Palin Pranked

Here is the Palin Pranked Audio.

Funny but not very amusing to the Republicans.

It seems she still has more bumpy roads ahead if she manages to be the Vice President.

Wish her all the good wishes and blessings.

Gov. Palin, dont be pranked again.

Here is the Audio

Obama's 30 minutes Infomercial Ad watched by 33 Million Americans

We are not yet sure if Barack Obama will make a good President or not, but one thing is sure that he is good in Advertising and Marketing.

To advertise and market himself as the best candidate for President of US for Election 2008 Sen. Barack Obama bought 30 minutes on most of the major television networks to run his advertisement. To comment on the production quality and the way it was presented, it was indeed extraordinary.

Sen Obama's 30-minute prime-time infomercial ad was seen by estimated 33.6 million viewers across the major national seven networks -- FOX Network, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, Univision, TV One and BET

Obama's Message and information has reached the american public, but it has yet to be seen how the american public respond to the message, maybe in few days.

Here is the Full 30 min Obama's Informercial

Who is Joe the Plumber?

Joe the Plumber was the star of the final presidential debate on Wednesday night. But who is he?

Last weekend, while Barack Obama was canvassing for support in the small town of Holland, Ohio, the Democratic nominee ran into a tall, bald man, since dubbed Joe the plumber. He asked Obama if he believed in the American Dream — he said he was about to buy a company that makes more than $250,000 a year and was concerned that the Democratic nominee would tax him more because of it.

Obama explained his tax plan in depth, saying it’s better to lower taxes for Americans who make less money, so that they could afford to buy from his business. John McCain attacked Obama for this exchange, saying the Illinois senator is trying to “spread the wealth around.”

“We're going to take Joe's money, give it to Senator Obama, and let him spread the wealth around. I want Joe the plumber to spread the wealth around,” McCain said. He added, “Why would you want to increase anybody's taxes right now? Why would you want to do that to anyone, anyone in America, when we have such a tough time?”

Is 'Joe the Plumber' a plumber?

"Joe," whose name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, was cited repeatedly in Wednesday night's final presidential debate by McCain for questioning Barack Obama's tax policy.
Wurzelbacher instantly became a media celebrity, fielding calls during the debate and facing reporters outside his home near Toledo on Thursday morning for an impromptu nationally televised news conference.
The burly, bald man acknowledged he doesn't have a plumber's license, but said he didn't need one because he works for someone else at a company that does residential work.
But Wurzelbacher still would need to be a licensed apprentice or journeyman to work in Toledo, and he's not, said David Golis, manager and residential building official for the Toledo Division of Building Inspection.
State and local records show Wurzelbacher has no license, although his employer does. Golis said there are no records of inspectors citing Wurzelbacher for unlicensed work in Toledo.

S P 500 List

List of Companies in the S P 500


List of Companies in S P 500

S&P Global Indices

Here is a List of S&P Global Indices

S&P Global Indices

S P 500 Index

Standard Poors 500 Index

Herer is a list of S P 500 Index from different sources:

From Bloomberg
Bloomberg

From CNN Money
CNN Money

S P 500 Index Historical Prices from yahoo
Historical Prices from Yahoo

From Google
Google

From BusinessWeek
Business Week

What Is the S&P 500

What is the S&P 500

The Standard and Poors 500 (S&P 500) is an index made up of five hundred different stocks. Each is selected for liquidity, size, and industry. The index is weighted for market capitalization. The S&P 500 is the benchmark of the overall market, and frequently used as the standard of comparison in terms of investment performance.


An index of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity and industry grouping, among other factors. The S&P 500 is designed to be a leading indicator of U.S. equities and is meant to reflect the risk/return characteristics of the large cap universe.

Companies included in the index are selected by the S&P Index Committee, a team of analysts and economists at Standard & Poor's. The S&P 500 is a market value weighted index - each stock's weight in the index is proportionate to its market value.

Here is the S&P Index for Today
S&P Index

What Stocks Comprise the Dow Jones

The Following Stock Comprise the Dow Jones
These companies make up the Dow
These make up the list of Dow 30 Companies

3m Co

Alcoa Inc

American Express Company

AT&T Inc.

Bank of America Corporation

Boeing Co.

Caterpillar Inc.

Chevron Corp

Citigroup, Inc.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

Exxon Mobil Corp

General Electric Company

General Motors Corporation

Hewlett-Packard Co.

Intel Corporation

International Business Machines

Johnson & Johnson

JP Morgan & Chase & Co

Kraft Foods Inc.

McDonald's Corporation

Merck & Co., Inc.

Microsoft Corporation

Pfizer Inc

The Coca-Cola Company

The Home Depot, Inc.

The Procter & Gamble Company

United Technologies Corporation

Verizon Communications

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Walt Disney Company (The) (Holding Company)

Dow 30 Components

Here is a List of Dow 30 Companies:
Dow Jones Industrial 30 Companies Symbols

Symbol

AA

AXP

BA

BAC

C

CAT

CVX

DD

DIS

GE

GM

HD

HPQ

IBM

INTC

JNJ

JPM

KFT

KO

MCD

MMM

MRK

MSFT

PFE

PG

T

UTX

VZ

WMT

XOM

Dow Jones Industrial 30 Companies

Here is a list of Dow Jones Industrial 30 Companies:

Alcoa - AA
American Express - AXP
AT&T - T
Boeing - BA
Caterpillar - CAT
Coca-Cola - KO
Citigroup - C
Disney - DIS
DuPont - DD
Eastman Kodak - EK
Exxon Mobil - XOM
General Electric - GE
General Motors - GM
Hewlett-Packard - HWP
Home Depot - HD
Honeywell - HON
IBM - IBM
Intel - INTC
International Paper - IP
Johnson & Johnson - JNJ
McDonald's - MCD
Merck - MRK
Microsoft - MSFT
3M - MMM
JP Morgan - JPM
Philip Morris - MO
Proctor & Gamble - PG
SBC Communications - SBC
United Tech - UTX
Wal-Mart - WMT

Dow Jones Index

Here is a list of Dow Jones Index from different Sources:

From Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones Indexes

From CNN Money
CNN Money

From Dow Jones
Dow Jones

From Bloomberg
Bloomberg

Dow Jones Chart

Here is a list of different sources for Dow Jones Chart

Dow Jones Live Chart:
Live Chart


Dow Jones Industrial Average from BigCharts
BigCharts

Dow Jones Industrial Average from MSN Money
MSN Money

Dow Jones Industrial Average from Yahoo
Yahoo

Why You Should Fear the Future

Remember when everyone was quoting Baron Rothschild, saying, "Buy when blood is in the streets"? Well, this is it. We're in the Wall Street equivalent of Kill Bill meets Jurassic Park. It looks like it's all over but the spurting.

Warren Buffett knows how to play this game. He's buying, and he says that in five or 10 years, "we'll look back on this period and we'll see that you could have made some extraordinary buys."

But when the market drops 9% in a day, it's hard to react logically, like Buffett -- and not, say, curl up into a quivering, sniffling ball. Here are five ways to help you achieve your goal.

1. Be afraid -- be very afraid
Instead of looking at how much you can make by buying a stock, examine all the ways that you can lose. Bruce Berkowitz, who manages the Fairholme Fund, swears by this strategy. He tries to think of every possible scenario that can kill a company -- and if he can't find any, then he'll buy.

Read On...

