5:55 AM Schroder tips gold to hit $US5000

Gold prices may rise to $US5000 an ounce as investors seek to protect themselves against accelerating inflation, said Schroder Investment Management, which oversees $US277 billion of assets globally.

''You could easily see for the next several years that prices rise not to $US1000 an ounce, but prices rise to $US5000 an ounce or beyond as inflation psychology becomes more and more embedded and people become desperate to have a source of value,'' said Christopher Wyke, London-based emerging market debt and commodities product manager at Schroder, which oversees about $US10 billion of commodity assets.

Investors are turning to gold for protection as two-thirds of the world's population cope with inflation rates that are climbing to more than 10 percent, Wyke said. Cash and inflation- linked bonds are poor substitutes as low interest rates, coupled with surging inflation, erode the real value of assets, he said.

Gold futures for August delivery rose $US10.70, or 1.2%, to $US904.20 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest closing price for a most- active contract since May 28. Wyke didn't give a time frame for his gold prediction.

Demand for gold will also rise as central banks become net buyers for the first time in 20 years, driven by developing countries, he added. Last year, world production of gold sank to the lowest since 1937 as reserves are depleted and few new sources of gold have been found.

New Fund

Wyke was speaking at a press conference in Hong Kong to market the Schroder Alternative Solutions Gold and Metals Fund, the first commodity fund authorized for sale to individuals in the city that invests primarily in derivatives, including futures, warrants, swaps and options. Robert Howell and Paula Bujia will manage the fund.

Gold may account for about 40% of the fund's assets, based on a ''model'' fund used to simulate returns, said Wyke. The fund would also buy securities linked to metals including aluminum, copper, iron ore, zinc and uranium.

The limited amount of gold available, relative to the size of the global capital markets, means a small shift in investments may lead to significant price changes for the metal, Wyke said. Total gold above ground is worth about $US4.8 trillion, compared with global stock and bond markets worth $US135.2 trillion.

UBS, Hang Seng Bank, KBC Groep and Lehman Brothers are among firms that manage commodity funds in the city, according to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Bank of East Asia in February started a fund that buys shares of companies that produce materials and energy.

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5:53 AM Life after debt

Corey Rademaker is a fourth-year film studies student at the University of Manitoba who has dreams of being a screenwriter that he tempers with a healthy sense of reality. Living off of student loans, help from his parents and a part-time job, he has become adept at living at low cost.

Studying film was more of a pursuit of the heart than one of the wallet -- something Rademaker's always been aware of.

Corey Rademaker sets a daily spending limit to help balance the books.



(Joe Bryksa / Winnipeg Free Press )

"The decision to go into film was based on what I wanted to do," says the 27-year-old, who shares an apartment in Osborne Village. "I love creating characters and storylines that can be told through film."

Yet despite the daydreaming, he knows he's chosen a tough road when he graduates this fall. He says he hopes to find full-time work and take a few courses with Film Training Manitoba, but he is also resigned to likely being no better off economically in the near future than he is now.

"I'm kind of doomed to be a starving something," he jokes.

His situation isn't unique. Every year in Manitoba, thousands of post-secondary students graduate with debt accrued paying for an education. Despite having borrowed what experts call opportunistic debt -- a loan to improve oneself instead of one to purchase a luxury item -- many former students are often in worse financial shape than when they started.

In 2006, the Canadian University Survey Consortium found that more than a third of students in Manitoba had a student loan, and the average debt upon graduating was $14,800 -- though down from about $20,000 in 2000. Yet, the challenge remains.

They must find full-time, gainful employment that will not only cover living expenses but will also allow them to pay down the debt.

"It's sort of like being lost in the woods," says John LeBlanc, a credit counsellor with The Canadian Financial Wellness Group (CFWG), based in Halifax.

"You're lost; and you don't have any survival tools whatsoever. People come out of school like that."

The tendency is to feel bewildered and fearful. And that's often why people get into further debt trouble, says LeBlanc, whose business helps individuals reestablish positive relationships with creditors and promote long-term economic stability.

"The first thing (many graduates with loans) do is start digging holes and go under ground," he says, adding CFWG often does pro bono work because many clients are in such bad financial shape.

"They become gophers. They don't dodge the creditors. What it is self-preservation."

