First of all I just wanted to wish everyone who reads my blog a Happy Thanksgiving. I wish you safe travels and good times with family and friends. But on to more important business. The market ended its fourth day in a row up almost 250 points. Now before everyone starts breaking out the bottles of wine and champagne, we have seen this behaviour before. Like many I am hoping that this positive trend continues and we do not dip below 8000 again but it is difficult to tell with so much change still happening in the financial system globally.

   So my opinion is to maybe take some gains if you made some money back this week. And see what the market does. If some of the stocks you own dip and you can add to your position at a favorable price do so. I am still a big fan of dividends regardless of what the market is doing because the only way to work less is to have passive income. This is money you earn without having to work for it directly. Think of it as money you have invested making more money. When you do not have a lot of capital slowly investing and building positions in good dividend stocks is start. And the more automatic you can make this investing the better. I speak from experience in this department. Enough of the life stuff though, enjoy and I will catch everyone on the flip side.

~ Matt

I wish I had tidings of joy or silver bells but its going to be a dollar menu Christmas. Now I admit I am usually an optimist but the economy has hit a level that is causing even some of the most successful to reign in their spending habits. What is to be done when people who earn a good living struggle to make ends meet? Now I have made my fair share of fiscal mistakes but as positive as I can be the only solution I can see is to earn more money.

Now for a lot of people this may not seem like a very desirable and or feasible option but you can only cut so much until you are left with things like, gas to get to work. Now it may not be desirable because chances are you are not going to earn nearly as much with some side job as you earn at your primary job. This of course could be untrue as well if you find a business you can start part time and grow in to a successfull venture. Of course this would also mean a great amount of time and sacrifice. However, the end result can be very rewarding.

As I stated before it may not be feasible because of time constraints, family, or maybe you are not comfortable with the idea of running your own business. Maybe you just work some extra hours, or part time when possible to make ends meet. Either way I have a great amount of respect for those who are willing to work hard and take matters into their own hands. So, collect cans, save your loose change, clean houses, it does not matter because when things improve you know that what you accomplished, was accomplished through your hard work.

Believe me I would love for a large sum of money to fall into my lap but we have to be honest with ourselves at the possibility of such a thing occuring. Chances our near zero. Granted it happens but remember they only tell us about the winners not about the far greater sum of losers. Believe me, I have searched hard and know there is no easy way out. And if someone tells you there is they are lying. We are the worst savers and worst debtors in our nations history. We have seen the reality of those decisions. Lets face ourselves and commit to turning our bad habits in to good habits. We need to start saving into money market funds and mutual funds and live within our means by not using credit cards or other debt unless absolutely necessary. Good luck my friends.

~ Matt

So here is the good the bad and the ugly. The good news is the government is going to extend jobless claims for the unemployed through the holiday. Of course no benefit for me , but I would be sad to know little Sally did not get her easy bake oven or little Joey his Playstation 3.

The bad of course is that unemployment continues to climb, and Citigroup axing 53,00 of its employees globally is not helping. The Associated Press reports that jobless claims in 2008 stand at 1.2 million and the jobless rate of private sector government workers stands at a 14 year high of 6.5 percent.

Now for the ugly. It probably is not news since the media is wearing it like the latest thing out of fashion week. But the stock market continues its decent. It shed over 400 points Thursday to close at 7552. I continue to be an optimist, although I will say I am probably in sparse company these days. I continue to invest and know that no one knows when it will go up. So if I feel a stock is a good deal now, it is an even better deal when the market pulls the share price down further. And I feel very confident that when things do recover  I will be happy with my choices. I am not suggesting you do the same , and always do your homework. Good luck!

- Matt

Please let us know who you think will file Chapter 11 first or if you think the senate will come through with some sort of bailout package or bridge loan type financing to keep them floating.

