Archive for July, 2007

Here’s a fun financial article.  CNNMoney.com’s Jessical Dickler recently wrote an article, “New: Extreme Credit Cards”.  The most famous high-end, luxury credit card is the American Express Centurion (also known as the “Black Card”).

The dark card is actually made of titanium and offers numerous perks to the roughly 17,000 card members worldwide.  However,other high-end credit cards also targeting the affluent are emerging. The most notable high-end credit card is Citigroup’s Chairman American Express card for its high net worth Smith Barney and Citi Private Banking clients.

After reading the article, I’d say this takes the saying, “Membership has its rewards” to a whole new level.

In this day and age, it is crucial that your finances are in order so that your obligations are met and you are able to save for your future and retirement. There are several ways to achieve these goals including the consolidation of bills and accrued interest from investments and savings. These financial savvy moves can lead to financial freedom and an accumulation of money that can be used during our golden years. It is also imperative that we keep our debts as low as possible as the interest that we pay on these debts can affect our future immensely.

It is sometimes wise that when in a decent financial state, we use cash advances and payday loans to our advantage. These cash advances are usually paid back within weeks and will not come back to affect our financial stability in the future. When using credit cards for financial obligations, most consumers tend to only pay the minimums, therefore paying these debts back over a long period of time. With cash advances, we receive the money and pay back the principal and fees quickly, thus minimizing or even ending the outstanding debt. If we budget, save, and attempt to minimize our debts using cash advances, we can assure ourselves a bright and prosperous financial future.

As I was listening to the news on the radio this morning, I heard the announcement that General Electric (GE) is tackling the global warming issue through consumer spending.  GE is promoting that this new card will take up to 1% of all purchases and invest it into greenhouse gas reduction projects through its Earth Rewards website.

This is an interesting twist to help solve a global problem.  However, it is still questionable whether or not this would have a significant impact.  As the Green Wombat reports, “…given that American-style consumerism is one of the drivers of global warming, promoting plastic often used to buy things people can’t afford and don’t need isn’t exactly a solution to climate change. Cutting up one of your credit cards probably will do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

That said, GE deserves some recognition for bringing publicity to this issue.  Through its press release, GE was able to enroll the media as partners in promoting “going green”.  In addition, every consumer who uses this credit card will be promoting a miniature billboard to save the planet.

Perhaps Mastercard should consider jumping on the band wagon too with a “Priceless” advertisement!

As I was listening to the news this morning, I heard an interesting story about earning passive residual income from the government.  This isn’t a get rich quick scheme.  In fact, it is a true story about how the US Department of Agriculture sent $1.1 billion in farm subsidies to 170,000 deceased farmers over a seven year period.

This error was discovered  by the Government Accountability Office auditors.  Furthermore, the GAO auditors said the USDA had not been conducting the necessary checks to ensure that subsidy payments were proper.

I wouldn’t exactly jump into the agriculture business for this reason alone.  The Senate Agriculture Committee is looking at ways to tighten up the requirements and regulate the payments in lieu of these findings.

Read more about this article as originally reported by “The Washington Post”.