As you already know, my blog is heavily focused on the real estate side of the economy, specifically, the housing market. People have asked me why I have unique forecasts and opinions that are different than other experts.(By the way, I take that as a compliment.) First of all, I admit that I do not have a Ph.D (it doesn't mean that you should not trust what I say) so the way I do my research is different, using more of the media and interviews with people who are working in the field. Also, I am not using the theories economists use when they forecast, but I use the freshest data I can find. Now that I have revealed all my research secrets, let me introduce a Web 2.0 tool that I use for my research. Warning: you will be surprised that I use this tool for my research (hint: you probably have used it).
Zillow is a tool that stole my heart the first time I used it. It is a real estate tool (as specified by seomoz.org which awarded Zillow the number one Web 2.0 real estate site award ) where people can check the value of their homes, list homes for sale, and much more. Out of curiosity, I found out the background of this tool. Zillow was founded by Rich Barton, who also founded Expedia.com, and Lloyd Frink in 2005. When Rich and Lloyd were looking for a new business venture, they came up with the idea of real estate. (Obviously, the real estate market was hot back then and many were looking to profit from it.) Barton says he loves real estate and he wanted to create a tool where people can get information about their homes and obtain valuable resources.
At Zillow, you can find out about how much your home is worth by typing in your home address or another home you want to know about. Then, you will get a detailed analysis of the home's worth along with other information such as the sales history of the home. From that analyzed report, I particularly like the market value change chart that shows price trends for your home, state, and even the nation. This data is now being used by the media to see the conditions of the housing market. For example, CNN recently reported the decline of home values using Zillow's value calculations. Also, sign up for an account and you will be able to claim your home and make corrections to the data, if you would like. The great aspect of Zillow is that you can ask questions to homeowners, for example, whether they like neighbors. Additionally, if you are looking for a home, this is a great place to start your research. It has homes for sale (yes, they have foreclosure data) and you can get information about the neighborhood, mortgage rates, and so on.
That is not all, because there are more tools and information at Zillow.Do you need to sell your home? Zillow can help you. They have a tool called Make Me Move: you set a price for your home and if someone is interested, you can sell it without the fat commission! In addition, Zillow has a database of recently sold homes that was once available only to real estate professionals. The list goes on and on and you should check it out yourself.
Zillow is popular among homeowners and sellers. Since the market downturn has started, worried homeowners are checking their home prices regularly, and sellers check out how much they can get for their homes. Actually, they are not the only groups who use Zillow. People like me who do research on the housing market use this site not only because it provides home sales data, but also because I and others can read people's behaviors such as how people react to falling prices or particular market. Last but not least, buyers jump into it to chat with local real estate professionals, check data on homes they are trying to buy, and shop for a mortgage.
Since Zillow has been very successful at attracting users, other websites that are similar to Zillow are appearing online. A strong competitor is realestateabc.com, but people who have been using Zillow will immediately notice that it has a long way to go since its graphics look like a Web 1.0 site. Another competitor is Cyberhomes. I understand that it has very cool graphics and a variety of data;however,I checked the accuracy of the valuation tool and their numbers are way off than the actual numbers. For example, I entered a few home data into its valuation tool, and the estimates were off more than 15% of those homes' actual values. That is why Zillow is still the number one home valuation site.
Now that you have heard what I have to say about Zillow, go ahead and check it out. I promise you will not be disappointed.
Let me tell you this: people have the misconception that Zillow is a widget for home buyers and sellers. That is not true, and Zillow is for anyone who is interested in real estate. For example, a person like me who researches the real estate market, I use Zillow to find out about home prices and sales activity trends. Not only that, I use it to forecast the market by examining the charts and the market reports. Basically, Zillow makes my research much easier by combining lots of information in one place.
That said, let me show you how to use Zillow as a real estate researcher. (No, you don't need a Ph.D to do the research.) First of all, let's pick a house that we want to do research on. Remember, even though we pick only one house, not thousands of houses, that particular house does have enough information about the market trends. So, let's go and type in the address, and as usual, click go. Wow, isn't this amazing? We are now seeing a group of houses from the sky. We can pick another house from this map, but let's stick to our first pick by clicking the address.
Look at the information Zillow has for this particular house. Basically, it has everything we want to know about this house. Then, let's click Zestimate & Charts. Do you see the Zestimate? That's the amount this house is worth. Not only that, Zestimate shows the price change in the past 30 days in addition to the value range this house may be valued at. Now that we look at the value of this house, let's get into the highlights of Zillow. Look at the diversity of this chart. Because it has price trends not only for this house, but for the city, county, state, and even for the nation, it's so easy to compare the price trends for the entire U.S. market here.
Don't forget: Zillow also has historical value trends. It shows the historical value trends of this home and other homes in the nation by showing the price changes in the past 30 days to 10 years. If you don't like the percentage change option, then switch to dollar comparison. This is absolutely my favorite tool. I mean, I don't have to look through a several websites to find the value trends, but just one place, Zillow. Now, based on the information we gather from Zillow, can you tell me where the market is heading? Exactly. You can tell the market is still going down. Congratulations for being a real estate researcher!
People like me who have experience in real estate would realize that even last year, Zestimate values were not accurate. I mean sometimes, it was off by a big number. Is that why users wrote all those negative comments on the discussion board? Now, check it out again. You will realize that the data is much more accurate now. How did Zillow do it? What it probably did was change the way it calculated the values, adding less value for additional square footage.
Before the era of Zillow, it was almost impossible to get nationwide data of homes and their values. Because of Zillow, now it is possible to search the price trends for a small town in Texas or anywhere in the U.S. So, say "thank you" to Zillow. If you have read about home price trends in the newspaper, you would realize that the zip code is the lowest unit newspapers or other sources break down the trends. How about the trends for your own home or your neighbor's? Zillow knows users' wish and it is now fulfilling our wish by breaking down the trends from the nation to even individual homes.
I know there are other home value comparison tools online. But use Zillow. Because it has the most up-to-date home sales data, those data provide accurate charts and value trends for research. If you don't trust me, try using other tools. You will realize that their sales data are not updated for at least 6 months. So, use Zillow which updates its data every week.
I am scared of those data compiled by economists who use all kinds of math formulas, and I don't understand what those data mean. Lucky you, because Zillow is designed for the general public. You don't really have to learn anything to use it. If you are not comfortable with it, simply take a tour. Then, just grab your glasses and look at the charts. Let me be honest: you need to learn the options on chart selection in order for you to get the right chart you want. That is why users should encourage Zillow to explain certain terms like annualized percertage. Other than that, it is a very user-friendly widget.
By now, you have probably noticed that I am not using Zillow as it was originally designed. Yes, Zillow is primarily intended for home buyers and sellers, and those charts that I use are for buyers and sellers to check their home values or homes they want to buy. Who cares? I am using it to measure the conditions of the housing market. And even CNN understands that the data on Zillow is valuable, and it is using those data to report the housing price trends.
I think Zillow will develop more widgets that are more interactive and personalized. For example, Zillow will probably create a widget that helps people where they can afford to buy homes based on the information they provide. Yes, Zillow has unlimited possibilities!
Zillow is a Web 2.0 real estate tool where home sellers and buyers can check home values and price trends from the street level to the national level. Also, economists and people who are interested in the housing market use it to measure the market conditions. Zillow was started in 2005 by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, and it has been growing ever since, reaching 8.8 million visitors each month. Zillow has many tools and information including a home selling tool called Make Me Move and information about neighborhoods.
Zillow's detailed property information is very useful since it offers the value of the home in a "Zestimate," and it has price trend charts that can show the price change in the past 30 days to 10 years. Also, the charts have the option of comparing homes' value trends with the city, state, and national home value trends. If charts are not enough, Zillow has real estate market reports and a historical value trends tool that can aid in the research or home buying process.
Take advantage of Zillow; it can even help with the property tax reduction application. All you have to do is click on other homes in your neighborhood and find out if there are any sales. If you see the sales prices, use two of sales prices to the application. Additionally, Zillow is the place to start the home buying search. Look through the neighborhood map you are interested in and click as many homes you would like. Check to see if most residents are long-term residents. Having long-term residents not only creates great relationships between neighbors, but these neighborhoods' home prices are stable.
Zillow is waiting for you. Use Zillow and simplify your life. You will thank Zillow for letting you enjoy the good life!!!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Future & My Life
Now, the semester is almost over and I am ready to close a chapter of my life. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog posts. Without you, I probably didn't have any strength to write these posts.
As you can tell from my blog topics, ever since I was an eighth grader, I always wanted to work in the real estate industry. I guess I still have that dream, but that dream has gone through a major correction for the past year. I don't know if I tell you this or not, I forecast a depression since 2005. Since I have experience in both the real estate and business world, I have known what has been going on in this country. I am a firm believer that this depression is caused by ignorance of our financial affairs, and unless we educate ourselves now, the history will repeat itself.
It may sound weird to you, but I feel guilty for not educating people before all this has happened. Honestly, who would listen to this college student? But I could have done better. It's not too late to save others, and that is way my dream has gone through the correction. Instead of focusing my research solely on the real estate market, I am now focusing on the personal finance matters too.
In the future, I am not sure what I am going to be, but one thing I know for sure is that I want to be someone like Suze Orman or Robert Kiyosaki who have raised the financial awareness around the globe. As you may have already noticed, I have started my journey towards that path. I will still research on the real estate market, but who knows, one day, I will be researching on the economy in general (Sorry, I am actually researching on the economy.) But my future research on the economy will take more social approach, focusing heavily on the economy problems and their impacts on the society.
I hope my posts have enriched your knowledge. Yes, I will continue to write about the real estate market and personal finance, but I am not sure if I will write in blog format. But, I promise I will cover more personal finance topics that Suze doesn't cover or economic forecasts that economists hesitate to discuss. Remember, the American dream is there to achieve, not there to give up!
As you can tell from my blog topics, ever since I was an eighth grader, I always wanted to work in the real estate industry. I guess I still have that dream, but that dream has gone through a major correction for the past year. I don't know if I tell you this or not, I forecast a depression since 2005. Since I have experience in both the real estate and business world, I have known what has been going on in this country. I am a firm believer that this depression is caused by ignorance of our financial affairs, and unless we educate ourselves now, the history will repeat itself.
It may sound weird to you, but I feel guilty for not educating people before all this has happened. Honestly, who would listen to this college student? But I could have done better. It's not too late to save others, and that is way my dream has gone through the correction. Instead of focusing my research solely on the real estate market, I am now focusing on the personal finance matters too.
In the future, I am not sure what I am going to be, but one thing I know for sure is that I want to be someone like Suze Orman or Robert Kiyosaki who have raised the financial awareness around the globe. As you may have already noticed, I have started my journey towards that path. I will still research on the real estate market, but who knows, one day, I will be researching on the economy in general (Sorry, I am actually researching on the economy.) But my future research on the economy will take more social approach, focusing heavily on the economy problems and their impacts on the society.
I hope my posts have enriched your knowledge. Yes, I will continue to write about the real estate market and personal finance, but I am not sure if I will write in blog format. But, I promise I will cover more personal finance topics that Suze doesn't cover or economic forecasts that economists hesitate to discuss. Remember, the American dream is there to achieve, not there to give up!
Literature Review for My Research Paper
During my research process, I reviewed many articles, scholarly journals, and data. From there, I found opinions that were against or support my thesis statement.
First of all, Simon Johnson, in his article, "The Quiet Coup," argues, "What we face now could, in fact, be worse than the Great Depression." I strongly agree with his argument since if we don't make fundamental changes to our politics, politicians will let the depression happen. Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan mentioned that he couldn't prevent the downturn to happen because he knew that politicians wouldn't do anything about it. In addition to Johnson, Barry Eichengreen, in his journal, "A Tale of Two Depressions," claims, "To sum up, globally we are tracking or doing even worse than the Great Depression." Any research could show that Eichengreen is right because we have had the biggest failures in this depression, not during the Great Depression.
Then, I found these interesting writings about unemployment. Catey Hill, in her article, "Can we call it a Depression yet?" argues, "A depression has several definitions including: ... unemployment above 10 percent." I know we have not hit the 10 percent mark yet, but even optimistic economists predict that it is going to happen. Then, what does that mean? Great Depression II. In addition to Hill, one of the most famous economists of our time, Frederic S. Mishkin, states, "During Great Depression, unemployment rose to 25% of the labor force." Honestly, even the most pessimistic economist would not predict 25% unemployment rate during the current depression. There is reason behind that; there was almost no part-time employment during that time and not only that, discouraged workers were counted as unemployed, boosting the rate.
Finally, I found a great journal which clarified the impacts of government failures that burdened the economy and the housing market. The authors, Ansgar Belke and Marcel Wiedmann, criticize the US government for implementing monetary policy to control the housing market. They argue that instead of monetary policy, fiscal policy should be implemented. It is no wonder that the U.S. now has the powerless monetary policy, and having that policy will cause significant pain such as hyper inflation to the economy in the future.
First of all, Simon Johnson, in his article, "The Quiet Coup," argues, "What we face now could, in fact, be worse than the Great Depression." I strongly agree with his argument since if we don't make fundamental changes to our politics, politicians will let the depression happen. Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan mentioned that he couldn't prevent the downturn to happen because he knew that politicians wouldn't do anything about it. In addition to Johnson, Barry Eichengreen, in his journal, "A Tale of Two Depressions," claims, "To sum up, globally we are tracking or doing even worse than the Great Depression." Any research could show that Eichengreen is right because we have had the biggest failures in this depression, not during the Great Depression.
Then, I found these interesting writings about unemployment. Catey Hill, in her article, "Can we call it a Depression yet?" argues, "A depression has several definitions including: ... unemployment above 10 percent." I know we have not hit the 10 percent mark yet, but even optimistic economists predict that it is going to happen. Then, what does that mean? Great Depression II. In addition to Hill, one of the most famous economists of our time, Frederic S. Mishkin, states, "During Great Depression, unemployment rose to 25% of the labor force." Honestly, even the most pessimistic economist would not predict 25% unemployment rate during the current depression. There is reason behind that; there was almost no part-time employment during that time and not only that, discouraged workers were counted as unemployed, boosting the rate.
Finally, I found a great journal which clarified the impacts of government failures that burdened the economy and the housing market. The authors, Ansgar Belke and Marcel Wiedmann, criticize the US government for implementing monetary policy to control the housing market. They argue that instead of monetary policy, fiscal policy should be implemented. It is no wonder that the U.S. now has the powerless monetary policy, and having that policy will cause significant pain such as hyper inflation to the economy in the future.
