Financial Illiteracy is Rampant Among College Students

While building credit and maintaining a good credit history remains a necessary tool for Americans in order to provide financial opportunities such as obtaining a loan for a mortgage or to make other large purchases, recent studies revealed that many Americans do not have any credit and in many cases do not even know what a credit score is.

In a recent survey of 668 Bay Area college students containing questions about consumer credit and how it effects financial decisions conducted by LendEDU, the results revealed that 59.3 percent of respondents could not produce a broad definition of a credit score.

“Our survey wasn’t limited only to individuals with student debt,” LendEDU CEO Nate Matherson said. “Unfortunately, we found that the majority of current college students know very little about building and maintaining consumer credit. Our results are once again startling, disturbing, and showcase the appalling level of financial illiteracy among our country’s brightest minds.”

The results of the survey were in line with the findings of a study released last May by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) which found that approximately 26 million American adults (about 10 percent) were “credit invisible,” or in other words, they do not have a credit history or not enough of a credit history to produce a score with any of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, or Transunion).

"A limited credit history can create real barriers for consumers looking to access the credit that is often so essential to meaningful opportunity—to get an education, start a business, or buy a house,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said. “Further, some of the most economically vulnerable consumers are more likely to be credit invisible."

Despite the importance of building and maintaining a good credit history, the Council of Economic Education (CEE) stated in its 2016 annual report that only 17 states require high school students to take a course in personal finance. There are no such requirements in California, the location of the LendEDU survey.

The survey showed that 42.5 percent of respondents did not believe that student debt was important in determining a credit score—and this despite the fact that seven out of every 10 college graduates leave campus with an average of $30,000 in student loan debt. Also, 42.4 percent of respondents could not name even one way to improve a credit score. Nearly half (45.5 percent) of respondents could not identify even one factor used to determine a credit score; 65 percent said they did not have a credit card in their own name; and 72 percent of the respondents who did have a credit card said they did not know their credit score.

Click here to see the full results of the LendEDU survey.

Americans Are Cohabitating in New Ways

Financial Advice from Warren Buffet

Warren Buffet is often ranked among the top 5 richest men in the world. His fortune is estimated at around 50 billion dollars, 99% of which he intends to give to charity after his death. This self made billionaire often gives advice to the top leaders of the world. Let's take a look at some of his wise words:

On Reputation It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.  On his most basic rules Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.  On sources of income Never count on a single income. Make investments to create additional sources of revenue. On spending If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon have to sell things you do need. On saving Don't save what you have left after spending, but spend what you have left after saving. On taking risks Never measure the depth of a river with both legs. On honesty Honesty is a very expensive thing, don't expect it from cheap people. On inheritance A rich man must leave his children enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing. On ideas You do things when the opportunities come along. I've had periods in my life when I've had a bundle of ideas come along, and I've had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I'll do something. If not, I won't do a damn thing.  On the trickle theory The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we'll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.  On investing in the future Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.  On Habits Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.  On becoming rich I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute.  On learning from betters It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction.   On price and value Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.  On taxes for the rich If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further. But I think that people at the high end - people like myself - should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it.  On challenges I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.  On being rich Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.  On risk Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing. On wall street Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.  On how he invests I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.  On hindsight In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.  On ponzi schemes Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.  On learning from history If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.  On healing the economy  Economic medicine that was previously meted out by the cupful has recently been dispensed by the barrel. These once unthinkable dosages will almost certainly bring on unwelcome after-effects. Their precise nature is anyone's guess, though one likely consequence is an onslaught of inflation.

 

The Ultimate Memory Test

Memory is a tricky thing. It's so hard to know if we actually have a good memory or not. It's one of those things that improves the more you test it and practice using it. Before you is the ultimate memory quiz - to ace it would place you in the upper 1% of the world's population. Don't worry if you don't make the cut though - you can also be in the upper 25, 50 or 99% range! Are you ready?

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Stronger than Expected February Hiring Lifts Market Confidence

Supports Momentum of Commercial Real Estate

March 8, 2016

• Employers demonstrated the strength of the U.S. labor market in February as it continued to shrug off lingering global economic uncertainty and softness in oil and gas industries. Jobs were created in multiple service sectors of the economy and at government agencies during the month, helping to maintain gauges of labor market capacity at tight levels. While wage growth continues to search for a stimulus that will impart greater traction, the U.S. labor market nonetheless appears in sound condition in advance of a Federal Reserve meeting in March.

