You want your girlfriend to be happy

Of course, everyone wants their girlfriend to be happy. As soon as you have a girl, you always ensure that she is happy, and the reason, as Hooberstank sung, is you. You do everything that’s humanly possible like bring her roses, regular surprises, make her laugh, etc. However, if you inspect properly, having a job is quite similar. You always ensure that your employer is happy with your work. And during appraisal times, you toss surprises like extra work, innovative ideas, or sometimes working overnight.

You are rewarded if she is happy

You go for a date with your new girlfriend and you have been very funny, nice, and caring. And if she likes it, it’s very likely that she would invite you home after the date, and we all know what that means. However, what you do there – and how you do – highly influences the chances of being invited next time. Nevertheless, if you were quite boring during the date, and had asked her to pay the bill, she would definitely not invite you home, or for a next date.

Quite similarly, if you are handling the work, as your employer expects you to do, you will be nominated for a promotion. But if you don’t fit their criteria, or don’t fit well in the culture, you would be lucky to have your job.

Everything was perfect until you realized she doesn’t care

This happens very often in a relationship. You try to give her everything you have. However, after a while you realize she doesn’t love you or worse, she is hanging out with another guy. It may seem that you are left with nothing. But it isn’t the case. You have two options: talk to her about your feelings or check out other girls.

Correspondingly, you may have done everything you can for your employer. However, one day you realize he doesn’t even know who you are. The most viable options, in such case, are either talk to your employer about your contributions or search another job.

In both the above cases, second option may be quite tempting. However, remember, you have to do it all over again: being funny, giving surprises, working hard, etc. Make sure you select the right option.

Scarlett Johansson, famous Hollywood celebrity for those who don’t know much about her, purchased a house for $7 mn in the year 2007. However, the value of this house, according to current market trend, is mere $4.59 mn. For those who can afford it (obviously another celebrity, who else can buy it), it is definitely an excellent deal.

These pictures of the house were released by CNN Money, the news media that first gave the report the celebrity’s intention. Looking at these pictures, it’s quite disappointing that Scarlett is compelled to sell such a remarkable and gorgeous home, for unknown reasons. We never quite know the real reasons of any celebrity moves, isn’t it?

Quite often, this news website profiles homes for sale. And quite seldom, we get see houses like this one. Most of the time, the website features homes for average people with average prices. Hence, if you intend to buy a home, CNN Money is definitely worth a look. Selling home, too, is quite effortless.

However, people need to remember that selling a home online is like selling an affiliate product. People wouldn’t be interested in your house, of it not presented appropriately. Even CNN Money wouldn’t help, in such cases. In such tough markets and high dependability on internet tools, it’s very likely that your ad post might be buried under new ones.

But this isn’t the case with Scarlett’s house. Judging from the picture, it’s quite evident that nothing much has to be done to attract millions of web surfers, if not potential buyers. This home doesn’t require much presentation, as it’s an excellent presentation in itself.

Signing The Bill V/S Typing Your Pin Makes A Huge Difference

As a customer, it might not make a difference to you weather you sign your debit card bill or type your PIN on it, but for the retail outlets this does make a big difference ! In a store like Walmart or Costco, if you sign the debt bill instead of punching your four digit pin code, the retailer has to pay up almost double the amount they’d have to as fees if the condition was otherwise. This is the reason these retail outlets are literally compelling the customers to type the codes, rather than put the signature. Some other retailers allowing the customers to sign but they are offering high incentives for those who’d opt to type in the Pins. Some of them still allow you to sign up the bills and it is a question to wonder why they would prefer that when they have a huge amount to pay up as a fees

Debit Card Companies Lure Banks With A Share In The Processing Fees

Banks issue debit cards and companies like Visa try to please the banks so that the banks issue more and more cards of their company. So, instead of trying to win over the customers or merchants, Visa concentrates more on pleasing banks. It promises to pay high processing fees by making the merchants cough up high fees through the swiping process. Nowadays, even PIN debit is costing more.

