Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Money Quotes


“Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend; And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry [economy].” – William Shakespeare

These three articles I found to be particularly interesting. There were other great ones in the bunch, but these three tickled my fancy ;) .
  • Paul from FiscalGeek presents How to Make Your Own Air Conditioner, and says, “For the MacGyver types out there, make your own Air Conditioner with a cooler, copper tubing, a cooler and an aquarium pump.”
  • Dorian Wales from The Personal Financier presents Buy on the Rumor – Sell on the News: Our Psychology at Work, and says, “A counter intuitive rule of thumb explained”
  • Matt Jabs from Debt Free Adventure presents The Whole Armor of Personal Finance, and says, “Ephesians 6:10-18 outlines a powerful and encouraging passage of scripture that deals with The Whole Armor of God. In it Paul reminds the reader that the Christian battle is not one of flesh and blood, but of principalities, powers, the rulers of this world, and wickedness in high places.

Budgeting

“A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.” – Jonathan Swift

  • The Incidental Economist presents Budget Tracking and Projections (with Quicken Tricks), and says, “This is the third post in my eight-post series on investment planning. It is about how to use a budget for tracking and projection. It describes how to implement these functions in Quicken.”
  • Matt from One Million and Beyond presents The Fluid Budget.

Career

“Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy.” – Groucho Marx

Credit and Debt

“Creditors have better memories than debtors.” – Benjamin Franklin

Economy

“The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” – Ronald Reagan

Insurance

“There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?” – Woody Allen

Investing

“The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket.” – Kin Hubbard

  • Pinyo from Moolanomy presents Save, Invest and Borrow To Achieve Your Financial Goals, and says, “Overview of step #5 in Moolanomy’s Financial Success Plan. The step looks at various ways to accomplish financial goals — specifically, saving, investing, and borrowing.”
  • D4L from Dividends Value presents Are REITs and Utilities Good Dividend Investments?, and says, “Dividend stocks. When you hear those two words what do you think of? Many people think of widows and orphans, along with their stereotypical investment in utility stocks. While others may think of maximizing income by finding the highest yielding stocks available like Real Estate Investment Trusts.”
  • Alex from All Things Jim Rogers presents Jim Rogers Continues To Be Bullish On Commodities and China, and says, “he Jim Rogers interview with Bloomberg . According to Jim Rogers, the Chinese stock market has risen too fast and it might “collapse” has it has basically doubled off its lows.”
  • Dividend Growth Investor from Dividend Growth Investor presents Reinvest Dividends Selectively , and says, “Reinvested dividends have contributed most all of the stock markets total returns over large periods of time. Some dividend investors automatically reinvest their distributions over time, which leads to compounding of their interest. Others do not re-invest automatically and instead wait for distributions to accumulate before adding onto existing positions or initiating new ones. “
  • Bret from BretFrohlich.com presents The Dangers of Derivatives, and says, “Risky derivatives and securities were the primary cause of the Global Fianncial Crisis. Fortunately, there are new laws on the horizon to protect us in the future.”
  • The Dividend Guy presents The Best Dividend Stocks In The World, and says, “There are a lot of investment choices out there, how about looking for the best of the best.”
  • Alex from All Things Jim Rogers presents Jim Rogers Disciplined Investor Interview July 26 2009.
  • Philip Brewer from Wisebread.com presents Optimize Your IRA and 401K.
  • Andy from saving to invest presents Use Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) When Unsure About Which Stocks to Buy , and says, “Like many retail investors, last year’s investing experience has made me quite risk averse when it comes to putting all my money in a handful of stocks. However there is an easy and lower risk solution available – Exchange traded funds”
  • The Dividend Tree presents IBM’s Successful Transformation, and says, “As a dividend investor, this is what I am looking for; a corporation that is willing to adapt, a corporation that does not want to live in its past, but wants to grow continuously by evolving.”
  • TIPBlog.in presents How to Execute Asset Allocatin – A Yale Fund Example, and says, “The fund manager projects upfront what would be expected return and how much volatility is expected. How many of us attempt to project our expected return and volatility in a realistic way? “
  • Paul Kamp from Don’t Quit Your Day Job… presents Go Home Already! Congress vs. the Stock Market, and says, “This article details the ‘Congressional Effect’, where many of the gains in the history of the stock market have comes when Congress is not in session. There is also an examination of political risk in general, analyzing two other studies: the outperformance of companies which make campaign contributions in a political cycle, and the benefits of having the Legislative and Executive branches under the control of opposing parties. The article is timely since Congress went on recess yesterday!”
  • Banker Saver presents 4 Financial Tips To Weather The Mortgage Crisis.
  • Helen from Affine Financial Services presents Comparing asset allocation: Schwab vs. Morningstar vs. Fidelity, and says, “If asset allocation is so gosh darn important, why do Schwab, Fidelity, and Morningstar deal with it so differently? “
  • Kevin from No Debt Plan presents How Much Company Stock Should You Hold?, and says, “Should you own any company stock? Not normally, but there are a few exceptions.”
  • ElizabethG from Modern Gal presents Investment Advice Among Friends.
  • CJ from The Coin Jar presents Two headlines that overpromise and underdeliver.
  • Sun from The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Broker Web-Based Trading Platform Comparison.

