This economy is no stranger to financial burdens. We are finding out how fast the mighty really can fall. If the mighty can fall so quickly, it is no wonder that some of us are falling. Sometimes you just have to do what you just have to do in order to financially survive this recession. Just do not do anything hastily, especially things that might hurt retirement or savings.

When financial times get tough, so do the decisions people have to make. Sometimes people have to figure out how they will get the money to pay the bills and sometimes people have to decide what bills they are going to pay this month. In that quest for extra cash, you should be very careful raiding the retirement funds. “This can be the most expensive cash you’ll ever withdraw,” says Ed Slott, an accountant in Rockville Centre, N.Y., whose specialty is retirement.

Early withdrawal of retirement savings from that IRA or that 401k can mean massive penalties and taxes. Unfortunately, to try to minimize this, it is suggested that you work with a financial advisor or accountant that specializes in retirement savings. The federal government usually charges a 10% penalty on money withdrawn from a 401k or IRA by those under retirement age (considered 59 ½).

Withdrawals of earnings and deductible contributions are subject to federal income taxes plus any taxes charged by your state and local jurisdictions. If you live in California, an early-withdrawal fee will be charged by the state. In a Roth IRA, contributions can always be withdrawn without penalty, but earnings can be taxed and penalized to the content of the government(s) that have jurisdiction over you (likely government, state, and local). This does not even count the fees to pay any advisor you may work with.

For people still investing in their company’s 401(k) plan and under retirement age, withdrawals generally are not even permitted unless labor there is terminated. There are, however, certain “hardship” exemptions which are strictly adhered to legally, including medical expenses, avoiding foreclosure on a home or funeral costs. Even so, those exemptions are still heavily taxed and penalized.

IRA rules are more lenient, allowing hardship withdrawals without the penalty, but the money will still be subject to steep taxes. In most cases, the only way for someone in a 401k under retirement age to avoid the penalties and taxes is to borrow from the 401k account. These loans can’t be more than 50% of the balance of the account or total more than $50,000. Here is the rub, though: it must be paid off within five years.

“Some companies will allow in-service withdrawals only for severe hardships; others don’t bother imposing restrictions,” says Frank Palmieri, a Princeton, N.J., benefits attorney. Anyone considering withdrawing money from a retirement account should consider it nearly mandatory to sit down with an accountant. You’ll want to consider the taxes and penalties hit which should be factored into how much money is withdrawn.

While specifics were not disclosed in full, Clear Channel did say that the job cuts would come from engineering, customer service, and accounting jobs.

This is the second wave of layoffs this year from Clear Channel, more than 1,800 positions in the radio division were eliminated in January. Even with the layoffs, the company still has a workforce of more than 22,000.

So it seems as though if you are an employee of Clear Channel right now at least you have a job, but its going to be cutting corners wherever it can to reduce costs. The reduction in costs is obviously at the expense of employees.

While Freddie Mac has been extremely criticized for its shady business practices and has often been linked to the cause of the financial meltdown, there really is never a reason for someone to take such drastic steps to escape from the company.

Kellermann was only 41 years old and had been with Freddie Mac for more than 16 years. He was serving as senior vice president, corporate controller and principal accounting officer. He was named acting CFO in September 2008.

The hike is said to affect those who carry a balance and have an interest rate below 10 percent. They can expect their interest rate to climb into the double digits starting with June account statements.

Recently the federal government limited how the credit card companies could raise rates. The problems is that the rule doesn’t take effect until July 2010. Congress is trying to make these rules go into effect sooner, but not in time for the Bank of America increase.

So if you don’t carry a balance or you have an interest rate higher than 10% you should be ok.

Those who are unable to find work may be turning to school as well. Over the course of one year the University of Dundee had an increase in student applications of 16.5 percent. The increase in student applications means there will most likely be an increase in student loan applications.

College is supposed to be one of the most integral parts of life. It is supposed to be when a child leaves their parents’ homes and discovers the world on their own for the very first time. It is not supposed to be a time when they are worried about what kind of job, if any job at all, they will be getting in four years when they graduate.

