Prime Rate Credit

Apparently everyone is so fed up with the four dollar gas prices that do not see an end in sight, that they are easing up their views on offshore drilling here in the United States, something that has been banned by Congress for years now because of environmental concerns.

And the concerns are definitely valid, as drilling could definitely interrupt any delicate ecosystem, so there is bound to be criticism and opposition to the offshore drilling that is scheduled to start off the shores of Florida for oil, but many are changing or softening their views on it since Americans are suffering such high gas prices among a lot of other touhg economic factors that have us all not so optimistic about America’s economic future.

The drilling is to begin offshore of Florida, off the panhandle, which means they will be drilling under water, which is a very expensive feat to say the least. I guess that four different companies are slated to begin drilling soon. And it’s expensive because they are merely exploring now, they don’t know exactly where oil fields might be found, but they have to drill first to find out, so it is merely an exploratory process at first, one that will cost millions of dollars.

Many are saying that Florida would only be the beginning if offshore oil drilling is successful there, and that other coastal states would be subjected to the same exploration if they find an abundance of old dinosaur fossil fuel there. Just the mapping of the sea floor where they will be drilling (and miles down, no less), can take years to complete, so this is definitely not something that companies looking to explore take lightly. It may be years before we see any of this drilling come to fruition, and then what?

Do they really impact the gas prices that much? By then will we HOPEFULLY have a good, viable alternative to fuel for our vehicles, or some alternative form of transportation that doesn’t costs us a large portion of our salaries every week? I’m hoping for the latter because I can see offshore drilling being interruptive to our environment, and right now we have enough problems to deal with.

Well, it’s the latest in a string of bank breakdowns, and although it’s not being called that quite yet, National City Bank, one of the banks that has a lot of local branches around here in the Cleveland area, has been put on what is called a memorandum of understanding with Federal regulators that are looking into what it is they need to get back on track and remain solvent as well as safe with their deposits for their customers. That’s what the FDIC’s for, to keep the customer deposits safe and make sure that no meltdowns like what happened with the great depression happen again.

It is not clear what exactly this means yet for the bank, but it’s not looking too good, and no one has really made any serious offers yet to buy out the troubled bank which got hit hard with the subprime fiasco thanks to a lot of bad loans based on that sort of risk. We’ll see what happens. Hopefully it’s not another Bear Stearns story in the making.

Wow, talk about a tough economy. Apparently, recent surveys have shown that roughly one in ten baby boomers and middle to getting-up-there agers, are having an especially rough time, turning to borrowing via lending from friends and family, charities or other relief outlets just to pay their bills. Many are relying on parents who are older to help them pay their bills, hopefully only while this economic glut is happening, because we all know that our seniors usually don’t make nearly enough to survive on with social security being a joke and many not putting away adequately for retirement.

But, this one also goes both ways. The majority of reitirees said they’d helped their children or child out with bills, while only a smaller portion of people not in the retirement age category said they had helped their parents out with their finances and bill paying. So, you see, families are having to rely on one another to just make it by in this tough market and raising food costs and skyrocketing gas prices.

Oh, by the way, as we speak, Bush has just asked Saudi Arabia to increase it’s oil production to meet higher US demand, and been met with a resounding no, so that’s squashes that idea. I wonder if now we can start drilling here, or if it really is too big of an environmental risk to start doing so over here. And where are all these alternative fuel sourcse and vehicles? We have the hybrids now, true, but are they really an effective alternative? Anyways, I digress.

Many baby boomers, as much as one third, have also made the startling admission that they have cut back on what they are putting in their retirement accounts, or have cut that out all together so they could have more money to pay their bills. The said part about this is that they are missing out of a great tax benefit if they are cutting out an account like a 401k that is tax deferred, so this makes me really sad that this is happening to our fellow Americans, it just seems like a double shot of unfairness to be honest.

Many also reported that they have cut back on doctor’s visits and medications, because of high copays and the fact that they may not absolutely need them, makes them a non-necessity in hard economic times. About one third is also admitting that they are having a tough time making their rent or mortgage payments, and that this has contributed to their cutting back on spending, although to no avail since they are still having harder times paying their rents and mortgages.

Sorry to report all this bad news, but this is what we’re getting from the media. Hopefully they will report on the good news as readily when the market recovers - they’d better!

What is the tradition that you always probably think of from the Beaver Cleaver era, where home lives were seemingly perfect, almost never dysfunctional, and the guy brought home the bread while the woman was responsible for cooking, cleaning and child rearing. Very few “traditional” families exist these days, and a new role has been formed for both men and women when it comes to both financial responsibilities in the family, and how even the housework and yardwork is divied up between the two.

It used to be the traditional thought that men went out and worked all day to make money for the family to live on, while the woman stayed at home and did the laundry, scrubbed floors and took care of the kids if they had any. As a matter of fact, it was uncommon for women to be in the workforce, and most women were stay at home moms.

