Goldivas.com - Article By Category

Issue#25 (August, 2010)

AVOID MAKING COMMON MISTAKES

In my book Making the Golden Years Golden, I help the reader develop plans for their future retirement. Women tend to be less prepared then men. In this article I address the women that are more likely to be less financially savvy, and thus make costly mistakes.

The statistics show that women live longer than men, on the average 8-10 years longer, 50 percent of marriages end in divorces, so you must be prepared to manage your finances wisely if you should be one of the women that are living on their her own. ( more...)

Issue#24 (June, 2010)

Eating Out in Your Own Home

Spending less money is one of the most frequent new resolutions, and saving money is especially good advice given the current economy. One tip that appears on every budget-friendly list is to reduce the amount that you spend going out to eat. Cutting costs is never any fun, but this suggestion has an additional downside: restaurants give many of us the chance to order food we wouldn’t normally make at home. Regional cooking such as Thai, Mexican, or Indian has an undeserved reputation for being difficult, and even French and Italian dishes can be intimidating for those who don’t cook much. ( more...)

Issue#23 (May, 2010)

Divorce, Women and Money

That’s because women may be less knowledgeable about financial issues, or they may not to want to face reality. Women are less comfortable about fighting for their rights. Instead they may depend on their attorneys to take care of that part of a divorce.

The best way for a woman to avoid financial disaster in the event of a divorce is to prepare ahead of time. If you have any inkling that a divorce may be in your future, please do yourself a favor and visit this website: http://www.womansdivorce.com/ ( more...)

Issue#21 (March, 2010)

Money-Saving Ideas

Women over 50 have reached a point in their lives when it’s time to get serious about – you guessed it – saving money. But many women rely on their husbands to “call the shots” in this area. And, especially in case of divorce or widowhood, that is a huge problem. ( more...)

Issue#20 (February, 2010)

The Story Of Stuff

One of the benefits of the recession is that we’re re-evaluating our relationship with stuff. Somehow, that constant have-to-have mentality is giving away to a new respect for frugality.

To reinforce that trend, here’s a cute and very informative video, click on this link, then

Click on the watch now button under the story of stuff box: http://www.storyofstuff.com/ ( more...)

Issue#19 (January, 2010)

Move Your Money!

If you’re not happy about the way large banks have used their bailout funds to enrich their own position and turned their backs on consumers, here’s something to consider:

The story goes like this:

“JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS, a few friends were having dinner wondering what personal actions they could take to help limit the power of the big banks and create a more sane, stable financial system. How, they wondered, could they help end the era of Too Big To Fail? ( more...)

Issue#16 (September, 2009)

Update on The Little Book

The Little Book That Beats the Market (Little Books. Big Profits) was published in 2006 and included tables showing back-tested Magic Formula Investing performance results from 1988-2004. Now, the results have been updated thru 6/30/2009, you can see them here: http://info.formulainvesting.com/results/ ( more...)

Issue#14 (July, 2009)

Five Painless Ways To Save Money

Think about your lifestyle, and which elements are most important to you. What sacrifices are fairly painless for you, and what are you not willing to give up. This is very individual, and it’s not worth enduring pain and suffering to save a couple pennies! But you may find some habits you can easily do without. You can probably add hundreds more ways to save money, but here are a few to get you started ( more...)

Issue#13 (June, 2009)

Investing Made Easy With The Little Book That Beats The Market

Joel Greenblatt is the founder and a managing partner of Gotham Capital, a private investment partnership that has achieved outstanding returns since its inception in 1985. He is a professor on the adjunct faculty of Columbia Business School, and holds a BS and an MBA from the Wharton School. ( more...)

Issue#12 (May, 2009)

Buy A Car – facts you need to know…

Many women over 50 will find themselves in the position of needing to buy a car, perhaps for the first time, if you’ve gotten used to relying on others to do this for you in the past. ( more...)

Issue#11 (April, 2009)

Women’s Money Excuses

“I’m just not that interested……”

Many women over 50 are in denial about money issues, and the statistics are frightening;

A woman's average standard of living drops 45% in the first year after divorce.

Nearly 55% of women worry about the amount of debt they have.

75% of all elderly Americans in poverty are women.

( more...)

Issue#9 (February, 2009)

The Value of the Harvard MBA

How much is a Harvard MBA worth these days? The latest casualty list of the Madoff ponzi scheme (a ponzi scheme is so old school compared to the shenanigans of the subprime credit crunch) must have left some the due(dud) diligence researchers with Ivy League MBAs working for these firms and funds somewhat red-faced. It won’t be long before they join their fellow Ivy Leaguers who assessed credit risk for their similarly once esteemed Wall Street firms on the streets of Manhattan or Chicago. ( more...)

Issue#8 (January, 2009)

The Grinch That Madoff With Christmas

That’s pronounced MAY-doff. And indeed he did.

On December 11, 2008 Bernard L. Madoff announced that he made off with $50 billion of funds invested in his Madoff Investment Securities LLC in a basic, not elaborate as many are calling it, Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme, named after its originator Charles Ponzi, pays “profits” to old investors with money from new investors without any business having been created or developed.

( more...)

Issue#5 (October, 2008)

Understanding the Financial Crisis

Robert Kuttner has had an extensive career as a writer and editor at various national publications. He attended Oberlin College, University of California, Berkeley, and the London School of Economics. He has taught at Brandeis, Boston University, UMass, and Harvard’s Institute of Politics. He has also been a John F. Kennedy Fellow at Harvard University, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at UC-Berkeley, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Radcliffe Public Policy Fellow. ( more...)

Issue#2 (July, 2008)

Special Financial Considerations for Women

Consider some of the facts that underlie the formidable tasks women face:

Lower Earnings

In 2006, a female full-time worker earned 77 cents for each dollar earned by a man, according to the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, or WISER.1 That amounts to $445,000 less in earned income over a woman’s lifetime. ( more...)