An individual must meet the CFP Board-specified education requirements prior to applying for the CFP Certification Examination. The person will first need to have a bachelor’s degree or higher in any discipline, granted by an accredited college or university. In addition, relevant subject matter education must be proven or attained. There are three ways of doing this: completing a CFP Board-registered education program, apply for challenge status, and requesting a transcript review.

Over 300 college and university programs adhere to the Board education guidelines. An individual that has a degree such as a Doctor of Business Administration or Ph.D. in business or economics will be determined to have met the requirements. Someone who is a CPA, CFA, ChFC, CLU, or a licensed attorney also fulfills the educational requirements. Other industry credentials and successful completion of upper-level university or college courses may fulfill some or all of the requirements.

Once the education requirements have been met, the individual may apply and, if approved, sit for the CFP Certification Examination. This ten-hour exam costs $595 and is administered three times per year in various locations throughout the U.S. The exam is pass-fail and the individual may retake the exam an unlimited amount of times but is required to pay the exam fee each time.

A minimum of three years of qualifying full-time work experience is also required. Individuals can read more online about what type of work experience qualifies under the CFP Board guidelines. Once this requirement has been met, the individual must pass a background check and the Candidate Fitness Standards provided by the CFP Board. A one-time initial certification application fee of $100 and a biennial certification fee of $360 also apply. When all of these requirements have been successfully fulfilled, the CFP Board will grant the individual authorization to use the CFP, Certified Financial Planner, and CFP marks.

In the US the amount of national debt is in the trillions according to national statistics. Getting out of debt is a lot harder than getting in debt; however, it is not such an off-putting task once you get started. Through this article I will try and detail how to make the whole process easier for you, using different debt management techniques.

Your aim

You should always have an aim of where you want end up with your finances. Your aim should be specific and measurable so that you can monitor how well you are doing. Having a specific target to aim for helps keep you well focused and motivated. An example of a good aim good could be something along the lines of ‘I want to reduce my debt by $1000 by the end of the year’, with this aim you can easily monitor how well you are doing, and you have an out-of-debt date to aim for. When you finally see the results that your effort has justified, you will enjoy the rewards.

Your Plan

Now you know what you want to do and when you want to do it, the next question is how? Grab a pen and some paper, and write down any ways in which you think you could save money. Your aim should go hand in hand with your plan. For example, if your aim is to cut down X amount of money in month 1, is there something in month 1 that you normally do that you cut out to save that amount of money.

Methods

When tackling your debts there are many things you could do, here are just a few:

• Budget – Note your income and any expenditure you have to work out how much you can afford to spend per month. Budgeting helps you easily identify how much you can afford to save while still paying all your monthly outgoings.
• Save on bills – Use price comparison websites to identify where you could save money. Check all of your bills including, gas, electric, and phone. You could possibly save money anywhere where you pay a monthly bill
• Credit Cards – By tackling your credit cards you could see an incredible saving. Check how much interest you are paying on your cards and check them against other card providers. If you are paying a lot of interest on your current credit cards you could check for a ‘balance transfer’ credit card where you could transfer your balance and avoid paying any interest for a period of time.
• Consolidation Loan – If you have a lot of debt you could take out a loan to cover it. Doing so allows you to pay off your debts over a longer period of time. Paying your debts off this way means your interest rate on the loan will be lower than what you were originally paying across your total debts.
• Sell unwanted items – Selling unwanted items around your home is a quick fire way to making some quick cash.

Accomplish

Work hard to accomplish your goals but only you can identify which methods work best for you. When it comes to managing and tackling your debts there are many avenues you can go down, if you persevere and find which ways work for you, you should definitely see the benefits. If you don’t see a decrease in your level of debt straight away, stick at it, there will be bumps along the way but it’s getting through the bumps that will see you reach your overall goal.

Bio:

This debt management article was written by Andreas Nicolaides, a financial writer for MoneySupermarket.com

Where To Begin

One of the easiest ways that you can earn money and work from home, is learning to make money online. For example, you could easily set up a home based business, where a majority of your work can be done on your computer. You could build web sites, design web graphics, or perhaps even run an online store.

