You won’t get rich off of these bonds. Their return of investment is notoriously low and notoriously slow, especially with interest rates at their current forty year low. A Series EE bond can take as long as twenty years to mature (or, reach the point where you can ‘cash it in’). It doesn’t sound so appealing, does it? *But*, and this is a huge but, consider this: if part of your investments were in Series EE bonds a few years back, then when Wall Street crashed (remember that?), at the end of the day, you had something left. Not much; not anything that you could call ‘wealth’, but something. And that’s more than people who invested solely in stocks can claim.

So should you consider this investment? The answer is an unequivocal *yes*. There’s a concept you’re probably familiar with in investing; diversity. These investments shouldn’t make up your entire portfolio, but they should definitely be part of it, along with stocks, possibly some real estate, and other investment options. Talk with your financial advisor to determine what options are best for you and your individual needs. But a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, as they say, and Series EE or Series I savings bonds are a bird in the hand; a small bird, but a bird nonetheless. Stocks are like a whole flock of birds perched happily in the bush; if you can catch them, bully for you, but they’ve got a nasty habit of flying away when you least expect it.

Earlier, we mentioned Series EE and Series I bonds. What, you may be asking, are the differences? Mainly the rate of return. Currently, Series EE have a fixed interest rate; no chance of them maturing faster because the interest rate went up. That’s bad news. Of course, there’s also no chance of it maturing more slowly because the interest rates went down. Series I bonds are calculated a bit differently; their interest is made up of two parts, one fixed, one variable, so that they can fluctuate, but never below a certain point. This makes Series I bonds a much more appealing option at this point in time.

Ultimately, which bonds you choose will be determined by what you and your financial advisor think is best for you. But whichever you choose, remember that a savings bond should and must have a place in your portfolio if you’re looking for safe, long-term gain.

Nevertheless, a situation of personal bankruptcy will have an impact on the type of loan that you may be offered. In particular, filing under chapter seven, where you erase your debts without necessarily paying them off in full, may make your application for a personal loan more difficult. Compare this with filing under chapter thirteen where you continue to service your debts albeit over a modified period of time.

Interest rates may go up

Bankruptcy has an immediate notion of risk associated with it. The knee jerk reaction to risk, in terms of lending money, is to raise the interest rates. The logic of the lenders is simple. If there is a greater chance that you will be late, that you’ll miss payments or that you will be unable to repay in any case, then lenders want to compensate by making more money out of the interest. Compared to normal interest rates, this may amount to an additional one or two percent. However, if you are offered loans where the interest rate is considerably above this level, then beware of possible attempts to exploit your weakened financial situation.

More expensive all round

Lenders also compensate for risk of personal loans after bankruptcy by increasing the level of fees associated with a personal loan. Additional charges concerning for example the use of a credit card, or increased charges associated with any late payment, are two of the ways that lenders seek to maximize profits and minimize risk. As with interest rates above, if a company suggests that you pay fees that are dramatically higher than normal, treat this with the healthy suspicion that it deserves.

Reassuring the lender

Lenders are reassured at least to some degree if you also provide some sort of collateral against the loan that you are seeking. This may be in the form of real estate, or other valuable possessions such as your car. It may also be a cash deposit that you make in order to get approval for a credit card simply to be able to purchase a variety of things where this is the simplest if not the only way to pay. Remember also to investigate other possibilities such as the use of a retirement plan for example. If on the other hand it is not possible to offer collateral to a potential lender, then investigate the option of getting a co-signer for the loan.

A question of timing

Interestingly, personal loans after bankruptcy may be easier to obtain compared to personal loans requested before bankruptcy. Once again, the logic of lenders is clear-cut, even if it is surprising. After bankruptcy, a borrower may no longer have the obligation to pay off previous debts and may have a larger cash flow available month by month. The consent of a lender for a personal loan may also play an important part in rebuilding the credit score of someone who has filed for bankruptcy. This is an important point, because otherwise credit scores can remain depressed for as much as ten years from the dates of the bankruptcy.

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Duration : 0:25:40

Here’s how you get out of your mess, and into a better car.

STEP 1: You’re broke right now; buy a broke person’s car for right now.

I just did a search on Yahoo Autos, for:
1) Cars within 50 miles of Los Angeles
2) Asking price between $1 and $2,000
3) Mileage of more than 10,000

I found 142 cars listed.
After sorting by mileage, the one in the middle is a 1997 Dodge Neon with 140,000 miles asking $1,000.

————

STEP 2: Take the $400/mo you were planning on paying for car payments, and put it in the bank instead.

———-

STEP 3: March 2009: After 12 months, you’ll have $4800 in the bank.
Trade in your $1,000 beater for a $5,500 car.
Another Yahoo search:
1) 50 miles of LA
2) 10,000+ miles
3) Price between $5,000 and $6,000

This time, there’s over 1,100 cars listed.
Sort by mileage, the three near the middle are:
2001 Nissan Altima, 1994 Toyota Camry, 1994 Mercedes E-class, with 99,300 miles.

————

STEP 4: Continue saving $400/mo for another 12 months. You’d've committed to giving that money to the car dealer, so you should be able to afford this, right?

———-

STEP 5: It’s March 2010. Now, the car you bought for $6,000 is worth about $5,000, and you have another $4,800 cash. For $9,000-$10,000, we’re looking at a 2004 Toyota Corolla, or a 2000 Mercedes C-class with about 74,000 miles.

——–

STEP 6: March 2011 (three years from now): Continue making that same $400/mo car payment that you were planning to make, but now, you have $4,800 cash, and a trade in worth about $8,500. Now, for $12,000-$13,000, you’re looking at some three year old cars.

YOU NOW HAVE THE SAME 2008 CAR YOU WOULD HAVE BOUGHT TODAY.
BUT YOU AVOIDED TWO FULL YEARS OF CAR PAYMENTS.
AND NEVER HAD TO OWE ANYONE A DIME
OR EVER RISKED GETTING THE CAR REPOED, BECAUSE YOU PAID CASH EACH TIME.

———–

STEP 7: Now for the crazy part:
Finish the last two years of car payments, but this time, put the money into a mutual fund.

Let it sit for 20 years, and watch two years of $400/mo (that you would have given to the car dealer as the 4th and 5th years of payments) turn into over $50,000.
That’s a free car.

Duration : 0:6:0

See that Excel only sees 15 significant digits in Excel. Learn that Excel 2007 has 100 Undo, whereas Excel 2003 only had 16.

In This Series learn 17 amazing Finance Tricks. Learn about the PMT, PV, FV, NPER, RATE, SLN, DB, EFFECT, NOMINAL, NPV, XNPV, and the CUMIPMT functions that can make your financing tasks much easier in Excel. See how to use the PMT function in the standard way, but also see how to use it while incorporating a Balloon payment or a delayed payment. Lean how to translate a Nominal interest rate into an Effective Interest rate. Learn how to calculate how long it takes to pay off a credit card balance. Lean how to calculate the Effect Rate on a Payday loan. And many more financing Tricks!!

The Excel Finance Tricks 1-17 will show an assortment of Excel Financing Tricks!

Formula

Duration : 0:10:36

Duration : 0:25:19