Although bank credit cards are a relatively recent innovation, typically marked by the establishment of the “businessman’s Diner’s Club card” in 1950, U.S. society has historically depended upon the availability of consumer credit. For example, farmers depended on store credit before the harvest of their crops in rural America, whereas industrial workers were issued “script” for purchases in the company store that were later deducted from their wages. Significantly, both forms of consumer credit often produced a form of debt/labor servitude. This common experience was recounted in the famous lyrics of Tennessee Williams, “I owe my soul to the company store.” (more…)

Only 25 years ago, today’s ubiquitous use of “universal” bank credit cards might have seemed a futurist fantasy. Prior to the finance regulation of the financial services industry in 1980, banks made consumer loans as “installment” credit. Loan approval was based on an assessment of the applicants’ household income, personal assets, credit repayment history, and outstanding debt. Preferred clients had financial collateral and repaid their loans (pre approved auto loan) on a fixed time schedule. Similarly, financial companies and banks cautiously issued charge cards and revolving credit cards to low-risk clients, primarily upper- and some middle-income households, who used them for convenience or for business. (more…)

You may enjoy shopping (whether it is cyber shopping or online grocery shopping) and do it often, or you might go to the mall only if you need to buy something. In either case, wise buying decisions will help you get the most out of the products you buy now and will enable you to meet your long-term financial goals. To get the most for your money, you need to recognize the factors that affect your buying habits. There is shows some of the economic, social, and personal factors that influence the purchases you make. (more…)

Economic factors across the country and around the world can affect personal finances. They play a role in day-to-day financial planning and decision making for most people. Economics is the study of the decisions that go into making, distributing, and using goods and services. The economy consists of the ways in which people make, distribute, and use their goods and services. To understand economics and the economy, you need to be aware of the market forces, financial institutions, global influences, and economic conditions that affect global as well as personal decisions. (more…)

Current economic conditions also affect your personal financial decisions and how economic conditions can influence financial planning. There are three important economic conditions: 1. Consumer prices, 2. Consumer spending, 3. Interest rates

Consumer Prices (more…)

Does anyone in the world who has not affected the current financial crisis? Everyone agrees that something should be done. Many retired couples have seen vanish their life savings in the stock market. Families of young adults remain in the street when they are evicted from their homes. Consumer confidence in America is at its lowest level since the rating system was created in 1967. (more…)

Introduction

A lot has been said about finances and financial success, however if one does not have a basic understanding of the code used by the professionals you will be lost. In this article we will introduce some of the words and concepts that the non-financial expert often encounters.In order to ensure that the reader enjoy the maximum benefit from this article, the author tried to steer away from the traditional definitions in an effort to make the terms understandable to everybody. (more…)

In this current deep economic crisis, a good negotiation skill is a must for shoppers. Not only you will get a bargain price for the same goods or service that you need, you will save some money as well. Having good negotiation skills can make the difference between financial survival or financial failure.

Saving money during economic crisis is not an automatic slam dunk. You will be surprised that so many uninformed buyers are still paying product or service with too much money. Do you know why? It is simple because the buyers do not know how to negotiate to get a good bargain. (more…)

Once you know how much money you need to meet your goals, you then have to think about where to invest it. To make that decision, you need to understand the different risk factors. Also, you should consider each investment’s potential for income and growth as well as its liquidity. You should evaluate the overall risk factor of making investment by examining five different components of risk: inflation risk, interest rate risk, business failure risk, financial market risk, and global company risk. Not only this will saving extra money, but the decision of investment is for long term investment only. (more…)