Historic Bailout Passes As Economy Slips Further

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush signed into law an unprecedented $700 billion plan to rescue the U.S. financial system, one of the largest-ever government interventions in the nation's economy -- and almost certainly not the last.

The Treasury Department is expected to move quickly to start buying distressed assets from struggling financial institutions, although any impact might not be felt for some weeks. Many details -- such as who will administer the program and how -- are still to be worked out.
That lingering uncertainty cast a pall over stock and bond markets. Credit markets remained stressed as lenders continued to worry about getting repaid. The three-month Libor rate, a measure of the rate that banks charge to lend to one another, rose to 4.33% Friday from 4.21% the day before.

Read On...

US Economy Graphs

Economy Graphs for United States (US Economic Data)

US Economy Summary

Unemployment Rate in the United States

Total non-farm employment in the United States

Hourly Earnings of Production Workers in the United States

Producer Price Index - Finished Goods

Producer Price Index - Finished Goods Less Food and Energy

Import Price Index 12 Months Change - All Imports

US Consumer Price Index 12 Months Percent Change - All Items

US Consumer Price Index 12 Months Percent Change - Less Food and Energy

Import Price Index 12 Months Change - All Imports Excluding Petroleum

US Consumer Credit Outstanding Seasonally Adjusted

US Debt Service Ratio Seasonally Adjusted

Moody's Seasoned AAA Corporate Bonds

Conventional Mortgage Interest Rates (U.S.)

US Civilian Employment Cost Index Wages and Salaries

US Construction Expenditures

US Durable Goods New Orders

US International Trade in Goods and Services

US Large Retailers' After Tax Profits (Percent)

US Civilian Employment Cost Index Benefits

US Quarterly Productivity in non-farm Business Sector

How Healthy Is the United States Economy

You wondering if the US Economy is Healthy and if it is improving.
It might not appear so, but yes there are signs that the US Economy is Healthy and it is improving and that US Economy has a good Future.

Friday, August 1, 2008;

The economy grew at a respectable pace this spring, despite the financial crisis, soaring fuel prices and moribund housing market. But as the impact of government stimulus payments fades and a boom in exports levels off, the economy is likely to face deepening challenges in the months ahead, economists said.

Consumers spent their economic stimulus checks and exporters shipped more goods abroad in the second quarter, according to a report from the Commerce Department yesterday, leading to a 1.9 percent annual growth rate in gross domestic product. That is not far below the nation's long-term growth potential.

Read On....

Statistics on the U.S. Economy

Here is Your Statistics on the US Economy

Based on this data you can have your own Analysis of the US Economy.

Hope you find it useful.

United States - Quarterly Data Data Series Back
Data 2nd Qtr
2007 3rd Qtr
2007 4th Qtr
2007 1st Qtr
2008 2nd Qtr
2008
Employment Cost Index (1)
0.9 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7
Productivity (2)
4.1 5.8 0.8 2.6 4.3

How Is the Economy in the United States

I am sure in the context of the current events you have asked questions like
How Is the American Economy Doing Today? and wanted to know on the Current Condition of the United States Economy.

Here is the data on US Economy Summary and How is US Economy Today

Hope you find it useful.

Economy at a Glance
United States

United States - Monthly Data Data Series Back
Data Mar
2008 Apr
2008 May
2008 June
2008 July
2008 Aug
2008
Unemployment Rate (1)
5.1 5.0 5.5 5.5 5.7 6.1
Change in Payroll Employment (2)
-88 -67 -47 -100 (P) -60 (P) -84
Average Hourly Earnings (3)
17.87 17.89 17.95 18.00 (P) 18.07 (P) 18.14
Consumer Price Index (4)
0.3 0.2 0.6 1.1 0.8 -0.1
Producer Price Index (5)
0.9 0.3 (P) 1.4 (P) 1.8 (P) 1.2 (P) -0.9
U.S. Import Price Index (6)
3.1 2.8 2.8 (R) 3.1 (R) 0.2 (R) -3.7

Current US Economy Status

You wondering about the Current State of US Economy?
And asked yourself, How is the American Economy Doing Today?

For a comprehensive overview of the Current Status of US Economy have a look at the following details from BEA.

BEA produces some of the most closely watched economic statistics that influence decisions of government officials, business people, and individuals. These statistics provide a comprehensive, up-to-date picture of the U.S. economy. The data on this page are drawn from featured BEA economic accounts.

National Economic Accounts:
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Current Numbers:
2nd quarter 2008: +2.8 percent
1st quarter 2008: +0.9 percent

U.S. stocks bounce back after Monday's plunge

Indexes positioned for steep declines in crisis-riddled month of September

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock indexes on Tuesday blasted back from the prior session's historic rout, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average chalking up its third-biggest point gain on optimism that a rescue plan would make a comeback in coming days on Capitol Hill.
"Maybe the sky isn't falling," said Frederic Ruffy, options strategist at WhatsTrading.com.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU:Dow Jones Industrial Average
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 10,850.66+485.21+4.68%

4:30pm 09/30/2008

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$INDU 10,850.66, +485.21, +4.7%) gained 485.21 points, or 4.7%, to 10,850.66, a level that has the blue-chip index down 6% from the end of August, and 4.4% for the third quarter.
Of the Dow's 30 components, all but one ended higher, with blue-chip financials fronting the advance.

Timeline: New Zealand

A chronology of key events:

c.1000 AD - Maori arrive from other parts of Polynesia.

1642 - Dutch explorer Abel Tasman visits New Zealand.

1769 - British captain James Cook explores coastline, also in 1773 and 1777.

1815 - First British missionaries arrive.

1840 - Treaty of Waitangi between British and several Maori tribes pledges protection of Maori land and establishes British law in New Zealand.

1845-72 - The New Zealand Wars, also referred to as the Land Wars. Maori put up resistance to British colonial rule.

1893 - New Zealand becomes world's first country to give women the vote.

1898 - Government introduces old-age pensions.

Spanish house sales drop sharply

Spanish house sales slumped by 26.3% in the year to July, according to official figures.

Mortgage lending plunged by 33.2% to 10.2bn euros ($14.9bn; £8.1bn), said Spain's National Statistics Institute.

The credit crunch has led to a property slump in Spain and many economists say it is on the verge of recession.

The property market has been the main driver of economic growth over the past decade, but analysts say Spanish house prices are still up to 30% overvalued.

Property slump

The July figures were slightly better than those for June, when the year-on-year declines for both house sales and mortgage lending were even steeper.

Spanish house prices declined 0.3% between April and June, according to official figures from the country's housing ministry.

However, estate agents estimate prices have slipped by about 5% this year.

Has the gain in Spain gone down the drain?

With a copy of the Daily Mail on the cafe table, Eric Summers orders a white coffee for himself and a tonic water for wife Viola - in fluent Spanish.

A late-morning drink on the pavement cafes of Torrevieja has been a way of life since the couple moved to the Costa Blanca about nine years ago.

But in recent months, like many others, they have been more careful about watching the pennies, or at least the euro cents.

Eric and Viola are among the estimated 375,000 expatriates who have retired to Europe and seen the value of their UK pension plummet because of the soaring value of the euro.

Many state pensions, paid in sterling, are now worth between £50 and £80 less a month after the exchange rate sank earlier this year.

"You definitely notice it," says Eric, 78, folding his newspaper.

"This time last year my British pension got me 750 euros a month - now it's about 670 euros."

Timeline: Global credit crunch

A year ago, few people had heard of the term credit crunch, but the phrase has now entered dictionaries.