The main thing is to do your research, and find an option that works for you. Be sure that you pursue something that you enjoy, and will not mind spending a of time in that area. At first, you may have a lot of hours to put in to get your business up and running. The pay off is that you can work from the comfort of your home, while earning money.

More Ideas For Consideration

Now, another example of earning an extra income online is to make money through surveys. Basically, it would be a paid product survey, where you fill out information regarding products around your home. Sometimes you can even get paid to answer questions to help researchers brand a new product.

When participating in paid survey programs, the pay range will vary greatly. In the past, some companies will pay you for each survey, while others will pay you for each level that you pass in regards to your level on the web site. Will you get rich? No, but you will definitely enjoy the benefits of  extra money on a regular basis.

Closing Thoughts

The main thing is for you to find the right option that both fits your lifestyle, and meets your needs. Earning an extra income can help you out in many ways from paying off debt, to building a savings account. The benefits are well worth the effort of starting a home based business for you and your family. You can also buy stocks online.

If you have an earth-shattering product or service idea, consider yourself lucky. You can make money simply by setting up a Web site and conducting online advertising. Customers around the world will be exposed to your novel product or service and the orders will hopefully start flowing.

In fact, you don’t even need to have an original product or make the product yourself. Act as an authorized reseller for a product or service another company has developed. There are a lot of small businesses who welcome wholesale buyers who resell their items in local stores and on other Web sites. Some of these product and service originators even offer arrangements that do not require you to first purchase the product. The person will let you sell the item and will provide you with a commission.

People who enjoy investing can buy stocks — dividend stocks in particular — and watch their investments grow. The dividend is a form of passive income that an investor receives simply for holding the stock. In addition, the shares themselves will hopefully grow in value over time, providing the investor with a nice profit when he or she decides to sell them.

Generating income through affiliate marketing programs is another great passive wealth building technique. Create a Web site about a certain topic and participate in affiliate marketing programs geared to that subject. Place ads for the products or services related to the topic of your site and receive income when someone clicks on the ad or purchases the items.

One of the easiest ways is to participate in a 401(k) or 403b plan offered by an employer. These plans are usually managed by a broker or financial advisor who selects the stocks and funds to offer in the plan. Individuals choose how much of their pay they want to contribute and determine the allocation of the contribution between desired stocks. Some plans feature an employer matching provision that is like free money in the pocket.

Investing in an individual retirement account, or IRA, is another relatively easy way to get exposure to stocks. There are Traditional, Roth, Rollover, Simple, or SEP IRAs to select from and each has different eligibility criteria. Individuals may be able to open these directly or they may be required to go through a financial advisor.

Opening a brokerage account with an investment firm allows an individual to purchase stocks and get the advice of a financial professional. Brokers consider an investor’s financial goals and investment timeline when providing advice regarding recommended stocks. The broker handles the stock transactions and tracks daily stock performance.

Participating in a direct stock purchase plan allows an individual to purchase shares of stock directly from the offering company. This eliminates the middleman, the broker, thus reducing the amount of extra fees that the investor must pay. Individuals should do online research to find companies offering these plans. They should also find out which companies offer dividend reinvestment plans because these are a great way to increase returns while owning just one share of stock.

Don’t forget to read our guide on how to buy stocks online.

If you are young, starting now is a great way to have more for retirement, but this doesn’t mean you are ever too old to start investing. Take the time to learn the ropes of investing and start right away. Save money and make life easier by investing online.

Step 1: Research and Choose your Investments

Building a diversified, well-researched portfolio is very important. Instead of putting all your money into one or two companies, try diversified means of investing. Mutual funds and exchange traded funds, known as ETFs, are both great ways to diversify with minimal research on your part.

A mutual fund is a mix of investments bought by investors who pool their money together. Mutual funds are often used for retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401Ks. ETFs are very similar except that they are traded on an exchange. You can look at the history of the fund, the investments and types of securities included, and it’s performance to help you conduct the necessary research to decide on the best fund.

