Finance

This year, the average person celebrating Valentine's Day is expected to spend $126.03 (women $85.76; men $168.74; spouses $74.12) or 8.5% more than last year, according to the National Retail Federation's 2012 Valentine's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey. This total, which is 8.5% more than last year, is the highest in the survey's 10 year history. Read on for more on this year's Valentine's Day spending patterns and to learn just where you place amongst your peers.

Graduating from college can be an exciting and stressful time. Suddenly you need to find a job, replay loans and make solid financial decisions. Fortunately, you don't need to be unprepared. Below are some budgeting basics to keep your spending under control, some suggestions on how to set financial goals and a list of the top 10 American cities for starting out.

Imagine that you could pay for a service online without accruing a mountain of fees. Imagine being a retailer and having the ability to take your customer’s money – and keep all of it. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? Well, now it’s not. Introducing Dwolla [- a better alternative to credit cards and Pay Pal for everyone involved, except the banks. Let me explain.] Words: 615

Constructing a portfolio for the retirement years requires one to focus on portfolio risk or uncertainty while not neglecting return. If the portfolio asset allocation plan is too conservative, the return will not meet lifestyle expectations. Inflation is again on the rise and this needs to be taken into consideration when putting together a retirement oriented portfolio. Below is a combination of index ETFs that project respectable returns while holding down portfolio volatility. Words: 455

Rising education and medical costs, on-going credit card interest payments, well used personal lines of credit and large mortgage debt and home equity loans - most a penchant for living beyond their means - is keeping 75% of American households in some degree of debt. Take a look and then pass it on to your friends, neighbors and co-workers.

If you are an average person - intelligent and capable - who makes decisions with confidence and without emotion and have more than a few years in your investment time horizon before retirement then this article is for you. If you don't have them, then this article is really for you. Words: 795

An AARP survey of over 5,000 American workers aged 50 or older has confirmed...that the Great Recession has radically changed the financial situation for many aspiring retirees and that the outlook for their golden years now looks grim. It seems that counting on their home equity to finance a life of leisure didn’t exactly work out as planned. [Let's review the survey's findings.] Words: 400

International Living magazine released its annual Retirement Index of the best retirement destination in the world in the September 2010 issue. The U.S. reached #15 (up from #22 in 2009). [You will never guess which country was #1!] Words: 495

The Obama administration is “taking the first steps to confiscate retirement dollars,” according to Dr. Jerome Corsi who predicts that the end result will be retirees with 401(k) plans holding near-worthless government debt “that will be paid off in a devalued currency worth … pennies on the dollar.” Words: 839

“If one believes that the deployment of Guaranteed Retirement Accounts are reasonably probable”, Blasi maintains that “then the remaining action item in such a scenario would be to coax the public into personally assuming the debt the rest of the world was refusing to accept,” and asks: “If the beliefs of many regarding activities conducted by ‘The President's Working Group on Financial Markets’ (Plunge Protection Team) are sound, could not this same entity be utilized for such theoretical events as those described? Frankly, the possibility that such an initiative might be needed to rescue the Treasury market does add an additional, and considerable, threat to the equity markets.” Words: 1052