http://www.millionaireorbust.com teaching you how to think about your finances Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:07:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 2006-2009 david@millionaireorbust.com (Flying Squirrel Media) david@millionaireorbust.com (Flying Squirrel Media) personal finance 1440 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/images/podcastlogosmall.jpg http://www.millionaireorbust.com 144 144 teaching you how to think about your finances teaching you how to think about your finances personal finance, business news Flying Squirrel Media Flying Squirrel Media david@millionaireorbust.com no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0081/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0081/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:00:45 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=104 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0081/feed/ 2 0:16:09 In this week’s episode of Millionaire or Bust we focus on the good news of the week, which there was a lot of: This week all the major indices were up. Madoff plead guilty and was jailed for his $65 billion fraud. OPEC kept output steady to h[...] In this week’s episode of Millionaire or Bust we focus on the good news of the week, which there was a lot of: This week all the major indices were up. Madoff plead guilty and was jailed for his $65 billion fraud. OPEC kept output steady to help heal the sick economy. Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase said they are in the black for this year. A growing number of banks are already aiming to return TARP funds. This week I also received comments from: Shawno of hypernonsense.com Trevor of financialnut.com Matt from Stockton from the Pizza Go Here podcast and Podcast Stockton provided these links on identity theft: good graphs about identity theft identity theft by family kids identity being stolen If you enjoy Millionaire or Bust, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0080/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0080/#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:00:42 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=103 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0080/feed/ 4 0:20:07 The main topic of this week’s episode of Millionaire or Bust is carving some savings out of your budget. But, before I talked about that, I had to give you this week’s news: First off, we had the 17th bank failure of the year, making eig[...] The main topic of this week’s episode of Millionaire or Bust is carving some savings out of your budget. But, before I talked about that, I had to give you this week’s news: First off, we had the 17th bank failure of the year, making eight consecutive weeks with at least one bank failure. Then on Sunday, Circuit City closed it’s doors for the last time. And while oil and gas prices were going up, the DOW, S&P 500 and NASDAQ were all dropping. To combat that and the horrendous unemployment numbers that were released, the top ranking House Republican called for a spending freeze. Of course since people knew they were on their own to help themselves in this economy, workers started spending less on eating out according to a survey. For those of you looking to save a bit more money, I discussed a few ways to carve a little extra money savings out of your budget that I was thinking about as I poured through my bills while doing my taxes. If you enjoy Millionaire or Bust, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0077/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0077/#comments Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:00:50 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=100 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0077/feed/ 6 0:23:19 On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, I start off by announcing that I’ll be doing the show solo for the foreseeable future. Talli is on hiatus due to the demands of her other podcast and blog, Being Healthy for Busy People and work and the[...] On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, I start off by announcing that I’ll be doing the show solo for the foreseeable future. Talli is on hiatus due to the demands of her other podcast and blog, Being Healthy for Busy People and work and the baby. So, I’m encouraging you all to take a more active part in the show and send me feedback & comments that I can use on the show. This week’s topic is “Should we spend or should we save?” I set the stage by discussing a few news stories, including the biggest news of the week that the Senate passed a $787 billion stimulus bill. Then I talked about an article that says that the average price of a wedding has dropped nearly $6,000 as couples scale back. Then in what looked like good news, I talked about the foreclosures easing in January by about 10%. Unfortunately, that was mainly driven by the foreclosure moratoriums of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. With that poor news, I jumped into a story that detailed the extreme measures some people have gone to earn some extra cash to make ends meet. With that extra cash, I guess Starbucks wants us to buy some of their new cheaper coffee-and-food combos. That seems less likely though since, US jobless claims were above 600,000 for the week. Luckily, retail sales rose unexpectedly in January, but only by 1%. The economy hasn’t turned around yet though because closures in Nebraska, Florida, Illinois and Oregon bring the number of bank failures to 13 this year as the financial crisis continues. All this news led to the net worth of American families falling drastically according to the last story. It also led to my conclusion on whether you should spend or save in this economy. The answer? It depends. Give the show a listen to get the details. If you enjoy Millionaire or Bust, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0070/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0070/#comments Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:00:11 