Defined as "a severe shortage of money or credit", the start of the phenomenon has been pinpointed as 9 August 2007 when bad news from French bank BNP Paribas triggered sharp rise in the cost of credit, and made the financial world realise how serious the situation was.

The problems, however, started much earlier.

GROWING SUB-PRIME PROBLEMS
After a two year period between 2004 and 2006 when US interest rates rose from 1% to 5.35%, the US housing market begins to suffer, with prices falling and a rise in homeowners defaulting on their mortgages.

Default rates on sub-prime loans - high risk loans to clients with poor or no credit histories - rise to record levels.


APRIL-AUGUST 2007: SUB-PRIME CONTAGION
April

What exactly is short-selling?

The investment practice of short-selling has been banned in the UK, for 29 specific financial shares, until 16 January 2009.

It has been held partly responsible for undermining confidence in the UK's biggest mortgage lender HBOS.

The decision of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was an attempt to clamp down on some of the extraordinary recent falls in the value of shares in the banking industry.

The experience of HBOS ended with that bank being taken over by Lloyds TSB, but the FSA and the government are clearly worried there may be more examples to come.

So what is short-selling?

It is a technique that sees investors borrow an asset, such as shares, currencies or oil contracts, from another investor and then sell that asset in the relevant market hoping the price will fall.

The aim is to buy back the asset at a lower price and return it to its owner, pocketing the difference.

Bank giant HSBC axes 1,100 jobs

Banking giant HSBC is to axe 1,100 jobs worldwide, blaming the current financial turmoil for the decision.

About half of the cuts, which will affect back room jobs at its global banking and markets operation, will take place in the UK.

HSBC employs about 335,000 people around the world.

Last month, HSBC said half year profits fell 28% to $10.2bn (£5.2bn), as it was forced to write-off $14bn from bad debts in the US and asset write-downs.

Meanwhile, pre-tax profits fell 35% to $2.1bn during the same period.

An HSBC spokesman said the firm had opted to reduce its workforce, "because of market conditions and the economic environment, and our cautious outlook for 2009".

Many of the job-losses will be at the headquarters of HSBC's investment banking division, which are in London's Canary Wharf.

Recession fears engulfing Europe

A mood of fear and pessimism is starting to descend on Europe. It now seems the region could head into recession even before the United States.

Many EU nations are in real trouble. In Spain, economy minister Pedro Solbes declared that the country was facing its "most complex crisis ever" following a collapse of the property market.

A leading Spanish property group, Martinsa-Fadesa, filed for bankruptcy earlier this week.

Like Spain, Ireland has suffered a housing market collapse and many people have run up huge personal debts. The Irish economy shrank earlier in the year and economists say that if it continues to contract, the nation will fall into recession by the end of 2008.

Gloomy forecast for Irish economy

The Republic of Ireland's leading forecast agency has warned that the country will experience its first recession since 1983 this year.

The Economic and Social Research Institute also says it expects emigration to return.

It has been a gloomy 24 hours for the Republic's economy. First there was the news that the insurance group, Hibernian, is to move 580 jobs over the next three years to India.

And then on Tuesday morning over breakfast, radio listeners and newspaper readers were fed more of a diet of bad news with the latest ESRI forecasts.

The institute expects the Irish economy to contract by 0.4% this year after growing by 4.5% in 2007.

Britain 'to fall into recession'

The UK, Germany and Spain will fall into recession in 2008, the European Commission has predicted.

Brussels said the three countries would see two negative quarters of economic growth in a row, which is the technical definition of a recession.

In its latest economic forecast, the commission also downgraded its outlook for eurozone growth again.

It said the 15-nation euro bloc would now grow by 1.3% this year, against previous projections of 1.7%.

Earlier this month, data showed the region's economy shrank by 0.2% between April and June - the bloc's first decline since its creation in 1999.

The contraction was driven by a slowdown in exports and consumer spending.

But high inflation in the region led policy makers at the European Central Bank to keep interest rates at 4.25% at its latest meeting, allowing no relief for the eurozone's slowing economies.

In its latest report, the commission believed that inflation was now likely to creep up to 3.6% in the eurozone - above its previous predictions of 3.2% and way above the government's target of 2%.

Irish economy goes into recession

The Irish Republic's economy has fallen into recession after shrinking for a second quarter in succession.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said gross domestic product (GDP) had contracted by 0.5% in the three months to the end of June.

The economy had shrunk by 0.3% in the first quarter of the year. Technically, a recession is defined as two or more successive quarters of negative growth.

It is the first time Ireland has experienced a recession since 1983.

The economy is now facing its most difficult period since high unemployment and emigration hit in the early 1980s.

New Zealand falls into recession

The New Zealand statistics agency says the economy has gone into recession for the first time since 1998.

Gross domestic product shrank 0.3% in the first quarter, and 0.2% in the second quarter this year. But annual growth until June remained positive.

Economists define recession as two straight quarters of economic decline.

New Zealand is suffering from the global credit crunch, rising food and fuel prices, and drought which cut production in agricultural industries.

Economists said the second quarter decline was less than expected, but GDP will probably shrink again in the third quarter.

Despite the dip into recession, average economic growth for the year to June still amounted to 2.6%, the government agency said.

Finance Minister Michael Cullen said a return to positive growth was likely by the end of the year.

U.S. stock indexes look to Washington for direction

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks are headed to an uncertain Monday, with investors looking for a weekend resolution to the Bush administration's rescue plan for Wall Street even as another major bank failure fueled worries of more collapses to come.
"Traders will probably trade small with the high drama in Washington going on. If we finally do get an agreement, the market will get the lift but it won't last more than a day before the reality of the poor economic backdrop and the upcoming earnings season comes into focus," said Elliot Spar, option-market strategist at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU:Dow Jones Industrial Average
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 11,143.13+121.07+1.10%

4:13pm 09/26/2008

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$INDU 11,143.13, +121.07, +1.1%) ended higher for a second consecutive day, rising 118.20 points to 11,140.26 on hopes that Congress will come to an agreement on the rescue plan this weekend. The blue-chip index fell 2% for the week.

6 things to know before you file a claim

You pay your premiums, but when your car is damaged, you balk because you fear a claim will mean higher insurance rates. Here's what you need to know

Have you ever been hesitant to tell your car insurer about minor damage to your car because you were afraid your rate would go up?

The Insurance Information Institute reports that the average expenditure for car insurance has steadily increased each year since 1999. If no other party is involved, you may be tempted to keep quiet about a minor claim.

But why have insurance if you can't use it when you need it?

"People are often too petrified to file a claim because they think they won't be able to afford a premium increase," says Eric Tyson, the author of "Personal Finance for Dummies."

We all want to be -free, but "it's important to remember that filing an insurance claim isn't necessarily bad," he says. "Insurance is there to protect you, and it makes good financial sense to use it when necessary."

What happens after the claims process varies. If it is determined that you are at fault, your rates could go up or you could lose coverage altogether. Here are six things you need to know about car insurance both before and after you file a claim:

1. Know the difference between cancellation and nonrenewal.

2. Ask about penalties before you have to file a claim.

3. One minor probably won't cause your policy to be dropped.

4. If you're at fault, prepare for a rate increase.

5. A minor could be a major problem.

6. Know your next step if your policy is not renewed.

What the Fannie-Freddie rescue means to you?

