FinancialDominance.com

Current Dow Jones Industrial Index Value: 8,577.91
Trade Time: 4:04PM / 15/110/2008

We already know that Jim Cramer suggested stock owners should get rid of stock if they need it desperately within the next 5 years. What do you plan to do ?

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That’s essentially what Jim Cramer is saying.

“I thought about this all weekend. Whatever money you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market right now, this week. I do not believe that you should risk those assets in the stock market right now.”

“I don’t care where stocks have been, I care where they’re going, and I don’t want people to get hurt in the market. I’m worried about unemployment, I’m worried about purchases that you may need. I can’t have you at risk in the stock market.”

But what if you can wait longer than 5 years… ?

“I think what you have to do, if you can withstand it, is just ride it out,”

“I think the previous quarter, the one we’re now hearing from, was a terrible quarter – but it will look good versus the coming quarter.”

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Reagan’s economic advisor challenges Peter Schiff’s predictions.

Technorati : Peter Schiff predicts financial recession TWO years ago. Del.icio.us : Peter Schiff predicts financial recession TWO years ago.

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There’s an individual who comments on The Simple Dollar (and a few other personal finance blogs) who identifies him- or herself as “Minimum Wage.” This person is singularly focused on the issues of low wage earners, and while his/her comments can be frustrating, sometimes Minimum Wage is really effective at pointing out how some advice simply isn’t appropriate for people in that situation. What good is portfolio advice to a minimum wage earner? What good does it do to talk about how to buy a $200K+ house when you’re making $7 an hour? Not much.

I know where Minimum Wage is coming from. I grew up in a household with a far below average income, and while we may have done all right for ourselves, I grew up around people who existed in true poverty. Thankfully, I was able to take advantage of the great opportunities that life offered me – and the great foundation that my parents gave me as a person – and was able to find a better, financially healthy life where I could raise my children without a regular sense of necessity underlying day to day life.

But what can a person do if they’re in Minimum Wage’s situation? Here are the ten things I would do if I found myself only able to earn minimum wage.

1. Go rural.
It is far, far easier to make a living on minimum wage in a rural situation. There are many small towns where you can find a room to rent for $100 a month and a small apartment to rent for $200 a month. Yes, these really exist – I see them fairly regularly when I get out in the more rural areas of Iowa. Even better, these areas often have lots of jobs for minimum wage workers – I see lots of help wanted signs around these towns and notices inside of town halls and gas stations looking for workers.

2. Don’t drive.
A car is a giant money suck. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it, if you’re working minimum wage, your car is killing you. Ditch the car – get whatever cash you can from it. Then choose a place to live where you can get to work by foot or by bicycle. In a small town, it’s pretty easy to reach any other place in the town (and many places in the nearby countryside) on foot or by bicycle, and it’s something that people often do to cut corners.

3. Find the free stuff.
In towns of any size, there are resources available for the impoverished, from free dinners at churches to food giveaways to soup kitchens. The library provides free entertainment in the forms of books, music, and internet access. There are parks, recreational activities, and countless other things even in the smallest of rural towns. Look around for the free stuff and use it – it’s there for everyone to utilize. When you must spend money, be as frugal as possible. Ramen is very cheap, filling, and full of carbs, for example.

4. Don’t be proud.
Pride often keeps people from walking into a soup kitchen. Don’t let it. That kind of pride is an obstacle ground into you by a life in a consumerist society. People who are there to help you want to help you stand on your own two feet – give them that opportunity. Look for every opportunity to help you with your situation, from consulting to WIC to Medicaid to welfare (regardless of my political feelings on it, it’s definitely a resource someone in that position should use). If you don’t know where to start, start off by asking a pastor or a clergyman for help.

5. Minimize your required commitments.
Repaying debts? Call the debtors and explain your situation and ask for an abatement. This won’t get rid of your debt, but it can minimize your requirements for the time being. If you have children that you simply can’t support, look for opportunities to help you with that burden – your family is a great place to start, for example. Don’t saddle yourself with burdens heavier than you can carry or you’ll do nothing but collapse. You don’t become strong by carrying 500 pounds of weight on your back – you become strong by learning how to carry ten pounds, then adding more as you go along.

