Month: June 2008

By: Roshawn Watson Misusing Balance Transfers – One disturbing trend is for consumers to transfer balances on high interest cards to lower rate cards. While intuitively this appears to save cardholders a lot in interest, the problem arises when most people fail to pay off the balance before the teaser rate expires. Moreover, they continue… Continue reading 7 Disastrous Debt Habits

By: Roshawn Watson The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that inflation increased by 4% last year, so it begs the question if you received a 4% pay increase, you are keeping up, right? As is with most great questions, the answer is it depends. Inflation affects consumers whenever they spend (or save) money. Accordingly,… Continue reading Why That Salary Increase May Not Beat Inflation

By: Roshawn Watson Many Americans’ disposable incomes continue to decline, due to the rising costs of necessities. Consequently, many cash-strapped individuals are turning to credit cards to extend their budgets. While this may be a boon for credit card companies, such as Visa and MasterCard, it may also spell trouble to the already “struggling” banks… Continue reading The Other Debt Crisis: Surging Credit Card Usage

By: Roshawn Watson In preparing to write my posts, I often come across noteworthy and sometimes bizarre financial and business news. Here are links to some of these sites. Enjoy! I also wanted to thank all of you who are voting for articles from this site on social bookmarketing sites such as stumbleupon, reddit, delicious,… Continue reading Uncommon Money News (Vol 16)

By: Roshawn Watson This post is the conclusion of the Budgeting: Your Foundation for Wealth series. Budgeting has often been referred to as the dreaded “B-Word.” Some describe it as arduous and painful because it forces us to silence that inner kid that refuses delayed gratification. However, budgeting is also a tremendous wealth-building tool, and… Continue reading Two Forgotten Benefits of Budgeting

By: Roshawn Watson Last week, we discussed how housing prices are currently declining faster than during the Great Depression . Well, even wealthy neighborhoods are feeling the sting of the housing crunch. In some of the U.S. richest zip codes, there have been steep home price declines. According to Zaio, the million dollar plus homes… Continue reading Housing Crisis 90210?

Hi Shawn, I’m 27 years old software web programmer. I paid off my 13K $ home loan (500K Indian Rupees) in India last year. Apart from that I don’t have, never had any debt. Still I don’t seem to save anything more than 10K$ annually. I have been earning in range of 60K-85K for last… Continue reading Ask Roshawn (Vol 2)

By: Roshawn Watson Rate This Article Life is sometimes hectic. Working a full-time job, fulfilling family and social obligations, staying physically fit, and enriching oneself mentally and spiritually all require time. Clearly, time is the most valuable resource. Whatever you have in life, whether it’s a good relationship or abs of steel, you or someone… Continue reading Be Your Own CFO (part 2) Mind Your Own Business

By: Roshawn Watson In preparing to write my posts, I often come across noteworthy and sometimes bizarre financial and business news. Here are links to some of these sites. Enjoy! I also wanted to thank all of you who are voting for articles from this site on social bookmarketing sites such as stumbleupon, reddit, delicious,… Continue reading Uncommon Money News (Vol 15)

By: Roshawn Watson Recently, the Economist featured an article about how America home prices are falling more quickly now than during The Great Depression. The current S&P;/Case-Shiller national house-price index slump was reported as 14.1% whereas in 1932, the (adjusted) index reflected a 10.5% drop. Notwithstanding the fact that the Case-Schiller index is considered flawed… Continue reading House Prices Dropping Faster Than During The Great Depression