Category: Blog Articles
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US Markets Still Lure Foreign Investment
Is foreign money propping up the US economic recovery? International investing in key economic sectors continues to grow every year – and that raises concerns that foreign investment could crush its US competitors and compromise growth in the long term. That’s a paradox that experts are watching in the newly rebounding housing market, where foreign…
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Life After Lawsuits: Megabanks Try to Regroup
After racking up over $40 billion in legal fees fighting government sponsored lawsuits over the past few years, Bank of America wants you to know it’s changed its ways. Faced with allegations of mistreating both its customers and employees after th death of an overworked intern at one of its London branches, the bank –…
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Too Much Information = Too Little Action?
A little knowledge, so they say, is a dangerous thing. But in an age of 24/7 access to information about anything, too much knowledge may not be a good thing either. As psychologists, efficiency experts and financial advisors point out, it’s all too easy to become paralyzed by the constant need to learn more, stay…
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Is Optimism About the Economy An Illusion?
As a new year gets underway, predictions abound about what lies ahead in the months to come. After the uncertainties and reversals of the past few years, there’s no shortage of pundits and prognosticators who foresee better days ahead for the economy, based on recent stats from major sectors like housing and unemployment. But that…
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Social Media Missteps Can Hurt Credit
It’s an open secret that companies routinely Google job applicants and examine their social media profiles as part of the hiring process. But in a more regulated and cautious lending atmosphere, banks and other financial institutions are starting to look at the social media activity of loan applicants to determine creditworthiness for mortgages and other…
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Do It Yourself Digital Money: The Open Transaction Project
Bored with the Bitcoin? Frustrated with the limitations of the Ven, the LItecoin, the Feathercoin? Just make your own digital currency – it’s easy and free. While that may be a slight exaggeration, the very proliferation of those Bitcoin clones and other alternatives confirm the fact that available technology makes it possible for anyone to…
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The Federal Reserve’s 2014 Monetary Policy: What’s Next?
The Federal Open Market Committee gathers for its first meeting in 2014 this January – and although FOMC may not be a household word, its decisions on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies have the potential to impact most households in the country. As we head into a new year, financial experts are keeping a watchful…
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Top 5 Trending Topics of 2013
This New Year sets the stage for a financial world that’s very different in some ways than any we’ve seen before. From the decline of the dollar to the rise of the Bitcoin and other digital currencies and the state of the stimulus, the trends of 2013 paved the way for changes that affect all…
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Lending Industry Cleanup Means New Rules
The New Year brings big changes to the US loan business, as lawsuits and legislation continue to force a cleanup of the institutions that were in large part responsible for the housing collapse of a few years ago. And as those changes, aimed at protecting the consumers whose purchases keep the economy humming, take effect…
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New 2014 Lending Standards May Chill Borrowing
symptoms of diabetes p>What a difference two percentage points can make. A new provision of the sweeping Dodd Frank act that’s scheduled to take effect this January drops the allowable debt to income ratio for mortgages and other kinds of consumer loans from 45 percent to 43 – a small change with the power to…