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 Personal Money Planning'se-Newsletter for June 5, 2010 (to look at past issues, click here) |
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Fun with Credit Card Companies
Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die.
A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual Service charges on her credit card, and added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00 when she died, but now its somewhere around $60.00. A family member placed a call to Citibank. Here is the exchange : Family Member: 'I am calling to tell you she died back in January.' Citibank: 'The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.' Family Member: 'Maybe, you should turn it over to collections.' Citibank: 'Since it is two months past due, it already has been.' Family Member: So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?' Citibank: 'Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!' Family Member: 'Do you think God will be mad at her?' Citibank: 'Excuse me?' Family Member: 'Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?' Citibank: 'Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor.' Supervisor gets on the phone: Family Member: 'I'm calling to tell you, she died back in January with a $0 balance.' Citibank: 'The account was never closed and late fees and charges still apply.' Family Member: 'You mean you want to collect from her estate?' Citibank: (Stammer) 'Are you her lawyer?' Family Member: 'No, I'm her great nephew.' (Lawyer info was given) Citibank: 'Could you fax us a certificate of death?' Family Member: 'Sure.' (Fax number was given ) After they get the fax: Citibank: 'Our system just isn't setup for death. I don't know what more I can do to help.' Family Member: 'Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. She won't care.'
Citibank: 'Well, the late fees and charges do still apply.'
Family Member: 'Would you like her new billing address?'
Citibank: 'That might help.'
Family Member: ' Odessa Memorial Cemetery, Highway 129, Plot Number 69.'
Citibank: 'Sir, that's a cemetery!'
Family Member: 'And what do you do with dead people on your planet???'
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Disclosure |
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This newsletter is produced by Gary Silverman, dba Personal Money Planning, a registered investment advisor located in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Information in this newsletter is believed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regards to the subject matter covered. However, the accuracy, timeliness, or applicability of the information is not guaranteed and is provided with the understanding that we are not rendering legal, accounting, tax, or other professional advice or services.
This publication should not be construed by any consumer and/or prospective client as Personal Money Planning's solicitation to effect, or attempt to effect transactions in securities, or the rendering of personalized investment advice for compensation, over the Internet. Nor should links provided to other sites be construed as the recommendation of the services or products mentioned on those sites. If such services are required, the help of a competent professional should be sought.
Remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Therefore, you should not assume that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product made reference to (directly or indirectly) on this Website will be profitable or equal to indicated performance levels. Different types of investment involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that any specific investment will either be suitable or profitable for your investment portfolio.
Historical performance results for investment indexes and categories generally do not reflect the deduction of transaction or custodial charges or the deduction of an investment management fee, the incurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results.
A copy of Personal Money Planning's current written disclosure statement discussing Personal Money Planning's business operations, services, and fees (known as an ADV Part II) is available from Personal Money Planning upon written request (and can be downloaded from our web site).
Personal Money Planning does not make any representations or warranties as to the accuracy, timeliness, suitability, completeness, or relevance of any information prepared by any unaffiliated third party, whether linked to Personal Money Planning's web site or incorporated herein, and takes no responsibility therefore. All such information is provided solely for convenience purposes only and all users thereof should be guided accordingly.
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I've been gone for a week or so. Surprised? You should be as I typically don't announce my trips until after the fact. These days it seems that whenever someone goes to the bathroom they make an announcement to their Facebook friends or Tweet about it. I'm not sure that too many people care about my running around (assuming I don't take their money with me), and even if they did, I'm not sure it's that smart to tell them. After all, when you go on a trip, you lock the doors, have someone pickup the mail and newspaper, and put the lights on timers so that the house looks lived in. It just seems to me that after going to all that trouble to fool everyone into thinking you're home, why go about telling hundreds or thousands of acquaintances that you're gone?
Anyway, in case you are interested, Joanne and I were visiting her brother in Oregon. We flew into Portland, had a pleasant drive down the coast for a few days, spent time with my brother-in-law, and took in a few sights on the way back to the airport. We trudged up hundreds of steps visiting several lighthouses, took a relaxing and exhilarating trip down and up a river, toured a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house, and I personally had about a dozen bowls of chowder.
Sure, I worked a bit (client portfolios need to be tended and the newspaper doesn't like a hole where my column should be), and visited with a dear friend and client (Hi George!), but in all it was a very relaxing vacation. Heck, the markets even behaved themselves while I was gone
Gary
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| gary's Sunday newspaper column | Sunday Newspaper Articles You May Have Missed |
From the Wichita Falls Times Record News
Making the Yuan Float
How is China managing their currency, and why does it matter to us?
