Archive for category Budget
Awareness Rises, but Women Still Lag in Pay
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on March 12th, 2010
Companies in the United States, Spain, Canada and Finland lead the world in employing the largest numbers of women from entry level to senior management, according to a report published Monday by the World Economic Forum. Yet the report also found that, despite increasing awareness of gender disparities in the workplace, women at many of the world’s top companies continued to lag behind their male peers in many areas, including pay and opportunities for professional advancement.
Moreover, many of these companies have yet to implement policies to address these gaps, despite pressure from many of their governments to do so.
The forum, based in Switzerland, surveyed 600 heads of human resources offices at the largest employers in 20 countries representing 16 different industries.
The poll assessed companies according to a range of criteria, including rates of female representation, whether the companies measured or set targets for gender balance in pay or promotion, and whether they offered benefits, like paid family leave, to promote work-life balance for their employees. Read the rest of this entry »
Retail gasoline prices match 2010 high
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on March 10th, 2010
Motorists are well down the road to higher pump prices as warmer weather and the driving season approaches.
Average retail gasoline prices, continuing a surge that started last month, have now matched their 2010 high on the way to prices that many analysts believe will top $3 per gallon this spring.
The nationwide average retail gasoline price rose 0.6 cents Monday to $2.753 per gallon, virtually identical to the high water mark of $2.7583 reached on Jan. 14, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.
Prices have risen 9.2 cents in the last month and are now 80.6 cents higher than levels of a year ago.
The Energy Information Administration, which is among those predicting $3 gallon gas this spring, will release figures on nationwide retail gasoline prices later Monday. Read the rest of this entry »
How to Fix Your Finances in 2010
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on March 4th, 2010
Still mulling over your New Year’s financial resolutions? - David Laibson, a Harvard University economics professor, has one for you—one that many of us may wish we’d made last year.
“Promise that you’ll never try to time the market again,” he suggests, a not-too-subtle gibe at the many investors who sold their stock in the depths of the downturn early this year and then missed the huge rally that followed.
That’s not the only thing many of us could afford to improve. We would also like to save more, earn more and spend more wisely in 2010. But despite the fresh promise of a new year and a new decade, tackling all our goals at once can be overwhelming.
So to help you accomplish your many New Year’s ambitions, here’s a year’s worth of personal-finance aspirations, timed to major holidays to raise your chances of success: Read the rest of this entry »
The Skinny on Buying Disability Insurance
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on March 3rd, 2010
Disability-insurance benefits from the workplace and the government are getting harder to come by—and that’s putting more pressure on consumers to purchase their own coverage in case a medical condition keeps them from working.
But disability insurance can be confusing. Policies may include conditions that make it tough for people filing claims to actually qualify for the benefits. And some policies may limit payouts for certain diagnoses, particularly mental illness. To protect themselves, consumers considering buying disability coverage need to read the fine print.
The percentage of companies that paid all or part of the cost of workers’ private long-term disability insurance fell to 48% last year, from 59% in 2002, according to LIMRA, an association of financial-services and insurance companies. Many employers are “taking a step back in terms of what they pay and putting the onus on employees” to purchase richer benefits if they choose, says Michael Bailey, a principal at Mercer, a consulting unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos.
At the same time, disability claims are pouring in to the Social Security Administration, and that’s resulting in bigger backlogs. The agency expects claims to jump to 3.3 million in the current fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, from 2.6 million two years earlier. That’s led to a greater number of cases pending—about 794,000 this month, up from about 557,000 in late 2008. Read the rest of this entry »
Credit-Card Fees: the New Traps
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget, Favourites on February 26th, 2010
A new federal credit-card law that takes effect Monday could erase billions of dollars a year in fees and interest charges paid by consumers. But card issuers are already deploying new tactics that could prove costly for even the most cautious cardholder.
The law made some important changes. Card companies must now tell customers how long it would take to pay off the balance if they only make the minimum monthly payment. Customers can only exceed their credit limit if they agree ahead of time to pay a penalty fee. And unless a cardholder misses payments for more than 60 days, interest-rate increases will affect only new purchases, not existing balances.
Banning these and other profitable tactics is expected to cost the card industry at least $12 billion a year in lost revenue, according to law firm Morrison & Foerster. This has sent the industry scrambling to find new sources of revenue. So get ready for higher annual fees, higher balance-transfer charges, and growing charges for overseas transactions.
“There are countless fees that can be introduced and rates can go through the roof,” says Curtis Arnold, founder of U.S. Citizens for Fair Credit Card Terms Inc., a consumer-advocacy group.
