Are Hedge Funds Worth It?

Hedge funds have been receiving a bad rep over the past few years. Funds like those of Bear Sterns lost Billions in investor capital by making bad, overleveraged bets. And they charge a whopping 2% front-end load and 20% of the profits. Compared to many other well performing funds, this is outrageously high.

Is this enormous fee worth it? Here's a very interesting email I received today:

This could be the worst hedge fund in the world... Jonathan Wood, a former UBS trader, founded hedge fund SRM Global Master Fund two years ago. Now he's bust. Wood took positions in Bear Stearns, the defunct investment bank; Countrywide Financial, the posterboy of the mortgage debacle; and Northern Rock, the U.K. bank that experienced a run on its assets.

SRM Global Master Fund raised $3 billion in 2006 and is down 85% through July. Investors agreed to a five-year lockup, so they haven't been able to redeem. See what you get for "2 and 20"?

Makes the -15% year to date return of the US stock market look pretty stellar in comparison! I guess sometimes simpler investments are better!

Getting Out Of Medical Debt

There are a lot of people who file bankruptcy each year due to huge medical bills that they just cannot pay.

The Wall Street Journal recently had a good article on getting out of Medical Debt. It seems that there are 77 million Americans struggling with medical debt, despite the fact that 62% carry health insurance.

Anyone who's financially struggling with medical debt should do the following:

1. Check for errors
By some estimates, 90% of hospital bills contain errors.

2. Stay on Top of the Insurance Company
If there is some dispute between the hospital and the insurance company, the easiest route is to just kick the bill to the patient. Make sure that the insurance company pays their fair share.

3. Negotiate
Everything in life is negotiable! However, its easier for patients without insurance to negotiate.

4. Ask For Help
Many hospitals have a financial aid center with access to government programs that can help pay for your treatment.

5. Ask for a Payment Plan
With treatment running into hundreds of thousands of dollars, all hospitals offer some sort of payment plan.

6. Don't Ignore The Collection Agencies

Ignoring letters from collection agencies will only ruin your credit. Instead try and settle for 25 or 50 cents on the dollar.

Which Would You Choose – Life Experience or "Stuff"?

by Steve Sjuggerud.

This month is my 10th wedding anniversary. So I thought I'd share a story of one of the many "little-but-big" things I learned from my wife. I am lucky to share my life with her...

I couldn't believe it...

A friend of my wife's wanted yet another purse... that cost thousands of dollars. She already has a closet full of them! What's the point of another?

My wife asked her a simple question: "Which would you prefer... Life experience or stuff – like another purse?"

The friend thought about it, and she actually said she preferred the stuff. Hey, to each her own.

My wife and I try to focus on the experience over the stuff... For example, our kids (ages seven and five) are probably the only kids they know that don't have a PlayStation, or an Xbox, or a Nintendo Wii. They don't have a ton of stuff. But they're oozing with life experience...

Our kids have seen the world... They've been as far north as Iceland, and we toured much of it. And they've been as far south as New Zealand, traveling much of the North and South Islands by car as well.

Yet we don't have big flat-screen TVs in our living room or den. I can understand why big movie fans and big sports fans want 'em. They're just not important to us. (Are we the last Americans to actually have regular TVs?)

The great thing is, life experiences don't have to cost much at all (particularly if you can use some frequent flyer miles)... Our family just went to visit my folks for a week in Wisconsin, and I came back with most of the money in my wallet. Playing in the lake, riding ponies at the State Fair, and unbeatable home-cooked breakfasts from Mom. Everyone had a great time. And it sure didn't cost much.

If you're caught up in "stuff" – if you "need" another thousand-dollar handbag – then you've got to realize, the acquisition of stuff never ends. That flat screen won't be worth more than you paid for it. And neither will that handbag. You'll never get ahead. You'll never really "have money."

I define living well as 1) having time with friends and family, 2) pursuing my passions, and 3) well, not worrying about money. The nice thing is, you don't need a fortune to live well by that definition.

So which is it for you? Do you value life experiences or "stuff?" Which do you put a premium on? Remember, you can't take the stuff with you – and you'll be busy working for the rest of your life to pay for the stuff.

By the way, my wife's friend thought about it, and later she called and said, "You know, I thought about what you said... I think you're right. It really is about the experiences, not the stuff."

New Passive Income Stream: RevResponse

June was a record breaking month for me. I made $3,354.41 last month from various different sources, of which $2254.93 was online revenues. You can read about the compelete breakdown at Living Off Dividends & Passive Income.

Last month I introduced yet another source of online income, a company called RevResponse. I only made $17.50, but I didn't do anything to promote it either so I can't really complain. Making an extra $200-250 a year for an hour's worth of work isn't too bad! Plus when you combine it with the other sources of income, they all add up to a significant amount.

RevResponse gives away free magazines and white papers on a slew of topics ranging from Global Finance and Banking, to Autmobiles and Internet Marketing.

They also offer free trials to popular magazines like free trial to the the Economist. Old School programmers might remember Dr. Dobb’s Journal. Well, it’s available for free too.



RevResponse co-brands your site so your readers are taken to a site that replicates the look and feel of your own website or blog. This picture replicates the Living Off Dividends & Passive Income site.



For every qualified subscription request your site generates, you get minimum of $1.50. You can run this in conjunction with adsense and other affiliate programs. They make their payments via paypal. They also pay for referrals. And best of all, its free content!

If that wasn't enough, they’re also giving away $50 for a plug to their site in July. So if you’d like to make an easy $50 for 10 minutes worth of work, plus have an on going passive revenue stream, all you need to do is sign up with them and write a brief post on their services. So what are you waiting for? Join RevResponse Now.