In January, the unemployment rate was 8.5%. Of course, that number itself is debated as people who are no longer collecting unemployment benefits and have given up are no longer counted. Nor are underemployed who work part time or beneath their skills. I’d like to offer here another beautiful New York Times graphic which shows us the disparity depending on the part of the country in which you live.
Click on the image above and you have the choices to zero in on different areas to see the exact data. It’s shocking to see the areas hardest hit, counties with rates pushing 20%. On the other hand, today’s jobless claims data indicated a June bottom in the recession. I’m a skeptic until I see confirming data.
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My regular readers will recognize this is a post regarding the Money Merge Account, an expensive mortgage accelerator I consider to be a scam. New readers should note, this was part of a series confined to a weekly Thursday post, and today this series ends as my intent is to provide a variety of articles well beyond this one issue. Now for the last MMA post…….
Well, I found this in my draft folder, seemed a waste to delete it:
I offer one agent’s rants, and my response:
“Yes, you might be able to do this kind of interest cancellation without the use of the software only IF:
1. you have the financial discipline and mathematical skill
2. you have the right kind of ALOC
3. you are willing and able to account for every penny at all times
4. you can tally all the variables and refigure your financial position each and every day
5. you can do this day in and day out for 5 to 10 years
6. you can do this without personal support if something goes wrong or you get confused
7. you are willing to forfeit tens of thousands of dollars in monetary gains in addition to doing all the work all by yourself.”
My response:
1. One need to write the checks regardless, the discipline is no different with or without this program. There is no mathematical skill required. If you can balance your checkbook, you’re all set.
2. The right kind? The “HELOC shuffle” provides little benefit and more risk than any agent understands.
3. Every penny? Hardly. This is just a scare tactic. You see, MMA with all its claims falls short by many dollars per month, adding up to quite a bit over the years. Skip MMA entirely, and now you’re watching those pennies.
4. Paying off your mortgage early is no more complex than paying extra toward your principal each month. The secret is…. there’s no math involved, just those payments. A spreadsheet or calculator will let you calculate the days until it’s paid in full, but MMA doesn’t add any value any more than a tape measure helps your child grow taller by frequent measurements.
5. I have better things to do with my time, so do you. It will take you a few seconds to make the extra payments at month end. You decide, do you really want to have to report every penny every night to your computer, and achieve worse results than you can on your own?
6. Per UFF disclaimer, they will not offer you any mortgage or financial advice, you want support, UFF isn’t going to be much help.
7. MMA costs you both time and money, doing it yourself will save you both.
Now, I think I’m done, the draft folder is empty. I will update the PDF to include the last set of articles in this series.
Joe
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I know, the poverty threshold is about $11,000 for an individual and $22,000 for a family of four. But I’m not realy talking about that, let me explain. I got a mailing the other day from a local charity, one that actually does some great work.
There was a list of needs, things that people would need such as gift cards to grocery stores and hardware stores along with toiletries and other household items. What struck me, though, was “new 27in. color TV.” Where was I when a new TV went from a want to a need? I called up and said that I had a 27in. TV/DVR combo, cable ready, a couple years old. They said, “Thanks, but we were looking for a new one, you know, the flat screen.” What’s wrong with this picture?
Joe
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I often recommend ETFs as being a low cost alternative to stock index mutual funds. Low expenses, and a liquid market (for popular ETFs) that trades during the day, not just the day’s closing price are among the features that EFTs offer.
Given the recent pullback in the price of many commodities, there’s interest in the best way to invest in them. Over the past few months, CNBC aired a commercial promoting the purchase of gold coins, 1/10 oz. ones, given their advertised price, $115 per. Separate from my views on gold as an investment, I’d suggest that buying something at $115 which is only worth about $90 they day you get it, is not my idea of investing.
Back to ETFs. Investments in commodities (and Therefore ETF which invest in them) are not taxed as are stocks. Stock gains are long term if held over a year. The gain from a commodity sale is treated as though 60% of the gain is long term and 40% short term. Simple, I suppose, but something you must know if you are trading USO (an oil ETF).
Yet a different twist if you trade GLD (the SPDR gold ETF) or SLV (the iShare silver ETF). The IRS treats these as collectibles, and offers to take a 28% cut for long term gains, not the 15% you’d expect. Again, the math is simple, as long as you know.
Joe
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Until earlier this month, this was the mechanism by which Star Trek writers kept Captain Kirk alive after his seeming demise in a prior movie.
A ‘nexus’ is a ‘connected group’ or ‘the center of something’.
This month, Greatnexus.com was launched by prolific finance blogger Pinyo. Just as you might be a reader who sees my posting through an RSS feed, Greatnexus offers a number of categories, and then provides feeds for many sites for each one. For example, the Personal Finance category, where I am proud to make my appearance today, is now listing over 50 sites, each of which shows the title of their last 5 posts. As with any RSS feeds, they will update every half hour or so, and a screen refresh will load any new posts since your last visit. If I had the time and patience to neatly arrange all my RSS feeds into proper categories, including Autos, Business, Lifehacks, and many others, my RSS reader might start to scratch the surface of what Greatnexus offers.
Take a look, and let me (or more important, Pinyo) know what you think.
Joe
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