The
Importance of Financial Awareness in your
Children
Al
Jacobs Tips for Teaching Children about
Money |
The
following set of questions and answers is
an interview I recently gave to a children’s
magazine. Although my financial commentary
is normally aimed in a different direction,
the questions were challenging and my answers
seem appropriate for any adult audience.
As you read my responses, you’re invited
to think of the youngsters in your life,
as you consider how you might interact so
to be of help.
:::
Read Financial Awareness Article |
How
to Make Sure You Don't End Up Broke
Al
Jacobs Tips to Retire Rich Information |
A
fundamental question that every financially
concerned individual must face is this:
Will my money expire before I do? It’s
not a trivial matter, for the prospect of
arriving at advanced age with no assets
was never more accurately expressed than
by character Lamont Sanford in the television
series “Sanford and Son,” when
he exclaimed: “There’s only two
things worse than being poor—it’s
sick and dead.”
:::
Read Retirement Article |
The
Hows and Whys of the Sub-Prime Mortgage
Meltdown
Al
Jacobs Sub Prime Mortgage Information |
During
this past month the nation learned of the
collapse-in-progress of the sub-prime mortgage
market, which it appears will be promoted
as this season’s spectator sport. Each
day we view another victim in this saga:
a former sub-prime loan processor who lost
her job, a condominium owner now six months
behind in his mortgage payments and facing
foreclosure, or a shareholder of Accredited
Home Lenders whose stock value fell 65%
in a single day. What are we to think? Who
is to blame? What must be done?
:::
Read Mortgages Article |
Why
I Don't Invest in Mutual Funds
Al
Jacobs Investing in Mutual Funds Tips |
For
more than four decades I’ve involved
myself in investments, including stocks
and bonds, real estate, mortgage lending,
and variety of enterprises, some of them
hard to describe. However, there is one
endeavor that I’ve systematically avoided.
It is the mutual fund. At the risk of alienating
the investment world, I offer the following
observation: Mutual funds are not a particularly
profitable way to invest. Let me share with
you my biases on this subject.
:::
Read Mutual Funds Article |
7
Ways to Tell If You Are on the Trail to
Success
Al
Jacobs Road to Success Guide |
At
some point in most people’s lives comes
a realization that the dreams of youth and
more sober aspirations of early adulthood
may never come to pass. A childhood fantasy
to become a famous movie star, a teenage
obsession to excel on the athletic field,
or a young worker’s aspiration to be
a millionaire, are among the hopes that
remain a distant vision. But as years pass
and illusions fade, each of us must come
to terms with the success we achieve—or
fail to achieve.
:::
Read Personal Finance Article |
Investment
by Default
Al
Jacobs Investing in Mutual Funds Article |
No
discussion of securities in the first decade
of the twenty-first century may ignore what
is now the most powerful and profitable
marketing tool of the industry: the open-end
investment company known as the mutual fund.
Since formation of the first such company
in the United States in 1924, acceptance
by the public grew to become universal.
:::
Read Investment Article |
Intellectuals
Beware
Al
Jacobs Intellectuals Beware Article |
“Do
you really have to be a genius to become
financially independent?” Perhaps it’s
time that we consider exactly what role
native intelligence plays in achieving monetary
success. Although the modern public school
establishment may contend otherwise, we
cannot all be at the top of the class.
:::
Read Personal Finance Article |
Observations
of a Bubble
Al
Jacobs Real Estate Bubble Article |
The
subject of real estate is seldom discussed
today without mention of the omnipresent
housing bubble. From all reports, it seems
certain to burst, bringing with it a cornucopia
of misfortune for millions of souls. Judging
from the incessant flow of articles and
commentary, it is a national obsession.
Publications of such stature as Reuters
and Businessweek and persons as prominent
as Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan
are regularly addressing the problem.
:::
Read Full Investment Article |
The
Mutual Fund - A Critical View
Al
Jacobs Investing Mutual Funds Article |
Not
long ago I received an inquiry from a visitor
to a website on which I’ve functioned
as the financial consultant over the past
year. The questions, short and to the point,
read as follows: “What should I look
for in a fund? I recently rolled over a
401(k) into an IRA and right now sitting
in a money market account (I’m peeved
at my advisor about that). I’m looking
for some good aggressive growth funds. One
more thing: The IRA is about 6K. Should
I put it in one mutual fund, or a couple,
or a hundred? Thanks, Kelly.”
:::
Read Full Investment Article |
A
Thimbleful of Prosperity
Al
Jacobs Investing + Personal Finance Article |
My
financial newsletter as well as a regular
flow of articles, stress the importance
of amassing assets. In these writings I
discuss savings and retirement programs,
corporate stocks and bonds, rental real
estate, mortgage lending, and a variety
of other more or less sophisticated methods
for achieving wealth. My belief has been
that, provided with guidelines and encouragement,
any person can learn to master the techniques
needed to become prosperous.
:::
Read Full Financial Prosperity Article |
The
New Bankruptcy Law (in America)
Al
Jacobs Investing + Personal Finance Article |
For
a brief historical background, the concept
of bankruptcy is relatively modern, dating
in this country to 1800 when Congress adopted
the first national bankruptcy law, modeling
it after a British statute of the time.
Prior to that time, unpaid debts were treated
as criminal offenses throughout the world.
In ancient Rome, creditors were literally
able to divide the body of an insolvent
debtor or to enslave him and his family.
:::
Read Full Bankruptcy Article |
Wrestling
With the Establishment
Al
Jacobs Investing + Personal Finance Article |
Have
you done any business with a large multinational
company recently? And if so, during the
transaction did you have that feeling of
confidence which comes only in the presence
of grandiosity, as eloquently expressed
in the slogan adopted by a mammoth northern
California savings & loan association
some years ago? "Big . . . Safe . .
. Friendly."
:::
Read Full Investing Article |
25
Signs That Show You Know How to Handle Money
Al
Jacobs Investing + Personal Finance Article |
The
ability to master your money is not something
that just happens. It takes time, training,
and temperament.. Whatever the average citizen
knows about saving and investing did not
come from the classroom. This is understandable,
of course, if only because the typical classroom
teacher is equally mystified by the world
of money. Nonetheless, there are those among
us who have figured out how it all works,
and what it takes to prosper
:::
Read Full Investing Article |
5
Magnificent Ways to Waste Money
Al
Jacobs Personal Finance Article |
This
is dedicated to those among us whose wealth
is so abundant that they need advice on
how to dispose of it. In connection with
the guidance I’m about to offer, I
can claim no original inspiration, as the
methods are not novel. I’ll also concede
that many individuals without money to burn
also practice these spendthrift techniques,
though exactly why persons not rolling in
dough behave in such a fashion remains a
mystery
:::
Read Full Personal Finance Article |
|
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