Finding your inner personal finance guru; Living on an average income; Consumer ploys to avoid like the plague; Profiting from your passion; The gift of gratitude
Posted on December 17th, 2011
By Amanda Morrall (email)
1) Worship at your own altar
As most of you know by now, Im a dedicated yogi and Buddhist. How I ended up in finance seems a somewhat random spin of the wheel or else destiny. In any case, as one of “those types” I have enjoyed my fair share of retreats, some good, some bad and some just weird. One of them was on a mountaintop in the South Island. Indulge me for a moment but theres a personal finance thread here.
On this particular retreat, I had an opportunity for a one on one chat with the resident guru. Overall, this individual struck me as being more enlightened than the average bear. You can tell this about a person usually. They have an inner glow about them that is missing from the general population. Regardless of that radiance, my spidey senses were tingling. For one, I had to pay for this private chat (no, no clothing was removed!) on top of the retreat fees.
Tags: Finance, Finance Guru
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New Hampshire governor vetoes title loan bill
Posted on December 12th, 2011
New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch vetoed a bill Wednesday that would raise the ceiling title loan lenders can charge. The bill would have allowed up to 25 percent interest charged monthly. The state joins 31 others in disallowing these kinds of loans.
Title loans are short term loans secured by vehicle titles. The current rate allowable, adopted by the state in 2008, is 36 percent annually. That is the same cap allowed nationally on loans made to members of the military and their families. That federal bill was passed by Congress in 2006 and signed into law by President George W. Bush.
New Hampshire State Bill 57 would have allowed lenders to charge up to 300 percent annually. It also would have increased the percentage of the principal a borrower would have paid to renew the loan from 5 percent to 10.
Lynch supported the veto by saying the bill was opposed by many legislators in both parties, as well as the Local Welfare Administrator’s Association, AARP, the Banking Department, the Department of Justice, the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and New Hampshire Legal Assistance.
The bill, Lynch said in a press release, would be detrimental to families, the community and to the economy. T
Tags: Bill, New Hampshire, Title Loan
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EU treaty and debt crisis: live
Posted on December 11th, 2011
90000 2011-12-09 17:00:45.0 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/debt-crisis-live/8944990/EU-treaty-and-debt-crisis-live.html?service=artBody This page will automatically update every 90 secondsOn Off
• EU treaty: Cameron blocks crucial changes • EU 27 fail to agree Europe-wide treaty changes • 26 nations pressing ahead with separate ‘fiscal pact’ • Cameron: ‘What was on offer was not in Britain’s interest’ • Sarkozy: Britain made ‘unacceptable’ demands • Merkel: ‘I really don’t believe Cameron was ever with us’
17.03 If we take the FTSE 100 on its own we can notice more detail, showing that the upturn after yesterday’s summit is nothing compared to the volatility seen over the last month.
Tags: Crisis Live, Live
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Recession driving more couples to divorce courts
Posted on December 6th, 2011
The number of couples getting divorced has risen in the UK for the first time in nearly a decade, according to figures published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Both the ONS and a number of relationship and marriage experts suggested the country’s perilous economic situation could have been a major contributor to the number of break-ups, as couples face unprecedented financial pressures.
Divorces in England and Wales rose from 113,949 in 2009 to 119,589 in 2010, an increase of 4.9%. Divorce rates last rose in 2003 when 153,065 couples broke up, a rise from 147,735 in the previous year.
The equivalent of 11.1 people per thousand of the married population got divorced in 2010, up from 10.5 in 2009. The increase follows several years of decline in the number of divorces in the UK. L
Tags: Divorce, Divorce Courts
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Dec 10, IBM Stock Price (IBM) Today, History, Forecast, Chart, Target, Now
Posted on December 6th, 2011
Check experts’ opinions about where IBM stock price is headed and take advantage of social media discussions, chart and latest news all in one place.
Official Website:
http://www.ibm.com/
Ever since its inception IBM has been one of the leading global suppliers of hardware and software related to computers and also provides services for machines having basic as well as nanotechnology configurations.
Products offered by IBM can be broadly categorized under four sections namely software package, systems and servers, storage and equipment which can be purchased online. The software section is mostly concerned with various management issues like software management named Rational, service management named Tivoli, collaboration software named Lotus and content and information management. Servers are offered to suit a variety of systems like UNIX, Linux and many others where as storage options include disk, tape, A-Z and so on.
Tags: Chart, Ibm Stock, Ibm Stock Price, Stock Price
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Startup BitGym aims to inspire geeks to work out with iPads, iPhones
Posted on December 2nd, 2011
With more and more VC-backed personal health and fitness companies targeting the hardcore exercise fanatic, it was only a matter of time before a startup emerged to go after the less enthusiastic cardio burner.
Witness BitGym, a startup being launched out of the Rock Health accelerator in San Francisco that says it has raised “some” seed funding.
The aim of the company’s technology is to make exercise seem more like a video game rather than a workout. “Running sucks now. That’s where we come in,” the company says on its website.
Users put their iPhone or iPad on the rack of any treadmill, elliptical machine or stationary bike and the BitGym app syncs with the machine to portray, for instance, a car driving on a race track. With a forw
Tags: Startup, Startup Bitgym
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Jets get Pat down from Brady, New England
Posted on December 2nd, 2011
New England Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski (l.) catches a pass for a touchdown in front of New York Jets’ defesive backs Eric Smith (bottom) and Marquice Cole during the second quarter.
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PATRIOTS 37, JETS 16
For all the lessons that the Jets learned about themselves in the past month, they uncovered the most sobering one under the bright lights on Sunday night:
The AFC East still belongs to the Patriots.
Or as Rex Ryan put it: “We think we’re as good as them, but clearly we’re not.”
PHOTOS: PATRIOTS MANHANDLE JETS
That much was clear as Gang Green’s eternal nemesis delivered an emphatic message with a 37-16 win at MetLife Stadium that smacked Ryan’s team down to earth and severely hampered its chances at winning the division.
The Jets’ path to the Super Bowl also became infinitely more difficult with a loss that could sting for a long time. The Patriots
Tags: England, New England
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