Money Management

“The art of living easily as to money is to pitch your scale of living one degree below your means.” – Sir Henry Taylor

Real Estate

“Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them.” – Henry David Thoreau

Saving

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.” – Charles Dickens

Other

“He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.” – Benjamin Franklin

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Money Unit -- Vocabulary

Money
The words below are some of the most important used when talking about Money.
Money - Banking
account
bank statement
bankrupt
borrow
budget
cash
cashier
check
traveler's check
credit (card)
currency
debt
deposit
exchange rate
interest (rate)
invest
investment
lend
loan
mortgage
owe
pay
save
savings
shares
withdraw
Money - Buying
bargain
bill
cost
expense
installments
price
purchase
purse
receipt
reduction
refund
spend
wallet
Money - Earning
bonus
earn
earnings
income
gross income
net income
rise
salary
wage
Money - Giving
collection
donate
donation
fee
fine
grant
income tax
inherit
inheritance
pension
pocket money
rent
scholarship
tip
winnings
Money - Verbs
add up
go up / down
make ends meet
pay back
pay into
put down
put towards
run out
save up
take out
Money - Other Related Words
profit
property
valuable
value
waste of money
wealth
worth
worthless
Money - Related Adjectives
affluent
broke
generous
hard-up
mean
poor
prosperous
rich
stingy
wealthy
well off

Course Syllabus

Course Title: Intensive English Program (IEP) III Reading Comprehension
Department and Number: English IEP 3
Credit: Non-credit
Prerequisite(s): None
Semester: Fall 2009 – Tuesdays 12:30—1:30, 1:45-2:45, 3:-4:15
Instructor: Dr. Sylvia Y. Schoemaker Rippel
Email: sysr@lincolnuca.edu
Course-related email for the semester: profsr20@gmail.com
Office hours and location: T, Th 11:45-12:30 and by arrangement, room 307
Office phone: 510-628-8036

Instructional Materials and References

Required text:
Richards, Jack C. and Samuela Eckstut-Didier. Strategic Reading 1: Building Effective Reading Skills. Los Angeles, CA: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN: 0521555809

Recommended texts:
Dictionary, thesaurus


Description
Students will improve reading comprehension and rate; they will increase vocabulary through assigned readings, word study exercises, and discussions. Readings deal with a variety of subjects, including American culture, and academic and personal issues.


Course Objectives
Students will develop reading skills for functional communicative purposes, in context-centered study and expansions. Students will demonstrate improved discrete and holistic reading comprehension skills through targeted readings, presentations, quizzes, tests (pre and post) and exercises (class and text-based).

Instructional Methods
A cooperative learning model is employed. Small group and individual discovery exercises and presentations will augment lectures, discussion and applications.

