Financial News Headlines

Credit Unions a Different Option for Banking

June 18th, 2011

Savings Accounts and Money Market Rates provided by 15 June 2011 For many younger Americans, the choice of banks is often a matter of convenience. A college campus might be flooded with ATMs from Bank of America, so the choice is relatively simple. As people start to look at their banking options, The Wall Street Journal points out that smaller credit unions actually offer benefits above and beyond many of the largest national banks.

Credit unions are essentially non-profit banks comprised of its own customers. Many are restricted to certain groups, such as the United Nations Federal Credit Union, which is limited primarily to U.N. employees. Read more…

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Just 4 in 10 have ‘bucket list’ items: report

June 1st, 2011

Savings Accounts and Money Market Rates provided by 31 May 2011 The idea of a “bucket list” gained some cultural traction in recent years, but according to research from LIMRA, just 40 percent of workers have such a list for their retired years.

This research seems to indicate that many current pre-retirees havent thought that much about what theyll do once they finally leave the workforce – or how theyll pay for those years. Given the financial turmoil of recent years, the toll that the mortgage crisis took on the retirement accounts and home values of many Americans and the uncertainty of the employment situation, this is not entirely surprising.

“LIMRAs research indicates that less than a third of pre-retirees within three years of retirement have a written retirement plan,” said Paul Henry, managing director of LIMRA retirement products. Read more…

Tags: Just, Just 10

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Proposed New 1-Page Mortgage Disclosure Forms

May 31st, 2011

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released two drafts of a proposed mortgage disclosure form that would make understanding your mortgage a lot easier. You can take a look at these forms for yourself.

This is long overdue. I’m all for simplifying using charts and graphs in a standardized way, not whatever way the mortgage lender felt like showing it. It also makes for a more informed and educated consumer. You can’t look at this form and not understand that, should you get an ARM, your payments could jump in the adjusting year (and each year afterwards). It

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Tags: Forms, Mortgage Disclosure

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Our Financial Plan for the Next Ten Years

May 30th, 2011

Quite often, I mention that my wife and I are pretty diligent about planning ahead. We have frequent conversations about the future and we’re pretty much in agreement with what our financial plans and goals are over the next several years. I thought I’d share some of those plans and goals with you.

Known Future Events These are some specific future events that we know are coming down the pipeline.

Fall 2011: Our oldest child starts kindergarten, which will mean a reduction in child care costs. He’ll be able to come directly home from school on the bus. We ha

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Tags: Financial Plan, Ten

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As startups ponder the secondary market, more seem to make private info public

May 30th, 2011

Mark Boslet is a contributor for PE Hub, a Thomson Reuters publication. This article originally appeared here.

The secondary markets for private company stock may seem like the Wild West, with unstructured valuations and less than ideal information disclosure.

Yet several securities laws apply to transactions now taking place, and the onus falls on companies to follow rules meant to level the playing field, including making some confidential information about their businesses public.

This was the key takeaway of a National Venture Capital Association webcast discussing the recent phenomenon of secondary market trading.

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Tags: Public, Secondary Market

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Russia: Drying liquidity is likely to send rates up

May 25th, 2011

Russian Central Bank is shifting focus to inflation battle

Ample liquidity has been keeping rouble rates low since early-2010. Currently, the month-end tax payments are tightening the liquidity in the rouble markets, but we also see it as a long-term trend. Inflation targeting is moving up in the priorities of the Russian Central Bank and there remains little reason to keep liquidity as plentiful as it has been during the past two years.

Thus far, the CBR policy has concentrated on supporting growth and keeping the rouble exchange rate under control. However, as important elections are approaching, the central bank is likely to concentrate more on keeping prices in check, as inflation is extremely unpopular in Russia. Read more…

Tags: Rates

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