You do not need to invest in a lot of different mutual funds or ETFs because they are diversified automatically, but including a variety is a great way to reduce risk. Keep a small portion of your portfolio in gold mutual funds or ETFs for a hedge to increase your return and stay diversified. Investing in gold a great way to diversify into other securities such as commodities.

Step 2: Find a Stock Broker

Once you have chosen your investments and have money ready to invest, you will need to find a stock broker. You can’t physical purchase stock by yourself which is why you will need a stock broker from a brokerage firm to do it for you.

There are a lot of great online brokerage firms. Each firm varies in the quality of their research tools, commission fees, and products offered. Before choosing a firm, consider what you’re looking for very carefully. Instead of going with the first firm you see, look at a few of the best firms and compare them to each other. Read reviews from other investors. Make an educated choice in order to maximize your returns and make investing as easy as possible. Not all online brokerage firms are created equally, and some are more established than others. Don’t make a rushed decision.

Step 3: Fund your Account

Once you have set up your account with the brokerage firm, you will need to add money to your account before you can start buying securities. Using an online firm is easy because you can connect your bank account right to your broker for easy funding. Consistently add money to your account so that you always have cash on hand for new securities and automatic investments.

Step 4: Buy Investments

At this point, you should have a funded account set up and a list of investments to purchase. Now it’s as easy as buying those investments. You can purchase your investments a few different ways. A limit order is the best way to make sure you get the best price. When you buy, you want to get the lowest price possible to increase your earnings. A stop limit order set at a certain price will allow you to buy the security once it reaches a certain price. Be realistic when you set your stop limit order to ensure you will get the security you want.

Continue Investing with Automatic Investments

Investing is not a one time thing. It’s not as simple as buying securities, and forgetting about them. Investing is an ongoing process to keep up with. This doesn’t mean watching your investments everyday, but you should keep an eye on them. Watch them to avoid future losses. Also, continue to look around and research other securities for future investments.

Automatic investing is a great way to get in the habit of investing. You can set up automatic investments with your online broker which will automatically buy new securities for you. For example, you can set it up to buy 10 shares a month of the ETF you currently own or other investments. This way, you can’t forget to invest more, and you will continue to build up the value of your portfolio over time. Reaching your investment goals will be easier as you make a habit of regular investing.

If you’re interested in learning more about automatic investing, ten don’t forget to check out our guide to learning how to save money automatically. If you want to see which online stock broker I use, check out the guide on the best online stock brokers.

The ETF arena has increased in recent years and there are currently close to 700 different investment options. There are ETFs based on commodities, bonds, futures, equity indexes, equity sub-indexes, and even investing style and market capitalization. The positive aspect of this is that it provides investors with a lot of choices. The negative side is that they are not all equal when it comes to quality and some may not have enough investor interest to stay afloat.

When selecting the best ETF from amongst the competition, several factors should be considered. The ETF should have a certain level of assets, preferably $10 million or more. Anything less and there will be limited investor interest, which results in poor liquidity and also wide spreads. The ETF should also have good daily trading volume because this speaks to its liquidity and spread.

Investors should think about the underlying asset class or index that serves as the basis for the ETF. If they are seeking to diversify their portfolio, individuals may want to invest in ETFs tracking a broad index that is widely followed. The closeness to which the ETF tracks the index should also be examined because a close-tracking ETF is preferable.

An ETF that is first within its market sector will usually become king by scooping up most of the assets. Therefore, investors should pass by the imitators that do not have any differentiation. The ETFs that stand out from the crowd are more likely to attract the assets of an investor.

The online functionality provided by ING is convenient and extremely easy to use and this company is known for providing many customer-friendly features. However, even I was surprised to see that ING provides ShareBuilder customers with a $100 bonus for transferring another brokerage account. They also provide their Advantage Program at no charge for one month, saving consumers $12. In addition, they offer a free six-part guide to wise investing, something all of us can benefit from reading.

