If you want to learn a little more about personal finance, you might consider signing up for free seminars from the National Association of Personal Finance Advisors (NAPFA). This is a 12-month course, with a single one-hour seminar held each month over the Internet. You will have to RSVP for each session that you want to attend. Each is taught by a certified financial planner. Here are the planned topics for the seminars:

August 7, 2009 –       Money 101: Knowing the Basics

September 4, 2009 – Kids & Money

October 2, 2009 –      What is Financial Planning?

November 6, 2009 –   Protecting What You Have

December 4, 2009 –    Investments: The Basics

January 8, 2010 –        Investments: Advanced Concepts

February 5, 2010 –       Managing Your 401(k)

March 5, 2010 –            Leaving a Legacy

April 2, 2010 –               Women and Money

May 6, 2010 –                Financial Planning and Small Business Owners

June 4, 2010 –               Your Retirement

July 1, 2010 –                 Financial Windfalls

As Congress tries to hash out health care reform (and wrangle over a public insurance option), many have wondered about the place of long-term care. Most have said including it in reform is too expensive. However, new legislation may help mitigate some of the costs — and provide a savings vehicle for those who expect to need help with long-term care costs in the future. It is called the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS Act — don’t you love how they name these things?). NPR reports on the main thrust of the act:

That legislation, which is part of the committee’s health bill, would let workers choose to have government deduct money from their paychecks — maybe $65 to $100 a month — and put it in a savings account. When they get old or disabled and need care, they could then use that money.

Anything that encourages automatic savings is generally a good idea. I would be interested to know whether the savings account would offer a high yield, and whether you could direct some of the money to be put into conservative investments. Of course, since it would be a long-term investment, I would favor index funds. I think that something similar to retirement accounts now — complete with tax advantages and the ability to direct some investments — would be in order. But it doesn’t look like that has really been thought out.

In any case, it is fairly obvious that health care reform on all fronts is needed. The private sector has largely dropped the ball, and offering a public option for health insurance (perhaps something similar to what our elected officials have access to) is a good first step. And you wouldn’t be forced to choose it if you could get a better deal elsewhere. A public option would introduce something akin to competition in a market where, quite frankly, there is very little.

Image source: NESRI via Flickr

You Need a Budget has put together a contest for moms who budget. I am a mom, and I do budget (loosely), but I’m really not that into running a “tight ship”, as the contest states. But you might do well in this contest. All you have to do is share your creative budgeting techniques, and you could win. Some of the prizes being offered include:

• A trip to the spa at the Four Seasons in Dallas.
• Personal finance gift package.
• YNAB gift packages.

The contest started yesterday, and you have until August 3, 2009, to fill out the entry. you get extra entries for social media (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc.). The grand prize (Four Seasons) is awarded after voting from America. If you are a man with a female partner, have her sign up (or do it in her name).

My creative budget technique? I enter credit card transactions in my check register. That way, when I don’t spend more than I have. When the statement comes, I write the check for the entire amount, knowing the money is there. I don’t pay interest on my credit card, and I get the reward points.

There are few things I enjoy more than listening to good music (although reading a good book qualifies). This is a simple, straightforward rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by the United States Marine Band. It’s in honor of the 4th of July. I hope you are enjoying the festivities today.

Happy 4th of July!

I remember the days of my undergraduate career. Every year, tuition went up. I had a scholarship, so it didn’t impact me that much, but student fees generally rose along with tuition. And every year that my husband has been in grad school, we’ve watched tuition increases and student fee hikes. But this year, things are different. Yes, tuition is going up. But it’s not going up by quite so much. BloggingStocks reports on the new tuition hikes:

Tuition is up only 4.3% for the coming school year, the lowest rate of growth in 37 years, according to a survey of 350 private schools by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. This is down substantially from the 5.9% increase for the 2008-2009 school year. Of course, this is for tuition only and does not include room and board inflation.

To further help some folks, financial aid is seeing an increase of 9.2%. So that means that, for some, it may actually be manageable to keep up with tuition hikes this year. But, as the BloggingStocks article points out, room and board have likely gone up as well. This might offset some of slowed inflation in tuition and fees.

Money troubles and higher education

It is getting more and more difficult for the schools themselves, as well as the students. This is because new money is down as benefactors reduce their contributions. (After all, the number of billionaires is decreasing, and those who are still billionaires have, well, billions less.) Not only that, but many universities have trusts and other investments that are significantly reduced in value, thanks to a bear stock market. While these investments will eventually rebound, for now it means less money to go around — and in some cases staff cuts and project terminations. The project my husband is working on here at USU got cut. He is fortunate in that a graduate in the department moved on and vacated a spot on a different project. He was successfully shifted, and retained his position. But not everyone is so lucky.

Image source: Widosu via Wikimedia Commons

This week, in honor of Michael Jackson, I think that instead of something finance related, I’ll offer something more along the lines of entertainment. And there are few entertainers that rank with Michael Jackson in terms of cool and ability to wow a crowd.

I really enjoyed this basic performance of “Billie Jean”. YouTube claims its the first ever public performance of the moonwalk. Classic stuff. My friend texted me yesterday: “All of my childhood idols are dying.” (Her text made me feel old, even though I’m not.)

Maybe he wasn’t one of my idols, but Michael Jackson represents one of my first childhood memories of how enjoyable music can be. I even spent money to buy one of his albums. It was vinyl. It was Bad.

