If robots and machine intelligence threaten to render many white-collar jobs obsolete, then what will people do for money? Enter the concept of a ‘universal basic income’, a flat sum paid to all regardless of your existing wealth or ability to work. It is one of the rare ideas that has support from both the libertarian right — which favours tearing up the welfare state — and the left wing. In France, Benoit Hamon has emerged as the surprise Socialist candidate for April’s presidential election first round, on a radical programme that includes such an income — to be funded in part by a new tax on industrial robots. National or local governments in other countries such as Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, Scotland and Brazil are already evaluating how such a revenue might work in practice. Finland is furthest down the road. On January 1 it started a two-year trial to give 2,000 unemployed Finns a monthly unconditional payment of $590. At the least, advocates argue, a basic income could replace the thicket of unemployment benefits currently on offer in many advanced economies. (yahoo.com)
Personal Finance
Take control of your personal finance to be wealthier and happier in life.
Amazon Starts to Collect Sales Tax in Smaller States
Many online shoppers in the United States have for years had to pay state sales taxes whenever they buy goods from Amazon except in some small states. Well, that’s quickly changing this year. Matt O’Brien reports: “Amazon customers in at least 10 states will begin paying sales taxes on their website purchases for the first time this winter. Tax collection begins Wednesday in Mississippi, Missouri, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Vermont. It already started this month in Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Utah, and begins in Wyoming on March 1.” (abcnews)
Self-Made Millionaire: The Single Biggest Investment Mistake You Can Make
Getting rich can be straightforward. Mostly, it requires making smart choices, like committing to paying yourself first and setting aside at least 10% of your pretax income in a retirement account, says financial adviser and self-made millionaire David Bach. “With this in mind, it shouldn’t be hard to figure out the single biggest investment mistake you can make: Not using your retirement plan and not maxing it out,” Bach writes in his book, The Automatic Millionaire. (cnbc.com)
How to Join Navy Federal Credit Union
Harry Sit at The Finance Buff explains on how to join Navy Federal Credit Union without military affiliation. By joining Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in the U.S, you can benefit from its great rates on CDs and loans. The first step is to become a member of the Navy League, a non-profit organization that supports America’s sea services, by paying $25 tax-deductible membership fee online. (thefinancebuff.com)
How to Determine Exchange Rates
Exchange rates are never constant in the global market. They keep changing from time to time. In fact they are constantly changing every minute as viewed in the stock market graphs. The stock brokers and the foreign exchange experts always keep their eyes on the constant changes on the graphs on how the markets keep behaving. This allows them to know when to make purchases and sales of the money in order to change from one foreign currency to the other. The factors that affect the behavior of currencies in the international market mainly are the supply and demand at any given time. The factors that determine the supply and demand can be political stability in a country, the economic stability in a country and the security that exists within the borders of a particular country. [Read more…]
Where Best to Invest Your Money In 2017
There is something about putting money into an investment that intrigues a lot of us. Perhaps it is because you can start from anywhere with any amount of money to become a good investor with great returns. Understand that you don’t just have to place your money in the stock market as there are countless ways to invest. All investment methods come with unique risks and benefits, and they all have varying interest rates and timelines. Here are some of the safest and most profitable ways to invest your money in 2017. [Read more…]
Americans’ Top Financial Priority Isn’t Investing
Darla Mercado writes on CNBC Personal Finance: “Investing in an effective and tax-efficient manner isn’t the No. 1 financial goal for most Americans. That’s the findings from a new report by BMO Wealth Management. The bank polled 1,018 adults online, asking them about their financial priorities and anxieties. When asked ‘What is the single financial priority that is most important to you?’ 31 percent — the largest share of participants — said debt reduction was their top financial goal.” (cnbc.com)
How one family is sending 13 kids to college, living debt free — and still plans to retire early
In February we shared the news about this couple with 13 kids on pace to retire early. Erica Johnston from The Washington Post interviewed and wrote in-depth about this family who is living debt free and still plans to retire early while sending 13 kids to college. Johnston described this family: ” Rob and Sam Fatzinger, lifelong residents of Bowie, Md., lead a single-income family in one of the country’s most expensive regions. Rob’s income never topped $50,000 until he was 40; he’s now 51 and earns just north of $100,000 as a software tester. They have 13 children. Which means they require things like a seven-bedroom house and a 15-passenger van. Four children have graduated from college, three are undergrads and six are on the runway. Yet they paid off their mortgage early four years ago. They have no debt — never have, besides mortgages. And Rob is on track to retire by 62. This family gets the gold medal for being frugal. This family is the Einstein of economical.” (washingtonpost.com)
Kobe Writes Players’ Tribune Letter to Younger Self with Advice about Finance
