Great Resource

I would use the attached link as a resource. There are a lot of great resources from stocks, to investment tips to budgeting information. Hopefully you find this useful.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/right.on.your.money/

Check out this article

Taking advantage of stocks that are related to the baby boomers are going to be important. This article does a nice job of laying out a few stocks/companies that will be "good picks" to at least consider when deciding what stocks to look at. I would agree with the article that companies who manufacture hip and knee replacements could be good picks. As always do your due diligence and pick stocks that match your investment style.

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB121340677068674185.html?mod=ba_mp_view

Weekend Thinking

In order to get the most out of your individual saving goals, you need to have a plan. Take some time over a given weekend to address your plan and figure out exactly how much you can save... A few questions to ask yourself are 1. Are there any large items you have to save for? 2. What are you set costs 3. How much per month can you afford to put away... My one word of caution is to save so much that you can't afford your monthly bills, or a night out once in awhile. Build into your budget "slush" fund so you can have a little fun, this will make saving more rewarding given you will feel like you are reaching your goal and having fun. My next post will include a sample budget so look for that...

Juggling College Loans and Saving...

If you are like me you have college loans to worry about in addition to thinking about how you are going to save any kind of money for retirement. Depending on debt and your loan interest rates will determine how much you can save but this article does a nice job showing the extreme importance of at least putting a few dollars away each paycheck. Remember you are working for your money, so make your money work for you. Invest early and let the interest on your savings go to work.

http://www.forbes.com/personalfinance/2008/06/09/401k-retirement-college-pf-ii_av_0609youngmoney_inl.html

Your Own Business?

Check out the following link. I think it does a nice job of briefly explaining some of the ways you can go about getting funding for your business ideas.

http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml

Ten Investing Rules To Pay Attention to...

Please take a look at these ten investment rules. This recent article on marketwatch provides 10 good investment rules to follow:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ten-investing-rules-help-you/story.aspx?guid=%7BF2637112%2DC05D%2D492A%2D9661%2D4B0E662E133D%7D

Smaller Home Better Buying Opportunities

The following article is a little long, but take note of different loan types mentioned in the article. It is imperative for the first time home buyer to be up to speed on the different types of loans available to them from the government and other sources. Enjoy the article.

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/105204/Downsizing-the-American-Home

Saving money on gas allows you to invest/save more money.

With gas prices soaring people are going to need to find ways to save gas money. This article looks at a few ways to accomplish this feat.

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/579/6-ways-youre-wasting-gas;_ylc=X3oDMTE3YjFtdXFhBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawN3YXN0aW5nLWdhcw--

Mutual Fund Grades #2

Good article which looks at some well performing mutual funds.

http://research.marketocracy.com/BIP/reports/TopCoreFunds.pdf

Fund Opportunities

I wanted to include a link to a site that I believe is pretty cool. Marketocracy is a place where you can invest into "model portfolios" of several investors. The site allows fund managers to sign up and compete, all while tracking their investments and their results. For a beginning investor this site provides the opportunity to invest in a "fund" that you can track your results with. The site charges a 1.95% management fee, but gives you the option of looking at different investment portfolios and choosing the route you want to take. The minimum investment is $50,000.

http://m100.marketocracy.com/rmcduff_RMG1/1performance/index.html

Retirement Tax

Both the title and the link included will lead to the article I am referencing. Over the next 30-40 years the retirement age of americans will increase. Tax implications come with retirement and this article does a nice job of laying the foundation for a "retirement tax" plan. It is never too early to start thinking about how you are going to approach retirement. I hear people say all the time that they want to retire at age 55 or whatever their number is. For somebody to retire at 50 you need a plan. Start your plan by reading this article.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20080606/bs_bw/jun2008pi2008064723185

Looking at the Insiders

A great to way look at stocks/companies as you begin to research various stocks for your individual portfolio is to look at what insiders are doing... Insider "action" is typically located within a stocks information. Take a look at the following article which describes some of the recent "insider" action for the overall market.

http://www.forbes.com/finance/2008/06/05/corus-transocean-chevron-pf-ii_jd_0605insidermoves_inl.html

