A Surefire Way to Increase Income - put 3% toward upgrading your knowledge and skills
on Nov 7, 2009 in Books Income Magazines Reading A long time ago, I listened to a Brian Tracy audio program about self improvement. One of the main points (possibly the only point) that I remembered was if you invest just 3% of your annual income into expanding your knowledge and skills through edu...

College Grads Beware - you're screwed
on Nov 5, 2009 in College Current Affairs Income Watching Peter Orszag, the Director of Office Management and Budget, with Charlie Rose, there was a very interesting, but little discussed statistic. On the program, he states that on average, for every 1% increase in unemployment, a college graduate...

Healthcare Reform is NOT Optional - stats from NCHC report
on Oct 28, 2009 in Current Affairs Health Insurance With the debate on healthcare reform continuing and finally moving forward, it's important to remember that doing nothing is NOT an option. Based on the information in a report from the National Coalition on Health Care, it is painfully apparent that...

How to Find a Private Health Insurance Policy through eHealthInsurance.com
on Oct 24, 2009 in Health Insurance In a post earlier this week, I threw out an option for those that are unhappy with their employer's health insurance plans. Today, I started the shopping process so that when open enrollment begins, we'll be ready to compare what is available in the...

Smart Money - November Highlights
on Oct 23, 2009 in Magazines I. Strength from Abroad - Want 10 percent yields? Foreign bonds offer attractive returns and inflation protection. This month's Bond Watch column discusses the benefits of investing in the much overlooked foreign bond space and suggests a couple of s...

Unhappy with Employer Options for Health Insurance? Start Looking for Private Insurance Now
on Oct 22, 2009 in Employee Benefits Health Insurance Last year, we almost pulled the trigger on an individual health plan for our family because my wife's employer's options weren't great. So we went on and priced out a plan on eHealthInsurance.com to see what was available to us on an individual basis...

From WSJ: Where to Hide if Bonds Fall
on Oct 21, 2009 in Current Affairs Investing Newspapers In this article from The Wall Street Journal on October 14th, Larry Light does a very good job of explaining where to take cover in the event that bond prices fall as a result of inflation. The problem with inflation is that when it starts to get hig...

From WSJ: Wall Street on Track to Award Record Pay
on Oct 20, 2009 in Current Affairs In this article that appeared in The Wall Street Journal on October 14th, it is clear that compensation at major financial services companies is on the rise, even on pace to top 2007's record pay. With many still hurting from the financial collapse o...

How Much will an iPod Really Cost?
on Oct 7, 2009 in Definitions Expenses Okay, so we all know that a new iPod Touch is around $300, but that doesn't really tell any of us what it really costs. Some time ago, I introduced the topic of opportunity cost, and revisiting this is always a good idea. So how much would an iPod co...

Mint and Intuit - a marriage made in heaven?
on Sep 22, 2009 in Current Affairs Web/Tech It's official, Mint has mopped the floor with Quicken's old, weathered arse, and as is the case with all situations where a well endowed #1 gets knocked off the top, the old adage of, "If you can't beat 'em, buy...