Money Blue Book

Are you like chicken little? Are you currently huffing and puffing because you feel like financial ruin is just around the corner and that current market problems suggest you should take quick action? Well, try to relax and see the big picture. Yes the stock market has experienced quite a bit of red lately and the foggy road ahead appears to be quite bumpy, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to make hasty decisions.

The year is coming to a close and many anxious and disappointed investors are starting to react in predictably panicky ways. While some people want to sell off a portion of their holdings to capture tax losses that can be used to offset their current year’s capital gains for tax purposes, others are reacting in more hasty and emotional ways. Those who push the red panic button now and act on this heated emotion might regret their decision down the road. Smart financial decisions were never made by people in the midst of an emotionally driven haze.

The Mortgage Mess and the Credit Crunch Are Causes For Concern But In Time They Will Pass

Yes this is a scary time for short term investors but we must tread with a firm and loyal commitment to the key to successful compound growth - long term investing. While the housing market meltdown was not entirely unforeseen, I will admit that the severity of the credit crisis was unexpected. Starting with Countrywide Financial and later progressing to Etrade, financial institutions that owned and traded subprime mortgage backed securities have been hit very, very hard (we’re talking about 80% drops). With housing prices continuing to tumble, and owners no longer able to refinance their way out of financial problems, the financial and housing markets continue to deteriorate at a pessimistic pace, dragging the rest of the stock market down with it.

Stay The Investment Course If You Have Market Confidence For The Long Term

Despite this gloom and doom, I think the market will be resilient enough to bounce back in due time. The economy will slow but it will not sputter into a nose dive towards recession. I know many are predicting a recession, but frankly I think the economy remains fundamentally strong. We are certainly entering a period of significant slowdown, but I doubt we will experience negative growth, which is what a recession is.

The current losses of $200 billion caused by the credit crisis really only comprise a mere 2% of all bank credit and the Federal Reserve still has the power to cut rates further to inject activity and life into the market. This is not to say that all investors will survive the grim short term. Those that invested heavily in financial stocks with connections to the subprime mortgage market will be financially destroyed and it will probably take many years to recover those significant losses, like during the internet bubble of 2000. During the dot com bust, I lost a relatively sizable amount of money to the internet bubble burst, but eventually I did recover and have managed to thrive since then.

It may seem very counter intuitive to all of the signs in the financial markets and fly in the face of current realities, but those that can remain brave, resilient, and maintain a long term perspective will ultimately reap the financial rewards. Like a financial bomb that has just been detonated in the city, wiping out previously free standing structures and stores, the first brave souls to venture back and set up shop will ultimately reap the first mover advantages. Perhaps more trouble is yet to come but with the way the markets have been depressed, it is inevitably the time to buy and hold for the long haul. Will the markets bounce back by next year’s end? Only God knows since it’s nearly impossible to time and predict the market. But truly, it’s hard to blame anyone for being spooked and refusing to dive in when the waters are still murky.

I myself will remain in the market waters for the long haul. Some may have climbed out to safety but I have continued to steadily but cautiously maintained and even slightly increased my positions in bargain stocks and beaten down funds. The largest portion of my investment portfolio is invested in foreign emerging market funds like the Fidelity South East Asia Fund (FSEAX), and the Fidelity Latin American Fund (FLATX). The rapidly growing markets of Brazil, Mexico, China, and Korea are where I believe my financial investments will pay off the most in the long term.

I am part of a new generation of technology dependent people. Since the explosion and mainstream adaptation of wireless internet, cellular phones, iPods, and the growth of social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, and even real time chat, I’ve become very dependent on technology and the digital medium. I’ve already transitioned the bulk of my important documents into digital format and thrown away all of my old audio compact discs in favor of mp3’s. I’ve discarded the practice of receiving paper bills through snail mail and have already converted all of my bank and credit card statements into e-billing exclusively. I’ve substantially cut down on paper transactions in favor of direct deposits, ACH electronic transfers, and online payments through PayPal. With a few keystrokes and taps at my computer keyboard, I can shift my bank funds around from savings to broker to checking. My legion of credit cards are all enrolled in automatic debit payment, which automatically withdraws money from my attached bank account to pay off each month’s credit card statement balances.

