March 2009 - Net Worth Update and Personal Finance Status

By MoneyBlueBook

March 2009 has turned out to be a pretty routine month for me. As I'm currently traveling overseas for an extended period of time and won't be returning home to the U.S. for several months, I haven't had much time to really closely follow the progression of my financial portfolio. However, even while away, I still find time to occasionally glance at my net worth balances periodically to make sure everything is okay. So far, all basic metrics, bank balances, and credit reports indicate that I'm maintaining a pretty stable and healthy financial position - well positioned to keeping growing for the foreseeable future and weather any significant or further downturn in the economy.

While I've had to put my part time ambulance chasing legal practice on hold while traveling overseas for family health reasons, my portfolio of online and real world small businesses have continued to churn out a fairly steady income stream while I've been away, much of it passively generated without substantial attention on my part. Much of the hard work, mind numbing stress, and financial sacrifices that I made in the past few years in creating semi-self run businesses have finally paid off, allowing me to generate income and make money even when I'm not actively sitting at my home office desk in Maryland working on the computer or making phone calls.

In terms of my profession, I'm very thankful that I've been able to successfully make the transition from traditional 9-5 day job worker into a self employed entrepreneur and sole

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated Review Of Ways To Get Your Experian FICO Credit Score Now

For credit report and FICO credit score junkies like myself, I was completed stunned and floored when I heard the official announcement that the Experian credit reporting agency would no longer be making its Experian FICO credit score available to consumers from hereon, effective February 14, 2009 (Valentine's Day no less). However, in an odd marketing twist, the Experian FICO scores would continue to be made available to lenders and businesses - just not to the hapless consumers who are actually concerned about their own personal finances.

For those who work hard at monitoring their credit reports and credit scores, and take diligent steps to ensure the maintenance of perpetually high FICO's, this news release exploded into our midst like a cruel bomb shell. So am I overreacting or is this move by Experian as significant as I'm seemingly making it out to be?

Lack Of Access To Experian FICO Credit Scores Ultimately Favors Lenders and Hurts Consumers

At a time when banks have grown extra stingy when it comes to lending money and it's becoming even more important for consumers like you and I to monitor our credit reports and credit scores regularly, we are now losing yet another option of doing so. Experian is one of the three major credit reporting agencies that maintain massive historical databases of how individuals and businesses handle credit usage responsibilities. Fair Isaac Corporation is the company that developed the popular and widely used FICO credit score,

By Joe Taylor Jr.

That pirate band from the seafood restaurant has changed its tune. For years, singer-songwriter Eric Violette portrayed the harried lead singer of a musical group forced into a series of dead end jobs and sticky situations because they didn't keep close enough watch over their credit reports. When new federal rules prohibited credit bureaus from marketing "free credit reports" in conjunction with subscription services came out these commercials disappeared from the airways.

Since nearly everything today from getting a mortgage, applying for a credit card, and even getting a job depends on your credit score, where can you get free information about your credit?

Not from the government

Free FICO scores aren't included in the government mandated credit reports offered by AnnualCreditReport.com. That's because the contents of your free credit report are facts, while any credit score results from passing those facts through proprietary risk equations. Although lawmakers like to debate over rules that would make credit scores free to consumers, it still costs money to see the same three-digit numbers that banks use to determine creditworthiness.

Even though most free credit score websites don't offer access to "real" FICO scores, the credit models they use closely resemble the scores that lenders would see when reviewing your credit profile.

So where are good places to look to get your credit score?

By MoneyBlueBook

Due to a momentary cash crunch of my own, my net worth finally dipped during the month of February after months of steady and fairly consistent increases. The decrease in my total assets in comparison to my total liabilities can be attributed to a convergence of simultaneous factors related to the current economic downturn, such as non payments by my cash strapped legal clients (my part time day job) and noticeably late pay checks from my online businesses' affiliate advertisers. This month in particular, I also had to withdraw a fairly large sum of money from my emergency cash savings fund for family health reasons - primarily to make a good faith contribution to my Alzheimer's-afflicted grandmother's assisted care fund. Thus for reasons foreseen and unforeseen, this month necessitated that I dip into my savings and siphon funds from my monthly income stream more so than usual. However, I'm pretty confident the late income payments will be rectified and added onto the following month's networth update, very possibly resulting in a higher than usual revenue report boost at that time.

Times Are Tough - Let's Hope President Obama Knows What He's Doing

In light of the ongoing financial crisis and economic recession, I wake up everyday thanking God for my continuous self employment and my ongoing ability to generate a fairly steady income. Times are certainly very difficult right now and thus far I've been able to dodge the painful recession bullets. Only a few years ago I was unemployed and found myself having to

By MoneyBlueBook

Special Offer: 30% Off Using MyFICO Coupon Discount�� Code - MYFICOIS8, Or 20% Off With�� - CPPSAVINGS

As someone who believes the FICO credit score is the single most important number in any person's financial life, I track my own credit score and FICO changes closely and religiously. While admittedly a rather mundane and financially nerdy task, the routine monitoring of one's credit score has far reaching financial benefits beyond just ensuring one's continuous ability to apply for cheap credit or qualify for a discount loan at great rates. A high FICO credit score has broad ramifications that affect everything from your ability to get the best home mortgage rates and the cheapest car insurance premiums, to your capability of stopping identity theft in its tracks. For those that share my appreciation of maintaining a perpetually high FICO score, the practice is made easier with convenient and user-friendly online tracking tools that provide periodic email updates on credit score changes with updated and archived graphs that trace credit score changes over time.

By MoneyBlueBook

Review Of Free Tax Filing Software Options - TurboTax, TaxCut, and TaxAct

Tax day is a stressful and confusing time for many people as we scramble around with our W-2's and 1040 forms, but it doesn't have to be. Currently, there is a wealth of free tax filing resources available to help people like us with timely and accurate tax preparation, courtesy of organizations like the IRS and the U.S. government. Thus, even those those who do not have the extra financial means to afford premium tax software programs like TurboTax and Taxcut still have a wide selection of competent tax assistance programs at their disposal. Depending on their individual demographics such as age or income, and depending on the availability of other special status factors such as active duty in the armed services, certain taxpayers may even qualify for free federal government sponsored tax preparation assistance and free tax filing.

Free Tax Filing With IRS Free File Offers and Non Profit Volunteer Tax Preparation Services

The various free tax preparation and free tax filing services available can be broken down into two broad categories - offers that stem from the federal government's partnership program to bring affordable partially subsidized tax filing services to lower income people, and offers that are provided by volunteer tax organizations funded by non-profit interest groups.

Taxpayers who wish to prepare and file their taxes electronically for free can take advantage of the "Free File" tax return preparation program provided by private tax vendors such as Turbo Tax, Tax Cut, and Tax Act,