FirstJobs.org

If you’ve read a newspaper in the past 3 years, you may have been alarmed at reports of a volatile stock market, high unemployment, and retirement plans in jeopardy. Ever wonder if there’s anything you can do to protect yourself during troubling financial times? There is. And the more you can do to protect yourself from the economic factors outside your control, the better off you’ll be — not only now, but also when the Great Recession is officially behind us.

1. Finish your college degree. What do most people who have survived the recession financially intact have in common? A college degree. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for people without them (10.7%) is more than double that for those with a bachelor’s or better (4.4%). If you haven’t completed your undergraduate coursework, get it finished now to improve your employment prospects.
2. Cut your living expenses. The more you can do to reduce your monthly living expenses, the better. That might mean carpooling to save on commuter costs, trading in your vehicle for an older model to cut down on your car payments, or even moving to a cheaper apartment. Sounds painful, but once you make a few cuts on your monthly expenditures, the savings add up fast. Just be sure to put it into an emergency fund in an interest-bearing account.
3. Stay employed while job hunting. This one isn’t entirely under your control, but if you’ve contemplated quitting your job — don’t. More hiring managers are enacting “unemployed need not apply” policies. It’s not illegal, even if it doesn’t seem fair. Bottom line: Having a job while job hunting makes you seem more desirable in a competitive applicant pool, so don’t give up on yours, even if you can’t wait to leave.
4. Pay off debt ASAP. If you have any debt with unfixed interest rates — like student loans, credit cards, or a mortgage — refinance to secure the best terms you can. Then pay that debt down as quickly as you can. If interest rates rise, you’ll save a bundle in the long term and you’ll feel the freedom of being debt free.
5. Network when times are good. Having a group of people concerned about your wellbeing means you’ve got a list of people to call if you’re ever out of a job. To take one personal example: A friend of mine was laid off at the beginning of this year. She got home that night and starting calling people she knew in her industry — and one of those calls quickly led to a job offer. You never know until you ask.

The news can seem bleak, but the economy has weathered worse dips before. At the end of the day, economic indicators simply reveal trends by individual consumers. Make the right choices to protect yourself and your family and sooner or later, the economy will recover. It always has.

TheBigLead.com

Broke professional sports stars are nothing new, but ever wonder why athletes — with their outsize salaries — seem so much more prone to bankruptcy than Average Joes?

The New York Times took a shot at answering that question in a recent “Your Money” column by interviewing Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young:

Steve Young has done pretty well for himself. He laid the groundwork for fiscal sanity by majoring in finance at Brigham Young University, won the most valuable player award after leading the San Francisco 49ers to victory in Super Bowl XXIX and is now a managing director at Huntsman Gay Global Capital, a private equity firm.

So how well did he do with his money when he started his professional career? “I wasn’t ready to deal with it,” he said. “Just take the driving analogy. Very few people would be able to handle going zero to 100. Good luck. It’s a lot, and it’s very fast.”

His advice for rookies is to deliberately slow down, way down, something echoed by the National Football League’s Players Association, their union. “ ‘Give yourself a time out’ is what I tell them,” said Dana Hammonds, the director of player services and development for the association. “Focus on football, and after you go through the season, you’ll have time to figure it all out. There is absolutely no need to get involved in any kind of investments. The only thing they need to do is figure out cash flow in their first couple of years.”

While few of us will ever earn the kind of money that a rising sports star can expect right out of the gate, that same advice holds true for anyone who receives an unexpected windfall, whether it’s a sweet raise or an inheritance. If there’s one lesson that Econ4U tries to pound home, it’s not what you make, but what you keep that matters most.

AmericanExpress.com

In the good ol’ days, a gold or platinum credit card signaled that you had arrived. It meant lenders considered you a good credit risk with significant spending and a sterling payment history. With that came perks, most often a higher credit limit and cash back on purchases as a concession for a bank’s best customers (and typically accompanied by an annual fee).

However, these days even recent college graduates are carrying around prestige cards. (I’m one of them: I got my first platinum plastic when I was 23 with just five years of credit history to my name.)

The average American has four credit cards with an average balance of $15,799 among those with credit-card debt. (Only 25 percent of Americans do not have any credit cards, and 30 percent of Americans pay off their balances every month.)

There are still perks-paying cards for those who actually avail themselves of such services. Take the American Express Centurion, a.k.a. the “Black Card,” which remains invitation-only. Just to qualify, a consumer has to charge six figures on an American Express account annually (exactly how much, the company will not disclose). And once your application is accepted, you can expect to pay a whopping $2,500 annual fee in addition to a one-time $5,000 initiation fee. In return, customers receive top frequent-flyer status on several airlines, free nights at the world’s most exclusive hotels, personal shoppers at stores like Gucci and Neiman Marcus, and 24/7 international concierge services.