ShareBuilder offers more than 7,000 stocks and ETFs from which an investor can choose. Investors purchase stock either automatically at specific dollar amounts through the automatic investing plan or by executing real time trades in share amounts. The Basic program allows infrequent investors to purchase stocks for $4 by setting up automatic investing on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis. The Advantage program allows individuals to make up to 12 scheduled investments each month for a total cost of $12. It also provides users with access to all ING investment tools. Automatic investors can invest any amount each Tuesday when they make the transactions online.

Real time trades cost $7.95 to $9.95 each, depend on the selected pricing program. These trades are executed immediately during market hours. Options trading costs $1.25 per contract with a Basic account and $0.75 with an Advantage account, plus real-time trade commission fees. Individuals can invest in more than 70 mutual funds for no charge online, or over 170 funds at cost of $19.95 online.

Investors can open individual or joint accounts to meet personal goals. They can also open traditional, Roth, and Rollover IRAs, educational savings accounts, and custodial accounts. ING offers flexible options like the ability for real-time traders to use the Express Funding feature to purchase stocks, ETFs, or mutual funds for an additional $6.95 per trade when they do not have enough money in their ShareBuilder accounts to cover the total transaction cost. The extra funds needed will be requested from the individual’s bank account after the trade is placed. Take a look at ING’s ShareBuilder to read about all it has to offer.

The term “hedge fund manager” is used to refer either to the firm providing the service of investment management or the individual who directs the investment of the money supplied by the wealthy fund participants. A business engaging in investment management is involved in tasks like research, marketing, dealing, settling, internal auditing, and report preparation. The largest hedge fund management companies are complex and have many employees.

The best hedge fund managers are able to avoid or reduce their exposure to the main problems in running such a business. One of the most central is that company revenue is directly tied to market valuations. If asset prices fall, so do the revenues of the company, which is rarely a comfortable situation.

Clients are often not patient through these tough times. To make things worse, when funds are performing above average, it is often short-lived and seems to depend upon the fund manager’s skills. Some clients hesitate to place their money into an investment whose performance relies only on the ability of a few people. Sometimes, the best fund managers become wealthy enough to quit their jobs and manage their own investment portfolios.

David Tepper, who is the head of Appaloosa Management, George Soros, James Simons with Renaissance Technologies, John Paulson, and Steve Cohen with SAC Capital Advisors, were the top five best-paid managers of hedge funds in 2009, in order from numbers one through five. On this list, the highest paid earned $4 billion and the lowest earned $1.4 billion. The top 25 earners in 2009 earned $25.3 billion in total, equating to an average of more than $1 billion each. Even number 25 earned a respectible $350 million in 2009, far from a small chunk of pocket change.

The first and most important step is to find people to invest in the hedge fund. The fund manager earns a living from the performance and management fees charged to clients. A typical management fee is between one and two percent of the total fund and the performance fee is approximately twenty percent of the fund profits. Therefore, it stands to reason that if a fund is too small, it will not provide enough income to be the only occupation.

Since the investment sector is one of the most regulated U.S. industries, starting a private investment partnership involves a lot more steps than does starting a retail shop. An accountant and a lawyer should be retained for consultation purposes. The accountant can also serve as the auditor for the partnership.

These professionals will help the entrepreneur prepare the partnership agreement. They will advise whether a U.S. or offshore hedge fund is recommended. A prime broker should be obtained so the fund can execute trades and this will cost between $25,000 and $90,000. To keep the focus on investing, hiring someone to handle the administrative work is recommended. A compliance consultant will perform these duties for approximately $15,000 or the back office can be outsourced to a company that handles such functions.

All of this may sound relatively simple but there are more details and requirements regarding each step. The entrepreneur should conduct in-depth research and seek advice from professionals in the industry prior to starting this venture. Though this will take some extra time, it will provide the individual with the knowledge necessary to obtain the best investors.

So what makes interest rates become low? Finances in a country are affected directly by the current economy and unemployment rates. Lately both in this country are in bad shape. Thus, interest rates being paid on investments are very low, sometimes even below 1%. When banks and financial markets have less money on deposit and are giving out fewer loans, they have less to give back to their customers. The stock and currency markets handle their money in much the same way. Basically, in a bad economy, investment funds yield much less interest income leaving people to wonder ask will interest rates go up anytime soon?

