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Nearly all women in the United States are involved in household finance decisions and one-fourth of them are in control, yet many lack confidence in their fiscal management abilities, a study found on Tuesday.

According to the fifth biennial Prudential Financial survey, “Financial Experience and Behaviors Among Women,” women’s involvement in household decisions about money has grown by about a third in the past decade.

More than 95 percent of women are involved in financial decisions, with one-fourth acting as primary decision-makers, but their financial confidence has failed to improve and was further weakened by the U.S. recession, it found.

“Women were not spared from the impact of the financial crisis in any way, shape or form,” Joan Cleveland, Prudential’s senior vice president, told a panel discussion to launch the survey. “Women’s financial confidence was shaken.”

More than six in 10 women rely on family and friends for financial advice, but 70 percent would like more sound advice. They feel “there’s no one I can trust,” said Cleveland.

She said the online survey of 1,250 women, conducted from Feb. 10 to 26, found 38 percent did not understand stocks, 43 percent did not understand mutual funds and 53 percent did not understand annuities.

“The good thing is though this economic crisis overall has really heightened women’s recognition of their need to develop a financial plan to meet their long-term goals,” Cleveland said. “But only about a third of them have started down that path and that number gets even worse the younger they are.”

One third of women surveyed said they “need a lot of help” planning their financial future. As a result of the recession, 56 percent now plan to work longer and 20 percent wonder if they will be able to retire on time.

“Women are aware, they are more involved and in terms of financial decision-making, financial literacy, we have made significant strides over the past decade, but we’ve really got a ways to go still,” Cleveland said.

The study of sole or joint heads of households ages 25 to 64 had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. The full study can been found at www.prudential.com/women.

(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Mohammad Zargham)

(For more news on Reuters India, click http://in.reuters.com)

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Can you find anyone who has become wealthy by leaving his or her money in the bank or an FD? If you want to create wealth, you must move away from this mentality of thinking that a savings account or an FD is the best home for your money.

Much has been made of the so-called comparison between mutual funds and ULIPs in the past few months. Our opinion is that the public debate on these two investment options misses the bigger point. The reality is that the bulk of the household savings for Indian families is tied up in bank accounts earning 3.5% interest and in FDs, both of which are highly inefficient investment options for wealth creation. Add to this the announcement this week that inflation has now touched double digit levels, and its an even scarier thought that most of us still prefer to leave our money in a bank, rather than in instruments that are higher yielding, be they equity mutual funds or ULIPs.

So the real debate should be whether families in their effort to create wealth are making a mistake in leaving their money in the bank vs. choosing to invest through instruments like mutual funds and ULIPs that offer a reasonable prospect of better long-term returns.

Mutual Funds vs. ULIPs – no big deal

Call it a turf war or clash of regulators, frankly in the long run it’s not a big deal from the end customer’s perspective. Whether its SEBI or IRDA, consumers should feel comfortable and secure that there is a regulator who is mandated to look after their interests.

Every investment instrument has pros and cons. We challenge you to find one that is perfect. So, there will always be promoters or detractors of both mutual funds and ULIPs.

Objectively speaking, however, there is a better chance of you being able to meet your long-term financial goals through equity mutual funds and/or a ULIP than the default option for most Indians, which is to leave money in the bank.

Almost every one of us will have one of the following goals that require a substantial amount of money in the future: funding our graduate education, marriage, house purchase, taking care of children’s financial needs, funding their education and marriage, being adequately funded towards our own retirement.

Experience from all over the world has shown that our salaries are not enough to fund these goals. We need to invest into the capital markets, subject to our risk taking capacity, to take advantage of the compounding of capital, i.e., money that creates more money. No lesser authority than Albert Einstein remarked, “compounding is the 8th wonder of the world because it allows for the systematic accumulation of wealth”.

The advantage of equity mutual funds and ULIPs is that they are instruments that offer you a better rate of compounding for your capital than cash lying in the bank, and thereby provide a better chance of creating wealth in the long run.

Savings Accounts and FDs – bad deal for wealth creation

Let’s make ourselves clear. Savings accounts and FDs have a purpose and we cannot over generalize and make a blanket statement that they are bad instruments. However, when it comes to wealth creation they are not good instruments for you to invest through. We will show you why.

First of all, a savings account earns you a mere 3.5% interest rate, a level that is fixed arbitrarily. Similarly, a fixed deposit contractually fixes the rate of return at the start date of your deposit, and you cannot earn more than what you signed up for, even if interest rates in the markets were to rise. Compare this to a return that the equity market can earn you. History and experience of equity markets from around the world suggests that in the long-term equity markets are likely to “compound your capital” at approximately 12% per annum. Compared to this, a 3.5% savings account return just does not match up.

