This morning I was reading the WSJ (Wall Street Journal for those who have already started on New Year’s Eve) and saw something that I thought worth copying for you. In an article by Karen Blumenthal called How To Fix Your Finances in 2010, she had this section on setting benchmark dates to get better acquainted with your finances.
“Martin Luther King’s Birthday: Get Educated. In the honor of the thoughtful civil-rights leader, take an hour or two over the long weekend to study up on one financial issue that you’ve ignored. Look up the expenses embedded in the mutual funds in your 401(k). Calculate how much your debt is costing you. Figure out what’s actually covered by your insurance policies – and what isn’t.
Real financial literacy means paying attention to how banks, lenders and investment firms make money off us. “Failing to really focus is rolling the dice – and the house tends to win,” says Adam Levin, co-founder and chairman of Credit.com, a credit-information web site. Reflective and forward-thinking consumers understand what they have signed up for.”
I found this interesting in the light of the fact that many credit card companies have recently raised interest rates to as much as 29 percent. Unless you read the endless amount of mail from them or actually study your monthly bill, you may not even notice. As I have written before, folks will grind me for an eighth of a percent on their mortgage interest rate and all the while are paying 23 percent and making minimum payments on their $20,000 balance on their credit card.
David Walden 925-426-8383 ext. 26 – Diversified Mortgage Group – Pleasanton, CA
