Friday, September 29, 2006

Reducing Clutter by Ashley Hodge

I am on a quest to reduce stuff. My wife would attest that one of my favorite things to do is to take a trunkload of possessions to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. There is nothing more satisfying to me than to find a different home for possessions that we do not use regularly. This is a problem with most American families I know. We have way too much stuff. Books like Affluenza and Organizing From the Inside Out address this issue. I wrote a chapter on our need to simplify in my own book- Stewardship Mandate.

Being organized and simplifying is a battle that must be fought daily. Clutter like weeds in our yards takes on a life of its own if we are not vigilant to root it out. read more

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Headlines - It makes you wonder?

Why didn’t Bank of America get more than just a hand slap for not detecting money laundering for terrorists?

Is there more to the story?

I wonder how much in banking fees Bank of America made while all of their “detection” systems apparantly “didn’t work?”

October 2003

Bank of America, SAS to Battle Money Laundering

The International Monetary Fund estimates that between $800 billion and $2 trillion is laundered each year worldwide. Bank of America, currently the third-largest bank in the United States by assets and the nation's largest consumer bank, has selected SAS, the leader in business intelligence, to power its anti-money laundering program.

Bank of America, a SAS customer for 25 years, said it would use SAS to address requirements of the USA PATRIOT Act, passed by Congress after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Act requires financial institutions with accounts in the United States to establish "due diligence" policies and procedures to prevent, detect and report possible instances of money laundering or terrorist financing.

Bank of America said it then uses predictive models from SAS to understand and examine potentially suspicious patterns or anomalies in financial transactions. The ability to monitor unusual or suspect behavior is essential for its anti-money laundering effort, according to Bank of America.

In addition to analyzing suspect behavior to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, the bank will monitor and analyze broker behavior, reporting risky situations, to help protect customer and company interests.

September 2006

Bank of America settles money laundering probe

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC - news), the No. 2 U.S. bank, has agreed after a multiyear investigation to pay $7.5 million to settle charges it failed to prevent money laundering, the Manhattan District Attorney's office said on Wednesday.
Bank of America failed to detect that Brazilian companies were using a money transfer business' bank account to launder money, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said in a statement.
Money transferers transmitted an estimated $230 billion of funds in 2005 globally, but regulators and prosecutors have been trying to clamp down on the business to prevent money laundering and choke off funding for terror organizations.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Only You can be Responsible for your Identity

I am hearing of more and more instances where companies and governmental agencies have had personal information for individuals stolen. Identity thieves are very smart individuals. At the rate that this information is missing, they are apparently getting smarter.

Following an internal audit of the U.S. Census Bureau, the following was discovered:

217 laptops
46 portable data storage devices
15 handheld devices

All of the above was discovered to be stolen or missing from inventory. They audit shows that this started back in 2003.

You would think an agency associated with the Government would be even more protective.

What can you do about it?

The simple solution is to have your credit monitored. The first place the majority of identity thefts occur is with a simple credit check. If there is anything out of the ordinary happening with your credit report, you would be notified.

I have many ask who I trust. I only trust www.Truecredit.com. Although I have appeared in their national advertising campaign, I receive no monetary compensation for promoting their business. In fact, we have arranged to pass on any promotional fees that we would receive to Prudent Money listeners.

If you go to this link, you can get $ 5 off their 3 in 1 credit report package. They have some great packages. The most important is the credit monitoring for all 3 agencies. I think that everyone should have this service. They also have a package where you get the credit monitoring along with unlimited views of your credit reports. I cannot think of a better combination!

Credit monitoring along with being pro-active with your credit reports represents the first line of defense to Identity Theft!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Stewardship Plan - Money by Ashley Hodge

(this is another great post by Ashley Hodge on stewardship)

It is amazing what God teaches us in short periods of time. Seven years ago my attitudes towards money were selfish and not biblical. I was introduced to a Crown Financial Ministries Bible study and those beliefs began to change.After reading many books on the subject of the stewardship of money, I began to write down a philosophy of money that hopefully is in line with God's revealed will.

I published a book-Stewardship Mandate- in June of 2005 where I summarized those beliefs along with ideas about the stewardship of abilities, time and health as well.I am currently working on a edit of Stewardship Mandate and I am amazed at how God is revealing new things to me all the time. Although I stand behind 95% of the things I originally wrote, I often cringe and think, "I didn't communicate that very well," or "Why did I write that?"

Read more.....

Prudent Resources

From time to time, I want to use this forum to give you some of the links that I am reading. Todd Harrison who has been on my show in the past, has an excellent article on CBS Marketwatch entitled Why Falling Oil May note be Great News.

