credit card

More Things That Go Bump In The Night: A Look at the Credit Card Act of 2009′s Possible Impacts

by Tom Koziol | February 19, 2010

In one of my previous posts I mentioned I had used my credit cards to buy a piece of property. It took my partner and I 33 days to sell that house and pocket a nice profit after paying off the cards. The rules are now changing for credit cards. You can still use them [...]

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Real Estate

A Simple Test for Entrepreneurial Success

by Brendan O'Brien | August 1, 2009

Small Businesses 3 I took a test once where I had to score 100% to pass. This was to become a licensed EMT, and there was a good reason for the 100% standard. Since I was being measured on my knowledge of lifesaving emergency medical care, they wanted to be sure I knew every subject on the syllabus perfectly.

There’s also a 100% test for entrepreneurship, and it has three subjects. If you pass, you have a chance of success. If you don’t, you don’t. The subjects aren’t hard, but you need to have perfect scores. The scores have to be perfect because the real test is much harder than this one.

Now, don’t panic! You can still be successful without passing all three subjects. However, you should never try to become your own boss in a for-a for-profit enterprise. Find another course in life.

The Entrepreneurship Test

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Commentary

Debit Cards Can Be Bad Investments

by Tom Koziol | July 24, 2009

This post may sound like heresy to the died-in-the-wool debit card user. However, if you put the same overview on debit cards you do to other investments, you may agree with me. After all, it is YOUR money at risk.

I fully realize debit cards have overtaken credit cards as the plastic du-jour for Americans. The ratio is something like 2 to 1 meaning for every credit card used, two debit cards are used. Don’t hold me to this as a concrete figure as the numbers are a little over a year old. But, they are very close to accurate.

I also fully realize how easy it is to use a debit card. I watch my wife at the grocery store check out counter. Fast, easy and convenient to say the least. I don’t own one so all I get to do is watch. Oh, she also uses her card at two restaurants when we go out to dine. (More on why this is a bad idea later.)

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Commentary

The Old Credit Scoring Model

by Tom Koziol | July 10, 2009

Image by mayhem via Flickr Some people never knew what factors were used to determine the credit scores on their credit report. They just knew they were low, so-so or high. I thought I’d list those factors as a sort of review because I believe the whole credit scoring process will be turned on its [...]

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Commentary

A Look At 2009 From The Inside: Real Estate, Credit, and Debt

by Tom Koziol | January 2, 2009

About two months ago I wrote a post that included information from a monthly magazine,

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Economy

Thinking of Refinancing? Consider holding out for Rate Drop

by Joshua Dorkin | October 1, 2007

A manufacturing report came out today that was weaker than expected, raising renewed talk that the Fed might cut rates later this month1. What does this mean for you? As rates have come down recently, now is a good time to look at doing a refi. If you can afford to wait, and signals continue [...]

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