Everything has become electronic and my life has grown significantly more organized, paperless, and automated. I’ve aggregated my bank accounts, credit cards statements, investment brokerages, frequent flyer plans, hotel plans, and other reward point plans into my Yodlee powered Fidelity Full View account aggregation program where I can monitor everything from a single online access point.

However, this dependency has one obvious downside and weakness - I am heavily dependent on the reliability of computers and the internet. When there is a power failure or an internet outage, if unprepared, I can be left helpless and thrown into a lurch as I become cut off from my primary source of financial organization. This is exactly what happened a month ago at my home, when I was unprepared for an unexpected neighborhood power failure that lasted several days. My cable TV showed nothing but static for days while my internet router droned a single green light - a sad sign of a dead internet signal with no online activity. For those few days my home was cut off from internet services and I had to find alternative solutions.

Luckily There Are Backup Options To Access Your Online Financial Services When Your Internet Provider Or Electrical Service Is Down:

1. Use The Internet From Your Computer At Work - If you’re lucky to have an internet accessible computer at work, then you won’t have to suffer much from internet or power outages at home. This is the best case scenario.
2. Access The Internet From A Local Library Computer - Most local public libraries today offer free internet ready computers for patron use. Some libraries may impose timed usage limits but the computers are generally free. My local county library offers free internet workstations but users are limited to only an hour per day, tracked by each individual’s library account number that must be used to log in everytime.
3. If You Have A Laptop With Sufficient Battery Life, Try To Pickup Someone Else’s Wireless Signal - I don’t think this practice is technically legal but I don’t know anyone who hasn’t done it at least once, even by accident or unwittingly. The air is swirling with stray wireless internet signals. If you are in a major bind and need access to your financial accounts immediately, this might be a possible short term option. It’s remarkable how so many people fail to properly encrypt and password protect their wireless router signals. But use your own discretion and judgment on this matter.
4. Head To A Wireless Hotspot At A Coffee Shop Like Starbucks Or Caribou Coffee - Most major coffee shop chains offer patrons free internet access at their stores. Sometimes the smaller mom and pop stores require you to buy something to get free complimentary wireless access, but most larger chains don’t necessarily require it. Of course this will require you to have a notebook computer (unless you feel like lugging your huge desktop computer and cable wires to your neighborhood joint and have other customers give you strange looks).
5. Resort to Using The Telephone - What is this contraption I have in my hand? Oh that’s right, it’s what people refer to as the telephone. You speak into it and your voice is magically thrown miles away into the ears of another waiting person. Well if you’re like me, you conduct all of your financial transactions online without the need for phone calls. But when your internet service is down due to an internet provider outage or electrical failure, you might consider resorting to phoning in to access your online accounts. All banks and credit card companies offer customer service lines to handle transaction inquiries. Yes it’s not debatably as convenient or hassle free as online access at your fingertips, but it’s the next best thing.
6. Enjoy The Few Hours Or Days of Freedom From Internet Access - It’s hard to realize it sometimes in this internet age, but there is much more to life than just the internet. Particularly if the lack of internet access is due to a prolonged power failure, perhaps it’s a good time to pursue your other interests. While your internet service is down at home, take the time to go outside for a drive or a walk. It can actually be quite liberating not having to be tied down to the internet at all times.

If you’re like most consumers, you will probably need to apply for jobs or take out loans to buy a car or a house sometime in your life. What do these things have in common? They all may require that you have a decent credit score to reasonably qualify.

Currently, the most uniformly and commonly used credit scoring system is the FICO score, developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation. The competing credit bureaus have come up with their own scoring systems with various names including VantageScore and Plus score. However, they are all imitators at best and not universally used or recognized by lenders and creditors. There’s a reason why many refer to these other scores as “FAKO” scores. The FICO score is still the most widely used method. If you want to compare apples with apples, then it’s best to keep your historical credit scores consistent and stick with the FICO. That’s the only credit score I really care about.

Many employers today use credit scores to initially gauge prospective job applicants. Even rental apartments frequently run credit checks to make sure future tenants have a history of making good on credit payments. Credit lenders use people’s FICO scores to determine whether the person gets approved for credit, how quickly they get approved for credit, the extent of the credit limit, and what kind of terms they get. Those with lower credit scores tend to get stuck with terms that demand higher interest payments and stricter down payment requirements. These days, your FICO score is almost becoming a reflection of your financial trustworthiness so it’s in your best interest to keep periodic tabs on your credit score changes and credit report activity.

