Category Archives: personal finance

A Little Financial Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing

The Citi Smith Barney chap at my local Citibank branch is very sweet. Whenever anybody asks to open a brokerage account, he tells them that he’s not a discount brokerage, and that there are lots of discount brokers like E*Trade … Continue reading

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Will Banks Ever Promote Financial Wellness?

There are very few things more stressful than money, whether you don’t have it or whether you do. Money problems destroy relationships every day, and I’m sure that all of my readers can think of quite a few people off … Continue reading

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Silly Idea of the Day: Opening Foreign Brokerage Accounts

Abnormal Returns rarely criticises the stories it features in its invaluable daily linkfest. But today’s an exception: Color us skeptical that individual investors should be opening brokerage accounts around the world. (WSJ.com) Boy are they right to be skeptical. Armed … Continue reading

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No Security in Securities

James Stewart is shocked – shocked! – to find out that his ARPS aren’t liquid. They were sold as a liquid, safe, slightly higher-yielding, tax-exempt alternative to money-market funds. I should know, since I bought some… What was a ready … Continue reading

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Credit Cards Around the World

Ronald Mann’s credit-card infographic in Foreign Policy has been getting a lot of attention in the econoblogosphere today. It’s a great little piece, but a little unclear on some things, especially sources. So I sent off an email to Professor … Continue reading

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Vishing for Credit

Is it possible that, by conducting a telephone survey, one can reliably conclude that identity fraud costs Americans $45 billion per year? I suspect it isn’t. And I’m even more suspicious of enormous jumps like this: Fraudsters are turning to … Continue reading

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Credit Card Datapoint of the Day

Jonathan Stempel reports: Discover Financial Services said on Thursday it agreed to sell its Goldfish credit card unit in Britain to Barclays Plc for $70 million, abandoning a money-losing business it bought two years ago for $1.68 billion, as consumer … Continue reading

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The Past-Due Loan Problem at American Express

Right now the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 86.16 points, and American Express is down $1.51 per share. Given that the DJIA divisor is 0.123017848, that means American Express is responsible for 12.27 points of the Dow’s 86-point fall, … Continue reading

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The Credit Crunch and US Politics

It’s pretty obvious that the incumbent party is always going to have a harder time being reelected if it’s running during a recession. But a post by John Quiggin today implies that the thing that the Republicans should be most … Continue reading

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Fiscal Stimulus: The Consumption Dilemma

Zubin Jelveh has some advice for the IRS on how to spin the upcoming tax rebate so that people will spend it rather than save it. It’s good advice, too – for any politician looking to maximize the bang for … Continue reading

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Is Cramer Advocating Index Funds?

One of the most effective ways to sell anything is to tell your mark that he’s special, and that your product isn’t suitable for just anyone, you know. The masses? The great unwashed? They can make do with mass-market products. … Continue reading

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Adventures in Personal Finance, APR Edition

I just got my Mastercard statement from Citibank, and found this: Apparently the ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE on purchases is 36%, corresponding to a "Nominal APR" of 17.74%, while the two are the same on advances. (Click on the image for … Continue reading

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Hidden Fees in Mortgages and Credit Cards

Have you ever wondered where the enormous profits being booked by various bits of the financial sector come from? Elizabeth Warren, whom I interviewed in June, has an excellent blog called Credit Slips which specializes, among other things, in revealing … Continue reading

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Debit Cards vs Cash

If you want to read Andrew Leonard’s blog entry about Visa’s ad campaign today, and you’re not a subscriber to Salon, then you’ll have to sit through an ad for Visa to get there. It’s possible that the ad will … Continue reading

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On Bankruptcy

Megan McArdle has a paen
to the US bankruptcy system
today:
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New Business Opportunity: SMS Loan Sharking

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism submits: Lucy Kellaway, a Financial Times columnist who writes about corporate fads, once said no new business technique is too ridiculous to be put into practice. The Springwise newsletter (“New business ideas for entrepreneurial minds”), … Continue reading

Posted in banking, bonds and loans, personal finance, regulation | 1 Comment

Understanding Investments

Barry Ritholtz has words
of advice for young and old
:
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Looking for a Risk-Constant Mutual Fund

The financial markets have outgrown their retail investors. When will those investors be given the tools to catch up?
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When Hedge Fund Investors Lose Confidence

Jenny Anderson is
worried
that when hedge-fund investors get their monthly statements in July,
they’ll start to panic.
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BanXcard: Better Than Wal-Mart, Worse Than Credit Unions

I have mixed feelings about the BanXcard,
a new product which is indubitably better than the MoneyCard.
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Time to Buy ETFs and Head to the Beach

A diverse
global ETF portfolio
can be put together with an overall expense ratio of
less than 0.15%
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MLM Schemes: A Very Bad Idea

Many MLM schemes can be extremely profitable, for their owners.
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Why Enormous Personal Debt Means a More Vibrant Economy

Chris Dillow finds
a silver lining
to the ever-increasing amounts of leverage bidding up asset
prices around the world.
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Control Your Money Even After You Die

I had coffee with Armond Budish this morning, who’s plugging
his new
book on estate planning
.
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The Wal-Mart MoneyCard: A Rip-Off

Ron
Galloway
reckons that Wal-Mart’s new
debit card
"is simply a deposit account by another name" and that
Wal-Mart has thereby managed to become a bank via the back door, as it were.
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