Secondly, savings accounts and FDs are highly tax inefficient. Any interest you earn through these will be taxable in your hands as income, and you will be liable to pay tax on this income. Compare this to equity mutual funds and ULIPs where at least for the time being until the new direct tax code is implemented you pay zero taxes on your gains if you hold these instruments for the long-term. And, if you invest into an equity linked savings scheme (ELSS mutual fund) you might find this an even more tax efficient investment than a regular mutual fund.

Finally, and perhaps most crucially, by leaving your money in a bank or an FD, you are losing the purchasing power of that money. Because you are earning a fixed return through these instruments, these instruments cannot offset the corrosive effect of inflation or rising prices within the economy. If one’s bank account returns only 3.5% pre-tax, but the level of prices is rising at 10%, one doesn’t have to be a mathematical genius to figure out that in the long run one’s standard of living will suffer. You will hardly be able to create any wealth, because whatever returns you earn does not even help you keep pace with the rising prices in the economy, let alone give you a surplus that can earn you further returns.

If you are already wealthy then FDs might be a good wealth preservation instrument, but please don’t use them to create wealth for yourself.

Don’t sit idle, invest actively

Putting your money into a savings account of an FD is almost akin to sitting idle. India is going through an inflection, which is likely to last for a few decades, where the equity capital markets will be the best avenue for long-term investment and a good way to build an alternate and legitimate source of wealth. If you believe in India’s economic growth potential, then move at least some of your money from your bank account into a higher yielding instrument to give yourself a fair chance to create long-term wealth.

source: http://in.finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/mutualfunds_basics/72/learn-why-fds-are-hazardous-for-wealth-creation/

By www.iTrust.in – India’s leading one-stop financial supermarket for real estate, home loans, investments, taxes and financial planning.

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The personal details of 100 million users of social networking website Facebook are now available for download after they were leaked online.

Ron Bowles, an online security consultant, used a code to scan Facebook profiles, collected data not hidden by users’ privacy settings, and compiled a list, which is now available as a downloadable file, containing the URL of every ‘searchable’ Facebook user’s profile, their name and unique ID, the BBC reported Thursday.

Bowles said he published the data to highlight privacy issues, but Facebook retorted by saying the information was already public.

‘People who use Facebook own their information and have the right to share only what they want, with whom they want, and when they want,’ the website said.

‘In this case, information that people have agreed to make public was collected by a single researcher and already exists in Google, Bing, other search engines, as well as on Facebook.’

‘No private data is available or has been compromised,’ Facebook said.

The list has already been downloaded by over 1,000 people on Pirate Bay, the world’s biggest file-sharing website.

One user, going by the name of ‘lusifer69′, said the list was ‘awesome and a little terrifying’.

But internet watchdog Privacy International said Facebook had been given ample warning that something like this would happen.

‘Facebook should have anticipated this attack and put measures in place to prevent it,’ Simon Davies, an official of Privacy International, said.

‘It is inconceivable that a firm with hundreds of engineers couldn’t have imagined a trawl of this magnitude and there’s an argument to be heard that Facebook have acted with negligence, he said.

Facebook hit 500 million users in June this year.

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Obama in The view | ABC’s The View – Barrack Obama | President Obama On The View

Instead, he’s promoting himself and his agenda, sitting in the hot seat of the daytime talk show in an effort, once again, to go beyond the traditional media filter and speak directly to the American people, especially women.

Obama’s Thursday appearance was taped today and will be his third on the show. It is his first as president — indeed it is the first appearance of any sitting president on a daytime TV talk show.

In an exclusive preview clip that aired on "World News" tonight, Barbara Walters asked the president what the recent high and low points of his time in office had been.

"In the last month what has been the rose and what has been the thorn?" she asked, referring to an Obama family tradition of taking stock of their lives.

"In the last month the rose has to be a couple of days we took in Maine with Michelle, Sasha and Malia," he said. "They’re full of opinions and ideas and observations and it’s just a great age … Malia just turned 12 and Sasha 9. Couldn’t been a better couple of days."

Asked what the "thorn" had been, the president answered with his own question.

"Where do I begin?" he asked, getting a laugh from the audience.

"Obviously the country has gone through a tough stretch. Since I took office when I was sworn in … the last 20 months have been a nonstop effort to restart the economy, to stabilize the financial system, to make sure we are creating jobs and not losing them."

Obama also cited the BP oil spill and battling the H1N1 swine flu "pandemic" as recent thorns.

