Friday, October 2, 2009

Short Takes: New Credit Card Rules and more

1. Big Cajun Man has highlights of the Canadian government’s new credit card rules designed to protect us.

2. Jonathan Chevreau has some insights into the difficulty of saving money, particularly for young people (the web page with this article has disappeared since the time of writing). One point he misses is that access to credit is more prevalent now than when baby boomers were young. Even a cell phone contract where a bill is sent at the end of the month is a form of credit. For some people, the only way they stop consuming is if they are prevented from having what they want. Long enough ago, that meant the money in their pockets was gone. Now it means all forms of credit have been maxed out.

3. Financial advisors must have to deal with a great many different financial goals that their clients have. Preet has a story about one goal that wouldn’t have made my top 100 guesses – secret children.

4. Larry MacDonald reports that the SEC is looking into regulating securities lending. This hidden risk that few investors understand needs to be addressed. Any time an activity makes money for some people and presents an unrecognized risk for others there is the potential for big trouble.

5. Leasing a car is a poor idea in most circumstances, but Million Dollar Journey has a car leasing tip to save some money.

6. Larry Swedroe reports that U.S. investors are shunning professional money management in ever greater numbers.

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