Encouraged to take bigger risks, the 2 mortgage giants did just that, and now they're reeling. Fixing the mess will take billions -- and make getting new home loans much harder.

Investors, mortgage holders and policymakers are gawking at the New York Stock Exchange these days like drivers passing a 100-car pileup, mesmerized by the crash of two more financial giants and hoping the debris won't damage their own vehicles.

Yet unless you have all your money under the mattress, fat chance of avoiding a direct hit now, as the same sort of misguided government policies that brought us $145-per-barrel oil and a five-year Iraq war have now clearly taken the American financial system to the brink of ruin.

The problem in focus today is the implosion of the two largest U.S. financial institutions focused solely on residential mortgages, Fannie Mae (FNM, news, msgs) and Freddie Mac (FRE, news, msgs), and how the government hopes to rescue them.

Is Bank of America now too big?

After a string of acquisitions capped by ailing Merrill and Countrywide, the nation's biggest bank is about to become too big to fail. But is it also too big to manage?

Is Bank of America (BAC, news, msgs) too big to fail -- or is it just too big?

After scooping up Merrill Lynch (MER, news, msgs), Bank of America chief Kenneth Lewis will have his hands full running the banking behemoth that he's built through a string of high-profile acquisitions.

But is he buying trouble with Merrill and getting in over his head?

On the surface, the purchase looks like a dream deal. The proposed takeover would add Merrill's powerful U.S. retail brokerage sales force. And it would fill a big hole at Bank of America by bringing in Merrill's foreign money management and investment banking operations.

Should I get an adjustable rate mortgage or a fixed-rate home loan?

If you expect to live in the house at least four or five years, a fixed-rate mortgage is probably your best bet. Rates are still low, so you can lock them in for the life of the loan. If rates drop, you can always refinance.



If you only plan to stay in the house a few years or so, an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) can make more sense. You’ll probably save two or three percentage points off fixed-rate loan rates to begin with. The ARM rates are periodically adjusted. If you can find an ARM with an unusually low starting rate -- called a "teaser" rate by bankers -- you can enjoy low payments in the first year or two of the loan and then move before the rate has a chance to ratchet much higher. Make sure that the amount your ARM rate loan can rise after a certain period of time is limited.

Start investing with just $100

Investing isn't as difficult or as expensive as most people think. Most of us just don't do it well. Here's what we do wrong and how to start doing it right -- with just $100.

I'll let you in on a little secret about investing: It's not nearly as hard as you think. And it requires far less cash than you probably realize.

However, the fact that most people do it badly might lead a reasonable person to believe that investing is incredibly difficult.

How badly do most of us perform? A study by Dalbar, a Boston investment research firm, found that from 1984 to 2002, when the S&P 500 Index ($INX) grew at an annual rate of 12.2%, individual investors in equity mutual funds saw average returns of 2.6% a year, before taxes.

That's downright pitiful.

So with the bar set appropriately low, I'm going to show you a method for starting and managing a portfolio that requires very little money (just $100), even less effort, minimizes taxes and transaction fees, and is likely to outperform the vast majority of mutual funds over the long haul.

Bye Bye WaMu: What Bank Acquisitions Mean for Customers

Federal regulators seized Washington Mutual (WM: 0.16*, -1.61, -90.93%) Thursday night in the largest bank failure in U.S. history. J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM: 48.00*, +3.84, +8.69%) immediately took over operations from regulators, paying $1.9 billion for WaMu’s assets.

After Washington Mutual put itself up for sale last week, customers disturbed by news of its shaky financial footing withdrew some $16.7 billion – leaving the bank perilously unsound. J.P. Morgan’s acquisition covers all deposits, which means the FDIC won't need to shell out insurance funds to repay consumers. In purchasing WaMu, J.P. Morgan Chase became the biggest U.S. bank in terms of deposits.

WaMu’s acquisition is just one of many major changes to hit the banking business in these desperate times. Last week, Bank of America (BAC: 36.90*, +2.55, +7.42%) announced it would purchase Merrill Lynch (MER: 27.30*, +1.04, +3.96%), creating the world's largest brokerage when the deal goes through in 2009. And the last big investment banks, Goldman Sachs (GS: 137.45*, +3.12, +2.32%) and Morgan Stanley (MS: 24.64*, -2.31, -8.57%), became bank holding companies to build consumer deposits and avoid Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy fate.

6 Credit killers

You may not know it, but you could be perpetrating a violent crime ... against your credit. You may be a credit killer if you behave in ways that harm a valuable asset: your FICO credit score, a powerful three-digit number traditionally used by lenders to decide how much risk they're taking by doing business with you.

Fair Isaac Corp., the leading provider of credit scores and creator of the FICO score, suggests we think of the score as a snapshot of our credit standing at a particular point in time. The score incorporates information from creditors on the way consumers use their credit, and falls somewhere between a poor rating of 300 and an ideal rating of 850.

Many people become aware of the score's impact only after they've done something to mess it up.

Many common behaviors slay your chances of getting a better FICO score. Here are six to look out for:
1. The Neglecter
2. The Postponer
3. The Void
4. The Inquisitor
5. The Closer
6. The Relinquisher

10 habits that lead to debt disaster

Sometimes the only way to stop a snowballing problem is to go back to the top of the hill and find out what started it.

If you're up to your eyeballs in credit card debt, take a step back and recount your money missteps. Knowing your weaknesses could help prevent you from falling back into the bad-credit pit and show you a way out.

According to Gail Cunningham, vice president of business relations at Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Dallas, a nonprofit financial-management service, consumers mired in debt make common financial blunders, most of which they can prevent with discipline and behavior changes. Learn from these mistakes and start paying off your debt.

Bad Habit No. 1: Misusing balance transfers
Bad Habit No. 2: Not checking credit reports because you can't change them anyway.
Bad Habit No. 3: Failing to alert creditors about a financial hardship
Bad Habit No. 4: Thinking of 'budget' as a dirty word
Bad Habit No. 5: Using retail store credit cards to make use of discounts
Bad Habit No. 6: Procrastinating on creating an emergency fund
Bad Habit No. 7: Paying bills in no particular order
Bad Habit No. 8: Charging purchases instead of paying in cash or with a debit card
Bad Habit No. 9: Making credit payments late
Bad Habit No. 10: Making the minimum payment only

Read More:

9 ways to build credit from scratch

Establishing a good credit history has never been as important as it is today.

It's not just that you'll need good credit to get decent rates when you're ready to buy a home or a car. Your credit history can determine whether you get a good job, a decent apartment, a deal on your cell phone and reasonable rates on insurance. One seemingly minor misstep -- a late payment, maxing out your credit cards -- can haunt you for years.

If you're just starting out, you have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a credit history the right way. Here's what to do and what to avoid.

1. Check your credit report
2. Establish checking and savings accounts
3. Understand the basics of credit scoring
4. Piggyback on someone else's good credit
5. Apply for credit while you're a college student
6. Apply for a secured credit card
7. Get a store card
8. Get an installment loan
9. Use revolving accounts lightly but regularly

Read More:

Your 5-minute guide to credit scores

A better score means a better deal from landlords, lenders, insurers and other creditors. Use these dozen-plus tips to boost yours.

Your credit score is likely the most important three-digit number in your life.

Your score affects how much you pay for credit, and it can affect other bills you pay, where you live and where you work.