• U.S. employers added 242,000 positions in February, and upward revisions were made to the preceding two months. Job growth during February also left the unemployment rate unchanged but reduced the under-employment rate to 9.7 percent, the lowest reading in nearly eight years. Employment sectors requiring considerable interaction with consumers grew substantially during the month. Recently hired employees continue to land on healthcare rolls, supporting a gain of approximately 57,000 healthcare workers. Retailers, meanwhile, created nearly 55,000 jobs, primarily at food and beverage stores, while changes in lifestyles that favor dining out supported hiring at bars and restaurants that accounted for most of the 48,000 leisure and hospitality jobs created.

• A sizable volume of multifamily and hotel projects, and a resurgence in other commercial property development, is spurring growth in construction payrolls. Builders brought on 19,000 new employees in February, primarily in subcontracting trades. Despite the gain, a shortage of workers leaves subcontractor employment nearly 700,000 positions below the pre-recession peak, thereby straining the ability of developers to staff new projects and placing upward pressure on costs. An index of construction costs rose in February and is up 2.2 percent from one year earlier.

• Elevated completions will place upward pressure on U.S. apartment vacancy in 2016, while the rising costs of building will sharpen developers’ focus on higher-end, amenity-rich projects that offer returns that align with the required investment. Class A apartment construction in a few major metros will account for a large portion of the 285,000 units slated for delivery this year and contribute to an uptick in national vacancy to 4.2 percent. Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and New York City headline the list of major metros due for significant supply growth this year.

• Professional and business services, and financial services maintained a steady pace of growth in February, adding a combined 29,000 positions. As new workers are hired, the amount of underutilized spaces in office buildings continues to dwindle. Further staff expansions may necessitate a reconsideration of tenants’ space requirements, providing a lift to space demand as leases for larger layouts are executed and move-ins take place. New space demand will trim U.S. office vacancy to 14.8 percent in 2016, while the average rent will increase 3.9 percent.

Marcus & Millichap

Complaining Can Kill You

On the other hand, a positive attitude could by your redemption:

Did you know that if you complain about things frequently, you could actually be digging yourself an early grave? There is actual science to back this up, and what's even more astounding is the fact that you can actually shape your own reality with your thoughts. Read on to find out about the science of happiness:   1.  “Synapses that fire together wire together.” Synapses are structures that are present throughout the brain. They act as message relays for thoughts, speech and movement. When a thought pops into your head, a synapse fires a chemical across a tiny gap to another synapse. In other words, an electrical signal is built across a bridge in your brain. Every time the above occurs, your synapses grow closer together, meaning that the distance between them is reduced, allowing them to pass on the electrical signal quicker. The brain basically rewires its own circuitry, which means that your thoughts reshape your brain – literally.   2.  Shortest Path Wins the Race. The synapses that bond most strongly together in your brain actually form your default personality – from your intelligence, to your skills and aptitude at different tasks in different situations. Furthermore, they determine what your most easily-accessible thoughts are, which has a great bearing on your conversational skills. The more a thought is repeated in your head, the closer together you bring the synapses that pass it on. The thought that wins the race inside your brain is the one that has the least distance to travel between synapses. 3.  Acceptance vs. Regret, Drift vs. Desire, Love vs. Fear. Whenever the opportunity arises for us to think a reactive thought, you’re generally faced with the following choices: Love versus Fear; Acceptance versus Regret; Drift versus Desire, or Optimism versus Pessimism. Taking the first example, you can choose to love everything in life while relinquishing your need for control. If you approach everything in your life from a perspective of love and do not try to control what you cannot, then you have nothing to fear. According to Buddhist philosophy, the universe itself is a place of suffering and chaos, thus our attempts to exert control over what goes on within it are nothing but futile. Practicing acceptance of the natural flow of life, giving thanks for each experience you have and every lesson you learn, will result in the synapses in your brain that represent love having a much higher chance of being triggered before those associated with sadness, regret, pessimism, fear, depression and so on. Repeatedly approaching situations from an optimistic and loving perspective will turn your default mental state into one of optimism and appreciation. With the above being said, you must note that this isn’t a fool-proof practice. Sometimes the burden of emotion weighs too heavily on us, and being in a negative state of mind from time to time is just a part of life. However, just like any muscle in your body, you will see the results you want through regular, repeated exercise – you’ll garner a new, innate strength, which will permeate your world with beauty.   4. Mirror-Neurons While it may be a revelation to you that you can actually shape your own reality with your thoughts, the thoughts of those around you can contribute greatly to it as well. When we observe someone experiencing a specific emotion, our brain tests out the emotion we perceive in order for us to try and understand what that person is going through. This is the basis of empathy, which although contains a whole world of good in itself, is also something that can have negative effects. Think of a mob mentality – when collective anger influences others to pick up their pitchforks against the common enemy, or listening to that annoying friend of yours who berates everyone and everything to gain some self-validation. In the latter instance, you find yourself reluctantly agreeing with them that yes, what they’re complaining about really is unfair or just a load of baloney. The fact of the matter is that life is chaotic. If you continue to let the chaos that surrounds you influence you, then you’re shaping your brain in such a way that your default, short-path personality will become bitter and jaded, rather than loving and optimistic. Spend time with people that elevate you – that are happy and full of love, rather than people that make you live in fear of being invalidated. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t help out friends who are going through a hard time, nor does it mean that you cannot critique the world’s failings and injustices. After all, positive change usually requires critical thought.   5. Stress is a killer.  Negativity, regret, attachment to desire and pointless complaining about things that don’t really matter will ultimately kill you. Although this point might seem drastic, all of these things ultimately lead to stress. When your brain is working away, firing angry synapses, your immune system gets weakened as a result and you'd be putting yourself at risk of a whole range of health problems. The human stress hormone is called cortisol, and it’s somewhat of a public enemy in the medical profession. Elevated cortisol levels cause a decline in learning and memory, a decrease in immune function and bone density, an increase in weight gain, a rise in blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and a higher susceptibility to heart disease. These are just a few of the ailments that can be brought on by cortisol.   The Bottom Line The universe is a chaotic place, and you happen to live in it. Each and every moment that you go through in your life has the potential to spawn other moments, ranging anywhere from soul-crushing grief, all the way to spirit-soaring bliss. The choice of where the majority of your future moments lie on that scale is really up to you. Decide whether you’re going to live in Love or Fear. It’s obvious that life will always present you with moments of hardship, such as the passing of a loved one, the end of a romance or a failure in professional or academic life, but you don’t have to live in regret of them when they do present themselves. Don’t feed these moments with negative attention – doing so will just make you cynical and jaded, blinding you to the fact that your very existence means you live in a cosmic playground, where you get to be the master of your own destiny through the choices you make. When faced with a tough situation, be accepting of it. Say yes, this was horrible, but what have I learned from going through it? How is it going to make me a better person? How can I take strength from this so I can be closer to happiness in the next moment? An example of the above is when a relationship ends. If there’s something your ex used to do that drove you completely mad, you have the gift of knowing in the present not to waste any time on people who behave with you in the same way your ex used to.  Be mindful of the lessons you learn from your failures. Each day can be better than the one before it. Try something new every single day, live in love over fear, and strive to make your life better. The more you do these things, the more you will see how beautiful life really is, and ultimately, the happier you will be. Content Source: Psychpedia

Is Your Brain More Male Or Female?

We've all heard of the  debate regarding male brains versus the female brains, but the truth of the matter is that we carry traits that correlate with both sexes, regardless of whether we are male or female ourselves. How far does your brain makeup lean toward the opposite sex? Take this fun quiz to find out:

China: It’s Worse Than You Think

China’s stock market tanked badly again last week, and is now down over 40 percent since June 2015. It might be easy to minimize this and conclude that China’s unwary stock market investors have now simply paid for their profligacy. It’s easy to think that China’s economy has just hit a bump in the road and will now endure a further slowing and perhaps a few of years of pain but remain on its path of good growth.

But it’s a lot worse than that as today’s Chinese GDP report suggests. China grew at a rate of 6.9 percent in 2015, its slowest pace in 25 years—only adding to mounting global concerns about China’s economy. My view is that this published rate likely overstates China’s actual current growth rate.

I wrote about China’s impending economic calamity back in 2014 in my book,The Next Economic Disaster, and elaborated on this prediction in an article inDemocracy in February 2015. My analysis was centered on private (non-governmental) debt. Economically, what you need to know about private debt is that 1) when a country’s private debt to GDP ratio is low, private debt growth is especially effective in helping to power growth; 2) when that ratio gets higher and private debt grows too rapidly, the result is almost always a severe, calamitous financial crisis; and 3) the residual high private debt levels actually suppress growth since the private sector has to divert income away from investment and spending and toward paying down its private debt.

Runaway private debt growth (defined in larger countries as roughly 20 percent of GDP or more over five straight years) led to essentially all financial crises—including the 2008 crisis in the U.S. and Europe, Japan’s 1991 crisis, the Crash of 1929, and many others. Why? This runaway lending leads to so much overbuilding and overproduction that growth has to be severely curbed in order for demand to catch up, with far too many bad loans made in the process.