So why sit down with "The View’s" feisty and opinionated five hosts in the first place?

"I was trying to find a show that Michelle actually watched, and so I thought this is it, right here," he said. "All those new shows, she’s like, eh, let me get the clicker."

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the decision was made to put the president on "The View" because it provides an opportunity "to talk to people where they are."

"People have busy lives and it’s best to go where they are," Gibbs said.

Even with several big-ticket agenda items earning the presidential signature and becoming law, it has been a rough couple of months for the Obama White House, with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico dominating the agenda and Americans growing more frustrated with the struggling economy.

The president’s approval ratings have hit new lows, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. Nearly six in 10 Americans say they lack confidence in the president to make the right decisions for the country, and a majority doubts his handling of the economy.

The ABC daytime program is unique because it is hosted by five women and its audience skews heavily female — a voting group that has trended Democrat and went for Obama 56-43 over Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the 2008 presidential election.

As Obama’s overall approval ratings have dropped, he also has lost support from women, from a high of 72 percent support in February 2009 when he was still glowing from the presidential campaign and inauguration to an approval of 51 percent today.

Obama’s support among men is in the same range — 49 percent approval today compared to 64 percent in February 2009.

Jessica Coen, editor of Jezebel.com, a popular website aimed at women, sees "The View" appearance as a prime opportunity for Obama to show some personality and "lay on the charm," which she feels has been in short supply given recent challenges.

"You go on ‘The View’ and you sit Obama down with these women and some of them may fawn on him; some may not. But either way he’s going to be charming," said Coen. "The target audience for ‘The View’ is going to appreciate and be reminded of Barack Obama’s personality when he goes out here."

Robert Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, said given the fact that the show is hosted by five females and has an audience that skews heavily female, the White House may see the appearance as a great opportunity to do an extended sit-down interview on a program that is safe but also perceived as serious.

"It is a women’s program, helmed by Barbara Walters, and the female voice is very much the one that dominates," he said. "It’s not a news show, but it’s a serious discussion show. I wouldn’t call ‘The View’ frivolous."

Coen cautioned that while Obama excels in off-the-cuff situations, he might approach the appearance too casually at his own peril.

"Yes, it’s daytime television, but that doesn’t mean it’s light and fluffy," Coen said. "Obama’s an intelligent man. He’s not going in there thinking he’s sitting down with the knitting circle. He knows what he’s getting into. But the risk would be if he plays it a little too casually, takes it a little too lightly."

One notable Democrat who does not think it is a good idea for the president to go on "The View" is Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who implied that it is unpresidential and there may be better uses of the president’s Q-and-A time.

"I wouldn’t put him on ‘Jerry Springer,’ too, right?," he said on MSNBC on Tuesday. "I think the president of the United States has to go on serious shows. And ‘The View’ is, you can make a case that it’s a serious show, but it also rocks and rolls a little bit. I’m not sure he has to go on ‘The View’ to be open to questions."

The Obama White House clearly believes that the president’s message is best conveyed straight from the source and has made it a goal to reach as wide an audience as possible when the president wants to address key agenda items.

That generally has meant shunning traditional White House press conferences and photo opportunities in favor of one-on-one interviews aimed at specific audiences.

Gibbs said last year that "gone are the days where one outlet is where everyone gets their news or one medium is where everybody gets their news."

Thompson agreed and said that politicians, especially those in campaign mode, need to put together what he called "a coalition of audiences" to convey a message effectively.

"There is no mass audience anymore," he said. "You have to collect it like a patchwork quilt."

The White House strategy has been to go beyond typical "news junkies" in order to try and reach a broad spectrum of Americans. That effort has included Obama talking about NASCAR and college basketball on ESPN, sitting down with Jay Leno and David Letterman on their late-night comedy shows and even giving an interview from the sidelines of a college basketball game.

Thompson said that while that may be a "fine strategy" during a campaign, it may not be best serving the president now.

"I’m not sure at this point if hearing more Barack Obama is going to be an asset or a liability," Thompson said. "We kind of know what his response is to this oil spill, we kind of know what he wants to tell us about extending [unemployment] benefits and about medical care — all the things that he is talking about. I’m not sure if he’s in a place right now where he needs to reiterate a message but needing to do things that people will consider moving things along."

The appearance is part of "The View’s" Red, White & View series, which has featured prominent American politicians and discussions on current political issues. Vice President Joe Biden made a guest appearance in April.

source:http://vinubuzz.com/obama-in-the-view-abcs-the-view-barrack-obama-president-obama-on-the-view/

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