6. Take every side opportunity you can.
There are all sorts of little opportunities to make more money if you pay attention. Doing things like helping someone shingle a roof for $10 an hour cash is an opportunity you can’t let pass by. Free meals? Take them. Twenty bucks for helping an old man clean out his garage? Do it. Ask around for odd jobs and other small-scale moneymaking opportunities – perhaps even get started on your own “handyman” business.

7. Minimize your possessions.
There are a lot of reasons for doing this. The biggest one is that the more stuff you have, the more money you’ve wasted. Also, fewer possessions mean that you need less room to live. For a while, all of my worldly possessions (clothes included) fit in a single Rubbermaid tub – and that made it extremely easy to actually live in someone’s living room for a while.

8. Make a steely commitment to succeed.
Even after you’ve done all of this, it still takes some serious commitment to make all of this work. You can get yourself in a position where you’re not spending more than you make, but it takes commitment to stay there. Remind yourself every day that you’re not going to waste money and that you’re going to spend less than you earn this week – and this month – and this year. That’s the one way you can get ahead.

9. Save automatically.
So what do you do when you are making more than you’re spending? Take that extra money and put it into a savings account. But just doing that every once in a while won’t cut it. Keep most of your money in a checking account, then go to the library and use the internet access there to set up an online savings account with a big bank, like ING or HSBC. Set up an automatic savings plan there to withdraw $10 a week from your main checking – or maybe even more. Then walk away and forget about it. What will happen? After a year, you’ll have $530 or so in the account. If you’ve put in more weekly, you’ll have even more.

10. Educate yourself.
While you’re putting yourself in a better financial place, spend your spare time educating yourself. Take classes at the nearest community college and work towards some kind of degree. If you need to, transfer to a state university – if you’ve been working on minimum wage for a long time and are actually making strong progress towards a degree, they will help you big time with paying for it. The key is getting started – see what your local community college has to offer.

One final tip: don’t give up the dream.
If you’re working a minimum wage job, either you’re very young, very lazy, or very unlucky. All of these can be overcome, but they take time and commitment and a lot of hard work. It’s very easy to give up the dream of a better life when you’re doing this. Don’t. You can succeed and you will succeed if you spend every day taking steps in the right direction. Surround yourself with people who are also fighting to go in the right direction. Don’t be resentful of people in a better situation than you – instead, use them as inspiration and realize that if you keep on the path, you’ll get there too.

Thanks to thesimpledollar.com

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I hope you enjoyed the last not-so-serious Onion video. Alright, sit up and get ready for something important. Financial infidelity: The marriage breaker. Secretly overspending from the family coffers can be a deadly to your marriage.

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The value of the dollar is dropping like a rock and this video is to show how this is affecting the prices of everything from gas to milk. This is the first of several videos to show what is really happening to the ecomy of the United States and why this country is in a lot of trouble financially.

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Oil and gold jump to new records The spot price for gold also briefly hit a record above $1,030 an ounce. Oil also hit $109.00. Some say oil will reach $200.00 in a few years. Are you planning to invest in commodities yet ? I’m still learning how…

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A guest post by Mark J. Smith. Want to be a guest writer on Financial Dominance ? Contact Marcel

People may fail to properly plan for their retirement needs because they focus exclusively on money. Retirement goals aren’t just financial. Knowing the lifestyle you want during retirement is the beginning of a successful wealth management plan. Do you want to tour in an RV, live in a beach house, or move closer to your children and grandchildren during retirement? By starting at the beginning—writing down and sharing your retirement goals with your financial team—you will ensure a completely customized retirement savings plan.