The Consequences of Writing Investigative Research Paper
Did anyone read my controversial research paper? If you didn't, the conclusion is this: We are heading to the Great Depression II. I am glad that our country has the freedom of speech. If I were in some politically-controlled countries, I probably got arrested long time ago. I didn't want to shock anyone, but it was my conclusion based on the research, not just speculation.
I know my conclusion is going against what majority of economists and experts say. But remember, they also didn't predict the current depression. They don't even agree that we are in depression. Why am I taking the lonely road? I take stands on what I believe in, and I am not afraid of political oppression. So, I can basically offer the truth to people, and believe it or not, the truth is based on the research.
I have already created controversy among my acquaintances and family members. They argue that I am wrong and I am using biased research sources. Imagine my paper being published in the school newspaper. I think most professors and students want to throw rocks at me. I honestly wrote this paper knowing that it is a controversial topic. I guess it is my attempt to let people know that the worst has yet to hit the society. But people don't listen and I and other "Dr. Dooms" have to suffer more criticism. I remember that happy moment when people thought I and other "Dr. Dooms" were genius; however, no one really wanted to hear the bad news any longer.
My paper contains some contents that were shared by people whose name cannot be revealed to protect them. One of the tutors who helped me with this paper told me that why I was taking risk to write a research paper. He felt that my paper was similar to investigative journalism. I think this is the way I fulfill my past dream of becoming a journalist and I am pushing myself to it. Yes, I was so into the topic that I spent over 45 hours for this paper. I know it sounds crazy to spend that much time for a paper, but I was very passionate about what I was doing, and my paper hopefully has shown that. My favorite tutor, Katrina, told me that this paper looked like a dissertation, not a research paper. I studied and read many journals on the subject to attack the experts, and Katrina probably saw that in addition to the massive amounts of information that I was trying to fit into this short paper. I thank Katrina for not calling it a junk.
My paper brought negative consequences to the society and me. I am facing criticism every time I talk about this topic and the society is mourning on the news of the Great Depression II. I am proud of what I have done and I will do it again as long as it could save more people.
I know my conclusion is going against what majority of economists and experts say. But remember, they also didn't predict the current depression. They don't even agree that we are in depression. Why am I taking the lonely road? I take stands on what I believe in, and I am not afraid of political oppression. So, I can basically offer the truth to people, and believe it or not, the truth is based on the research.
I have already created controversy among my acquaintances and family members. They argue that I am wrong and I am using biased research sources. Imagine my paper being published in the school newspaper. I think most professors and students want to throw rocks at me. I honestly wrote this paper knowing that it is a controversial topic. I guess it is my attempt to let people know that the worst has yet to hit the society. But people don't listen and I and other "Dr. Dooms" have to suffer more criticism. I remember that happy moment when people thought I and other "Dr. Dooms" were genius; however, no one really wanted to hear the bad news any longer.
My paper contains some contents that were shared by people whose name cannot be revealed to protect them. One of the tutors who helped me with this paper told me that why I was taking risk to write a research paper. He felt that my paper was similar to investigative journalism. I think this is the way I fulfill my past dream of becoming a journalist and I am pushing myself to it. Yes, I was so into the topic that I spent over 45 hours for this paper. I know it sounds crazy to spend that much time for a paper, but I was very passionate about what I was doing, and my paper hopefully has shown that. My favorite tutor, Katrina, told me that this paper looked like a dissertation, not a research paper. I studied and read many journals on the subject to attack the experts, and Katrina probably saw that in addition to the massive amounts of information that I was trying to fit into this short paper. I thank Katrina for not calling it a junk.
My paper brought negative consequences to the society and me. I am facing criticism every time I talk about this topic and the society is mourning on the news of the Great Depression II. I am proud of what I have done and I will do it again as long as it could save more people.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Zillow Presentation
Zillow is a Web 2.0 real estate tool where home sellers and buyers can check home values and price trends from the street level to the national level. Also, economists and people who are interested in the housing market use it to measure the market conditions. Zillow was started in 2005 by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, and it has been growing ever since, reaching 8.8 million visitors each month. Zillow has many tools and information including a home selling tool called Make Me Move and information about neighborhoods.
Zillow's detailed property information is very useful since it offers the value of the home in a "Zestimate," and it has price trend charts that can show the price change in the past 30 days to 10 years. Also, the charts have the option of comparing homes' value trends with the city, state, and national home value trends. If charts are not enough, Zillow has real estate market reports and a historical value trends tool that can aid in the research or home buying process.
Take advantage of Zillow; it can even help with the property tax reduction application. All you have to do is click on other homes in your neighborhood and find out if there are any sales. If you see the sales prices, use two of sales prices to the application. Additionally, Zillow is the place to start the home buying search. Look through the neighborhood map you are interested in and click as many homes you would like. Check to see if most residents are long-term residents. Having long-term residents not only creates great relationships between neighbors, but these neighborhoods' home prices are stable.
Zillow is waiting for you. Use Zillow and simplify your life. You will thank Zillow for letting you enjoy the good life!!!
Zillow's detailed property information is very useful since it offers the value of the home in a "Zestimate," and it has price trend charts that can show the price change in the past 30 days to 10 years. Also, the charts have the option of comparing homes' value trends with the city, state, and national home value trends. If charts are not enough, Zillow has real estate market reports and a historical value trends tool that can aid in the research or home buying process.
Take advantage of Zillow; it can even help with the property tax reduction application. All you have to do is click on other homes in your neighborhood and find out if there are any sales. If you see the sales prices, use two of sales prices to the application. Additionally, Zillow is the place to start the home buying search. Look through the neighborhood map you are interested in and click as many homes you would like. Check to see if most residents are long-term residents. Having long-term residents not only creates great relationships between neighbors, but these neighborhoods' home prices are stable.
Zillow is waiting for you. Use Zillow and simplify your life. You will thank Zillow for letting you enjoy the good life!!!
Why You Need Zillow
Let me tell you this: people have the misconception that Zillow is a widget for home buyers and sellers. That is not true, and Zillow is for anyone who is interested in real estate. For example, a person like me who researches the real estate market, I use Zillow to find out about home prices and sales activity trends. Not only that, I use it to forecast the market by examining the charts and the market reports. Basically, Zillow makes my research much easier by combining lots of information in one place.
That said, let me show you how to use Zillow as a real estate researcher. (No, you don't need a Ph.D to do the research.) First of all, let's pick a house that we want to do research on. Remember, even though we pick only one house, not thousands of houses, that particular house does have enough information about the market trends. So, let's go and type in the address, and as usual, click go. Wow, isn't this amazing? We are now seeing a group of houses from the sky. We can pick another house from this map, but let's stick to our first pick by clicking the address.
Look at the information Zillow has for this particular house. Basically, it has everything we want to know about this house. Then, let's click Zestimate & Charts. Do you see the Zestimate? That's the amount this house is worth. Not only that, Zestimate shows the price change in the past 30 days in addition to the value range this house may be valued at. Now that we look at the value of this house, let's get into the highlights of Zillow. Look at the diversity of this chart. Because it has price trends not only for this house, but for the city, county, state, and even for the nation, it's so easy to compare the price trends for the entire U.S. market here.
Don't forget: Zillow also has historical value trends. It shows the historical value trends of this home and other homes in the nation by showing the price changes in the past 30 days to 10 years. If you don't like the percentage change option, then switch to dollar comparison. This is absolutely my favorite tool. I mean, I don't have to look through a several websites to find the value trends, but just one place, Zillow. Now, based on the information we gather from Zillow, can you tell me where the market is heading? Exactly. You can tell the market is still going down. Congratulations for being a real estate researcher!
People like me who have experience in real estate would realize that even last year, Zestimate values were not accurate. I mean sometimes, it was off by a big number. Is that why users wrote all those negative comments on the discussion board? Now, check it out again. You will realize that the data is much more accurate now. How did Zillow do it? What it probably did was change the way it calculated the values, adding less value for additional square footage.
Before the era of Zillow, it was almost impossible to get nationwide data of homes and their values. Because of Zillow, now it is possible to search the price trends for a small town in Texas or anywhere in the U.S. So, say "thank you" to Zillow. If you have read about home price trends in the newspaper, you would realize that the zip code is the lowest unit newspapers or other sources break down the trends. How about the trends for your own home or your neighbor's? Zillow knows users' wish and it is now fulfilling our wish by breaking down the trends from the nation to even individual homes.
I know there are other home value comparison tools online. But use Zillow. Because it has the most up-to-date home sales data, those data provide accurate charts and value trends for research. If you don't trust me, try using other tools. You will realize that their sales data are not updated for at least 6 months. So, use Zillow which updates its data every week.
I am scared of those data compiled by economists who use all kinds of math formulas, and I don't understand what those data mean. Lucky you, because Zillow is designed for the general public. You don't really have to learn anything to use it. If you are not comfortable with it, simply take a tour. Then, just grab your glasses and look at the charts. Let me be honest: you need to learn the options on chart selection in order for you to get the right chart you want. That is why users should encourage Zillow to explain certain terms like annualized percertage. Other than that, it is a very user-friendly widget.
By now, you have probably noticed that I am not using Zillow as it was originally designed. Yes, Zillow is primarily intended for home buyers and sellers, and those charts that I use are for buyers and sellers to check their home values or homes they want to buy. Who cares? I am using it to measure the conditions of the housing market. And even CNN understands that the data on Zillow is valuable, and it is using those data to report the housing price trends.
I think Zillow will develop more widgets that are more interactive and personalized. For example, Zillow will probably create a widget that helps people where they can afford to buy homes based on the information they provide. Yes, Zillow has unlimited possibilities!
That said, let me show you how to use Zillow as a real estate researcher. (No, you don't need a Ph.D to do the research.) First of all, let's pick a house that we want to do research on. Remember, even though we pick only one house, not thousands of houses, that particular house does have enough information about the market trends. So, let's go and type in the address, and as usual, click go. Wow, isn't this amazing? We are now seeing a group of houses from the sky. We can pick another house from this map, but let's stick to our first pick by clicking the address.
Look at the information Zillow has for this particular house. Basically, it has everything we want to know about this house. Then, let's click Zestimate & Charts. Do you see the Zestimate? That's the amount this house is worth. Not only that, Zestimate shows the price change in the past 30 days in addition to the value range this house may be valued at. Now that we look at the value of this house, let's get into the highlights of Zillow. Look at the diversity of this chart. Because it has price trends not only for this house, but for the city, county, state, and even for the nation, it's so easy to compare the price trends for the entire U.S. market here.
Don't forget: Zillow also has historical value trends. It shows the historical value trends of this home and other homes in the nation by showing the price changes in the past 30 days to 10 years. If you don't like the percentage change option, then switch to dollar comparison. This is absolutely my favorite tool. I mean, I don't have to look through a several websites to find the value trends, but just one place, Zillow. Now, based on the information we gather from Zillow, can you tell me where the market is heading? Exactly. You can tell the market is still going down. Congratulations for being a real estate researcher!
People like me who have experience in real estate would realize that even last year, Zestimate values were not accurate. I mean sometimes, it was off by a big number. Is that why users wrote all those negative comments on the discussion board? Now, check it out again. You will realize that the data is much more accurate now. How did Zillow do it? What it probably did was change the way it calculated the values, adding less value for additional square footage.
Before the era of Zillow, it was almost impossible to get nationwide data of homes and their values. Because of Zillow, now it is possible to search the price trends for a small town in Texas or anywhere in the U.S. So, say "thank you" to Zillow. If you have read about home price trends in the newspaper, you would realize that the zip code is the lowest unit newspapers or other sources break down the trends. How about the trends for your own home or your neighbor's? Zillow knows users' wish and it is now fulfilling our wish by breaking down the trends from the nation to even individual homes.
I know there are other home value comparison tools online. But use Zillow. Because it has the most up-to-date home sales data, those data provide accurate charts and value trends for research. If you don't trust me, try using other tools. You will realize that their sales data are not updated for at least 6 months. So, use Zillow which updates its data every week.
I am scared of those data compiled by economists who use all kinds of math formulas, and I don't understand what those data mean. Lucky you, because Zillow is designed for the general public. You don't really have to learn anything to use it. If you are not comfortable with it, simply take a tour. Then, just grab your glasses and look at the charts. Let me be honest: you need to learn the options on chart selection in order for you to get the right chart you want. That is why users should encourage Zillow to explain certain terms like annualized percertage. Other than that, it is a very user-friendly widget.
By now, you have probably noticed that I am not using Zillow as it was originally designed. Yes, Zillow is primarily intended for home buyers and sellers, and those charts that I use are for buyers and sellers to check their home values or homes they want to buy. Who cares? I am using it to measure the conditions of the housing market. And even CNN understands that the data on Zillow is valuable, and it is using those data to report the housing price trends.
I think Zillow will develop more widgets that are more interactive and personalized. For example, Zillow will probably create a widget that helps people where they can afford to buy homes based on the information they provide. Yes, Zillow has unlimited possibilities!
Friday, April 24, 2009
What Would You Do?
My brother's friend just bought a car. His father, a prominent physicist, took out $19,000 from home equity line of credit (HELOC) to pay for the car. No, his father is not buying him the car. As a college graduation gift, he waived $4,000 from the $19,000 and asked his son to pay back $15,000 plus the interest.
If you were in that situation, what would you do? Would you also use HELOC to pay for the car? Let me give you a few minutes, so you can decide what to do. Do not read any further until you decide. (Tip: this college graduate has no credit history.)
Here is what his father did not see: I know many people use HELOC or home equity loans for major purchases since the Internal Revenue Service usually allows taxpayers to deduct interest on up to $100,000 of HELOC balance. Not only that, equity interest rates are lower than most loans. So, if the car was for himself, the father made a great decision for buying the car with HELOC. But, it was not for him; it was for his son.
If I were his father, this is what I would have done: I would purchase the car using HELOC AND an auto loan that has my son as the primary borrower and myself as a co-signor, and possibly paying $15,000 with HELOC and borrow $4,000 in auto loan. Now, you are probably thinking, "why would I take out an auto loan when the rates are much higher?" The son has no credit and not having credit will cost him much more than thousands of dollars. Yes, the son can build his credit by getting a credit card, but credit bureaus prefer auto loans over credit cards when calculating credit scores. Not only that, auto loans have positive impacts on credit even after paying them off.
The reason the father paid for the car using HELOC was to save money. So, if you want to maximize the savings in this case, take out a small auto loan and pay the rest with HELOC. Having a small auto loan compared to a bigger one does not make significant difference in credit scores.
Sometimes, you may have to forgo visible gains for big hidden gains.
