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Archive for January, 2010

Wouldn’t it be amazing if the US Government wanted to help you buy a house. Well, it does.

As you read every word of this article you will discover why the government is offering first time home buyers an amazing incentive to buy a home. You will also learn four reasons why this may be the best time ever to enter the home buying market.

President George W. Bush recently signed into law the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. This newest act for the weakened housing market is a reaction to the SOS being sent out by plummeting home prices.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act includes temporary tax incentives for first time home buyers. If this describes you, be sure to check out the incentive.

One of the most intriguing features in this Act is the temporary tax credit for qualified first time home buyers.

The $7500 tax credit amounts to a dollar for dollar reduction of what the taxpayer owes. Even though you may owe taxes less than the credit, you will still get the difference sent to you by the government.

Here are some of the details.

The tax credit is for first time home buyers only. But don’t quit reading simply because you owned a home in the past. Our government defines someone buying a home for the first time in their own way.

According to the government if you haven’t owned a home 3 years prior to the purchase of your next home, you qualify as a first time home buyer.

When you hear the government is offering a program like this, you might feel as skeptical as I did. Is there a catch? There is. Keep reading and by the time you reach the end of this article you will know what it is.

My first question regarding the tax credit qualifications was what kind of home can I buy and still receive the credit? Can I buy a new home? The answer is yes. How about a resale home? The answer is yes again.

I could feel myself getting pretty excited so I figured I’d better slow down and read more about it.

Tax incentives go as high as $7,500. Congress wishes to credit you $7500 just for purchasing a home. Why? Is it because they are a bunch of really nice people up there in Washington DC? That is a question I doubt I need to answer but in truth the House of Representatives and the Senate both have a method to their madness.

Here is why this first time buyer credit is important to all of us and may be something you want to take advantage of.

Homeowners are truly feeling the tight squeeze inflicted on them by the mortgage crisis. Real estate values have fallen. Credit has tightened. Homeowners and home buyers are having a difficult time obtaining mortgage loans. So Congress is motivating home buyers with incentives to stabilize our financial markets. The tax credit to first time buyers is one of those incentives.

To qualify for this government incentive you need to act soon. The offer which began on April 9, 2008 is not open ended. For anyone buying a house, this limited offer ends July 1, 2009.

Most likely we are seeing the formation of a bottom in the housing market. The correction in the housing market is probably not completed yet. But in several cities and metropolitan centers, real estate values have remained steady.

It is beneficial to be a first time home buyer today.

First, home prices are low. You may never see such affordable housing again. Prices have slid for now but the fact remains that as long as the United States continues to grow and prosper, the value of our homes will increase over the long term.

Second and unique to today’s market, current mortgage rates are affordable. 1979 was another time I experienced a real estate crisis of this magnitude. The mood in the real estate market felt much like today’s except for this. Interest rates were high. Many of us remember interest rates soaring to 18%. Compared to that market, today’s interest rates are cheap.

Third, the cost of homeownership becomes even more affordable for those who itemize income tax deductions.

Fourth, to enlist home buyers, George W Bush is creating tax incentives.

You can qualify for this tax credit up to the full amount if you are a single tax payer with an income up to $75,000. Married couples are allowed $150,000. But you can qualify for partial credit even if your income exceeds the limits.

Okay if you’re like me, I know you’ve been waiting for the catch. The tax credit works like an interest free loan and must be repaid over a 15 year period.

Essentially the tax credit is a tax free, interest free loan from the US Government to help make buying a home more affordable. The only thing the government asks is that you return the money over the next 15 years or when you sell the house.

Not a bad deal!

As always, consult your financial adviser for more information regarding this program and your own personal financial situation.

Good Luck.

If you are over four figures in debt to various creditors, you will probably need the services of a bad credit repair service. One does not have to be at the brink of bankruptcy to take advantage of a bad credit repair service. If you owe four figures or less to one or two creditors, chances are you may not need this service if you’re willing to make some changes to your life style along with some homework.

Credit Counseling

Bad credit repair services, also known as debt reduction services, should offer and emphasized credit counseling. They should provide classes to help teach you how to manage your money better. Unfortunately, people in general are not born with the instinct to handle money properly. For most of us, we learn through our mistakes. The good news is that it is never too late to learn how to manage money. In fact, you should bring all the spenders in your family in on these credit counseling services. It does you no good if you are the only one who can manage money, and yet the rest of the family as well your spouse, keep on spending money like there’s no tomorrow.

You can find a good quality credit counselor on your own. This is especially true if you are in the military, a college student or a member of a credit union. A lot of these places often have credit counselors available to help you. They can offer you advice over the phone or over the Internet, but it is usually best to go see them in an office to get one of one counseling. Your local bank may be able to recommend credit counseling services as well as bad credit repair services too.

