What’s “Debt Bomb” mean in Investor Words? #Investorwords

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Yes, this one is used actively. Sign of the times.

Defaults on debts or other obligations taken on by large financial institutions that affect not only the economy of the financial institution’s home country, but also the global financial community as well. FDIC look out.

Debt Bomb

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How to Save Money Without Noticing #saving #money #college

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Are you sick of worrying about the budget and how you’re going to cut back and save even more? Well, don’t worry. Here are 3 easy ways to save some cash without even noticing:

Upromise and other programs like it allow you to accumulate savings for a college fund when you purchase items you already buy with registered store cards or credit cards. The best part – there are no sign-up or association fees.

You could save hundreds each year in bank fees simply by using your own bank’s ATMs. If you have a debit card, you can also get cash back at the grocery store and other places and you won’t get charged outlandish fees for accessing your own money.

Finally, one of the easiest ways to save money without cutting back is by keeping only the minimum balance in your checking account. Deposit everything you earn in to a high-yield savings account. Then transfer money for free online to cover any checks you write. This way you’re earning interest on the money you’ve earmarked to pay your bills.

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She will stick to her guns even if it’s not the popular view…

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Sheila Bair
By Patricia Sellers

During the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, Sheila Bair has been the little guy’s protector in chief. Guaranteeing the savings of bank customers is the main job of the chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Bair did that while the FDIC handled 25 bank failures in 2008. To boost trust, she also upped the guarantee from $100,000 to $250,000. “No customer has ever lost a penny of insured deposits,” she says.

Bair’s unusual clout, though, derives from the breadth of her command and her guts in staking new ground. An early Cassandra about the dangers of subprime loans, she incensed Treasury officials last fall by pushing aggressively for a massive mortgage-refinancing program. “She will stick to her guns even if it’s not the popular view,” says personal-finance expert (and fellow TIME 100 honoree) Suze Orman.

Bair, 55, is the rare Republican who has not only survived in the Obama Administration but gained power. The government has enacted many of the mortgage-modification proposals she championed. And the FDIC now has oversight of public-private funds that are being created to buy troubled bank assets to crank up lending again. A lawyer who hails from tiny Independence, Kans., Bair believes that fiscal responsibility begins at home. She’s written two children’s books on the subject. In Rock, Brock and the Savings Shock, about twin boys who get money from their grandpa, the lesson is clear: “You just have to stop spending all your money and save.”

Sellers is an editor-at-large at Fortune

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Fundamentals during the ‘New Thrift’ #realestate #economy #thrift

I want you to know that when I tell folks I’m doing Real Estate they wish me luck. As I correspond with many of you – and there are more and more of you as Realtors become fewer and fewer, there emerges new contemporary fundamentals in this market that must be understood.
In no particular order these fundamentals are:
■ Home values have plummeted back to 2004 levels in 2008 and seem to be headed down until there is a slowing of homes that fall into foreclosure. Prices aren’t likely to climb until 2015. And any appreciation will be small, sustained if there’s real socioeconomic staying power in your neighborhood.
■ Sellers have to get over their cognitive dissonance, and price their homes to sell lest they are forced into short sales which are when what your home sells for is less than your remaining mortgage balance, and the bank forgives the difference.
■ Banks do not want to lend money right now; the only borrowers they will even consider must put up to 20% down. Banks are rescinding home equity lines of credit because falling home values make those open credit lines too risky.
■ Lenders will step up their effort to modify loans for borrowers deemed able to afford their homes with some level of assistance because keeping those homeowners in their homes is the best way to stabilize the housing market which stabilizes our financial markets.
■ The credit market is nearly frozen and the only way to enter the market and thaw lenders is with a hefty down payment, so save towards that goal while prices are lower then ever. Keep your credit scores high by not canceling credit cards, and don’t miss their payments by ‘Auto Paying’ each month’s to avoid punishing rate hikes. Use them once a year and pay them off to show you’re responsible with your bank’s credit line.
■ Don’t use credit cards or retirement funds to pay for a too expensive home (or for anything). Better to sell it and downgrade for the time being.
■ A HELOC should not be borrowed from to pay anything because your home is its collateral. Miss a payment and you risk losing your home. Build a real savings fund after you are out of debt from which to borrow.

 

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