Easy FinanceA complete Up-to-date source for business news, finance news

The mailing arrives with a check at the top, offering Oregon seniors nearly $100,000 if they sign up for a reverse mortgage.

“U.S. Economic Stimulus Package Approves New Payouts for Seniors,” read the top of one mailing, which contained no business name; just an Oregon Mortgage License number. Popular personal finance guru Suze Orman was pictured at the bottom urging seniors to look into the mortgages.

Gale Lewis, for one, immediately tore up the one she received Tuesday.

“I just was really offended,” said Lewis, 62, of West Linn, who received a similar solicitation on Tuesday. Read more…

Ellie Scarborough suddenly found herself with a serious lack of confidence when the guy she’d been seeing for a year and a half broke up with her. Going through a long period of lows she decided to do something for herself. Picking up the phone Ellie went on to order the biggest bouquet of flowers ever, bigger than any man would have ever sent her. After she received those flowers that is when everything changed for her reports Austin360.com.

She felt empowered, reborn — as if she had crossed a threshold. Something stirred within her. It was a bit of inner truth that even her alma mater, Vassar College, couldn’t teach. “I wa

Read more…

The Co-operative Group has today issued half year results which show a 17% rise in profits from £221 million over the corresponding period last year up to £260 million this year. There was a 12.6% increase in profits from its supermarket division even though there were distribution issues with regards to the integration of the Somerfield acquisition. However, it is the company’s comments about the immediate future of the UK economy which have caught the eye.

The company itself has expanded not only the supermarket division but also its financial services operation which has given the Co-operative Group a larger base in the UK. How

Read more…

If you’re a beginner to the investing world you may have heard the terms IRA or Roth IRA or 401k tossed around.  However what you may not know is which of these types of accounts would be the best for you to save for your retirement.

In this article I’m going to cover why the Roth IRA has a distinct advantage over almost all the other retirement accounts out there and give you the best Roth IRA advice to help you have successful retirement?

What Is A Roth IRA

First off, before I can give the benefits you need to know what a Roth IRA is first.  To keep it simple think of an IRA or Roth IRA as the shell of your investment account.

Most people believe an IRA is a type of investment like a mutual fund, it is not.  Instead it is a shell that houses your investments which could be anything from stocks, mutual funds, bonds, to exchange traded funds.

This shell, the IRA, gives special tax privileges for saving money for your retirement.  For example a Roth IRA gives a special after tax privilege that means when you retire you will not have to pay taxes on any of the money in your retirement account because you paid them before hand.

On the other hand an IRA is the exact opposite.  With an IRA you will have to pay taxes on every dollar you spend when you enter the distribution phase of your retirement.

However the Roth IRA still some of the same taxes laws as the IRA like the 10% tax penalty when you pull funds from your account before age 59 and a half.  On top of that they both have the save contribution limits as well.  As of 2010 you will only be able to put $5000 in your account per year but if you are 50 and older you put $6000 in per year.

Finally, with the IRA and the Roth IRA you can only get the tax benefits offered through these two programs if make less than $120,000 if you fill single or $176,000 if file your taxes jointly.

So if so many things are similar between IRA’s and Roth IRA’s why would you want to choose the Roth account over the traditional IRA?

Why The Roth Is Better

Of all the similarities between the Roth IRA and the IRA you might be wonder why would the Roth be better.  Of all the best advice on Roth IRA accounts the advantage of paying your taxes later is the best advantage.

The reason for this is because in your retirement years your tax burden will actually increase. Here are a few

Read more…

This is one terrible time to be investing. Who do you believe about what the future holds?

Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs and ex-Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg see deflation on the horizon. That’s when prices — and wages — decline. Richard Berner of Morgan Stanley puts the odds of deflation at one in 10. He sees low inflation — a slow rise in prices, which is actually a good thing.

Or are we entering stagflation, as one economic researcher suggests. That’s where inflation grows but unemployment remains high and the economy doesn’t grow. It last happened in the 1970s.

The Bank of Canada offers a good explanations deflation and inflation. Read more…