Posts Tagged: trends

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30
Aug 10

Cartoon: So Sue Me

If you own a big tech firm, you aren’t Microsoft, and you weren’t named in the patent lawsuit filed this week by Paul Allen’s Interval Licensing, well… you’re probably looking deep into your soul today and asking where it all went wrong. If you aren’t a defendant - which includes AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google and Yahoo! - why not?

…Craig, click on the legal status tab for something perhaps even more intriguing: if I’m reading it correctly, that patent appears to be collateral, put up by AOL and currently held by the Bank of America. (Bear in mind that I have precisely zero legal expertise in this area. In fact, I have what I would describe as negative legal expertise: I am capable of reducing the net legal knowledge of a room simply by walking into it. It’s my admittedly meh superpower.)

Doug, that’s an interesting but unintended read of the first one-third of the sentence. (Anyone else reach the same conclusion?) If you grasp the nettle, steel your nerves and follow the sentence all the way to the end, though, then:

1) you should be sure to rehydrate after the long journey (my old J-school profs would flay me for writing such a lengthy lead), and

2) you’ll probably realize that these are three conditions followed by a conclusion: if (a) and (b) and (c) then (d). You apparently read it instead as “If (a) then (b) and (c), and Error:…

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Cartoon: So Sue Me

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24
Aug 10

Eight Quick Ways to Bankrupt Yourself

Filing for bankruptcy is a difficult, emotionally draining process. While it may not be the end of the world for some people, it is still a financial outcome that you should strive hard to avoid

…Fine print. Termination fees. Promotional rates. It’s a complicated world out there and BillShrink is here to help you choose wisely. Our proprietary technology searches and sorts upwards of ten million different price points and service offerings on the market in order to deliver personalized recommendations. Use BillShrink and rest assured that you’ve optimized your spending. BillShrink’s system includes cell phone plans, credit cards, gas, savings accounts, TV packages, and more….

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Eight Quick Ways to Bankrupt Yourself

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24
Aug 10

The Lazy Portfolio: Investing Made Easy

Smart investors use a simple approach to personal investing that delivers the goods: asset allocation.

…Index funds provide instant diversification because they own many individual investments within categories like large and small companies, industries and sectors, bonds, and geographical regions. Because they follow indexes, their expenses and turnover are low. And allocating your money to different types of investments is the biggest factor in balancing the risk and return of your portfolio. Put those two ideas together, and you get the no-muss, no-fuss method for successful investing: the lazy portfolio.
Choose your asset allocation plan and then set up automatic purchases of index funds (mutual funds or exchange traded funds) for each asset class….

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The Lazy Portfolio: Investing Made Easy

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21
Aug 10

How Full Is Your Money Pot?

But for those who like to supplement their online budgeting experience with something of a lower-tech nature, check out these tips on how to discover your money pot: a 15-minute process that will help you create a budget and stick to it throughout the month.

…But for those who like to supplement their online budgeting experience with something of a lower-tech nature, check out these tips from WalletPop.com’s Bargain Babe Julia Scott on how to discover your money pot: a 15-minute process that will help you create a budget and stick to it throughout the month.
Scott starts by totaling her net income for the month and substracting her fixed expenses (that’s housing, car payment, bills and savings but not including food and gas). The resulting number is her money pot.
Any time she makes a purchase, she substracts it from the money pot. This way, she knows exactly how much money she has to spend each month and, take note, because a certain amount dedicated to savings has been subtracted from it in the very beginning, she is able to build up a savings cushion at the same time.
Do you think that might work for you? What is your budgeting strategy? Get the details on Julia Scott’s budgeting plan from the video above (or here at WalletPop.com) and share your thoughts in…

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How Full Is Your Money Pot?

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19
Aug 10

How to Drop Your Cell Phone Contract and Avoid Hefty Fees

There are numerous reasons for wanting to drop your cell phone contract. Whatever the reason, the good news is that it is possible to drop a long-term cell phone contract without paying the $150 to $200 early termination fee most carriers charge (possibly more if you have a data plan)

…t participate in or take responsibility for the transaction. However, they do offer detailed instructions and help with information, if needed.
Keep in mind, while you will avoid early termination fees from your carrier with a contract transfer, cell swapping sites aren’t free. At CellTradeUSA, for example, people who are seeking someone to take over their contract (the so-called Get Out person) can create a listing for free. Once they start receiving inquiries for people seeking to take over a contract (the so-called Get In person), the site charges a one-time fee to unlock their inbox and read those inquiries, says Eric Wurtenberg, co-founder of the website.
Once the Get Out and Get In individuals connect, they can negotiate the terms of the deal. In some cases, Wurtenberg says, people who are really eager to drop their contract offer a free phone or even a cash incentive via PayPal to sweeten the deal. And while people do list family plans or business plans, those contracts…

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How to Drop Your Cell Phone Contract and Avoid Hefty Fees

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19
Aug 10

When Will China Become No. 1? Predicting GDP Growth

In case you haven’t heard, according to figures released earlier this week, China has surpassed Japan as the world’s second economic power, its GDP now second only to that of the United States.

