Personal Finance Software Suffering From Deflation
Microsoft announcement that its Money product will no longer be sold at retail marks another step in the decline and fall of PC-based personal finance software. We shouldn’t let this occasion go unnoticed; married geeks everywhere used the “We can use it to balance the checkbook” excuse to justify their first PC.
Maybe it was just my own personal lack of foresight, but I never seemed able to correctly categorize expenses at the time where I entered or reviewed them. Inevitably, I would review everything at tax time and find either deductible items that I had missed, or categories that included a mix of deductible and nondeductible items. If I was going to do that review anyway, it seemed like a waste of time to spend too much effort on the weekly categorizing. I guess it’s like the pain of ripping a bandage off quickly, rather than trying to pull it off a bit at a time.
It might seem that it’s “safer” to use PC-based software to manage your finances, since your data is not out on the Internet but just kept on your local drive. Well, except for one little detail: Nearly all the information you need is already online. Money and Quicken depend on being able to communicate with your local bank, brokerage accounts, credit card companies, and the like so that they can pull down the data about your accounts. Without that feature, you’d be left to type it all in again.
A few years back, I switched to fully online money management with no PC software other than a browser. There are plenty of options for doing this; many banks, credit cards, and financial institutions offer online bill payment and money management. I like it a lot better. Yes, Quicken or Money have better categorization and integrate all the accounts, but it doesn’t seem worth the extra hassles and cost of the software.
Tags: bandage, bill payment, brokerage accounts, categorization, checkbook, credit cards, decline and fall, excuse, financial institutions, foresight, geeks, hassles, local bank, microsoft announcement, money management, pc based software, pc software, personal finance software, tax time, waste of timeRelated posts
Indians Trapped by Debt as Easy Money Dries Up
In the past two months, Ravinder Raina tossed and turned on many sleepless nights trying to re-do the math of his family’s monthly expenses.
Rising mortgage payments, soaring inflation and fuel prices were beginning to put the squeeze on the spending spree he’d taken for granted for the past four years. So after painstaking discussions with his wife, he drew up a list of expenses to cut. The family would stop buying famous-brand clothes. They would not window-shop if they did not need anything. They would use credit cards less and replace their gasoline-fueled car with a vehicle that uses cheaper natural gas.
The most difficult decision, he said, was to cut down on outings. “Weekends were for indulging our daughter, spending time with her and enjoying. Watching a movie, shopping and trying out a different restaurant each time,” said Raina, 44 and a manager of a company that owns upscale hotels and spas.
The past four years have brought India economic growth of seemingly unstoppable momentum, often 9 percent a year, helped along by big inflows of foreign investment. Rising incomes and low interest rates enabled many middle-class Indians to realize the dream of owning a home, even while still in their 30s.
But economists warned that the economy was overheating, producing inflation and speculative bubbles in real estate and the stock market. So government policymakers moved to cool things down by raising interest rates and tightening the rules for home loans. Taken along with the general global slowdown and spiraling fuel costs, the measures have had the intended effect.
This summer, he pulled his son out of the school and sent his family back to the village.
Tags: brand clothes, different restaurant, difficult decision, easy money, foreign investment, fuel costs, global slowdown, government policymakers, home loans, low interest rates, many sleepless nights, monthly expenses, mortgage payments, owning a home, speculative bubbles, spending spree, spending time, unstoppable momentumRelated posts
A wonderful investment
Groundbreaking on Alliant Energy’s new training center was held Friday in Marshalltown, with company and locally-elected officials hailing the project as an investment in the future.
The new facility was needed because the old training center sits on the ground where the proposed new power plant will be constructed.
However, while there has been a relationship with the community, Marshalltown Mayor Gene Beach noted the company had many other options.
Aller noted one of the primary reasons Alliant Energy settled on Marshalltown once again was because of the relationship the company has enjoyed with the city, he told the mayor. The company head said Marshalltown should be held up as an example to many other communities in both Iowa and Wisconsin.