Disclaimer: The information on this blog is general information only and may not apply to an individual's circumstances. Please consult a professional regarding your particular circumstances.
If you were in that situation, what would you do? Would you also use HELOC to pay for the car? Let me give you a few minutes, so you can decide what to do. Do not read any further until you decide. (Tip: this college graduate has no credit history.)
Here is what his father did not see: I know many people use HELOC or home equity loans for major purchases since the Internal Revenue Service usually allows taxpayers to deduct interest on up to $100,000 of HELOC balance. Not only that, equity interest rates are lower than most loans. So, if the car was for himself, the father made a great decision for buying the car with HELOC. But, it was not for him; it was for his son.
If I were his father, this is what I would have done: I would purchase the car using HELOC AND an auto loan that has my son as the primary borrower and myself as a co-signor, and possibly paying $15,000 with HELOC and borrow $4,000 in auto loan. Now, you are probably thinking, "why would I take out an auto loan when the rates are much higher?" The son has no credit and not having credit will cost him much more than thousands of dollars. Yes, the son can build his credit by getting a credit card, but credit bureaus prefer auto loans over credit cards when calculating credit scores. Not only that, auto loans have positive impacts on credit even after paying them off.
The reason the father paid for the car using HELOC was to save money. So, if you want to maximize the savings in this case, take out a small auto loan and pay the rest with HELOC. Having a small auto loan compared to a bigger one does not make significant difference in credit scores.
Sometimes, you may have to forgo visible gains for big hidden gains.
Disclaimer: The information on this blog is general information only and may not apply to an individual's circumstances. Please consult a professional regarding your particular circumstances.
Why Giving Gift Cards Does More Harm Than Good
I admit that I have given gift cards to others because the recipients can choose what they want, and honestly, it saves so much time by not shopping around for gifts. But, if gift cards are the only gift option, it is a better idea not to give anything.
Many people think that the main reason retailers are selling gift cards is to sell more merchandise by attracting shoppers through the cards, but that is not true. Retailers are selling them to
1. up-sell, making gift card holders spend more than their cards are worth;
2. borrow money without paying any interest; (According to Bloomberg, the parent company of Black Angus had $15.2 million in outstanding gift cards and certificates when they filed for bankruptcy. Imagine how much interest they save by borrowing at 0%.)
3. make money from unredeemed gift cards through fees such as dormancy fees; (Fees cannot be imposed in the State of California.)
4. and to make money from expired gift cards. (There is no expiration date on gift cards sold in California.)
That is why retailers do not want consumers to buy anything in their stores if they are only buying things that are equal to the card balance.
Many gift cards are never redeemed because many of us give gift cards from stores where the recipients never shop. For example, I got an iTunes gift card from someone and never used it because I do not use an iPod. To be honest, I was unhappy and frustrated after I got it. (I am very sure many feel the same way.) Moreover many suspect that you re-gifted the cards because you could not use it.
Once the recipients decide to shop with gift cards, most of them want to redeem the full balance. So, what ends up happening is that they spend more than the card balance (Most people cannot resist those up-sells). And if the recipients are having financial problems like many Americans do, gift-givers are destroying recipients' financials by forcing them to spend more money.
Gift cards are generating so much profit for retailers that they are willing to sell them at grocery stores. How much money are they making? Think about it this way. Retailers probably give grocery stores about 10% of the total cards sales. Then, they hire gift card processors to manage and process the cards. And, of course, they charge retailers for their services. So, why are they selling the cards even when they are paying so much in fees? I went to a meeting for a retail franchisor, and its officers talked about how franchisees would make a lot of money by selling and accepting gift cards. No wonder most retailers are pushing their gift cards.
We have witnessed bankruptcy filings of many retailers. Gift cards are considered unsecured debts and if retailers go bankrupt, consumers will be lucky if they get half the card's balance. There are many uncertainties in our economy and I ask everyone to avoid buying gift cards from retailers that are financially struggling. There are many ways to find out whether a retailer is in trouble. First, check the stock quote of that retailer and if it is publicly traded. If the stock price is below $1 or in the $1 range, most likely, that retailer is in serious financial distress. Then, search the web. You will find financial information about many retailers even though there are some false rumors. So, my advice here is if you have gift cards from troubled retailers, go redeem them now before they are gone, and do not even bother to buy cards from them. Imagine you give someone a gift card and the balance is later gone.
Do not give anyone a gift card because it will hurt them!
Disclaimer: The information on this blog is general information only and may not apply to an individual's circumstances. Please consult a professional regarding your particular circumstances.
Many people think that the main reason retailers are selling gift cards is to sell more merchandise by attracting shoppers through the cards, but that is not true. Retailers are selling them to
1. up-sell, making gift card holders spend more than their cards are worth;
2. borrow money without paying any interest; (According to Bloomberg, the parent company of Black Angus had $15.2 million in outstanding gift cards and certificates when they filed for bankruptcy. Imagine how much interest they save by borrowing at 0%.)
3. make money from unredeemed gift cards through fees such as dormancy fees; (Fees cannot be imposed in the State of California.)
4. and to make money from expired gift cards. (There is no expiration date on gift cards sold in California.)
That is why retailers do not want consumers to buy anything in their stores if they are only buying things that are equal to the card balance.
Many gift cards are never redeemed because many of us give gift cards from stores where the recipients never shop. For example, I got an iTunes gift card from someone and never used it because I do not use an iPod. To be honest, I was unhappy and frustrated after I got it. (I am very sure many feel the same way.) Moreover many suspect that you re-gifted the cards because you could not use it.
Once the recipients decide to shop with gift cards, most of them want to redeem the full balance. So, what ends up happening is that they spend more than the card balance (Most people cannot resist those up-sells). And if the recipients are having financial problems like many Americans do, gift-givers are destroying recipients' financials by forcing them to spend more money.
Gift cards are generating so much profit for retailers that they are willing to sell them at grocery stores. How much money are they making? Think about it this way. Retailers probably give grocery stores about 10% of the total cards sales. Then, they hire gift card processors to manage and process the cards. And, of course, they charge retailers for their services. So, why are they selling the cards even when they are paying so much in fees? I went to a meeting for a retail franchisor, and its officers talked about how franchisees would make a lot of money by selling and accepting gift cards. No wonder most retailers are pushing their gift cards.
We have witnessed bankruptcy filings of many retailers. Gift cards are considered unsecured debts and if retailers go bankrupt, consumers will be lucky if they get half the card's balance. There are many uncertainties in our economy and I ask everyone to avoid buying gift cards from retailers that are financially struggling. There are many ways to find out whether a retailer is in trouble. First, check the stock quote of that retailer and if it is publicly traded. If the stock price is below $1 or in the $1 range, most likely, that retailer is in serious financial distress. Then, search the web. You will find financial information about many retailers even though there are some false rumors. So, my advice here is if you have gift cards from troubled retailers, go redeem them now before they are gone, and do not even bother to buy cards from them. Imagine you give someone a gift card and the balance is later gone.
Do not give anyone a gift card because it will hurt them!
Disclaimer: The information on this blog is general information only and may not apply to an individual's circumstances. Please consult a professional regarding your particular circumstances.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Introduction to Zillow, a Web 2.0 Tool
As you already know, my blog is heavily focused on the real estate side of the economy, specifically, the housing market. People have asked me why I have unique forecasts and opinions that are different than other experts.(By the way, I take that as a compliment.) First of all, I admit that I do not have a Ph.D (it doesn't mean that you should not trust what I say) so the way I do my research is different, using more of the media and interviews with people who are working in the field. Also, I am not using the theories economists use when they forecast, but I use the freshest data I can find. Now that I have revealed all my research secrets, let me introduce a Web 2.0 tool that I use for my research. Warning: you will be surprised that I use this tool for my research (hint: you probably have used it).
Zillow is a tool that stole my heart the first time I used it. It is a real estate tool (as specified by seomoz.org which awarded Zillow the number one Web 2.0 real estate site award ) where people can check the value of their homes, list homes for sale, and much more. Out of curiosity, I found out the background of this tool. Zillow was founded by Rich Barton, who also founded Expedia.com, and Lloyd Frink in 2005. When Rich and Lloyd were looking for a new business venture, they came up with the idea of real estate. (Obviously, the real estate market was hot back then and many were looking to profit from it.) Barton says he loves real estate and he wanted to create a tool where people can get information about their homes and obtain valuable resources.
At Zillow, you can find out about how much your home is worth by typing in your home address or another home you want to know about. Then, you will get a detailed analysis of the home's worth along with other information such as the sales history of the home. From that analyzed report, I particularly like the market value change chart that shows price trends for your home, state, and even the nation. This data is now being used by the media to see the conditions of the housing market. For example, CNN recently reported the decline of home values using Zillow's value calculations. Also, sign up for an account and you will be able to claim your home and make corrections to the data, if you would like. The great aspect of Zillow is that you can ask questions to homeowners, for example, whether they like neighbors. Additionally, if you are looking for a home, this is a great place to start your research. It has homes for sale (yes, they have foreclosure data) and you can get information about the neighborhood, mortgage rates, and so on.
That is not all, because there are more tools and information at Zillow.Do you need to sell your home? Zillow can help you. They have a tool called Make Me Move: you set a price for your home and if someone is interested, you can sell it without the fat commission! In addition, Zillow has a database of recently sold homes that was once available only to real estate professionals. The list goes on and on and you should check it out yourself.
Zillow is popular among homeowners and sellers. Since the market downturn has started, worried homeowners are checking their home prices regularly, and sellers check out how much they can get for their homes. Actually, they are not the only groups who use Zillow. People like me who do research on the housing market use this site not only because it provides home sales data, but also because I and others can read people's behaviors such as how people react to falling prices or particular market. Last but not least, buyers jump into it to chat with local real estate professionals, check data on homes they are trying to buy, and shop for a mortgage.
Since Zillow has been very successful at attracting users, other websites that are similar to Zillow are appearing online. A strong competitor is realestateabc.com, but people who have been using Zillow will immediately notice that it has a long way to go since its graphics look like a Web 1.0 site. Another competitor is Cyberhomes. I understand that it has very cool graphics and a variety of data;however,I checked the accuracy of the valuation tool and their numbers are way off than the actual numbers. For example, I entered a few home data into its valuation tool, and the estimates were off more than 15% of those homes' actual values. That is why Zillow is still the number one home valuation site.
Now that you have heard what I have to say about Zillow, go ahead and check it out. I promise you will not be disappointed.
Zillow is a tool that stole my heart the first time I used it. It is a real estate tool (as specified by seomoz.org which awarded Zillow the number one Web 2.0 real estate site award ) where people can check the value of their homes, list homes for sale, and much more. Out of curiosity, I found out the background of this tool. Zillow was founded by Rich Barton, who also founded Expedia.com, and Lloyd Frink in 2005. When Rich and Lloyd were looking for a new business venture, they came up with the idea of real estate. (Obviously, the real estate market was hot back then and many were looking to profit from it.) Barton says he loves real estate and he wanted to create a tool where people can get information about their homes and obtain valuable resources.
At Zillow, you can find out about how much your home is worth by typing in your home address or another home you want to know about. Then, you will get a detailed analysis of the home's worth along with other information such as the sales history of the home. From that analyzed report, I particularly like the market value change chart that shows price trends for your home, state, and even the nation. This data is now being used by the media to see the conditions of the housing market. For example, CNN recently reported the decline of home values using Zillow's value calculations. Also, sign up for an account and you will be able to claim your home and make corrections to the data, if you would like. The great aspect of Zillow is that you can ask questions to homeowners, for example, whether they like neighbors. Additionally, if you are looking for a home, this is a great place to start your research. It has homes for sale (yes, they have foreclosure data) and you can get information about the neighborhood, mortgage rates, and so on.
That is not all, because there are more tools and information at Zillow.Do you need to sell your home? Zillow can help you. They have a tool called Make Me Move: you set a price for your home and if someone is interested, you can sell it without the fat commission! In addition, Zillow has a database of recently sold homes that was once available only to real estate professionals. The list goes on and on and you should check it out yourself.
Zillow is popular among homeowners and sellers. Since the market downturn has started, worried homeowners are checking their home prices regularly, and sellers check out how much they can get for their homes. Actually, they are not the only groups who use Zillow. People like me who do research on the housing market use this site not only because it provides home sales data, but also because I and others can read people's behaviors such as how people react to falling prices or particular market. Last but not least, buyers jump into it to chat with local real estate professionals, check data on homes they are trying to buy, and shop for a mortgage.
Since Zillow has been very successful at attracting users, other websites that are similar to Zillow are appearing online. A strong competitor is realestateabc.com, but people who have been using Zillow will immediately notice that it has a long way to go since its graphics look like a Web 1.0 site. Another competitor is Cyberhomes. I understand that it has very cool graphics and a variety of data;however,I checked the accuracy of the valuation tool and their numbers are way off than the actual numbers. For example, I entered a few home data into its valuation tool, and the estimates were off more than 15% of those homes' actual values. That is why Zillow is still the number one home valuation site.
Now that you have heard what I have to say about Zillow, go ahead and check it out. I promise you will not be disappointed.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Restaurant Credit Card Tip Fraud
If you are using your credit card at restaurants, be aware. One time, I ate at this Greek restaurant and later found out that my credit card was charged for a tip amount of more than 40% of my check. I filed a complaint with the restaurant and got my money back, but I was furious with what they did to me and others. Okay, believe it or not, employees at some restaurants charge extra tips on your credit cards knowing that you do not compare your receipt with the credit card statement.
Even though I call myself a savvy consumer, I do not compare my receipt with the statement amount, and I know that I got ripped off many times at restaurants. The only way I found out that I was charged for tips that I didn't give was because I used my American Express card. Amex is the only card that breaks down the base and tip amount. But, if you don't write down the tip amount on your copy of the receipt, Amex is no use because you will not remember how much you have paid in tips once the statement arrives.
Yes, I caught another fraud two years ago. At that time, I placed a take-out order at this pizza kitchen place and did not leave any tip. A few days later, I found out that the amount on the statement was not correct and compared the amount with my receipt. I was charged two dollars extra! This time, even though I did not use my Amex card, I could find out that something was not right since I bought the same pizza at other locations before, and I knew the exact amount without the receipt. Then, horrible things happened. The manager at this restaurant accused me of having remorse after leaving a tip and for "customer courtesy," he was refunding the $2. When I asked for the copy of the sales receipt, he said he would send it me, but he never did and we all know why.
How can we protect ourselves from restaurants charging tips that we never give to them? My brother who works at a major credit card processing company agreed with my claim and said that he has seen some restaurant merchants charging tips that are not authorized. He also said that when cardholders dispute the tip amounts through their credit card companies, even though merchants fraudulently charged tips, but the tip amount is the usual (15%-20%), cardholders have a greater chance of losing the chargeback request.