Banks and credit card companies review your score when deciding whether to extend you credit and how much interest to charge. (See "What bad credit really costs you.")
A high score can lead to lower car- and home-insurance premiums, a deposit waiver from utility companies and a better service package from the cell-phone company. (See "5 people who check your credit.")
Many landlords check credit scores before allowing you to sign a lease. (See "Credit checks: A civil rights issue?")
Many employers -- 35% in 2003 -- are doing credit checks on prospective employees, particularly those who would deal with money. Employers need your written permission to make the check and must give you a chance to respond.

Who won debate? TV pundits don't agree on a winner

NEW YORK (AP) - It was hard to tell if there were more disagreements voiced during the presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama or after it on television.

The networks' pundits moved quickly Friday to put into perspective a debate seen by tens of millions of Americans, although a clear winner didn't emerge. It was a reflection of cautiousness, the closeness of the race and the influence of furious spinning by both campaigns.

"There was no knockout, and maybe no knockdown, but McCain was on the offensive throughout," commentator William Kristol said on Fox News Channel.

His fellow panelist, Juan Williams, quickly retorted, "I thought Barack Obama put John McCain on the defensive all night."

David Gergen, CNN analyst, said, "McCain needed a clear victory tonight and I think that eluded him."

Iraq signs bln-dollar power deals with GE, Siemens

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iraq has signed preliminary deals worth billions of dollars with General Electric Co and Siemens for equipment to almost double electricity generation capacity, an energy official said on Saturday.

The deals with GE, Siemens and a third company would be worth a total of $7 billion to $8 billion, Iraq's Electricity Minister Karim Waheed told Reuters.

Years of war, sanctions and neglect have battered Iraq's power grid and the country suffers chronic power shortages. The capital Baghdad receives only a few hours of electricity a day. The deals would mark a big step in the country's reconstruction, Waheed said.

"These deals will help us to end the electricity supply problem by 2012," Waheed said on a private visit to the United Arab Emirates.

Young, smart and ready for riches

Some things don't change.

You can bet that on college campuses across the country this month, there's madness similar to what went on at the Delta Tau Chi fraternity in "Animal House," complete with epic food fights and insane amounts of booze.

But for some students, these first weeks mark more than a return to books and parties. For them, it's about getting back to business.

While many students hunt for jobs at the college bookstore or local restaurants, a select few start and run their own businesses. Entrepreneurs at their core, they become CEOs before exiting college instead of waiting for a corporate job after graduation.

Opting Out of Option ARMs

THE FAILURE OF WaMu certainly seems to have clarified things for whoever can still afford to speculate in banking stocks these days. WaMu turns out to have been felled by a bank run of sorts -- by depositors pulling out funds above the FDIC's $100,000 insurance limit. Could Wachovia be next? That's what the credit default market is strongly implying, by demanding almost $2.5 million up front to insure $10 million of its debt against default for the next five years.

The sixth-largest U.S. bank (by assets, natch,) Wachovia is sitting on a time called Option ARMs, $122 billion of them to be exact accounting for perhaps 60% of all manifestations of this lousy idea. If its portfolio is anything like the overall pool analyzed by Fitch this month, perhaps half of such loans are expected to reset in the next two years. At that time, borrowers will be in for a rude shock, especially those who opted for a lower initial down payment. Overall, such resets will boost the average monthly payment by $1.053, or 63%, Fitch estimated.

How much do you think the bank will lose on such loans if that comes to pass. Because Wachovia is sticking to its forecast that it will lose 12% of the principal. Someone check the vault for the Brooklyn Bridge, the diaries and a little something by Damien Hirst.

Emerging-Market Bonds Fall on Concern Over U.S. Bailout Plan

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Emerging-market bonds fell, led by losses in Venezuela and Russia, after negotiations stalled in the U.S. Congress over a $700 billion financial rescue package.

The extra yield investors demand to own developing-nation debt instead of U.S. Treasuries widened 5 basis points to 3.72 percentage points at 4:23 p.m. in New York, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. A basis point equals 0.01 percentage point. The so-called spread had earlier widened as much as 10 basis points.

Investors shunned higher-yielding securities as Republicans were divided over the bank bailout plan, putting in danger an agreement hours after a bipartisan group of negotiators and the White House said they were closing in on one.

``The prospects of seeing a plan in the short term are deteriorating by the minute,'' said Luis Costa, an emerging- markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London. ``The stepping stone for a recovery is the Treasury plan.''

Japan to Propose Emission Goals for China, India, Asahi Reports

Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Japan will propose numerical targets for energy savings by some developing countries including China and India, to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions after 2013 when the Kyodo Protocol expires, the Asahi newspaper said.

Japan plans to submit its proposal to the United Nations, seeking support at the 14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP 14, the newspaper said without saying where it got the information. COP 14 will be held in Poland later this year.

China, India and other developing nations rapidly increasing emissions blamed for global warming would be classified ``major developing nations'' and given targets to improve energy efficiency under Japan's proposal, the newspaper said.

Jittery Money-Market Investors Await Treasury Guarantee Details

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Murali Iyer and his wife haven't slept much since Sept. 17. That's when they got a call from TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. that made them worry about their life savings.

Iyer, who thought his $400,000 at the brokerage was in a government-insured bank account, learned that it was really in the Reserve Primary Fund, the money-market mutual fund that on Sept. 16 became the first since 1994 to fall below $1-per-share to 97 cents.

The Hawthorne, California, resident found out yesterday he's luckier than most -- TD Ameritrade said it would spend up to $50 million to offset losses for its customers who have money in the Reserve Primary Fund. Other investors still don't know the fate of their savings.

``I'm not feeling any better,'' Iyer said. ``I'm extremely worried. I'm not sleeping. My wife isn't sleeping. We haven't slept in almost nine nights now.''

The U.S. Treasury Department's effort to back up money- market investors announced Sept. 19 seems to be working in stopping withdrawals from the $3.35 trillion industry. Assets have grown by about $23 billion through Sept. 24.

Washington Mutual Lists $8 Billion Debt in Bankruptcy

Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Washington Mutual Inc., a holding company for the savings and loan that became the biggest U.S. bank to fail, listed more than $8 billion in debt in its bankruptcy filing in Wilmington, Delaware.

WaMu, the 119-year-old Seattle-based thrift, sought Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court late yesterday, according to court records. The filing covered the bank's holding company and its WMI Investment Corp. unit. WaMu's banking subsidiary was seized Sept. 25 by U.S. government regulators after customers withdrew $16.7 billion over 10 days.

``The expectation is we may see more banks being forced to take this route,'' said Kevin Mangan, a Wilmington bankruptcy lawyer with Womble Caryle Sandridge & Rice who isn't involved in the case.

WaMu is the latest victim of the credit crunch, which forced New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and IndyMac Bancorp Inc. into bankruptcy, drove Merrill Lynch & Co. to sell itself to Bank of America Corp. and brought about the Federal Reserve- financed purchase of Bear Stearns Cos. by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

European Stocks Fall in Week as U.S. Stalls Bailout; Banks Drop

Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks retreated for a second week as negotiations on the U.S. government's $700 billion bank rescue plan stalled, adding to the turmoil that has roiled financial markets this month.

Bradford and Bingley Plc and Natixis SA led a gauge of bank shares to its biggest drop in three months as Republicans said they wouldn't support the proposed bailout plan and as Washington Mutual Inc. was seized in the largest U.S. bank failure. Fortis plunged 35 percent on speculation the Belgian bank will struggle to raise 8.3 billion euros ($12.2 billion) to bolster capital.