Oil = Economy Downturn

In the coming weeks there will be several posts which discuss the impact on savings and lifestyles around the United States from escalating oil prices. Oil aka the worlds liquid gold has long been "cheap" in perspective to where prices could be. For much of the nineties oils was at $30 a barrel. Over the last two years oil has gone from $80 a barrel to $138+ closing price on Friday June 6th, 2008. The WORLD will be impacted by this price rise and the amount you as an individual can save will also be impacted. The article below was recently featured on yahoo.com, what are the leading countries around the world going to do about oil?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080607/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_meeting

Mortgage Meltdown

People are always excited about buying their first house. You search for the neighborhood and the perfect spot, but lately that first home "dream" has become a nightmare for many. Foreclosures are at an all time high and we need to be very conscious about the mortgages we are getting and what impact they could have on our financial future. Please check out this article to get a scope of just how bad things are.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/mortgage-foreclosures-highest-nearly-30/story.aspx?guid=%7BDEAE7997%2DA8BB%2D4B68%2DA664%2DEA23A0F94ADD%7D

Spending Tips

America loves to shop, as Americans we are forced into buying needless items by countless advertisements. Since we are inevitably programmed to shop, here is an article explaining how to get the best price on your buys... Wealth is generated by spotting deals and acting... So use this tip to save 10% to 30% in the future. Happy Shopping!!!

http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/110/never-pay-retail-again/

Retirement Tip #1

The following is an interesting article on getting more out of your social security check. While this article might not relate just yet to the "young investor" there are many "young investors" who will need to help parents in future. Helping your parents with tips like this will help you in the long run.

http://finance.yahoo.com/retirement/article/105188/Secret-Ways-to-Boost-Your-Social-Security

Upgrades/Downgrades

A great way to start researching stocks. Use the tools and experience of firms that do stock research for a business. Upgrades and Downgrades a good indicator of "market feeling" on a specific stock or sector. Upgrades are for stocks that are either more heavily sought or are performing better now or have potential to perform better in the future. Downgrades are reserved for those stocks that are not performing as well in the present. Just because stock is downgrades does not mean the "stock is bad" in all areas. Sometimes there is a revenue shortage or a future revenue shortage. Watch for stocks to change grades and then make your move. Here is an example of stock upgrades and downgrades from www.marketwatch.com.

http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/stockresearch/updown/?type=0&pgID=3

Mutual Fund Grades

The link below leads to an interesting "scoreboard". Mutual Funds are a great investment vehicle and allow you as the investor to diversify your assets. I started out investing in mutual funds because I liked the flexibility they provide, and you can choose mutual funds that mirror your investment style.

http://bwnt.businessweek.com/mutual_fund/

Student Loan Video

The credit/market crunch is effecting many areas of the US Economy. This video explains the impact the credit crisis is having on student loans. With more and more banks pulling student loans, many college bound applicants will be faced with higher costs and fewer resources to attend certain colleges and universities.

http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/06/02/news.harlow.060208.studentloans.cnnmoney

Insurance at your first job

Benefits are an important piece of any job. Whether you figuring out how much money to put into your 401k or you are selecting your first health plan, everything matters. Most companies offer some sort of the following:

Health Insurance
Life Insurance
Short Term Disability (STD)
401k
Paid Time Off (PTO) or Vacation Time/Sick Days

My advice to you as the employee would be to take your time deciding on the specific health plan offered. Most companies today offer what is known as a base and a buy up plan. Typically the buy-up plan will be some sort of co-payment plan. What this means is initially when you go to the doctor you will pay $10,$20, $30 or some other fixed amount for the initial visit. There are usually set amount if a prescription is needed as well. Typically prescriptions (Rx) are in the range of $5, $10, $15 or $20 or again some fixed amount often in a tiered structure.

The base plan or the plan which the company often contributes towards is more and more becoming a High Deductible Health Plan. With these plans there are no initially set co-pays the employee pays the True Cost of the doctor visit. For example if you doctor charges $150 for a visit that is the amount you are going to pay. High Deductible health plans usually have an initial deductible of 1k, 2k, 3k, 4k, 5k or something of that nature. Wellness visits are still covered at 100% and in some cases prescriptions are covered on a copay basis, but in other plans you pay the true cost of the prescription. My feeling is to go with the deductible plan if you are young, healthy and can withstand the threshold if something was to happen. Again, remember your expenses are typically covered at 100% after your reach the deductible. For more information on health plans visit the following link:

http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/insuranceqa/