Here's my advice on how to prevent restaurants from charging extra tips on your credit card:
1. If you are not paying the tip using your card, make sure you put 0 on the tip line and CLOSE the check by entering the total amount at the bottom even in quick-serve restaurants.
2. If you are paying the tip with the card, make sure you CLOSE the check by entering the total amount by adding the base and the tip amount and also write down the same information on your copy.
3. Although it is a hassle to keep your receipts, keep the restaurant receipts separately and make sure you compare the receipt with the statement, and report any discrepancy as soon as possible.
Restaurants manually enter tips after you leave, and if you are not nice to them, who knows what they will do to your tip amount? But remember, most restaurants are run by honest people and do not suspect them as if they are criminals.
Protect yourself by following the steps above.
Disclaimer: The information on this blog is general information only and may not apply to an individual's circumstances. Please consult a professional regarding your particular circumstances.
Even though I call myself a savvy consumer, I do not compare my receipt with the statement amount, and I know that I got ripped off many times at restaurants. The only way I found out that I was charged for tips that I didn't give was because I used my American Express card. Amex is the only card that breaks down the base and tip amount. But, if you don't write down the tip amount on your copy of the receipt, Amex is no use because you will not remember how much you have paid in tips once the statement arrives.
Yes, I caught another fraud two years ago. At that time, I placed a take-out order at this pizza kitchen place and did not leave any tip. A few days later, I found out that the amount on the statement was not correct and compared the amount with my receipt. I was charged two dollars extra! This time, even though I did not use my Amex card, I could find out that something was not right since I bought the same pizza at other locations before, and I knew the exact amount without the receipt. Then, horrible things happened. The manager at this restaurant accused me of having remorse after leaving a tip and for "customer courtesy," he was refunding the $2. When I asked for the copy of the sales receipt, he said he would send it me, but he never did and we all know why.
How can we protect ourselves from restaurants charging tips that we never give to them? My brother who works at a major credit card processing company agreed with my claim and said that he has seen some restaurant merchants charging tips that are not authorized. He also said that when cardholders dispute the tip amounts through their credit card companies, even though merchants fraudulently charged tips, but the tip amount is the usual (15%-20%), cardholders have a greater chance of losing the chargeback request.
Here's my advice on how to prevent restaurants from charging extra tips on your credit card:
1. If you are not paying the tip using your card, make sure you put 0 on the tip line and CLOSE the check by entering the total amount at the bottom even in quick-serve restaurants.
2. If you are paying the tip with the card, make sure you CLOSE the check by entering the total amount by adding the base and the tip amount and also write down the same information on your copy.
3. Although it is a hassle to keep your receipts, keep the restaurant receipts separately and make sure you compare the receipt with the statement, and report any discrepancy as soon as possible.
Restaurants manually enter tips after you leave, and if you are not nice to them, who knows what they will do to your tip amount? But remember, most restaurants are run by honest people and do not suspect them as if they are criminals.
Protect yourself by following the steps above.
Disclaimer: The information on this blog is general information only and may not apply to an individual's circumstances. Please consult a professional regarding your particular circumstances.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
My Comment on MSN Smart Spending Blog
I left a comment on MSN Smart Spending Blog. I am reposting that comment on my blog so that everyone can read what I think about American Express' recent $300 gift card offer to close accounts. Enjoy and leave a comment for me.
AmEx paying cardholders to close accounts
by Karen Datko
Remember the days when credit card companies used to reward people for signing up? Now, one company, American Express, is offering cardholders $300 to hit the bricks.
AmEx paints this offer as a way to help customers get control of their finances. We're not buying it, and neither is the blogger at CreditMattersBlog.com, who wrote, "The ‘we want to help you simplify your finances' language is a joke, of course."
Apparently AmEx is hoping that the customers who get this offer will take the hint: We don't want your business anymore.
If you get the "invitation" and decide to enroll, your account will be closed immediately. You also have to pay off your balance by April 30 or forfeit the $300 prepaid card. Any rewards points not used before you sign up will be lost. (See this AmEx Web site for other conditions.)
The deadline for enrolling is the end of this month.
As we've reported here, AmEx hasn't distinguished itself lately in the area of customer relations -- slashing credit limits, for instance. (Update: AmEx told The New York Times it will stop using "spending patterns" as a justification for reducing credit lines.) And there's a reason for that. Bloomberg reports, "American Express, which got $3.39 billion from the U.S. Treasury to boost capital, said last month that fourth-quarter profit from continuing operations fell 72% to $238 million as more consumers defaulted."
To stop that slide, the speculation is, it's offering cardholders a $300 incentive to make their AmEx balance a priority over other debt.
"What AmEx is trying to do is move to the front of the line in terms of getting paid back," Michael Taiano, an analyst at Sandler O'Neill & Partners, told Bloomberg.
AmEx won't say how many customers have gotten the $300 offer or how they were selected.
"I wish AmEx would make me this kind of offer. Instead, they cut my line from $15k to $4k, then down to $1k, in the span of a few months -- despite me paying the balance in full every month and never having a delinquency," said reader Bob at The Wall Street Journal's The Wallet.
Will this offer work?
"The glaring question here is whether the only people who will take advantage of this are the kinds of paying customers AmEx would like to keep for the long run," wrote Tom Petruno at the Los Angeles Times' Money & Co.
Dustbury.com said, "How many of these folks will come back to AmEx when times are better? Yeah, that's what I thought."
My Comment:
Over the past few years, Amex's customer service level went downhill. It has been an all-time winner of the best credit card company in the world. They have outsourced their customer service units and their e-mail response time now exceeds 24 hours. No matter what the critics say, we all know Amex is still the best credit card company as mentioned by the J.D. Power & Associates. Here's why: other credit companies slashed their service levels so much that Amex still shines out of them.
This $300 offer is one of the biggest management mistakes Amex has ever made. First of all, because of this offer, Amex's name was all over the media as a terrible company. Then, this offer will not work for sure. No wonder no other company is willing to follow its footstep. I have been a member of Amex since 2004 and make every single payment on time. Despite the recent credit line cuts by Amex, they have not cut my line. So, this is my point: that offer only went to cardholders who revolve their credit lines and their credit scores are below 680. Also, I know that those holders owe at least $1,500 on their cards. I actually wanted to get this offer and tried to ask for it. The answer was no. Now, you know they are keeping all deadbeats like me and want to get rid of revolvers. I highly doubt that people will pay off $1,500 for a $300 gift card because if they had the money, they already paid Amex back. Good luck finding cardmembers to pay off.
AmEx paying cardholders to close accounts
by Karen Datko
Remember the days when credit card companies used to reward people for signing up? Now, one company, American Express, is offering cardholders $300 to hit the bricks.
AmEx paints this offer as a way to help customers get control of their finances. We're not buying it, and neither is the blogger at CreditMattersBlog.com, who wrote, "The ‘we want to help you simplify your finances' language is a joke, of course."
Apparently AmEx is hoping that the customers who get this offer will take the hint: We don't want your business anymore.
If you get the "invitation" and decide to enroll, your account will be closed immediately. You also have to pay off your balance by April 30 or forfeit the $300 prepaid card. Any rewards points not used before you sign up will be lost. (See this AmEx Web site for other conditions.)
The deadline for enrolling is the end of this month.
As we've reported here, AmEx hasn't distinguished itself lately in the area of customer relations -- slashing credit limits, for instance. (Update: AmEx told The New York Times it will stop using "spending patterns" as a justification for reducing credit lines.) And there's a reason for that. Bloomberg reports, "American Express, which got $3.39 billion from the U.S. Treasury to boost capital, said last month that fourth-quarter profit from continuing operations fell 72% to $238 million as more consumers defaulted."
To stop that slide, the speculation is, it's offering cardholders a $300 incentive to make their AmEx balance a priority over other debt.
"What AmEx is trying to do is move to the front of the line in terms of getting paid back," Michael Taiano, an analyst at Sandler O'Neill & Partners, told Bloomberg.
AmEx won't say how many customers have gotten the $300 offer or how they were selected.
"I wish AmEx would make me this kind of offer. Instead, they cut my line from $15k to $4k, then down to $1k, in the span of a few months -- despite me paying the balance in full every month and never having a delinquency," said reader Bob at The Wall Street Journal's The Wallet.
Will this offer work?
"The glaring question here is whether the only people who will take advantage of this are the kinds of paying customers AmEx would like to keep for the long run," wrote Tom Petruno at the Los Angeles Times' Money & Co.
Dustbury.com said, "How many of these folks will come back to AmEx when times are better? Yeah, that's what I thought."
My Comment:
Over the past few years, Amex's customer service level went downhill. It has been an all-time winner of the best credit card company in the world. They have outsourced their customer service units and their e-mail response time now exceeds 24 hours. No matter what the critics say, we all know Amex is still the best credit card company as mentioned by the J.D. Power & Associates. Here's why: other credit companies slashed their service levels so much that Amex still shines out of them.
This $300 offer is one of the biggest management mistakes Amex has ever made. First of all, because of this offer, Amex's name was all over the media as a terrible company. Then, this offer will not work for sure. No wonder no other company is willing to follow its footstep. I have been a member of Amex since 2004 and make every single payment on time. Despite the recent credit line cuts by Amex, they have not cut my line. So, this is my point: that offer only went to cardholders who revolve their credit lines and their credit scores are below 680. Also, I know that those holders owe at least $1,500 on their cards. I actually wanted to get this offer and tried to ask for it. The answer was no. Now, you know they are keeping all deadbeats like me and want to get rid of revolvers. I highly doubt that people will pay off $1,500 for a $300 gift card because if they had the money, they already paid Amex back. Good luck finding cardmembers to pay off.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Topoi
Dr. "Coach" has taught me how to use and apply topoi to the writing process. Honestly, I doubted whether it would help me to write better papers, but I later realized that it would really help me. Let's put it this way. Topoi has taught me how to apply different view points to my paper. His topoi tool has explanations on how to apply different lenses such as contrast, values, cause/effect, change and form/structure.
I applied the cause/effect lens to my topic, economic downturn. With the lens, I realized that I forgot to include college students who would face many uncertainties because of the downturn. Thanks to topoi, I added a paragraph addressing how the downturn has impacted new college graduates on their job search.
Wow,topoi is so great that I am now using it to develop my paper. Using topoi definitely helps me to write a paper that is not one-sided or biased. Try topoi and you will love it!
I applied the cause/effect lens to my topic, economic downturn. With the lens, I realized that I forgot to include college students who would face many uncertainties because of the downturn. Thanks to topoi, I added a paragraph addressing how the downturn has impacted new college graduates on their job search.
Wow,topoi is so great that I am now using it to develop my paper. Using topoi definitely helps me to write a paper that is not one-sided or biased. Try topoi and you will love it!
Tour of My Pageflake Page
Honestly, I am not computer-savvy. My friends would laugh at me if they found out I have my own blog. All I knew about computers is how to browse the internet and use some basic Microsoft Word and Excel applications. Then, my writing professor came to rescue this poor soul and taught me many tools that I can use for my research. My Pageflake page is the fruit of his excellent teaching. So now, let me introduce you to this wonderful world of Pageflake. Pageflake is a research aggregator where one can combine all his/her online research data in one place, including RSS feeds, annotations, web sites, and much more. I just began using my Pageflake and I am saving so much time since I am no longer browsing the web to check any updated article or post. All I have to do is go to my Pageflake and everything is there. Enough said, let me give you a tour of my Pageflake page.
RSS Feeds
On top of the page, I have Bloomberg TV for latest financial news and I have compiled my RSS feeds below. My RSS feeds provide numerous data about the economy, personal finance, and money. My favorite RSS feeds include MSN Money Top Stocks and Smart Spending . Unfortunately, both of my favorite feeds are having technical difficulties at the moment and I have added web pages for both feeds as well as a feed for MSN Money Latest Articles which includes all the latest posts from MSN Money blogs. These feeds provide up-to-date information on financial markets, the economy in general,real estate markets, and very useful personal finance articles. I found their commentary very helpful since they are willing to criticize instead of just summarize topics. L.A. Land is another feed I love to read since it covers the Southern California real estate market where my research is heavily focused, while other feeds mostly discuss the market on the national level. Even though these feeds cover an array of different areas, I have noticed that in recent months they are heavily focused on negative news. Whether I read L.A. Land or MSN Top Stocks, there is always news about the terrible housing market and its impact on our economy.
Zotero Bibliography
In addition to other research data, I have more than seven bibliographies that are located in a web site called Citeline. This is where I store all my annotations, and the advantage of having them online is that I can share them with others. I have written annotations for two books by Frederic S. Mishkin, who not only covers the fundamentals of the financial markets, but also the current financial crisis. It is interesting how the elements of historical crises in his book are also discussed in blogs that I subscribe to. My feeds are filled with the news of possible bank failures and according to Mishkin's books these failures are common during economic crises. Yes, history repeats itself and that is why we study theory.
Active Searches
On the left side of my page below my bibliography, I have added Universal News Search and Universal Blog Search widgets. These are great widgets offered by Pageflake, and when I enter my search terms, money and economy, I have found many great news and blogs that I am not aware of. I find these news and blog very helpful for my research and I will be adding them to my Diigo bookmark and RSS feeds.
Diigo Bookmarks
On the left bottom corner, I have placed my Diigo bookmarks. I find it very interesting to compare my Diigo bookmarks with topics on my feeds and search engines. Not surprisingly, they mostly have the same focus, the financial crisis and personal finance.
Social Bookmarking Soulmate
Right below my bookmarks, I have placed my soulmate's bookmarks. Honestly, I have not checked my soulmate's bookmarks for a while since I have not had time to look through his page. Now, since I have listed his page on my Pageflake, I can see his latest bookmarks without logging into Diigo. Guess what? I just found a great link to the Ludwig Institute from his page and I will use that for my research.
I am amazed how Pageflake has helped me explore other aspects of my research. Since I can now see all my sources on a single page, I can tell where the economy is heading by comparing all my sources and their latest updates.