Once that is done, a field training course will also be constructed which will give crews the chance to work on real-world simulations in the outdoors and also possibly provide some training opportunities for local emergency crews on how to deal with things such as natural gas fires.
Tags: alliant energy, emergency crews, groundbreaking, marshalltown, natural gas, new training center, power plant, real world, relationship, world simulationsRelated posts
Florida settles insurance dispute with Allstate
Florida homeowners insured by Allstate companies will get an additional 5.6 percent rate cut because of its settlement with the state.
The latest reduction will bring total rate cuts to 19.8 percent since June 1, 2007.
The agreement resolves the state’s complaints that Allstate failed to provide documents required for a rate increase and falsely certified a rate filing.
McCarty said he will continue to investigate the company for other possible violations of state law.
Tags: allstate, florida homeowners, Insurance, insurance dispute, rate increaseRelated posts
Sick kids treated more with state health insurance
A new, nationwide study says chronically ill children enrolled in state-subsidized insurance programs or Medicaid get about the same access to care as children with private insurance.
The study from New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation also says children without any type of health insurance are less likely to be treated for chronic conditions, such as asthma or diabetes.
Foundation president and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey says forgoing treatment puts sick children at higher risk for hospitalization and increases health costs down the road.
Tags: asthma, chronic conditions, diabetes, diabetes foundation, foundation president, health costs, hospitalization, ill children, insurance programs, lavizzo, medicaid, mourey, private insurance, risa, robert wood johnson foundation, sick children, sick kids, state health insurance, wood johnson foundationRelated posts
Finance Committee looks at project to improve North I Street
The Oskaloosa City Council’s Finance Committee mulled over assessments for North I Street at Thursday’s Finance Committee Meeting.
The project on I Street will be a major one; the street will be improved from High Avenue West to M Avenue West. Bids are expected to be let on the project in November or December, and work could begin next spring. The committee discussed a variety of issues, including whether the city could assess the Fair Board for street improvements. City Engineer Liz Finarty said the board could be assessed.
The cost to each property is determined by a formula involving the depth of the property and the property’s distance from the improved street. An assessment would also include the cost of adding a 4-foot sidewalk to property owners on the westside of North I Street and the southside of M Avenue West, and the cost of adding concrete to the right-of-way or property line for gravel driveways. The city of Oskaloosa would assume other costs including the remaining paving, grading and installing the parallel storm sewer.
For the project to proceed, the City Council will eventually have to adopt a resolution of necessity. This requires at least 75 percent of the council to vote in favor of the resolution to pass, which rounds up to six votes. Also, according to Iowa Code Chapter 348.51, ownership of property to be assessed by an improvement does not, except for fraud or bad faith, disqualify a council member from voting on any measure.
Tags: bad faith, city engineer, committee meeting, council member, finance committee, fraud, gravel driveways, high avenue, iowa code chapter, oskaloosa, paving, property owners, resolution of necessity, sidewalk, southside, storm sewer, street improvements, westsideRelated posts
Full financial disclosure better serves voters
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gaye Symington is swimming against strong currents of common political sense and the interest of voters in refusing to release a personal finance statement that includes information about her spouse. More important, she’s failing to serve voters by stepping back from full transparency in her run for governor.
That interest reaches into finances because money who has how much and where it came from can offer another way to gauge a candidate’s interests and potential for conflicts of interest. To put it another way, voters want to know about the possible influence of money on a candidate.
The principles involved are similar to those that were raised when Symington argued for limits on campaign contributions in state elections included in the campaign finance reform legislation that failed in the past legislative session. If money from donors has the potential to corrupt, then voters are better served by knowing about all sources of money to which a candidate might have access.
If Symington needs another argument for including her husband in her personal finance report, her main rivals, Republican Gov. Jim Douglas and independent Anthony Pollina, say they intend to release personal financial statements that will include information about their wives.
The last major-party candidate to balk at revealing full family finances was former Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle when he ran for governor in 2004. He eventually gave in, and still lost the election.
That leaves Symington with little choice but to eventually include her husband in her report. It is a move that promotes an open political process and serves the interest and voters.