Bad Competition Of Debit Card Companies

Though companies make the debit cards, banks issue them. The banks, being the issuing authority need to be pleased and that financiers like Visa are all eager to do. If the debit card generating authorities would have directly issued cards to consumers, this fee would have been lifted off or lowered in value. However, this is not the case. To make matters worse, Visa also charges an interchange from the retailers which amounts to billions of dollars.

You, as a consumer, may think that you are not affected by the debit card fees, as it’s the retailer who pays it. But you should be aware that in the long run, the costs of these fees are going to be passed down to the customers in the form of high fees. So ultimately it’s you and I who are going to be affected by this.

According to the Federal Reserve Board, the new credit card law obliges credit card providers to inform customers about any major change in the terms, at least 45 days in advance. Overdraft facility, which was initially provided by default, will now be optional and not automatically assigned. Hence, if you shop for something that exceeds your credit limit, it would be denied. And obviously you won’t be charged any fee.

However, this new rule wouldn’t keep you safe from the clutches of these plunderers. Hence, here is a list of few tips that you will need after the rule is applicable.

1. Go for Fixed Rates :
   According to the new credit card law, companies cannot change or increase the interest rate of your card without prior notice. However, the law wouldn’t protect you if your card comes with a variable rate conditions or if it is an introductory offer for few months. If possible, try to avoid such cards and stick to the ones that offer fixed interest rates.
2. Understand Reward Programs:
   With a curb on their most reliable income source, credit card companies are now deriving various other methods to earn profit. Award programs and other such services can actually benefit them more than it will to you. I am not restricting you to avail such services. However, make sure you understand everything before you go for such programs.
3. International Use :
   This new credit card law has been introduced for American population and is applicable with the premises of the US. However, it wouldn’t stop card providers from levying stiff fees, if the card is being used for international transactions. This can happen with or without traveling physically out of the US. If the item you bought only is provided by an international vendor, you will be charged with some additional fees. However, not every company will levy such fees. Hence, learn these policies before you go for a credit card.

Perhaps these are just three things I am aware of, that can be a reason for additional fees. However, there may be numerous other ways that a credit card company might use to exploit you and the new credit card law as well.

The January Effect is no arbitrary phenomenon. It’s been happening for some years now and you might be interested in knowing how it happened, when and why. But before that let’s see the expected impact of January Effect in 2010. The opinions oscillate with great amplitude. The skeptics believe that the January effect will not be all that significant this year, the reason being that whatever taxable losses had to occur they had already happened in the previous year and this year did not come specifically with any losses. Some feel that the January effect like so many other phenomena is following the natural process of evolution. The effect will either be a different one or totally null. Only people who had invested in stocks last year were the ones who took the losses. The long term investors were the ones who were affected by this. They are the ones who saw some benefits with their stocks in March last year, and did not want to sell off their stocks for  losses  smaller in comparison those of 2008.Some others are sanguine about the January effect this year.  They feel it’s actually going to help them. According to Globe Investor, the January effect is very much there and there are going to be 5 stocks that are really going to benefit from the January effect. As I said, the January effect is more psychological in nature. If there is a good influence on the stocks in January it will be considered a part of the January effect….even though it necessarily does not have any good effect the rest of the year.

The January Effect seems to be true in the case of two consecutive years for now, i.e. 2008 and 2009.  This was observed even years before in the early 19th centuries too and has been ruling the market psyche from then. The weak January of both these years showed a bad year. The morning shows the day and January shows the year!

People are mostly relocating to Texas where the cost of living appears to be lower than in other cities. The lower stratum of the socio-economic class is badly hit by the recession and they are the ones moving out. Unemployment is a big issue in most parts of the United States and people are relocating to areas where they expect to find work. People are finding it difficult to maintain their standard of living in places where they are used to staying. They are either compromising with a lower standard of living or relocating to a place with a lower cost of living for maintaining the same standard of living. As it’s easier to change the place of residence, rather than one’s lifestyle, people are readily opting for the latter.

New York and California are the cities from where the maximum migration is taking place. The cost of living in both is very high and people are finding it difficult to maintain their lifestyles. These are the cities where the economy is also worst hit during the past recession.

