May 2012

Should You Pay Off Debt or Save for Retirement?

May 9, 2012

One of the questions I see a lot deals with which financial goal you should tackle first. Should you pay off your credit card debt first, and then build an emergency fund? Should you save for retirement while you still have school loans? Which credit card should you pay off first? Yesterday, Deacon from Well [...]

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Facebook Worth $100 Billion (and I Can Whistle Dixie Out My @$$)

May 7, 2012

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Tech Buble meet Facebook. Facebook is on the verge of ushering in the largest IPO ever. FB plans to offer 337 million Class A shares at between $28 and $35 per share. At the high end of that [...]

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2012 Retirement Confidence Survey

May 4, 2012

The Employee Benefit Research Institute recently released its 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey (pdf download). It’s not a pretty picture. The survey covers a lot of retirement issues, including confidence you’ll have enough to retire (most aren’t so confident), what age you think you’ll retire (in 1991 11% said 65; in 2012 it jumped to 37%), [...]

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Ally Introduces 2 New Ally Bank Mobile Apps

May 3, 2012

Recently Ally Bank released two mobile phone applications. The apps, designed for the iPhone or Android phones, are a big step into mobile banking for Ally. Frankly, Ally Bank has been behind the curve on its move toward mobile banking, but the Ally Mobile Banking and Ally ATM and Cash Locator apps move it in [...]

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My Investment Portfolio Update (April 2012)

May 2, 2012

As I mentioned earlier this week, I started investing in individual stocks about three years ago. While I consider myself a passive investor, I’ve come to believe that smart passive investing can include individual stocks and industry-specific ETFs. Of course, it’s one thing to invest in individual stocks and another thing to actually make money [...]

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A Rare Glimpse Inside the FICO Credit Score Formula

May 1, 2012

Like the formula for Coca-Cola , the FICO credit scoring formula is a closely guarded secret. The Fair Isaac Corporation, however, does give us a glimpse into the secret sauce from time to time. For example, Fair Isaac has disclosed what factors go into its scoring model and the weight to be given each factor: [...]

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