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   So the auto industry has their hand out for Uncle Sam , asking for some of the federal bailout. More specifically they would like 25 billion dollars to divvy up among themselves. General motors would get more than Ford and Chrysler.
   Now at first glance I was like , yeah we need to do this because so many people would lose their jobs. Then I thought about it more and I have to agree with the senators that have taken a firm stand against providing aid. These guys have run their businesses unprofitably for years. They have not kept up with trends, better fuel mileage and improved factory efficiencies through technology. They have also lacked in the style department when compared to their foreign peers.
   They became so complacent in the continued raping of their companies money that they may soon be without a company to run. So I agree that we should let them go out of business. It happened to the airline industry, why not automobiles. I am tired of my tax dollars being used to buy mansions for CEO’s that are already overpaid.
    I was watching part of the senate meeting and at one point the panel asked what the CEO’s made last year. Now the american auto industry has been faltering for years. And even as recent as last year Rick Wagnor, the head of GM made $9 million. And I am sure that does not include stock options. When asked what kind of pay cut he was willing to take, he answered, “half”. Half! Chryslers CEO cut his salary to a $1.00. A respectable thing considering the number of people getting fired. But Rick, how about 1 million or $500,000? Are you telling me you are going to go without food or shelter unless you make 4.5 million. And forget Ford’s CEO, he said that he made 7 million and there is nothing wrong with that number and he has no intention of lowering the amount.
   So I apologize to the auto workers as I feel for you as much as the next guy, but if something happens to my company no one is bailing them out. No government hand out or aid is in place to insure my job. This is why you are suppose to have emergency funds and frankly the fact there are job cuts should not come as a surprise.
    I am thankful to continue to have a job and I wish everyone the best, but I refuse to give away any more of my money through taxes to bail people out. No one is helping me keep a roof over my head or a job to pay the bills. This continues to be a major problem with this country and maybe through these hard time things will change. Too many people expect someone else to help them, to pay for their bad judgement, but they need to take responsibility for themselves. Maybe when we do that things will turn around.

-Matt

    Yes, soon it will be that time again. It is hard to believe but 2008 is almost over so you need to start thinking about taxes. There is less than two months left but it is still worth doing some work. It is worth figuring if you have been paying enough so you do not owe when Uncle Sam comes knocking. The reverse is true as well, if you have been overpaying , then you should make the necessary adjustments. You get more money in your paycheck, which might be nice considering the holidays are upon us.

   If you are not contributing to your 401(k) there is no time like the present. For most people, especially those who do not have their own business, this is probably the most effective way to reduce your taxes. If you do contribute, use the calculator found here, http://www.dinkytown.net/java/Tax1040.html , to estimate your taxes. If you it shows you owe you may want to increase your contribution if possible. This is my opinion , and is a strategy I employ myself to protect against owing taxes. If your estimate shows you getting a refund then hopefully you are all set.

   Assuming there are no last minute law changes the break down for your 2008 taxes goes like this;

~Matt

    The projections by the major networks has Barack Obama winning the electoral vote and thus the Presidential race. I have to be honest , I am not surprised. I think it was apparent early on that Barack Obama was going to be the victor. Especially since there was an unprecedented amount of peope who came to the polls to vote.

   What are my feelings? I feel that it is unfortunate that the people who came out tonight were not at the polls 4 years ago. Yet they would blame who was elected. At the same time I am proud to have lived to see such a landmark in our Nations history. And I hope that going forward these same people continue to vote, and not just for Barack Obama but for any political station.

   Concerning the economy and our financial future, I think whomever is elected we are in for a difficult run. The fact is our free market system is in a state it has not seen for some time. So my hopes our that our new President and Congress fix it and allow it to continue to function. The opportunities found in the United States are like no other and Barack Obama will hopefully continue to grow that greatness.

   So in short and in conclusion, good luck to everyone. Keep shoring up your spending and try to save what you can. I am farely confident that taxes are going to increase next year so prepare yourself. We can only hope that oil remains at its current lower prices, and that the credit markets begin to open.  Remeber ignorance may be bliss, but preparedness leads to success.