Clark Howard Show Notes – September 6, 2010

Letting the Economy Fall, Unemployment and $50 Billion for Public Works

  • Some economists are now suggesting that the government let the economy and housing market fall. While this would be a huge shock to the economy, with short-term and long-term repercussions, some economists feel this is the only way to form a bottom for the recession. In the New York Times on September 5, 2010, writer David Streitfeld outlines the possible problems, including the possibility that homeowners whose homes are worth much less than what they owe on the loan might walk away, increasing the number of foreclosures. And, those former owners might feel so poor, they won’t spend money in the economy.
  • Unemployment numbers are awful, but the stock markets in Europe and Asia are up. What’s that about? Europe and Asia stock markets were up a bit over the weekend, mostly because investors think the U.S. unemployment is turning around. Really? Read what I wrote about Friday’s unemployment report and how I think it really breaks down for working families.
  • President Obama will announce later today that he wants to spend $50 billion on infrastructure over the next 6 years. Obama says spending $50 billion will increase the number of construction jobs, putting people to work and helping them pay their bills. It’s a smart move, one that I’ve advocated for over the past 3 years. But is it too little, too late? It might be. We probably need to spend $500 billion to $1 trillion in infrastructure. And why not include schools as well?

READ MORE:

It’s The Economy, Stupid!

Shopping for a Short Sale? Want to buy a Foreclosure? Come to our HOW TO PROFIT FROM FORECLOSURES Event on OCTOBER 2, 2010

We’ve signed up a bunch of new amazing sponsors and speakers for the event, including:

Joel Miller. He finances commercial real estate purchases $1 million to $40 million. He also does business financing as well as the real estate financing.

Monte Smith, Education director for Entrust in Georgia. He’ll be talking about Self-Directed IRAs and how to finance the purchase of your real estate investment using IRA funds.

Eric Weiss, Schulten, Ward & Turner. Eric is a top commercial real estate attorney who helps his clients think through the business terms of a proposed foreclosure deal as well as walking through and creating the paperwork.

Georgia Association of Enrolled Agents. Bill Nemeth and his crew will be around to answer all of your real estate investing tax questions

Andy Heller, successful real estate investor, bestselling author and founder of RealtyJoin.com, a social networking site and business marketplace for real estate investors. Andy will discuss his lease/option platform and what’s been happening with his 25 rental properties.

Ricky Novak, Strategic 1031 Exchange Company. Ricky has wide-ranging experience as a real estate attorney, tax expert and can discuss 1031 exchanges and conservation tax credits.

John Damiano, RE/MAX of Greater Atlanta and head of the Providence Group. John and his team work with a ton of foreclosures and short sales and he’ll be sharing his advice on how and where to find foreclosures in the morning session.

Michael Bull, Bull Realty. With more than 30 years of experience, helping his clients purchase, sell, and manage billions of dollars of real estate, Michael is going to share his inside knowledge of the commercial real estate world, helping you find and buy commercial foreclosures.

And for our AFTER HOURS INVESTING PANEL we have Kay Shirley and I will be discussing what’s going on in the stock market.

Go to RealWorldSeminars.com and check out our speakers for the event. We’re also updating the blog with insights from our speakers and sponsors.

Don’t miss out – the 2for1 discount will expire after Labor Day!!!

SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR CLARK HOWARD LISTENERS TODAY AND TOMORROW ONLY:

SPECIAL VIP TICKET DISCOUNT OF 36% – Get a ticket and special investing ebooks and a podcast of the event that you can listen to again and again

SPECIAL 2 for 1 (or 50% off each ticket) discount

Welcome to our new listeners at 95.5 FM NewsTalk WSB.

It’s going to take me a few shows to finally say it right (“Welcome to AM 750 and Now 95.5 FM Newstalk WSB), but I’ll get there. If you haven’t already signed up for our free weekly newsletter, it’s your roadmap to all of the free content, news, and information available from ThinkGlink.com. Just sign up on any page on our website.

Today’s Calls:

  • Darryl and Tim both called today to ask about closing costs and what’s fair. I’ve got several articles on the ThinkGlink.com website that talk about how much you can expect to pay. READ MORE: Buyer Closing Costs, Buyer Closing Costs State By State,and Seller Closing Costs
  • Need some free budget counseling? I recommended that several callers contact Credability.org, formerly known as Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Greater Atlanta.
  • Dan Solin’s Recommendations for 3 Best Vanguard Funds. Dan is a bestselling author and registered investment advisor. He also blogs along with me at the Equifax Personal Finance Blog. On the show, I talked about how Dan believes you really only need 3 no-load index funds to be a successful investor. Dan really likes Vanguard’s Index Funds but Fidelity and Charles Schwab also have similarly priced no-load index funds.

Free Books and Ebooks from THINKGLINK

Get your FREE copy of my books: 50 Simple Steps You Can Take To Disaster-Proof Your Finances and The REALLY Useful Guide to Working Smarter Not Harder

You pay the shipping, and we’ll send you as many copies of each book as you want. They’re a great gift! If you want to buy more than 20 copies, contact [email protected] for a special deal on the shipping.

Buy 3 Get 1 Free EBOOK deal. You buy 3 ebooks at the ThinkGlink.com store and receive 1 of those for FREE when you use the code freeebook

Buying a House? Pick up your copies of Ilyce’s books, 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask and Buy Close Move In!

READ MORE ON THE EQUIFAX.COM PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG

The Equifax Personal Finance Blog looks at the five pillars of personal finance: Credit, tax, insurance, investing/retirement, and real estate. Follow us on Twitter or pull the RSS feed at the Equifax Personal Finance Blog into your Google reader.

This week on the Equifax Personal Finance Blog:

Insurance: Auto Insurance Options: Collision Coverage vs. Comprehensive Coverage

Real Estate: Want to Buy a New House? Beware Developers Hawking Empty Subdivisions

Tax: Tax Consequences of Unemployment

Investment/Retirement: Short Selling is Short-Sighted

Credit: Security Freezes, Credit, Identity Theft and Fraud

This week on CBS MoneyWatch.com

6 Top Home Improvement Projects

A New Home Buyer Tax Credit? HUD Not Ruling It Out

7 Amazing Vacation Homes You Can’t Rent