THE SHADOWWritten by Al Thomas
THE ALCHEMIST by AL THOMAS THE SHADOW The Shadow knows. There used to be a radio program called The Shadow where hero, Lamont Cranston, Shadow, would overcome shadowy forces of doom by clouding vision of those around him. “Who knows what evil lurks in hearts of men” was their intro line. They were great shows and you can still find them on Internet. The stock market is kind of like shadow. As you walk along with sun at your back you cast a shadow. No matter which way you move shadow stays ahead. Fast, slow, right, left. It doesn’t make any difference. An equity market is shadow of economy staying out in front following every twist and turn. Depending upon height of sun shadow may be long or short. You can see it either as a long term or short term prediction of 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 see 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 by direction of stock market. When things are good and everyone is making money shadow seems to go up and when economy slows (for whatever reason) shadow darker and heads down. At this time (11/04) sun is shining brightly and shadow stretches out long and friendly
| | CREDIT CARD SHOCKERWritten by Rosella Aranda
Have you ever looked at your credit card statement? I’m not talking about just making sure that all transactions are correct. I’m talking about looking at finance charges. I daresay that sometimes that figure is almost as great as minimum monthly payment you’re making. After all, as long as you can keep creditors at bay by paying 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 have $2,000 cash, so he slaps down his plastic card knowing that he can make 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 make minimum monthly payment, he will be paying for that furniture for next 38 years! And once he has made 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 what 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. Now 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 reserve 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.
|
