Steadfast Finances

 Banking, Consumer Education, Credit Cards         6 comments

I’m convinced that the current administration will fail to significantly alter the regulatory framework that governs the investment banking community, as well as the fee based business model practiced by the institutional mega-banks. Regardless of the new regulations that will be drafted, or the old regulations that might be reinstated, …

 Investing 101, Investor Psychology         No comments

I’m a little weird in that I rarely read articles or watch television programs that I fully agree with. I find that it makes me consider an alternative point of view or tweaks my thought process to include new variables into the decision making process that my (occasionally arrogant) analytical …

 Investing 101, Investor Psychology         9 comments

I’ve been pounding the table pretty hard on investment bubbles lately. Probably because in the last decade, I’ve experienced more popped bubbles than I care to remember.
Or perhaps it’s that I’m constantly amazed by the herding behavior of humans. After all, we’re not that different from the rest of the …

 Consumer Education, Documentary Films         10 comments

Food, Inc., in my humble opinion, will be one of the most influential documentaries of all time.
Never before (at least to my knowledge) has such a fundamental issue as the food we eat been presented to the general public in such an easily understandable and graphic manner. It is a …

 Commodities, Investing 101, Investor Psychology         30 comments

This is how seasoned commodity traders view the current gold bubble. Whoops! I mean gold rush.
Experienced traders know very well that the gold market is teeming with multibillion dollar hedge funds and professional speculators, which means they are after one thing… fast money!

[RSS & email readers please click to site …

 Humor, Public Awareness         3 comments

You know you’re losing a PR battle when Saturday Night Live calls you out for being a “sack”. Guess that’s what you get when your company, somehow, acquires a healthy supply of Swine Flu vaccines while the immunocompromised segment (e.g. pregnant women, cancer patients, etc.) of the population can’t get …

 Administration         No comments

The last time the unemployment rate was this high, I was seven years old. I don’t remember much about the 15% mortgage rates or people buying gold coins in mass out of fear of inflation, but I do remember the speeches that I heard about the benefits of working for …

 Credit Cards, ETFs, Index Funds         3 comments

Charles Schwab wants to get into the index fund and ETF business. Badly!
In doing so, Schwab has created a series of funds to undercut the industry leader — Vanguard — by offering the lowest expense ratio ETFs and index funds on the market. With an expense ratio as low as …

 Banking, Online Savings Accounts, Personal Finance Tips         2 comments

As a young professional who came of age during the Internet boom, I was among the first wave of consumers to adopt the Internet banking meme. At that time, it was no where near mainstream and was generally considered to be another dot com fad.

Fairly quickly, the Internet banks began …

 Consumer Education, Frugal Living, Personal Finance Tips         6 comments

Since the recession began, I’ve been struggling with the concept of trading down versus trading down to better value. In other words, should I move to a policy of buying brands/goods that might be cheaper and lower in quality, or stick to brands/goods with a lower price but provide a …

 Frugal Living, Saving Money         16 comments

Most SF followers know by now that something of a foodie and a wannabe chef. I’m no where near chef level, but I do occasionally put together something that can draw a crowd.
I also suffer from a slight frugality complex and do what I can to keep my food budget …

 Administration         No comments

SF will be undergoing maintenance on October 29th during the evening hours. New theme changes, reorganization, etc.
Pardon the mess and confusion.
Related Posts Weekend Reads: the Don’t Forget Mother’s Day is One Week Away Edition Jim Cramer Disses Index Funds: ‘In Cramer We Trust’ vs. …