Tags: finances, financial statement, financial statements, Money, Personal FinanceRelated posts
Money funds’ shares get shored up
Several companies that run money market mutual funds have been quietly stepping in and replacing some of their troubled assets to keep shareholders from losing money.
Money funds, which hold $3.5 trillion, have built a reputation as a safe and easily accessible investment. Though uninsured, they keep their share price at $1 so investors won’t ever lose money. No retail money fund has ever had its share price drop below $1; “breaking a buck,” as the industry calls it. The funds invest in short-term, high-quality securities, such as Treasury bills and commercial paper, IOUs issued by financially strong companies.
In the past year, though, several firms have sought permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission to shore up their money funds, often by removing securities issued by “structured investment vehicles,” or SIVs. Many SIVs have run into trouble because they hold subprime-mortgage-backed securities.
Tags: invest, Investment, investor, investors, Money, money market, mortgage, mutual funds, shareholdersRelated posts
Fuel hedges could end up wasting airlines’ money
U.S. airlines are cheering a steep decline in the price of jet fuel since mid-July, when crude oil began a nearly $27-per-barrel descent, but that good news may come with a slight sting for carriers that locked in fuel prices when oil was at its peak.
The risk is that oil may drift below the current price airlines guaranteed with hedging contracts, which are usually options. If that happens, the hedges carriers purchased could be a waste of money.
Worse yet, it is possible some airlines could be committed to paying more for their fuel than market prices.
“Given some of the hedging mechanisms they are using, they are going to be subject to significant losses on those portfolios. We’ve never seen such volatility on oil prices,” said Brian Nelson, equity analyst at Morningstar.
Information provided by the seven largest U.S. airlines last month show their fuel hedges are still effective. That means that, on the portion of their expected fuel consumption, carriers have locked in a price that is currently below the market price.
Tags: MoneyRelated posts
Investment Firms Agree to Purchase the Assets of Norwalk Furniture
The investment firm of IRG Capital Group, LLC, an affiliate of Industrial Realty Group, in partnership with Blackbird Capital Partners has signed a letter of intent to purchase the assets of Norwalk Furniture Corp. Meanwhile, the company has fully resumed operations throughout the 106-year-old custom furniture manufacturing and retail business. The prospective new owners request that terms of the sale remain confidential.
“IRG Capital Group and Blackbird Capital are a perfect match for this deal because they both believe strongly in the value of growing this company, the strength of its employees and the tradition of Norwalk’s product,” said Domenic Aversa, acting CEO and architect of the company’s restructuring plan. “These investors are committed to building on the great tradition this company has represented for more than a century, and both have a long history of doing business in Ohio and investing in Ohio-based companies.”
“Lt. Gov. Fisher, the Ohio Department of Development, the city of Fulton, Mississippi, and the Mississippi county of Itawamba were all instrumental in making this work for investors, while preserving the company’s long-term future,” Aversa said. “The unions and all our employees were very supportive throughout this difficult transition.”
“We are happy to offer assistance and to help facilitate a public-private partnership that will enable Norwalk Furniture to remain a strong business now and in the future,” said Lt. Governor Fisher, who also serves as Director of the Ohio Department of Development. “We are committed to their success.”
Charles Rowe Jr., president of IRG Capital Group, will assume the interim role of the company’s CEO, while a permanent replacement is being sought. Rowe served formerly as CEO of The Sharon Companies, Ltd. in Akron, Ohio and QualServ Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri.
IRG Capital Group, based in Akron, Ohio, is a private investment firm affiliated with Industrial Realty Group, which has controlling interests in a variety of operating entities across a broad industry range, including mining, trucking and food services, while actively seeking additional investment opportunities both in distressed businesses and venture capital scenarios.
Blackbird Capital Partners is a private investment firm affiliated with Blackbird Capital Group in Cincinnati, which provides capital to, and acquires, distressed businesses. Blackbird invests in a wide variety of industries and currently owns controlling stakes in technology and paper converting businesses in Ohio。
Tags: invest, investing, Investment, investor, investors