Then there is my weekly favorite writer John Mauldin. John has been on the show several times and writes some of the best insight each week. It is amazing that he doesn't charge for this newsletter. John Mauldin's Frontline Thoughts.

I always want to keep you posted on good information. Keep checking back to the blog.

Education and being informed is the key to effective stewardship. This is just another good stewardship practice.

Keep the Faith

Bob

Monday, September 18, 2006

The Good and the Bad of ING’s $ 25 Promotion – How to get a Good Rate on your Savings

by Bob Brooks

I get a great deal of questions regarding the interest rates on savings accounts. The problem is that not all savings accounts (money market accounts) are the same. There can be a big difference from company to company especially when considering the enticements to join.

These companies are all competing for your cash. www.hsbc.com offers a good example of a marketing message designed to grab your attention. The problem is that the marketing message is completely meaningless once you look behind the headline.

“We are 9X the national savings rate.”

First of all, what does that mean? However, if someone was just looking at that marketing message, they would conclude that 9X must be good. There is no link from that statement to an interest rate that creates maximum value for your money.

If you go to bankrate.com, you will find that HSBC.com is the 6th highest on the list of money market yields. The marketing would lead you to believe they are the best since they are “9x the national savings rate.” You can get better.

Then there is www.INGdirect.com. Their program gives you $ 25 for opening a new account. Of course, you have to go through another consumer that can refer you. The promotion encourages you to refer people to ING. For everyone referred, the referrer receives $ 10 in their ING account and the person referred receives $ 25.

For example, Betty has an account with ING and the ability to refer up to 10 friends to ING. She referred Bob to ING. Betty gets $ 10 for referring Bob. Bob gets $25 for opening the account.

What is the catch?

With an ING account (www.ingdirect), you can earn 4.4% APY (as of 9/15/06). According to Money Market High Yield ( MMA ) and Savings Account Rates through www.bankrate.com, the highest yield on a money market is 5.26% (as of 9/15/06)

Yes, you are getting $ 25.00 to open an account with ING. That would appear to be a good deal but not always due to the much lower interest rate. It ceases to be a good deal if you deposit more than $ 5,900 and keep it in the account for more than a year. Using the information above, you are giving up .86% in annual interest. Above $ 5,900 you are being penalized for taking the $ 25 and getting the lower rate of return.

So the deal is good and bad depending on the amount of money deposited into the savings account.

When evaluating an offer, it is important to look at all aspects and not just at what they are offering.

Always be skeptical of the “good” deals. They aren’t good deals for everyone. However, they are designed to appear to make sense for everyone.

The Good and the Bad of ING’s $ 25 Promotion – How to get a Good Rate on your Savings

by Bob Brooks

I get a great deal of questions regarding the interest rates on savings accounts. The problem is that not all savings accounts (money market accounts) are the same. There can be a big difference from company to company, especially when considering the enticements to join.

These companies are all competing for your cash. http://www.hsbc.com/ offers a good example of a marketing message designed to grab your attention. The problem is that the marketing message is completely meaningless once you look behind the headline.

“We are 9X the national savings rate.”

First of all, what does that mean? However, if someone was just looking at that marketing message, they would conclude that 9X must be good. There is no link from that statement to an interest rate that creates maximum value for your money.

If you go to bankrate.com, you will find that HSBC.com is the 6th highest on the list of money market yields. The marketing would lead you to believe they are the best since they are “9x the national savings rate.” You can get better.

Then there is www.INGdirect.com. Their program gives you $ 25 for opening a new account. Of course, you have to go through another consumer that can refer you. The promotion encourages you to refer people to ING. For everyone referred, the referrer receives $ 10 in their ING account and the person referred receives $ 25.

For example, Betty has an account with ING and the ability to refer up to 10 friends to ING. She referred Bob to ING. Betty gets $ 10 for referring Bob. Bob gets $25 for opening the account.

What is the catch?

With an ING account (http://www.ingdirect/), you can earn 4.4% APY (as of 9/15/06). According to Money Market High Yield ( MMA ) and Savings Account Rates through http://www.bankrate.com, the highest yield on a money market is 5.26% (as of 9/15/06).

Yes, you are getting $ 25.00 to open an account with ING. That would appear to be a good deal, but due to the much lower interest rate, it is not always the best option. It ceases to be a good deal if you deposit more than $ 5,900 and keep it in the account for more than a year. Using the information above, you are giving up 0.86% in annual interest. Above $ 5,900, you are being penalized for taking the $ 25 and getting the lower rate of return.

So the deal is either good or bad, depending on the amount of money deposited into the savings account.