Consider the new offer from Citigroup Inc. The bank will give cardholders a credit of 10% on their total interest charge if they pay on time. That sounds enticing, except that if you don’t pay on time, your interest rate is 29%. Read the rest of this entry »
Housing Prices Fall at Slower Pace
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on February 25th, 2010
Home prices kept falling, but at a slower rate, at the end of last year as the housing market continued to stabilize.
The national S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index declined 2.5% in the fourth quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a report released Tuesday. The slight drop is a clear improvement from earlier in the recession. In the fourth quarter of 2008, for example, home prices fell 18.2% from the same period in 2007.
“Overall, this report suggests that the recent positive momentum in the U.S. housing market is gaining further traction and underscores that home prices are continuing to stabilize,” Millan Mulraine, a TD Securities analyst, wrote in a note to clients. “As such, we may only be a few months away before we see a monthly gain in national home prices.”
The month-to-month change in home prices for a composite index of 20 housing markets that S&P/Case-Shiller tracks showed that home prices rose 0.3% in December from the prior month, adjusted for normal seasonal variation. That measure of home prices also rose 0.3% in November.Prices fell in just five of the 20 markets included in the survey, remained flat in one and rose in the other 14. Read the rest of this entry »
Bernanke May Face Concerns on Second Jobless Recovery in Decade
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on February 24th, 2010
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, in two days of congressional testimony beginning today, will probably face questions on how he plans to end the worst jobs slump since the Great Depression.
Unemployment “will be a big topic” when the Fed chief faces the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and a panel member, said in an interview. “How do we help small- and mid-sized businesses, because they’re the ones who are going to create the jobs? What is he going to do and the Federal Reserve going to do to help grow this economy?”
Democratic leaders are pushing legislation to stimulate the job market amid concerns that unemployment will translate into losses in November elections. The Senate is scheduled to vote today on a $15 billion bill that provides a payroll tax holiday for hiring workers who have been jobless for at least 60 days.
Bernanke will deliver his semi-annual monetary policy report before the House Financial Services Committee at about 10 a.m. today. He plans to testify before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry »
Credit regulations aim to help students
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget, Favourites on February 23rd, 2010
A new credit card legislation that went in effect Monday could help prevent college students from falling prey to credit card companies, but the effects of these laws might not be seen for a while.
Along with the set of benefits for consumers planned in May 2009 came a number of changes credit companies made in order to continue earning profits after restrictions were applied, student legal services attorney John Connor said.
“These credit card companies had nine months to prepare,” he said. “And so that gave them an opportunity to decide where to increase their fees. I’m sure it will take a number of years to determine whether or not, in fact, it had any positive effect.”
Some of the changes in the credit card law are specifically aimed at colleges and students, banning credit companies from offering gifts in exchange for having students sign a contract with them. It also encourages universities to require credit companies to notify them of any location on campus they are marketing credit card plans. Read the rest of this entry »
The worst is yet to come
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget, Favourites on February 17th, 2010
Over the next few years, a wave of commercial real estate loan failures could threaten America’s already-weakened financial system. So warns a new report from the Congressional Oversight Panel as part of its oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, highlighting yet one more hurdle for this country’s fragile economy.
The panel, chaired by Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, says it remains “deeply concerned” that commercial loan losses could jeopardize the stability of many banks, particularly the nation’s mid-size and smaller banks. Read the 183-page report for yourself here.
Worries about CRE loans — those loans taken out by developers to purchase and maintain shopping malls, offices, hotels, and apartments — have been simmering for months, as we noted in an October article. See “How Banks Will Fare in a Commercial Real Estate Crash.”
The problems now plaguing commercial real estate have no single cause, and the panel notes that the loans most likely to fail were made at the height of the real estate bubble when commercial real estate values had been driven above sustainable levels and loans.
“[M]any were made carelessly in a rush for profit,” the panel said. Read the rest of this entry »
Study shows why it is so scary to lose money
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on February 11th, 2010
The study of two women with brain lesions that made them unafraid to lose on a gamble showed the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, activates at the very thought of losing money.
The finding, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers insight into economic behavior and suggests that humans evolved to be cautious about the prospects of losing food or other valued possessions.
Benedetto De Martinoa of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and University College of London and colleagues were studying why people will turn down gambles that are likely to lead to gain.
“Laboratory and field evidence suggests that people often avoid risks with losses even when they might earn a substantially larger gain, a behavioral preference termed ‘loss aversion’,” they wrote.
“For instance, people will avoid gambles in which they are equally likely to either lose $10 or win $15, even though the expected value of the gamble is positive ($2.50).” Read the rest of this entry »
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You are currently browsing the archives for the Budget category.
Credit-Card Fees: the New Traps
26 February 2010
Credit regulations aim to help students
23 February 2010
The worst is yet to come
17 February 2010
Afflictions of liberty
8 February 2010
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