When these students graduate college in 4-5 years what will the job market hold for them? It is tough to say, but what is certain is that these students will face a mountain of student loan debt.

As unemployment numbers suggest, current and upcoming graduates are having a difficult time finding work. Accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has recently had an increase in applicants in its Edinburgh office of 59% for any open positions.

These graduates are not only having a hard time finding work, but they are also going to start facing their student loans soon. Student loan billing is typically deferred until six months after graduation. Once those six months are up, students will begin to be billed for the loans they incurred while in school and without income, that can be difficult.

In the UK, the average unsecured household debt is around £9,633, secured debt increases the number to £21,750, and people are beginning to default on some of this debt. Many families are defaulting because the debt load is simply too much to bear. Judgments against those in England and Wales have risen to 223,519 in the 3rd quarter of last year. The number equals staggering 2,430 people receiving judgments daily.

Debt Free Direct is a UK based company that can help resolve some of these debt issues that families are facing. Instead of going it alone, Debt Free Direct is giving anyone in the UK free debt advice at no charge and without obligation at 0800 083 1433 or you can read more about them at: http://www.debtfreedirect.co.uk/news/threatsposedbyrisingunemployment-8277-03022009/

Are we that obsessed with Twitter that we have to update while driving?

What will it say?

“TLI_Twitter is driving to school
less than 5 seconds ago from the car”

I am unsure about that, I know that Twitter is meant to tell everyone what you’re doing all the time, but is it so necessary to tell everyone when your driving or if you see someone on the road that drives you nuts?

“While in your vehicle, you can use OnStar to submit and retrieve tweets (messages) via your Twitter account. Using OnStar’s Voice-Activated Hands-Free Calling system, and having your voice converted into text, you can provide updates which would appear in the “What are you doing?” section of your Twitter homepage. It is also possible to listen to a tweet that was sent to you by someone else after it has been converted into voice. You can send and receive tweets without having to type or read anything.”

Source

The first is a couple in a car looking at a bank giving away toxic assets with a new account:

Next up:

Jane Wellman authored a report from the Delta Cost Project to find out why and here’s what the report had to offer:

–The main reason tuition has been rising faster than college costs is that colleges had to make up for reductions in the per-student subsidy state taxpayers sent colleges. In 2006, the last year for which Wellman had data, state taxpayers sent $7,078 per student to the big public research universities. That’s $1,270 less (after accounting for inflation) than they sent in 2002.

–Public universities have been reining in overall spending per student in recent years. Flagship public universities’ spending per student has risen from about $12,400 in 1995 to $13,800 in 2006 after accounting for inflation. But since 2002, spending at public colleges has generally not exceeded inflation.

–Increases in spending were driven mostly by higher administration, maintenance, and student services costs. Public universities spent almost $4,000 per student per year on administration, support, and maintenance in 2006, up more than 13 percent, in real terms over 1995. And they spent another $1,200 a year on services such as counseling, which was up 23 percent. Meanwhile, they spent about $8,700 a year on classroom instruction for each student, up about 9 percent.

–Big private universities, powered by tuition and endowment increases, have increased spending dramatically while public schools have languished. Total educational spending per student at private research universities has jumped by almost 10 percent since 2002 to more than $33,000. During that same period, public university total spending was comparatively flat and totaled less than $14,000 a year.

Perhaps at other colleges this is the norm, but I just can’t find out where my college spends $4,000 a year on me for administration, support and maintenance, unless they are talking about keeping the lights on at the giant football stadium all night, when there is no football game going on…I get emailed from my student advisers and the administration at my college processes my financial aid every year…And some of my teachers aren’t worth the paper that their pay stub is printed on. To cut costs perhaps a university should start re-evaluating their tenured professors according to the student evaluations that are published every semester.

Source

Thanks to some "funny" accounting practices I will never get another Archway cookie. Earlier this month the company filed for bankruptcy and shut their doors.

The newly unemployed from the company were given little or no explanation for why they were fired, but were told it was "complicated." Now, it is known that fraud in accounting had a lot to do with it.

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