Some economists are worried that the US economy is headed toward a period of deflation, which is a widespread decline in prices. Cheaper sounds like a good thing, but deflation affects more than consumer goods.
It could create a dangerous downward spiral, because lower prices can lead to decreased production by businesses that can't afford to produce as much, which in turn leads to higher unemployment and reduced salaries.
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Annual performance reviews are right around the corner, so let's brush up on the boss's lingo to make sure we understand the feedback we're given. If your boss told you that you need to "manage up," would you know what she meant?
According to Rosanne Badowski, co-author of Managing Up: How to Forge an Effective Relationship With Those Above You, your boss wants you to "go above and beyond the tasks assigned to you so that you can enhance your manager's work."
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Oil prices are falling (hooray) but other products aren't following suit. The high cost of groceries and other personal necessities like toothpaste are still in tact even though the initial hike was blamed on oil. Steady prices that exist without the explanatory rationale are called sticky prices.
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Introduced in 1993, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) measures market volatility and gauges investor fear, which explains its better known name — the fear index. Right now VIX is trading very high and indicates that investors are uncertain about how the market will perform over the next 30 days.
Current levels suggest that investors think the S&P 500 will fluctuate about 20 percent during the next month, something The New York Times calls "an almost unheard-of swing."
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Spot budgeting is a solution for people that have a hard time developing and sticking to an overall budget plan. If your finances allow you to spend without following a strict budget, this type of planning says it's OK not to direct how every penny will be spent.
Instead of calculating every little expense, spot budgeting entails choosing a few spending categories that you know can be trimmed and focusing on spending less in those areas.
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The uncertain nature of the global economy will likely continue for some time, but the unraveling of investment banking and the drastic market sell-off in the following weeks has already been given a name — the Panic of 2008.
The panic in the US is playing out the effects of cheap money that encouraged consumer borrowing and subprime mortgage lending that gave home buyers access to loans they could not afford, driving the housing market into an unsustainable bubble. Financial institutions made bad bets on the housing market and ended up with worthless assets that had to be written off in quantities disproportionately large for the capital reserves maintained by these banks.
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The most common type of resume is in chronological form and lists job experience starting with your most recent position. Another type of resume is the functional resume, which lists experience and skills in a nonchronological format. A typical functional resume includes a section highlighting qualifications and elaborating accomplishments; another section with places of employment, job title, and dates employed; and other sections with education and community service participation.
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Financial therapy is a relatively new area of psychology that is designed to treat money disorders. After squandering most of her fortune, Wynonna Judd sought out financial therapy and says of her experience, "If I can do it, anyone can. I’m in absolute financial recovery.
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Daylighters are workers who manage to work two jobs during one shift. Sure, most of us wear many hats in our jobs, but daylighters actually perform tasks for two different businesses while physically present at just one of them. Some of these career jugglers perform tasks for their secondary job with the permission of their boss at their primary job, but most hide the fact from their employers.
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A hardship withdrawal is when a 401(k) account holder removes funds from her retirement savings because of circumstances like job loss, facing home foreclosure, or overwhelming medical expenses. While withdrawal is permitted during those tough times, the account holder cannot get away from the 10 percent tax penalty incurred when the funds are removed.
According to The Wall Street Journal, several 401(k) plan administrators reported a noticeable increase in hardship withdrawals this year compared to last.
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