RSS Feeds
On top of the page, I have Bloomberg TV for latest financial news and I have compiled my RSS feeds below. My RSS feeds provide numerous data about the economy, personal finance, and money. My favorite RSS feeds include MSN Money Top Stocks and Smart Spending . Unfortunately, both of my favorite feeds are having technical difficulties at the moment and I have added web pages for both feeds as well as a feed for MSN Money Latest Articles which includes all the latest posts from MSN Money blogs. These feeds provide up-to-date information on financial markets, the economy in general,real estate markets, and very useful personal finance articles. I found their commentary very helpful since they are willing to criticize instead of just summarize topics. L.A. Land is another feed I love to read since it covers the Southern California real estate market where my research is heavily focused, while other feeds mostly discuss the market on the national level. Even though these feeds cover an array of different areas, I have noticed that in recent months they are heavily focused on negative news. Whether I read L.A. Land or MSN Top Stocks, there is always news about the terrible housing market and its impact on our economy.
Zotero Bibliography
In addition to other research data, I have more than seven bibliographies that are located in a web site called Citeline. This is where I store all my annotations, and the advantage of having them online is that I can share them with others. I have written annotations for two books by Frederic S. Mishkin, who not only covers the fundamentals of the financial markets, but also the current financial crisis. It is interesting how the elements of historical crises in his book are also discussed in blogs that I subscribe to. My feeds are filled with the news of possible bank failures and according to Mishkin's books these failures are common during economic crises. Yes, history repeats itself and that is why we study theory.
Active Searches
On the left side of my page below my bibliography, I have added Universal News Search and Universal Blog Search widgets. These are great widgets offered by Pageflake, and when I enter my search terms, money and economy, I have found many great news and blogs that I am not aware of. I find these news and blog very helpful for my research and I will be adding them to my Diigo bookmark and RSS feeds.
Diigo Bookmarks
On the left bottom corner, I have placed my Diigo bookmarks. I find it very interesting to compare my Diigo bookmarks with topics on my feeds and search engines. Not surprisingly, they mostly have the same focus, the financial crisis and personal finance.
Social Bookmarking Soulmate
Right below my bookmarks, I have placed my soulmate's bookmarks. Honestly, I have not checked my soulmate's bookmarks for a while since I have not had time to look through his page. Now, since I have listed his page on my Pageflake, I can see his latest bookmarks without logging into Diigo. Guess what? I just found a great link to the Ludwig Institute from his page and I will use that for my research.
I am amazed how Pageflake has helped me explore other aspects of my research. Since I can now see all my sources on a single page, I can tell where the economy is heading by comparing all my sources and their latest updates.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Annotations for my research paper
Mishkin, Frederic S. Financial Crises and the Subprime Meltdown Boston: Pearson, 2009.
Federal Reserve Governor Frederic S. Mishikin's most recent book, Financial Crises and the Subprime Meltdown is a must-read book for those studying economics or anyone wanting to gain greater familiarity with the economic crisis. The current financial crisis is the biggest economic event since the Great Depression. Unlike other analysts and experts who only write about what is currently going on with the financial crisis, Mishkin explains the causes of the crisis and their international impact and implications. Mishkin relies upon a 3-step projection plan to reveal the current economic crisis (step 1:Asset price boom/bust; step 2: banking crisis; step 3: debt deflation). Furthermore, he also compares the current crisis with other crises in the past from around the world including an extensive analysis of South Korean and Latin American crises. Since he has intended this book for academic audiences, he describes the crisis at the advanced level including the discussion of collateralized debt obligations. Mishkin however may rely too heavily upon his research, and he avoids sharing his own interpretations. Compared to his previous books, Mishkin is now more focused on current events than the theory. Although directed towards academics, any curious reader can benefit from Mishkin's analysis of the economic crisis.
Mishkin, Frederic S. The Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets Boston: Pearson, 2007.
Mishkin's best selling book,The Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets covers topics from the structure of financial markets to monetary and fiscal policy. His book provides an in-depth understanding of the basics of our financial markets and how they operate. Mishkin wrote this book to answer most of our questions; he explains speculative demand for money by applying Keynes and Tobin's theories to support his assertions. Mishkin also covers the Great Depression, Savings and Loans Crisis, and other international crises in detail and they are very valuable tools for anyone who wants to compare previous crises with the current crisis. The highlight of his book is when he discusses how moral hazard influences the financial market, but instead of providing the real world example, he created a hypothetical example. Also, he answers the novice investors' most frequently asked question, "how the market sets stock prices?" When Mishkin answers this question, he heavily focuses on the dividend side of the valuation and he has fails to mention that the future earnings of a firm have an even greater impact on stock prices. Despite the highly academic nature of his writing, those who are interested in learning more about the background of the financial crisis and financial markets should read this book.
Bernasek, Anna. "When Does A Housing Slump Become A Bust?" The New York Times 17 June 2007: 6.
Bernasek, in her article, "When Does A Housing Slump Become A Bust?" discusses the definition of housing market bust. While we have the exact definition of a stock market crash and a recession, economists have not agreed on what constitutes a housing market bust. Bernasek claims that because the only national housing bust happened during the Great Depression and the market statistics are not clear-cut, economists have avoided this topic. I found her presentation of arguments between two economists about the definition of the housing bust very weak since she failed to convince readers by not interviewing more economists. Bernasek, however made a strong point that measured prices may not reflect the actual sales price and they underestimate the declines. Lastly, she argues that we may be able to agree on the definition of the bust during this downturn "as people would feel the pain." What kind of pain is she talking about? Her unclear conclusion draws a clear distinction between an academic journal and a mass media article. Bernasek's article will benefit those who study economics and those who are interested in the real estate market since she explains the challenge of identifying a clear definition of the bust and its ambiguity. Her article will assist me in supporting my argument that the fate of the real estate market is still unknown.
Roubini, Nouriel. "The Worst Is Yet To Come." Foreign Policy (2008): 63-68.
Nouriel Roubini, in his article, "The Worst Is Yet To Come," published in March 2008 (Foreign Policy), forecasts the negative economic outlook not only in the United States, but in the global economy. Despite the fact that asset bubbles burst throughout the world, he predicted that more bursts would happen in the near future. His arguments seem very convincing since he claims that the credit crunch will continue because of deleveraging by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Since the publication of the article, his claims have come true: the global financial markets have seen the worst deleveraging in human history. Roubini also predicted that commodities and credit-default swaps in particular would create further market bursts. Again, his infamous forecast shocked the world; the price of oil fell sharply and the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers brought huge losses on credit-default swaps. Lastly, Roubini argues that the only way to avoid further economic downturn is agressive actions by policy makers. Although his predictions turned out to be accurate, he did not make any effort to use sources that would have made his statement more convincing. Today, however because Roubini is considered the only economist who predicted the subprime crisis, he does not need to cite others' work even though other scholars and journalists cite his work all the time. Roubini's article would benefit almost everyone in the world since his analysis can help us to plan our financial future.
Belke, Ansgar and Marcel Wiedmann. "Boom or Bubble in the US Real Estate Market?" Intereconomics (2005): 273-284.
Ansgar Belke and Marcel Wiedmann, in their article, "Boom or Bubble in the US Real Estate Market?" published in September 2005 (Intereconomics), question whether the United States real estate market boom that lasted until summer of 2006 was driven by expansion in the economy or just speculations. Belke and Wiedmann try to convince readers by presenting a wide array of sources including scholarly journals, web sites,official government data, and financial magazines such as The Economist. Also, graphs and tables showcasing house data add greater credibility to their article. Belke and Wiedmann express how they worried that a rapid increase in available credit to borrowers would cause significant problems should the economy begin to contract. Their worries came true and it is very interesting how we are paying the price for not following their recommendations. For example, Belke and Wiedmann criticize the US government for implementing monetary policy to control the housing market. They argue that instead of monetary policy, fiscal policy should be implemented. It is no surprise that the government is now placing a great emphasis on fiscal policy. Belke and Wiedmann introduce new terms such as a strategy of "leaning against the wind" and "negative feedback trading." They, however do not explain what "negative feedback trading" is and expect the readers to know what that is. Also, their usage of vocabulary is somewhat complex, using many technical terms such as "positive deviations." Despite some negative aspects of their article, policy makers and those who are interested in the current economic issues should read the article since it would help them to understand the underlying causes of housing boom and bust.
Kimble-Ellis, Sonya. "Real Estate Blues." Network Journal (2008): 28.
Sonya Kimble-Ellis, in her article, "Real Estate Blues" published in November 2008 (Network Journal), discusses the changing environment in the real estate market. Kimble-Ellis claims that real estate agents are having a hard time getting mortgages for their clients since banks have changed their lending requirements. Kimble-Ellis interviews a real estate broker who argues that the new lending requirements put a higher barrier to inner-city home buyers. When one begins to read this article, one should notice that Kimble-Ellis starts the article by mentioning African-American real estate agents when she could have just said real estate agents. She purposely emphasizes "African-American" to let readers know that this article will discuss the real estate market in minority's views. Kimble-Ellis explains the term, "short sale" in simple language so that readers who have not received any financial education could understand. She mentions that the No Income Verification Loan is available to certain borrowers; however, that loan type had completely disappeared right after the financial crisis started.It must be true that Kimble-Ellis has no knowledge in the real estate industry. Since she does not verify the information she has obtained, her article loses credibility.Kimble-Ellis, however makes an attempt to represent the views of the minority when other journalists only write about the mainstream. Thus,those who study about the current economic condition of the minority may find this article interesting. In addition, this article could be beneficial in sociology and economics researches since the article presents the issue of social problems and financial regulations.
Federal Reserve Governor Frederic S. Mishikin's most recent book, Financial Crises and the Subprime Meltdown is a must-read book for those studying economics or anyone wanting to gain greater familiarity with the economic crisis. The current financial crisis is the biggest economic event since the Great Depression. Unlike other analysts and experts who only write about what is currently going on with the financial crisis, Mishkin explains the causes of the crisis and their international impact and implications. Mishkin relies upon a 3-step projection plan to reveal the current economic crisis (step 1:Asset price boom/bust; step 2: banking crisis; step 3: debt deflation). Furthermore, he also compares the current crisis with other crises in the past from around the world including an extensive analysis of South Korean and Latin American crises. Since he has intended this book for academic audiences, he describes the crisis at the advanced level including the discussion of collateralized debt obligations. Mishkin however may rely too heavily upon his research, and he avoids sharing his own interpretations. Compared to his previous books, Mishkin is now more focused on current events than the theory. Although directed towards academics, any curious reader can benefit from Mishkin's analysis of the economic crisis.
Mishkin, Frederic S. The Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets Boston: Pearson, 2007.
Mishkin's best selling book,The Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets covers topics from the structure of financial markets to monetary and fiscal policy. His book provides an in-depth understanding of the basics of our financial markets and how they operate. Mishkin wrote this book to answer most of our questions; he explains speculative demand for money by applying Keynes and Tobin's theories to support his assertions. Mishkin also covers the Great Depression, Savings and Loans Crisis, and other international crises in detail and they are very valuable tools for anyone who wants to compare previous crises with the current crisis. The highlight of his book is when he discusses how moral hazard influences the financial market, but instead of providing the real world example, he created a hypothetical example. Also, he answers the novice investors' most frequently asked question, "how the market sets stock prices?" When Mishkin answers this question, he heavily focuses on the dividend side of the valuation and he has fails to mention that the future earnings of a firm have an even greater impact on stock prices. Despite the highly academic nature of his writing, those who are interested in learning more about the background of the financial crisis and financial markets should read this book.
Bernasek, Anna. "When Does A Housing Slump Become A Bust?" The New York Times 17 June 2007: 6.
Bernasek, in her article, "When Does A Housing Slump Become A Bust?" discusses the definition of housing market bust. While we have the exact definition of a stock market crash and a recession, economists have not agreed on what constitutes a housing market bust. Bernasek claims that because the only national housing bust happened during the Great Depression and the market statistics are not clear-cut, economists have avoided this topic. I found her presentation of arguments between two economists about the definition of the housing bust very weak since she failed to convince readers by not interviewing more economists. Bernasek, however made a strong point that measured prices may not reflect the actual sales price and they underestimate the declines. Lastly, she argues that we may be able to agree on the definition of the bust during this downturn "as people would feel the pain." What kind of pain is she talking about? Her unclear conclusion draws a clear distinction between an academic journal and a mass media article. Bernasek's article will benefit those who study economics and those who are interested in the real estate market since she explains the challenge of identifying a clear definition of the bust and its ambiguity. Her article will assist me in supporting my argument that the fate of the real estate market is still unknown.
Roubini, Nouriel. "The Worst Is Yet To Come." Foreign Policy (2008): 63-68.
Nouriel Roubini, in his article, "The Worst Is Yet To Come," published in March 2008 (Foreign Policy), forecasts the negative economic outlook not only in the United States, but in the global economy. Despite the fact that asset bubbles burst throughout the world, he predicted that more bursts would happen in the near future. His arguments seem very convincing since he claims that the credit crunch will continue because of deleveraging by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Since the publication of the article, his claims have come true: the global financial markets have seen the worst deleveraging in human history. Roubini also predicted that commodities and credit-default swaps in particular would create further market bursts. Again, his infamous forecast shocked the world; the price of oil fell sharply and the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers brought huge losses on credit-default swaps. Lastly, Roubini argues that the only way to avoid further economic downturn is agressive actions by policy makers. Although his predictions turned out to be accurate, he did not make any effort to use sources that would have made his statement more convincing. Today, however because Roubini is considered the only economist who predicted the subprime crisis, he does not need to cite others' work even though other scholars and journalists cite his work all the time. Roubini's article would benefit almost everyone in the world since his analysis can help us to plan our financial future.
Belke, Ansgar and Marcel Wiedmann. "Boom or Bubble in the US Real Estate Market?" Intereconomics (2005): 273-284.
Ansgar Belke and Marcel Wiedmann, in their article, "Boom or Bubble in the US Real Estate Market?" published in September 2005 (Intereconomics), question whether the United States real estate market boom that lasted until summer of 2006 was driven by expansion in the economy or just speculations. Belke and Wiedmann try to convince readers by presenting a wide array of sources including scholarly journals, web sites,official government data, and financial magazines such as The Economist. Also, graphs and tables showcasing house data add greater credibility to their article. Belke and Wiedmann express how they worried that a rapid increase in available credit to borrowers would cause significant problems should the economy begin to contract. Their worries came true and it is very interesting how we are paying the price for not following their recommendations. For example, Belke and Wiedmann criticize the US government for implementing monetary policy to control the housing market. They argue that instead of monetary policy, fiscal policy should be implemented. It is no surprise that the government is now placing a great emphasis on fiscal policy. Belke and Wiedmann introduce new terms such as a strategy of "leaning against the wind" and "negative feedback trading." They, however do not explain what "negative feedback trading" is and expect the readers to know what that is. Also, their usage of vocabulary is somewhat complex, using many technical terms such as "positive deviations." Despite some negative aspects of their article, policy makers and those who are interested in the current economic issues should read the article since it would help them to understand the underlying causes of housing boom and bust.