For most of us our daily jobs are what we depend upon for income. For many others, though, especially retired individuals, income comes completely from investments. This can be savings accounts, retirement funds or stock market deposits. If money market interest rates or CD rates go down to low levels like they are now, the monthly interest amount drops a substantial amount as well. If interest income is what you rely on to survive financially, lowering interest rates is like getting a big drop in your hourly pay.

If you have money invested, you should understand how interest rates work and the risks you may be taking. Hopefully in the healthy economic times your surplus helps you through the rougher times. Sometimes it can take a weak economy quite some time to turn around and this can takes its toll on the investor who relies on interest income to survive financially.

One form of help that many people and virtually all professionals use is free stock option software; it will help you level the playing field while trying to profit from this difficult, though potentially very lucrative, type of investment.

A simple search will reveal several different kinds of options trading software. While the interface will look different from tool to tool, what you are really looking for is the ability to type in a stock symbol, i.e. for the underlying stock, and have the entire options chain of expiration dates as well as all strike prices represented to you as a table or 2-D graph, or even in 3-D format.

The point of this software is that you want to maximize your potential gains by getting into the very best contract that you can, once you are convinced that a certain stock will move up or down in the future.

The fact is that with options not every contract is created equal; some are so far out of the money that the cost of the premium would not justify buying it, but on the other hand your options trading software can reveal when that same contract is priced attractively.

Another area where this trading software really shines is in helping you analyse more sophisticated options strategies such as spreads and straddles. With these methods it can be very difficult for neophyte investors especially to quantify exactly how risky a position is, as with them you are buying and selling combinations of different expiration dates and strike prices for a given underlying stock.

The software in this case can give you a simple graph of your break even points and profit/loss regardless of where the price of the stock goes, and being able to visualize this quickly is of great benefit when you are considering entering an options position.

Before you pay for stock options software, be sure that you look at the free packages that are available to you. Frankly, some are so sophisticated that paying for software of this kind is probably unnecessary for most investors.

The cost to start a mutual fund averages approximately $150,000 during the first year, so it is not for those who do not have deep pockets or the ability to get the necessary funding. Until enough money has been collected to offset operation costs, entrepreneurs are forced to subsidize the fund themselves or increase expenses. This second approach will often deter the very investors the fund so desperately needs.

With all of the complexities and regulations present in the investment industry, starting a mutual fund is not an undertaking for the weak of heart. The entrepreneur must first develop a business plan and obtain the money necessary to start the fund. The next step is to retain a lawyer and accountant skilled in these matters, who will assist with filing the necessary documents and preparing a presentation for the NASD. Once NASD membership and other necessary approvals are granted, marketing, compliance, and internal audit staff must be hired, or these duties should be outsourced. Licensed sales representatives and customer service staff will also need to be brought on board.

The portfolio management and trading employees hired should be experienced because their reputation will help sell the fund to prospective investors. They can also advise the entrepreneur on the most successful types of funds to offer. A skilled lawyer may also provide useful advice and in these situations will be helpful by making sure everyone remains in compliance throughout the process.

Once the fund is established, the marketing begins and the approach needs to emphasize the investment strategy and research process of the fund. There is a continued need to attract more investors to the fund, so ongoing marketing efforts are key.  Due to the daunting nature of this process, some entrepreneurs opt for starting an investment partnership like a hedge fund because it costs less and is subject to fewer regulations.

The stocks, securities, and bonds held by a fund are called the portfolio. Each investor owns a quantity of shares representing a portion of the portfolio’s total holdings. Investment companies often provide a variety of funds from which investors can choose, each with different levels of risk and investment strategies. Investors can purchase mutual funds directly from an investment company or through financial planners, brokers, insurance agents, or banks.

Prior to selecting a mutual fund, an individual should learn about the different funds available. There are both short and long term investment choices so it is important to consider the desired investment perspective and timeline. There are different categories like precious metals, minerals, natural gas, utilities, and oil, so the investor will need to determine in which industries there is interest.

