US Finance World

The following is a guest post from Kent Thune, who is a Certified Financial Planner(R) and the author of The Financial Philosopher, where he urges readers to place *meaning before money and purpose before planning*.

What is freedom? What is financial freedom? Is there a difference? Is the freedom that money apparently purchases worth the sacrifices we make to reach this freedom? Can the pursuit of financial freedom paradoxically reduce one’s actual freedom? Can freedom be bought? If not, then what does this say about the pursuit of financial freedom?

The Tail Wagging the Dog

“Life is about life and not the result of life.” ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Financial goals are destinations; they’re not life. If you

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U.S. stocks eked out a slim gain, after minutes from a September meeting of the Federal Reserve increased confidence that the central bank will take further action to stimulate the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 10.06 points, or 0.1% to close at 11020.4. The Nasdaq Composite added 15.59 points, or 0.7% to 2417.92, and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index advanced 4.45 points, or 0.4% to 1169.77.

After a morning in the red, stocks turned positive Tuesday after minutes from the central bank’s September meeting showed officials’ discussions focused on buying more Treasurys or on new strategies for inflation if prices remained too low and unemployment too high. The minutes also disclosed that the Fed’s staff cut the projections for economic growth in 2011 and expected the underlying inflation rate, already below the central bank’s informal objective, to slow further next year.

“What the Fed said today didn’t surprise anybody,” said Bill Vaughn, portfolio manager at Evercore Wealth Management.

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A colleague of mine recently mentioned that their parents were ardent renters. They felt that real estate continues to be an overpriced commodity and that one would be far better off financially by renting (setting aside the emotional aspects of home ownership). My colleague’s counter argument is that in an economy geared to trying its best to make you consume, for many people, especially under 40, paying down the mortgage may be the only forced savings vehicle they have.

One of the after-effects of the credit crisis has been to spark conversations such as my colleagues whereas 4-5 years ago most middle class families were conditioned to believe  to buy a home or go bust. With the real estate market correcting itself to historical norms, it may be time to revisit what the appropriate tipping point is between buying a home or renting a home.

The conventional analysis on buying a home or renting a home begins with the price-rent ratio. Th

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By Steven Russolillo And Donna Kardos Yesalavich

On Wall Street, bad may be the new good when it comes to economic data.

Investors translated a grim September jobs report as a welcome sign that central banks might rush to inject additional stimulus into the economy. It’s a twist of logic as Wall Street now views negative economic snapshots as a positive for the stock market.

The Labor Department report was the catalyst for the stock market as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 11000 on Friday for the first time since early May. There are building expectations that the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and perhaps the Bank of Japan might embark on a second round of quantitative easing—dubbed by investors as “QE2″—to keep the recovery going.

That means Wall Street has been viewing every negative economic report as another reason to snap up stocks. But

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Once upon a time, buying a wills kit from a retailer may have been a good choice. Everything goes to the spouse. If spouse predeceases you, everything goes to the surviving children. Uncle Jack and Aunt Helen are the guardians of the kids. Simple right?

However, a will kit presumes the will-maker has a “traditional” nuclear family. But the married couple with children has recently become a minority of the population and, along with it, the shrinking notion that there is such a thing as a “simple” will.

In a world of multiple marriages, separated couples,  same sex marriages/unions, step-children, adopted children and dependent parents, will planning is no longer that simple.  Since the estate generally pays for legal fees in a dispute for both the executor and beneficiary challenging the will, it is best for the will-maker to get it right lest the assets of the estate are drained for the lawyers and no one else.  What top three will planning mistakes should you avoid?

It starts with the executor. E

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By Steven Russolillo

Stocks rallied to a five-month high on Tuesday, boosted by encouraging services-sector data and hopes that global central banks will follow Japan’s lead in stimulating economic growth.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 193.45 points, or 1.8%, to 10944.72, its highest close since May 3. Boeing fueled the Dow’s gains, rising 3.4%, while Bank of America increased 3.1% and DuPont rose 3%. American Express was the only Dow component in the red as investors digested the company’s decision to fight the Justice Department’s civil antitrust suit. Shares fell 2%.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose up 55.31 points, or 2.4%, to 2399.83. The Standard & Poor’s 500-share index gained 23.72 points, or 2.1% to 1160.75. All 10 of its sectors traded in positive territory, led by the materials, industrials and financial sectors.

Investor optimism comes ahead of some key data later this week. Dow-component Alcoa unofficially kicks off earnings season after the close on Thursday.

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Headlines are much larger than the rest of the story for a reason. In many instances, our attention spans are too short to read anything but the headline. However, the true story seems to unfold beyond the headline. For example, when the Investment Company Institute reports quarter after quarter net outflows from equity funds, the natural reaction is for the media to write a “Death of Equities” headline (mostly likely pulling similar stories from 1979, 1982, 1992, 2001 and 2009 and changing the names and dates).

But when Felix Salmon (an excellent think-piece blog that I only recently found) crunched the numbers, the reports of the death of the equities market has been greatly exaggerated. Instead, many have equated actively-managed funds with the equities market as a whole. Consequently, the net outflows out of actively managed funds is being spun into the death of equities.

But as Salmon writes:

“Here’s how the numbers break down: total actively-managed mutual funds, both domestic and international, saw a net outflow of $37.7 billion in 2009, and of $24.1 billion in the first seven months of 2010. Meanwhi

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After a while it starts to get funny.  But until it does, it’ll boggle your mind and up your dose of Xanax.

Which you weren’t on, by the way, before this circus pulled into your driveway.

Having two mortgages in play as you embark on your short sale will enroll as many as six different key players:

-         There’s you…

-         … there’s the negotiator for the first mortgage…

-         … there’s the negotiator for the second mortgage…

-         … there’s the attorney or loan collection trustee from the first mortgage…

-         … there’s the attorney or loan collection trustee from the second mortgage…

-         … and finally there’s your broker, to whom at least half of these people may prefer to talk instead of to you.

Throw in your buyer and your buyer’s broker, and you have a party of eight.  Enough to fill a table at a wedding reception.  From hell.

You’ll need a program and a therapist to keep it all straight.

Including that therapist, the headcount is now up to nine.

Like a family reunion, each of them wants the floor.

And few, if any of, will play nice with the others.

All of

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