“Mac Users Get More Money Management Features - for Less - Yahoo! Finance: Internet Software & Services Industry News” plus 3 more |
- Mac Users Get More Money Management Features - for Less - Yahoo! Finance: Internet Software & Services Industry News
- Personal Finance: Dollars & Sensamillia - NBC Washington
- Personal Finance Daily - Marketwatch
- What teens should know about personal finance: Join Sheryl Harris on ... - Plain Dealer (blog)
| Posted: 23 Apr 2010 11:01 AM PDT MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Quicken Essentials for Mac just got better. Hearing users' feedback, the Quicken team today lowered the price for the Essentials product, and announced a series of free product enhancements to be introduced between now and the end of the year. "Quicken Essentials is our first Mac-native Quicken product, and demonstrates our new commitment to the Mac platform," said Aaron Patzer, vice president and general manager of Intuit's Personal Finance Group. "We're glad customers took it seriously when we asked for their feedback. These are the first in a series of changes we're planning to ensure Quicken Essentials users have the tools they need to manage their money easily and affordably." New Features The first enhancements to Quicken Essentials for Mac, available from Intuit Inc. (
Additional enhancements are expected throughout the year, enabling customers to:
Existing Quicken Essentials for Mac users will get these updates automatically as they become available. Lower Price; Customer Refund Available In addition, Quicken lowered the retail price for Essentials from $69.99 to $49.99. The product can be purchased directly from Intuit at www.quicken.com and at retail stores. Customers who purchased the product before April 19, 2010 can obtain a $20 refund. The offer is good through May 31, and further details are available at www.quicken.com/macrefund. "Customer feedback will help us continue improving Quicken Essentials," said Patzer. "Our goal is to provide an intuitive product that helps consumers save and do more with their money, and our customers help drive the direction of the product. We expect to fulfill additional customer demands in future Mac products, bringing more parity with the Quicken Windows product. We're developing more robust investment tracking and other features while still retaining the ease of use and great customer experience that Mac users expect." Mac users can provide product feedback directly to the Quicken team at http://quicken.intuit.com/support/feedback/mac-essentials/. About Intuit Inc. Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks®, Quicken® and TurboTax®, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries® and Lacerte® are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants. The company's financial institutions division, anchored by Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services to help banks and credit unions serve businesses and consumers with innovative solutions. Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of $3.1 billion in its fiscal year 2009. The company has approximately 7,800 employees with major offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and other locations. More information can be found at www.intuit.com. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Personal Finance: Dollars & Sensamillia - NBC Washington Posted: 23 Apr 2010 11:37 AM PDT Golf lessons. A trip to the beach. Happy Hour at the pub. Like thumbprints and snowflakes, no two entertainment budgets look alike. We all make choices with how we spend our fun money, and, for the most part, we all have to adjust our financial picture when new recreational outlets come along. With that in mind, then, it seems prudent (if not premature) to explore how cannabis consumers might work marijuana into their budgets if it ever becomes legal—which some suggest is a foregone conclusion following the approval of medical marijuana in 14 states and three others considering bills to make pot legal for personal use. Cost Analysis Let's talk numbers first, because last we checked, dime bags cost anything but. Cannabis sold on the street is derived from any number of agricultural strains. Some are higher quality than others, and thus more expensive. Nationally, a gram of quality marijuana costs roughly $15 to $20, while an ounce can cost anywhere from $200 to $500, according to government estimates. (See CNBC's analysis of prices and demand) Little empirical data exists on how much recreational pot users spend each year to get high, since it varies by person. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of National Organization for The Reform of Marijuana Laws, Norml, an advocacy group for the legalization of marijuana, confirms most "regular" users consume pot at least several times per week. With one or two joints per gram—it adds up. Most marijuana users, he notes, could expect to spend anywhere from $2,300 to $3,500 a year, depending on how often they imbibe and the quality of their product. That's roughly in line with how much consumers spend each year on alcohol. According to a 2009 Gallup survey, those who drink alcohol consume an average of 4.8 alcoholic beverages per week—or nearly 250 per year. Depending on their drink of choice and whether they consume them at home or a bar (more pricey), that could set them back anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $3,000 per year, or more. Those who smoke one pack of cigarettes a week, meanwhile, at $7 a pop (it's higher in some states) drop roughly $364 per year to support their habit. For the pack-a-day smoker, however, that's about $2,550 a year. A 2008 survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Samsha, estimated 15.2 million Americans used marijuana at least once in the 30 days prior to the survey, while 129 million drank alcohol, including beer, liquor, wine and mixed drinks—23 percent of them (58 million) reported participating in binge drinking Another 71 million Americans age 12 and older were current users of a tobacco product, of which nearly 60 million smoked cigarettes. How much it might cost you to light up on a regular basis