The Raging Tech

Is It Still Safe to Invest in Stocks?

With the stock market as a whole plummeting to dire straits, you would think it would be time to bail out before you lose all your assets, right? Wrong. That’s the problem facing the market right now: a self-perpetuating failure. People see the market plummet, so they’re taking out their money and causing it to plummet more. 

Taking your money out of the market isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you could be missing out on some fantastic opportunities. The stock market isn’t going to be in the dumps forever, and even the best financial analysts are hesitant still to use the “R” word. Prices are dropping, and this may very well be the best time to buy. All that money had to go somewhere when people sold their stocks, which means somebody made off like a bandit. 

If you’re not sure where to begin investing, or maybe you’re already investing and want some help from financially experienced people, check out Inner8.com. It’s like MySpace for investors. You can read and vote on people’s stock picks and financial advice, and make high-rated analysts your friends in your Inner 8 circle of trusted advisors. 

The big investment firms and stock brokers are all going bankrupt, because they were greedy and made bad choices. The technology available now is better than it ever was for making smart forecasts about stock trades. Combine that with a community of investors, and you’ve got a formula for financial success. Inner8 is created by veterans of E*TRADE, who come with years of financial experience. Check it out if you think stocks could still be your avenue for successful investing!

Shop For a New Credit Card Online

There are lots of people who play the credit card game - using it to their benefit and not just their downfall. A lot of people are firm believers in not using credit at all, except for maybe a house or student loans. It is a smart idea to save up cash to buy the things you want, but what about the things you need?

I’ve had lots of situations in my life where maybe I blew out a tire or had to pay for something for school, or needed emergency gas money to get home to my family for a funeral or something similar. Sometimes you run into these unexpected situations, and even the most savvy of people who have savings accounts and emergency funds may find that they don’t have enough when the need arises.

If you’re responsible and don’t abuse credit cards, you might find that you can improve on your current interest rate just by calling your credit card company and asking for it. If they won’t do it, call up another company and tell them what you’ve got and what you’d like to be offered. Once you have the offer, you could either accept it and do a balance transfer (many banks do this with a 0% interest rate for 12 months) or take the offer and call your company back and use it as leverage.

Whether you’re new to credit cards or just looking for a lower interest rates, or a rewards card, or just a different bank to deal with, you can comparison shop online by reading up on credit card reviews and find the one that best fits your finances. If you travel a lot, you might want an airline rewards card. Or if you talk on the phone a lot, you might want one that gives you free long distance minutes.

Be responsible, don’t buy things you don’t need on credit, and pay off balances as early and as soon as you can without making yourself stressed out.