Can You Avoid ATM Fees?

We all hate to pay them, some more than others, myself included admittedly. What am I talking about? Those darn ATM fees that eat up a couple bucks, and sometims up to three to four dollars at some ATM’s, for the privelege of accessing and withdrawing money that belongs to you anyways. It’s kind of the way that a lot of banks are making money when you withdraw your money, but they would never own up to that. Instead they say that is covers administrative and maintenance costs for your account, the machines that dispense the money, and keeping tabs on your account balances properly.

But we all know that’s something that needs to happen anyways, so I personally take those excuses with a grain of proverbial salt. I’ve seen the recent ATM fees go up as high as five bucks, which if it were me, unless I were in dire need of that money, I probably would not pay based on the sheer principal alone that it’s a rip off to pay five bucks, which equates to a perfectly good meal at a fast food restaurant, just to withdraw my money.

Then there are the fees that you have to pay to use an ATM that isn’t actually owned by your bank. For example, my sister is in town from California right now, and just for her to withdraw money from an ATM that was within her network, but owned by my bank and not hers, which is a small town bank from where she lives, she was charged a 3.50 fee for withdrawing her money.

This one is particularly baffling because I’m not really sure why they put that extra fee on when it’s “outside your network” or from another bank. Sometimes your bank may actually charge two separate fees, one from them for using the ATM, and another one if that particular ATM is out of their “network”.

It’s really highway robbery if you think about it, considering banking fees are also going up just for your monthly maintenance fees as well. Heck, I pay six dollars on one account every month, and ten on another, just for them to keep my account going. I think these fees are really getting out of hand, but they can get away with it because you “need” them, and you need checking accounts and savings accounts often times to establish credit. Bummer.

Money Markets Better for Your Money in This Economy?

Let’s talk about the current stock market for a minute. First of all, you should know that I’m not a huge skeptic when it comes to the resilience of the American economy and the American stock market as well. I know, times have been extremely tough over the past year, actually about two years now, for our economy with a multitude of factors affecting consumers as well as stocks, because whatever affects the consumer basically affects the stock market as well as you may already know.

Many people who are not so convinced of our economy’s resilience are bailing out big time on US stocks, and delving their money into money market accounts which are a much safer option, but are an incredibly (odds have it) lower rate of return over the long haul on your money. Remember, you should almost always invest in stocks with the long term – at least 3-5 years in mind, if not more, or you could be in for a lot of losses as well as getting taxed out the wazoo for short term gains.

It makes me kind of sad that the paranoia about the state of the US is forcing people to panic and put their money in places that really don’t even keep pace with inflation – which by the way, in broaching a 5% mark this year, especially for food and other goods, rather than putting their money in places that have a much higher rate of return over the long haul. Think about it, the wealthiest people are the ones who still buy when everyone else is running away, just look at Warren Buffett as a prime example of this philosophy.

He has a well known theory that you should be greedy (buy stocks you think are good) when everyone else is scared, and be scared when everyone else is greedy. Hence he is one of the world’s richest men, actually I believe he tops that list now. As long as you are a person who can research good stocks and buy it at a good price (aka, when most others are scared to invest in the stock market), you could definitely make out like a bandit around retirement time!

Food Prices Set to Skyrocket

In yet more ominous news about today’s economic situation, both microeconomically and macroeconomically for those who enjoy referring back to old highschool and college terms, unlike me, foor prices are being forecasted to go higher than they have in more than 17 years, and they are saying that right now is just the beginning.

What are the higher food prices attributed to? Well, it is supposedly a combination of factors, a few being the weather in major food, wheat and corn producing areas of the world, high gas prices which increases the cost of transporting food to places that sell it and use it in their food products, and a higher global demand for food stuffs.

The average annual food cost increase is usually at about a 2.5 percent increase, while last year (2007), it rose around 4 percent, setting the path for higher and higher prices according to many analysts and consumer watchdog groups. This year, they are saying that the rise in food prices could be even worse than last year, and additional half a percentage point again, rounding it out to about 4.5 percent increase.

It doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you consider this is an incremental increase that happens every year, and we are talking on a global scale here, it certainly does add up. These increasing percentages are bound to strap several working classes, but will especially strap the poor financially, making food donation programs and subsizdizations a virtual necessity just to feed our own population. Or the poor class will be forced to give something else up in order to eat properly.

I’ve noticed higher prices on fruits and veggies so far, but the squeeze hasn’t hit me nearly as hard as I know it could hit others who are having a tough time paying their bills and keeping up as it is. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, has actually just proposed a gas tax holiday, which would take away gas taxes, which make up a significant portion of what you pay at the pump, for the coming Memorial day weekend, hopefully easing some of the financial burden on families and businesses. I’d say much more drastic measures are called for, but this would at least be a start. Heck, it would make McCain a pretty popular guy too!

Small Business Expects No Boost From Stimulus Rebates

Most small business owners are not expecting the fed’s stimulus package tax rebates that, for many, are coming as early as May, to really help boost their businesses in any meaningful way, if at all, according to recent surveys. Some do still believe though that the rebate checks may help stimulate their business. Those that are in the majority may be right though.