The prospectus for the fund provides a lot of this information and also details the fund’s performance and other financial information. The fee table for the fund should also be examined so the investor has an understanding of the various charges to fund participants. In addition, the investor should request the annual report for the fund if it is not included in the prospectus. This document provides valuable information like market indices and any strategies or events that affected the performance or investment direction of the fund.

Investors should consider the objective and holdings of the fund in relation to the other investments in the portfolio. Mutual funds are characterized by low risk and an ability to spread the volatility of any one stock because they offer diverse holdings in and of themselves. However, they are not 100 percent safe investments so they should be examined in light of the remainder of the investment portfolio.

Check out my gold mutual funds article.

There are a few ways an investor can try to maximize their earnings potential from a CD, especially if you find the best CD rates. Here are a few ideas.

• Jumbo CD’s – An alternative option to maximize your earnings is to look for jumbo certificates of deposit to invest in. Banks and other institutions may offer slightly better rates for investments over $100,000. Even an increase of .05% on a $100,000 investment would yield $50 more per year in interest. Jumbo CD’s are much more secure now as the FDIC will insure any deposits up to $250,000 which will cover these investments.

• CD Ladder – Building a CD ladder allows an investor to hedge against future interest rate changes. Instead of investing all your money into a single CD, a ladder can be created which splits the money equally across multiple deposit accounts. Each CD should expire in equal increments, such as every 12 months. As each account expires, the investor would reinvest the principal and interest back into another CD.

• Special CD Offers – Search for special CD rates that are sometimes offered by banks. These special promotions typically come with a much higher rate of return than common offerings from these organizations. Give your bank a call and ask if they are offering any special CD rates as these types of offers are typically not published.

Investors who don’t have the risk tolerance to put their money into stocks, bonds, or options need a high yield option. While a CD may not offer the highest return available, they do offer a guaranteed return backed by the FDIC. This stability is especially important in today’s uncertain global economy.

If you are looking to make a guaranteed return on an investment, I strongly urge you to consider investing in a certificate of deposit or an online savings account or even a Swiss bank account.

One of the tools available to the common taxpayer is an IRA. Money put into a 401k does not count as income the year it is deposited this becomes income in a future tax year. When that money is withdrawn, taxes will be due on the money deposited and the profit it has generated.

For people who qualify, a Roth IRA allows taxpayers to invest funds in a wide variety of potential income generating products including the stock market, currency market, real estate and collectibles. The money contributed to this account does not reduce the income the year it is deposited. When the money and the profit are withdrawn from this account, no federal income tax is due. Qualified people can do a 401k rollover to this new plan and grow their retirement fund tax-free.

Smart taxpayers use legal means to reduce their income in years they are approaching a higher income tax bracket to keep more of the money they have earned.

When planning to consolidate you debt it is a good idea to speak to a financial counselor before you get started. A local non profit counselor in your nearby city is the perfect place to start. Before you take chances with debt consolidation companies do your research and study hard. Some of these companies may actually have you pay more than you owe, so be careful. When dealing with the issue of how to reduce debt there is a need for mental focus and discipline that you must have to persevere.

There are a few facts that you need to realize before you can make progress towards getting out of debt. You must understand that you are the cause of your own financial mess, and you can blame no one else for what you have done. People are so caught up on blaming others that they never come to the conclusion that they are the cause of their own financial ruin. It is also important to know that reducing your debt is a process and it will take time. So learn to be patient.

You should also consider placing you and your entire family on a well balanced budget. It is vital that you do not spend what you don’t have. In 2009, it was reported that the amount of overdraft fees on banking accounts was $37 Billion dollars. I hope you did not contribute to that! If you did, you have to learn the lesson of discipline and self control. Many people are addicted to shopping. Though it is not wrong to shop, if you spend money that you don’t have you will stay in debt.

When reducing your debt you need to pay more than you spend. Many people pay their credit cards on a monthly basis but end up spending more than what they paid. By doing this they end up breaking even and never making progress.
Here is an example:  Let’s say you owe $ 1000.00 on one credit card. You pay your monthly minimum of 20-30$ dollars per month, but you spend $50-60 dollars on the same credit card every other week. There is no way that you will be able to reduce the debt. You are spending much more than you are paying. This is the trap that many people are tangled in so make sure you stay out of it.

