By Christopher Odonnell on 17-05-2013
Do you save your pocket change, or to spend it? Sounds like a pretty legitimate question to ask, but have you ever really considered what you are doing with your pocket change?
The other week I was emptying my pockets and like usual I put a handful of change in a jar up on my dresser and the thought crossed my mind how much of change am I throwing away on frivolous expenses.
Whether its a cup of coffee or a soda pop, a handful of change does not look like a lot of money, in fact countries like Canada have even stopped making pennies altogether because of production cost. So I challenged myself to see how much change I typical end up with in a weeks time.
After a few weeks of watching how much change I put in my change jar I concluded that I actually put between $3 to $4 a week in my change jar on a consistent basis. That
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By Billie Nguyen on 16-05-2013
The Beginner’s Guide On How NOT To Start Investing @ Boomer and Echo
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By Devin Reese on 15-05-2013
The great recession refers to the period of economic downturn between 2008 and 2013. The recession began after the 2007/08 global credit crunch and has led to a prolonged period of low growth and rising unemployment. In particular, the great recession highlighted problems within the Eurozone and, unlike the US, Europe has experienced a double dip recession.
The main causes of the great recession involve:
- Credit crunch and fall in bank lending.
- Fall in confidence resulting from the financial instability.
- Fall in exports from global recession
- Collapse in housing markets leading to negative wealth effects.
- Fiscal austerity compounding the initial fall in GDP.
- In Europe, the single currency created additional problems because of over-valued exchange rates, and high bond yields.
The primary cause of the great recession was the credit bubble of 2001-2007 and the resulting global credit crunch (2007-08). This is a short background to why bad debts in the US housing market had such a big effect on economies in US and Europe.
Causes of credit crunch
- The period 2000-2007 was a time of strong economic growth, low inflation and falling unemployment.
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By Christopher Odonnell on 12-05-2013
Heres a condensed May 2013 update for my , a series of three portfolios started on November 1st, 2012:
- $10,000 Passive Benchmark Portfolio that would serve as both a performance benchmark and an real-world, low-cost portfolio that would be easy to replicate and maintain for DIY investors.
- $10,000 Beat-the-Benchmark Speculative Portfolio that would simply represent the attempts of an average guy who is not a financial professional and gets his news from mainstream sources to get the best overall returns possible.
- $10,000 P2P Consumer Lending Speculative Portfolio Split evenly between and , this portfolio is designed to test out the alternative investment class of person-to-person loans. The goal is again to beat the benchmark by setting a target return of 8-10% net of defaults.
Executive summary. Six months have gone by since this experiment started, and the passive portfolio has ridden a hot stock market nearly the entire time. My speculative portfolio is catching back up a bit after my Apple holdings stumbled, while the P2P lending portfolio is still too young to make any firm conclusions.
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By Devin Reese on 10-05-2013
FT Press is offering half off (and free shipping!) on a selection of finance and investing titles through May 16. In addition to two of mine, Deal with Your Debt and Your Credit Score, the titles include Gail MarksJarvis excellent Saving for Retirement and Lynn OShaughnessys The College Solution, a must-read for any parent who wants his or her kids to go to college. To order, use the link above and enter coupon code FTPF at checkout.
Id like to thank FT Press for organizing this promotion as well as yesterdays Tweetchat, and thanks also to the other personal finance bloggers who took part:
- MP Dunleavey formerly of MSN Money and Daily Worth
- Gary Foreman of The Dollar Stretcher
- Donna Freedman of MSN Money and Surviving and Thriving
- Mary Hunt of Debt Proof Living
- J.D. Roth, founder of Get Rich Slowly and More Than Money
- Steve Rhode, the Get Out of Debt Guy
You can check out the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #FTPersonalFinance or visit our .
