What A Downgrade Of U.S. Rating Means In Plain English [UPDATED]

And why should people not be nervous? Europe is on the verge of falling apart and the US debt level has reached astronomical levels. The solutions presented for both seem to be to increase borrowing which defies rationality itself. Both entities cannot pay their debts and in Europe’s case, the countries that have money are being forced to flush money into countries that have little in order to keep the Union together.

In America, Republicans and Democrats are locked in a childish squabble on how to raise the debt ceiling. (Maybe both parties should take a look at the southern Somalia and get perspective on what real problems are). They may even print more money although Bernanke says that’s a long shot. We have seen ridiculous things happen before and many of them have come from chairman’s mouth.

So what does gold and silver offer?

Safety is the key word because it is in physical product that people find safety. In reality, gold has very little real value other than what we have given it throughout human history because it is not a very useful commodity (unless you want gold fillings). Silver is useful, particularly in Tomahawk missiles, because of it’s conductivity. Asian countries seem to have a hunger for resources and even though China has slowed considerably and looks to be in danger of its own crisis, the emerging markets in that part of the world still need raw materials.

What is particularly interesting is that gold and silver are reaching high levels at a time in the year when traditionally, prices have remained flat. With deals to be struck by the end of the month, investors will keep a watchful eye on what is being said and what is actually being done.

What The Debt Ceiling Means To You In Plain English

“Women need to develop a healthy, honest relationship with our money,” says financial guru Suze Orman. “And we have to see this relationship as a reflection of our relationship with ourselves.”

In other words, our financial lives (mortgage payments, credit card debt, emergency savings fund, monthly budget, etc) are part of who we are as women. The serious debt or extreme wealth in our finances directly affects our emotional, physical, and spiritual lives.

Here are five signs of financially healthy women…

1. Financially healthy women are aware of their “money personalities.” Did your parents invest in real estate, a secure low-interest savings account, mutual funds – or did they struggle with debt? Your saving and spending habits, investment style, attitude about money, and financial perspective is shaped in part by the way your parents treated money in your childhood. Your money personality directly affects your relationship with money – and the more self-aware you are, the more financial independence you’ll enjoy.

2. Financially healthy women take financial risks. A financial risk doesn’t necessarily mean investing $10,000 in a friend’s new business or charging a $2,500 dollar dress to a maxed-out credit card. Taking smart financial risks includes investing in your career by going back to school full or part-time, taking a mortgage on a small piece of real estate, or exploring ways to earn money from your hobby.

7 items to punch up your business casual wear

3. Financially healthy women have their own checking, savings, or credit card accounts. So many readers make comments on my “Quips and Tips for Achieving Your Goals” blog about how they want to leave their common-law or married husbands, but can’t because they have no money to support themselves. Having a separate checking or savings account is the most basic sign of a financially independent woman…and yet many women don’t have their own source of money.

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How To Make Money Online, Without Spending A Dime

Terry Parris Jr. Monday, February 01, 2010 – Model D

The French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, with a small group of settlers and soldiers, looked out onto the Detroit River more than 300 years ago and saw opportunity. From the position of the river to the fertile land, they imagined that a settlement could grow from this location.

“The land is very beautiful and appropriate to build a city later on,” wrote Cadillac in a letter to the French minister responsible for the Detroit colonies. “The various things one finds in this Land make it very pleasant.”

Three centuries later, Detroit has another Frenchman looking out at that same river, with that same vision. From the 17th floor of Spinnaker Tower, just off East Jefferson, Laurent Diemunsch is standing in the living room of his newly purchased two-bedroom high-rise apartment. The Detroit River and Belle Isle are beaming through a foggy sliding glass door to the balcony.

“I see that the future can be better here,” he says, slowly, looking for the words.

The apartment isn’t for him to live in, though. He bought it to rent out; he bought it as an investment. Diemunsch isn’t an investor in the sense that you might think. He’s not buying 100 foreclosures and selling them on Craigslist. He’s a flight attendant, who happens to own an apartment in the Spinnaker and another in New Center, on Pallister. And he already has a tenant.

Diemunsch may be less tuned in with honest to goodness investors and more in step with his compatriot Mr. Cadillac. The two Frenchman both saw not only opportunity but also potential and a future in the wilderness off the banks of a river.

“I can see what this city can become,” Diemunsch says, unknowingly paraphrasing from Cadillac’s letters.

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