Copyright 2010 MarketWatch.com Inc.All Rights Reserved
MarketWatch
June 21, 2010 Monday 4:54 PM EST
SECTION: PERSONAL FINANCE; Personal Finance Daily
LENGTH: 1103 words
HEADLINE: For young Americans, the hits just keep coming
BYLINE: MarketWatch
Don’t miss these stories:
College grads and other young adults in this economic downturn really don’t have it easy. There’s the horrendous job market. There’s the fact that average incomes are sliding — a burden that can negatively affect your entire lifetime of earnings. College tuition rates haven’t budged, and contribute to steep debt loads upon graduation. There’s the ballooning federal deficit and state budget problems — and all that implies for the future of tax rates (higher) and government services (fewer). There’s the murky outlook for Social Security and Medicare.
And now we can add one more to the list: No more free bank accounts.
As Robin Sidel writes in the Wall Street Journal, there are ways to fight back against the new fees banks are imposing on customers, most notably checking-account fees.
But the problem is that many of the tools at hand to fight back are available solely to people with well-established financial lives. For instance, one way to avoid checking account fees is to have your mortgage at the same bank as your checking account. Not very many young adults have mortgages.
Also, people with a lot of money in their accounts certainly have some chance of reversing the fees if they call the bank to complain. But a 20-something customer with a few hundred bucks in his checking account? Not so much.
One piece of good news, perhaps: These fees are being prompted by a new spate of consumer-friendly rules, and you could argue that we’re all better off with a known monthly fee than, say, unlimited interest-rate hikes on credit-card balances.
Another piece of good news: Thanks to the economic crisis, we are hopefully fostering a new nation of savers, like their Depression-era great-grandparents before them. And maybe the “new frugality,” if it holds, with its focus on growing your own food, thrift-store shopping, making what you can yourself and buying only what you need, may, ultimately, mean greater happiness for more people. Fewer Saturday-afternoon trips to the mall have got to be good for a person.
But it’s not going to be easy for these kids to get a leg up.
— , Personal Finance editor
New bank fees are coming – here’s how to fight back
Bank on it: Higher fees, and more of them, are coming soon to a financial institution near you.
REAL ESTATE
Tap free money to pay for energy upgrades
Homeowners have until the end of the year to make improvements that qualify for a federal energy-efficiency tax credit, including insulation upgrades and heating and air-conditioning equipment.
Flood insurance gets harder to find
From the Gulf oil spill and the floods in Arkansas and Oklahoma to the procession of hurricanes forecast for this year, the stage is set for major property damage in 2010.
RETIREMENT SAVINGS
Is a Roth IRA safe from taxes?
Congress wouldn’t tax Roth IRAs, would it? It is a burning question for thousands of taxpayers now deciding whether to pay taxes to convert their regular individual retirement accounts to Roth accounts.
Four ways to boost your nest egg
Most investors know (or should know) the tried-and-true methods to help nest eggs grow. Shift money automatically from your paycheck to a savings plan; take advantage of your employer’s matching contributions to 401(k) plans; eliminate (virtually) all consumer debt; track and trim household expenses; reduce investment fees; and, of course, save more than you’re saving now.
CAREERS
Avoid summer slump
The lazy days of summer are a good time to step up your game. If you just landed a job after graduation or haven’t been onboard very long, you likely have little vacation time and might be tempted to take it easy at the office — especially while the boss and co-workers are away.
Want your old job back?
If you’ve been laid off and your former employer is hiring again, you might see the news as a chance to get back to work at your old firm. But first it’s important to consider whether it’s a good idea — and whether the skills you bring are what the company needs now.
SAVING & SPENDING
Money lessons from Mom and Dad
Over the span of a lifetime, we learn more about saving and investing from personal experience than from any expert. In my case, the most formative experiences have been the lessons learned by watching my parents with their money, especially later in their lives.
THE GULF OIL SPILL
Gulf oil spill victims will be paid quickly
Victims of the massive Gulf oil spill will be compensated quickly, said Kenneth Feinberg, an independent administrator for a $20 billion fund set up in the wake of the environmental catastrophe.
ECONOMY & POLITICS
Seven big bank-reform items yet to be resolved
After one week of late-night negotiations, House and Senate Democratic lawmakers on a committee to work out differences in sweeping financial-regulatory bills so far have failed to reach an agreement on key aspects of the legislation.
Economy weak, data look even weaker
No one thought this recovery would be quick or easy, and it hasn’t been. The U.S. economy has been growing, but it’s still too fragile to stand on its own.
CARS
The BMW 335i Coupe
Crimson red with a cream beige interior, the subject of this weekend’s road test turned heads and induced smiles. “Now that is one that I would spend my own money for,” said our younger-generation parking garage attendant/car buff as he broke into a wide smile. That was not an insignificant comment since he sees virtually all of the test vehicles.
INVESTING
Six myths about investing in dividend-paying stocks
When Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip “Dilbert,” heard that BP was “destroying a portion of the earth” without, at the time, cutting its dividend, he said he thought it would be a great time to buy.
Treasury yields to rise by year-end: survey
The biggest bond dealers see Treasury yields rising by the end of the year as investors become more comfortable with the global economy’s path to recovery.
Reverse share-splits unite ETF investors
How can something that looks bad for a stock be good for an exchange-traded fund? Easy. ETFs may trade like stocks, but they’re still funds at heart.
Why some trades feel so good
From February through May, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 1000 points in an almost uninterrupted daily march upward. Then came the “flash crash” of May 6 and day after day of losses through May. Now, in mid-June, the market has been up six of the past seven days.
Gold bugs giddy, but some get cautious
A wonderful week for gold — but some unusual suspects are growing cautious.
© 1997-2008 MarketWatch.com, Inc. All rights reserved. See details at http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/docs/useragreement.asp.
LOAD-DATE: June 22, 2010
Terms and Conditions Privacy Policy
More Articles