Test Your Money Smarts!

 
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Think you’re smarter than the average American when it comes to personal finance? Well here’s your chance to find out. Marketwatch.com recently posted a money quiz that consists of 10 financial questions that they found to be the ones people most commonly answered incorrectly (according to their nationwide survey). Shockingly, of the people who were tested as part of their study the average score on these 10 questions was 50%! After taking the quiz myself I’m astonished that the average score is 50%. The questions are all very basic and represent different financial decisions we all have to make from time to time. I think it speaks volumes to the problem of financial literacy that we face as a nation. Maybe I’m being overly critical and only found it so easy because I spend so much time reading and writing about these kinds of things. It’s possible, but I doubt … Continue reading →

Occupy Wall Street – Where in the 99% Are You?

 
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I know, I know. Two occupy wall street posts in a row with no serious content or opinions on the protests! Really that’s because I haven’t been following the protests closely enough to warrant an opinion educated enough to share. My quick thoughts are that the protesters probably have some very legit complaints about the system, but as with most movements like this (I’m looking at you, Tea Party) probably lose their cohesive message once you dig beneath the high level rallying cry. Anyway, the real point of this post is to share this super simple calculator the Wall St. Journal posted to determine where in “the 99% ” of the country’s population you land based on your income. I think it would be more useful to rank things based on net worth instead of income, but for argument’s sake this works. If you’re totally clueless the occupy wall street … Continue reading →

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Update

 
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The million dollar portfolio challenge is in full swing over at cnbc.com and shockingly, I’m not winning! I’m playing two portfolios in the game and my best portfolio ranks in the 82nd percentile and officially in 118,677th place as of the end of trading Friday (10/14). From the $1,000,000 starting balance they give you my best portfolio now has $1,059,353 for a gain of 5.94%.  Of the two portfolios this isn’t the one I expected to be performing the best. I’ll keep my specific holdings a secret for now, but I will say I hold 4 US stocks in this portfolio and hold one foreign currency. The stocks are actually performing very well for me, but I’m taking a beating in the forex trading. This is to be expected however, because I really had (have) no clue about currency trading as I mentioned in my original post on the game. … Continue reading →

$5 Fees?! Its Time to Ditch Your Bank

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Updated 11/1/11: Today, Bank of America announced it’s dropping its plans for the $5 monthly charge on debit card use. Following the lead of most of the other big banks in wake of the huge public outcry against them. While this is certainly good news for anyone with an account with them everything I stated in this post still stands. I still strongly recommend leaving if you bank at one of these places, if you decide to stay, I’d watch your statements carefully. The banks are desperate to recoup some of the lost money from transaction fees and its only a matter of time until they find another creative way to get it straight from their customers. Earlier this month Bank of America announced they’ll be charging customers a $5 monthly fee for using their debit card to make purchases, and they’re not alone. JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo … Continue reading →

September 2011 Investment Portfolio & Goals Update

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I’m a little late with this post this month, and no, it’s not because I was too scared to see the results in writing this month (ok, maybe a little scared…) September was a wild ride for the markets as a whole, and since my portfolio is almost completely invested in stocks I felt that pain this month. Despite what the numbers say now, I’m actually very happy with how the month turned out. I gained in my 401(k) only because I’m new to my job and the portion of my contributions that didn’t evaporate was enough to increase my still tiny balance. I’m very happy with how much I was able to save in September. I increased the value of my cash savings account by almost 4.5% but also withdrew from this account to contribute to my Roth IRA and stock up on some of my holdings at fire-sale … Continue reading →