Money Makeover: Phyllis Werlin

November 16, 2009 – 11:42 am

The Boston Globe Money Makeover: A plan for getting by, working less profiles single, 50-year-old Malden, MA resident Phyllis Werlin who is currently unemployed after her second layoff in 12 months. With another job hunt in front of her, Phyllis wondered – can she afford to look for part-time work and use her extra time to pursue other interests? If she did semi-retire now, would she outlive her money?

Levit, of Paragon Financial Advisors in Newton, crunched the numbers, looking at Werlin’s expenses, the expected return on her investments, and the size of her Social Security payments once she reached full retirement age. T

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Human Capital: Are You a Stock or a Bond?

November 16, 2009 – 7:00 am

Over at Bogleheads there was an interesting thread which explored how finance professor Moshe Milevsky has been pushing the concept of human capital as an additional variable to the traditional ideas of net worth, portfolio construction, and asset allocation. These are explored in this this trade magazine article for financial advisors, this draft academic paper, and also in his book Are You a Stock or a Bond?.

Human Capital
There are some differing definitions, but below is a brief explanation (taken from the magazine article above) of what is meant by human capital here:

Human capital is a measure of the present value of your client’s future wages, income and salary (net of any future income taxes and expenses). For example, if she is a doctor, lawyer, engineer or even a professor, she has probably invested an enormous amount of time, effort and money to finance her education. T

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Solar glut is temporary, demand to catch up by 2012

November 15, 2009 – 2:48 am

The oversupply problem plaguing the solar panel industry may be coming to a close. A glut of panels caused prices to plunge this year, calling into question the future the industry, as well as the individual fortunes of manufacturers. An increase in demand from Germany is helping to consume the excess inventory on the market, according to a new report by research firm iSuppli, which should provide some support to the manufacturers.

Close to half of all solar panels manufactured this year will not be sold in 2009, iSuppli says, and it forecasts that the glut will continue until 2012.

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If your bank fails, will you be ready?

November 14, 2009 – 6:28 pm

If you’ve heard about all the bank failures — 122 this year — you’ve got to be wondering about the safety of your money.

Which banks failed this year

Five banks failed Nov. 6. The largest was San Francisco’s United Commercial Bank, the main operating subsidiary of UCBH Holdings, which received $299 million in government help through the Troubled Asset Relief Program last year. Looks like taxpayers won’t be getting that money repaid.

It really does make you wonder about protecting your money.

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Various Reasons For Getting A Pet Insurance Coverage

November 14, 2009 – 7:04 am

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October Foreclosures Dip from September, Soar from ‘08

November 13, 2009 – 4:57 am

RealtyTrac, a company that follows foreclosure data for the United States, released October numbers on Thursday. It seems foreclosure rates have decreased slightly since last month, but are still significantly higher than they were a year ago.

Foreclosure by the Numbers

Here’s a look at the statistical breakdown of recent foreclosure activity in the country.

    332,292 property filings in October: This number includes three specific types of action: notices of bank repossession, auction and borrower default. That means one in every 385 American households is in some phase of the foreclosure process. P

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