One of the biggest concerns facing many Americans right now is retirement.

Looking at the damage done to retirement investment accounts, thanks to the financial crisis and the current bear market, some are looking for ways to encourage new options for retirees. Even for those with longer time frames until retirement, there is still fear. Even if retirement investment accounts recover and grow between now and retirement in 15 - 20 years, some are concerned that the next crash could pull the rug out from under them just as they retire.

Another problem revolves around the longer life expectencies that retirees are expected to have. Few people now will have enough in their retirement funds to last the 20 to 30 years that people will soon be expected to live after retiring.

Enter an ambitious new bill aimed at shoring up retirement.

In the House, the Retirement Security Needs Lifetime Pay Act (H.R. 2748) is being proposed. This bill would allow a tax break for those who take their retirement investment accounts and used them to buy a lifetime annuity. CNN Money offers a look at two of the main tax breaks offered in the bill:

1. You will be allowed to exclude 50% of annual annuity payouts from a non-qualified plan (one you invested after-tax dollars in) from taxable income. The annual maximum exclusion would be $10,000.
2. You will be allowed to exclude 25% of annual annuity payouts from a qualified plan (401(k), IRA and other tax-deferred accounts) from taxable income.

Additionally, there will also be incentives to purchase what is known as longevity insurance. This is actually another kind of annuity. You wait until you are much older — usually in your eighties — to start taking payments. As a result, the payouts are normally higher. And they would start about the time your retirement investment accounts may be running somewhat lower.

Whether or not this is the answer to the problem of investment-based retirement accounts remains to be seen. But it is clear that there are some definite concerns about the ability of Americans to have enough money throughout retirement. An annuity might be helpful. However, the downside to an annuity is that you trust the management of it someone else. I think I will need to consider the matter further (and see whether this bill makes it through and the tax breaks materialize) before deciding an annuity is right for me. So far, though, I am fairly content with my Roth IRA, which is funded largely with index funds.

Image source: Darren Hester via Flickr

Keith over at Spend on Life sent me an email late last week to find out whether or not I had heard of a new service being offered by the site. It’s called Twinancial.

Twinancial pulls finance tweets off of Twitter, aggregating them in a way that makes it easy for you to read what is being said about a number of financial topics. It looks like a very interest service, although I haven’t delved too deeply into it. Twinancial offers RSS so that you can have the tweets delivered to your reader. Unfortunately, even though Twinancial uses Twitter, it does not offer a stream of tweets from those that Keith and the folks at Spend on Life are not subscribed to.

All in all, though, Twinancial is interesting for those who want to see what finance folks are tweeting about. Have you checked out this service? What do you think about Twinancial?

One of the biggest changes to financial system regulation presented in President Barack Obama’s regulatory reform proposal calls for the creation of an agency devoted to protecting consumers. This new agency could demand any number of reforms from banks and other financial institutions. It could require greater transparency, simpler financial products and even set caps on interest rates that could be charged for certain kinds of loans.

The new standards could also be applied to mortgage lenders, forcing them to provide the option of mortgages with simple terms, and requiring mortgage lenders to offer the best available mortgages. It might even mean that mortgage lenders have to (gasp!) make sure that borrowers can actually afford the home loans that they are getting.

In addition to protecting the run-of-the-mill consumer, Obama also wants to protect investors. His regulatory reform would require that hedge funds engage in greater disclosure and would institute the regulation of derivatives and credit default swaps.

Regulatory reform: What is needed? Or does it go too far?

While some are applauding the consumer protection measures, others are concerned that they go too far. What happens when the government sticks its fingers too much into the regulatory pie? As expected, reactions to the proposed consumer protections pretty much fall along the following lines:

1. Consumer advocates call them a good balance.
2. The banking industry insists they go too far and will ruin business.

I’m inclined to call them a good balance. Consumer protection is badly needed right now. While over-regulation is a stifling influence, prudent regulation can be something that eventually helps everyone. No, the economy won’t boom like it did during the era of de-regulation. But what did a massively growing (and artificially stimulated) economy get us anyway? A massive recession to balance the growth, that’s what.

What do you think of the new consumer protection agency proposed by President Obama?

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

This past weekend, while I was enjoying the beauties of nature — and the company of my family — in Idaho, the leaders of the G8 were having a meeting in Italy. Members of the G8 spent most of the time patting themselves on the back, telling each other that they had done a marvelous job of stimulating the global economy. Many of them began discussing “exit strategies” to counter the future effects of possible hyper-inflation as a result of rampant borrowing and quantitative easing.

At any rate, it is clear that G8 leaders think that the recession is very nearly over (if it hasn’t ended already). The IMF expects that the U.S. economy will begin growing again next year — albeit at a rather sedate pace. There was a great deal of optimism in general over the weekend. However, it doesn’t appear as though the markets are buying it. Equities around the world, as well as commodities are falling. While investors believe that the recession will come to an end, they do not seem to think that the economy will begin recovering as quickly as world leaders seem to think.

Jobs continue to be lost, and it appears that unemployment in the U.S. is likely to hit 10% before things start to stabilize. And housing prices still have not hit a bottom. Before true optimism with regard to the economy can be found, the labor market and the housing market need to reverse their current direction.

What do you think? Is the recession almost over?

Image source: Miranda Marquit