Kimble-Ellis, Sonya. "Real Estate Blues." Network Journal (2008): 28.
Sonya Kimble-Ellis, in her article, "Real Estate Blues" published in November 2008 (Network Journal), discusses the changing environment in the real estate market. Kimble-Ellis claims that real estate agents are having a hard time getting mortgages for their clients since banks have changed their lending requirements. Kimble-Ellis interviews a real estate broker who argues that the new lending requirements put a higher barrier to inner-city home buyers. When one begins to read this article, one should notice that Kimble-Ellis starts the article by mentioning African-American real estate agents when she could have just said real estate agents. She purposely emphasizes "African-American" to let readers know that this article will discuss the real estate market in minority's views. Kimble-Ellis explains the term, "short sale" in simple language so that readers who have not received any financial education could understand. She mentions that the No Income Verification Loan is available to certain borrowers; however, that loan type had completely disappeared right after the financial crisis started.It must be true that Kimble-Ellis has no knowledge in the real estate industry. Since she does not verify the information she has obtained, her article loses credibility.Kimble-Ellis, however makes an attempt to represent the views of the minority when other journalists only write about the mainstream. Thus,those who study about the current economic condition of the minority may find this article interesting. In addition, this article could be beneficial in sociology and economics researches since the article presents the issue of social problems and financial regulations.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Social Bookmarking Soulmates
So this time, I am going to find someone at Diigo who shares similar interests with me. I click on my tags and see four tags (Money, economy, personal finance, economic crisis). Then, I click on the community tab and wow, I am surprised that there are over 5,000 people who have money as their tags. Out of those 5,000 people, I just found this person with 523 money bookmarks. He is the one with the most money bookmarks and I think I should follow him.
His name is Taisuke Yanase and he lives in Tokyo, Japan. Since he is a Japanese, he has some bookmarks in Japanese. I try to read them with my basic Japanese, but you know I just can't. I am glad that half of his bookmarks are in English so I can read them. For some reason, all of his tags are in English; maybe Diigo does not allow tags in Japanese.
Not surprisingly, He has similar bookmarking topics with me. His number bookmarking topic is business and he has impressive 1,722 bookmarks. I wish I could do that. After business, he has some topics related to auto. I am not a big fan of auto, but I know I look through them once in a while (Honestly, I looked through an auto article before I write this blog). After auto related topics, he has finance, tips, and finally, money as his topics. So, I guess people who are into business world like me care about money-related issues a lot.
Since I am new to Diigo, I want to learn how others organize their bookmarks and tags. I am looking at Taisuke's bookmark now, and I am not impressed. He does not highlight or leave sticky notes on his bookmarks. Maybe he does not know how to use those. But I am very impressed with the number of bookmarks he has. Guess how many he has? 6,119!!! Unbelievable. I wish I can do that. His bookmarks are from various sources from Japanese blogs to Forbes and I am surprised that there are that many web sites where I can get money-related articles. Even though he has no highlights or sticky notes, he makes that up in his variety of bookmarks.
Unlike his bookmark, his tags are impressive. He has hundreds of tags and almost hundred of them have at least 100 or more bookmarks. I look into his tags and find out that his tags are very well organized. In each bookmark, he adds at least five tags, and he is probably doing that to sort bookmarks easily. He knows that if he adds only two tags per bookmark, he will have hard time finding the right articles for certain topics. For example, if he puts all articles related to economy under just one tag and he now wants articles about the Japanese economy. Guess what? He probably needs to go through all 391 bookmarks to find what he wants. So, I better start putting as many tags as possible.
I was right: his bookmarks are filled with resources. I just found two great bookmarks that I would like to keep for myself and readers. Those bookmarks are America's Best Long-Term Real Estate Bets - Forbes.com & How property bubbles help us | The beauty of bubbles | The Economist. Those bookmarks will help me and you to better understand the real estate market and the economy in general. Not only that, those bookmarks will expand our reading lists so we can have more opinions. Added bonus: he has a bookmark that describes why I recommend Diigo. Check this out: 7 Reasons Diigo Tastes Better Than Delicious | MakeUseOf.com
His name is Taisuke Yanase and he lives in Tokyo, Japan. Since he is a Japanese, he has some bookmarks in Japanese. I try to read them with my basic Japanese, but you know I just can't. I am glad that half of his bookmarks are in English so I can read them. For some reason, all of his tags are in English; maybe Diigo does not allow tags in Japanese.
Not surprisingly, He has similar bookmarking topics with me. His number bookmarking topic is business and he has impressive 1,722 bookmarks. I wish I could do that. After business, he has some topics related to auto. I am not a big fan of auto, but I know I look through them once in a while (Honestly, I looked through an auto article before I write this blog). After auto related topics, he has finance, tips, and finally, money as his topics. So, I guess people who are into business world like me care about money-related issues a lot.
Since I am new to Diigo, I want to learn how others organize their bookmarks and tags. I am looking at Taisuke's bookmark now, and I am not impressed. He does not highlight or leave sticky notes on his bookmarks. Maybe he does not know how to use those. But I am very impressed with the number of bookmarks he has. Guess how many he has? 6,119!!! Unbelievable. I wish I can do that. His bookmarks are from various sources from Japanese blogs to Forbes and I am surprised that there are that many web sites where I can get money-related articles. Even though he has no highlights or sticky notes, he makes that up in his variety of bookmarks.
Unlike his bookmark, his tags are impressive. He has hundreds of tags and almost hundred of them have at least 100 or more bookmarks. I look into his tags and find out that his tags are very well organized. In each bookmark, he adds at least five tags, and he is probably doing that to sort bookmarks easily. He knows that if he adds only two tags per bookmark, he will have hard time finding the right articles for certain topics. For example, if he puts all articles related to economy under just one tag and he now wants articles about the Japanese economy. Guess what? He probably needs to go through all 391 bookmarks to find what he wants. So, I better start putting as many tags as possible.
I was right: his bookmarks are filled with resources. I just found two great bookmarks that I would like to keep for myself and readers. Those bookmarks are America's Best Long-Term Real Estate Bets - Forbes.com & How property bubbles help us | The beauty of bubbles | The Economist. Those bookmarks will help me and you to better understand the real estate market and the economy in general. Not only that, those bookmarks will expand our reading lists so we can have more opinions. Added bonus: he has a bookmark that describes why I recommend Diigo. Check this out: 7 Reasons Diigo Tastes Better Than Delicious | MakeUseOf.com
Recommended Social Bookmarking Site
Today, I want to introduce you to the world of social bookmarking. Honestly, I did not know what social bookmarking was until last week when my professor introduced it to me. So, what is social bookmarking? It is a way of storing and organizing web sites that you like and share them with others or keep them for your future reference. Also, you can highlight contents in a web site and leave notes to yourself or share them. There are many social bookmarking web sites but I want to recommend Diigo to you.
When I first looked through social bookmarking sites, I questioned myself what is the difference between bookmarks that I use on my internet browsers and social bookmarking sites. Do you know? Bookmarks on my internet browsers only save web site addresses for future references;however, Diigo not only saves web site addresses, but I can also add tags to those web sites and group them together. So, I can say that Diigo is the advanced version of Windows Favorites and Firefox Bookmarks.
Then why should someone use Diigo? Let me tell you why I use it: I am an old-fashioned person who prefers papers than computers. Then, Diigo completely got rid of the reason I preferred to read newspapers than online version. At Diigo, I can read whatever I want to read (save ink and the environment) and while I read, I can highlight the important ones without that yellow highlighter. Also, if I want to take some notes while I read, I can put sticky notes to where I highlighted. Yes, I don't have to buy that pricey Post-it! You can keep the notes to yourself or share them with others. And don't forget to look through your friends' notes. Isn't it so convenient?
I have to say Diigo is the grown-up version of MySpace. At Diigo, you can meet new people and join groups that you like. How? You can search people or groups who have same bookmarks or tags with you. Not only that, Diigo will match you up with people who have similar interests. Why bother to visit match.com when you have Diigo? From there, you can discuss about an article or share your bookmarks and tags.
Why not start your own group? My class started our own group at Diigo and it has been really great. We created a private group, so no one else could look through what we have. We share our blogs and leave comments to each other. Whenever our professor shares an article, we all read, highlight, and leave sticky notes to it. Then, we can read what everyone has to say and honestly, we learn from it. If you are teaching a class or taking a class, I highly recommend using Diigo because this site will help students develop their own ideas by sharing with others.
At Diigo, tags and bookmarks are very important because that is how people will find you and be your friends. I had four tags total (Money, Economy, Personal Finance, Economic Crisis) and decided to use these tags to meet new people. Wow, I found 5,597 people with the money tag. From there, I looked into this guy's profile. Guess what I found? I found many great bookmarks that I really love to read! I went ahead and saved those bookmarks on my page. Isn't Diigo so cool? So, don't be shy and try Diigo for yourself!!!
When I first looked through social bookmarking sites, I questioned myself what is the difference between bookmarks that I use on my internet browsers and social bookmarking sites. Do you know? Bookmarks on my internet browsers only save web site addresses for future references;however, Diigo not only saves web site addresses, but I can also add tags to those web sites and group them together. So, I can say that Diigo is the advanced version of Windows Favorites and Firefox Bookmarks.
Then why should someone use Diigo? Let me tell you why I use it: I am an old-fashioned person who prefers papers than computers. Then, Diigo completely got rid of the reason I preferred to read newspapers than online version. At Diigo, I can read whatever I want to read (save ink and the environment) and while I read, I can highlight the important ones without that yellow highlighter. Also, if I want to take some notes while I read, I can put sticky notes to where I highlighted. Yes, I don't have to buy that pricey Post-it! You can keep the notes to yourself or share them with others. And don't forget to look through your friends' notes. Isn't it so convenient?
I have to say Diigo is the grown-up version of MySpace. At Diigo, you can meet new people and join groups that you like. How? You can search people or groups who have same bookmarks or tags with you. Not only that, Diigo will match you up with people who have similar interests. Why bother to visit match.com when you have Diigo? From there, you can discuss about an article or share your bookmarks and tags.
Why not start your own group? My class started our own group at Diigo and it has been really great. We created a private group, so no one else could look through what we have. We share our blogs and leave comments to each other. Whenever our professor shares an article, we all read, highlight, and leave sticky notes to it. Then, we can read what everyone has to say and honestly, we learn from it. If you are teaching a class or taking a class, I highly recommend using Diigo because this site will help students develop their own ideas by sharing with others.
At Diigo, tags and bookmarks are very important because that is how people will find you and be your friends. I had four tags total (Money, Economy, Personal Finance, Economic Crisis) and decided to use these tags to meet new people. Wow, I found 5,597 people with the money tag. From there, I looked into this guy's profile. Guess what I found? I found many great bookmarks that I really love to read! I went ahead and saved those bookmarks on my page. Isn't Diigo so cool? So, don't be shy and try Diigo for yourself!!!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Comment on MSN Top Stocks Blog
I left a comment on MSN Top Stocks Blog. I am reposting that comment on my blog so that everyone can read what I think about Suze Orman. Enjoy and leave a comment for me.
Stop picking on Suze Orman!
Posted Feb 11 2009, 02:09 PM by Kim Peterson
Filed under: Kim Peterson
Filed under: Kim Peterson
Oh come on, going after Suze Orman? Columnist James Scurlock tells people to stop trusting the "bottle-blond former waitress."
The thing that bothers Scurlock the most is that Orman is a big cheerleader for "dollar cost averaging," which he says is the practice of buying the same stock over and over again as the price drops.
"Since when does throwing good money after bad make you rich? It doesn't." Scurlock criticizes. Dump her as your financial adviser, he says. She doesn't even like stocks for her own money -- less than 3% of her net worth is in stocks, with the majority in government-backed bonds.
Scurlock is off base. For one thing, dollar cost averaging (DCA) doesn't mean buying the same stock over and over as it falls. DCA is a moderate approach to investing where you spend a set amount of money at regular intervals. In other words, you invest the same amount whether a stock is going up or going down.
DCA isn't the most sophisticated investor practice, by any means. And it has been criticized for not cushioning risk as much as its proponents would like.
But consider this: Orman isn't reaching out to sophisticated investors. She's targeting people who want to straighten out their finances, or maybe start building a nest egg. People who have too much credit card debt. People who can't budget their household income.
She helps motivate the Oprah crowd to think smartly about their money. And there aren't many advisers doing that for an audience that desperately needs this kind of advice.
So, James Scurlock, if you can dig up a real reason to go after Orman, then go for it. But as far as I can tell, she is bringing some common sense to a subject where Americans routinely have none: personal finance.
I wish there were more like her out there.
My Comment:James Scurlock, stop criticizing Suze. As a college student with real estate and business background, I have also advised people around me about personal finance and real estate. From my experience, I can tell you that Suze Orman is the best financial adviser out there. Scurlock criticized her for saying, "People who grew up without much money and later earn a comfortable living sometimes spend too much to make up for what they didn't get as children. . . . People who feel entitled to the good life or are unconsciously copying a mother or father who lived beyond her or his means. . . . If you feel the need to impress people with what you have rather than with who you are, you are at high risk for credit card abuse." Everyone knows this is true. I have seen so many people in this situation and I am telling you all that this is how we started the economic crisis. Scurlock, do you know how the meltdown of real estate market started? It started because we went beyond our means buying homes that we couldn't afford and treat our homes as our piggy bank.
He also criticizes Suze for having conservative investing approach. Let me tell you this: if we all have invested like Suze, there should be no one struggling with loss from the stock market.So, what is the outcome for moderate to high risk investing? You lost so much money that you are now worried about your retirement.
Criticizing Suze for investing in municipal bond? Oh, come on. She is at the highest tax bracket and it makes sense for her to invest heavily on municipal bonds since she doesn't pay any tax on munis. If I were her, I would do the same. Why take risk when you can get a decent return on munis? Because of her tax bracket, it makes no sense to invest in the stock market for short-term. For long-term, she would not risk her fortune and that's why she only invested a portion of her assets.
Criticizing her stock market advice? Give me a break. She worked for Merrill Lynch and she knows how to make money in the market. Do you know how hard it is to get into Merrill Lynch? Only the top students at elite business schools get hired. If she is that bad and Jim Cramer is the best stock market adviser, why did Jim Cramer tell people to buy Wachovia two days before it went bankrupt?
