Who will suffer if there’s no debt-ceiling deal?

Here's who would feel the pain most abruptly: Social Security recipients. The government is due to deliver $23 billion in Social Security payments on August 3, according to forecasting firm IHS Global Insight. If the government is forced to cut 40 percent of its spending, these Social Security checks may not arrive. The suddenness with …

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Captital Market Insights – July 11, 2011

Here’s your Weekly Insights update from Curian’s Asset Management Group. This informative capital market update is designed to help you stay informed about important developments from the past week, as well as provide thoughtful commentary on how these events might… CONTINUE…

Something Troubles Me

Ever since I took Economics 101 some 42 years ago, I have understood that "interest", in the financial sense, was the price you paid for the use of someone else's money. If you had money, and someone else wanted it, you could charge "interest" and in time, you would get back what you loaned to …

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Visiting Friends

Summer heat, afternoon storms, the July 4th weekend. We got a note recently from a cousin who spent time in Iraq and is now living in Los Angeles. He described a family he befriended in Baghdad who subsequently moved to Europe. They have enough money to visit him in California. But they also wanted to …

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Find Free Money to Pay for College – Ch. 2

By now I hope you have found the video presentation under the CollegeMoneyNow.info tab above. If you haven’t, take a few minutes and explore this idea. I’m going to write today about the college process itself. Unknown to parents and students, colleges accept far more students than they can admit. For example, if a college …

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The Truth About the Economy…

Robert Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written thirteen books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, Supercapitalism, and his most recent book, Aftershock. One can …

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Top 10 Worst Tax States for Retirees

Some states offer attractive tax benefits for retirees, others don’t. Kiplinger runs through the worst (or "tax hells," as the magazine bluntly states). Many, surprisingly, are in the Northeast United States. If you are looking for an inexpensive place to settle down following a life long career, you'll do well to avoid the following states. …

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Commonsense Ways To Fix Social Security

As someone who has willingly accepted Social Security payments monthly for about four years, I have no strong motivation to upset the status quo. However, and this is a big however, I understand that the current path is not sustainable. When it began in the 30's, there were less than 3 people getting benefits for …

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U.S. and Pakistan: Afghan Strategies

Interesting and helpful read as it relates to our involvement in Pakistan. This conflict, which I would like to see us end quickly, has implications for the economic future that you and I will encounter. And that influences our investment decisions going forward. George Friedman is not Thomas Friedman but he does a great job …

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Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)

Studies show that socially responsible investing, or SRI, is becoming increasingly popular. • SRI in the United States is now growing at a much faster pace than the broader universe of all investment assets under professional management. • From 2007 to 2009, SRI assets increased more than 13% while all investment assets under management edged …

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