics, Ecology, Environmental Economics, Environmental Issues, Environmental Problems, Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, Job Specialization, Wikipedia — admin @ 6:45 pm

subpopkid asked:

according to the wikipedia definition, “Environmental economics is a subfield of economics concerned with environmental issues (other usages of the term are not uncommon). In using standard methods of neo-classical economics, it is distinguished from green economics or ecological economics which include the nonstandard approaches to environmental problems, environmental science/environmental studies, or ecology.”

but does anyone have a good idea of what it is – and what work is involved if you pursue it as a job/specialization?

Comments (1)

Sba Loan Solutions – Business Finance and Commercial Mortgage

Stephen Bush asked:

Before seeking an SBA (Small Business Administration) loan, borrowers should analyze several key business finance issues. This article will serve as an overview of the most important business loan and commercial real estate loan factors to assess before buying a business investment with an SBA loan in order to avoid numerous potential misunderstandings about a complicated business financing process.

Finalizing an SBA loan and refinancing a Small Business Administration loan are two of the most problematic commercial mortgage and business loan scenarios for business owners. There are practical business finance solutions for both of these common business investment problems.

Are SBA Loan and Business Finance Programs Difficult?

There are usually two schools of thought about getting a Small Business Administration loan to buy a business:

(1) Avoid this kind of commercial loan at all costs.

(2) Use such a business finance loan whenever possible.

These conflicting investment financing viewpoints are due to a commercial mortgage business loan process that is perceived as complex and difficult by many commercial borrowers.

In reality SBA loan programs are more practical than they often appear. It is critical to the success of a Small Business Administration loan program to be working with a business finance advisor and lender that is proficient at this difficult commercial mortgage and commercial loan process. There are many potential commercial financing problems to avoid when attempting to obtain a small business loans, and very few lenders are skilled in this business financing area.

Expecting Business Investing and Financing Difficulties: Business Loan Refinancing

One of the major investment drawbacks of an SBA loan has historically been the difficulty of refinancing the Small Business Administration business financing later. Current options have revised the situation and it is more feasible to arrange refinancing. It is still accurate to say that refinancing is not routinely available, but more importantly it is much easier to obtain than it was in prior years.

Advance commercial real estate loan and commercial loan planning can avoid some of the SBA loan refinancing problems. First and foremost, if the original business financing is arranged without a small business loan, this will make later business refinancing easier than if a Small Business Administration loan is involved. This means that commercial borrowers should at least consider if the initial business loan requires this form of commercial financing before proceeding.

Finalizing Small Business Financing: Two Common Commercial Loan Misunderstandings

One of the most frequent criticisms of an SBA loan program is the amount of paperwork required to complete the business loan and commercial mortgage process. What many commercial borrowers fail to understand is that any business financing process is likely to involve substantial paperwork and formal documentation requirements. In the end the key is working with a business finance advisor that understands what is required and can facilitate the submission procedures.

Beyond the paperwork concerns, a more critical and real problem is working with an SBA lender that is not very good at successfully completing Small Business Administration loan requirements. There are not many commercial lenders who are routinely effective at finishing this complex loan process with timely and successful results.

Alternatives to SBA Loan Financing – Conventional Real Estate Investment and Business Opportunity Loan Options

Conventional business finance options should always be considered simultaneously with the possibility of obtaining an SBA loan. As noted above, the feasibility of refinancing a business loan or commercial real estate loan in the future will depend heavily on the choices made by a commercial borrower when obtaining the initial commercial mortgage.

A conventional business loan or commercial mortgage might be more feasible than many borrowers realize. Refinancing is likely to be more successful if an experienced business finance lender and advisor are involved.

Comments (1)

April 21, 2008

Transitioned business from proprietorship to LLC – How to file taxes?

Filed under: United States — Tags: How To File Taxes, Llc, Sole Proprietorship, Tax Id — admin @ 4:11 pm

chris c asked:

I transitioned my business mid 2007 to an LLC. Should I file taxes as two separate businesses? The first to include income and expenses as the sole proprietorship and the second to include income and expenses after becoming an LLC.

Or should I just include everything under the LLC?

Thanks!
It is a single owner LLC with its own Tax ID.
Also, I do not have any employees.

Comments (2)

April 20, 2008

I work for a 501C business,which is closing and liquidating. Can I start my own separate taxable business?

Filed under: United States — Tags: Business Area, Business Description, Profit Business, Start Business — admin @ 4:39 am

izzy asked:

I have worked for the 501C business for 10 yrs total, 3 in this specific business area. They no longer wish to carry this branch of their association. When they close, I will be fired. Can I start up my own for profit business, with the same business description?

Comments (2)

April 18, 2008

How will the drop of American economy effect photographers ?

Filed under: Photography — Tags: American Economy, American Photographers, Collage, Depresstion, Jobs, Photographer — admin @ 9:35 pm

Annafur asked:

Well , we were talking about the american economy in my english class, and my teacher said that if the economy keeps on dropping there be a depresstion and that by the time were supposed to head off to collage , a bunch of jobs won’t be avable and other stuff. So i guess i want to be a photographer and i was just curious on how badly will photographers be effected.

Thank you

Comments (6)

April 16, 2008

What will the effect of the boomer retirement have on the stock market?

Filed under: Investing — Tags: Boomers, Fifteen Years, Historical Stock, Income Levels, Money Market, Peak Years, People, Preparing For Retirement, Retirements, Savings Rate, Stock Market, Three Generations — admin @ 6:11 pm

poet1b asked:

Right now, boomers are preparing for retirement. Most are earning in their peak years or near their peak income levels. They are pumping more money than ever into the market to pay for their retirements.

The ratio of people pulling money out of the market to fund their retirements in comparison with the people putting money into the market to save for their future retirements is better than it will be for at least the next three generations, most likely more.

In the next five to fifteen years, the ratio of people paying into the market to save for their retirements in comparison to the people taking out of the market to pay for their retirements is going to change drastically. The draw on the market will increases drastically over the savings rate to finance retirement. This will be a historical first for the stock market.

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