Terry Savage

Is the media getting "bored" with stories of people being foreclosed, evicted from their homes, because of sub-prime mortgages? Have we stopped asking questions about blame -- and just given the banks, Congress, the mortgage brokers, a pass on this one? I posted questions in today's column: http://www.suntimes.com/business/savage/931350,CST-FIN-terry05.savagearticle
What do you think?

Posted by Terry Savage at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

My column this week asks IS COLLEGE WORTH IT?
http://www.suntimes.com/business/savage/918870,CST-FIN-terry28.savagearticle

When you think of the huge debt that many students -- or their parents face -- upon graduation, you really have to ask whether it's worth it? Not that education isn't worth all the money in the world -- but that you have to pay it back over 20 or 30 years, at a relatively high interest rate and a huge monthly burden compared to what you can earn because of that education! What do you think? Can you think of alternatives?

Posted by Terry Savage at 07:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Financial services regulation is a mess! And a lot of businesses would like to keep it that way! Banking institutions have from 3 to 5 regulators, insurance companies are regulated by individual states, the SEC has been ineffective in monitoring "over-the-counter" transactions that are not defined as securities. And all those "cracks" offer profit-making opportunity. But they also create unmonitored and unmeasured risks!

I've often said: "The only thing worse than a financial problem is the government deciding it has the solution!" But . . .

Continue reading "Do We Need Regulatory Change?" »

Posted by Terry Savage at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

If you'd like me to answer your personal finance question, please send it along. I'll delete your email address, and use only your first name. Only questions of general interest, please. I cannot give individual stock recommendations!

Posted by Terry Savage at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBacks (0)

I received the best press release of the year from Edmunds.com -- a comparison between the cost of kids, and the cost of keeping a car!
Their press release comes as the government releases a report showing it costs an average of $11,337 per year to raise a child for 18 years. What do popular cars cost per year? You might be surprised at . . .

Continue reading "Kids vs Cars -- Which costs more?" »

Posted by Terry Savage at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

As you can read in my column of Monday, March 24th, there is a strong conviction on the part of many experts that, in spite of all the liquidity the Fed is creating, there is still a great possibility of DEflation. What IS deflation? Something that few Americans have lived through -- a decline in the value of assets. That kind of decline makes the burden of debt even greater. And it creates an economic slowdown that challenges our ability to grow our way out of our troubles.

The best example is Japan. Their real estate bubble burst in 1990, and has not yet come anywhere near its previous levels. Their stock market is measured by the Nikkei 225, currently trading at 12,500. That's far below its peak at 40,000 in 1990. So the question is a very real one: Can the Fed do a balancing act between creating liquidity to prevent deflation -- or sparking inflation down the road? What do you think?

Posted by Terry Savage at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Fed has put their money where their mouth is! They've been saying they wouldn't let the financial system fail, even if they had to reduce interest rates and flood the system with liquidity.
That's what they did over the weekend, and will continue to do tomorrow.

Media commentators are calling it a "bailout." It was, sort of. But not a bailout for Bear Stearns. Their employees and shareholders took a huge bath, equity wiped out. Most were required to take some compensation and all bonuses in stock. They used their "wealth" to buy expensive houses in Manhattan and Westchester. Now the mortgage mess will come home to them! What's the monthly payment on a $6 million mortgage?!

But make no mistake. This wasn't a bailout for Bear -- those it definitely WAS a bailout for the system!

Continue reading "Bear Stears WAS a bailout -- not for Shareholders, for the System!" »

Posted by Terry Savage at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)