Not everyone lives a financially perfect life and we’ve all made financial mistakes or have had unintentional credit difficulty in the past or even currently. Some people like myself even voluntarily subject our FICO credit scores to punishment so we can can take advantage of free interest money generated by no balance transfer fee cards. Either way, it takes time to recover from major credit hits and lapses.

However There Are Several Things You Can Do To Better Understand and Improve Your Credit Score Situation:

1) Check Your Credit Report and Credit Score Regularly - Knowledge is power. It’s important and wise to check your credit report and score regularly and know where you stand in the eyes of creditors. Having a stellar FICO credit score isn’t as immediately important if you’re still many months or years away from needing a major loan for a house or car, but it still affects your chances for things like jobs and credit cards.Be careful of some websites that purport to offer free or easy to request credit reports. Sometimes requesting from these companies will lead to hard credit pulls that may hurt and lower your credit score - essentially the credit bureaus think you are asking to borrow money and the creditor is checking your credit. I recommend sticking with more reputable sites that offer free credit scores, like MyFICO which I currently use to track my credit situation.

2) Don’t Cancel Credit Card Accounts - Many people mistakenly think that if they cancel their credit card accounts, that it will have a positive effect on their credit score. This is incorrect and in fact, canceling older accounts may actually hurt your score. The FICO score relies heavily on the average age of your credit accounts to calculate your credit worthiness score. The longer a particular credit account has been around, the more beneficial its presence will have on your credit score.The other key component of the FICO score is your total credit utilization ratio, which is the total amount you currently owe on all of your revolving credit cards divided by the total credit limit available to you. Closing an unused credit card reduces the amount of credit available to you, making it seem like you are closer to maxing out your credit cards. Once the cards have been issued and activated, the credit ding’s already been made so canceling thereafter won’t help your score. Try to store the cards away in a safe place if you don’t use them, and resist the temptation to cancel if you can.

3) If You Must Cancel, Don’t Close Old Accounts But Start With Newer Cards First - Sometimes canceling credit accounts is the only option. If you are having extreme difficulty managing credit and find the temptation utterly irresistible, perhaps canceling a few cards is your best path to a more secure financial future. Consumers frequently seek to cancel their higher interest rate cards first, but in terms of your credit score, you are better off canceling your newer cards first, even if they have the lower interest rates.

4) Pay Down Your Total Debt and Lower Your Overall Credit Usage Ratio - Paying off the minimum payment required on time is important but it’s important to keep your total utilization ratio as low as possible, preferably under 30 percent. Since a large FICO credit score component is your total credit utilization ratio, try to lower your usage by either paying off your outstanding debt or by calling your credit card company and requesting a credit limit increase.

5) Resist the In-Store Temptation To Open Credit Accounts - I’ve written about the dangers of applying for department store credit cards. Each time you apply for one, the resulting hard credit inquiry will hurt your FICO credit score. The one time retail discount you’ll get isn’t worth the credit hassle.

6) Be Aware Of Credit Inquiries That Will Affect Your Credit Score - Frequent hard credit checks by creditors will negatively affect your score, but soft checks made by you will not. Always make sure you are aware of what type of inquiry is being made when you request your credit report or score - whether it is a hard credit pull or a soft pull. Try to keep the frequency of hard credit inquiries as low as possible, but if you need credit, it’s more beneficial to request them all within a short span. A rapid succession of inquiries made by credit institutions like banks, credit card companies, or auto loan financing companies within a short period of time (under a 1-2 week window) will usually be considered as one credit ding.

I went to gradate school in the run down city of Baltimore, Maryland. I used to joke with my friends that more people in Baltimore City owned and carried around designer Louis Vuitton handbags than in any other city in the world. When I went to school there it seemed like every corner near the city courthouse had a vendor hawking fake designer brand products like Prada, Coach, and even Polo Ralph Lauren. Most of the merchandise were no doubt fakes - cheaply made knock offs made in countries like China, a country known for its lax efforts in stopping piracy in the marketplace.

