You’ve probably already read about it in the news…the sub prime markets are a mess. The problem began after the turn of the century, when stock markets began to tank. As a result of the instability caused within the U.S. economy, the Fed began an aggressive campaign lowering interest rates. And while the rate cuts did salvage the major indices, the fallout was an unintentional real estate boom, as lenders began qualifying sub-par would be homeowners for mortgages they clearly couldn’t afford. Making matters worse, many of the loans were […]

Debt is increasing at an ever growing pace. It is affecting many people from all walks of life. One demographic group to be affected is that of seniors. It is a disturbing trend. Senior citizens are resorting to using credit card debt to pay for basic expenses. One frustrating problem is the cost of medical care. . An increasing number of the nation’s elders are putting their homes, retirement savings and livelihoods at risk to pay the bills. The question is whether seniors have been blindsided by the consumer juggernaut […]

A very interesting a disturbing trend seems to be emerging. Young people seem to have been conditioned to believe that materialism is extremely important, and that financial success is a birthright. There is nothing wrong with wanting financial success but today’s younger “entitledâ€? generation has it wrong. It appears that youngsters have heard about the Hollywood salary types as well as the high paid executives and athletes and now believe that this is what they want. UCLA came up with its annual survey of college freshman, released last Friday. It […]

We have all been there. We see our neighbor with his new Mercedes S class. We rationalize to our self. “If that schlep has a Mercedes, I should get one tooâ€? What most people do not realize is the Mercedes is taking a huge amount of cash out of Mr. Jones income. He has been successful in perpetuating the myth of trying to look wealthy. Not because he bought the car, but because you bought into it as well. Trying to look wealthy is a mirage. Recent studies have been […]