US Finance World

I just asked my (new) wife: “What should I write about?”

She said, “Money Etiquette….like who pays for what, and when”.

We are coming into wedding season for us (after just doing our own wedding this summer) and it’s an interesting topic that we’ve encountered quite a bit the past few months.

Here’s my number 1 rule of Money Etiquette

If someone wants to do something nice for you, and it isn’t a financial strain for them, let them.

In many cultures (not so much America) it is very rude to NOT accept a gift, or an offer of food, service, hospitality etc.

You would not believe how many of my parent’s mothers love having me over because I graciously accept their hospitality. Too often we say, “No, thank you, I’m fine” instead of “Oh yes, I’d love to have some of that cake you baked (even though I’m on a diet)”.

Now, when someone offers to cover the whole bill at a group dinner in a passive-aggressive manner, and they aren’t significantly more well off than the rest of the group…then make a little stink. The person is just trying to look goo

Read more…

“You want this place to be perfect?”

Mary makes honey — or the bees she keeps make honey — and when it’s too thick to pour, it’s the best honey of all. Her brother, Tom, is a big-time landscape architect whose credits are too voluminous and intimidating to list; just know that he has designed projects in New York, New Zealand, Jamaica and the Flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania.

Tom was gracious enough to stop by the restaurant to check out the gardens. His notes and sketches indicated raised metal beds, perpendicular to the building, running east and west, all at the same height, despite the sloping grounds.

When I passed along these ideas to Paul, the farmer in charge, he said, “Wrong. They should go north and south. Parallel with the building.” You sure, Paul? “No question. Forget metal. Doug fir is fine.” Why is that, Paul? Will the vegetables grow better? “No. They’ll look better.”

Read more…

Strong earnings from Google powered the Standard & Poor’s 500 higher Friday, giving a big boost to the technology sector as the Internet-search giant leapt above the $600 mark.

Google jumped $60.52, or 11%, to $601.45, its highest close since January after the company posted a 32% rise in its third-quarter profit, topped analysts’ expectations. The climb in the company’s stock boosted its market capitalization by $19.1 billion as investors were encouraged to see Google finally indicating progress in developing other significant revenue streams beyond its dominance in online-search advertising.

Google’s report lifted the broader technology sector, with Apple rising 12.43, or 4.1%, to 314.74, Adobe Systems advancing 59 cents, or 2.2%, to 28.08, and Hewlett-Packard rising 69 cents, or 1.6%, to 42.82. The sector’s strength helped the Standard & Poor’s 500 index close in positive territory despite declines across financial stocks. The S&P 500 rose 2.38 points, or 0.20%, to 1176.19.

Read more…

It’s great to get the comments to my introdutory post. Like pretty much all working human beings — and unlike our computers and gadgets, unless there’s a new iPhone app I’ve missed — I appreciate appreciation, so thanks much for the welcoming notes. I do, however, try to pay special attention to criticisms, concerns and requests, in the hopes that they can lead me to do at least an incrementally better job. To prove I’m paying attention, let me respond to a few of those.

Isaac32767 points out that my not being an actual small-business owner means I might not bring the personal perspective that a real entrepreneur brings to the subject, as do most of the other You’re the Boss bloggers. That’s true, and as a result, it’s also true that my posts are likely to lack a certain something you’ll get from the other “channels” on this blog. But I’ll try to narrow that gap by talking to people who do experience the issues firsthand and communicating their experiences to you, often in their own words.

What’s more, I’d

Read more…

 It used to be that putting your business online was a relatively straightforward affair — you built a Web site, added information about your products and services, told your customers where to find you, and maybe incorporated an e-commerce tool to let customers do business with you online.

Unfortunately, those days are over.

Today, being online is one thing, but generating traffic to your site is quite another. And while your outbound marketing efforts, such as flyers, ads and e-mails, can help promote your Web presence with a well-placed URL , if you really want customers to find you — you need them to be able to search or stumble upon you on the Web.

One way to do this is to add your business to local listings such as Google Places, Yahoo Local, Yelp.com and so on (for tips on doing this and getting the most out of your listing, read Get to the Top!

Read more…

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

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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

Read more…