Now consider these scenarios...

In one case you borrow $1,000 at 16.9% interest and make the minimum monthly payment of $20. You will end up paying $742 in interest by the time you pay it off in 7+ years!

Instead, you could invest $1,000, earn only 10% interest, and make $45 monthly payments. In those same 7 years you will end up making $7,391!

Now that's my kind of friend.

1. Purchasing a home
2. Going to school
3. Starting a business

You only have to meet some minimal criteria. You must be a US citizen, have a child under 18 in the household, and meet these income requirements.

....

Also, please check out the Mount Vernon Gazette's third article in a series that spotlights housing and homelessness in our area. An interesting story.

In normal life, if you charge $5,000 on your credit card, you subtract it as an expense. But not in D.C. No, in D.C., if it's not due today, it's not a cost.Take the Social Security system. It's running a surplus this year because
it is building up money it needs to pay for Baby Boom retirements.The government counts that surplus as income. Presto! That income cut the deficit in half.

But anybody can see that's nuts. You can't call that income anymore than a
cash advance on your credit card is income. If you have to pay it back, it ain't
income.There is no difference between what the government is doing and
what Enron and Worldcom did to land themselves in jail. It's overstating earnings and hiding true costs.

In fact, if you add up costs the way standard business accounting rules do,
the deficit for this year alone would be more like $700 billion. Add in Social
Security and Medicare promises and it would be over $3 trillion!

...by the standards of business, the U.S. is actually bankrupt. The promises we're on the hook for will cost $70 trillion more than the revenue we're going to bring in. He figures to pay it off would take something like an 80 percent hike in all income taxes.

Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty. Grameen Bank has been a source of ideas and models for the many institutions in the field of micro-credit that have sprung up around the world.

... Micro-credit has proved to be an important liberating force in societies where women in particular have to struggle against repressive social and economic conditions. Economic growth and political democracy can not achieve their full potential unless the female half of humanity participates on an equal footing with the male.

You hear a lot these days about phishing and online spam scams that threaten to steal our personal information. Surprisingly, many people forget about the most basic sources of a stolen identity. A wallet full of cards.

The experts recommend that you do NOT carry these items in your wallet:
- Bank account numbers
- Personal identification numbers (PINs)
- Passports
- Birth certificates
- Social Security cards

Beyond the above items, I also wonder why carry all of your credit cards?

Wikipedia cites a 2003 survey from the Identity Theft Resource Centre which says that:

• The average time spent by victims resolving the problem is about 600 hours
• 73% of respondents indicated the crime involved the thief acquiring a credit card
• The emotional impact is similar to that of victims of violent crime.
• Only 15% of victims find out about the theft through proactive action taken by a business

While some of you who would never consider carrying a wallet stuffed with all this personal information, I can tell you from personal experience that many people do. At most of my workshops I would say that about half of the participants are carrying something that they shouldn't.

• Call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
• Talk to anyone but you (or your attorney, if you have one) about the debt.
• Threaten to garnish wages or seize property unless they actually intend to do so. Garnishment is illegal in some states, and in others requires a court order. In many cases, property seizure is not permitted. Check with your state attorney general's office or state consumer protection office to find out what is legal in your state.
• Threaten to sue unless they are actually taking legal action. In some states, third-party collection agencies may not sue.
• Threaten you with arrest or jail.
• Use obscene language.
• Annoy or harass you with repeated calls.
• Call at work if you have asked them to stop.
• Falsely claim to be an attorney, a representative from a credit bureau or a member of law enforcement.