THE SHADOW

Written by Al Thomas


THE ALCHEMIST by AL THOMAS THE SHADOW The Shadow knows. There used to be a radio program called The Shadow whererepparttar hero, Lamont Cranston,repparttar 112246 Shadow, would overcomerepparttar 112247 shadowy forces of doom by cloudingrepparttar 112248 vision of those around him. “Who knows what evil lurks inrepparttar 112249 hearts of men” was their intro line. They were great shows and you can still find them onrepparttar 112250 Internet. The stock market is kind of likerepparttar 112251 shadow. As you walk along withrepparttar 112252 sun at your back you cast a shadow. No matter which way you moverepparttar 112253 shadow stays ahead. Fast, slow, right, left. It doesn’t make any difference. An equity market isrepparttar 112254 shadow ofrepparttar 112255 economy staying out in front following every twist and turn. Depending uponrepparttar 112256 height ofrepparttar 112257 sunrepparttar 112258 shadow may be long or short. You can see it either as a long term or short term prediction ofrepparttar 112259 passage. If you did not know what a shadow was you would not realize it is telling you something about where you are going. If you seerepparttar 112260 shadow fall across a hole you know you must step over or around it depending upon its width and depth. The path of our economy is predicted byrepparttar 112261 direction ofrepparttar 112262 stock market. When things are good and everyone is making moneyrepparttar 112263 shadow seems to go up and whenrepparttar 112264 economy slows (for whatever reason)repparttar 112265 shadow darker and heads down. At this time (11/04)repparttar 112266 sun is shining brightly andrepparttar 112267 shadow stretches out long and friendly

CREDIT CARD SHOCKER

Written by Rosella Aranda


Have you ever looked at your credit card statement? I’m not talking about just making sure that allrepparttar transactions are correct. I’m talking about looking atrepparttar 112245 finance charges. I daresay that sometimes that figure is almost as great asrepparttar 112246 minimum monthly payment you’re making. After all, as long as you can keeprepparttar 112247 creditors at bay by payingrepparttar 112248 minimum, that’s all you care about, right? If you agreed, I urge you to reconsider.

I’m sure that by now, many of you realize that you lose money by buying on credit. Still, I don’t think many of you appreciate just how much your credit cards are costing you. I’d like to really drive that point home.

Let’s say that Joe decides he needs new patio furniture. He doesn’t haverepparttar 112249 $2,000 cash, so he slaps down his plastic card knowing that he can makerepparttar 112250 minimum monthly payment, no sweat. And so that’s what he does, month in, month, out, year in, year out, and pretty soon he’s been doing this for one full decade. Surely it’s paid off by now! No, not even close. In fact, if Joe continues to makerepparttar 112251 minimum monthly payment, he will be paying for that furniture forrepparttar 112252 next 38 years! And once he has maderepparttar 112253 final payment on his original $2,000 purchase, he will have paid an additional $5,300 in interest! Pretty disgusting, isn’t it? And this is at 14% APR. Many cards run higher.

Some of you more savvy credit card users out there might be thinking that you already know this, so you don’t fall for that trap anymore. You only get credit cards with a much lower interest rate, right? But do you notice that it’s only for a few months? And do you pay attention to whatrepparttar 112254 interest rate jumps to after that short introductory period? You kind of have to hunt around for this figure since they don’t put it in plain view. Believe me, credit card companies are not losing money on these lower introductory rate offers.

Credit card promotions are becoming even more devious. Nowrepparttar 112255 credit card companies are offering 0% interest on all balance transfers for up to 18 months! Wow, well, you’ve GOT to take advantage of that, right? I’ll show you three reasons why you shouldn’t.

First, even though you might be “pre-approved”, it is in no way certain that you will actually get this low rate. The credit card companies reserverepparttar 112256 right to reconsider their original offer based on your qualifications. They will often go ahead and issue you a credit card, but it could be at a substantially higher rate. Don’t assume that what you applied for is what you are getting.

Secondly, there are often balance transfer fees that are substantial enough to gobble up any savings you might make on a lower interest rate. Transfer rates run anywhere from 3% to a hefty 5%, with a single transaction costing as much as $65.

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