Criticizing Suze for not forecasting the downturn? Let me tell you about my story. I predicted the economic downturn in August 2005 and told people to sell all hard assets. At that time, I was criticized for unreliable forecast even from my parents. I had to suffer that criticism until 2006 and it was not pleasant. Even Suze knew it was happening, she could not say that in public because of the impact it would cause to our society.
I have to tell you Suze has inspired so many people in despair and teach us the importance of financial education. Her money management tips are outstanding and can be applied to anyone. She is the pioneer for making financial advice available to the general public and I always appreciate her for that. Now, STOP blaming Suze! I appreciate Kim Peterson for a wonderful post defending Suze. If you have any questions or concerns, please leave a comment on my blog at moneyneconomy.blogspot.com I will repost this on my blog.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Repost of My Recent Posts
Everyone tells me that my writing is so dry and boring. So, I decided to change my writing style to meet the needs of the new generation readers. You will see my writing is now provocative and conversational. To celebrate the transformation, I have reposted three of my recent posts with the new writing style. Enjoy!
1. Hello, by now,we know that we are in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the human history. Almost every one is affected by the economic crisis, and because of that, people chose President Obama believing that he would revitalize our economy. I recently watched the news and a poll showed that Americans chose economy as their number one concern. If one turns on television lately, there is no way to avoid news of the economic crisis. As a blogger, it is very important for me to write about topics to which we can all relate.
Then, why do we have economic crisis? Could it be because of our financial ignorance? My classmates will get you the answer. Last week, my sociology class happened to discuss the credit card interest rates. I could not believe what I heard: Some students were shocked by the fact that they have to pay interest if they do not pay the credit card balance in full each month. Shocked? These students are studying in a top-tier research university. They are intellectuals in terms of their academic knowledge, but when it comes to financial issues, they are idiots. I know many college students and adults who have absolutely no financial education because they just don't care. Do you see why we have this terrible mess? No wonder, right? Their parents could get away without learning the basic of personal finance; however it does not apply to us who are living in the 21st century.
I am dedicated to sharing my knowledge through my blog with the general public. While many people out there write about the economy and personal finance, however, it seems rare for a college student like me to take on these topics. Curious about my experience? I have assisted my mentor who is a real estate professor at a college. He has given me many insights of the real estate market and the economy. I have obtained my California real estate license and I am working towards my broker’s license. During my study, I have learned so much about the economy and have done some research about the real estate market and economy in general. Obviously, I am no Suze Orman, but with knowledge I have gained, I will do my best to write excellent blogs that will improve lives of people. I am a firm believer in educating ourselves about personal finances and this is the only way we can avoid any future economic crisis. I hope I can share my knowledge with others and ultimately help others achieve success in their lives.
1. Hello, by now,we know that we are in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the human history. Almost every one is affected by the economic crisis, and because of that, people chose President Obama believing that he would revitalize our economy. I recently watched the news and a poll showed that Americans chose economy as their number one concern. If one turns on television lately, there is no way to avoid news of the economic crisis. As a blogger, it is very important for me to write about topics to which we can all relate.
Then, why do we have economic crisis? Could it be because of our financial ignorance? My classmates will get you the answer. Last week, my sociology class happened to discuss the credit card interest rates. I could not believe what I heard: Some students were shocked by the fact that they have to pay interest if they do not pay the credit card balance in full each month. Shocked? These students are studying in a top-tier research university. They are intellectuals in terms of their academic knowledge, but when it comes to financial issues, they are idiots. I know many college students and adults who have absolutely no financial education because they just don't care. Do you see why we have this terrible mess? No wonder, right? Their parents could get away without learning the basic of personal finance; however it does not apply to us who are living in the 21st century.
I am dedicated to sharing my knowledge through my blog with the general public. While many people out there write about the economy and personal finance, however, it seems rare for a college student like me to take on these topics. Curious about my experience? I have assisted my mentor who is a real estate professor at a college. He has given me many insights of the real estate market and the economy. I have obtained my California real estate license and I am working towards my broker’s license. During my study, I have learned so much about the economy and have done some research about the real estate market and economy in general. Obviously, I am no Suze Orman, but with knowledge I have gained, I will do my best to write excellent blogs that will improve lives of people. I am a firm believer in educating ourselves about personal finances and this is the only way we can avoid any future economic crisis. I hope I can share my knowledge with others and ultimately help others achieve success in their lives.
2.MSN Money Top Stocks is a blog maintained by Microsoft, and written by its staff journalists, journalists from partner web sites, and Wall Street investors. Using Wall Street investors who are at the top of their field, and professional and well respected financial journalists, their blog provides outstanding advice and up-to-date financial news. Isn't this impressive? This blog has many writers and they write at least six to eight new posts a day.
Not surprisingly, one of the most popular blogs in the world, some posts reach 150,000 views. Because there are so many interesting writers, it will be hard to choose a favorite. I was particularly drawn to Douglas McIntyre's post, “Could 50 million jobs be lost worldwide this year?” He talks about the deteriorating world economy and its effects. I was very surprised when he mentioned that if the economy continues to deteriorate, the US may lose 1 million jobs in January alone. Then what about other countries? He also mentioned that, “While it may be unimaginable to talk about the US defaulting on its debt or deferring interest payments, the chances of that rise as the economy gets worse and global unemployment accelerates.” We would never have anticipated this even five months ago.
One of my favorites, Kim Peterson's “College financial aid the latest recession victim,” brought 37,808 full-view readers and 133 comments. Due to the loss in most colleges’ endowments, students may see less financial aid than previous years. Less financial aid? Oh, no. (I know this is not the case for my school which recently announced that it will increase its financial aid for its undergraduate students by eight percent during 2009-2010 school year). What enraged the readers was the fact that despite the record loss for these institutions, they still have billions of dollars in their endowments. US Senator Charles Grassley argues that, “Contrary to what colleges might argue, the weak economy makes a strong case for more endowment spending.” What is more important? Students or money? If there was no student, there would not be such thing as endowments.
I see the correlation between this blog and mine since both cover topics such as the current economy and personal finances. This blog is very professional in its contents and maintain its writers to people who are at the top of its chosen fields. Even though they are professional writers, they try to not to mention the details of certain events since this will deter the general public from reading their posts. They write this blog to educate the general public, not to analyze a financial statement of a corporation. But they try to cover every aspect of the current economy as it progresses; this is evident by reading and seeing at least five new posts a day. Let me put it this way. If you get headache by watching CNBC, this blog is for you. Got that? I will regularly follow their posts and write on my blog that I believe are very important for everyone to know. Readers of my blog will definitely see a difference between this blog and my blog since I will write in a college student's perspective. By reading both blogs, you will be well informed about the current economic events and personal finances.
Not surprisingly, one of the most popular blogs in the world, some posts reach 150,000 views. Because there are so many interesting writers, it will be hard to choose a favorite. I was particularly drawn to Douglas McIntyre's post, “Could 50 million jobs be lost worldwide this year?” He talks about the deteriorating world economy and its effects. I was very surprised when he mentioned that if the economy continues to deteriorate, the US may lose 1 million jobs in January alone. Then what about other countries? He also mentioned that, “While it may be unimaginable to talk about the US defaulting on its debt or deferring interest payments, the chances of that rise as the economy gets worse and global unemployment accelerates.” We would never have anticipated this even five months ago.
One of my favorites, Kim Peterson's “College financial aid the latest recession victim,” brought 37,808 full-view readers and 133 comments. Due to the loss in most colleges’ endowments, students may see less financial aid than previous years. Less financial aid? Oh, no. (I know this is not the case for my school which recently announced that it will increase its financial aid for its undergraduate students by eight percent during 2009-2010 school year). What enraged the readers was the fact that despite the record loss for these institutions, they still have billions of dollars in their endowments. US Senator Charles Grassley argues that, “Contrary to what colleges might argue, the weak economy makes a strong case for more endowment spending.” What is more important? Students or money? If there was no student, there would not be such thing as endowments.
I see the correlation between this blog and mine since both cover topics such as the current economy and personal finances. This blog is very professional in its contents and maintain its writers to people who are at the top of its chosen fields. Even though they are professional writers, they try to not to mention the details of certain events since this will deter the general public from reading their posts. They write this blog to educate the general public, not to analyze a financial statement of a corporation. But they try to cover every aspect of the current economy as it progresses; this is evident by reading and seeing at least five new posts a day. Let me put it this way. If you get headache by watching CNBC, this blog is for you. Got that? I will regularly follow their posts and write on my blog that I believe are very important for everyone to know. Readers of my blog will definitely see a difference between this blog and my blog since I will write in a college student's perspective. By reading both blogs, you will be well informed about the current economic events and personal finances.
3.Option ARMageddon is written by Rolfe Winkler, a former hedge fund analyst who currently holds Chartered Financial Analyst designation.Wow!It has no correlation with Armageddon, but he used that word to emphasize ARM, as anyone can see from the title how he capitalizes ARM and use lower-case letters for the rest of the word. So, this is not the movie, Armageddon, okay? Then what is ARM or option ARM? ARM stands for adjustable rate mortgage. Unlike fixed-rate mortgages that we have used since the Great Depression, borrowers with ARM would see their mortgage payments fluctuate with the change of the index rate. For your information, let me make you dizzy for few more seconds. Option ARM adds the flexibility of selecting the rate that borrowers want to pay at the beginning of the term. Also, they could just pay the minimum payment due causing the principal balance to increase. No wonder we are having this credit crisis, don't you agree? He writes the blog expecting that readers already know what ARM is. So, this blog is not for readers who have not received the basic financial education. Then why is he writing a blog that not everyone could understand? Is he trying to teach us a lesson? He says that,
In his post, "With Allstate, you’re NOT in good hands ," he criticizes the government for allowing Allstate to have lenient accounting standards and also criticizes Allstate for its unethical tactics.
In his other post, Bill Gross says government must spend “trillions” , he writes about how our greed has led to this gloomy economic situation. At first, I read this post to learn what this prominent figure had to say. But, I realized very soon that this post was not about Gross' advice to the government, but it was about why he wanted the government to spend more money. At this point, I was compelled to read further to find out why. Now I know why he emphasizes the word, trillions. Whenever he emphasizes a word in his title, that word implies what he is going to talk about. He describes why Gross wants bigger stimulus package by saying,
Overall, most of his posts are negative in tone and filled with criticism and sarcasm. In almost every post, he was angry and found someone to blame at. I guess he wants people to see what we have done to our economy and ask us to stop blaming others because all of us contribute to the problem.
His link strategy is outstanding; he uses a link program, The Wikinvest Wire, to increase his exposure by adding the link to his blog at other blogs and sites. If there is a related post or article on other blogs, his blog would list on the bottom of the page making curious readers to click on his blog. It really works: I actually clicked on several posts that were listed under his. No wonder his blog lists at the top at Technorati. It is great that he only uses reputable sources for his analysis such as Bloomberg. I mean I would not have read his blog if he used biased Fox News as his source. He probably knows that by using reputable sources, his blog would also be considered as the hottest blog! Yes, who doesn't want that hot blog!
Because I think Option ARM loans, particularly borrowers’ over-reliance on them towards the end of the housing bubble, exemplify much that is wrong with our economy: deferred interest payments, growing loan balances, low (no?) down payments.Feeling guilty? He makes a point that Option ARM symbolizes our economy which is heading to the worst depression in our history. He also mentions why we have economic problems and who started them:
if American individuals, institutions, companies and governments had more skin in the game–and cared more about paying their debts–we’d all be better off.Stop blaming the Wall Street for this mess; we all have contributed to this. Yes, unlike other blogs that only analyze issues, this blog uses lots of criticism and arguments. I have to say that is the reason why this stands out from the others.
In his post, "With Allstate, you’re NOT in good hands ," he criticizes the government for allowing Allstate to have lenient accounting standards and also criticizes Allstate for its unethical tactics.
Allstate is shopping for sympathetic regulators that will help it hide its deteriorating financial condition. By suddenly changing the way Allstate calculates its regulatory capital, allowing the company to include deferred tax assets, the Illinois insurance regulator is putting all of Allstate’s policy-holders at risk, not just those in Illinois.I found a strategy in this quote that he had used to entice readers to keep on reading. He wrote too much in this post and it was hard to keep up with what he had to say due to the fact that he used many accounting terms such as leverage ratio;however, I had to read the rest of the post when he mentioned
all of Allstate’s policy-holders at risk, not just those in Illinois.What? Not just Illinois? I was worried about my aunt who is a customer of Allstate and had to call her while I read his post. Smart blogger, he knows how to grab me and you. Out of his many posts, this post caught my eyes because of the title. The blogger used sarcasm and rephrased Allstate's slogan, "With Allstate, you're in good hands" to emphasize the fact that their slogan is just a puffery. So, don't ever fall for ads, okay? I was surprised when he said,
If an insurance company makes too many crappy investments, they’ll have nothing left over to pay hurricane, car accident or life insurance claims.What crappy? I don't even say that word when I talk to my friends. In financial blogs, bloggers do not use words such as crappy since readers may question the credibility of bloggers; however, he used that word to emphasize insurance companies' outrageous conducts. I was shocked when I saw that word, but no other word would replace the meaning this word had. It is true that bloggers' usage of everyday language in posts is what makes blogs very popular. As a last comment, he said,
It’s horseshit that regulators are changing capital adequacy requirements when the company is still making payments to shareholders.What horseshit? He is going way beyond my comfort zone in a financial blog. Are you all okay? Through his last sentence, he summarizes his point that both the government and the corporation are at fault for economic problems. It is important to notice that he never offers any solution to the problem, but just analyzes the problem. Is he worried about the consequences of going against the big people?
In his other post, Bill Gross says government must spend “trillions” , he writes about how our greed has led to this gloomy economic situation. At first, I read this post to learn what this prominent figure had to say. But, I realized very soon that this post was not about Gross' advice to the government, but it was about why he wanted the government to spend more money. At this point, I was compelled to read further to find out why. Now I know why he emphasizes the word, trillions. Whenever he emphasizes a word in his title, that word implies what he is going to talk about. He describes why Gross wants bigger stimulus package by saying,
If banks collapse, shareholders will be wiped out and bondholders like Bill Gross will feel a lot of pain themselves. Unless of course the banks and other distressed companies magically survive courtesy of massive government intervention to keep asset prices from falling.What about my money in the bank? Will it be wiped out too? We all better check if our banks are safe. He purposely made the second sentence into a fragment sentence to emphasize the pain he and others would experience. He knew that if he connected two sentences together, his emphasis on the pain of bondholders would diminish. It is interesting to see how he implied the consequence of massive government intervention without saying how it would benefit wealthy bondholders.
