The New Benjamins

The new U.S. hundred dollar bill just made its debut on October 8th 2013. Yes, they do look awesome and so far are a bit hard to come by.  Most banks in NYC have not received them yet and it may take at least another week for those banks to get them.  Banks with the older hundred dollar bills will go through that surplus first before they order a new supply.

The last time the hundred dollar bill was redesigned was in 1996 when we got the "Big Head Benjamins" in circulation.  The new design as you can see below has small 100's on the back and front plus a 3-D blue security ribbon.

The new design has collectors worldwide interested and trying to get their hands on them via ebay. What collectors should look out for are the very rare ones those that have a straight serial number such as "12345678" or very low ones such as "00000001" get your hands on these and you might get up to $10k or more per bill.  As a collector you can just hold on to them especially if they are uncirculated meaning no one has ever touched them before.

Are You Ready For Another Recession?

Although it seems the U.S. never really got out of the Great Recession that started in December 2007 it did technically end in June 2009.  Wages remain rather low which have left many people having to work more than one job.  High tuition costs no longer guarantee a high paid job, how could it when there aren't too many to go around.  A recession is a business cycle contraction, the U.S. has had at least one every decade dating back to the Copper Panic of 1789. The longest period we have gone without a recession has been 10 years which was during the 1990 dot com bubble.  If you believe we are about to set one for the books and go beyond 10 years before we see another recession then you have nothing to worry about. If you are a bit more realistic you will expect for us to go through another recession at least a mild one for the 2010 - 2020 period. Recessions on record vary in regards to length and how often they occur.

Knowing where you are at and what you have seen how do you think another recession would impact your life?  Have you recovered economically from the last one? Knowing a bit about the past and the impact this last recession had on the world can help you prepare for the next storm which according to history will happen again.  The only question is when? What do you think will protect you this time around?  What lessons did you learn and what will you do differently this time? Do you think you will cash in on this one? Recessions do bring opportunities for some.

Are Certificates Of Deposit Any Good?

How good is a CD?

Let's consider 2006 back when I had some of my money in a CD the rates were at 4.4% APY.  In 2007 I locked another CD for 5.15%.  It was a good return with very little risk the only risk was that during the same time the Dow Jones was delivering higher profits. Come 2008 a risk free CD looked even better as I was not keeping my money in stocks just yet.  Had I known the stock market drop in 2008 would be so severe I would have locked my 2007 rates for several years enjoying a 5% yield in a near zero interest rate economy which has been the norm for several years now.  CD rates dropped drastically in 2008 in 2010 you were lucky to get .648% for an 8 month CD. In April of 2013 you would have gotten .349% for a 180 day personal CD.  When owning a CD you also have to take into account the taxes you will pay on the yield which will bring down your profit a bit.

As we can see you have to be strategic when it comes to placing your money in a CD even if a CD is about as safe as you can get.