About Me 0046: personal finance planning

Almost everybody these days has some sort of debt on their personal balance sheet. There are some who state that debt can be classified into good debts or bad debts. What constitutes a good debt and what constitutes a bad debt? The standard definition for good debt is debt that helps you to make more money, while bad debt is one that makes you poorer.

However, in my personal opinion, there is no such thing as good debt or bad debt. A debt is a debt, which means you owe somebody or some company money. Too much debt is never a good thing, be it good debt or bad debt. Good debt can turn into bad debt overnight. For example, a mortgage loan used to purchase a property which later crashed in value by 40%. Good debt was raised for an investment, but it turned into bad debt because now the house is worth less than the value of the housing loan you owe to the bank.

There are some books which term car loans as one of the bad debts. The financing costs of a car are indeed high, coupled with depreciation of the car and maintenance makes car ownership a very expensive affair. Now, that would be bad debt isn’t it? What if the car is the tool that helps you to make money, it’s a form of transport to get you to various work places. Perhaps the fact that you own a nice car helps to build confidence in your clients so you can close more sales. Would it still be bad debt? Or is it now good debt?

Another example is a credit card. It is often made out to be the worst debt to have, for good reason. The credit card balance left over time incurs the highest interest rate of over 20% per year. A credit card is a great utility for cashless transaction and allows you to enjoy one month of interest free payment if used in a disciplined manner. The reward points and cash back schemes are more incentives to use the credit card as a way of saving money. If you could save 3% for every dollar spent on the credit card, it definitely makes sense to swipe your daily expenses onto the card.

Continued on the next page

In France, there is a group known as the "Four Musketeers" -- a quartet of PR execs at a firm called Euro RSCG, who are are longtime personal advisors who have worked closely with Dominique Strauss-Kahn since he left the French finance ministry in 1999.

The so-called four musketeers include Stephane Fouks, Anne Hommel, Gilles Finchelstein and Ramzi Khiroun.

Fouks flew out to New York yesterday to meet with Strauss-Kahn.

"One of France's top consultants was flying to New York yesterday to meet with old friend, former client and shamed ex-IMF honcho Dominique Strauss-Kahn," according to the New York Post. "Fouks of Euro RSCG -- an influential French communications group -- was headed to a meeting with DSK and communications adviser Anne Hommel."

L'Express, a french magazine, has described the four musketeers as "the most loyal and oldest advisers to Dominique Strauss-Kahn," with Anne Hommel in particular a gatekeeper to the former IMF head. She reportedly organizes (well, organized) all of DSK's appointments and selects which journalists can travel with his entourage on certain trips.

Fouks, meanwhile, apparently has an "address book to die for" and is power-player in Paris.

Perhaps this means the group is confident that charges against Strauss-Kahn -- who was recently freed from house arrest, despite charges against him remaining -- will be dropped and he will be back in France soon, and they're planning a new spin offensive. Strauss-Kahn, prior to the arrest, was considered a front runner in the upcoming French presidential race.

About Me 0046

Monday, August 1, 2011

personal finance planning

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