Archive for September, 2010
In the year 2000, my personal life and financials were in the toilet. I was in my early thirties, my marriage was breaking up and I had to borrow against my meager 401(k) funds to settle with my ex. My net worth was right around zero. Since 2000, I’ve managed to increase my net worth around $1 million during one of the worst investment periods in recent memory. And no, I didn’t get lucky with company stock options, win the lottery, receive an inheritance or even rob a bank.
I’m one of those “millionaires next door” who you may have heard about. My wife and I (yes, I eventually re-married, and it’s definitely better the second time around) have two kids, ordinary white collar careers and a shared financial philosophy that has enabled us to build wealth even during difficult economic times. We call the
I’ve written previously how we enjoy garage sales and hunting for bargains. A crucial part of getting deals is knowing how to haggle or negotiate. It is a skill worth honing because in essence many financial transactions require some type of negotiation. Over the years we’ve haggled prices on cars, homes, and medical bills to name just a few. Right now on the American Express site “Currency“, I share some tips for saving money on your rent. Basically it comes down to this: The more skilled you are at haggling, the better you will fare at getting price reductions.
My husband grew up in a family of farmers and learned the basics early – never pay full price and always haggle. It seems
Remember, Africa’s not a country, it’s a continent. So you can’t directly compare it to “investing in Brazil” or Russia or some other emerging market.
But recent reporting has revealed that some managers are looking past the traditional emerging markets anyway – citing the lack of high-yield opportunies – and have turned their attention to the so-called “frontier markets.”
And the continent of Africa, on the whole, is definitely comprised of many frontier markets. So it makes sense to consider Africa now if you’re looking for high-yield opportunities with the potential for some big, if long-term, returns.
Frontier Markets – Riskier than Emerging Markets
. Frontier markets
Nearly everyone who has a credit card has the goal of a higher personal credit line. A larger credit card limit allows you to make much higher purchases, typically purchases that you’re not able to acquire with your existing credit line. You will find ways that you may get a higher credit limit. Below, are a handful of tips that will help enhance the limit of your credit.
The most crucial move to make whenever improving your credit limit should be to enhance your general level of credit worthiness. This informs finance companies and banks that you can be dependable with credit, and that you are virtually no threat for them. Whenever lenders and banks look at your credit history, this really is the primary factor that they look for.
You can attract a lot of good attention with a credit card business or bank with your financial acquisitions. M
The US Commerce Department said that new orders for durable goods excluding transportation increased by 2 percent in August after a 2.8 percent decline in July. This is the largest single-month increase since March beating expectations by a full percent.
“Overall, I think it’s a much stronger number than the headline suggests. It was a weak report last month but I think this definitely shows underlying improvement,” said Tom Simons, money market economist at Jefferies & Co. in New York.