Short Takes: Pitching Leverage to Seniors, Students with Credit Cards, and more

Depth Dynamics has an interesting story of a pitch to financial advisors to get them to promote leveraged investing. They also tell the story of a couple in their 70s who lost money after being talked into using leverage. Thanks to Ken Kivenko for pointing me to this one.

Rob Carrick says that students handle credit cards better than many people think. I wonder, though, whether the various statistics Carrick quotes include the effect of parental help. Some students’ parents pay their credit card bills for them every month. And some parents pay off credit card bills for students who get themselves into debt trouble. This doesn’t always happen, but it happens often enough to skew the statistics to make it look like students handle credit cards better than they really do. You can be sure that banks know that parents are often willing to bail out students with debt problems. This makes students good candidates for credit cards (in the banks’ eyes).

Mr. Money Mustache makes a thoughtful case for why paying someone else to maintain your property and possessions doesn’t make as much sense as you might think.

Jonathan Chevreau reiterates his case for saying “financial independence” rather than “retirement”. He has a good point that the real goal ought to be financial independence. Once this is achieved, we can decide whether or not to work.

The Blunt Bean Counter finds a humorous way to approach the morbid subject of whether your spouse has enough information to properly handle the family finances if you die.

My Own Advisor updates his progress toward his 2012 financial goals. It seems that he’s right on track without adding any new debt.

Big Cajun Man is a man of simple tastes who doesn’t see the need for a bucket list.