The analysis on China is straightforward. The runaway growth in private (non-governmental) debt in China from 2008 to the present dwarfs anything that has ever happened in global economic history. China’s private debt has grown by a massive $16.3 trillion, creating as much as $3 trillion in bad debt in the process. The result is a country littered with ghost cities and piles of commodities including iron and steel. The inevitable bust has begun.

But why will things in China continue to get worse? Because China hasn’t learned anything. China’s private debt growth has reaccelerated to a runaway pace—$805 billion during the last reported quarter alone—and China’s businesses are still overbuilding and overproducing, prodded and aided by China’s government itself. All on top of the years and years worth of overcapacity that already exists.

It’s unprecedented. With almost 50 million empty houses and with big inventories of major commodities, China’s lenders, builders, and manufacturers are still going for more. As one small example, the world, led by China, is still on track to produce as much as 40 percent more iron and steel than it needs this year.

Instead of curbing production and letting real, organic demand catch up with its oversupply—which is the unavoidable requirement to begin rectifying these problems—China is exacerbating this oversupply, ensuring that the eventual reckoning will be all the more difficult. The reason is that its primary concern has long been unemployment, and continuing to produce keeps people employed. Also, continuing to produce allows China to post better GDP growth numbers—they get GDP credit for building a house whether they sell it or not. And perhaps more telling, this is the only strategy China knows—it’s the same one they’ve been using for 30 years.

What will this pain look like? It will be a decade of downward pressure on non-agricultural commodity prices, a deceleration of China’s growth rate to a level near zero, the near-failure of lending institutions (though China has proved a master of propping up insolvent banks), and a potential acceleration of political unrest. If that isn’t enough, all will be accompanied by crisis or near-crisis throughout the Asia-Pacific region, Africa, and South America. In fact, the greater risk may be to all those economies that became dependent on Chinese demand, invariably building their capacity through high growth in private debt.

China is a big part of the oil equation as well, and its decelerating net demand for oil will likely keep prices in the $30 to $40 per barrel range, or lower for some time absent a full-blown war.

Stocks are generally a symptom rather than a cause, and the Shanghai Composite Index, with a price-earnings ratio of 16 (the Dow is currently at 14), has a valuation that is no longer in the stratosphere. However, grave uncertainty about China’s economy and the fragility of China’s corporate earnings, nestled inside the shaky foundation of Chinese accounting standards, could keep China’s stock markets in a troubled mode for some time.

The inevitable slowdown in China is made worse by the fact that there is no other major economy able to pick up the economic growth baton by expanding private debt. Together, the United States, Europe, Japan, and China add up to almost 65 per cent of world GDP. Runaway private debt growth led to Japan’s economic miracle of the 1980s and crash in the 1990s, and it still has residual high private debt levels from this boom that are stultifying its growth rates to near-zero levels 25 years later. Runaway private debt growth led to booms and then busts in the United States and Europe in the 2000s, and the residual high private leverage now impedes their growth.

Now China has had its private debt binge as well and is entering its bust phase. That means that all four of the world’s major drivers of global growth—the United States, Europe, Japan, and China—are now laden with private debt and are facing years of lackluster growth, ensuring long-term downward pressure on commodity prices and interest rates.

The United States will be the least harmed by China of all major countries, but China’s economy, now second largest in the world, is so large that we too will feel at least some of their pain.

The recipe to fix this is obvious. It requires widespread private debt restructuring, recapitalization of lenders, and then time itself to allow for demand to absorb this oversupply. But it goes unheeded—very few agree with or are focused on these things, and instead China is trying the timeworn (and futile) trick of attempting to stimulate continued growth through government intervention.

BY RICHARD VAGUE

  FROM JANUARY 19, 2016

Who Do You Love?

13 Important Steps to Truly Loving Yourself

One of the most important thing everyone needs to learn in this life is to love themselves. Not simply loving, but loving without conditions. It doesn't mean being egotistical, it means forgiving yourself when you make mistakes (after all, you’re human). It means appreciating what's good about yourself. It also means being able to love others with all your heart, because your heart knows what true love is. These 13 mental exercises will set you on the right path to truly loving yourself. 1. Remind yourself what you love about you Many allow their mistakes to rule their lives rather than their triumphs. The first thing you must remind yourself of is how great you are. When you know your own value, the world recognizes it too. Remember that you are often a mirror for the world around you – when you’re angry at someone’s mistake, you recognize that mistake in yourself. The same goes the other way as well – your love for others is a reflection of your love for yourself. Remind yourself of all that is wonderful about you, and trust me, the world will see it too.