Topical Outline
Reading selections are of immediate academic and socio-cultural relevance. Among topics included are: music, money, work, sports, weather, culture, Internet

Week

Tuesdays

Unit

Topic

Reading I

Reading II

Reading III

Wk 1

25-Aug-09


Introduction




Wk 2

1-Sep-09

Unit I

Music

Music and Moods

Louis Armstrong


Wk3

8-Sep-09

Unit I

Music



Biology of Music

Wk 4

15-Sep-09

Unit II

Money

Dangers in Shopping

How to be a Millionaire

Pity the Poor Lottery Winner

Wk 5

22-Sep-09

Unit III

Work

Your First Job

Job Satisfaction

Are You a Workaholic?

Wk 6

29-Sep-09

Unit IV

Sports

Do Pro Athletes Make Too Much Money?

Extreme Sports

Frequently Asked Questions about the Ancient Olympic Games

Wk 7

6-Oct-09

Review

Review

Review

Review

Review

Wk 8

13-Oct-09

Midpoint Exercises

Midpoint Exercises

Midpoint Exercises

Midpoint Exercises

Midpoint Exercises

Wk 9

20-Oct-09

Unit V

Weather

Keeping an Eye on the Weather

Nature's Weather Forecasters

Could You Survive a Natural Disaster?

Wk 10

27-Oct-09

Unit VII

Clothes

Dressing for Success

Casual Dress in the Workplace

T-shirts Out; Uniforms In

Wk 11

3-Nov-09

Unit VIII

Culture

Adventures in India

Body Language in the US

Cross-cultural Differences

Wk 12

10-Nov-09

Unit IX

Outer Space

Living in Space

The Planets

Space Tours Not So Far Off

Wk 13

17-Nov-09

Unit X

Animals

The Terrible Toads

Exotic Animals -- Not as Pets!

Let's Abandon Zoos

Wk 14

24-Nov-09

Presentations

Presentations

Presentations

Presentations

Presentations

Wk 15

1-Dec-09

Review

Review

Review

Review

Review

Wk 16

8-Dec-09

Post tests

Post tests

Post tests

Post tests

Post tests

Assessment Criteria & Method of Evaluating Students
As participants in a course that is part of the non-credit IEP program, students do not receive letter grades. Instead, successful students will earn a completion report from their instructors based on their course work, progress, post-test measures, and individual profiles. Students successfully completing the program with the prerequisite instructor recommendations will receive a Certificate of Completion. The following table lists some of the primary areas evaluated for progress indication purposes:



Class attendance and Participation

25%

Exercises and Quizzes

15%

Projects

15%

Homework Assignments

15%

Presentations

15%

Final Review Tests

15%

Total

100%



The following letter grade / point scale is provided for informational purposes only. While individual assignments may be evaluated on such a scale, no final letter grades will be assigned beyond the complete/incomplete evaluations as discussed above.


100-95

A

94-90

A-

89-87

B+

86-84

B

83-80

B-

79-77

C+

76-74

C

73-70

C-

69-67

D+

66-64

D

63-60

D-

59 or <

F

Date Syllabus was Last Reviewed: August 2009

Monday, September 14, 2009

Assignment Schedule

Note: Map, summarize, and complete assigned exercises for each chapter of the book by the date indicated on the schedule.

Week

Date

Unit

Topic

1

8/25/2009

1

Music

2

9/1/2009

2

Money

3

9/8/2009

3

Work

4

9/15/2009

4

Sports

5

9/22/2009

5

Weather

6

9/29/2009

6

Clothes

7

10/6/2009

7

Culture

8

10/13/2009

8

Outer space

9

10/20/2009

9

Animals

10

10/27/2009

10

Travel

11

11/3/2009

11

The Internet

12

11/10/2009

12

Friends

13

11/17/2009

13

Gifts

14

11/24/2009

14

Emotions

15

12/1/2009

15

Food; Sleep and dreams

16

12/8/2009

16

Post Tests