With a retirement goal set you are now ready to determine funding and should consider the following factors:

• In the past thirty years the average life expectancy increased from 73 years old to nearly 80. (Center for Disease Control) We need to plan for seven more years of life than our grandparents did.
• The U.S. inflation has increased 2.57% in the last seven years. (Inflationdata.com) When you retire the cost of living will be higher and each subsequent year of your retirement will require more money to maintain the same lifestyle.
• You can’t depend on Social Security to sustain you during retirement–even for necessities. We recommend that your Social Security checks be used for things you want in retirement, not things you need.
• Delaying retirement savings could hurt you more than you think. If a 25- year-old saves $4,000 per year for 10 years and has an eight percent annual account interest rate, at age 65 her retirement account will total $640,120. Waiting until she is 35 years old and saving the same amount annually with the same interest rate for 30 years, her account will total $408,534 when she is 65. Waiting 10 years to start saving for retirement causes a loss of over $200,000 in this case, even though she saved for 20 extra years! This hypothetical illustration is not intended to reflect actual performance.
• Mortgage vs. savings – Because of the compounding nature of a liquid investment portfolio as compared to the equity in your home, you may ultimately net more money by increasing your savings first than you would if you chose to pay off your home and save afterward. We typically recommend that your net worth consist of approximately 25% in home equity and 75% in retirement savings. Of course, each person’s situation is different.
• Retirement cash flow is a major concern. Make a list of things you will need in retirement—housing, food, insurance, transportation and healthcare. Then make an additional list of things you want to have in retirement—a second home, entertainment or providing charitable donations. Fund at least some of the things you want, in addition to all of the things you need.

Other factors may contribute to a retirement age, including what investments you have made, the stability of your investments, and the sequence of your investment returns. Please contact a financial advisor if you have questions about your retirement planning.

Mark J. Smith CFP®, CPA/PFS, CIMA®, was named one of the top 10 financial advisors in the U.S. by Registered Rep magazine; named the top-ranked independent advisor in Colorado and number 22 in the U.S. by Barron’s; and the Winner’s Circle, an independent advocacy organization, named him one of the top financial planners in the country. Visit www.mj-smith.com for more information on Mark J. Smith and his Colorado-based firm. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC.

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This comment by James Turk caught my attention.

“When you look at a currency crisis, and there have been dozens since the end of the Second World War where currencies have disappeared and been completed destroyed. The people who react last are the people in the country where the currency is being destroyed. It’s a natural thing to have happen because your being paid in the currency, your spending that currency and your think everything is going to be well.”
Take a look at the videos and judge for yourself. Grab a handful of salt since the videos were created by Al Jazeera, but don’t stick your head in the sand.

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Two weeks ago, I wrote an article about Financial Documents You Should Save. This list is a little different. Some legal documents are more important than others. Some you don’t need, and some you need. Some legal documents everyone should possess at all times.

Will
A will is a legal, signed document that states your wishes regarding disbursement of your property after your death. Making a will when you are healthy and in sound mind, can save your family a lot of time, energy and money when you are dead. If you die intestate, which means without a will, a large chunk of the money from your estate will likely go towards higher legal fees as well as additional taxes. If you’re wondering where is the safest place to keep your will, you could keep a copy of the document in your bank locker. Make sure you appoint an executor to the will and keep your will in a place where this individual or entity will find it easily. The executor of your will could be either an attorney or a family member or even a trust company. In the event of your death, the court will appoint an executor if you have not named one.

Letter of Instruction
It would also be a good idea to leave a letter of instruction, which is a letter informing your family about your last wishes including the funeral or burial arrangements you’d like to have and who you’d like them to notify upon your death. This letter cannot and will not be used as a substitute for a will. It is an informal letter. You could also include details about where your will and other important documents are located, the money that you owe to various people or the money that is owed to you by various people.

Trusts
Contrary to popular notion, trusts can be used by everybody and are not only for the super rich. In fact you should talk to your financial planner or lawyer about creating a trust. Whatever assets you place in your trust will automatically be given to the beneficiaries; there are no probate costs involved. A revocable living trust states who will have control over your assets while you are living as well as when you are dead.

Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
This legal document ensures that in case you were to become incapacitated, your affairs will be looked after as per your wishes. If you have not named one, the court will appoint someone they deem most appropriate. It is also called a living trust and the person nominated will be responsible for taking care of your health care as well as your financial arrangements.

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