…published by Goldman Sachs (GS) in March 2007. Although more than three years old, its predictions are strikingly accurate. The paper compares, side by side, GDP estimates for 22 countries in five-year increments, starting with actual figures for 2006 and going through 2050. It estimates China’s GDP in 2010 at $4.667 trillion, compared with $4.604 trillion for Japan.
As for the question we posed above, the answer is 2030: by then, China’s GDP will be $25.61 trillion, according to Goldman’s paper, while that of the United States will be $22.817 trillion.
For a visual presentation of GDP growth over the next 40 years, take a look at our interactive infographic above. And if those percentage-growth numbers look unbelievably high, keep in mind that you are looking at a fairly long timeframe. India’s cumulative…

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When Will China Become No. 1? Predicting GDP Growth

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18
Aug 10

With New Rules In Place, Old Overdraft Gimmicks Under Fire

On August 15, new overdraft rules went into effect, preventing banks from imposing overdraft fees on debit and ATM card transactions unless the customer actively opts in to have that feature.

…at the supermarket. If the bank debited those transactions in the order you made them, you would overdraw your account just once and be charged one overdraft fee. But if it reordered those transactions from largest to smallest, you would overdraw your account twice and be charged two overdraft fees.
Now, a federal judge in California has taken issue with that practice. Last week, just as the media was getting busy reminding consumers of the new overdraft rules, Wells Fargo (WFC) was ordered to pay more than $203 million in compensation to customers who were charged overdraft fees thanks to reordering transactions in this way.
Wells Fargo collected nearly $1.8 billion in overdraft fees in California from 2005 to 2007. The bank plans to appeal the court decision.
If the decision is upheld, consumers have a lot to win, says Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group….

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With New Rules In Place, Old Overdraft Gimmicks Under Fire

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14
Aug 10

What are Health Insurers’ Top Executives Paid Annually?

ClaudePenland.com looked at the SEC filings of the 10 largest publicly-held health insurance companies and compiled the data. The median CEO annual compensation was $6.6 million. Companies included were UnitedHealth, WellPoint, Aetna, CIGNA, Humana, Coventry, Health Net, Amerigroup, Magellan and WellCare.

…Simply for my own edification, I spent a little time and looked at the SEC filings for the top 10 US publicly-traded health insurers, by market capitalization, to produce a C-level compensation survey. Here is the underlying data, publicly available on Google Spreadsheets.
These companies were included: UnitedHealth, WellPoint, Aetna, CIGNA, Humana, Coventry, Health Net, Amerigroup, Magellan and WellCare….

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What are Health Insurers’ Top Executives Paid Annually?

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12
Aug 10

Clip-Free: How Mobile Coupons Are Changing How We Save

We have a round-up of a relatively new coupon phenomenon: one that doesn’t require any clipping, weekly circular browsing or even a subscription to your local Sunday paper: mobile coupons.

…which processes returned or recalled products, promotional transactions and pharmacy claims for pharmacies and retailers. Manufacturers issued 367 billion coupons, at an average face value of $1.44, indicating that despite a tough economic climate, they understand the appeal of savings to consumers.
No matter what the state of the economy, shoppers turn to coupons to unburden their budgets and that has been particularly the case in the past couple of years.
Here, we give you a round-up of a relatively new coupon phenomenon: one that doesn’t require any clipping, weekly circular browsing or even a subscription to your local Sunday paper: mobile coupons.
What are mobile coupons?
Mobile coupons are the digital version of sales circulars found in your local newspaper. Digital coupons help shoppers save money without needing a pair of scissors and an afternoon to work their way through the Sunday paper. And unlike web based coupons, the mobile variety requires no paper or printer ink, making them a truly…

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Clip-Free: How Mobile Coupons Are Changing How We Save

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12
Aug 10

Investing 101: What Are Your Options?

An option costs only a fraction of the cost to buy 100 shares.

…of the cost of buying those 100 shares. You would buy that option by paying $157 through your brokerage account and putting in a buy order and paying for the call up front.
As this example shows, every option you buy controls 100 shares of stock. Options contracts are intangible, meaning they have no physical value and are only contracts and promises to buy or sell. They can work as high-risk speculative moves or, on the opposite end, as practical strategic tools for managing your portfolio and even reducing risk. But before jumping into an options trade, you need to master the basics and, at the very least, understand the risks first.
There are dozens of possible strategies for using options contracts in a variety of buying, selling, and combinations of both, which makes options trading attractive, potentially profitable, complex, and dangerous. We list several of the most popular strategies below.
A call is the right to buy 100 shares of a specified stock by or before a specified date and at a fixed price….

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Investing 101: What Are Your Options?

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