Credit Score Club

With Christmas nearly upon us, keeping the costs down to a reasonable level is an important part of enjoying the festive season in a way that won’t lead to worry and anxiety in the New Year. If anyone’s plan involves borrowing to meet the costs of Christmas, it’s important they first figure out a realistic repayment plan.

So says Think Money, which has issued a warning for people who are thinking of borrowing to help them meet the costs of Christmas.

It advises them to plan their finances out carefully before they actually borrow any more. Witho

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I get more emails about severance and employee rights than any other topic (I am using the term severance in its non-legal sense).  These questions typically fall under several categories.

I often receive questions from employees who worked at now bankrupt employers. I have previously posted on the topic of employee rights when their employers go bankrupt.  The good news is that, in Canada at least, there is some relief over and above the lenders in many cases. The bad news is, as my post indicates, payment is only available to the extent there is any money left after the tax man has collected.

The second main topic I get asked is surrounding the issue of constructive dismissal. C

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Check this out… According to TransUnion, which is one of the big three credit bureaus, credit card delinquencies are currently at their lowest level in 17 years.

Surprised? I am. Given all the tight job market, stagnant wages, and increasing food prices (among other thing), I wouldn’t have expected it.

At the same time, however, more Americans are falling behind on their mortgages. According to Charlie Wise, TransUnion’s director of research and consulting, “Consumers are protecting their credit cards. It gives them financial flexibility.”

Back in 2008, 4.3% of consumers were current on their credit cards but behind on their mortgages. Fast forw

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When you’re managing a portfolio of less than two dozen stocks and the average hold period is nearly six years, choppy markets are just short-term buying opportunities, according to Mr. Rainey, who co-manages the fund at FBR Fund Advisors along with Brian Macauley and Ira Rothberg.

We believe that volatility is the friend of the long-term investor, Mr. Rainey said. And we spend our time looking for great businesses that can grow through market downdrafts.

Examples of that strategy were seen over the past six months when the normally static portfolio took advantage of market volatility to add five new positions and substantially increase the weightings in two existing positions.

The fund, which is categorized by Morningstar Inc.

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The U.S. economy continues to add jobs, but not at a pace that signals a strong recovery.

We expect this year’s pace of job creation — 130,000 a month through November – to accelerate to only 150,000 a month next year, adding up to 1.8 million new jobs. That should move the unemployment rate, which has averaged 9% this year, down to about 8.5% at end of next year.

Job growth in November of 120,000 was enough to cast out thoughts of another recession. But almost half the increase came in retailing with some strength in hiring at bars and restaurants, temp agencies and health care.

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Speedeloans, the online payday loans company, is filling the gap left by banks for cost-effective short term loans – and is offering cash-short Christmas shoppers a financial lifeline of a cash advance with amounts up to GBP500.

Gary Miller-Cheevers, CEO of speedeloans.com, comments: “As the cost of living increases, combined with what seems to most people as even less help available from their bank, this is now starting to bite hard into the budgets of people in higher income brackets.

“This is backed up by research* which highlights how since 2008 there has been a 100% increase in overdraft borrowing among wealthier families, with one in three relying on their overdraft – which is double what it was three years ago. Full Post…