Maximum number of movers is from the lowest income level, i.e. those who make less than $9,999 per year. However the income level and percentage of migration does not bear a linear relationship. The graph shows more people of higher income groups also moving out than their relatively lower income counterparts. For example, the migrants earning $15 K -$ 24,999 are more in number than those earning $10 K – $ 14,999. Also the richest groups, those earning $75 K, are the ones who are migrating more than those earning $65k – $74,999. Search for good career and business opportunities might be the motives for their relocation.

If you go by the education level, college students constitute the maximum percentage of the migrants (29 %), lower than high school levels being the least (9%). College students obviously are the ones on the threshold of financial independence. They have to establish themselves in good professions and support themselves independently. It is rather imperative for them to move out to places where they can expect to have a sound financial and professional background. Staying in places which do not provide these opportunities can only give them immense hardships in life. 19% bachelor degree holders and 12% of graduate degree holders have migrated in recent times.

You read a favorite book just once, but don’t you remember every detail about it? But how much of your school textbook contents do you remember if you read it just once? Obviously, not much! Otherwise writing examinations would have been a cake walk for many. Do you know why this happens? It is said that when you learn something with an open mind, you learn it better. So watching TV shows is somewhat like reading your favorite novel. While you enjoy the show, you also absorb the contents well. And if there is a useful lesson to be learnt, you’ll accept it readily.

Many youngsters hero-worship their TV idols and try to emulate them in real life. Whatever they preach is easily followed. These days many TV shows have wonderful lessons on finances to teach. So, if your high school or college-going kid is being a couch potato you can be assured that he is not wasting his time, but probably learning a lesson or two in financial planning and management.

However, some TV shows are unrealistic. Even the economically average seems to be living a posh life and has a lot of money at disposal. Young and urban characters seem to be spending a lot of money. But they are not seen saving. They swipe credit cards recklessly. It is dangerous for one to emulate the monetary behavior of these characters in real life because you hardly see their credit scores and history being scrutinized by the authorities. So the first lesson to be learnt is that never to blindly idolize these characters in their spending behavior.

In some TV shows you see some characters leading lives that are too good to be justified by their corresponding realistic standards. They portray main characters living beyond their means for maintaining a standard of living beyond that actually declared. For example, a middle class American is seen driving the best car in town. Emulating this kind of a lifestyle will eventually lead you into serious debts which will wreck your life! So, learn lessons in financial prudence from TV shows and live a financially effective life.

Here are three factors that can really make you pay up your bills:

Motivation

“Where there’s a will there’s a way”. If you are motivated to pay up your debts, there’s nothing that can come in your way. As mentioned already there are very few people who are in the habit of paying up debts in time. Most of us are procrastinators and we need to change our ways which is not a small thing to do by any means. Think about ways in which you can really get motivated to pay up your debts. One way is to focus on the interest and how much money of yours is going on it. When you plan to pay up the loan over a long period time, naturally the rate of interest is going to be pretty high and the amount of money you ultimately pay up inclusive of the interest is going to be 2 or 3 times the original loan. . Also, by spending a lot on interest you are wasting a lot of your time earning money which you could have put to better use. Won’t it be a better proposition to pay up the loan in a shorter period of time so that you don’t have to waste money on the interest?

But motivation is not the only factor that can make you pay up your debts, you need to have resources for paying up

Financial Resources

Motivation without adequate financial resources is not going to help you pay up your debts however strong it may be. So in order to build up your financial resources you need to budget your expenditures and save up money for paying up your debts. You need to deprive yourself of your essential expenditures for this, but just identify areas where you are spending a lot on and spend a little less in those areas.

Devise a Concrete Method

Debt payment can be done using a concrete method of payment that works well for you. One method is to make a list of all your debts one by one chronologically and concentrate on them one by one. Ultimately there will come a time when all your debts will be paid off.

