A recent article from the WSJ tells the story of many American families these days.  With unemployment especially high amongst young people, and amid a tough economy for our parents age group as well, young people are struggling to make financial progress.  Parents are working hard to provide the good life for their kids, but are finding it difficult to get by themselves.
The following story illustrates the struggles of many middle class families:
The family income of the Johnsons is a fifth of what it used to be. And the children …

In what is becoming a Friday routine, the FDIC shutdown another bank this afternoon/evening.  This time it was the Beach First National Bank in South Carolina. Rising losses, primarily due to commercial real estate, has forced the FDIC’s hand.
140 banks failed in 2009 and so far in 2010, we’re up to 42 (on pace to break 2009′s numbers).  It makes you wonder how sound our “recovery” is when banks are still failing in large numbers.  Most will admit that the nation needs a healthy banking system in order to have …

Just a reminder to file your taxes this weekend if you haven’t already. And as an added bonus, Money Crashers is putting 3 Apple iPads up for grabs to anyone who files their taxes online as part of its 2010 Online Tax Filing Giveaway. And even if you’ve already filed, you can still enter for a chance to win as long as you sign up and send them your tax confirmation e-mail.

So it’s pretty cool, just for filing your taxes online, you’ve got a shot at one of those snazzy …

We are a headline society.  We have a low attention span and are constantly being pulled in many different directions.  Whether it’s Lebron James, American Idol, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, the Apple iPad, they all want your attention.  As such, most Americans get their news and information these days from a headline.  As soon as the headline is read, on to the next more interesting topic.
The problem with this style of information processing is that the headlines rarely provide us with economic reality today.  Whether it’s the stock market cheerleading, …

The key to making money online is getting traffic to your blog.  You can monetize traffic in a variety of ways, but first you need the traffic.  So, how can you ensure that people will come to your blog?  Most sites will tell you quality content, quality content, quality content.  Well, what the heck does that mean exactly?  I’m going to outline a specific idea for a specific type of quality content that I believe is one of the best approaches you can target for getting people to visit and …

Interesting article out recently on the tax data coming in for this year.  The article discusses how 50% of American households will pay zero federal income taxes this year.  Depending on your point of view, this might be a good or bad thing.
The most interesting part of the article is at the end describing exactly how a family of four making $50,000 can pay zero income taxes.
The family was entitled to a standard deduction of $11,400 and four personal exemptions of $3,650 apiece, leaving a taxable income of $24,000. The …

If you haven’t figured this out yet, readers, then learn this now.  Public policy isn’t perfect.  While many politicians might have honest and good intentions with their legislative powers (and others may not), the result will never be perfect.  The government will never fill your needs entirely no matter what they promise.
So, most of you probably already figure this.  So, why bring it up?  Well, because you must fill the gaps where policy is failing and will continue to fail.  Your financial security, your overall security will need to be …

Kevin,
I have been reading your blog (through RSS) regularly for several months now, and your quality content and regularly increasing revenue streams are truly inspirational.
I have been thinking about starting a blog (or two) for months now, and have some ideas about initial material, but don’t have a definitive resource on how to get started the right way.
Can you point me to any non-BS references online or to some books that describe how to avoid beginner’s pitfalls?
I’m also extremely interested in your partnership program.
Look forward to working with you.
Kevin Replies: …