Twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown ... | Business | The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/26/road-ruin-recession-individuals-economy

Hall of shame...if they have any.

The worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression is not a natural phenomenon but a man-made disaster in which we all played a part. In the second part of a week-long series looking behind the slump, Guardian City editor Julia Finch picks out the individuals who have led us into the current crisis

... and six more who saw it coming

Recession spending by sector (US)

The spending data is cool, but it's largely meaningless to use for any decision-making about the state of the economy.

"Mint.com is in a unique position to answer this question – quantitatively. Since the crisis first hit in September, our user registration rate has more than quadrupled, giving us 900,000 sample points on the economy. That’s close to 1% of US households."

The average customer: "are spending $400 less each month than they were a year ago, have burned through half of their savings, and on average have taken on an additional $5k in debt."

Aaron Patzer

now if you know what you need, you can just download the forms... no income limits

abreast

Another interesting blog. Mostly because it doesn't look like one! Really great use of categorization, images, and interactive elements (like polls).

obama's fc plan

obama plan website

A few weeks ago Obama's new secretary or treasury Tim Geitner unveiled the outlines of a plan to fix the financial crisis in our Country. One of the problems with these massive plans from the government is that citizens want to know exactly where their money is going. This is the treasury secretary's answer to that problem this site will document where all the money for the proposed plan will be documented and will be able to track.

Obama run site to track stimuls package spending

When it comes to money, the best defense is a good offense. The best way to avoid fallout from the national economy is to take control of your personal economy. By developing smart financial habits, you can remain calm even in the midst of a financial crisis. (Well, mostly calm, anyhow.)

Compare and discuss the %age budget breakdowns.

JD, writing at Zen Habits.

Pretty good list of options for burgeoning game developers.

terest rates have dropped by 1% from your current mortgage. As always, use t

handy

Get Rich Slowly — recently named most inspiring money blog by Money magazine — is devoted to sensible personal finance. You will not find any get-rich-quick schemes here. Nor will you find multi-level marketing fads or hot stock tips. I am not pitching any product or book. Instead, you’ll find daily information about personal finance and related topics. I share stories about debt elimination, saving money, and practical investing. I also post occasional reviews of books, magazines, and software. And, of course, I scour the web for the latest personal finance tools and articles. Please note that I am not a financial professional. I’m just an average guy who found himself deep in debt. When it finally became too overwhelming, I began reading personal finance books, hoping to find answers. I wanted swift solutions to my problems. My research revealed that few people get rich quickly, but almost anyone can get rich slowly by patiently following some simple rules.

Online resources to help manage money

Protecting your family from financial disasters is one of the fundamental components of financial planning. Life insurance should be a core part of that planning process. This article is a basic primer on life insurance, which should introduce you to the concept and give you an idea of how life insurance works.

INSURANCE

This article is a basic primer on life insurance, which should introduce you to the concept and give you an idea of how life insurance works.

You can in fact calculate it, easily. The 100 customers each have a 3% chance of defaulting, so you expect three customers to default next year. That is, you will need to pay $3 million next year. Assuming the interest rate is about 3% each year, next year's $3 million would be worth 3/(3/100+1)=3/1.03=2.91 million now. Therefore HSBC will have to pay you at least $2.91 million for the insurance. Obviously Lehman Brothers wasn't a charity and so, to make money, they would double the price to $5.82 million and expect to make $2.91 million out of each of these deals on average. This kind of insurance is called a credit derivative swap (CDS).

The idea of this site is to build a number of free, easy to use, on-line calculators to help you calculate the cost of various financial products such as loans, credit cards and mortgages. Rather than going to a debt management company, or consolidating your loans, this site contains financial tools to help you get debt free yourself!

The idea of this site is to build a number of free, easy to use, on-line calculators to help you calculate the cost of various financial products such as loans, credit cards and mortgages.

Financial Calculators. Good for Skills class.

calculator to learn true cost

calculate how long you'll be in credit card debt, from board of governors of federal reserve system

from the Federal Reserve

important feedback in the comments, good stuff

Financial Times Lexicon

Browse thousands of words and phrases selected by Financial Times editors and suggest new terms for the glossary.

- The definitive glossary of economic, financial and business terms

Financial Literacy for Everyone

Over the past several months, I’ve gradually come to use Evernote for all kinds of tasks, from managing my writing to jotting down grocery ideas to drafting articles. It’s free and it’s become my single most used application on every computer I use – my Mac (where I do most of my work), my laptop (remember the frugal laptop? I’m still using it!), and even my iPod Touch, which is constantly in my pocket. A big nod to Manny, a long-time Simple Dollar reader who introduced me to Evernote (see comment #5 on that thread).