I leave you with these last few facts:

1. Take time to make a budget and stick to it.
2. Do not spend what you don’t have
3. Teach yourself to have self control.
4. If you plan on going through a debt consolidation company study hard and do some research on the company before you make your decision.

So if 401(k)s are so great, why bother with anything else? The main problem with the 401(k) is that the money is taxed when you withdraw it (and you’re forced to start withdrawing it once you’re old enough). This is a fair tradeoff – after all, you weren’t taxed on the money to begin with, and you got to (hopefully) earn a lot of interest on what the government would otherwise have taken.

However, what if you’re in a high tax bracket when you retire? I know I plan to be making a lot more 35 years from now than I am today; it hardly makes sense to avoid paying a low tax rate now so that I can pay more later! This is the situation that Roth IRAs were created for. The Roth is funded with after-tax dollars, but then it grows tax-free; if I put $10,000 into an investment inside of a Roth this year and it grows to a million dollars before I retire, I don’t have to pay taxes on a penny of that money. Good deal, no?

While you should never withdraw money from your retirement account before you actually retire, in an emergency it’s much easier to take money out of the Roth. The rules say that you can withdraw up to the amount that you put into the account for any reason whatsoever without paying a tax penalty; it’s only the earnings that you can’t touch. With a 401(k), on the other hand, early withdrawal could hit you with a big tax bill.

Roth IRAs and 401(k)s are created for different circumstances, but if you have a number of years to go before retirement and aren’t a high earner, the Roth probably makes more sense. Save on your taxes. Get a Roth! Check out my gold IRA article.

Check out our other websites, like our gold, debt, and wealth management blogs.

According to the 2009 rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and University of Chicago tied for the top spot when it came to U.S. economics graduate programs. Those who want to attend school on the west coast should take a look at Stanford University in California, which came in right behind them. University of California-Berkley, Yale University, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and University of Minnesota-Twin Cities rounded out the top ten.

Within these rankings, there are sub rankings for areas of specialty study within the field of economics. International economics is a popular area of specialization for those wishing to learn more about the worldwide economy. Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia are the best schools to attend for this specialization, according to the magazine.

Econometrics is a term that many people many not recognize and it is the act of combining statistics with economic theories for the purpose of testing and analyzing economic relationships. Students who enjoy math and want to apply mathematical concepts to observed data for the purpose of forming inferences may enjoy this field of study. The top three schools offering this program are Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University.

There are other specialty areas of study from which a graduate economics student can select. Development economics, industrial organization, labor economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, and public finance are some of the most common. Some graduate schools will work with students to develop a customized program of study in economics that meets student interests.

Where economics used to be the liberal arts equivalent to a business school, this is no longer the case. A 2009 study revealed that only 36 percent of those majoring in economics planned to have careers in business. Economic provides a blend of innovative thinking, core skills, intellectual muscle stretching, and a big-picture understanding of the world.

Of the colleges and universities offering undergraduate economics programs, U.S. News & World Report recently ranked Harvard University number one. The major is one of the most popular programs of study offered at the school and may be selected as either a primary or secondary concentration. In addition, there are economics seminars, workshops, and study abroad opportunities that can be arranged.

Harvard was not alone at the top of the U.S News & World Report list; Princeton University tied it for number one. According to the school, 75 percent of graduates from the undergrad economics program go directly into consulting or banking. Others pursue graduate studies in business, medicine, economics, or law. Students in the undergraduate program must complete a junior year independent project and a senior thesis.

Other U.S. colleges and universities that have good economics undergraduate programs are: Ohio State University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin, Purdue University, University of California, University of Georgia, University of Massachusetts, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University. Stanford University, University of Chicago, Duke University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, California Institute of Technology, Williams College, Amherst College, and Swarthmore College are also known for their high quality economics programs. These schools range in size from about 1,500 to over 53,000 students so there is a size and location to meet any preference.

If you want to learn how to manage money on your own, then go to our private wealth management website, and check out the wealth building guide.