America’s Top Financial Bloggers: What is the Best Way to Manage During Difficult Economic Times?

By Chad Brand

Chad Brand is the founder and President of Peridot Capital Management LLC , a registered investment advisory firm specializing in personal finance and investment portfolio management services for individuals. Chad’s blog, The Peridot Capitalist has been recognized by major media outlets such as Forbes as one of the top investment blogs in the United States since it launched in late 2004.

There is a television commercial airing right now from Charles Schwab that I think sends a very poor message to those of you who are wondering how you should change the way you manage your finances and investments during the current economic downturn. The lady in the commercial points out that she used to take a hands off approach to her investments, but now that the economy is in decline and the stock market has fallen dramatically, that strategy seems crazy.

[Read more]

Three Financial Do-Overs. Is Insurance One of Them?

The financial blog “Your Money Relationship” is asking Netizens: “What financial decisions in your life would you change if given the chance?

Should you have started saving earlier? (Who wouldn’t have?) Would you have torn up your credit cards or shopped for a better rate? Wish you would have fully-funded your IRA every year since you opened the account so many years ago? You’re not alone.

For family breadwinners, now is the time to enter a “virtual time machine” and correct any deficiencies in your life insurance coverage you might “someday” wish you had when given the chance.  After all, if you make a mistake with life insurance, it will be too late for a make-up wish once the insurance pays benefits to the loved-ones who outlive you. Make sure you’re in good shape right now with a free life insurance quote from America’s top life insurance companies at Efinancial!

What would you “do-over” if Efinancial gave you a “Genie in a Bottle”?

A Daring Topic: 4 Things You Must Have in Order to Prepare for Your Death

While the subject of death is probably lowest on the list of topics for polite dinner table conversation, it must be highest on the list for planning for your family’s financial future when you are no longer present.  I don’t mean you need to discuss it in front of your children, the neighbors, or at a social gathering, but it’s essential to take the time to deal with what is the most certain of eventualities in the comfort and privacy of your home.

There are four things you must have in order to prepare for the day that you depart from this mortal coil.

Life Insurance. If you have children or a spouse who depends on your income to pay the mortgage and manage everyday living expenses, you must take the time to get an affordable  life insurance policy that pays your family in the event of your death.

Learn more about how to insure family financial security

The Economy Writ Small – as Haiku!

At the end of National Poetry Month, “The Motley Fool” has put together some amusing financial haikus, short three-line poems of only 17-syllables.  We excerpt a few as examples.  Read the complete lineup at http://tinyurl.com/d7f5c3 .

The Swine Flew
Confidence is king
Banks’ balance sheets are just fine
Oh, look, pigs can fly

The Goldman Sachs Shimmy
Goldman Sachs defies
Trading destroyed estimates
How do I sign up?

Read more financial jokes

2009 Insurance Rate Wars, Time to Shop is Now!

A new batch of numbers, released at the top of the year and stating that people are living longer than ever before, has prompted Life Insurance companies to lower their rates in many cases. If you have a life insurance policy purchased prior to 1/1/2009 you may be paying too much. Some of the largest savings are being seen in Term Life Insurance policies between $500,000 and $1 million.

Compared to 20 years ago, term insurance rates remain extremely low. Increased competition between carriers on the Web, improved mortality rates and better underwriting has driven the cost down by 75% since 1990. For instance, a 20-year term policy providing $500,000 in coverage would have cost a 40-year-old, non-smoking male in 1990 about $1,400 a year. Now, the same policy may cost around $400.

Term insurance is particularly attractive now, when the tough economy is forcing consumers to look for ways to cut costs. These policies are renowned as being smart for younger individuals or families who need insurance for a certain time period, say while they have dependent children.

The industry may be facing a reversal of term insurance rates with increases to come. Before companies raise rates, consumers can take advantage of the market opportunity…if they act quickly.  When was the last time you compared the cost of your life insurance policy or shopped for a better price?

Art Prices Fall 35%, Collectors Paint Less Rosy Portrait

Financial investments in art are not always a pretty picture.  A portrait of Mick Jagger painted by Andy Warhol sold for $1.1m this quarter. The seller bought it in 2006 for $1.5m.