``This rescue package is extremely important,'' said Stephen Thornber, who oversees about $1 billion as a London-based money manager at Threadneedle Asset Management. ``The politicians are picking at the details, but both sides recognize that something has to be done. Markets will be volatile while we wait for something to be put in place.''

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index lost 4.4 percent to 265.92 this week, as 17 of 19 industry groups declined. The measure has fallen 27 percent this year as banks racked up more than $556 billion in credit losses and writedowns. WaMu is the latest casualty of the crisis that drove Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. out of business and led to the emergency takeovers of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bear Stearns Cos.

U.S. Economic Growth Slower Than Initially Estimated

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy expanded more slowly than previously estimated in the second quarter, showing consumer spending was weakening before the credit crisis intensified.

The annual rate of 2.8 percent was down from a preliminary estimate of 3.3 percent issued last month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Measures of inflation were higher than previously projected. Personal consumption, trade and business investment contributed less to gross domestic product than the prior estimate, the report showed.

Americans have since cut back on purchases, businesses have put investment plans on hold, builders have scaled back and credit markets have seized up. Economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley this week cut third-quarter GDP forecasts and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned the economy may falter without a $700 billion bank rescue.

WaMu Failure Shakes Seattle, From Shareholder to Job Seeker

Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Sally Rawlings was one of the last people to buy shares in Washington Mutual Inc., showing faith that her hometown Seattle savings and loan would be able to weather its financial crisis.

``That was a mistake,'' she said of the purchase she made two days ago. ``I went to the symphony, and when I came out it had been seized and sold.''

She was among customers, workers and local residents stunned by the fate of the 119-year-old thrift, even after it put itself up for sale last week with an estimated $19 billion in losses on soured mortgage loans. WaMu was seized by federal regulators Sept. 25 and sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

``I was just walking by and saw the newspaper headlines and thought, `Whoa, that's my bank, I should check on my money,''' Amina Abdulle said after visiting a WaMu branch. ``The lady assured me nothing will change -- just the name.''

U.S. stocks mixed awaiting bailout package

Indexes hit with weekly losses; Dow Jones Industrial Average off 2%

U.S. stocks rose for a second day Friday but ended lower for the week as political haggling over the Bush administration's rescue plan for Wall Street and the nation's largest bank failure fueled fears that more institutions are close to collapse.
"The markets are obviously in a wait-and-see mode -- if there's a loss of confidence in anything, it's not lending institutions, it's the political system," said Hugh Johnson, chairman of Johnson Illington Advisors.
After dropping more than 125 points at the start, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU:Dow Jones Industrial Average
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$INDU 11,143.13, +121.07, +1.1%) pulled off its lows to rally late in the day, gaining 118.20 points to 11,140.26 on hopes that Congress will come to agreement on the rescue plan this weekend. The blue-chip index fell 2% for the week.

Where to invest in a post-bailout world

Wall Street is bound to get its bailout, in one form or another. The government's rescue package will be costly to taxpayers, politically controversial -- and quite possibly not the last. It will also dramatically change the landscape for U.S. stock investors.
The bailout has a singular task: to grease the locked wheels of the financial system and get credit moving again. What investors need to remember is that even if this plan works, the deep problems plaguing homeowners, consumers and the broader economy won't magically disappear. The Troubled Asset Relief Plan isn't called TARP for no reason. It is intended to avert a flood of Depression-era size, but the ground around us will still be soaked.

Obama, McCain square off in first debate

Economy takes up nearly half of contest before moving on to foreign affairs
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain squared off in the first of three debates Friday in a spirited, though rarely testy, exchange where they spent nearly half their time discussing economic issues, as the financial crisis on Wall Street overshadowed the original plan to focus on foreign policy.
In a debate that almost wasn't, Obama and McCain talked about how they would contend with the expected bailout of the nation's financial firms and how it could have an impact on federal spending, before the talk turned to foreign relations. It was unclear whether there was a victor in the first contest, as analysts said Obama seemed to hold his own in both subject areas.
Moderator Jim Lehrer asked what priorities the two men would keep and where they would cut to pay for the bailout. Each offered ideas on where to cut, with McCain suggesting a spending freeze on all programs other than defense, veterans and entitlement programs.

Crude Will Lead the Rest of the Commodities

Traders of grains, metals, international foods and other commodity futures who have "real-time" price quotes on their trading screens this week observed firsthand just how powerful is the influence of crude oil futures over these other markets. If crude oil prices ticked higher one minute, then so did many other commodity markets. If crude ticked lower the next minute, the other markets did the same in lockstep fashion.

While the crude oil futures market has exerted significant influence over other commodity futures markets for months, that influence became even stronger the past week. Indeed, markets like the grains and softs are virtually ignoring their own supply and demand fundamentals in favor of Big Brother Crude. Such is likely to be the case in the coming weeks and possibly into the end of this year.

Tightening of credit strikes nerve among consumers

Imminent credit crunch stirs fear among consumers about loan costs and availability


When Deb Freitag applied for a credit card so she could replace her roof, her leaky refrigerator and her old dishwasher, she was offered a $1,000 line of credit, not the $5,000 she needed.
When Mark Ryan finally scraped together more than enough to buy a home, he found that the mortgage a bank promised him earlier in the year was no longer available.

In a land where TV blares no-money-down pitches and everything from homes to furniture to college education is bought with borrowed money, the crisis on Wall Street is causing the credit market to seize up. On Main Street, this means fewer loans and smaller loans at higher rates -- when they are available at all.

No one is quite sure how bad it will get, especially with the fate of the proposed $700 billion government bailout unknown. But people's inability to borrow has potentially dire effects, since consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

The Magic of Compounding

The magic of compound interest is simply a combination of time and rate of return. Let us begin by taking a truly long-term look at the financial markets. Complete data tracing the returns of financial assets are available beginning in 1872. I use primarily the Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Stock Price Index (and a predecessor index prior to 1926) as the measure of common stock returns, the long-term (20-year) U.S. government bond as the measure of bond returns, and the 90-day U.S. Treasury bill as the measure of the returns on cash reserves.

When's the Right Time to Invest?

It's not surprising that first-time investors often worry about the timing of their initial stock purchases. Getting started at the wrong point in the market's ups and downs can leave you staring at big losses right off the bat.

But take heart, Fools: Whenever you first invest, time is on your side. Over the long haul, the compounding returns of a well-chosen investment will add up nicely, whatever the market happens to be doing when you buy your first shares.

Don't waste time
Rather than fretting about when you should make that first stock purchase, think instead about how long you're planning to keep money in the market. Different investments offer varying degrees of risk and return, and each is best suited for a different investing time frame.

What's Wrong With Mutual Funds?

Buy an index fund. Approximately 80% of mutual funds underperform the average return of the stock market. Here's what else you need to know about mutual funds.

We know you probably don't want to spend hours learning about the intricacies of mutual fund investing. Even if you've cleared your calendar for some quality fund study time, we don't need to te your afternoon with this topic. So, here are four words that'll serve as the foundation -- heck, make that the foundation, walls, roof, and wall-to-wall shag -- for your long-term success in investing in mutual funds:

Buy an index fund.

There you have it! Thankyouverymuch, ladies and gentleman! We're here every Friday. Please remember to tip your waiters and waitresses.

Still here? All right. You caught us trying to sneak out of work early on a sunny day. Mutual funds are a hot commodity with individual investors and financial institutions. In fact, there are more mutual funds in existence than there are individual stocks -- that's more than 8,000, for those of you taking notes. That amounts to more than $7 trillion invested in these things.