Overall, most of his posts are negative in tone and filled with criticism and sarcasm. In almost every post, he was angry and found someone to blame at. I guess he wants people to see what we have done to our economy and ask us to stop blaming others because all of us contribute to the problem.
His link strategy is outstanding; he uses a link program, The Wikinvest Wire, to increase his exposure by adding the link to his blog at other blogs and sites. If there is a related post or article on other blogs, his blog would list on the bottom of the page making curious readers to click on his blog. It really works: I actually clicked on several posts that were listed under his. No wonder his blog lists at the top at Technorati. It is great that he only uses reputable sources for his analysis such as Bloomberg. I mean I would not have read his blog if he used biased Fox News as his source. He probably knows that by using reputable sources, his blog would also be considered as the hottest blog! Yes, who doesn't want that hot blog!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Voice Analysis
Option ARMageddon is a blog that has no correlation with Armageddon,but the blogger has used that word to emphasize ARM as one can see from the title how he capitalize ARM and use lower-case letters for the rest of word. One cannot understand his blog without knowing ARM. Then what is ARM or option ARM? ARM stands for adjustable rate mortgage. Unlike fixed-rate mortgages that we have used since the Great Depression, borrowers with ARM would see their mortgage payments fluctuate with the change of the index rate. Option ARM adds the flexibility of selecting the rate that borrowers want to pay at the beginning of the term and also, they could just pay the minimum payment due resulting the principal balance to swell.
The blogger, Rolfe Winkler, a former hedge fund analyst who currently holds Chartered Financial Analyst designation writes his blog expecting that readers already know what ARM is. So, this blog is not for readers who have not received the basic financial education. Then why is he writing a blog that not everyone could understand? He says that,
In his post, "With Allstate, you’re NOT in good hands ," he criticizes the government for allowing Allstate to have lenient accounting standards and also criticize Allstate for its unethical tactics.
In his other post, Bill Gross says government must spend “trillions” , he writes about how our greed have led to this gloomy economic situation. At first, I read this post to learn what this prominent figure had to say. But, I realized very soon that this post was not about Gross' advice to the government, but it was about why he wanted government to spend more money. Now I know why he emphasizes the word, trillions. Whenever he emphasizes a word in his title, that word implies what he is going to talk about. He describes why Gross wants bigger stimulus package by saying,
Overall, most of his posts are in negative tone and filled with criticism and sarcasm. In almost every post, he was angry and found someone to blame at. The reason behind his negative views is that he wants people to see what we have done to our economy and ask us to stop blaming others because all of us contribute to the problem.
His link strategy is outstanding; he uses a link program, The Wikinvest Wire, to increase his exposure by having link to his blog at other blogs and sites. If there is a related post or article on other blogs, his blog would list on the bottom of the page making curious readers to click on his blog. This is no wonder that his blog lists at the top at Technorati. Another outstanding aspect of his blog is that he only uses reputable sources for his analysis such as Bloomberg. He probably knows that by using reputable sources, his blog would also be considered as a reputable medium.
The blogger, Rolfe Winkler, a former hedge fund analyst who currently holds Chartered Financial Analyst designation writes his blog expecting that readers already know what ARM is. So, this blog is not for readers who have not received the basic financial education. Then why is he writing a blog that not everyone could understand? He says that,
Because I think Option ARM loans, particularly borrowers’ over-reliance on them towards the end of the housing bubble, exemplify much that is wrong with our economy: deferred interest payments, growing loan balances, low (no?) down payments.He tries to make a point that Option ARM symbolizes problems we have with our economy. He also mentions why we have economic problems and who have started them:
if American individuals, institutions, companies and governments had more skin in the game–and cared more about paying their debts–we’d all be better off.Yes, unlike other blogs that only analyze issues, this blog uses lots of criticism and arguments. I have to say that is the reason why this blog stands out from others.
In his post, "With Allstate, you’re NOT in good hands ," he criticizes the government for allowing Allstate to have lenient accounting standards and also criticize Allstate for its unethical tactics.
Allstate is shopping for sympathetic regulators that will help it hide its deteriorating financial condition. By suddenly changing the way Allstate calculates its regulatory capital, allowing the company to include deferred tax assets, the Illinois insurance regulator is putting all of Allstate’s policy-holders at risk, not just those in Illinois.From this quote, I found a strategy he had used to entice readers to keep on reading. This post in particular, he wrote very much and it was hard to keep up with what he had to say due to the fact that he used many accounting terms such as leverage ratio;however, I had to read the rest of the post when he mentioned
all of Allstate’s policy-holders at risk, not just those in Illinois.I was worried about my aunt who is a customer of Allstate and had to call her while I read his post. He knows if his post is interesting, readers would react to it. Out of many posts he had written, this post caught my eyes because of the title. The blogger used sarcasm and rephrased Allstate's slogan, "With Allstate, you're in good hands" to emphasize the fact that their slogan is just a puffery. I was surprised when he said,
If an insurance company makes too many crappy investments, they’ll have nothing left over to pay hurricane, car accident or life insurance claims.In a professional writing, writers do not use words such as crappy since this word is not considered as a proper word; however, he used that word to emphasize insurance companies' outrageous conducts. I was shocked when I saw that word since that was the word I would not have used in writing, but no other word would replace the meaning this word had. It is true that bloggers' usage of everyday language in posts is what makes blogs very popular. As a last comment, he said,
It’s horseshit that regulators are changing capital adequacy requirements when the company is still making payments to shareholders.Through his last sentence, he summarizes his point that both the government and the corporation are at fault for economic problems. It is important to notice that he never offers any solution to the problem, but just analyze the problem. Is he worried about the consequences of going against the big people?
In his other post, Bill Gross says government must spend “trillions” , he writes about how our greed have led to this gloomy economic situation. At first, I read this post to learn what this prominent figure had to say. But, I realized very soon that this post was not about Gross' advice to the government, but it was about why he wanted government to spend more money. Now I know why he emphasizes the word, trillions. Whenever he emphasizes a word in his title, that word implies what he is going to talk about. He describes why Gross wants bigger stimulus package by saying,
If banks collapse, shareholders will be wiped out and bondholders like Bill Gross will feel a lot of pain themselves. Unless of course the banks and other distressed companies magically survive courtesy of massive government intervention to keep asset prices from falling.He purposely made the second sentence into a fragment sentence to emphasize the pain he and others would experience. He knew that if he connected two sentences together, his emphasis on the pain of bondholders would diminish. It is interesting to see how he implied the consequence of massive government intervention without saying how it would benefit wealthy bondholders.
Overall, most of his posts are in negative tone and filled with criticism and sarcasm. In almost every post, he was angry and found someone to blame at. The reason behind his negative views is that he wants people to see what we have done to our economy and ask us to stop blaming others because all of us contribute to the problem.
His link strategy is outstanding; he uses a link program, The Wikinvest Wire, to increase his exposure by having link to his blog at other blogs and sites. If there is a related post or article on other blogs, his blog would list on the bottom of the page making curious readers to click on his blog. This is no wonder that his blog lists at the top at Technorati. Another outstanding aspect of his blog is that he only uses reputable sources for his analysis such as Bloomberg. He probably knows that by using reputable sources, his blog would also be considered as a reputable medium.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
My Blog Recommendation 2
Of course, you are not going to find all the information you need from my blog, You need additional blogs that will guide you becoming a wise consumer or an investor. Here is my recommendation where you can read more about the personal finances and economic issues. My first recommendation is Wise Bread. This blog has many bloggers who share their secrets to control one’s finances. They even have posts on health issues so this blog could be a perfect match for someone looking to gain a well-rounded knowledge. Check out how they save money by going to a specific store for bargains. This will inspire you to become one.
My second recommendation is Option ARMageddon. This blog is written by Rolfe Winkler, a former hedge fund analyst who currently holds Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He talks about many issues that face us, from the subprime crisis to world economy. Since he is a financial professional, his post generally meets the needs of supplicated investors and economists, therefore it could be difficult for the general public to understand. In many posts, he uses criticism and I think that makes his blog very unique compared to other financial blogs that only analyze issues.
My next recommendation is Bank Run Blog. This blog focuses on analyzing articles or news topics from reputable sources such as CNN and the Associated Press. This blog is recommended to those who do not have time to browse different channels of media. The bloggers will choose important topics from different sources and analyze them for its readers. They mostly focus on the current economic crisis, particularly on the banking industry.
My last recommendation is Smart Spending blog by MSN. This blog is one of the most read blogs in the nation since it is linked with its administrator, MSN’s web site and has won the 2008 Clarion Award. Most posts are written by professional journalists, but they also introduce posts from other blogs. This is a blog where basically everyone can benefit from: the journalists write posts in plain English so it is easy to understand and it has many consumer advices that anyone could use. In this challenging economy, it is worth the extra trip to this blog to grab some advice from the experts.
My second recommendation is Option ARMageddon. This blog is written by Rolfe Winkler, a former hedge fund analyst who currently holds Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He talks about many issues that face us, from the subprime crisis to world economy. Since he is a financial professional, his post generally meets the needs of supplicated investors and economists, therefore it could be difficult for the general public to understand. In many posts, he uses criticism and I think that makes his blog very unique compared to other financial blogs that only analyze issues.
My next recommendation is Bank Run Blog. This blog focuses on analyzing articles or news topics from reputable sources such as CNN and the Associated Press. This blog is recommended to those who do not have time to browse different channels of media. The bloggers will choose important topics from different sources and analyze them for its readers. They mostly focus on the current economic crisis, particularly on the banking industry.
My last recommendation is Smart Spending blog by MSN. This blog is one of the most read blogs in the nation since it is linked with its administrator, MSN’s web site and has won the 2008 Clarion Award. Most posts are written by professional journalists, but they also introduce posts from other blogs. This is a blog where basically everyone can benefit from: the journalists write posts in plain English so it is easy to understand and it has many consumer advices that anyone could use. In this challenging economy, it is worth the extra trip to this blog to grab some advice from the experts.
My Blog Recommendation 1
The name of blog I would like to profile is MSN Money Top Stocks. This blog is maintained by Microsoft and most blogs are written by its staff journalist, partner, and Wall Street investors. Since most of bloggers are Wall Street investors who are at the top of their field and professional financial journalists who are very well respected in the financial journalism, their blog provides outstanding advice and up-to-date financial news. Since this blog is written by many bloggers, it is usual to see around six to eight posts a day except on weekends (since most of their posts are related to current financial data, they do not usually post on weekends).
This blog is probably one of the most popular blogs in the world. Since some of their posts are featured on MSN home page, it is not surprising to see a post with 150,000 views (when I say 150,000 views, it does not include readers who only preview the post). This blog has many interesting posts and it is very hard to choose a post if someone asks me to pick the best post. One of the posts that I find very interesting is a post by Douglas McIntyre. His post, “Could 50 million jobs be lost worldwide this year?” talks about the deteriorating world economy. I was very surprised when he mentioned that if the economy would deteriorate as it has been, the U.S. may lose 1 million jobs in January alone. He also mentioned that, “While it may be unimaginable to talk about the US defaulting on its debt or deferring interest payments, the chances of that rise as the economy gets worse and global unemployment accelerates.” This is what we have never anticipated even five months ago.
Another post that I find interesting is a post by Kim Peterson. Peterson’s post, “College financial aid the latest recession victim” brought 37,808 full-view readers and 133 comments. Due to the loss in most colleges’ endowments, students may see less financial aid than previous years. I know that this is not the case for my school which recently announced that it will increase its financial aid for its undergraduate students by eight percent during 2009-2010 school year. I think what enraged the readers was fact that despite the record loss for these institutions, they still have billions of dollars in their endowments. U.S. Senator Charles Grassley argues that, “Contrary to what colleges might argue, the weak economy makes a strong case for more endowment spending.” Please read my post on financial aid in coming weeks.
This blog is definitely related to my blog since it covers topics such as the current economy and personal finances. Not only that, this blog is very professional in its contents and maintain its writers to people who are in top of its chosen fields. Even though the bloggers are professional writers, they try to not to mention the details of certain events since this will deter the general public from reading their posts. The purpose of this blog is to educate the general public, not to analyze a financial statement of a corporation. But I know that they try to cover every aspect of the current economy as it progresses; this is evident by reading their blog, seeing at least five new posts everyday. This blog covers many different aspects of our current economic activity. I will regularly follow their posts and try to write posts on my blog that I believe very important for everyone to know. Readers of my blog will definitely see a difference between this blog and my blog since I will be focusing more on the real estate market and the personal finances. By reading this blog and my blog, you will be well informed about the current economic events and personal finances.
This blog is probably one of the most popular blogs in the world. Since some of their posts are featured on MSN home page, it is not surprising to see a post with 150,000 views (when I say 150,000 views, it does not include readers who only preview the post). This blog has many interesting posts and it is very hard to choose a post if someone asks me to pick the best post. One of the posts that I find very interesting is a post by Douglas McIntyre. His post, “Could 50 million jobs be lost worldwide this year?” talks about the deteriorating world economy. I was very surprised when he mentioned that if the economy would deteriorate as it has been, the U.S. may lose 1 million jobs in January alone. He also mentioned that, “While it may be unimaginable to talk about the US defaulting on its debt or deferring interest payments, the chances of that rise as the economy gets worse and global unemployment accelerates.” This is what we have never anticipated even five months ago.
Another post that I find interesting is a post by Kim Peterson. Peterson’s post, “College financial aid the latest recession victim” brought 37,808 full-view readers and 133 comments. Due to the loss in most colleges’ endowments, students may see less financial aid than previous years. I know that this is not the case for my school which recently announced that it will increase its financial aid for its undergraduate students by eight percent during 2009-2010 school year. I think what enraged the readers was fact that despite the record loss for these institutions, they still have billions of dollars in their endowments. U.S. Senator Charles Grassley argues that, “Contrary to what colleges might argue, the weak economy makes a strong case for more endowment spending.” Please read my post on financial aid in coming weeks.
This blog is definitely related to my blog since it covers topics such as the current economy and personal finances. Not only that, this blog is very professional in its contents and maintain its writers to people who are in top of its chosen fields. Even though the bloggers are professional writers, they try to not to mention the details of certain events since this will deter the general public from reading their posts. The purpose of this blog is to educate the general public, not to analyze a financial statement of a corporation. But I know that they try to cover every aspect of the current economy as it progresses; this is evident by reading their blog, seeing at least five new posts everyday. This blog covers many different aspects of our current economic activity. I will regularly follow their posts and try to write posts on my blog that I believe very important for everyone to know. Readers of my blog will definitely see a difference between this blog and my blog since I will be focusing more on the real estate market and the personal finances. By reading this blog and my blog, you will be well informed about the current economic events and personal finances.
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