According to recent polls done in samplings of populations around the US of people expecting rebates showed that most people don’t plan to make any wild purchases with their rebate checks, but rather either save, invest, or pay bills off with it. Very smart, but if this is the case, it may not help to stimulate the economy by giving money back to businesses and getting consumers to do what they do best – spend, as anticipated.

The economic stimulus package was created in hopes the people would go out and spend it in retail and services so that we could get the GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, going back up again, and get the spending mentality going in America again, which has helped us become a dominant economy and marketplace, and a great place for entrepreneurs – it’s the “land of opportunity” for exactly that reason, but the land of opportunity has recently suffered some setbacks which the government is trying to bail us out of.

Food Prices Likely to Keep Rising

Well, it seems like there are a lot of things at work in this economy that are unfortunately not working for us as consumers, but rather very much against us. While I hate to take on the doomsday tone since I think that the media’s doomsday attitude on the economy, housing market and credit crunch has only lended itself to a further roll in the turmoil around us, I have to admit that things just keep sounding worse.

At least that’s what the media would lead us to believe, so please keep an open mind that some of these forecasted happenings may not happen at all and may in fact be overblown by “newsmakers”.

Well, they are now saying that food prices for simple staples like cooking oil, bread, wheat and rice and things of that nature, but I’m also thinking a lot of the more expensive perishables like fruits and veggies may also continue to make their way up the pricing scale due to higher gas prices and more demand for the foods, especially in the developing countries, where this type of food is scarce to begin with.

Corn, wheat and other grains have doubled or more so since this time last year. I actually just got back from the grocery store and did notice a few higher than usual prices on items, but it’s a good thing I have my Giant Eagle Advantage card, because at least all of my food purchases are making their way to something useful, like fuel points which allow me to purchase gas at a discount (I think this is the best advantage of having a card, this is my favorite card for gas, since you just are buying things you already need and can get a generous discount per gallon on your gas just for making food purchases, whoever thought of this is a genius.)

What about those of us who are just scraping by to begin with though? I do wonder how they are making it when me, someone who has a steady income from their job as well as side incomes from other various projects, is noticing a bit of a painful increase in the overall cost of living. Things definitely need to be getting better. Heck, GE, the energy giant, just announced that their earnings for this quarter were lower than expected, and also warned that forecasts for the 2008 year may be lower, so everyone’s suffering.

Borrowing Among Consumers Slows

Ugh, it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on in the crazy economy today, isn’t it? I swear just a few short weeks ago, I read a headline that promisingly claimed that US consumer borrowing was on the up trend. Not so any more according to this latest headline, claiming that no, consumer borrowing is in fact on a downswing. Apparently it has to do with credit cards (we wonder why we have bad credit these days, read on for more of why) Can’t keep up? Neither can I, so bear with me.

They have all these nifty figures that they use to figure out whether consumer spending and borrowing is up, but what they don’t tell you is that even though it may be technically “up” from last year, it’s still not considered “up” to them because they have already made projections about what it would be at for the next year at the same time.

Not really sure how they come up with all those numbers, since I haven’t heard of a recent population explosion which would lead me to believe that consumer borrowing or spending would skyrocket in one certain year over the next, but I guess we should listen to them because they’re the experts. Economic analysts had expected consumer borrowing to be up more than it actually was, so apparently this is a signal of some sort that yes, we are indeed experiencing a faltering economy right now. News flash, right?!

The bad part is that consumer borrowing went down in relation to non-revoloving types of credit, such as mortgages and loans, but went up ever so slightly for other sectors that really don’t benefit the consumer because they are charged on a revolving basis, which means the consumer is charged on purchases they made months ago but havent’ paid off, over and over and over until the card is paid off. It’s a system where credit cards, even the best credit cards out there, charge interest every month, even on balances that are carried over.

So you don’t just pay interest once on that set of dishes you charged on your favorite low fixed apr credit card, but you keep paying whatever percentage you signed up for over and over again on that amount until it’s totally paid off. Raw deal, but also a great deal when you think about the things you have been able to purchase because of credit cards that would not have otherwise been possible due to budget restrictions.

Tax Rebates to Be Spent Practically?

Well, the Federal government was hoping that the tax rebate checks that are fairly generous amounts of money for many people, especially married couples, would spur the economy with a bit of old fashioned frivolous spending. Wait, what did I just say? Frivolous spending? That’s a thing of the past in this gloom and doom economy, right?

Well, the government is not counting on that, and they are hoping that the tax rebate checks coming in May and beyond will be spent (blown) right away, boosting the retail environment and prompting a surge in consumer spending that may in fact boost the economy by giving more to business, small and large alike, and help pull us out of an impending or already-here recession. Heck, maybe while we’re at it, it may even boost the stock market which seems to be as volatile as oil and water mixed together right now.