Old masterpieces are less vulnerable. A painting by J.M.W. Turner, “The Temple of Jupiter”, sold for $12.9m last quarter, and brought a solid return of 10 per cent a year for the seller, who bought it in 1982 for $1.1m, an exception to the rule.

The Mei Moses Art Index, co-founded by Michael Moses, tracks art values over time. The overall index declined 4.8 per cent last year. But this year, art prices have fallen 35 per cent in the first quarter alone.

That’s bad news for collectors and some universities, such as Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.  Many universities own valuable art collections and some are inclined to offset losses in other areas by liquidating those assets.  Brandeis decided to convert its on-campus Rose Museum into a student art center and divest some of its high priced paintings.  Only with values down, now is not a very favorable time to sell.

The worst year on record for art investors was 1991, when prices dropped 41 per cent, said Mr Moses, who has collected data going back to the 1800s.  Since that time the art market has tended to reflect the state of the overall economy.

A Website for Emotional Rescue from the Economy

Feeling stressed out by the economy? Reuters News reports that a new website by the U.S. government may help soothe frazzled nerves or at least put yon on the lookout for strange behaviors.

A guide to “Getting Through Tough Economic Times” available at http://www.samhsa.gov/economy/ is meant to “help people identify any serious health concerns related to financial worries, develop coping skills and find help,” the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced this week.

Left unchecked, stress can lead to the risk of clinical depression, anxiety and compulsive behaviors such as gambling, overeating and even spending, SAMHSA said.

Read more about controlling stress and anxiety

Life Insurance Options When Times are Tough

“In hard economic times, investors look for ways to lighten their financial load,” writes life insurance advisor Peter C. Kat in this month’s Journal of Financial Planning.

Affordable life insurance can have a decisive role to play. Instead of buying higher-cost permanent policies that generate cash value, policy buyers can look to much lower-cost term insurance for savings while protecting their families against catastrophic loss. If cash value policies are acquired make sure they are low expense so you can have immediate liquidity if and when you need funds. When savings have amassed  in a policy and cash is needed, investors may be able to withdraw or borrow from cash values of permanent policies.

Financial decisions can come under stress in difficult economic times. Yet, decisions about life insurance during such periods are vital to your family’s future. So keep these guidelines in mind. Term life insurance is much more relevant because of its simple, low costs. Low-expense survivorship universal life should be used for term insurance when estate tax liquidity is the problem. Static-priced universal life insurance with low to zero cash values shows its significant weakness when liquidity is needed, and is often rejected for that reason alone.  Finally, the amount of early whole life and conventional universal life cash values can be improved by buying low-cost versions.

The Journal of Financial Planning is the official publication of the Financial Planning Association.

Turning the Corner or Hitting a Detour?

“It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.” “The glass is half-empty, or is it half-full?”  Depending on your outlook, your optimism and which side of the mortgage meltdown you have been on — lender, borrower, investor or innocent bystander — your answers and your “smile-age” will vary.

Thanks to a new Housing Bill, those at risk of foreclosure, have received a stay of execution and a new lease on life in the form of a government backed refinance of up to 105% of their home’s current market value.  Financing for 5% more than a home’s appraised worth sounds like a glass half- full proposition.

But there are new concerns for those who are jittery.  Like whether nationalization of one or more large financial groups, a word that sounds more ominous than the federal government taking a majority share of bank stock, is enough to cause new stresses.  Funny, it is the “stress test” that the U.S. Treasury Dept. wants to use to separate the bad banks from the good.

What color is your mood ring?  Are we starting to turn the corner or is the road a dead end? You tell us. We’d like to know!

The Economic E -Factor. The “E”-motions of Finance…and “E”-financial!

We at Efinancial are here to relieve the stress that sometimes occurs in the search for financial value. We do that in the form of insurance products and services. Our job is a simple one. To find you the very best values in life insurance, health insurance and other protections your family depends on.

The “E” in our name seems especially fitting to a story about Financial E-motions which was published this week in TIME magazine.

Many experts speculate that our current financial crisis is one that is based on emotions. A lack of confidence is what is ailing us they say.  If people would only “feel better” about the economy and feel more secure (like banks about lending money), then the pistons of our financial engine could get moving again.

Read more about consumer confidence in the economy

Next Page »