Mark Riddix
I read an interesting article about the Social Security system needing a bailout. Here’s an excerpt: “A report from the Congressional Budget Office shows that for the first time in 25 years, Social Security is taking in less in taxes than it is spending on benefits. Instead of helping to finance the rest of the government, as it has done for decades, our nation’s biggest social program needs help from the Treasury to keep benefit checks from bouncing – in other words, a taxpayer bailout.”
With the growing problems for Social Security, future retirees will need to effectively plan their own retirement so that they will not end up having to rely on the Social Security system. Here are four steps to help you effectively plan for retirement.
Are you looking for ways to earn some extra cash? Wouldn’t some extra income help during these tough economic times? Here are 5 easy ways to earn extra cash without quitting your full-time job.
Let’s start the week off right and help you start saving money right away. There’s a huge debate about whether or not people should worry about the little purchases in life like the “latte factor” effect, which involves getting rid of the smaller luxury purchases in life. We don’t find anything wrong with indulging in a delicious latte every now and then, but we do believe there are small steps you can take and habits you can form to help save you money on a regular basis. Here’s five tips to help start saving money right away. 
I recently wrote a post about the 
Investing can be a scary endeavor without a road map. That’s why it is so important to develop a solid investment strategy and stick to it. There are two main strategies for investing: passive and active. Most people don’t have the time to actively manage their own investment portfolio and having someone else actively manage your investments can be very costly over the long term. Passive investments such as index funds and ETFs are great investment vehicles for amateur investors looking to track the performance of the market or a certain market sector. In this article we’ll focus on passive investing. 
I was reading an article today about how the governor of New York David Paterson is including a “fat tax” in the 2010 budget. According to the NY State Health Department, the fat tax proposed in New York would apply to all drinks that “contain more than ten calories per eight ounces, such as soda, sports drinks, ‘energy’ drinks, colas, fruit or vegetable drinks containing less than 70% natural fruit or vegetable juice, and bottled coffee or tea.” All full calorie beverages would see their prices increased a penny per ounce. Paterson is trying to cover a 7.4 billion dollar deficit in the state’s annual budget. Lawmakers estimate that a tax on sweetened beverages would raise about 450 million dollars a year. 
Have you ever turned on a cable financial news channel and noticed a network pundit touting the next great investment? CNBC may have an analyst telling you that a small tech company is the next Microsoft and you must buy it today. Fox Business may have a gold expert telling you to buy gold despite the fact that gold is selling at a 30 year high. Or you may be at a social function and someone is talking about an investment that is guaranteed to double over the next year. What is the average investor to do with all of these “hot tips”? My advice to you is To Tune Out The Noise. 