Problem is, in polls that were run recently, consumers are saying that they plan on either saving the money or paying off bills with it. Does this really count as spending, at least in the way the rebates were intended to be spent? Well, that’s for a specialist to decide, certainly not me, but I’m not so sure that’s what the Fed had in mind when they put together the economic stimulus package that included the tax rebates to tax payers.

It still may help though, because if Americans are going to save it, that means more money for the faltering banking economy, and also may mean more money to businesses anyways, since they will still supposedly be paying off bills that may be late, or will be paying this money to some other business, whether it be a grocery store, a utility business, a car payment, or whatever other late bills of catch ups the American people decided needs it most (hmm, maybe even that gas credit card you’ve been meaning to get paid off so you don’t have to look at it any more, you name it).

Discretionary “Luxury” Spending Down

Well, in other “woes” of the economy, something that should really be the first thing noticed when the economy takes a downturn, discretionary spending on things that are considered “discretionary”, meaning not necessary or luxury items and services that people typically of a more affluent financial stature would spend their disposable income on.

Things like luxury hotel rooms, massage services, spa services, expensive cuts of steak at upscaled steakhouses, and even first class seating on airlines are starting to notice a downturn in spending and more and more people are using frequent flier miles they get from credit cards, from this more affluent population of spenders. They are saying that the recession is starting to filter down into the luxury goods market simply because the recession affects and squeezes everyone’s pocket books, not just one population segment, unless of course you are Warren Bufftett or Bill Gates, who will always have a huge buffer.

The affluent are spending less on leisure activities that are typically reserved only for the wealthier segment, like golf, and are also spending less on luxury gifts and lines of products. Although I must say, they sold out of the upscale line of boots that goes for upwards of 300 bucks at Christmastime, so I don’t know how true this could be. I’m referring to the lambskin brand of boots, the Ugg brand, which is a celebrity favorite and also happens to be a favorite of the more spendy crowd in the general population as well.

Although no economist can truly call out this possible recession until all the numbers are in and it has been months, we probably are right in the middle of one, and since this is general consensus of everyone who matters, then I saw it’s a real recession no matter who validates it. That’s just my opinion though, and Lord knows I’m no economist!

More Gloom and Doom : Jobs Report

Well, it seems that news outlets are increasingly loving the gloom and doom headlines that try to create mass hysteria, showing that our economy is going down the toilet and pointing toward signs of recession. Why is it that every day, I see the word “recession” in the headlines? I must say, it gets exhausting to see this every day, and it’s no wonder American consumers have major anxiety about where the economy and the housing and job market is headed today.

Let’s see, the latest headlines have been running along the lines of “house sales hit new lows”, “job woes increase”, and the latest is that the job market has taken a nosedive for the lowest amounts in years, prompting more concerns over a recession or economic downturn. No wonder everyone is running scared from investing, buying homes, credit, and everything else under the sun that has to do with money.

Heck, I’ve been getting emails about economic paranoia as well, from people who are otherwise rational thinkers, saying that our dollar is going to become worthless, that we are going to suffer more and more problems with housing, that the stock market is never going to recover, and nothing short of a civil revolution soon if something doesn’t change.

This gloom and doom is all familiar, thank God, and it has never come to fruition. The US economy is just too strong to take a nosedive forever, and it seems that people are counting on that who are confident enough to stay in the markets as they are. I for one am a “long term bull” to steal from Warren Buffett’s terminology, on the US market, and although I know right now may not be a good time to be investing in stocks, I do know that it will recover and that buying stocks right now is probably one of the smartest things to do, you just have to buy relatively safe stocks now.

Such as PG, Procter and Gamble and GE, which pay good divdends and are relatively stable and safe havens for money are good bets. Just look up “Best dividend stocks to find out historic returns and make your decision from there.

Just Now Getting Refinance Offers

We bought a home roughly one year ago, and we are just now starting to notice we are getting offers from both our original lenders (we got two mortgages, one to cover the balance after the downpayment and one to cover the downpayment), and also from other lenders who would like nothing more than to lure us away with promises of a lower mortgage interest rate and better payment options. We however, happen to be perfectly happy with both of our mortgage lenders, who happen to be Citimortgage and Chase mortgage.

A woman who I work with at my job actually happens to be a part time real estate agent as well, and she let me in on something that most people don’t know, or when they get the news in the mail they are perplexed. Most of the time, your mortgage lenders will repackage your loan and sell it to another mortgage lender.

I still have not gotten one of these yet. She said that oftentimes, you will get a letter in the mail that says you are now making your payments to a different lender, and it’s all perfectly legit, because the original lender sold the “rights”, and risk along with it, of your mortgage to another lender for whatever reason.

I guess it’s kind of like when you have a checking account with a certain bank, and that bank gets bought out by another bank, you really have no say in who’s name appears on your checks or who you keep your money with unless you choose, voluntarily, to take your business elsewhere. I had a hard time understanding this though, especially on loans like ours which are good risks, where the mortgage company will make out in the end from gathering thousands upon thousands of dollars in interest from you on the front end especially.

Why sell it then? If anyone who has any knowledge in this field has a comment, please do explain for the rest of us.