Archive for the ‘Level 1’ Category

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The President’s Own Budget

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

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(Official White House photo)

President Obama was recently caught off guard when a personal finance reporter asked him a question about his budget. No, not that budget. His family budget. A U.S. president earns about $400,000 a year, not counting outside income. And while he probably pays someone smart to help him make major financial decisions, he’s still got to have some basic money management lessons to teach his kids.

So what kind of advice does our nation’s leader have for financially illiterate citizens?

Save part of your paycheck and believe in the power of compound interest.

His answer was so simple… it was kind of disappointing, really. Isn’t there some secret to achieving financial control? A magic formula? Hot stock tips? No. Well, at least, not according to the president.

Interesting. How far could compound interest take you? Find out using the Compound Interest Calculator!

Socialism is…

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

Socialism is a system where everything is communally owned, meaning that it’s shared by everyone. In a socialist community, people share all property, all business, and all products, instead of each person owning their own things. In socialism, the objective is for everyone in society to be equal, so no one ends up any richer or poorer than anyone else.

Don’t Give Up!

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

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(photo credit: Caro Wallis)

Good news, Unemployed College Grads of America. Go get your mom. We’ll wait.

You know how hard it is to find a job these days, even with that fancy (and expensive) college degree? If you read the news, which is what you must be doing with all the free time you have, you might think that your career and your entire future are slowly crumbling with every rejection letter.

But it turns out that this isn’t the first time grads have been stuck in a recession hiring slump. And you know what? The grads who were facing the same problems you’re facing today – in 1982 – mostly turned out okay. They started slow, but eventually opportunities opened up that allowed them to get into their career groove.

So stay smart, friends, and don’t lose faith.

Need another shot in the arm? Let Kathryn and Amanda take you through the virtues of accepting an imperfect first job.

The Boston Chicken Calamity: Frank Murtha Talks with TILE (4 of 4)

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Even experts in investor behavior make stupid mistakes sometimes. Let’s all learn from Frank Murtha, financial psychologist at MarketPsych:

>> TILE brings you exclusive opinions, explanations, and interviews from experts in every industry. Have a burning question or an expert you’d like to see interviewed? Just Ask TILE!

Progress in Genetic Testing Leads to a New Cancer Treatment

Friday, June 10th, 2011

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(photo credit: micahb37)

When you or someone you love develops a terminal illness, you’re often motivated to do everything you can to fight for a cure. But progress can be frustratingly slow, and it can be hard to know which projects and organizations to donate to.

But there’s a new frontier on the fight against cancer, and it’s all due to advances in DNA sequencing. Now cancer researchers are using genetic information about individual patients to engineer targeted treatments – treatments that appear to be more effective than current methods.

The treatment still has to gain FDA approval, but it’s being prioritized because of its potentially revolutionary results.

The fight goes on, of course, but this is a nice reminder that funding research and development really does get results.

If you’re interested in helping out, check out TILE’s partner nonprofits that focus on health. If there’s an organization close to your heart that isn’t listed, just send us a message to let us know.

Tornadoes Make $7 Billion Disappear from Insurance Industry

Thursday, June 9th, 2011


(photo credit: Mike_tn)

Here’s how insurance works for you: Instead of paying $200,000 to rebuild your house after it’s been destroyed in a natural disaster, you pay $200 a year (called a premium) to an insurance company that will cover the whole bill in the event that such an unfortunate thing occurs.

Here’s how insurance works for insurance companies: A lot of people pay you $200 a year for protection against the very unlikely possibility that their house will be destroyed in a natural disaster. You profit.

(Of course, you have a team of people with calculators and maps who spend every single day figuring out the likelihood that your customer’s house will, in fact, be destroyed in a natural disaster. If the odds look good, you’ll either charge them a higher premium or refuse coverage altogether.)

Here’s what happened between May 20th and 27th: Hundreds of tornadoes destroyed $7 billion in property, which the insurance companies now have to pay for. That makes 2011 the most expensive year EVER for these companies.

But… better them than you, right?

Here’s why you need insurance.

Addicted to Risk

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

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(photo credit: jeroen_bennink)

When you have a lot to lose, how likely are you to engage in risky behavior?

Apparently people with a lot of money to lose – people known as “the wealthy” – are pretty likely to take those risks. But not simply because they can afford to lose here and there. Many of them are just hard-wired that way.

At least, according to this study by Barclays Wealth. We definitely don’t endorse trying to make money by taking excessive risk or doing things like trying to time the markets. But, interestingly, neither do the millionaire risk-takers themselves. Most of those who reported trading more often than they should also reported feeling guilty about it – and slightly out of control.

Surprising, right?

What’s your risk tolerance? Find out by taking our Risk Assessment Quiz!

The Way to an Investor’s Heart is Through His Wife’s Closet?

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011


(photo credit: fimoculous)

If you were a major luxury fashion house going public in an attempt to raise $3 billion from Asian investors, would you spend hours working on your investor PowerPoint presentation, or would you wrap a bunch of models in snakeskin and have them walk around at the Plaza Hotel?

Guess which way Prada went?

The Italian company is pursuing an IPO, which means it’s going to sell off pieces of itself to public investors, in Hong Kong this month. In order to woo potential investors, it held a relatively small fashion show for tycoons and their wives and daughters. Female tycoons either didn’t exist or were mysteriously lost in the editing of this WSJ piece about the event.

Prada is valued at $15.7 billion, so with this initial public offering, they’re giving up ownership of almost 20% of the company. But they’ve got to raise that cash somehow if their plans for world fashion domination are going to work out.

In other news, here’s a handy list of some of the biggest IPOs in U.S. history.

Hey, investor. Would YOU be wooed by a runway show?

Strategies for Change, Part 4: Education

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011


Welcome to our new series, showing you how the changes you want to see in the world actually happen!

Check out our other SfC shorts:

Strategies for Change: Introduction
Strategies for Change, Part 1: Activism
Strategies for Change, Part 2: Advocacy
Strategies for Change, Part 3: Direct Service

What matters most to YOU?

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

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It’s all connected – your spending with your values, your investments with your spending, your everyday choices with your financial identity. But money isn’t everything. Right?

The Better Life Initiative is a project that really gets that. The people behind it – the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – know that when it comes to national health and identity, a real understanding requires more than economic statistics. They’re not the first to realize that, of course, but they are the first to turn that philosophy into a majorly awesome interactive online experience.

This kind of information used to come from a group of analysts crunching numbers and telling us who ranked where in the great global economic struggle. The Better Life Initiative collects data, yes, but YOU choose how it’s ranked and displayed.

What’s the wealthiest nation that has affordable housing for its citizens?

How about the poorest nation with the highest life satisfaction?

Tweak the knobs to your soul’s content and see where your own personal life desires are really being played out in the world. Whenever someone creates and shares their ideal index on the site, OECD records it in a giant “what the people of the world really care about” database.

We picked Luxembourg as our favorite country, though we’re not sure where exactly it is.

What does your ideal life look like?

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