Clark Howard Show Notes – July 20, 2010 –
Today’s Show: How to Profit From Foreclosure, Senate to Extend Jobless Benefits, Profits on Wall Street But Not on Main Street
We started today’s show talking about the latest Ilyce Glink/RealWorld Seminars event, “How to Profit From Foreclosure 2010.” See the links below for ticket information.
The unemployment numbers seem to show that fewer people are being included in the polling because they’ve “given up.” The unemployment rate has fallen to 9.5 percent nationally, but that’s because hundreds of thousands of people have left the job market. Virtually no new jobs are being created. According to some economists, if you included all of these folks who have fallen off the rolls in the unemployment numbers, the national unemployment rate would be at about 21 to 22 percent. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.
Goldman Sachs said its profit dropped 82 percent, thanks to defending the SEC lawsuit and the extra tax on earnings from Great Britain. Strip that out and their profits fell 44 percent. Still, they’re paying their employees an average of $235,000 per year. For EACH employee. How do I get one of those jobs?
Clearly, folks on Main Street aren’t seeing those sorts of profits. We talked about my conversation with my friend and **SurePayroll president Michael Alter, where he said that small business owners are much more pessimistic than normal.
How To Profit From Foreclosures and Other Real Estate Investments
The ticket window is open for our latest event: How To Profit From Foreclosures and Other Real Estate Investments which will be held on October 2, 2010 at the
Renaissance Waverly.
The EARLY BIRD ticket price is now available – but it won’t be here for long. Right now, you can buy a ticket at the early bird price of $35. There are no other discounts. This is the lowest price you’ll pay for a ticket to this event. After the early bird window closes, the price for these tickets will go up.
Wondering if it’s worthwhile to attend the event? Wondering if you’ll get your money’s worth. Here’s what past attendees say about ThinkGlink/RealWorldSeminars events.
Looking for a travel deal?
George says the weekend is coming and he’s looking for a travel deal. He might want to try TravelZoo.com or Kayak.com/explore
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How to Find a Financial Planner
If you type fee only financial planner into the ThinkGlink.com search engine, several relevant stories will pop up.
Texas Consumer Complaint Center
I’ve mentioned this helpful center before on the show. Staffed by the University of Houston Law School, the Texas Consumer Complaint Center will assist everyone (not just Texans) on any consumer issue you might have, including loan modifications, short sales, foreclosures, etc.
I work with business owners across the US and in certain markets employers cannot find people to work. They have been told on numerous occasions by out of work people that they would prefer to collect unemployment. Landscapers in the Midwest are having terrible times finding workers.
I am a bit surprised that you believe people won’t sit at home and collect unemployment. This will continue as long as we keep giving money away.
yes ilyce, there are people out there who collect unemployment and do not look hard for a job. I have a friend who was fired for her bad personallity and who is trying to get disability (which takes a while esp. if you should not get it). and has no intention of looking for a job again. she is in the field of xray tech which is not as stressed. most people who do work do so under the table so as not to interfere with unemployment money.
Yes Ilyce, there are people, I suspect across many socioeconomic classes that are in fact collecting unemployment even though they have the ability to work, yet aren’t looking. I’m a CFP and have 2 different clients that are collecting rather than make the effort to find work. One is age 62 and is taking unemployment rather than take SS. He will take unemployment until it runs out, then apply for SS. Surprising but true.
This is a comment to your last caller today on Clark’s Show. Your Caller stated that she wished that Congress had not passed to Unemployment Extension because she knows people that will not work because they can receive unemployment.
Well i see this every day. my wife owns a small neighborhood pub and I know for a fact that there are at least 20 people that visit the establishment that do the same. The peoples ages range from 40 to 62 and basically they are not looking for any type of future and they live day to day. a few of them stated that why should i get a job a work for 3 weeks get laid off and have to reapply for benefits again is a waste of time because it takes up to 2 weeks to get the checks started again. To sum this up, these people have no trade skills nor want them. As long as they have Beer and a place to flop they are content.
You also mentioned that you have not heard of these people because they don’t call into your show, well believe me, they have no interest in listening to your show unless you have Sports scores. or give away money. Believe me there are quit a few of these people out there and i also wish that Congress would not of Extended these benefits as well. When my 23 year old son can work 2 jobs pay rent and go Full Time to School, why cant they? There are jobs out there. maybe not what they where doing before, but a job is a job. I just have to much personal pride to take hand outs, and i never will.
I was laid off last year and was collecting $355/week. That equates to around 9/hour to sit around and wait for the right job. If I were to go to work somewhere, I would need to make much more than that to make it worthwhile. Factor in FICA, gas, day care for one child and the hourly would need to be at least $15. Even at that, I could be sitting at home waiting for the right job instead of working 40 hours at something that is getting me nowhere. This is no anecdote. This is a real life example.
I ended up working for a company on a seasonal basis (tax season) from December to April. After that, I went back on unemployment. If the benefits are extended, I will collect until December when I go back to work for tax season with that seasonal employer. I will of course apply for jobs, but not just any job. In the meanwhile, I will be trying to start up my own business.
Nice post.Thanks for the post.Keep sharing.