2. You can plan for the future, but you have to live in the moment There is a saying that goes: “People make plans and God laughs”. Even if you try to plan each step in your life ahead of time, there are always surprises and opportunities, and if you don’t pay attention – they might just pass you by. Live in the now, enjoy what you have, it might be gone tomorrow.

3. Approval is important, but you are more important You don’t have to be one of the herd, and you don’t need permission to be who you are. You are your own person, and if people around you can’t accept that – it’s their problem, not yours. It doesn’t mean that you need to be egocentric, but you do need to remember it's not a crime to put your own needs first sometimes.

4. Remove harmful influences If you have people in your life that are constantly taking you in the wrong direction, or treat you with disrespect or worse – cut them loose. If you want to stop smoking, don’t hang around people who keep offering you cigarettes. The people in your life should support you and appreciate you for who you are. Quality over quantity!

Source

5. Forgive yourself for past mistakes We all make mistakes, some big, some small. The most important thing is to be able to forgive yourself for these mistakes.  Remember that your mistakes don’t define you, they just make you human. Most importantly, you come away with a lesson. But the most important thing to keep in mind is - we ALL make mistakes, each and every day. We can all be a little better, a little stronger or faster or wiser. Do what you can, and forgive yourself for the rest.

6. Change what you know needs to be changed If there’s something you enjoyed doing but now takes all your energy away, it may be time to stop doing it. By sticking to old habits from pure inertia, you end up stuck in the same place, never making any progress. Keep doing what makes you happy and gives you energy, and avoid things that don’t empower you. Don't be afraid of change, it may be hard in the short-term, but in the long-term, nothing is more important than you finding satisfaction in this life.

7. Do (at least) one thing that makes you happy every day Sounds corny, right? And yet how many of us forget to take a happy moment for ourselves? Between work, family obligations, paying bills, and so on, we lose track of what makes us happy and can spend days, and even weeks without doing something that truly delights us. Despite what some might tell you, everybody needs their “me time”, where they devote their time to something that brings them joy. There’s nothing selfish about taking care of your own needs. This is what gives you the energy to spend on others the rest of the time.

8. Don’t be afraid of new things and new opportunities Instead of fearing the unknown, embrace it. You’ll learn more about yourself and may even discover a hidden talent. The future is littered with possibilities, so don’t squander yours. Life is dull if you stick to the same set of actions. Try things that scare you and find out how many different colors and tastes life has to offer, if you are willing to take that brave step. And it is brave, because change is hard. But it's also what makes us feel most alive.

9. Listen to your gut feelings and don’t lie to yourself A person who speaks with integrity has a powerful presence. Leave the storytelling for bedtime. Once you’re honest with yourself, you can also listen to your own advice. We often lie to ourselves, break promises and disappoint ourselves in ways we would never inflict on others. It's important to treat yourselves with the same respect and commitment you give so freely to others.

10. Believe in yourself! "Oh, back to corny again," you may be thinking. That doesn't matter, because if you don't believe in yourself, eventually no one will. People believe you know yourself best, and if you keep putting yourself down and doubting your own strengths, so will others. So hold your head up high, and don't be ashamed to feel proud, to go for what you want without fear of failure. You have power and abilities, so believe you can use them to achieve your goals.

11. In your life’s story, you’re the writer, not the reader So often in life it seems we are being dictated the course of our day, as if a giant hand is tossing us about from event to responsibility. Get ahead of the game, try to put yourself in positions where you set the tone of your day, and you decide where you'd like to take it. Remember that others are feeling this way too. We're all fighting to lead our lives instead of being led by them. Be pro-active and show the world you can take control of your day and lead it, instead of being led.

12. Be present in your life, you don’t get another chance Living in the moment is not the same as being present. Being present means paying attention to what is happening. It means appreciating the full significance of what is happening to you and around you. Life is more than just the moments you experience and remember; it’s every second of every day. You are alive all the time, every breath, every step. So once in a while, lift your head up, look around you and try to be present in this moment, to FEEL it, sense it and love it, as a moment in time that belongs to your life story.

13. Always make an effort to be kind and loving You don’t need to believe in Karma to know that good deeds come back to you. Kindness is its own reward, but it also comes back to you, sometimes twice-fold. Be kind and forgiving, be inclusive and thankful. And most importantly, try not to judge before you know the whole story. People will appreciate that about you and confide in you, while you'll learn to appreciate that side of yourself that people can trust.