I want to focus my analysis on the Lacoste designer clothing brand line. Companies like Lacoste spend a great deal of investment on brand building and quality control. However, with the prevalence of overseas sweatshops and people buying Lacoste clothing online, fake knockoffs have been spreading through the internet marketplace like wildfire and many buyers are unwittingly ending up with fakes. While a genuine Lacoste polo shirt can cost an average of $60-75 per shirt, buyers of fakes are frequently getting ripped off for shoddy products worth substantially less. Whether it makes any sense to pay so much for a mere polo shirt is another matter. The fact is, buyers have to be able to ensure they are getting the high end quality product they are paying top dollar for.

Unlike authentic Lacoste clothing, fakes and knock offs simply don’t wear and feel like the real thing. Sometimes it’s easy to spot the fake, but sometimes the differences are much more subtle. It’s easy to know it’s a fake when you are only paying $10 for a supposedly genuine Lacoste shirt off a street vendor, but what about when you are buying online? Many of the tips and telltale signs provided below can also be used for other designer clothing brands as well.

Here Are Some Of The Things To Look Out For To Determine Whether A Lacoste Shirt Is A Genuine Or Fake

1) The Lacoste Crocodile Patch - Lacoste’s famous trademark symbol is its Lacoste crocodile logo patch. This is one of the easiest way to spot a fake. A genuine Lacoste crocodile should be very distinct and should show scales, claws, and teeth. Any variation from this detailed standard should be deemed a fake, as high end designer brands like Lacoste spend a great deal of effort to ensure quality and uniformity. For the men’s polo shirts, the crocodile is embroidered on a patch then sewn onto the shirt, rather than printed directly on the shirt. In the women’s, it is printed onto the shirt. The Lacoste crocodile symbol should be attached seamlessly with no obvious white stitch marks attaching the patch to the shirt.

2) Crocodile Alignment - On men’s polos, the crocodile is on the left hand side, between the bottom stitching and the second button. In the image displayed, I want to draw your attention to the genuine blue Lacoste shirt on the right hand side labeled “Real” - notice how the crocodile logo is aligned directly between the lower button and the bottom stitching. This is an authentic shirt. Contrast that with the pirated yellow shirt on the left side labeled “Fake” where the logo is instead aligned with the bottom placket stitching. This is one of the easiest way to tell a fake from a real one.

3) Pearl Buttons - Genuine Lacoste polo shirts have real pearl buttons, known as mother of pearl. Since the pearls are naturally found, no two patterns should be the same. Fakes usually have mass produced plastic buttons. The real Lacoste buttons should not have anything printed on them either. If they have the word “Lacoste” on the button, the shirt is a fake.

4) Unusually Low Cost - Lacoste is a high end, fairly expensive designer brand. As such, prices are usually high and for good reason since the products are usually of very high quality design and material. Prices are usually around $60-72 for a single polo shirt. If you discover prices that are extraordinarily different, you are most likely dealing with a fake. If you are only paying $10 for the shirt, your alarm and antennae should be going off.

5) Cloth Material - Genuine Lacoste clothing should be made of 100% soft cotton and neatly threaded. There should be little to no loose threading as is frequently found on shoddy and inferior knockoffs. The cuffs on the sleeves should not appear shredded and the stitching should not come loose only after a few washes.

6) Sizes - Lacoste clothing are sized using numbers, rather than the usual letters or words, e.g. sizes 3, 4 , 5. They do not come in sizes utilizing the words “small”, “medium”, or “large”.

7) Method of Sale and Purchase - Many eBay sellers will insist and claim that their Lacoste products are real and authentic, but 90% of them are either wrong or lying. Unfortunately, even by checking their feedbacks isn’t necessarily sufficient to protect you from fakes since many buyers themselves cannot readily distinguish the fakes from the real thing until it is too late. Lacoste does not have factory discount outlets, but sells its products through select distributors at premium prices. Be careful if you decide to buy through an online auction or through an amateur supplier based in Asia as many are the works of scam artists. I highly advise against buying from such shady sources and recommend sticking with more reputable and established shops.

Where To Buy Genuine Lacoste Polo, and Other Luxury Brand Clothing Products:

The best and most reliable source for genuine Lacoste products is from an actual Lacoste branded store or from a major department store retailer like Macy’s, Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdale’s, or Neiman Marcus. From any other place - you’re just asking for trouble so please be careful!