midlife

10 Reasons You Should Have (And Use) A Bank Account

05.22.2013

What do an estimated 70 million Americans have in common? They don’t have a bank account. The reasons are varied. Sometimes it’s due to bad credit, or lack of access to a bank branch. Older people still have the memory of watching their parents’ money evaporate during the Depression’s ‘bank holidays.’ Often, though, it’s due to inertia. “Why should I go to the trouble of a bank account?” Would-Be Depositor asks. “What’s in it for me?” *Well, for starters, it’s a lot safer than our ancestors’ accounts. Part of that is thanks to the FDIC, or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This [...]

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5 Ways To Hedge Your Bets

05.13.2013

The uncertainty is growing nowadays. Will the stock market continue to hit new highs — or is it on the brink of another dizzying drop? Has the European Union figured out how to save its collective backside — or will summer only bring more financial instability from yet another country? And will we continue to see piddly returns from CDs and savings accounts — or will rising interest rates only signal another run on inflation? Then there’s the personal angle. Unemployment, family crises and other unexpected issues happen to all of us every now and then. You can’t control [...]

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10 Ways To Ditch The Rat Race… For Good

05.06.2013

Every year, Husband and I get a good-sized dose of spring fever. It usually starts with a hectic day at work, or some other disappointment. One says wistfully, “Let’s run away.” “Take me with you. I’ve got a Swiss Army knife. I can yodel,” says the other. (Silly, I know — but it was the theme of a car commercial years back.) Then we remind each other that we have to be the ‘R-word:’ responsible. Actually, we’ve been working actively for some years to tell the rat race to chase its own tail, for once. Some of our [...]

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Expecting The Unexpected

03.11.2013

How many times have you had a dilemma…and the solution was totally unexpected? Overzealous Security Guards This became clear last night, as we trudged to a Denver Nuggets basketball game with friends. Lo and behold, when we got to the admissions area, guards were out ‘wanding’ everyone. (Must have been a security threat of some kind.) This is Colorado, and many people, our friend Tommy included, carry a jackknife, as a matter of course. He actually had two — which the guards found. He either had to throw the knives away, or trudge back to his car to store them [...]

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TAKING STOCK: THE BASICS OF BUYING

02.18.2013

“Stocks are likely to be the best investment you’ll ever make, outside of a house…When you buy a stock, you’re investing in a company. If the company prospers, you’ll share in the prosperity…stocks have outdone other investments going back as far as anybody can remember. Maybe they won’t prove themselves in a week or year, but they’ve always come through for the people who own them.” Peter Lynch and John Rothchild, Learn to Earn: A Beginner’s Guide to the Basics of Investing and Business Peter Lynch isn’t a disinterested party — after all, he made a fortune managing Janus mutual [...]

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