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=93 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0070/feed/ 1 0:30:10 This is the last episode of Millionaire or Bust for 2008. We covered a lot of ground in this show. Even though the week on Wall St. was shortened, there was a lot that happened. Of course, we had to start off by talking about oil, which bounced bac[...] This is the last episode of Millionaire or Bust for 2008. We covered a lot of ground in this show. Even though the week on Wall St. was shortened, there was a lot that happened. Of course, we had to start off by talking about oil, which bounced back above $37 despite the U.A.E. announcing their plans to make their portion of the cuts necessary to meet the oil production reduction announced last week by OPEC. Then we decided to go with more good news and discuss Amazon’s announcement that 2008 was their best holiday season ever. We also discussed why that was the case. Then, before we all started flying too high on good news, we talked about the mixed news of the bankruptcy judge approving Circuit City’s financing. Then we got into two plans that were designed to stimulate the economy. The first is an energy conservation plan the incoming administration might consider implementing and the second is three periods of national sales tax holidays that the National Retail Federation is calling for in 2009. In case you have an appliance break, we discuss what you should do when an appliance breaks. Should you fix it? Or replace it? If you need a place to access to thousands of reviews of local service providers, the article recommended Angieslist.com, which is a consumer rating site that charges $5 to $10 a month for membership. If you’re looking for free DIY instructions or to order parts they recommended RepairClinic.com. And if you’re looking for a second opinion on what to do with that broken appliance, they recommended Applianceguru.com, which is an appliance repair forum. Then, in case you were considering buying a house, we discussed the ten worst real-estate markets for 2009 and falling mortgage rates which reached a new record low. And before wrapping up the show, we took a look at a CNN poll which says that 74% of Americans think behavior like Bernie Madoff’s (the guy with the $50 billion fraud we discussed recently) is common. And no, I didn’t forget. Here’s the Rent vs. Buy Home Calculator I promised, to help you decide if it’s a better idea for you to buy a home or keep on renting. Talk to you all again in 2009! Have a great New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day everyone! If you enjoy Millionaire or Bust, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0069/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0069/#comments Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:00:44 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=92 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0069/feed/ 1 0:29:51 On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we covered the big three stories. We discussed the Fed reducing the benchmark rate to as low as zero, Bush providing loans to save the automakers and how oil did when OPEC announced a major production cut. We [...] On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we covered the big three stories. We discussed the Fed reducing the benchmark rate to as low as zero, Bush providing loans to save the automakers and how oil did when OPEC announced a major production cut. We then discussed how gas prices edged lower after going up for four straight days. Then because of Talli’s question in a prior show about whether the luxury car manufacturers were suffering in this economy, I pulled a story about Porsche sales falling as the crisis reduced demand for their cars. Next, we talked about the housing market and how new housing starts fell more than expected last month. Then we talked about a survey of employers that showed that about half of businesses will cut back on raises, citing the weak economy. We discussed how, despite the way they feel about their jobs, workers are afraid to change jobs during this economy. We talked a little about why switching jobs might be a good move for some, even though it can be risky in some circumstances. Then we discussed whether or not these are tough economic times. People are stealing Christmas trees and selling their gold and jewelry for cash. You be the judge. Then, since we were fed up with hearing about bonuses for the heads of failing companies, we talked about the fitting bonuses given to the executives at Credit Suisse this year. Finally, bonuses that we can get behind! Then, in case you wanted to fly to Switzerland to congratulate the board for their choice of bonuses, we discussed how jet fuel prices dropped, but airfares haven’t yet and why that is. Before we wrapped up the show, we had to call out a country for a Millionaire or Bust Gold Star award. We talk about how Portugal told its banks to lend or else they would have to give back their bailout loans. About time someone in some part of the world actually made the banks use the money they were given for the purpose it was intended. If you enjoy Millionaire or Bust, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0065/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0065/#comments Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:30:47 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=88 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0065/feed/ 3 0:31:23 On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we have plenty to talk about. We start off by discussing how the DOW did this week and how President-Elect Obama’s nominations for cabinet positions may have affected it. We also discussed the still fa[...] On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we have plenty to talk about. We start off by discussing how the DOW did this week and how President-Elect Obama’s nominations for cabinet positions may have affected it. We also discussed the still falling gas prices. Then in banking news, we discussed three more bank failures, Citigroup’s slashing of 52,000 jobs, Genworth’s deal to buy a bank in a bid to receive TARP money and GMAC filing for bank holding status in order to get TARP money, as well. Then of course, we had to discuss GM hitting it’s lowest price since the Great Depression and their desire of a bailout. Before we left the subject of GM, David had to get in a rant about how they earned their spot near bankruptcy. Since Thanksgiving is coming up this Thursday and Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year follows it, we covered two stories. The first talked about how households intend to spend less this year on Christmas gifts than last year and how the sale of gift cards will also be down this year. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! If you enjoy Millionaire or Bust, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0064/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0064/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:25:28 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=87 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0064/feed/ 4 0:26:11 On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we cover the week after the US election (which also happened to be a one week trip up to the Yosemite area for us). The financial markets were pretty volatile again this week. So, we had to discuss that volati[...] On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we cover the week after the US election (which also happened to be a one week trip up to the Yosemite area for us). The financial markets were pretty volatile again this week. So, we had to discuss that volatility a little bit. We also touched on the current mortgage rates. Of course, we had to mention that GM closed under $3 for the first time since 1946 and had their lowest close since WWII. We talked a little about what they were trying to do about it, what the government is thinking about doing to help them and the stance of the UAW on concessions. Unlike General Motors, not all companies are suffering. Both Walmart and McDonalds reported increases in sales. We discussed why that was and who it was at the expense of. We also discussed how U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Friday that recapitalizing banks would be the most effective use of a $700 billion financial bailout war chest rather than the purchase of “toxic” assets held by the banks. Speaking of the financial bailout, the Fed OK’d American Express being reclassified as a bank holding company in order to make them eligible to receive bailout funds. Then, despite signals from OPEC that it may slash production again, the price of oil continued to decline. That of course has been accompanied by the continued fall of gas prices, which has been welcome to consumers. Finally, we discussed the Commerce Department’s Friday report that we had the largest ever October plunge for retail sales and a sharp drop in business inventories. If you enjoy Millionaire or Bust, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0061/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0061/#comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:30:24 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=84 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0061/feed/ 2 0:26:49 On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we start off the show by summarizing the month of October. Things got pretty crazy during the month, so we needed to talk about the economy shrinking in the third quarter, the beating the stock markets took, t[...] On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we start off the show by summarizing the month of October. Things got pretty crazy during the month, so we needed to talk about the economy shrinking in the third quarter, the beating the stock markets took, the falling crude oil prices and the rising mortgage rates. Then we got into a story about the rising bank fees that we’re all starting to see at our banks and how we can protect ourselves from paying out more of our hard earned money for those fees. That way, we’ll have more money to go towards building our wealth rather than padding the bottom lines of our banks. Before wrapping up the show, we remind everyone that Talli was nominated for Best Health Podcast in the 2008 Podcast Awards and invite them to check out Talli’s other podcast, Being Healthy for Busy People, if they haven’t already. If you like it, you should support it and Talli by voting. Voting can be done once per day until Nov. 6, 2008. So, if you like the show, vote early and vote daily at PodcastAwards.com. If you enjoy Millionaire or Bust, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0059/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0059/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:25:04 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=82 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0059/feed/ 0 0:25:29 On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, I started off the show by congratulating Talli for her nomination for Best Health Podcast in the 2008 Podcast Awards and reminding our listeners that if they haven’t checked out Talli’s other podca[...] On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, I started off the show by congratulating Talli for her nomination for Best Health Podcast in the 2008 Podcast Awards and reminding our listeners that if they haven’t checked out Talli’s other podcast, Being Healthy for Busy People, you should. If you like it, you should support it and Talli by voting. Voting can be done once per day until Nov. 6, 2008. So, if you like the show, vote early and vote daily at PodcastAwards.com. With the congratulations out of the way, we started discussing a week in the financial markets that deserved few congratulations. We