Credit Score Club

Since the credit crisis, we have all been subject to more advertising from trustees in bankruptcy about their services. The ads typically follow the same pattern of emphasizing a pain point (stress caused by the inability to pay off debts) and a solution (hire a trustee in bankruptcy) who offer a value proposition (e.g. “we are here for you”).

But is this advertising true?

One of the most misunderstood parts of the bankruptcy process is who the trustees in bankruptcy represent. When an individual declares or is assigned into bankruptcy, their assets are put into a legal fiction known as the bankrupt estate. It

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Who could be in the best position to capitalize on this growth? A number of factors will obviously influence an advisory firm’s ability to attract female clients, or a larger share of their existing female clients’ assets.

But a preliminary finding from an InvestmentNews ‘Women & Investing’ survey, which we pushed into the field yesterday, confirms what many of us already expected – and could offer a glimpse into the future of wealth management.

Roughly half of the female advisers surveyed yesterday – 49.3% to be exact – said that the majority of their clients are female.

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Consumer Reports lists the top 10 retail chains in its March issue as follows:

1. Costco
2. Kohls
3. JC Penney
4. Target
5. Macys
6. Meijer
7. Sears
8. Sams Club
9. Kmart
10. Walmart

In case youre wondering, the rated the stores based on quality, selection, value, checkout, service, and layout.

Heres my take on each of these:

1. I love, love, love Costco — its one of the companies I would (and do) promote for free.

2. We shop a lot at Kohls for clothes and tennis shoes.

3. I havent shopped much at JC Penney in the past several years.

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When I make a wise decision about money, it’s usually inadvertent.

So when it turns out I’ve made a good move financially, it’s cause to rejoice.

Today, for example, I’m celebrating the news that I a lifelong renter am apparently a real-estate genius.

Here’s why: Rich Arzaga, a certified financial planner and chief executive officer of a company called Cornerstone Wealth Management, recently completed a study that shows that buying a house as an investment isn’t smart. Renting your home makes more financial sense than owning 100 percent of the time.

Now if I said something like that, my family and friends would simply roll their eyes. They know I

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A sin stock is a term which refers to stocks which operate in businesses which are considered to be immoral or unethical. Sin stocks typically include companies in the alcohol, tobacco, weapons, gambling and sex industries. Maddeningly for the socially responsible investing set, studies show that sin stocks tend to outperform its counterparts of a similar size. Sin stocks also tend to be recession proof stocks.

In an age where governments, institutions and individuals cannot seem to control their spending, is it time to classify credit card companies as a sin stock? Incurring debt obviously does not have the same unethical or immoral connotation as gambling, smoking or arms dealing.

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Assets in the U.S. retirement market are projected to grow to $22 trillion by 2016, a sharp increase from the estimated $16 trillion in the accounts in 2011, according to data from Cerulli Associates Inc. IRA assets currently make up 29.7% of all retirement market assets, but they are forecasted to grow to 33% of the total retirement market by 2016.

Rollover activity is the key behind the growth in IRA accounts, noted Alessandra Hobler, an analyst at Cerulli.

Because many retirement plan participants stick with the record keepers employed by their employers, the biggest record keepers stand to gather the most rollover assets in the upcoming years.

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