http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner en-us Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:22:59 -0700 Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:15:05 -0700 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m7d28-Guerilla-Budgeting-101Part-4?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner Parts 1 and 2 of this series focused on creating a Guerrilla Budget in the event you're laid off or otherwise lose your job in this tough economy. Part 2 considered tapping savings accounts, CDs, money market accounts, and mutual funds to make e... Budgeting Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:15:05 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m7d28-Guerilla-Budgeting-101Part-4?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m7d19-Guerrilla-BudgetingPart-3?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner Parts 1 and 2 of this series focused on creating a Guerrilla Budget in the event you're laid off or otherwise lose your job in this tough economy. The idea was to project income over a reasonable period of time, say  3-6 months, then subtra... Budgeting Sun, 19 Jul 2009 05:18:18 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m7d19-Guerrilla-BudgetingPart-3?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m7d11-Guerilla-Budgeting-101Part-2?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner Now that you've tallied your income and expenses, it's time to go to the next step. If you have a surplus of income over projected expenses, you are in great shape. Congratulate yourself.If you've got got a shortfall--your projected expenses exceed y... Budgeting Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:11:52 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m7d11-Guerilla-Budgeting-101Part-2?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m6d28-Guerrilla-Budgeting-101?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter Gurf Morlix has written a song entitled “Food, Shelter, Water, and Love.” As you might expect, the song is about the basics in life, those things we can’t live without.If you’ve recently l... Budgeting Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:29:09 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m6d28-Guerrilla-Budgeting-101?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m6d24-The-New-Retirement-Baby-Boomers-on-the-BrinkPart-2?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner In Part 1 of this article, I outlined challenges faced by Baby Boomers as they approach retirement. Here's some thoughts for overcoming those challenges. Especially following the recent market downturn, these comments are more important than ever.&nb... Retirement planning Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:04:27 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m6d24-The-New-Retirement-Baby-Boomers-on-the-BrinkPart-2?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m5d28-The-New-Retirement-Baby-Boomers-on-the-Brink-Part-1?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner I’m not embarrassed to admit it, I’m a baby boomer. My friends and associates are also boomers, fifty-something professionals and business owners, most of whom have done pretty well both personally and financially. We listen to the same m... Retirement planning Thu, 28 May 2009 08:13:00 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m5d28-The-New-Retirement-Baby-Boomers-on-the-Brink-Part-1?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m5d24-Credit-Card-Legislation-Guns-and-Mortgages?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner Unlike the "do-nothing" Congress of the last eight years, this session's Congress, goaded by the Obama Administration, is busy, busy, busy. In just this week, it enacted two major pieces of legislation aimed at getting banks to be more cons... Sun, 24 May 2009 09:22:26 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m5d24-Credit-Card-Legislation-Guns-and-Mortgages?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m5d13-Bank-of-America-Arrogance-and-Stress?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner The dreaded bank "stress tests" came out last week and despite BofA President Ken Lewis's bluster, the bank was found wanting to the tune of about $34 billion. After mustering significant first quarter profits out of essentially thin air (a... Wed, 13 May 2009 11:50:49 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m5d13-Bank-of-America-Arrogance-and-Stress?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m5d7-Bankrupty-Homeowners-Take-it-in-the-Shorts?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner With unemploment running higher than it's been in years, even people who don't have sub-prime mortgage loans may face foreclosure--specially with banks continuing to gouge on fees and credit card rates and with the cost of health insurance continuing... Bankruptcy Thu, 07 May 2009 04:43:20 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m5d7-Bankrupty-Homeowners-Take-it-in-the-Shorts?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d30-SelfDirected-IRAs-Invest-in-Real-Estate?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner Maybe you've still got your job, or your business is still doing reasonably well in these tough times. Maybe when times were better, you socked away a few dollars in an IRA, or rolled over a 401(k) plan into an IRA. Maybe you're looking to figure out... Retirement planning Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:07:30 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d30-SelfDirected-IRAs-Invest-in-Real-Estate?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d25-First-Time-Homebuyers-Credit?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner Housing prices are down in Charlotte, but that's not all that makes this a good time to buy a house.To help stimulate the economy and revive the real estate housing market Congress recently enacted a qualified first-time home buyer tax credit. This c... Taxes Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:07:27 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d25-First-Time-Homebuyers-Credit?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d22-Annuities-Only-as-Good-as-the-Company-that-Issues-Them?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner Who would have believed that something as obscure as an annuity would become such an important financial planning tool? Why, a few years ago, hardly anyone other than life insurance company actuaries and financial planners even talked about annuities... Annuities Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:43:36 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d22-Annuities-Only-as-Good-as-the-Company-that-Issues-Them?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d19-Advice-for-the-New-Graduate?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner  Graduation time is right around the corner and what an exciting time it is. Like young robins taking those first tentative flights from the nest, off go those new grads into the real world. New jobs, new relationships, new opportuniti... Budgeting Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:18:38 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d19-Advice-for-the-New-Graduate?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d16-Bank-of-America-Raises-Rates-How-to-Stop-the-Gouging?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner  Charlotte based Bank of America continues to raise interest rates on credit card balances. Previous rate increases have targeted borrowers with less than stellar credit ratings. The new rate increases affect borrowers who have good credit, but ... Managing Debt Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:02:50 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d16-Bank-of-America-Raises-Rates-How-to-Stop-the-Gouging?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d12-April-15th-File-of-Extend?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner Assuming you are required to file a tax return for 2008, your return must be filed or extended by April 15.  Failure to file a return or an extension form on time will result in interest and penalties.In general, if you believe you are entitled ... Taxes Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:09:45 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d12-April-15th-File-of-Extend?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d8-FIling-Your-2008-Tax-Return?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner The April 15th due date for the filing of individual income tax returns is just around the corner.  The first question is whether you need to file. Here are some guidelines .Whether or not you need to file depends on your filing status, age, and... Taxes Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:03:04 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d8-FIling-Your-2008-Tax-Return?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d4-The-DOW-hit-8000-Is-the-recession-over?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner The stock market had a pretty good month in March. After starting the month at or about a low of 6,500, it closed out the month at or around 8,000. Some have suggested that this signals the end of our current financial crisis. I'm not so sure. I thin... Current Financial Crisis Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:11:43 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d4-The-DOW-hit-8000-Is-the-recession-over?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d1-My-401k-Take-the-Money-and-Run?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner With unemployment pushing 10 percent in the Charlotte area, chances are there are a lot pink-slipped people wondering whether they should take their 401(k) money in cash. After all, if you're unemployed you may need the money to live on until another... 401(k) Cash Distribution Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:42:34 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m4d1-My-401k-Take-the-Money-and-Run?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m3d30-IRA-Rollover?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner One option for those who have 401(k) plans with a former employer is to roll the funds over to an IRA or a new employer's plan. With all the pink slips being handed out these days, chances are a lot of people are trying to decide what's best for them... 401(k) IRA rollover Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:28:34 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m3d30-IRA-Rollover?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m3d27-LayedOff-What-about-your-401k?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner In the past, Charlotte may have thought of itself as recession proof, but this time around that’s far from the case. In fact, Charlotte’s unemployment rate was running at nearly nine percent by the end of 2008, and the anticipated job cut... 401(k) Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:44:31 -0700 http://www.examiner.com/x-6529-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner~y2009m3d27-LayedOff-What-about-your-401k?cid=exrss-Charlotte-Personal-Finance-Examiner