if weed becomes legal, however, is something of a moving target. Most predict taxes and regulation of the product would force prices lower by up to 50 percent since drug dealers would no longer charge a premium for risking jail time—much like the price of alcohol after the prohibition was lifted in 1933. Lawmakers in Tennessee, who are mulling a bill to legalize medicinal marijuana, seem to agree. Those who drafted the proposal estimate the cost would be roughly $60 an ounce, 20 percent of which would come back to the state to administer the program. "That's probably 75 percent below current black market prices," says Paul Kuhn, a partner with an investment management firm in Tennessee and board member of Norml. "Like wine, there is a pretty good correlation between quality and price. You can have someone paying $500 an ounce for cannabis or $200 an ounce." Budget Regardless of price, however, those who choose to partake of pot in a post-prohibition society would have to consider its impact on their bottom line—especially if they plan to hit the pipe consistently. Like any expense, says Phil Cook, a certified financial planner in Torrance, Calif., it should be included in your budget to help manage costs. "This [marijuana] would be considered a luxury item obviously so you need to classify that as any other entertainment expense and then see if it fits within your budget," he says. "What's more important? Smoking marijuana or your longer-term goals?" While some suggest the fiscally responsible should allocate no more than 5 percent of their total budget towards entertainment, Cook says he believes the correct percentage is whatever your income and expenses will bear. If you're fully funding your 401(k), directing an appropriate amount towards your kids 529 college savings plans and you've set aside an emergency fund worth at least 3 to 6 months of living expenses, says Cook, how you spend your discretionary income—and how much you spend—is up to you. If, after crunching the numbers, however, you find your income is insufficient to support a new hobby, it's time to reassess. "Are you buying Starbucks every day or would you rather buy marijuana?" says Cook, noting he does not use weed himself. "I know couples where both parties work, but they have a housekeeper. That seems kind of luxurious. It all boils down to priorities." Remember, too, if pot becomes legal, you may be able to reduce or eliminate your expenditure for alcohol or tobacco as a source of after-hours relaxation. Kuhn adds that marijuana would likely be first to go "if you fall on hard times" since it exists in the category of a discretionary expense—but not necessarily. A popular 1970s catchphrase from the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, an underground comic strip, suggests "dope will get you through times with no money better than money will get you through times with no dope." This article is part of a series originally published on CNBC.com Copyright CNBCFirst Published: Apr 21, 2010 10:35 AM EDTFive Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Personal Finance Daily - Marketwatch Posted: 23 Apr 2010 09:49 AM PDT
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By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: A week from now, the tax credits available to all first-time home buyers and select repeat buyers will expire, meaning if you haven't got a signed contract by April 30 you'll miss out on the up to $8,000 break. Unlike the last expiration in November, don't expect Congress to come to the rescue again at the last minute and extend the program. The credits certainly have done what was intended: boost home sales off the floor they had been hammered down to -- especially sales to first-timers, who made up almost 45% of the existing-home market in March. But the major question remains: Is housing healthy enough to stand on its own without the credit crutch? The fundamentals of the market today don't give you much reason to lean one way or the other. On the one hand, mortgage rates remain extremely low by historical standards, and prices have come down considerably in many areas. On the other hand, there is still a big-time inventory overhang, homeowners are strapped and foreclosures have not fully run their course. Just because you don't get in on the tax credit won't mean you won't be able to get a good deal on a house in May. In the best-case scenario, housing still has a long, hard crawl ahead before it is walking upright. -- Steve Kerch, assistant managing editor REAL ESTATE The clock is ticking on home-buyer tax credit
You might not have to miss out on the home-buyer tax credit. Adrienne Mitchell reports the coming deadline is for signing a contract, not closing the deal.
New-home sales surge 27% to 411,000 pace
Boosted by a soon-to-expire tax break, low mortgage rates and favorable weather, sales of new homes surged 27% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000 after hitting a record low in February, the Commerce Department estimated Friday.
Time to indict mortgage fraudstersYou'll have to excuse my old friend, Anthony Accetta. He gets excited. "You need to write a column," he raved. "The collapse of the housing market has destroyed the economy and destroyed the social fabric in this country." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| What teens should know about personal finance: Join Sheryl Harris on ... - Plain Dealer (blog) Posted: 23 Apr 2010 11:15 AM PDT By Sheryl Harris, The Plain DealerApril 23, 2010, 2:30PMWhat should teens know about personal finance before they graduate? Young adults face lower wages, higher college costs and less stable employment than their parents. They're more likely to wrack up credit card debt and overdraft fees than previous generations. This fall, Ohio becomes one of just 13 states that require high school students to take a financial literacy course to get their diplomas. Join Sheryl Harris for a look at reading, writing and interest rates when she hosts "The Sound of Ideas," at 9 a.m. Monday on WCPN/90.3 FM. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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