Did you know that there are hidden symbols on a U. S., one dollar bill? There was an interesting article on the front page of Yahoo that explains some of the currency mysteries.
For the record, according to this article, each one dollar bill costs the federal government 6.4 cents to print.
Last year when the government was doing their “Cash for Clunkers” program I was really tempted to trade in my old Tahoe because it is 12 years old and a real gas guzzler. But I LIKE that car and it has been running just fine. So I didn’t do it.
Now, I am regretting that decision, because it is seriously broken down and I don’t have the money to fix it. So I’m going to end up buying a new car and not getting the extra tax credit. I have to have reliable transportation, so at this point I have no choice.
To get much better gas mileage, I’ve been looking at the hyundai genesis. This is a small but nice car, and the Hyundai is a popular car in this area.
To get a slightly larger car and still get decent gas mileage, I have been looking at the chevrolet impala specs and am thinking about taking one on a test drive.
If money is no object an dI want my dram vehicle, I would have to buy the new gmc yukon, which is a great truck with a lot of luxury options, such as leather seats and an upgraded stereo system.
My daughter loves her ford taurus and if they would offer another “Cash for Clunkers” rebate this year, I would [probably help her trade in her old taurus and get a new one just like it.
The news is covered with stories about the tragedy in Haiti. And there are dozens of organizations pleading for donations to help. I am really suspicious of some of these messages I am getting, about texting to different numbers to donate cash via cell phone, sending Paypal donations to people who claim to be missionaries. It bothers me that there are always this lower element of humans ready to take advantage of a natural disaster or catastrophic event for their own personal gain and cheating others out of what was intended to be rightfully theirs.
If you feel compelled to donate to the Haiti victims, check out the organization and make sure they are legitimate. There are lists of these on the white house web site.
My step daughter has a terrible time managing her money. I have tried working with her on this for over 5 years and she still cannot stick to a budget or responsibly manage a checking account. She is always out of money several days before her next payday and is always borrowing gas money to get her through the week.
We have tried to help her manage three different checking accounts at three different banks and she always end up overdrawn and owing a lot of money in overdraft fees. This drives me crazy. Overdraft fees are an expensive punitive measure taken by banks that should be avoided at all costs. But she always has a lame excuse about why she owes the bank money or someone “made a mistake.”
This time we are going to try a new kind of banking. I am going to give her a prepaid debit card. There is no way to rack up overdraft charges on this account. You cannot spend more than what is on the card, but you can reload it easily from a variety of convenient retail locations, including WalMarts, Walgreens, KMarts, Krogers, and 7-Elevens.
One attractive feature is that you can arrange to have your entire paycheck automatically added to your debit card for immediate access to your money. The card can be used anywhere that merchants accept MasterCard, and you can also use it for online bill pay. So this has all the features of her bank’s debit card program, but none of the banks account fees and overdraft fees that have always eaten away at her account balance.
As far back as I can remember, my parents and teachers have always talked about gold and the value of this precious metal.
My father always bought gold jewelry for my mother as special gifts, such as anniversaries and Christmas. She had a jewelry box on her bedroom dresser filled with beautiful gold necklaces, earrings and rings.
Mt father also bought gold coins as an investment and as a collector. He kept his collection in a safe in his home office until he became elderly, then he moved them to a safety deposit box for safe keeping.
I inherited his gold collection and have added to it from time to time, over the years. I don’t really think of it as an investment strategy, but then again, if the world came to a crisis I suspect that real gold will become worth much more than the paper money and silver coins that we use today.
I would like to teach my children about gold and how to find valuable pieces to add to a collection. But to be honest, I don’t think either of them are in a good place in their lives to appreciate that yet. So i will wait until things settle down for them and then share some of what I’ve learned about this alternate investment and interesting hobby.
It seems that everyone in my office is using Online Trading for their stocks and bonds purchases except me. I am the first to admit that I do not know much about the stock market, so the little bit of investing that I’ve done has been the old fashioned way. It has been good to me so far – even with this awful year for the Dow Jones.
My boss has finally convinced me to learn more about the market and to get an Online Broker. It turns out that it is much easier to do my Stock Trading than it was using a telephone and trying to reach other brokers. It is faster and since I know what I want to do before I get online, it saves a lot of time over talking with someone in a big telemarketing room in New York.
My friend Pam picked the worst time to get into real estate as a career move. Just as she got her real estate license, the economy turned bad and the housing market has been crumbling. The best way to learn about real estate is to get involved in the actual deals and get out on the street to learn the available inventory. It is hard to learn when there aren’t many deals happening and even harder to pay your bills when there aren’t any houses being sold.
I’ve been working with her to let her know that she can hang in there and that things will get better. In the meantime, she can enhance the services that she offers and build a network of other related professionals.
If she offers extra things like help figuring out what the closing cost items are and how much will closing cost, having a list of home warranty companies that can be used, and providing a home inspection checklist on her web site are all extra goodies that will impress her clients and bring her referrals in the future.
She has a nice web site and is starting to use emails in a direct marketing campaign. I got an email from her yesterday explaining the new government rebate program that was renewed and the changes that were made to make this program better and available to even more potential homebuyers. All of these things can help now and also help build her brand.
My brother is taking his whole family to Australia over Christmas for a two week holiday. They have always wanted to travel to exotic places and Australia seems to be a great destination for a family trip, especially since it is summer in December.
He has been busy booking flights and checking Car Rental Prices. Although he makes very good money, it is always a good idea to save what money you can, especially when traveling. After all, the money he saves on the flight and car rental can be used for more fun things while in Australia, like a deep sea fishing trip or expedition to the outback.
Holy moly! There have been fines on players and coaches for similar acts of unsportsmanlike conduct, but those fines have always been about $10,000. I just heard on the news that the NFL has fined Bud Adams a quarter of a million dollars for flipping the bird to Buffalo during Sunday’s game.
That was an expensive 14 seconds, Bud. I hope you feel like a total jackass.
Last time I listened to an AM radio station, they had a talk show hosted by lawyers who were taking phone calls from listeners and answering their legal questions on the air. They did not call it legal advice – they called it giving information. But it was good information that the caller could use to resolve their particular situation, or they occasionally referred the caller to a lawyer to help them further.
One caller was asking about the expense of hiring a lawyer and a solution to that might be the use of legal finance. There are companies who finance lawsuits. To get legal funding, check out the internet.