Finance

• The Check Out Check Up

  According to the U.S. Statistical Abstract the average large family (five or more) spent $405 per month on food eaten at home. Pam and her family probably are a bit on the high side. So what can she do to reduce the amount she contributes to her local grocery store?

• Boomer Caused Market Collapse

  Let’s begin with some numbers. There were 77 million baby boomers born between 1947 and 1964. Or an average of 4.3 million per year. From 1965 to 1999 there were 140 million babies born. An average of 4 million per year. Not that big a drop.

• Buying A Refrigerator

  The experts I found say that you’ll do best buying a major appliance during the winter months. No reason was given, but it might be that people are too busy paying off holiday debt to buy major appliances unless they have to.

• Inherited Debts?

  Typically a will controls financial affairs after a person’s death. A will distributes assets, not debts. But, before any money can be distributed to heirs, all the debts must be paid. So enough assets are sold to pay for any debts that remain. Only after the debts are paid will the remaining assets be distributed among the beneficiaries of the will.

• Signs Of Wealth

  Everyone from songwriters to psychics to traffic engineers will tell you that it’s important to ‘read the signs’. And they’re right. Take driving for instance. Traveling without signs would be difficult and dangerous.

• Credit Card Surprise

  The Truth In Lending act only requires that card issuers give you 15 days notice if they’re going to change the rate on a ‘fixed-rate’ account. Some states have laws that require a longer notice. But you’re still vulnerable to rate changes. A more accurate title would be that they’re an ‘almost fixed-rate account’.

• Canceling Credit

  You don’t need to give the card issuer a reason for closing the account. It’s your right to choose not to do any more business with them. They may offer a lower rate if you stay. And, if that’s attractive, you can leave the account open.

• A Thimbleful Of Prosperity: Three Simple Strategies To Retire In Comfort

  Devoting an adult lifetime adroitly acquiring assets goes against the grain for many persons. Whatever they attain in life will come with minimal expenditure of time and effort. To that end, I have a program to offer, though it requires a caution: What I advocate will enable most persons to conclude their working years with enough to live in the style to which they had become accustomed.