Still, smart consumers are more interested in talking turkey: What’s the annual fee? What’s the interest rate? And are those perks worth the money?

BravoTV.com

The Real Housewives reality-television franchise has spawned more bankruptcy filings than pro sports and celebrity accountant Kenneth Starr combined. We wondered why, so we reviewed the most notorious examples of the “real housewives” living beyond their means.

• Teresa Giudice is one of the most combative Real Housewives of New Jersey, and with this group, that’s quite a feat. A year ago, she and her husband Joe filed for bankruptcy with liabilities approaching $9 million while their income was reported as only $79,000 between them. Yet in the season that’s currently on air, Giudice continued to shop ’til she dropped (or more likely, until her credit limit is lowered).
• Sonja Morgan cried during last night’s episode of the Real Housewives of New York City while discussing her recent bankruptcy filing, which disclosed $19.8 million in debt and $13.5 million in assets following her bitter divorce from John Adams Morgan, the grandson of financier J.P. Morgan.
• Alexis Bellino of the Real Housewives of Orange County — the original show of the franchise — nearly lost her $6 million home to foreclosure proceedings in December after her husband Jim, a real-estate speculator, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. You can view the waterfront mansion here, which was taken off the bank’s hands in a March short sale for $3 million.
• Michele Salahi only appeared in one season on Bravo — in the now-defunct Real Housewives of D.C. — but it was long enough to reveal the company she owns with her husband Tareq has gone bankrupt.
• Taylor Armstrong from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills likely knows full well that her husband Russell filed for bankruptcy in 2005 with less than $50,000 in assets and millions in debt, but that didn’t seem to stop them from throwing a lavish $60,000 party to celebrate their daughter’s fourth birthday last year.
• NeNe Leakes, the breakout star of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, was evicted from her five-bedroom rental home in 2008, owing $6,240 in back rent. That’s not all she and her husband Gregg owed, either: The Leakes family reportedly also owes more than $100,000 in unpaid taxes.

The question must be asked: Can’t Bravo scratch up some real millionaires for the casts of these shows, rather than glamorize these pretenders to wealth? Or does starring on reality television cause the featured families to lose whatever financial sense made them rich in the first place?

Either way, it can be tempting to watch the lifestyles of the “rich and famous” on television and want to mimic their lifestyles or spending habits. But the bankruptcy track records show that isn’t the best idea.

It’s been a few years since Saturday Night Live produced this skit — and boy, has a lot changed in the global economy since 2007 — but its message will still make anyone interested in personal finance giggle.

Starring Steve Martin and Amy Poehler as a frustrated couple in debt, the video hawks a free one-page book titled Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford. (The sequel, Seriously If You Don’t Have the Money, Don’t Buy It, is offered as a special gift.)

And while its intent is humor, the advice is sound. For (more practical) tips on saving up for a major expense, check out our Top 5 list on planning for a big purchase.

CamilaPaulucci.Wordpress.com

A new survey just published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 50 percent of U.S. respondents faced with a hypothetical emergency couldn’t come up with $2,000 within 30 days.

That’s not encouraging, America.

While funding an emergency account can seem like a low priority compared with paying monthly expenses, having access to cash sure beats having to put medical bills, car repairs, and other sudden, life-happens charges on a credit card. Then you’re not just contending with the emergency, but struggling to pay the balance and interest in the future as well.

Just something to keep in mind the next time you waver between saving and spending. Click here for our list of five situations where even a small emergency fund could save your hide.

Wendell T. Webber

Welcome to this week’s edition of our Tuesday Top 5, Econ4U’s weekly tips post to help you manage your money in five easy steps.

If you’re a parent or plan to be, you are in a position shape the money habits your children will have, even as adults. Beyond living by example, there are a few ways to make sure the lessons they learn are the best ones. Here are a few tips to put the next generation on the right path.

1. Be open about the household bills. “If you don’t talk about money, it’s almost like it doesn’t exist,” said Pamela Yellen, a financial educator, in an interview on NPR last week. Speaking frankly about the household budget and how you decide where limited resources go is a lot more instructive than a vague “money doesn’t grow on trees” parable.
2. Show them how to use credit responsibly. Let your kids watch you handle your bills so they can connect the dots between credit use and paying the bank monthly.
3. Teach them that plastic is a tool. Credit and debit cards can be useful products when handled properly. Consider putting their allowance on a prepaid debit card to teach them the practical applications of plastic — and that when the money runs out, the fun stops there.
4. Encourage entrepreneurial ideas from a young age. Got a kid who’s excited to start a lemonade stand or babysitting club? Great! Today’s roadside beverage purveyor is tomorrow’s Fortune 500 executive.
5. Look for everyday examples of economics in action. Keep your eyes peeled for teaching moments about economic lessons like supply and demand or price sensitivity.