Kobe Bryant, after 20 years in the league, retired as a legendary players. On Wednesday, Bryant penned an open letter to his 17-year-old self on The Players’ Tribune, with particular focus on personal finance and investment. “You need to figure out a way to invest in the future of your family and friends,” Bryant wrote. Bryant explained: “I said INVEST. I did not say GIVE. Purely giving material things to your siblings and friends may appear to be the right decision. You love them, and they were always there for you growing up, so it’s only right that they should share in your success and all that comes with it. So you buy them a car, a big house, pay all of their bills. You want them to live a beautiful, comfortable life, right? But the day will come when you realize that as much as you believed you were doing the right thing, you were actually holding them back. You will come to understand that you were taking care of them because it made YOU feel good, it made YOU happy to see them smiling and without a care in the world — and that was extremely selfish of you. While you were feeling satisfied with yourself, you were slowly eating away at their own dreams and ambitions. You were adding material things to their lives, but subtracting the most precious gifts of all: independence and growth.” (theplayerstribune.com)
Study: Nearly Two-Thirds of Americans Financially Illiterate
A new study by the FINRA Foundation estimated that nearly two-thirds of Americans couldn’t pass a basic financial literacy test. The study, which surveyed 27,564 Americans from June through October of last year, also showed that even eight years after the financial crisis, significant segments of the population, including African-Americans, Hispanics, women, Millennials, and people lacking a high school education are still worse off then before the recession. “This research underscores the critical need for innovative strategies to equip consumers with the tools and education required to effectively manage their financial lives,” said FINRA Foundation Chairman Richard Ketchum. “My hope is that policymakers, researchers, and advocates will use these findings to make more informed decisions about how to best reach underserved populations.” (time.com)
Comcast Admits It Incorrectly Debited $1,775 From Account, Tells Customer To Sort It Out With Bank
Consumerist reader Robert is fighting with Comcast over a $1,775 early termination fee that should not have been assessed after he tried to cancel his business-tier service with the company. Comcast itself has even admitted that the money should not have been debited from Robert’s bank account, but now says it’s his responsibility to sort the mess out with his bank. The Consumerist reports: “In an effort to save money in 2014, Robert called to have their service level downgraded to a more affordable rate. Shortly thereafter, correctly believing that he was out of contract, he cancelled his Comcast service. That should have been the end of the story, but only weeks after closing the Comcast account, the boys from Kabletown decided that Robert was not out of contract, debiting $1,775.44 from the checking account tied to the Comcast service. Skip forward to Jan. 2015 — two months after being told he’d get made whole; still no check. Robert says that when he called Comcast, ‘the rep actually laughed when I told her I didn’t get a check yet. She said it would take three months.'” Two calls later, one in June 2015 and one in Jan. 2016, Robert still didn’t receive the check even after being reassured it was coming. More recently, he received an email from someone at Comcast “Executive Customer Relations,” saying: “I understand you’re claiming that someone advised you Comcast would send a refund check for the last payment that was debited but this is generally not the way we handle these situations. For your situation, you would have to dispute the payment with your bank.” After The Consumerist reached out to Comcast HQ, Comcast promises to send the check for real this time. (consumerist.com)
7 Financial Skills Every 20-Year-Old Needs To Learn
Two-thirds of Americans would have difficulty coming up with the money to cover a $1,000 emergency. Having the required financial skills would help Millennials to deal with life’s difficulties and to stay ahead financially. Here are 7 financial skills every 20-year-old needs to learn by Forbes contributor Nancy Anderson:
- Be tight-fisted with your dollars
- Obtain and keep a good credit score
- Keep your overhead low
- Switch to frugal mode
- Cook
- Choose the right roommate
- Sock money away
12 Personal Finance Skills Everyone Should Master
Personal finance skills are very important in everyone’s life. “The earlier you start developing and using personal finance skills the more time you have to reap the benefits,” said Dr Penny Pincher at Wisebread. Here are 12 personal finance skills every frugal person should master:
- Budgeting
- Negotiation
- Separating Needs vs. Wants
- Driving Down Interest Rates
- Continuous Investment
- Bargain Hunting
- Reuse
- Food Preparation
- Do It Yourself
- Saying No
- Efficiency
- Contentment
More Americans Are Working Longer
Almost 20 percent of Americans 65 and older are now working, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the most older people with a job since the early 1960s, before the U.S. enacted Medicare. When asked to describe their plans for retirement, 27 percent of Americans said they will “keep working as long as possible,” a 2015 Federal Reserve study found. Another 12 percent said they don’t plan to retire at all. One of the reasons for working longer is that older Americans are short on savings. Today, 60 percent of U.S. households have no money in a 401(k) or similar retirement account. (bloomberg.com)
The Super Rich Start Saving Super Early
One of the main ingredient of the super rich is to start saving super early to be wealthy. Bourree Lam writes on The Atlantic: “There are two personal-finance chestnuts in nearly every article about saving money: Putting money away (instead of spending it) is difficult, and people should generally save more than they already do. But despite these truisms, one subset of Americans seem to be doing pretty well at saving: the super wealthy. This may not seem all that surprising, but the reason isn’t simply that they have more money to save. According to a new survey by Bank of America U.S. Trust, the bank’s private wealth management arm, many wealthy individuals in the U.S. start saving in their teenage years.” (theatlantic.com)
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