Prime Rate Credit

I just had to take the time to write about some financial and business news that I thought was the most compelling I’ve read in quite a while. It has to do with business genius and multibillion dollar CEO Warren Buffett, of the multimillion dollar holding company that you’ve probably head of in one form or another, Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett is giving much of his fortune away, instead of just passing it on to his children when he passes on, because he believes that, like him, his children will do much better to carve out their own way in this world. He believes that just handing them the millions of dollars they would surely get if he were to just hand it over upon his death in his will, he would not be doing them a favor.

I agree 100%. As for if his 3 children all agree with that, I can’t say, but he is definitely building their character and not giving them a free ride, which I think is comendable. Rather, he is giving much of his fortune to Bill and Melinda Gates’ charitable foundation and his deceased wife’s charitable foundation.

Bravo Warren, bravo. All I can say is, you are truly a one of a kind business genius, as well as a truly down to earth and common sense man with family values and an excellent sense of what is right and wrong in this world.

It looks like Ford and GM, although they said they wouldn’t, may be offering special financial incentives to purchase a vehicle from them, after Daimler Chrysler announced their special pricing incentives on cars to move inventory.

Apparently, earlier in the week, GM or General Motors, announced 0% financing for up to six years on most of its cars and trucks. And that’s not all, I guess that another popular domestic car manufactere Ford already had 0% financing for up to 5 years on most of its models of trucks and cars.

The offers aren’t going to last forever though. GM’s offer is to expire first, which will be on this Wednesday after the Fourth of July holiday. And then Ford’s special financing offer is to run through July 31, just like Chrysler’s special employee vehicle pricing incentive does.

So why are all these domestic auto makers putting special incentives on the minds of consumers?

There is an industry fact in sales that is looming over their heads, where financial analysts are predicting new car sales will drop 8% from 12% in June. Bad for them, good for us!

Did you know, a little known fact about credit reports, is that every single person in the US is entitled to one free credit report per calendar year? That’s right, there should be no charges and no obligations to continue with any type of credit monitoring service, although most times of course most companies will try to talk you into that.

Free credit reports are ideal because they show you, at a minimum once a year, what your credit standing is, and how you can improve your credit score, even if slowly, but surely.

Good credit is so important today, especially if you plan on making any large purchases like a car or home, because your credit determines what type of interest rate and deal you’ll get on loans and lines of credit. Not only that, credit is even used to determine the insurance premiums you pay!

LOVE THIS BOOK! Absolutely love it. Suze Orman, the famous financial and budgeting guru, wrote this book specifically for the twentysomething age group which seems to be getting themselves in deeper and deeper credit card and bad interest rate debt, to keep up a certain type of lifestyle, drive a certain kind of car, etc.

Not only is this book a necessity for any twenty or thirty something person to read who feels that they just keep falling further behind financially, but it is ideal for anyone of any age that can’t seem to get ahead or save money for their future.

Basically, at the rate Generation X is going, they will all be broke at retirement time, and rather than enjoying a peacefull, secure retirement, they may be getting jobs at McDonalds and WalMart just to pay the bills!

This book is geared toward that age group that finds themselves working harder and longer hours, only to pay off mountains of credit card debt and student loans, and other “fabulous” things like cars, only to end up more behind than ever.

She addresses the importance and tax benefits of the 401K, and special saving tips for these types of people. Some of the tips are common sense, but some are simply priceless.

In effort to ousell and outperform rivals Ford and GM, both domestic car manufacturers, Chrysler is said to be offering special discounts and incentives to car buyers soon. So, if you’re in the market for a car now, check out Chrysler cars (although I’m a Honda girl myself).

Set for July, Daimler Chrysler is planning to roll out a new set of discounted car prices to attract new customers, and also to roll out a new employee discount program that will be offered to any employee purchasing a Chrysler vehicle.

The exact discounts have not been disclosed yet, but they may take the form of a car rebate, where you get money back AFTER purchasing the car, and you usually get varying rebates back depending on the model vehicle you choose.

This could potentially save a car shopping customer hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on the deals offered, and will definitely cause a price war once the competitors get a load of the new offers. What good for the consumer is good for the economy, right?

Everyone wants to retire early. I do, my friends do, my parents do, everyone does. But aren’t there some big merits to waiting a little longer? Yes, there certainly are.

First of all, you have more time to save money and get the benefit of compound interest, which is a theory where you interest collects and compound on itself, making you save a lot of money in a relatively small period of time. I know, it defies logic, but it’s there and it works.

Second, the longer you work, the more your social security checks will be. Sure, I know, most people believe social security will be gone by the time they retire anyways, but isn’t that just negative thinking? Act like it will happen, and try to stave off retirement a little longer, unless you’re a millionaire.

Netflix has revolutionized the way we rent DVD’s. Not only has it revolutionized this area of our lives, but it has also become a verb in it’s own right ” Oh, are you gonna “netflix” it?” Well, apparently all this revolutionizing and familiarity in branding are paying off, and who knows, you may want to purchase this stock some day!

Netflix stock was recently listed as a “moving” stock, which is a good thing, and was categorized right up there with Rite Aid, which has been moving and shaking the market for a few weeks now. Good investment for your future? May be!

Apparently the rates for mortgage loans (home loans) have hit a 4 year high, due to concerns over inflation and rising housing costs. If you’re in the market for a new home, this means somewhat bad news for you.

Let’s break that down a little :

Homeownders that utilize an adjustable rate mortgage, a rise in interest rates can mean a charp increase in their monthly mortgage payments.

Take for example, if you have a $200,000 home loan that goes up from 4 percent to 6 percent, the monthly bill would increase to about $1,200, from $955.

That’s over $200 per month! Most people do not allow this type of increase leway in their budget, so you can see how this might cause a problem for those with adjustable rate mortgages!

Apparently it’s becoming easier and easier to become a millionaire, at least according to some statistics (why am I not a millionaire yet then?) Well, apparently statistics don’t lie, because new data came out on the latest number of millionaires worldwide, and it’s something like 8.7 million!

This is not actually ALL THAT surprising when you consider the only prerequisite to being a millionaire is to actually have acquired one million dollars to your name. Some people, who are lucky enough, may have this at retirement (I know, the majority of the world’s population will not even come near a million for retirement and will all be working well after retirement, or living off of measly social security!).

It is guestimated that all millionaire’s wealth accounts for about a whopping $33.3 trillion, which is more than twice the amount of American economic output, a study by Merrill Lynch and consultancy Capgemini found.

The middle east area has seen a huge boom in millionaires, and this is most likely because of a positive economic outlook and surging stocks coming out of the middle east.

In America, we are used to our currency, or our dollar, being one of the most valuable and trusted currencies in the world, having higher valuations than say the Mexican Peso or other foreign currencies of impoverished nations. But is the future of the dollar so bright, or are we in for a “doomsday” as some financial analysts always seem to predict?

The American dollar’s position as the preferred global currency has proven to be a boon for our living standards and our investments, both long and short term.

The dollar however, has seen better days than this current century, with the European currency, the Euro, beating the value of the dollar by almost 30% at times.

American Spending and Saving Habits are a BIG Part of the Problem

It has been said that the people of America, including individuals, and the American government, both locan and national, are not the best savers, and are even worse at spending over what they make.

This is said to contribute to the downfall of the dollar. So, if you want to help, you’d have to modify your spending and increase your saving, think you can do that? Now, if we could all just jump on that bandwagon….