These days, it’s harder for women to be stay at home moms, since the financial burdens are shifting greatly to include the women more and more in the financial equation of a family’s success when it comes to the economics of the family unit.

We have more and more dual income homes now - and many mothers have even taken on the role of being the primary bread winner in lots of marriages and relationships, which was very unusual back in the days where they primarily only were employed to do more menial jobs such as secretaries and mill workers.

I talk to more and more families now that have the mother working full time and the man as well, and they are hopefully also splitting the chores at home that need daily attention as well. Speaking of, this has caused tension in many relationships as well according to relationship experts, who say that women feel now they are doing double duty. As a woman though, I do suppose that I’m a bit biased!

According to many financial experts, we are presently in a recession. Some say we are heading towards a recession soon. Either way, it’s important now to make extra efforts to keep your job and try to make it recession proof. Of course we know there is no such thing as building a recession proof fortress around your job security, but every little bit helps in this day and age to help secure your job.

Keep a positive attitude towards your job. Avoid whining and complaining or any negativity towards your work or your coworkers. Act like you enjoy your job and show enthusiasm.

Volunteer to learn new technologies, duties and procedures. For example, now would be a good time to learn that new computer program that you have been putting off. If a new promotion and title are offered to you, take it with enthusiasm, even if there’s no extra monetary gain at the time.

Accept the new responsibilities and welcome them. Cross train, if possible, for a number of different positions within the company. This way, if your department is downsized or your position is eliminated, you still have skills that are needed in your company. In short, make yourself less expendable to the company and too good to be replaced easily.

If a pay cut is inevitable, accept it if hopefully it is not too severe and still continue to learn new duties and responsibilities. At least this way you can stay the course and try to wait it through the tough economic times.

Check out your health insurance, flexible spending or health savings account to ensure that you can keep your coverage in the event that your job is eliminated. See if you would be able to keep coverage through COBRA if you should need to.

If your company is on very shaky ground, it’s a good idea to research other possibilities for employment but don’t discuss this at all at work. This action may be necessary if a pay cut is too severe or you fear your company may be headed for inevitable bankruptcy.

I recently read some interesting information about how many airliners charge a lot of extra fees, mostly (speculative of course) to regain profits that seem to be so elusive to airliners, especially after 9/11. They even may incur a lot of fees for airline miles achieved through the use of special airline miles credit cards that earn free mileage every time they are used for purchases, so one must be careful to read the fine print when planning a trip using their miles apparently.

The fees I read about concerning our biggest concern (since we have one of the best airline miles credit cards hee hee), are the ones that concern redeeming these miles. Apparently some airlines will charge for not giving them sufficient notice when booking a ticket with free miles. It depends on the airline, but as little as three days notice and as much as 20-30 days notice may constitute “adequate notice” to them, and if adequate notice isn’t given, you might be looking at some sort of surcharge when redeeming miles.

There are also many additional fees that are added when you call and book a ticket, or book a ticket in person. Hmm, seems like a lot of airlines REALLY want you to book tickets online nowadays, huh? Not that I’m complaining about that, because probably more than anyone I know, I am the queen of booking and paying bills online these days. God forbid I have to pick up the phone or make an appointment or pay a bill in person!

There also are many times fees for cancelling a flight or trying to change flights, depending on the timing and the airline, and many times they may charge an additional fee for flying stand by. While some of these fees are apparent, some are not, and you really don’t know what you’re paying until you get your bill or look at your receipt, or heck, if the salesperson looks at you and tells you your total in some cases!

But we usually pay, because, well, you kind of have to, especially with flying, it’s not like you really have a choice many times, since you are limited on when you can travel and know what kind of ticket you need and when you need it for, you’re a prisoner to these fees. I guess it goes with the territory though - we all know that traveling is expensive these days, the cost of fuel is way up, and they do have to pay a lot of employees!

Black Friday is today, and if you’re a die hard Christmas shopper, there are many stores that open the night of Thanksgiving at midnight, and even at four oclock in the morning on the 23rd so you can get “door buster deals” and other special early bird discounts if you’re one of those that can get their butts out of bed early after eating lots of turkey the night before! But this year, with all the broohaha about the economy and the weak dollar, as well as decreased consumer confidence, will we see a booming black Friday, or will people be keeping their credit cards in check, only buying things at deep discounts?

Good question. I’m sure there will be tons of news stories about the success of Black Friday on Saturday though. As for me, I’ll be sleeping in a little the day after Thanksgiving, and may brave some of the stores like Kohls, Michaels and other stores of interest that sent me circulars informing me of these once in a lifetime deals that I may not possibly be able to live with myself for missing.

Laptops at deep discounts, TV’s at bargain basement prices, cashback and gift certificate incentives are just a few of the bits of shum the fishermen will be throwing out for their ultimate shoppers, and also they want to extend their hours, with the new midnight shopping phenomena making waves with those who just have to get the best bargains at Christmas.

