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Happy Hour: Super Sized Soda Ban & Hiring Letdown

June 1, 2012 by Jon

It’s Happy Hour again. After the shortened work week, it’s time to sit back, relax and cover a few interesting topics I came across this week.

Super Sized Soda Ban

The great mayor of New York has taken it upon himself to ban the sale of large size sodas in restaurants and other eateries in the city. Seriously! Any cup bigger than 16 oz. will be banned.

What’s next, no free refills or forced food portion controls. The sound reasoning for the ban is people are overweight, so we shouldn’t use big cups. The good news is restaurants can expect to make more selling that second or third cup now that the super sized versions are no more.

Hiring Letdown

The disappointing jobs numbers came out this morning with only 69,000 jobs created in May. It’s the worst number so far this year after April’s and fell short of estimates by about 90,000. Not a good sign for the economy. There are too many unanswered questions going into next year with health care and taxes. It’s hard to run a business and hire people when you don’t know what your costs will be in six months. Continue Reading…

The Best Stock Screener Online

August 15, 2022 by Jon

The best stock screener allows investors to quickly filter through thousands of stocks using their own unique criteria. It could be something as simple as a P/E ratio or dividend yield range. But most stock screens use several variables just to find that perfect stock for your portfolio. When you know what you’re looking for, the right stock screener will cut your research time from hours to seconds.

Back in the olden days (the early 90’s), the average investor had to pore over volumes of Standard and Poors. It could take hours or even days to find a stock that met your standards. Then the internet came along and knocked the time down to nanoseconds. You could spend a few minutes entering your search criteria and a second later it would spit out a list of stocks. If the list was too big, you just refined your search or added new variables.

Since then, tech changes have allowed for more complex stock screens. Continue Reading…

An Early Look At The Possible 2013 Tax Rates Increase

May 29, 2012 by Jon

Call it Taxmageddon, a fiscal cliff or just a nightmare, the impending 2013 tax rates increase could turn out to be a disaster for taxpayers. As it stands, there are several tax cuts set to expire at the end of this year. All of which could impact your income and the economy.

The economic impact of major tax hikes should be enough for Congress to act. But that’s not all. There are also impending spending cuts going into effect on Jan 1.

What will most likely become a key part of the election debate, the 2013 tax rates won’t be dealt with until December. This leaves a gaping void for taxpayers and businesses on how to proceed for the rest of the year.

This is why it’s never too early to look at potential tax changes. It might save you money later. Of course, to do that, we need to look at the potential 2013 tax rates.

The 2013 federal income tax brackets were finalized with the signing of the American Taxpayer Relief Act. Continue Reading…

Happy Hour: Facebook Divorce And A Dumber Congress?

May 25, 2012 by Jon

Welcome to Happy Hour and the start of Memorial Day weekend. While you’re lounging around enjoying the three-day weekend, take a look at what I’ve been reading this week.

Divorce Over Facebook

It seems Facebook is great at destroying two things. First, its market value. Second, is marriages. A recent U.K. survey shows that Facebook has contributed to an increase in divorces. More than 30% of divorce filings have the word Facebook in it. Either, the openness of social networking has a dark side or people shouldn’t post everything about their lives on Facebook.

A Dumber Congress?

A lot can happen in 7 years. Just look at the U.S. Congress. A new study shows that today’s Congress speaks at a 10th grade level. Not bad, until you compare it to 2005 Continue Reading…

Prepaid Debit Cards and Your Savings

May 24, 2012 by Jon

The prepaid debit cards market continues to grow.

Bank leviathan, JP Morgan Chase, thrust itself into the prepaid debit card market recently by launching the Chase LiquidSM at about 200 branches. The Campus Edition Prepaid Card, an American Express card, also popped up this month to target consumers who don’t qualify for credit or charge cards.

With the hubbub about these new cards, it’s important to consider how any prepaid debit card could be beneficial or detrimental to how you save money.

Control Spending

With a prepaid debit card, it’s up to you how much money is available on the card from which purchases are deducted. The money you put on the card is all you have available. Discipline is essential. You must save and spend wisely. Otherwise you may dip into your savings just so you can charge more to your prepaid card. Continue Reading…

New Financial Literacy Campaign A Good First Draft

May 22, 2012 by Jon

A new financial literacy campaign was recently released by the White House that covers a financial education plan for children. The best part, it starts at home.

The new campaign, that was put together by the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, is called, Money as You Grow. The new site offers guidance for parents and teachers that cover 20 financial lessons for kids, spread across five age groups.

The Advisory Council was originally introduced in 2010 to find ways to improve youth financial literacy. It took about a years worth of research, to create this new campaign, which was ten months too long. Much of what is recommended in the guide has been touted as necessary by the personal finance community for years. That said, there are many important topics covered that everyone should know and it does offer some general guidance on what to cover. Continue Reading…