Unless you live in a bubble you are well aware of the constant rise in fuel prices. People with heating oil are getting a double whammy. Some time ago I posted an article, “Getting Pumped at the Pump”,  about the government seeking to impose upon manufactures  a floor for gas mileage. The minimum mpg will need to be 35 by 2010. Not sure about you, but that is not going to help pay the mortgage now, or feed my kids now.

   To try and find a way to help stem the rising costs of fuel I began doing some research on diesel. Now, off the cuff I knew Mercedes and Volkswagen both made diesel sedans. In fact they are probably the most popular because they have done it the longest. After viewing several websites and a multitude of user comments it was clear that the best fuel economy in a U.S. diesel , was a VW Jetta between 1999 and 2003. See the EPA MPG data, click here .

   However, I did come across information that said VW, BMW, Mercedes and possibly other major car producers were coming out with even better and more efficient diesels that would be US legal. Because apparently there is a Europe only VW that gets 70 miles to the gallon which is AWESOME!!! Now I know you Prius lovers out there beat the Jettas economy and then some. However, I am talking about buying used and not new. Of course if I had $22,000 to burn I would go out and buy a Prius. My point is I can buy a car for half the price, and still really save on gas.

   So I could save $873 a year ( click here and select a 2002 4 cyl Galant and a 2003 Jetta TDI Manual ), on fuel switching to a Jetta diesel. And this will probably only improve as the price of oil continues to rise.  Plus, the money I would save buying used would provide a healthier buffer against any potential out of warranty repairs. I did see that these tend to have reliability issues related to the engine, but with the cost of living sky rocketing, I feel it is a risk worth taking. In fact, I found a 2003 Jetta TDI with 68k miles listed for $11,500 which is $2,000 grand under book value. Now that is a deal!

   As I mentioned before I have no experience when it comes to diesel cars, so any further insight is welcome. If you are saving money by driving a diesel let us know your make and model and what you get on average for fuel economy. Any information on the new wave of diesels would also be welcome.

   Wanting to buy a house in a couple years I began looking into whether or not low down payment options are still available. The reason being is the money is harder to get, but the homes are still so expensive you need a substantial amount of cash to do the traditional 20%. This is my observation only , so please meet with a qualified broker or lender , but there seems to be some hope. My findings are as follows;

1 – You use to need a good credit score to get the lowest interest rate , now you may need it to qualify for a lower down payment as well. Also FICO is changing its scoring model which may help people who have had minor slips in payments gain a higher credit score.

2 – FHA still offers low down payment programs , as low as 3% , through participating lenders and down payment assistance grants as well, find more information at fha.com

3 – Good Wells Fargo tool that shows the possibility of qaulifying for a loan with as little as 10% down.  Click here Wells Fargo Loan Tool .

Bear Stearns once commended as one of the greatest Investment Firms on Wall Street will soon be absorbed by JPMorgan Chase. A price agreement has been reached and shares of Bear will be swapped for shares of JPMorgan. Shares of Bear Stearns traded for as high as $163 now trades for $10 a share. Only $6 more than when it went public 23 years ago. Getting caught up in the subprime mortgage madness they would soon come undone. In less than a year Bear Stearns would be forced to sell itself or file chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Ticker Symbol: BSC
Company Key Dates:
1923: The original company is founded by Joseph Bear, Robert Stearns, and Harold Mayer as an equity trading house.
1933: Bear Stearns opens its first regional office in Chicago, and Salim L. “Cy” Lewis–future chairman–is hired to direct Bear Stearns’s new institutional bond trading department.
1955: Bear Stearns opens its first international office in Amsterdam.
1965: Bear Stearns begins expanding retail operations in the United States and, over the next eight years, opens offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, and Boston.
1978: Alan “Ace” Greenberg succeeds Lewis as chairman.
1985: Bear Stearns forms a holding company called Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., goes public, and reorganizes from a brokerage house into a full-service investment firm.
1992: Company earnings double to over $295 million for best year in Bear Stearns’s history to date.
1993: James E. Cayne succeeds Alan Greenberg as CEO; Greenberg stays on as chairman.
1999: Bear Stearns agrees to pay $42 million to settle civil and criminal fraud charges in connection with its role as clearing broker for A.R. Baron.
2001: James E. Cayne succeeds Alan Greenberg as chairman.
2001: Bear Stearns completes construction of its world headquarters at 383 Madison Ave, New York, NY.
2003: Bear Stearns along with 9 other of the worlds top investment firms are forced to pay penelaties related to using their in house R&D release false or inflated claims to move stock prices in a favorable manor for the firm.
2006: The company had total capital of approximately $66.7 billion and total assets of $350.4 billion.
2007: Around June 2007 Bear Stearns pumps 1.6 Billion of capital in its Enhanced Leverage Fund and High-Grade Fund to keep them from closing.
2008: Bear Stearns agrees to be bought by JPMorgan Chase for $10 per share, underwritten by $29 billion in special financing from the Fed.

Company History:
Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., the holding company that owns Bear, Stearns & Company, Inc., was created on October 29, 1985, as the successor to Bear Stearns & Company and Subsidiaries, a partnership organized in 1957. The partnership, in turn, was the successor to a company founded in 1923 by Joseph Bear, Robert Stearns, and Harold Mayer as an equity-trading house. Headquartered in New York, Bear Stearns today is a full service brokerage and investment banking firm focused on three core areas: capital markets, wealth management, and global clearing services. The company maintains offices in major cities all over the globe.
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Finance committee gives nod to stimulus measures. Proposals to give tax rebates to seniors and aid the unemployed gain support. Next step: Full Senate vote.

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer
January 30 2008: 6:36 PM EST
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday approved a proposal intended to curb a further slowdown in the economy. The proposal, which differs from a bill overwhelmingly approved Tuesday by the House, could be introduced as a bill and voted on by the full Senate as early as Thursday. Lawmakers are aiming to send final legislation to President Bush by Feb. 15.

The committee meeting took place the same day that the government issued a report that economic growth in the last quarter of 2007 was weaker than expected and the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate another 50 basis points following its emergency move last week that lowered the federal funds rate by 75 points.

 CNN.Money.Com – Click for Complete Story

AP
French Bank Trader Bet Tens of Billions
Friday January 25, 4:24 pm ET
By Angela Charlton, Associated Press Writer

French Bank Trader Was Dealing in Tens of Billions of Euros

PARIS (AP) — French bank Societe Generale said Friday a rogue trader who cost it more than $7 billion by making bad stock market bets had been gambling on a much larger scale — tens of billions of dollars of the bank’s money.

Photo by AP

As the depth of the risk to the bank became clearer, small shareholders questioned controls at Societe Generale and other leading banks, and France’s prime minister joined skeptics wondering whether a lone trader could have been fully responsible for such major damage.

The bank, France’s second-largest, apologized to shareholders in full-page newspaper ads after announcing the fraud, apparently the biggest ever carried out by one person. The news Thursday rattled an already jittery banking sector.

Finance.Yahoo.Com – Click Here for Complete Story