Going underground, though, will often make things worse. Debts get bigger and more daunting by the day because of interest.

"If you ignore it and hope it goes away, it won't," says John Silver, executive director of Community Financial Counselling Services, a non-profit agency that helps borrowers in trouble consolidate debts and pay back creditors in an affordable way.

"We see lots of students who have come in past the deadline and have ignored it. If you don't pay, they go to collection agencies and you get harassed."

And even for graduates who do find full-time work in a desired field, the problem doesn't end there. It can get worse. Sure they can start paying off the loan, but now the offers for credit cards start pouring in, and before they know it, they've bought thousands of dollars in goodies for their new apartment.

In itself, the spending isn't a bad thing, but quite often the way that they've gone about it is.

"Credit cards are probably the most expensive way of borrowing money to get what you want," says Silver, adding they have the highest interest rates, aside from payday loans.

"It's not a bad thing to have a credit card and pay it off every month because what you're doing is establishing a good credit record. But then, they can quickly get out of hand."

Sandra Hanna is all too familiar with the situation. After graduating with a psychology degree, she moved back to Vancouver to live with her parents. She found a job in public relations, saved up $8,000 and decided to strike out on her own.

"After a few months of being on my own, I had spent it all on clothes and furnishing my apartment," she says. But instead of simply accepting debt as an unavoidable fact of life, she got together with her friends and found out she wasn't the only one swimming in red. Taking their inspiration from Oprah's Debt Diet series, they set out to trim their expenses.

"One of the tips that I suggest for new college grads is do what we did and start with your friends a group where you start talking about your financial situation," says Hanna, 26, who with her four friends went on to found The Smart Cookies, a fledgling personal finance advice media empire with a TV program of the same name airing Wednesdays on the W Network.

Like a book club, they get together, drink wine and discuss finances, leaving no gory detail untold, and share solutions. It has turned out to be a lucrative social club. After two years, they had reduced their collective debt from $55,000 to $10,000. And their hard work hasn't gone unnoticed. Dishing out down-to-earth advice, they have appeared on several television programs, including Oprah. They even have book coming out this fall, titled The Smart Cookies Guide to Making More Dough.

"It's not rocket science. It's just a matter of aligning your spending with what you really want to have in your life." And, of course, sticking to it -- for which your friends in the club will hold you accountable.

It's advice that many university students can easily understand, since for many, budgeting is nothing new.

"I have a little book that I write it all down in," says Rademaker, who has become a disciplined spender while in school. "I actually figure it out right down to my daily spending limits -- like I have $10 per day to spend for the next two weeks."

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5:42 AM UK Debt Management – Come Out Of The Financial Mess

With a larger section of the UK population languishing under debts, it has become inevitable that they opt for debt management. They are provided with crucial tips for finding out the solution of the existing financial problems. But ensure that the remedy is adequate and makes you free of the burden in few years.

Usually, it is not possible for the debtors to have control of their monthly outgoings to old unsecured loans, credit cards, store cards and other bills, as they are not well versed in the ways of managing the old payments. Thus, the UK people have to rely on the experts of the field. These experts can be contacted through the companies who are providing the help. You can contact the companies on internet.

Just as you apply for UK Debt Management, after finding one such suitable company, it will contact you and take charge of your old payments. After assessing the situation, it can offer you various plans to come out of the financial mess.

However, usually you are given an affordable repayment plan that takes into account your earnings and expenses. This means that the repayment can be easily made through your existing monthly earnings. Then, the company can contact your various creditors for lowering the interest rates on your old unsecured loans and credit cards. Thus, your monthly outgoings are reduced to larger extent.

Then, you can offer a low monthly payment to the company, which will disburse it to your various creditors. One can say that you have consolidated monthly payments to number of creditors under the new company that is offering you UK debt management. Ensure that your creditors are being paid back regularly. Go through the terms and condition of such a company minutely before settling for one and stick to the repayment plan for keeping out of the financial trouble.

Rave Blackburn is a well known author and has been writing content for UK Debt Management. His content is worth reading as it gives you an insight about different aspects
of UK debt management, credit card debt management, debt management programs, debt management service.


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5:37 AM Show Me The Money!

