In 1949 Diner’s Club launched the first charge-card company. Fifty-five years later, Americans spend more using credit cards than they spend with cash, according to a study by Dove Consulting. With more than $2 trillion worth of credit card transactions each year, the creditworthiness of card users is an increasingly important issue to creditors and consumers alike.
While most people realize that their personal creditworthiness is tracked on something called a credit report, few know much about it or their scoring. The score, known as a FICO score, was developed by Fair Isaac & Co. to evaluate the likelihood that consumers will pay their bills. FICO scores range from a low of 300 (highest risk) points to a high of 850 points (lowest risk) and are used as the deciding factor on more than 75% of credit applications, according to Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States. In 2003, nearly 50% of Americans had a FICO score between 700 and 800.
In determining the FICO score, mathematical models are used to analyze the data on an applicant’s credit report, taking into consideration five factors: previous credit performance, current level of indebtedness, time credit has been in use, types of credit available and pursuit of new credit.
What’s on The Report and Why Should I Care?
An in-depth look at a credit report provided by Equifax provides a good overview of the type of information that can be obtained from any of the major credit reporting bureaus. The Equifax report is divided into seven sections.
Core Inflation Defined:
A measure of inflation that excludes certain items that face volatile price movements. Core inflation eliminates products that can have temporary price shocks because these shocks can diverge from the overall trend of inflation and give a false of inflation.
Core Inflation Explained:
Core inflation is most often calculated by taking the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and excluding certain items from the index, usually energy and food products. Other methods of calculation include the outliers method, which removes the products that have had the largest price changes. Core inflation is thought to be an indicator of underlying long-term inflation.
These are terms that we all may have heard but don’t necessarily have a good understanding of the meaning. Learn About It!!
Young people getting their entrepreneurship on in the college in a real cool way; here are a few of there profiles. Like most college students, Dickerson, a junior at Syracuse University, found himself wedged into a small dorm room that fit little more than a bed and a desk. The son of an interior designer, he set out to optimize that space. The idea? Turn the bed into a couch during nonsleeping hours. And, in 2009, the Rylaxer was born. The ergonomic, “bed transforming pillow” is made of foam, with lumbar support, and it comes in two sizes and a variety of colors, plus a cheetah print. Rylaxing has an online store, but for now the company is Syracuse-centric: The pillows are made in town and sold primarily on campus. A year from now, though, Dickerson hopes to be selling them at colleges nationwide, through an army of brand ambassadors. Click Here For More
Have you ever watched an infomercial or seen an item in a department store and thought “I could have thought of that!” Have you wished you had invested money early in a blockbuster invention? Learn the stories behind some (seemingly) ridiculous ideas that have made inventors and investors very wealthy, and find out what you, as a potential investor, should look for and consider before putting up capital for a potential funding opportunity.
The Koosh Ball You’ve may have never heard of Scott Stillinger but somewhere in your home or office you probably have one of his inventions – the Koosh ball, which made millions of dollars. Stillinger came up with the idea for the Koosh ball when he tied rubber bands together to create a smaller, easier-to-catch ball for his young children in 1987. He founded OddzOn Products Inc. to distribute the small, simple toy, and within just 12 months it was flying off of store shelves as that year’s hottest Christmas gift.
The company expanded, and in 1994 Stillinger sold OddzOn to toy manufacturer Russ Berrie and Company Inc., which in turn was bought by toy behemoth Hasbro in 1997 for more $100 million. And it all happened a mere 10 years after the first ball was created.
Santa Mail Every year, millions of children around the globe pen letters to Santa and hope for a response. Byron Reese realized the potential in this market. In 2002, he launched “Santa Mail,” a service that allows kids to send letters to the North Pole. Parents enclose a small fee of just $9.95, and little Johnny or Jane receives a personalized letter back from the “big man” himself. By 2009, Santa Mail had responded to nearly 300,000 children. At close to $10 a letter, well, you can do the math - needless to say, it was a little idea that has earned Reese a big return
A sweeping credit card law that takes effect today has been widely anticipated by consumers who believe banks have been taking advantage of them for too long. But being the crediting gangsters they are credit card companies have identified way to make up for the loss profits because of the new law. People really read your credit contract before you get in bed with these credit card companies.
In 2008, credit card delinquency rates in the United States hit a four-year high, according to Equifax, a credit card analysis firm, and continue to rise in 2009. A few factors may have been responsible for pushing consumers over the edge, including the mortgage crunch, rising energy costs and a decreasing savings rate. In times of economic softness, people are often tempted to use their credit cards to see them through. This gets the bills paid, but there can be consequences to relying on credit card funding. Here we go over some of the major advantages and drawbacks of credit cards and show you how to use yours wisely.
The Unwelcome Truth about Credit
There are plenty of great reasons to use credit cards. Credit cards eliminate the need to carry large amounts of cash, and many of them offer excellent rewards programs, enabling card users to earn airline miles, cruise ship rewards and other perks by purchasing everyday items like gasoline and groceries. Discover Card, for example, offers one of the most well known “cash back” programs, enabling card users to get a discount on almost everything they buy. Credit cards are also great in an emergency – they make it easy to lay your hands on some quick cash and provide a convenient way to make unexpected purchases, although it’s always a good idea to have emergency cash reserves.
However, the truth is that if you can’t pay cash to make a purchase, you can’t afford to make the purchase. Nobody likes to hear this, but it’s the bottom line when it comes to credit cards. Far too often, credit cards are used as a financial crutch by people who want to buy things that they can’t actually afford. Unfortunately, being able to make the payment isn’t the same as being able to afford the purchase. If a spike in gas prices suddenly leaves credit card holders unable to meet their minimum payment obligations, then gas isn’t the only thing these folks can’t afford: all those other things they bought on their credit cards were beyond their means as well.
Being that 90+% of all wealthy individuals invest in the stock market, I think that its very important for those who aspire to be wealthy grasp a basic understanding of stocks and reading a stock table/quote.
The Basic Stocks are Common Stocks and Preferred Stocks:
What Does Common Stock Mean?
A security that represents ownership in a corporation. Holders of common stock exercise control by electing a board of directors and voting on corporate policy. Common stockholders are on the bottom of the priority ladder for ownership structure. In the event of liquidation (the selling of the company), common shareholders have rights to a company’s assets only after bondholders, preferred shareholders and other debt-holders have been paid in full.
Explaining Common Stock:
If the company goes bankrupt, the common stockholders will not receive their money until the creditors (those who the company owe) and preferred shareholders have received their respective share of the leftover assets. This makes common stock riskier than debt or preferred shares. The upside to common shares is that they usually outperform bonds and preferred shares in the long run.
What Does Preferred Stock Mean? A class of ownership in a corporation that has a higher claim on the assets and earnings than common stock. Preferred stock generally has a dividend that must be paid out before dividends to common stockholders and the shares usually do not have voting rights.
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