NY Times article reports that Bernanke has no regrets about keeping rates low for too long during creation of the housing bubble:
Stronger regulation and supervision aimed at problems with underwriting practices and lenders’ risk management would have been a more effective and surgical approach to constraining the housing bubble than a general increase in interest rates
Bing Shopping is a cash back purchasing site like that of MrRebates.com or Ebates.com. Bing shopping is run by Microsoft which is an extension of their Bing.com search engine. Currently they are offering an unheard of 20% cash back on purchases made through Walmart.com! That is $100 on a $500 purchase. You can do all your electronics purchases here this year!!
To get the cash back you need to do the following:
Type “walmart” in the search box.
At the top of the search results you should see something like this.
You will then be directed to a screen where you can either create a new bing cash back account or enter your email address if you already have an account. Then click the “shop and get cashback” button. You will then be taken to Walmart.com.
Any purchases you make will be earn you 20% back in your Bing.com cashback account. It does take up to 60 days to get the cash back posted to your account, but if you log into your account at Bing.com/casback you can see your “pending cash” amount. For example I made a $50 purchase at walmart.com. 20% of $50 will earn me a $10 rebate. This is wha Read Full Post…
Homeowners insurance will protect your home and the belongings in your home in the event of a fire, theft or other damage to your property. Even if you do not own the home or apartment you live in, you should consider renters insurance which will help you replace items lost for the same reasons above. If you have financed your home (like most homeowners), the bank will require you to have homeowners insurance coverage.
Tip: Get a discount on your insurance by having auto insurance and homeowners insurance with the same insurance company.
Finding the best insurance policy for your needs is the easy part. You also need to take inventory of the possessions in your home, which can be a time consuming process. The process should be repeated every year. You should also update your policy when you make any large purchases. The list should include expensive items and inexpensive items. Those inexpensive items add up quickly if you have to replace everything you own at once.
When you inventory belongings in your home, be sure to also take photos or a video recording of all of your belongings. Make a very detailed list and include item sizes and manufacturer. For
I just wanted to give everyone an update on the upcoming transition of this blog to DepositAccounts.com. Thanks for everyone’s comments in last week’s post in which I first introduced DepositAccounts.com as the future platform for BankDeals. The comments and suggestions are much appreciated.
One important thing I forgot to mention about DepositAccounts.com in last week’s post was that it’s an existing website that includes some existing articles as well as its own rate tables. The previous owner of the site will now be my technical partner, who will help me carry out the transition of BankDeals onto the new platform and will continue to help me with various technical aspects of site development over the coming months. Based on my conversations with him, there are a lot of exciting things that we’ll be able to do with this new platform that I believe will make BankDeals an even better resource. From a content standpoint, it’s important to note that the BankDeals blog will essentially “take over” the DepositAccounts.com blog after the transition and that the existing bank deals blog format will not be going away. Som Read Full Post…
Oh what a pleasant surprise. For much of the past two years, the monthly jobs report, released the first Friday of every month, has been very effective at casting a dour pall over the upcoming weekend. But not this time.
Don’t get too excited. It’s not like we’re seeing actual job growth, and until we do, consumers will remain hesitant to resume the more typical pattern — and American pastime — of spending themselves silly. But the 11,000 job losses for November barely registered on the Richter scale, and previous estimates for September and October were revised lower in a mighty fashion. Surprised?
While much better than forecast, it doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods. In fact, Mortgage Bankers Association Chief Economist Jay Brinkmann forecast these large revisions during a presentation back in October. He said that because we’re seeing less of the usual seasonal job patterns, some of the original job loss estimates may have been overstated. In other words, because we didn’t see the usual hiring surge — of seasonal retail employees for example — during the fall months, the job losses originally estimated for September and October were not as high as originally thought.
And of course, the November figure will be revised twice more in coming months and that can certainly go either way.
— Admin @ 6:34 am — 
January 2, 2010