On Growth Track

Fed cuts key interest rate by 0.75 points to improve the liquidity in the market and halting the  the economy from getting into a recession. But This does nothing for the rising inflation seen at the moment. But the fed statement does mention the concerns of inflation, so its keeping an eye on the inflation. We may not expect such steep cuts in interest rate in future if inflation remains at current levels. The real rate of return currently is negative.

This is a link to the analysis video for Feds recent rate cut

Another video link

and this one from Reuters

We are definitely going to see a fall in rate of interest in out saving and money market accounts, and an increase in gas prices. The gains in the stock prices may be temporary. The home prices are still not coming down where buyers would rush in to buy and put an end to the stalled housing market.

Last month my wife had to visit ER as she had severe headache and high fever. The doctors could not diagnose the what’s wrong and wanted a blood test, one of the nurse in ER collecting the blood were so unskilled that they could not get blood from her veins. The other nurse had to come and do it for her. Finally she was diagnosed of viral infection and discharged with some prescription medication. Now we are waiting for the bill but the medical care was not up-to the standard expected in ER which we have told the hospital in a feedback form. Should we complain or contest the bill?

US news article blog by Kimberly Palmer reports more problems with her hospital visit.

The statistics there are startling. Each year billing errors run more than $100 Billion in health-care alone.

Wrong billing in cellphone, Internet, wrong refund, rebates missing …, redeeming airline miles, I can go on what we can expect to be hit with.

A wrong bill on the service providers part is a serious drag on our personal resources and the economy as a whole. Its a hassle to call them and go through the telephone tree and speak with an agent, sending email works may be in two working days or so. Then you have to actually talk with the agent who may not want to recognise the problem or email more redundant information.

But its clear that nothing is going to happen till we call them up or email. Only when we as consumers become vigilant by calling and registering complaint we can get them to work better.

Terry Cullen has a nice article on how to complain effectively . The most important thing she mentions is to be patient in conversation and be armed with all the information.

To bypass the phone tree she recommends gethuman and Bringo for long hold times.

So look at your bills to see any errors, get all the information try the above links if you need to speak to a rep and be patient when talking.

when you want to make a behavioral change you have to do it repeatedly for a lot of days till it becomes a habit. Once it becomes a habit, it remains with you.

 Starting and getting to the point it becomes a habit is most vulnerable part of it.  As Jerry Seinfeld puts it Skipping one day makes it easier to skip the next. So one must use a Bold visual remainder to see if one is on the track every day doing the tough task of undergoing the change.

The most important thing is to focus on one. We all have limited resources to invest, its important to invest more than the critical amount and not dilute the efforts we want to put in for change. So pick one change you want to implement and focus on it every single day. Once we have done one change it will have a slow ball effect on the future change we want to make and change will become easier for us.

These can be very simple things like going out for a walk, exercise, eating the right meal, packing lunch for work the next day etc.

  Another important thing is to do it regardless of the outcome. Change does not happen overnight and its no use measuring the outcome before change happens. It will just make us worry more if its working and keep it away from making the change happen. 

With focus, practice and visual feedback on how are we on track we can change for good.

 Is the feel good factor important in our life? The answer is overwhelmingly yes.

 A lot of time work we seemed to be involved in does not move at the desired pace, it taxes out mood.

 Having a bad day at office can show its effect long after we are out of office. But we must remember that we have a choice, and that’s very helpful. We think of steps to take, think of Plan B … Plan C. Also we can think of getting help from others in future for a similar situations and be more effective then. Just doing this we start having a sense of grounding and control. This can free out mind and elevate out mood, help us feel positive and see the light.

Now when I talk to my spouse, kids, call up my parents, friends, I am in a better mood. The communication becomes more meaningful and so does the relationship.

 Feeling good is also important when we shop. Why? when we feel good and contented we accumulate less unnecessary stuff, we are a better judge of the value and cost involved. Now that’s also very practical as a Penny saved is more than an Penny earned.

 So life is about feeling good by making good choices even when odds are against us.

-PN

These are times of subprime mortgage mess and liquidity crunch. Banks are partly to be blamed for risk assessment along with the Fed.

But new credit scoring information can change things.  These enhanced credit scores will record how good are you with paying your utility bills and rent. Many other things like public records, tax liens, criminal records go into these credit scoring models. Be careful, No bounced checks for bills, it can pull your score down.

These new scoring models will be extremely helpful for those starting on a good Job but with no history.  This is welcome since it gives a better idea of who is responsible with paying bills. Experian is late in this game but TransUnion and Fair Issac are already using these information in their models.

It may take a few years before these new developments trickle down the marketplace of Loans but for immediate credit score solutions with limited history try http://prbc.com.

The mystique of gold which has gone overboard with prices increasing 50 % over half of the last year is about to reduce. The simple reason is its overbought. This is echoed in a wsj.com column today. No prediction is perfect but this one has good reasoning.

By historical comparison Silver has become dearer than Gold. Those who are late in the gold buying party are set to get burnt when ever there is a correction. Rebalance and let it remain less than 5% of your net worth if its so dear to you.

(Dont) go for the gold

How do you add value to a rubber-band, or a number of them?

First thing that came to my mind was to make a stress ball.

http://tinyurl.com/3do6nz

There are 100+ (yes its a lot) video on you-tube just on this adding value to rubber-bands was a contest over the world organised by Stanford.

Never underestimate the power of ideas.