discussed the drop in the DOW, the extreme volatility of the market, dropping oil prices and of course the dropping price of gasoline. We also discussed the bailout, including some developments in how it is being managed that really disturbed us. Of course, part of that was the announcement by PNC of their intention to buy National City and where they got the money to do that. (Hint: It was from all of us.) Then we discussed a possible impending interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and a potential second stimulus package sometime next year. Finally, we dipped back into the deep well of foreclosure news and talked about how bad the situation looks and the opportunities that provides for some and challenges it creates for others. If you enjoy our podcast, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0057/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0057/#comments Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:30:46 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=80 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0057/feed/ 2 0:26:20 On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we start off the show by discussing some economic indicators, including the price of oil, interbank lending rates, consumer confidence and jobless rates. We also discuss the speculation that mortgage rates ar[...] On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we start off the show by discussing some economic indicators, including the price of oil, interbank lending rates, consumer confidence and jobless rates. We also discuss the speculation that mortgage rates are headed to 7%. Then we discuss the story of a Pasadena woman who chooses death over eviction. It’s reminiscent of the 90 year old woman we discussed last week who shot herself in the chest when faced with eviction. This story was stranger with a darker ending, but left us with some questions. Finally we spent a large portion of the show posing some questions & discussing some ways of addressing your financial weaknesses. We discuss debt, emergency funds, worst case scenarios & insurance. If you enjoy our podcast, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0056/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0056/#comments Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:00:10 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=79 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0056/feed/ 0 0:06:20 This episode of Millionaire or Bust is our midweek short episode. I wasn’t sure if I should give you the bad news first or the good news. So, I started with the bad news. First, I mention the economic crisis we are in right now. Then I revi[...] This episode of Millionaire or Bust is our midweek short episode. I wasn’t sure if I should give you the bad news first or the good news. So, I started with the bad news. First, I mention the economic crisis we are in right now. Then I revisit a phrase that most of us heard growing up and could stand to hear right now in order to get a little perspective. Finally, I hit some positives of this financial crisis. Believe it or not, there are some positives. podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0055/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0055/#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:15:12 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=78 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0055/feed/ 4 0:23:47 On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we start off the show by discussing the news of the week, which included: Federal antitrust regulators clearing Wells Fargo’s $11.7 billion acquisition of Wachovia. The Fed dropping the fed loan rate by[...] On this episode of Millionaire or Bust, we start off the show by discussing the news of the week, which included: Federal antitrust regulators clearing Wells Fargo’s $11.7 billion acquisition of Wachovia. The Fed dropping the fed loan rate by half a point. The U.S. announcing it is going to be buying nonvoting stakes in U.S. banks to get them more capital. The drop in mortgage rates. Fannie Mae forgiving the mortgage debt of a 90 year old woman who shot herself in the chest. Finally, we discuss 10 questions that you must ask yourself to discover and address your financial weaknesses. In one of the points, we mention a Budget Calculator that can help you set up an initial budget if you’re not sure where to start or if you want to check if your breakdown of categories seems reasonable. If you enjoy our podcast, please head on over to iTunes and give us a nice review. If you have some feedback on how to make the show better, shoot us an email and help us improve the show. We appreciate all your comments. Thanks for listening everyone! podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0054/ http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0054/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:10:16 +0000 David van Sunder http://www.millionaireorbust.com/?p=77 http://www.millionaireorbust.com/archives/mob0054/feed/ 0 0:07:41 This episode of Millionaire or Bust is our midweek short episode. I mention the economic crisis we are in right now, but decided that looking into whether or not we each have our own personal financial crisis was more important. To look into the i[...] This episode of Millionaire or Bust is our midweek short episode. I mention the economic crisis we are in right now, but decided that looking into whether or not we each have our own personal financial crisis was more important. To look into the issue, I talked about 10 solutions to a personal credit crisis from an article from money.cnn.com. I talked about how to tell if you have a personal financial crisis and some tips on handling it, if you do have one. Resources mentioned: For a free copy of your credit report: annualcreditreport.com To find a debt counselor: The National Foundation of Credit Counseling podcasts Flying Squirrel Media no no