SingersRoom.com

Last October, R&B singer Toni Braxton filed for bankruptcy — for the second time in 12 years. The court determined she owed her creditors — among them Tiffany & Co., Neiman Marcus, and the Four Seasons — between $10 million and $50 million in unpaid debts.

Now Braxton has a reality television show ready to premiere this month, and from the looks of it, she hasn’t learned much from her mistakes:

However, the star appears to have shrugged off her legal woes for the filming of Braxton Family Values, according to the New York Post.

On the program, which premieres on April 12th, Braxton says, “I have a big-a** house, three cars, and I fly first class all around the world. Some say I have the perfect life.”

The trouble is, her track record shows she can’t begin to afford that “perfect life” that she’s bragging about. So much for “taking responsibility.”

Bankruptcy stays on your credit report for 10 years, so she can’t declare she’s broke again until 2020. But we doubt this is the last we’ll hear about her financial problems. Should we take bets on when Braxton will file for bankruptcy for a third time?

According to the scientists who developed it, “The model was broken down using six immediately identifiable factors; weather (W), debt (d), time since Christmas (T), time since failing our new year’s resolutions (Q), low motivational levels (M) and the feeling of a need to take action (Na).” The result is the Monday of the last full week of January, which falls on January 24 this year.

I thought it was interesting that debt and busted New Year’s resolutions both factor prominently in Blue Monday, since they are both finance-related and typically things under our control. (Can’t do much about the weather, unfortunately.) So here are a few ideas to ward off the money blues and keep your finances in the black:

• Return some Christmas gifts. If you and your significant other went overboard on presents last months, discuss returning one of the more pricy gifts that might have been a stretch to afford. You’ll lose the regret and free up some money instantly.
• Get cash for used stuff. Alternatively, consider selling something you received for Christmas 2009 that has lost some of its luster over the past year — eBay and Craigslist are hopping in January, and you can always sell things like books, video games, and CDs on Half.com. Then turn around and put your newfound cash toward your credit card balance.
• Files your taxes early. Once you have all your tax forms, get to work on your federal tax return. The sooner you file, the sooner you can get your tax refund into your pocket. And the sooner you can adjust your withholding so you can stop giving the government a free loan of your rightful money.

McCullagh.org

According to a recent poll by Consumer Reports, a whopping 13.6 million Americans are still paying off the debt they incurred from last year’s holiday shopping. To keep yourself out of that demographic, here are five tips to help you save money at the last minute and avoid making payments for months or years after playing Santa.

1. Pay attention to price-adjustment policies. Already finished your holiday shopping? It’s still smart to keep an eye on Christmas Eve sales. Many stores offer a one-time price adjustment within a set period of time after purchasing, so if that espresso maker you bought at full price is now half-off, you may be able to negotiate a refund of the difference just by bringing in your receipt.
2. Check in with your holiday budget periodically. That same Consumer Reports survey found that 39 percent of people who made a holiday shopping budget last year ended up blowing it by an average of 16 percent, or $112. If you’ve made a budget this year, check in with it before hitting the down-to-the-wire doorbusters. If you can’t swing it, steer clear of the temptation.
3. Avoid shopping for yourself. With so many sales flying about, it’s tempting to indulge in a “one for you, one for me” policy while out holiday shopping. (Diehard shopaholics know exactly what I’m talking about.) But it’s a surefire way to overspend without intending to. Those cute boots will still be around after Christmas Day, so put off shopping for yourself until after the holidays or when your budget allows. Patience could even pay off, between gift money you may receive and year-end blowout sales to bring the cost down.
4. Don’t get competitive. Many people feel pressure to spend the same amount on gifts they give as the gifts they’ve received. But Christmas isn’t about one-upping your loved ones. If your budget is tighter than your brother’s, don’t feel you have to match his gift dollar for dollar. Put extra thought, not extra dough, into your presents to show how much you care.
5. Dust off those gift cards you received last year. Experts peg the estimated balance of unused gift cards at around $5 billion per year. But new regulation dictates that gift cards can no longer expire, so you can either regift them or spend them to buy new presents for your gift list at no cost to you.