Americans will buy less foreign goods as they become more expensive and buy American goods.

Foreigners will purchase more American goods as they become cheaper, and buy less of their domestic products.

You really don’t seem capable of understanding this.

A weak dollar DOES NOT AFFECT DOMESTIC PRICES.

No, the bulk of the stuff does not come from other countries. You might want to compare our countries retail sales with our trade numbers with China. Regardless of that, even the things that AMERICAN companies manufacture with China, the Yuan is tied almost directly to the value of the dollar. So once again, it does not affect retail sales negatively, but positively. Even if a shirt, or something else, is manufactured in China by a foreign owned entity, we would still make far more on its retail sale than if we had made it ourselves.

I really suggest you do some research on this because you have a very basic misunderstanding about this. You are confusing cause and effect. Higher retail sales (in general, not just on domestic products) will raise a currency, not the other way around. A weak dollar, on the other hand, will cause higher spending on DOMESTIC goods, and this includes products we have manufactured in China.

Got it?

A. Have a garage sale and sell anything that you no longer need or want.

B.Get a temporary part time job, if you have one, get another.

Here is a plan that can help you. If you work the plan, the plan will work for you:
1. Make a budget. Make the budget a week before you get paid. A budget is not a punishment! It is a tool which will free you from ever having to worry about money again. Put everything in your budget. Especially those annual, biannual, or quarterly bills like car registration, insurance, etc. Give every dollar you are going to bring home the name of where it is going. Add an “emergency fund” category to your budget for 25 dollars and save up until you have 1000-1250 dollars. Your emergency fund will help keep you from getting into new debt because of an emergency. If you can, set up a direct transfer to a savings account for your emergency fund. That way it moves automatically and you don’t even have to worry about it. You must cut your spending and live on less than you make.

2.First get current on all of you debts and make no more late payments. Stop using your credit cards immediately. Do not take on any more debt. Credit cards are like quicksand only the death is much slower. Make a list of all of your debts in order of highest interest rate to lowest interest. Use cash only for your spending from now on.

3.Pay the minimum due on all of your debts and then put your extra money towards paying off the highest interest one first. After you get that one paid off, you put the money you were paying on debt #1 (the minimum payment and the extra payment) towards debt #2. That will pay debt #2 off faster. When that is paid off, you put all three payments towards card #3 and that one will be paid off pretty quickly. As an example:

To start :
Debt #1 (highest interest): minimum payment+ extra payment
Debt #2 (middle interest): minimum payment
Debt #3(lowest interest): minimum payment

Debt #1: paid off
Debt #2: minimum payment from Debt #1+ Minimum payment from Debt #2 +extra payment
Debt #3: minimum payment

Debt #1: paid off
Debt #2: paid off
Debt #3:Minimum payment from card #1+ minimum payment from Debt #2+ minimum payment from Debt #3+ extra payment.

That way, you will get them all paid off, on time, and pay the least interest. It will also help towards rebuilding your credit since you will no longer have any late payments. This works no matter how many different debts you may have.

4. After you get all of your debts paid off, add to your emergency fund until you have 6-12 months of income saved up. Put that emergency fund money into a liquid money market fund or into a Bank of America no-risk CD so that if you need the money you can take it out without penalty.

5a. When you have your emergency fund in place, add a category for “fun” to your budget. Save for a holiday, a vacation, a big screen, or dinners out, whatever goal you want. Remember to enjoy your life.

5b. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your retirement. Join the 401(k) plan at work and contribute the maximum. Your employer probably matches at least part of your contribution so why give up free money? Open a Roth IRA and contribute the maximum on a monthly basis. If you start saving for your retirement now, you will probably retire a millionaire.

5c. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your next car. Only buy cars, or other things that depreciate, with cash. Save up for a nicer car. That way you get the interest instead of paying the interest.

You can do it and it isn’t as hard as you think. Just follow the plan.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh life is good!!

Merry CHRISTmas!!

: )

Now, since you predicted it, tell us how much.

Because when Chi Guy talks, people listen…eh?

Go Cubbies!!!

If you have established lines of credit still open (ie old credit cards), excellent. If you have other history on your account as well (ie student loans) so much the better. It’s best to show responsible use on accounts that are at least 6 months old before applying for a mortgage. The older the account, the better.

Having 2-3 of credit cards/lines of credit is a good idea. If you need to apply for credit, and your score is low, secured credit cards are probably the only option available, but some stores have easily available credit. Make sure you get all of your applications done in a short period of time, to prevent damage to your score, keep it within 2 weeks.

Once you have the accounts in place, just spend at least 6 months building up a perfect history (using the cards every month, using less than 30% of the available balance, paying on time or early).

Watch your credit report, make sure they all get reported correctly. At the end of 6 months, your score probably won’t be great, but it’ll be stable enough that banks will consider you.

Don’t forget the noncredit factors, like staying in the same job, same residence, having good banking history, and saving up for the deposit. 5% is plausible, 10-15% makes it easier.

*
If the conventional bank loan doesn’t work for you, some home owners will offer rent-to-own, owner financed mortgages, or other unusual options. (This is rare, but sometimes happens, especially if they’re desperate to sell, or are independently wealthy). Evaluate these offers CAREFULLY, they may be good, and may be negotiable.

1. Payment history- 35%
2. Total debt owed vs. Available Credit- 30%
3. Length of time establishing credit- 15%
4. Types of credit established- 10%
5. Inquiries and New Accounts- 10%

With the way the current mortgage/lending situation is, buying a house is going to be harder than it has been before. It’s going to take more than a credit score to get you in. Factors like time on job, down payment among other things will now be taken into more consideration. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t improve your credit score. What I’m about to tell you is the best route to go.

Since you’re thinking of buying a house, chances are you’re going to be required to put a considerable down payment to get a decent mortgage nowadays, so you’ll need to start saving up. Also you’ll need to start showing that you have some positive accounts reporting on your credit to start raising your score.

It’s important not to apply for too much credit, becuase it causes a hard inquiry which lowers your score several points regardless of approval or denial. So the easiest would thing to get approved for would be a secured credit card. It’s easier to get than regular cards because you would have to place a deposit that’s used as collateral to secure a credit line, for example, you place a deposit of $300, your credit line would be $300. But this can work to your full advantage because since most secured cards are linked to a savings account, you could invest what would be saving up for your down payment towards the house and build credit at the same time. This is what I mean.

You open up a secured card, whatever you’re going to save for your down payment, you add to the deposit since it’s practically a savings account anyway. The more you add to the depsoit, the higher the limit, the better it looks when it reports on your credit because you’re creating a cushion of avaialble credit versus what you owe, which counts as 30% of your score. A good practice of using the card would be to treat it as if it only had a $50 limit on it, even though you should add to the deposit as much as possible to boost the limit as high as you can make it. Keep in mind that the deposit will eventually be your down payment towards your house, or at least a portion of it anyway. As long as you make small purchases ($20/month), pay them off on time every month to show activity, usually after a year or so, the card either converts to a regular card, or a better card’s offered, and most importantly, the deposit isn’t needed anymore and it’s given back. After it’s said and done, you will have rebuilt your credit by custom building a high limit credit card, while saving up for your down payment all at the same time!

I posted several links to some secured credit card companies that may work for you

Good Luck!

I give some people candy that we make, and I can tell you, it is a very sought-after gift. People start asking about it in the summer! For everyone else, I set a personal limit of $40., as that is what I can reasonably afford. I’ve also told some friends I need to opt out of gift giving altogether.

Don’t do more than you can. Set your own limits and stick to them. Christmas is about joy and happiness, not resentment at feeling pressured.