Mutilated Money
You thought the pet goat was a good idea, until he snacks on some dead presidents.
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| gary's other newspaper column | Biz-to-Biz Article You May Have Missed |
From the Wichita FallsTimes Record News Biz-to-Biz
Age isn't Everything
In business, youth and inexperience can be trumped by proper training and accountability.
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| articles links from | The Economist |
Vampires on Wall Street?
The magazine talks about Goldman Sachs' carefully guarded reputation as a paragon of integrity, and says that many outsiders think the recent meltdown exposed this characterization as bogus. "The popular narrative is that Goldman used its privileged position in capital markets to double-deal, favouring some clients more than others, but above all favoring itself; that it sneakily sought to profit from the crash; that its alumni in high places helped it manipulate the bail-out; that it contributed to the global fiscal crisis by helping Greece and other countries mask their debt..."
The Party is over in Greece
Riots, petrol bombs, tear gas and strikes; just another day in Athens, Greece, whose parliament is debating an austerity plan that would begin paying back out of the country's deep debt crisis. Three people were killed when protesters set fire to a bank. The magazine describes a $145 billion European bailout; since then, as we know, the total has risen to $1 trillion.
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| Money Resources | Financial Information From MyMoney.gov |
MyMoney.gov brings together information from over 20 different Federal websites as a way to teach Americans financial education. You can search for helpful information based on different life events (a new baby or retirement, for example); browse resources for military, teachers, employers and others; and find financial calculators and worksheets to assist with your own financial planning.
Know when to Hold 'em
The FDIC has some information about your credit and debit cards. This guide reviews the protections that are in place as well as the benefits and concerns you may have when using them.
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| from gary's facebook page |
Stuff you may have missed on Facebook |
 Gary has a Facebook page where he regularly sends out links and notes during the week. This section repeats those that are still pertinent to our readers. Even if you are one of his Facebook "friends" you could have missed one or more of these, so you may want to peruse through them, just to make sure.
If you're not one of Gary's Facebook buddies, you can become one by clicking here:
You should also be aware of Personal Money Planning's Facebook page. Up to now, Gary's Facebook postings have all come from his personal page. Beginning in the next month or two, the "Gary-ish" stuff (curling, odd facts, etc.) will stay on the GaryWSilverman page, and all of the money-oriented postings will come from the Personal Money Planning company page.
To find our company page, click here:
Fannie and Freddie Woes
Fixing them gives congress an amazing opportunity to totally mess up. Not fixing them is not an option. They are a bigger taxpayer black hole than AIG.
What the falling Euro means to us
This article explains how the Euro and the European economy as a whole an affect the American economy. While those of you who like French wine and Bavarian products will appreciate a falling Euro, American companies who export to Europe won't be as thrilled.
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parting thoughts
Savings Limits
Guest article by Bob Veres
Save and invest, month in, month out-it sounds like a grind, especially now, when many Americans are cutting back and saving more for retirement. But if you turn it around, you realize that just being allowed to save money and keep for yourself some of what you earn is a privilege that not everybody enjoys.
A case in point is the North Koreans, who this year participated in a government-sponsored currency exchange program. All citizens of North Korea will be required to trade in all of their savings-that is, the bills and coins that they have collected from private activities like sewing clothes or growing food in their back lawns. These savings are always in the form of actual money, kept in jars or boxes, because the Korean banking system doesn't take individual deposits the way banks do in the U.S., and there is no stock exchange for local citizens-or, of course, access to global investment opportunities.
Once the exchange is complete, the old North Korean money will no longer be accepted anywhere. It must be traded for new bills which depict the log cabin where the Dear Leader and former Communist strongman Kim Il Sung was born.
Here's the catch. Each family will only be allowed to exchange 100,000 won-the equivalent of about $30. That, astonishingly, represents the most any private citizen will be allowed to have in total savings after the exchange, no matter how much they had before.
This is a great time to consider how lucky we are to live in a country where we are encouraged-and allowed-to save and invest for our future. Nobody will ever knock on our door and tell us that after a lifetime of work, the money we have set aside is no good anymore-except 30 dollars, or roughly the amount it costs to buy a large bag of rice. Compared to that, the grind of saving has the sweet taste of freedom.
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That's all, for now.
Gary
Gary Silverman, CFP
Personal Money Planning
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©2008 Personal Money Planning. All rights are reserved by Personal Money Planning and content may not be reproduced, disseminated, or transferred in any form or by any means, except with the prior written permission of Personal Money Planning unless specifically noted. (Permission is not difficult to obtain.) The one exception is for downloading and printing information this newsletter for general education by the original recipient. |
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