With so much money riding on the success of mutual funds, how can we be so pat with our breezy summation? Well, the fact is that most investors are probably best off buying an index fund -- which is simply a mutual fund that tracks some stock market index, whether it's the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index, the entire stock market index, or some other performance measure of a like group of stocks.

Before we get into that, first, a little background.

How We Can Fix a Crisis We Did Not Create

First, understand that we are as frustrated as you are about this situation. There was incompetence, negligence, and outright fraud, and we're angry about the liberties some have taken in abusing our capital markets. However, we need to confront a brutal reality: The condition of the credit markets jeopardizes our economy.

Our position on this is governed by three overriding principles:

That letting massive portions of our financial sector fail would have enormous negative effects across our economy.
That although we'd prefer a free-market solution, the U.S. government is the only entity with resources sufficient to make a significant impact.
That government intervention must protect the interests of the American taxpayer.

What the $700 Billion Proposal Means for You

After last week's unprecedented events in the financial markets, the U.S. government stepped in over the weekend to offer forth a $700 billion bailout package as a means of shoring up our financial markets.

While the notion of government intervention may not raise an eyebrow now -- not after JPMorgan Chase's (NYSE: JPM) dance with Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM), Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), AIG (NYSE: AIG), Lehman Brothers, and now Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) -- $700 billion is a figure so large as to seem unbelievable. But superinvestors Warren Buffett and Bill Gross endorse the idea. So does the current president. So do both presidential candidates.

But what does it all mean? To help make sense of it all, and to help assess the impact on us Main Street investors, we present you with analysis, insight, and even a call to action from Motley Fool writers and analysts:

A call to action!

10 Things Your Private Investor Won't Tell You

10 Things Your Private Investor Won't Tell You:

1. "I'm more company man than lone wolf."
2. "Forget the cops. You need me."
3. "You just might need a detective to find a good PI."
4. "I'll work for anybody."
5. "You might be able to handle this yourself."
6. "My tactics aren't always on the up and up..."
7. "...and you may be culpable for my transgressions."
8. "Your fight for privacy is taking money out of my pocket."
9. "You're paying for my time, not for results."
10. "When you're on the job market, I'm on the job."

How to Double Your Nest Egg

Kim Norton dutifully contributed to 401(k)-type plans for almost 20 years, routinely hitting the maximum contribution ceiling as she built a six-figure nest egg. But the aftermath of the tech bubble convinced her she’d need a bigger security blanket. So the Denver real-estate agent tore up the savings playbook; she started buying property with her IRA funds and flipping it to earn big returns. It’s more risky than traditional retirement investing, but Norton’s willing to take bigger risks for higher rewards—especially now that she’s resolved to build her savings to $2.5 million.

The current economic climate offers many reasons to be legitimately worried about financing retirement. Soaring fuel, food and health-care costs have reminded everyone how badly inflation can hurt a fixed income, and the ongoing credit crisis and the falling stock market have made investors realize how fragile a nest egg can be. But many people are still finding ways to throw their future a life raft. SmartMoney talked to several retirees and soon-to-be retirees who managed to double their retirement savings within an eight-to-10-year period. We examine two approaches below; for more, pick up the October issue of SmartMoney magazine.

Redefining the IRA

Wachovia in Sale Talks With Citi

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Wachovia Corp. has entered into preliminary discussions with a handful of potential suitors, including Banco Santander SA of Spain, Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc., according to a person familiar with the situation.

The talks underscore escalating efforts by the Charlotte, N.C., bank to escape mounting loan losses and a plunging stock price. On Friday, Wachovia shares tumbled 27%, or $3.70, to $10 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Wachovia officials don't believe they need to rush into a deal, and the bank isn't feeling any liquidity pressures, a person familiar with the company said. Still, given the uncertainty swirling through the economy, financial markets and the U.S. banking industry, Wachovia executives are exploring various strategic options.

Bank executives are expected to be in New York this weekend to discuss possible deals.

Wachovia declined to comment on the discussions. Earlier Friday, a spokeswoman said the bank is "aggressively addressing our challenges" and "working to strategically strengthen and manage capital and liquidity in this challenging environment." The bank's deposit base, stretching from California to the Northeast, is "large and stable," the Wachovia spokeswoman added.

Why a $700 billion bailout makes sense

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the rescue of the nation's financial system is "a matter for psychology."

I was a psych major and a pro trader. I can speak to this.

We should talk about the crisis of confidence at work here; it too often gets lost in the noise. Ultimately, there's no "real" price for anything. Not even gold.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson wants $700 billion -- a number that says the government "is going to take this entire problem down, all at once."

If you do it $150 billion at a time, the Treasury will end up with more than $700 billion on its books. That $700 billion is intended to get guys such as Warren Buffett to step in, guys who'll be thinking: "No sense letting the government sop up the excess returns generated by holding these things to maturity. I'll buy them myself, before the morons from Treasury get here."

Bank crisis: 10 things to know now

The financial system is dealing with the worst housing meltdown since the Great Depression and is fending off an extraordinary number of body blows: the Bear Stearns debacle, the IndyMac bank failure, the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Lehman Bros. bankruptcy and the government's bailout of American Insurance Group.

The events of the past few days and months have many people reeling. My e-mail inbox and the MSN Money message boards have been flooded with readers' questions about the financial crisis.

Here are answers to some of those questions.

How can I tell if my bank will fail?

When will I be a millionaire?

How long will it take for me to be a millionaire?

When will I be a millionaire?

Use the following calculator to find out today.

Why pension funds beat mutual funds

Understanding the edge enjoyed by people who run pension money can make you a smarter investor.
Are you happy with how well your mutual funds are doing?

Didn't think so. Over the long run, two-thirds of stock funds deliver less than the market as a whole - a performance most of us can stomach, barely, when stocks are doing well. But in a market as stingy as the one we've endured since 2000, below-average results really hurt.

So are mutual funds doomed to underperform? Not necessarily, and new research shows how you can find better funds more reliably.

Experts have long struggled to explain why pension funds - the big pools of money run for traditional corporate and government retirement plans - tend to outperform mutual funds even when they're run by the same people investing in the same stocks.

Foreign ETFs to buy now

Question: After reading thru your column Missing the Boat on International Funds, I'm totally on board with staying away from U.S. stocks. However, I have not found any info on which overseas stocks to look into. Can you give me any insight into foreign ETFs?

Answer:

What not to buy in a bear market

These days, advisers are eagerly hawking what worked the last time stocks tanked. Hold on to your wallet.

"Look at how well these investments performed during the 2000-02 bear market!" This is the line I've been hearing from mutual fund companies and other investment providers trying to sell me on the superiority of their products (and get me to put clients into them).

That means I'm being pitched the standouts of the past bear market, including small-cap and value funds, real estate and metals and mining.

From the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2002 - when U.S. stock funds lost 12% a year on average - small-cap funds dropped by 6.5% a year, and value funds fell by just 2% a year, according to Morningstar. Real estate and precious-metals funds - two groups that often do well when the stock market slumps - delivered double-digit annual gains

What to do When your company's stock goes bad

Question: My husband's 401(k) from a prior job - about 10% of our savings - is all in his old company's stock. It just dropped 50%. Do we leave it and hope it recovers? Or do we sell it and invest elsewhere? - Elaine Ricca, Forsyth, Ga.

