What happens when a big bank fails?

Happy Friday!

President-elect addressed the American people on the subject of the economy this morning at George Mason University.

This video takes a situation faced by many (foreclosure + decimation of retirement investments) and makes it funny.
Happy Friday!

Are you into saving money? And I mean really saving it. You know, by setting it aside in some sort of an account (be it investment or high yield savings or CD). Do you do that? I do, and I really felt the truth behind a recent BusinessWeek article about how savers are basically getting the shaft. Due to the very real effects of inflation, many savers are finding that their gains are being eaten away. And with the bear market, some are concerned that investment accounts are tanking.
All of this is somewhat excerbated by the recent attempts to shore …read more

Earlier in today’s Blog Off, I mentioned investing as a personal finance tip. This one is related to it:
Diversify your investments.
You don’t want all your eggs in one basket. Indeed, it is very important for you to have a reasonably diverse investment portfolio so that you can better handle things when one of your investments is down.
image credit: US government
This post is part of the b5media Business Channel Great Blog Off! Find out more about the Blog Off here: http://www.b5media.com/b5media-blogs-for-a-cause-and-raises-money-in-support-of-charity/

The Business Channel is supporting Accion International for the Great Blog Off. You can make a donation directly to Accion …read more

This is a guest post by Heather Johnson.
You’ve heard the success stories probably more times than you can count. People always talk about how they built their own personal wealth and had excellent success in their financial endeavors. Unfortunately, no matter what people say, there’s no perfect way to build wealth, and for every far-fetched success story, there are probably many more stories of failed attempts at making cash. That being said, I’ve decided to offer some practical advice on building personal wealth, and obtaining personal financial security. It’s not some get-rich-quick …read more

Yesterday’s post on the financial sector prompted a comment about some of the confusion coming from financial sector jargon, more specifically, CDOs. Indeed, Jean’s comment was not the only question I received about these products that can sap a financial sector company of earnings when they head south. So I thought it would be a good idea to address them.
CDO: Collateralized Debt Obligation
A CDO is basically an investment that is backed by debt. This debt can include one or more of the following sources: bonds, loans and other assets that have collateral. Mortgage loans (including subprime loans) have been popular …read more