Bankruptcy & Foreclosures

While we like to believe that we, as a culture, have been progressing in a linear fashion, recent market trends point to a little technological regression. During the last week of 2007, we witnessed a surprising spike in stock investing for, of all things, coal. And no, it wasn’t all from Santa seeking stocking-filler for all of the naughty kids either.

With oil prices soaring and no immediate dip in sight, savvy investors are betting that the big returns will come from alternative energy sources. So far their hunch is proving correct as the Department of Energy has issued a statement claiming that they estimate at least 1,000 coal-fueled powerplants will be built globally over the next five years. Here in the United States over half of our electricity is still produced through coal burning.

Depite the fact that coal consumption does have environemntal impacts, this antiquated technology is looking more and more like a viable alternative to oil and natural gas as an energy source. The smart money for investors in 2008 is looking like energy sources.

Here’s the scenario: After years of paying your bills on time, you overlook a bill that ends up going into collection. By the time you realize the error, a negative entry has been logged onto your credit report. It happens even to the most organized of us.

The question I often encounter after these situations is: “How long will this blemish stay on my credit report?”

Here’s the bad news: A 30-day late payment will likely stain your credit for seven long years. As will defaulted student loan payments, foreclosures, or law suit filings.

Bankruptcy stays on for ten years and unpaid taxation leans stick with you for fifteen years!

What’s worse is that if these negative entries aren’t erroneous, there is very little a consumer can do to get them to go away. The best advice I can offer if this happens to you is to pay everything else on time so that the negative entry stands out as a single-mistake rather than a pattern of your payment practices.

It may seem like sitting around worrying about the value of the United States dollar is excessive, but for many individuals there is legitimate need for concern. The dollar has recently stumped to an all time low ($1.48 versus the Euro) which actually has some domestic banks considering transferring part of their reserves into Euros!

Worse yet is the flailing dollar has some Persian Gulf countries looking into a new standard with which to account their own currencies against. While this doesn’t paint a pretty picture for global economics, the phenomenon certainly hits closer to home with investors hoping that their retirement plan or portfolios aren’t shrinking away due to the slumping value of the greenback.

Here is the good news; experts say not to sweat it. Apparently this cycle runs its course and even though the dollar value is taking a dive at present, it will bottom out then begin to climb. The general consensus is to worry about how many dollars you’ll have when all is said and done rather than what each dollar is worth in relation to the Euro at a given moment.

Walter Updegrave from Money Magazine offers up some interesting tips if you still find yourself worrying about the value of the dollar that includes investing in foreign currency, gold and silver, or mutual funds based on foreign stock.