Invest In Gold As A Hedge Against Inflation, Recession, and The Weakening Dollar

By MoneyBlueBook

Most ordinary investors know about the general wisdom of investing in the stock market and the importance of portfolio diversification, but have you ever considered investing in gold? Admittedly, the very concept of investing in gold is strange to begin with. After all you're paying money to buy a shiny piece of metal dug from the ground that is more commonly associated with jewelry meant to adorn the body. With all the technological advancements and investment vehicles out there today like stocks, bonds, currency exchanges, and options, why would any sophisticated investor choose to include this physical asset as part of his or her investment portfolio?

The answer lies in how gold has been regarded and used throughout history. Since the beginning of time, gold has been prized as a measurement of wealth due to its rarity and unique functional qualities. From ancient China to the ancient Egyptians, to pre- modern day United States, gold has been used to stabilize and back currencies. Even our United States currency remained on the gold pegged standard until 1971 when President Nixon suspended the convertibility of U.S. dollars into gold. Since then, world currencies including the dollar have operated on a float fiat money system where currency value comes not from the underlying intrinsic value of the paper itself, but from supply and demand driven by exchange traders.

Gold Performance Vs. Stocks

Because they are from two completely different asset classes, investors value gold and stocks quite differently. As a precious material, gold has always had the ability to

By MoneyBlueBook

This post is for people like me who used to live life without even the most basic of health insurance coverage. Did you know one of the major and perhaps number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States is unanticipated medical bills caused by inadequate or even complete lack of health insurance coverage? Currently, unpaid medical bills due to unforeseen and catastrophic medical related ailments compete with debt mismanagement and credit card bills as the number one contributor to personal bankruptcy.

We all make many important financial investments in our lives, but believe it or not, health insurance might be one of the most important. It's a silent safety net that will catch you in the event the worst happens and will prevent you from completely falling into the financial abyss. Without at least basic coverage, having to fully pay all of the medical costs out of pocket can be very expensive and difficult. Just a single night's stay at a hospital for emergency care can cost upwards of thousands of dollars. Without at least basic coverage, you are one appendix or broken leg away from a pile of insurmountable medical bills.

While today's basic entry level premiums do not offer full financial protection from serious illnesses, having basic coverage will at least cushion the burden to a more manageable degree. It's important to maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating your fruits and vegetables and exercising regularly, but sickness and physical accidents are inevitable in life. You might get lucky for a long time but

By MoneyBlueBook

For those who haven't seen it before, MTV's "My Super Sweet 16" is one of the many things in television pop culture today that is seriously messing up the minds of kids today, leading them down the path of excessive consumerism and obsession with wealth and entitlement. The MTV reality TV show follows and documents the 16th birthday celebrations of upper class teenagers. Now these are no ordinary birthday parties. We're not talking about a day at Dave and Busters or the bowling alley. On this program we have stretch Hummers, horses, live dancers, famous rap stars, decked out ballrooms, and budget rolls in excess of $300,000. Everything is paid for in cash or with quick obligatory swipes of the parents' trusty Amex Black Cards or Visa Black Cards, indispensable and exclusive tools of the trade. You won't see any "paltry presents" like Apple iPods or Gap clothing here. Instead, the doting parents of these spoiled rotten kids prefer to give them top of the line BMW's and Land Rover's, capped with red bows on top to quench their material thirst. The show, although quite entertaining, proclaims the non-stop need to spend, spend, and spend to the utter collective delight of all luxury car dealerships and luxury boutiques everywhere.

Spoiled Bratty Kids Come In All Sizes

The show features spoiled teens of all race, nationality, and even sex - black, white, Persian, and even shockingly, a few teenage boys among the mostly teenage girls. The show follows the same template,

By MoneyBlueBook

See lots of nice freebies currently available out there at the start of this new year so here's another big freebie post. Read the full article »

By MoneyBlueBook

Is it just me or is there something very wrong when you have to spend money to buy what is essentially the some denomination as money? Because that's basically what people are doing when they buy gift cards and are required to pay a purchase fee.

Personally, I have no problem with buying or giving gift cards as a presents. Gift cards are more flexible than the usual pre-chosen gift since the recipient theoretically has the option to determine how best to spend it. But therein lies the limitation and fallacy of the flexibility of gift cards. They're actually not as versatile and unrestricted as people may think they are. Since most gift cards are only good towards the particular store they were purchased for, they are limited to that one location.

Gift Cards Impose Limits and Purchase Fees

If I receive a Starbucks gift card for example, I am limited to using it at a Starbucks store, even if I prefer the coffee drinks served at the Caribou coffee shop next door. What if I'm not even a coffee drinker? Then what am I supposed to do with this extra card? End up selling it on eBay for a price less than face value like so many gift card holders end up doing? Truthfully, having the gift card actually limits my options.

One of the most frustrating aspects of gift cards is the upfront purchase expense required. If you want to buy a $25 gift card for your friend, think you're paying $25 for it?

By MoneyBlueBook

Comparing financial networth can be tricky since you aren't always comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges. Married individuals that combine the incomes and assets of both spouses will clearly have much higher networths and much lower expenses than single individuals.

With that in mind, here is some background information to help you know where I stand. I am currently in my late 20's, not married, currently renting, and working a contract job that pays reasonably well. I graduated from law school a few years ago and am still trying to figure out exactly what is it that I want to do professionally. I took things easy after graduate school, choosing to enjoy life and neglected the importance of saving early. I did not start tracking my finances and focus on saving until the start of 2007 last year. All of my savings and investments were initiated one year ago on January 2007. Here is the summary of my 2007 financial progression and where I stand now.

Tracking My Financial Progress Using Networth IQ

I've held off from using Networth IQ to track my financial net worth and progress due to my original dislike of the program's overly simplistic graphical chart displays. For such a popular widget among financial bloggers, you'd think the company would have come out with a nicer and more sophisticated looking display. But I've finally caved and have decided to enter in my stats and will be tracking my monthly progress from here on, starting January 2008. It'll be interesting to