I received my pay rise letter late last week, and I'll be getting a 6.5% raise starting the 15th July, which is a healthy increase considering the current economic environment.
Since July 2007, my salary has increased by 21%, not too shabby! I went after and got a promotion last October which really helped that number along, but I've done well in that new role and have been rewarded accordingly, if I do say so myself.
I spent the weekend (no, not the whole weekend – what do you think I'm like?) tossing around what I should do with it against what I really want to do with it. I’m happy with the compromise I've decided.

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5:34 AM Savings

Emergency Fund: $1,985.32 (+104.67) - Regularly budgeted contribution plus a little interest. I'm calling this fully funded even though we're a few dollars short of my $2000 goal. Hopefully interest can make up that slack in the next few months. I'm moving the monthly budgeted $100 contribution from this account to the Christmas savings until that is fully funded. Then I'll have to decide if I want to snowflake that budgeted $100 to debt or keep building the emergency fund or some third option like maybe rebuilding the Christmas fund for Christmas 2009?

Short Term Savings: $595.33 (+111.04) - $90 down for some medical bills and then $150 up from the garage sale and $50 up from the regular monthly budgeted contribution. All in all, not bad. This account is already $408 down this month however to pay for my NM plane ticket. The rest of the money in this account is earmarked for hotel room, rental car, food and souvenirs for NM so by the end of the month, it'll probably be pretty depleted. That's OK though, that's what this account is for! The plan is to rebuild it to purchase a Garmin GPS/heart rate monitor for Chuck (and me). After that I'd like to save again to purchase a treadmill for myself.

Anniversary Savings: $254.34 (+20.59) - Made regularly budgeted contribution plus a little interest. It's going to take a long time at this rate to go on any trips! When we are debt free I'll start contributing a little more to this fund. We are so going to Hawaii in 2012!

Christmas Savings: $604.09 (+1.46) - Nothing contributed this month but a little interest. This month the $100 from the monthly budget will go here instead of the emergency fund. This should enable us to meet our $1200 goal for Christmas 2008. Yes, that may sound high but we have grandparents, parents, siblings, friends and children all to buy for plus an upscale Christmas Eve dinner to host and all that has to come out of this budget. Whatever is left over will be held for Christmas 2009. You can never start saving too early!

Our NCN chart went from 40.45% to 45.79% this month! Nice increase! Chug, chug, chug. Time to keep moving along!


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5:30 AM Debts:

CC debt: $0.00 - No new credit card debt this month. This should be a recurring sentiment here from now on!

HELOC: $13,767.93 (-142.18) - Regularly budgeted minimum payment made. One more monthly minimum and then this one gets the snowball treatment! I haven't moved this to a 0% credit card yet either. Something is telling me to hold back on that.

Student Loans: $1.300.47 (-1,344.14) - We paid another huge chunk to the student loan this month! If we could do that again this month, we'd knock it out! As it is, I project us paying $1034 to this debt this month, more if we can squeeze it out of the budget. Either way, August is just around the corner and that is a three paycheck month for me so not only will this debt be long gone but we should get a nice jump start on the HELOC!

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5:35 AM The Re-Balancing of the 401k

I wanted to put out a quick note to readers to ask for your help in telling me what direction you want to see the site head in the future. Primarily, I think most people come for either Personal Finance topics or Investing topics. I'd like to understand if there's a strong preference for one over the other or if you actually enjoy both topics. Additionally, of late, I've seen a lot of traffic related to ShopToEarn, but I've moved on to new topics after closing that chapter. This begs the question of whether I should split out a new blog geared toward one niche or the other or whether I should just continue to post diverse content here. It also highlights that if 90% of the visitors are here for one topic or the other, perhaps I should shift gears and focus more on one segment.

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5:26 AM Everyday Finance - Readers Speak

I wanted to put out a quick note to readers to ask for your help in telling me what direction you want to see the site head in the future. Primarily, I think most people come for either Personal Finance topics or Investing topics. I'd like to understand if there's a strong preference for one over the other or if you actually enjoy both topics. Additionally, of late, I've seen a lot of traffic related to ShopToEarn, but I've moved on to new topics after closing that chapter. This begs the question of whether I should split out a new blog geared toward one niche or the other or whether I should just continue to post diverse content here. It also highlights that if 90% of the visitors are here for one topic or the other, perhaps I should shift gears and focus more on one segment.

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