Answer:

Oil rises on $700 billion bailout worries

Crude ends the day higher as investors fret that the government's $700 billion economic rescue plan could cripple the dollar.

Oil prices recovered Thursday as investors worried the government's $700 billion economic rescue plan could lead to a weaker dollar, the currency of oil trading.

Crude oil for November delivery settled up $2.29 to $108.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, recovering from a low of $103.22 a barrel as the session opened.

Lawmakers were closer to reaching a bipartisan agreement on a controversial $700 billion plan to prop up the nation's ailing financial businesses on Thursday.

President Bush addressed the nation late Wednesday, saying the country faces severe economic consequences if Congress doesn't approve the bill.

Investors were worried about the plan's effect on U.S. dollar inflation, and about its effect on U.S. debt, according to Rachel Ziemba, energy analyst with RGE Monitor

Are my bank account savings safe?

Bank failures are scary - especially during these times of economic distress.
Washington Mutual, once the nation's largest thrift and rocked by bad lending on real estate, had been reportedly teetering on failure. On Thursday regulators seized the bank and arranged a takeover by JPMorgan Chase.

Bank failures are scary - especially during these times of economic distress.
Washington Mutual, once the nation's largest thrift and rocked by bad lending on real estate, had been reportedly teetering on failure. On Thursday regulators seized the bank and arranged a takeover by JPMorgan Chase.

JPMorgan Chase buys WaMu assets after FDIC seizure

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Inc. came to the rescue of Washington Mutual Inc. Thursday, buying the thrift's banking assets after WaMu was seized by federal regulators in the largest failure ever of a U.S. bank. This is the second time in six months that JPMorgan Chase has taken over a major financial institution crippled by bad bets in the mortgage market.

The deal will cost JPMorgan Chase $1.9 billion, and the bank said in a statement it planned to write down WaMu's loan portfolio by approximately $31 billion. JPMorgan Chase, which acquired Bear Stearns Cos. last March, also said it would sell $8 billion in common stock to raise its capital position.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which insures bank deposits, said it would not have to dip into the insurance fund as a result of the seizure. There had been concerns that the fund, which took a big hit after the seizure in July of IndyMac Bank, could be depleted by a WaMu seizure.

Can you handle an interest-only loan?

How would you like a mortgage that either significantly lowered your monthly payment or allowed you to buy a lot more house?

An interest-only mortgage can do either, and lenders increasingly are touting them as the answer to many borrowers' prayers. Whether these loans turn out to be a blessing or a curse, though, depends a lot on who's doing the borrowing:

• If you're a disciplined investor, good with money, a bit of a risk-taker and not buying more house than you can handle, an interest-only mortgage could work for you.

• If you're not all of those things, you probably want to stick to a more plain-vanilla mortgage.

"It's a bad idea for someone who can barely afford the house they're buying," said Brad Blackwell, national sales manager for Wells Fargo's West Coast mortgage operations. "If you're using the extra money to put food on the table, it's better to get a (more conventional) loan."

8 big mortgage mistakes and how to avoid them

Applying for a mortgage can be a daunting experience.

It's not enough that you're agreeing to take on the biggest debt of your life, one that represents two to three times your annual income. You're also confronted with piles of paperwork, flurries of fees and a tidal wave of terms, from amortization to title insurance, whose meaning is fuzzy at best.

"Whether it's a professor at Stanford or a ditch digger," said San Francisco mortgage broker Leon Huntting, "most people don't understand the loan process."

In this confusing and pressure-filled atmosphere, it's easy to make some mistakes. Here are some common ones that lenders and mortgage brokers see, and what you can do to prevent them.

Not fixing your credit

7 home-buying traps

Buying your first home is an exercise in faith. You don't really know what you're getting into, you're awash in unfamiliar terminology and everyone you meet seems to have strong (and utterly contradictory) ideas about which way the housing market is headed.

You may not be able to avoid every home-purchase mistake, but you can keep your regrets to a minimum by avoiding the following traps:

Blindly using your agent's inspector

Your agent may recommend a home inspector because he does a good job -- or because he keeps his mouth shut about problems that could torpedo the sale.

Yes, it's terrible to have to be so suspicious, but this is a big investment you're making. A good home inspection can keep you from buying a money pit. You can ask your agent for a recommendation, but get referrals from other recent buyers and try to interview at least three potential candidates before making your choice.

Your 5-minute guide to home buying

It's an expensive, long-term commitment. If you change jobs or the neighborhood declines, you can't quickly get up and go. Selling a house can take months and cost lots -- likely 10% of a home's value -- in agent fees, closing costs and moving expenses.

• Do you plan to live in your new home at least three years?
• Are you financially prepared? Steady employment, a good credit score and a 20% down payment are needed to obtain the best mortgage rate.
• Is it the right time to buy? If area homes have experienced huge appreciation over the past five years, prices are bound to return to a more affordable level. Check out the home prices in your area.
• Don't count on your home to be a great investment. Historically, the stock market outperforms real estate as a hedge against inflation.

How to surprise your mortgage lender

Whether you're buying a home or refinancing an existing home loan, you'll soon find out that lenders today are a picky and demanding bunch when it comes to loan approvals. Even well-qualified borrowers are expected to jump through some pretty high hoops to qualify for financing.

But fear not: These tips and suggestions can help you make the best possible impression on the lender of your choice.

Just as job hunters may wonder what top employers want to see on a resume, prospective borrowers may be curious about what lenders look for on a loan application.

The four C's
The answer may be summed up with a mnemonic called "The four C's," according to Greg Gwizdz, national sales manager for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Des Moines, Iowa.

Capacity, which refers to the adequacy of the borrower's income to cover the interest and principal due on the loan, plus property taxes and homeowners insurance.

Character, which refers to the borrower's track record of paying debts, as evidenced by his or her credit history and credit score.

Capital, which refers to the borrower's down payment (or equity) as a percentage of the current value of the home.

Collateral, which refers to the safety and soundness of the home and the value of the home as determined by an appraisal relative to the agreed-upon purchase price.

7 tips: Surviving a financial panic

In the midst of a stomach-churning financial crisis, the average investor -- or just plain working Joe or Jane -- will likely benefit from a brief timeout to reflect and figure out what to do next.

True, the titans of Wall Street are warning that some of the financial institutions we depend on are teetering. But, hey, the cataclysm they fear hasn't happened -- not yet, anyway -- mostly because the government seems ready to step in with an unprecedented bailout, one that could eventually cost us, the taxpayers, more than $700 billion.

How did this crisis happen?

Throwing money at the crisis won't make it vanish overnight. And there's probably more pain to come. Witness the gyrations of the stock market as Congress debates the rescue plan's fine print.

Navigating the crisis

Goldman, Morgan to Shed Risk as Banks

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- The Federal Reserve, in an attempt to prevent the crisis on Wall Street from infecting its two premier institutions, took the extraordinary measure on Sunday night of agreeing to convert investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. into traditional bank holding companies.

With the move, Wall Street as it has long been known -- a coterie of independent brokerage firms that buy and sell securities, advise clients and are less regulated than old-fashioned banks -- will cease to exist. Wall Street's two most prestigious institutions will come under the close supervision of national bank regulators, subjecting them to new capital requirements, additional oversight, and far less profitability than they have historically enjoyed.

Already, the biggest rivals of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley -- Merrill Lynch & Co., Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns Cos. -- have merged into larger banks or sought bankruptcy protection.