I’m curious to see how the holiday season goes for retailers this year. There seems to be no real consensus amongst the “experts” about whether this year will be a retail success or not, and I have no real feelings about it either way, but one thing is for sure, I just got back from vacation, so my credit cards will stay in my wallet, and I’m paying cash for as much as I possibly can!

It seems we get this scare every fall, in prospect of the coming winter, that heating costs are going to rise, especially in respect to gas heat. Well this year the biggest rise is expected out of electric heating, which is a change from previous years, with all the fluctuations of gas prices as of late. We have gas heat, and have signed on for a set rate on our gas, just in case it gets too high, especially since we now have a larger house that could become a gas guzzling nightmare if we let it get out of hand.

That coupled with the fact that the Farmers Almanac is predicting a very cold and snowy winter for the northeaster portion of Ohio is making many folks do the same thing so that they don’t find themselves without two nickles to rub together in the winter months. This is in contrast to a story I read about how temperatures on average are going to go up around the US, and the highest prices on heating will be oil, not electric, so you can see how the stories are never straight and we never actually know which types of heat are going to really be the highest price until it’s over, and all variables have settled in what actually causes those prices to be higher.

Some of the ways you can deal with higher costs of heating are to invest in new windows, which can keep a substantial amount of heat in your home instead of letting it out into the cold winter air. You can also invest in insulating your attic better, since heat rises and a lot of heat will go directly out of the top of a home that does not have a well insulated attic or crawl space.

Or you can just go about it the good old fashioned way and wear sweaters and make sure you move around a lot to keep that circulation going. A fireplace is another nice addition to a home which can also reduce heating costs since it gives off substantial heat. Then you have to buy wood though, and that’s not necessarily the best thing for the environment either so I suppose it’s always a double edged sword.

Ah, where have the idealists of yesterday gone? It seems that today’s wealth and celebrity obsessed culture is finally rubbing off on our youngest proteges, the future of the world, who used to be a pretty idealistic group - the college students of today. Gosh, back in the sixties and seventies, you probably didn’t hear too many college kids say that number one or number two on their list of goals and aspirations after finishing college were to “make a lot of money” or “be rich” so that they could later pursue their dreams.

Now, it seems college students are more concerned about having college student credit cards and being able to pay for them to have a lifestyle that is cushy than living out their ideals - at least right away. And who can blame them? Who doesn’t want to be financially comfortable? I guess it’s just a question of how much you are compromising your dreams to do that.

Essentially, a very large percentage of today’s college students say that making a lot of money is very high on their list, and they basically want to make the most money up front as a means to their end of carrying out their dreams. I’m trying to remember what my dreams were in college, and as sad as it is to say, I can’t remember, except I do remember that I wanted to be able to help people, and I also was very interested in some day owning my own business, being my own boss so to speak.

I also had a fervent interest in marketing and psychology, and was thinking about getting into advertising. However, I did end up listening to people who said that this field was really tough to break into and make good money in at first, so I ended up going into plain old business management, which wasn’t exactly my fancy. At the age of 33, now, I work a full time corporate job which pays the bills, but isn’t the most exciting or fulfilling work many times.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the people, the job itself leaves something to be desired at times though. I am finally starting to realize some of my dreams in the marketing and entrepreneur field, and I’m kicking myself for not having the gaul to do it sooner. I may be an example of someone who went for the money grab first, and probably wasted lots of time doing something I wasn’t crazy about only to start on my passions later in life, but oh well, I guess at least it’s happening now!

I have a lot of acquaintences and family members who religiously play the state sponsored lottery. They play either all the time, or they play only when the super lotto jackpot is high enough to justify wasting a few bucks on a ticket that is one out of millions or billions of tickets, and its likelihood of matching as a winner are about the same - in other words, you have pretty lousy odds of becoming the next lottery winner. On the other hand, what could you do with that money that you worked so hard to earn that would otherwise most likely be tossed down the drain to the hope that you may be one of the few fortunate to strike it big at this game of pure chance?

Well, take the person who spends $100 or more on the lottery every week. If they put that same money into a money market, they may be looking at a nice little nest egg when they retire. Or even better, up the amount they put in their 401k or other matching retirement program at work, and they could be looking at a better company match, and way more money in their pot when they retire! Any way you slice it, playing the lottery seems like a very high risk, low return investment to me.

Not only that, look at the amount of people who have won the lottery and only unhappiness has ensued. Many people who win the lottery end up overspending, and end up in the poor house if they are not properly counseled how to spend and invest their new found fortune. Also, there is what has been called the lottery winner curse, where people have loved ones threatened and kidnapped, struggle with family problems and other things like that which are not pleasant at all. All in all, winning the lottery seems to have a lot of empty promises….