The Main Goals

Whether you decide to use a bad credit repair service or not, there are still some basic things you’ll need to do in order to get the debt and stay out of debt;

* Determine exactly how much you make
* Determine exactly how much you spend
* Cut down on your costs until you’re spending less that what you are earning

If you own several credit cards, you should seriously consider cutting them all up except for one. Perhaps you should get a consolidation loan. This should help you lower your interest rate costs. Since the housing market has gone soft, the US government is encouraging mortgage lenders to go easy on all their clients.

Introduction

This monthly tracker covers product innovation, customer targeting, M&A, partnerships, organic growth, and staffing activity globally in the wealth management space.

Reasons to Purchase

*Track the strategies announced by 50+ of your key competitors.

*Assess which geographies and strategic areas are seeing the most activity.

Table of Contents :

Catalyst 1

Summary 1

Methodology 1

Table of Contents 2

Introduction 3

The Wealth Management Competitor Tracker provides both one month and 12 month views of developments 3

Each month, Datamonitor tracks the most relevant announcements from 55 competitors 3

Datamonitor’s Wealth Management Team provides analysis of the key developments at both the one month and 12 month level 3

A fully searchable database of the past 12 months of developments is also delivered alongside the report 4

Key Trends and Developments in October 5

There were some notable developments within the wealth management industry during October 5

Standard Chartered launches a new service for non resident Indians (NRIs) in UAE 5

BNP Paribas transfers the wealth management businesses in Panama, Grand Cayman and the Bahamas 5

Citigroup continued its focus on South Asia 6

In April, the wealth management market regained its momentum 7

There were a total of 29 competitor developments in April 7

M&A and staffing activities were pre-dominant in the wealth market in April 8

Competitor activity continued to remain strong in Europe and Asia 9

Product innovation and customer targeting 10

Barclays 10

Barclays Wealth launches Growthbuilder with a lock-in return of 6.6% 10

Citigroup 10

Citibank launches CitiGold Private Client for high net worth Individuals 10

Credit Agricole 10

Credit Agricole Private Equity’s FCPI funds to help in tax savings 10

Deutsche Bank 11

Deutsche Bank’s combines its existing private equity funds 11

Standard Chartered 11

Standard Chartered launches a new service for non resident Indians (NRIs) in UAE 11

M&A, Partnerships and Organic Growth 12

ANZ 12

ANZ launches new Chinese name for acquired RBS and ABN AMRO branches 12

BNP Paribas 12

BNP Paribas transfers the wealth management businesses in Panama, Grand Cayman and the Bahamas 12

Citigroup 12

Citibank network grows to eleven branches in Malaysia 12

Citibank opens a branch in Jakarta 12

Commerzbank 13

Commerzbank closes the sale of its two private banking institutions 13

Credit Suisse 13

Credit Suisse opens a new office 13

Credit Suisse obtains approval for bank branch in India 13

DBS 13

DBS plans to purchase 37.5% stake in Cholamandalam DBS Finance 13

Deutsche Bank 14

Deutsche Bank invests in Craigs Investment Partners 14

RBC Financial Group 14

RBC launches an international investment advisory office 14

Hang Seng 14

Hang Seng China opens a sub branch in Zhongshan 14

Staffing 15

Barclays 15

Helen Pun appointed as Hong Kong market head 15

Geoff Gelling heads the client relationship service at Barclays 15

Barclays Private bank appoints Bryan Henning 15

Citigroup 15

Citi appoints country officer of India 15

Citi hires a retail and commercial banking head 16

Credit Suisse 16

Credit Suisse appoints Michael Wyss as the Private Banking head 16

Credit Suisse appoints Marcel Burger as the banking head 16

Credit Suisse appoints new head of Delhi office 16

Credit Suisse continues its spate of appointments 16

DBS 17

Tan Su Shan heads Private Banking at DBS 17

Deutsche Bank 17

Deutsche appoints Fred C.C. Crozier as Managing Director and Client Advisor 17

Société Générale 17

Société Générale adds a Middle East Department 17

UBS 18

UBS appoints a new CEO for its businesses in Switzerland 18

Appendix 19

Methodology 19

Further reading 19

Ask the analyst 19

Datamonitor consulting 19

Disclaimer 19

List of Tables

Table 1: The 55 companies covered by Datamonitor’s Wealth Management Competitor Tracker 3

List of Figures

Figure 1: Wealth Management activities geared up in April 7

Figure 2: The majority of the developments for the month were in M&A and Staffing 8

Figure 3: Asia witnessed the majority of activities in April 9

For more information please visit :

http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Wealth-Management-Competitor-Tracker-June-2009-14745.html