Best Banks

• Bank Of Hawaii is the best bank according to the Forbes List for this year which seems to have survived the economic crisis with its traditional loan policies while other banks were lured to new age real estate policies which turned out to be pretty risky.
• UMB Financial, Kansas City, is the next bank that has withstood the economic storm and emerged a survivor. Its customer-endearing regional policies, conservative and fundamental policies of governance and customer satisfaction have helped it survive in the economically rough weather conditions.
• Commerce Bancshares was another bank that survived the economic crisis with a commendable performance and good assets. Commerce Bancshares has about 114% of its money in non-performing loans.
• Prosperity Bancshares comes next with good Non performance loaning and not accepting the Federal government’s TARP, just like the UMB.
• SVB Financial is the next best company of the year. Though it had joined the TARP scheme, its long term associations with venture capitalists proved beneficial for it. The key to its success was its focus on financing its clients. It has helped in a lot of tech groups establish themselves and grow, instead of trying to expand itself aimlessly just for the sake of expanding.

Most banks that survived the economic crisis were the ones that had stuck to conservative policies, modest method. Old is gold, as always, and their strategy and coping mechanism has left them fairly immune to the economic crisis than new age banks. This may be probable because the conservative policies are tested over adversity over time and hence have been able to stand the test. The new age banks, on the other hand, are totally dependent only on the economic environment of the recent times. They are not equipped with foolproof methods to cope with any economic crisis. This was the first financial crisis they ever witnessed and that’s why they could not withstand them.

Flagstar Bancorp with a series of bank failures, with low net interest margins and situated in Michigan, which is considered an economic wasteland, tops the Forbes list of the worst banks of America for this year. R & G Financial, Sterling Financial, Capitol Bancorp, Banco Popular are all banks that are amongst the top worst banks of this year. Central Pacific Financial is the worst bank of the year. Situated with Bank of Hawaii, the Forbes list topper in Honolulu you might be surprised at the contrast, but so is it.

Recently President Obama introduced the largest Federal Stimulus Package for the Credit Card Debt holders of USA who have bottomed down in the financial lives. Here are some of the major points of this package.

Credit card debt Settlement

The biggest Credit card debt relief is tried to provide with the weapon of Debt Settlement with the company. Major part of this Federal Stimulus Package has been allotted to the Credit Card companies who are having huge amount of debt receivable from millions of individuals. After this package, the individuals will now be able to get their debt settled with the Credit Card companies in quite negotiable terms.

The Financial Institutions have managed to make these loans offset and to make the people’s debt to minimum level. The simplest way of coming out of this vicious circle of debt is to have approach of the Debt Settlement Company who is having better approach and contacts to solve the issue of Credit Card Loans. These companies are having better Debt Negotiation Department who offer better mutual settlements.

If the debt is over $10,000 the debt negotiations can be easier with the Financial Institutions, Medical Institutions, Banks and any of the Government officials by the mediators of Debt Settlement Company. These settlement personalities bring down the debt to almost 50% by using their better relations and legal terms. Then they charge some of the fixed percentage on the amount they have saved from the Debts. These negotiators should never be paid in advance.

The Obama Credit Card Debt Relief Plan makes the people enriched with the facilities of settling the Debt to minimum by paying huge amount of money to the institutions who are having larger debt.  This policy is having both the views from the people. Let us check the aspects and views of the economists.

The Pros

Debt Relief to the roots

The basic theme of this Debt Relief Program is to have the working with the roots of financial bankruptcy. The Government has not offered money to the individuals or smaller sections of economy which doesn’t make big deal to the entire economy. But, the entire economic reforms are attached with the soundness of the big financial institutions and they all are offered relaxations and relief practically by compensating money to them. Previously the authorities used to ask the institutions to forget their money which were the worst ever steps but this could well reform the structure from the roots.

The Cons

Although the Obama Credit Card Debt Relief program is viewing large scale benefits, it has no orientation of Personal Finance criteria. There are many of the critics saying that the loyalty of the institutions whom the amount is paid is quite uncertain and this will not eliminate the Debts, only will reduce them and more of the chances are there that they will again increase rapidly. So, the actions taken are truly not the concrete ones.

So, these are the Pros and Cons of Obama policies. Bu, if you are an individual with Credit Card Debt on your head, you can definitely boost yourself towards Personal Finance progress.

The Conclusion

Credit Card Debt Relief program of Obama is announced but are they really Personal Finance boosting or not?” this is the question popping up in all of our minds. There are pros and Cons of this issue but we would suggest having the relief from your debt if you have any of the Credit Card debt. Get negations and earn financial stability of yours which is base of financial growth for the entire economy.