The Sun's Financial Diary

An old adage might say that ignorance is bliss, but in actuality it rarely is. And when it comes to your money, it never is. The good news is that with a little effort it can be easy to educate yourself and truly become your own best advisor and your budget’s best advocate. Start by [...]

One of the more intriguing stories coming out of Capitol Hill recently has been the struggle over whether or not Ben Bernanke will (or perhaps more importantly should) be nominated for a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. To briefly recap events, President Obama announced in late 2009 that he would nominate Bernanke [...]

This time last year, I created a list to track failed banks in 2009. On January 23, 2009 when I wrote the post, there was a total of 3 bank failures. At that time, I also compared 2009 with 2008, the first full year of this recession when 25 banks were shut down. I was [...]

Ally Bank is expanding its business, adding Ally Bank Interest Checking Account to its product line that already includes high-yield online savings account and CDs (regular CDs and 9-Month No Penalty CD). The checking account currently offers two interest rates depending on the account balance (effective 03/20/2012): For balance up to $15,000, the APY is [...]

Listen to almost every politician and you’ll likely hear a similar theme coming from their mouths – lower taxes. And why not? Telling taxpayers that you’re going to lower their tax bill is how you win elections. But there’s a stark reality that America is facing right now. The low tax rates that Americans have [...]

The reasons behind stockpiling items at home are clear: savings and convenience. Only problem is, finding where in the world to stash it all and how exactly to go about doing it. Chances are if you could really benefit from the savings that stockpiling can offer, than storage space is likely an issue. It has [...]

The Capitalist Curriculum gives online personal finance courses that are among the most Comprehensive on the web. They start from the very foundations of basic economics, explaining important concepts such as the Time Value of Money and Return on Investment in an easy to understand way. These concepts are then applied to debt, mortgages, and [...]

The name “529” has become synonymous with college saving since the account was created back in 2001. It’s become so synonymous that many people will likely assume that the 529 is the only account out there geared specifically towards saving for college. Not only is it not the only college savings account out there it [...]