Winning at the Credit Score Game

For years Dr Doom toiled in relative obscurity as a NYU economics professor under his alias, Nouriel Roubini. But after making a series of uncannily accurate predictions about the global meltdown, Roubini has become the prophet of his age, jetting around the world dispensing his advice & latest prognostications to politicians & businessmen desperate to know what happens next – and for any answer to the crisis. Most other economists scoffed at Roubini & his predictions of imminent disaster. They dismissed his warnings that the sub-prime mortgage disaster would trigger a financial meltdown & that the investment banks would be crushed as the world headed for a long recession. Yet all these predictions & more came true. Few are laughing now.

Nouriel Roubini

a Cassandra

As stock markets headed off a cliff again last week, closely followed by currencies, and as meltdown threatened entire countries such as Hungary and Iceland, one voice was in demand above all others to steer us through the gloom: that of

Interesting portrait of Ben Bernanke in the New Yorker

Article from The New Yorker on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke; brief history of current economic crisis (13 pp)

Interesting article about Chairman Bernanke and the current financial crisis

Easy-to-Use Tax Withholding Calculator

Kiplinger's Easy-to-use tax withholding calculator. Why let the IRS hold your money interest-free? Use our calculator to see how much you can add to your paycheck...starting next pay day.

search scholarships by college or other criteria

Search merit aid scholarships from schools near you, plus thousands of other schools at MeritAid.com.

Accessible search engine for college-bound seniors looking for financial aid opportunities.

Whilst bank cards along with money cards may appear virtually the exact same, its not all plastic may be the identical.

Although charge cards and money cards may well look almost the exact same, not all plastic will be the exact same.

Although bank cards along with money handmade cards could appear practically identical, its not all plastic will be the exact same.

Whilst charge cards along with debit handmade cards could glimpse almost identical, not every plastic material may be the same.

Although plastic cards and also debit greeting cards could glimpse nearly the same, not every plastic could be the exact same.

When credit cards as well as money handmade cards might glimpse almost identical, not all plastic-type may be the identical.

When credit cards along with money handmade cards might glimpse practically similar, not all plastic material will be the same.

Whilst plastic cards along with money homemade cards may well appear practically the same, not all cheap could be the similar.

Whilst credit cards along with debit cards may well look virtually the exact same, not every plastic will be the similar.

A personal finance blog focusing on ordinary people dealing with unprecedented levels of debt.

Comprehensive list!

Business & Tech

Nb Might follow up

Comment 42: William: "That, and our economy runs on paper money that the world doesn't accept as currency due to no gold standard. See the financial reasons for war in Iraq and Iran being next due to both economies no longer accepting US Dollars as main trade currency, instead switching to the Euro for its more stable fluctuation in value. When the US buys, the US prints, thus inflating their own economy, essentially taking it out on US citizens, and devaluing the money the foreign sellers recieve. They get tired of taking $9.50 worth of bills at which time of agreement was worth $10; in which time we declare them an international threat and takeover their government to re-establish the dollar as currency to maintain the image in the world. One large economic nation such as China or India stopping trade in US Dollars and our economy is finished." -- Basically

RT @draenews: Del A Simple Way to Become Wealthy - Yahoo! Finance: http://yhoo.it/c1FEH8

"I gave excuses why I couldn't invest and then he said something that changed my thinking: saving and investing isn't hard. You just have to treat it like a bill. 'To max out your Roth IRA, divide by 12 and send that amount each month. Even easier, go to the finance office and set up an automatic allotment from your paycheck, and YOU'LL NEVER THINK ABOUT IT AGAIN.' [Perfect!] It's not that I didn't have enough money to invest. I just wasn't prioritizing how I used it. This forced me to make it part of my budget. That 15 minute conversation changed my life and might just make me a millionaire. Three reasons you should consider automatic investing. 1. It's easy. No remembering. Set it up once, and it gets done. 2. There's no emotional barrier. It's difficult to write a check each month when you have current wants. This helps you stick to long term plans. 3. You don't try to time the market. For the average investor, dollar cost averaging is best.

My first real job was as a junior enlisted member of the United States Air Force. I had great benefits, but as a low ranking

A Simple Way to Become Wealthy

10 things learned from eating on only $1 a day. http://bit.ly/bwrOKr – Aza Raskin (azaaza) http://twitter.com/azaaza/statuses/16879036268