When evaluating an offer, it is important to look at all aspects and not just at what they are offering.

Always be skeptical of the “good” deals. They aren't good deals for everyone, even though they are designed to appear to make sense for everyone.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Prosperity Gospel? by Ashley Hodge

Robert Kiyosaki has sold millions of books. He sprinkles enough God talk into his material to get him shelf space at Christian bookstores. There is a point in my life where his message of get filthy rich by doing as little active work as possible appealed to me. But the truth of God changed my mind and heart.Kiyosaki's message is clearly the opposite of what the Bible teaches and therefore should be rejected by biblical Christians. But instead professing Christians are latching on to his message as just another example of their love affair with the prosperity gospel. Kiyosaki was asked to write a column for Yahoo Finance. Let's look at his perspective in his latest column on August 22, 2006. I will put his words in italics and then make comments in bold.

http://stewardshipmandate.blogspot.com/2006/08/comments-on-kiyosaki.html

Friday, September 08, 2006

Congress Says No to Tithing in Bankruptcy Courts

Please tell me when it comes to politicians that I have now seen it all. The United States Bankruptcy Court has interpreted the new bankruptcy laws that went into effect as of October 2005 to say that anyone in bankruptcy court cannot tithe to a church or give to a charitable organization until they have paid off the credit card companies and their creditors.

I cannot make this stuff up. So, let's put all of this into perspective. The worst set of consumer legislation ever written (the new bankruptcy laws) went into effect last October. Congress, who goes to great lengths to protect the credit industry writes these laws that protects creditors and offers very little relief to consumers.

Congress wrote the laws to make sure that God is second and the credit industry is first. The credit industry can change the rules of a contract at will, they can raise your interest rate as high as 30% plus if they decide to do so, they force bankrupt consumers to subject themselves to the questionable credit counseling business prior to bankruptcy, and they use bait and switch tactics to market their services.

Surely Congress who is sworn in under God and all of that sort of thing did not intentionally write the law with this in mind. While doing everything they could do to keep campaign funds flowing while protecting the credit industry, they overlooked languaging in the law that removes an individuals free-will to prioritize God over money.

As Henry Sommer, president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys said:

"...the 2005 reform legislation didn't just reword the federal bankruptcy code.....it also effectively rewrote Exodus and Deuteronomy. Many who practice their faith and believe that they are bound by creed to tithe a portion of their income will find that Congress effectively decided that what credit cards want is more important than the deeply personal religious practices of Americans."

If is unfortunate that our political system is spiraling out of control. We need real leaders in Congress that will actually write laws not based on their own self interest but on the interest of the American people. This is a very grim line that has been crossed by our politicians all in the name of Debt.

Bob Brooks

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Re-Think Your Beliefs about Money!

This is a theme at Prudent Money that you will hear mentioned many times. In today's environment, there are plenty of people who are willing to do your thinking for you. You are bombarded by marketing, politics, and sales people wanting to influence you to their way of thinking. The problem comes down to agenda. The agenda behind the message is not always one that fits your values and goals.

When we let people think for us, we are simply adopting their belief systems as our own. I refer to this as belief renting. This is a dangerous practice. You are adopting a set of beliefs based on the agenda of another person or company. You cannot trust that another has your best interest in a world motivated by the almighty dollar.

This happens all of the time in the world of marketing. Companies market ideas hoping that you will be in agreement. They want the consumer to form the belief that the marketed product, strategy, or message is the solution to some problem based on the reasoning the company provides. The consumer reads the information and it makes sense. It sounds reasonable so it must be true. Thus a belief is formed.

The problem is that the consumer has just accepted a belief based on one side of the story. Every strategy or product has two sides of the story. Of course, the marketer never communicates the con of the strategy or other solutions that might be considered. Marketing is about presented the side of the story that best promotes the product or strategy. Anything else would be marketing suicide!! Of course, a belief based on the evaluation of only one side of the story can also end up being financial suicide!!

I plan on writing many blogs that tell you the other side of the story. I want to encourage you to start looking at the pro and the con of each situation while forming your beliefs about money. By doing so, you are making a prudent decision based on a belief that you OWN!

We are in an environment where we have to re-think our beliefs about money, make sure that we own them, and have confidence that they are in line with what we truly value. That is one of the keys to stewardship. It is also a key to succeeding in a financial system that is designed to make others rich. The good news is that you can think for yourselves and not fall into that trap.

The people who are the most successful are contrarian thinkers. They don't think like everyone else. They march to a different drum. They approach everything with question and look at both sides of the story.

Remember, if you are not thinking on your own, someone is thinking for you

Keep the Faith

Bob