Where should you keep your emergency fund? -By AJ Smith June

We have all heard and (hopefully) heeded the advice to keep between three and six months' worth of expenses aside as an emergency fund. Even if you feel like you have a handle on budgeting for your day-to-day expenses, what happens when the unpredictable hits with the potential to set your finances back? This stash is not meant for buying a home or going on a trip, it is for real emergencies. It's a good idea to make growing an emergency fund a priority and where we keep this money can make a big difference. It's important for the money to be accessible, but it can also be earning interest while waiting to be tapped. If you are building up your emergency fund and looking for a better place to keep it than under the mattress, check out these options of places to park your emergency fund.

Online Savings Account
Traditional savings accounts can be great for those of us who like to play it safe, but interest rates will not do much for you. Online banks do tend to offer slightly higher rates and lower fees so you could see a little more growth. Furthermore, it's important to keep your emergency savings fund away from your normal checking account so you have some separation between your spending cash, cash for other savings goals and your emergency cash.
Money Market Account
This is a common place for emergency funds for those looking to get better interest rates. They are similar to regular savings accounts in terms of FDIC insurance and limits on the number of withdrawals you can make each month, but typically require a higher minimum deposit and they sometimes carry higher fees. It's a good idea to read the fine print before choosing which account to keep your emergency fund in.
Penalty-Free CD
Since you need the money to be accessible, regular certificates of deposit with established time limits are not always going to work, but there are some no-penalty options. These typically have lower rates than traditional CDs, but offer higher yields than traditional savings accounts. You just need to look for banks that offer these and, again, read the fine print carefully.
Savings Bond
These are also typically seen as a long-term investment, but I-bonds can offer more flexibility. You can own some for as little as one year and do not need much capital to get started. The interest rate is better than other, more liquid vehicles but the interest is taxable and if you need to cash them in before five years, you will forfeit some of the interest you have earned.
Retirement Fund

Most experts will tell you to avoid touching your retirement savings until actual retirement. This is generally good advice as you want to make sure you have enough money left to fund your golden years. But if you have to tap your retirement funds for emergencies, it's good to understand the different tax implications and penalty fees associated with each type of account. 401(k) accounts generally (there are exceptions like the Roth 401(k) option) hold funds that you contributed before paying taxes. So if you take out money before you are 59½ (besides for a few particular exceptions) you will have to pay an early withdrawal penalty and taxes. Since you contribute to a Roth IRA account with after-tax money, you may still pay a penalty but can withdraw the original contributions (not the interest earned) without paying additional taxes.

Where you keep your emergency fund is up to you, and you may even choose to use a combination of locations to ensure your stash is safe, liquid and reliable. Do your research before carefully considering the best location for your money — there is no one right answer, just as long as you have a place for it.

Culled from Credit.com

COMBATING THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRIME AND CORRUPTION-ODUNZE REGINALD C

Images credited to freedomworks.com

One of the trending manifestos of APC is change, the incoming administration campaigning for change in the quest for 2015 presidency, canvassed for change. Change in everything, Change in Government, although their opponents wanted transformation and continuity but the overwhelming majority of Nigerians  wanted a change. And that change culminated in loss of the ruling party. But analyst in politics and the economy are of the views that the only change that matter most to them would be in the way corruption is being tackled.

In an article captioned “Can corruption be eliminated “which appeared in REGINALD ODUNZE.COM, Odunze (2013) observed that “corruption has reached an endemic state that virtually all areas of our public sectors, has been corrupted” and those who decides not to follow with the trend fall out with the authority that be”

It should be noted that corruption was so humiliating and of age that it becomes so difficult to tackle it. Tackling corruption that is mind blowing requires the active support of all and sundry.

Corruption has fizzled business and rendered people useless, and at some times droved organization, states, countries and individuals to a state of confusion and utter helplessness.

As the peoples’ president General M. Buhari (Rtd) mount the saddle for the presidency, we are expectant of the necessary fight against corruption, this is the time to strengthen the anti corruption bodies like EFCC, ICPC, NDLEA, and the judiciary for a joint collaboration in the necessary fight against corruption, Advance Fee Fraud, popularly called 419, a corrupt version of the criminal code where it was cited. Drug related offences and more currently insurgency and terrorism which analyst have come to see as the most major act of corruption, as undistributed earnings, capital flight and murder also goes with it.

Corruption and fraud has been with the people for a long time, as far back as 1720, When Isaac Newton, the powerful scientist who enunciated the Newton’s Laws of motion lost his fortune in the South Sea Bubble Company of 1720 due to corruption. He said and I quote “I can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies but not the madness of men”. Today in my people there is madness, everyone is thinking of getting rich quick. ( Kiyosaki 1990:70)

And according to Ojo (2009:11) in an article captioned, “Reps set to pass cyber crime bill, he stated that corruption has grown so wide to include advance fee fraud, password sniffing, hacking, web cramming, credit card fraud, identity theft , data kidnapping, software piracy, cyber squatting, unlawful interceptions etc”

The preamble to the 2003 United Nations against corruption (UNCAC), which Nigeria has ratified states that corruption “is no longer a local matter but a transnational phenomenon that affects all societies and economies. The African convention on preventing and combating corruption which Nigeria has ratified acknowledged the need for international co-operation to combat corruption and note the corrosive effect on individual and society” Falana 2008:120.

The world is a global village, what affects economy in our society will definitely affect other economies and countries. Though the World 3.0 mindset has a different believe. They believed that there are barriers, bridges and that what affect one society may not definitely affect the other. That is not our subject of study.

Continuing Falana stated that the ground corruption exacerbates scarcity of fund in Nigeria, frustrating any interest in enriching quality and life, Nigerian leaders must accept responsibility for the continued poverty in the country, he noted that ground and blatant corruption degrades life, he went further to say that in 2006 the Commonwealth working group on assets repatriation specifically refers to corruption being defined as  an international crime  and suggest that jurisdiction of the international court be extended beyond the prosecution of crimes against  humanity as defined in Article 7 of the Roman Statutes. Falana further stated that the early draft of the statute did in fact include  reference to crimes other than crime against humanity such as Terrorism and Drug Trafficking.

Corruption has reached an alarming rate globally, and do we continue to fold our hands and watch corruption kill our great economy, the answer is an emphatic No.  It could be observed that most people who involved in corruption often end in poverty so also for a country. And as Prof Pat Utomi 2008 in “The Limit of lets share Economy, he stated that like people who won lottery, they often return to poverty.

This is the time for the President to fight corruption to a standstill.

reginaldodunze.blogspot.com

Major funds draw up plans to leave London if Britain quits EU - paper

An employee uses a cash till, behind a chocolate shaped as a one Euro coin and placed for sale in a coffee …

LONDON (Reuters) - Several of the biggest fund managers based in London are drawing up plans to move trillions of pounds of assets and thousands of jobs outside of Britain should the country vote to leave the EU in a referendum due by the end of 2017, the Sunday Times said.

Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives won an unexpected majority in polls last month and are now seeking to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the 28-member bloc ahead of a plebiscite.
Cameron has toured major European capitals to drum up support for reforms but is facing an increasing strong Eurosceptic voice from within his own centre-right party at home.
The Sunday Times said that several major funds had said on condition of anonymity that they had set up committees to prepare for a possible move, with Luxembourg being one possible country to which they could relocate.
The newspaper said it had spoken to fund managers who believed they could be forced to leave due to EU regulations which only allow the sale of investment products in the bloc when the European headquarters are based in a member state.
On Friday, the only major ratings agency still to give Britain a top-notch credit rating said it risked a downgrade due to the government's decision to hold a referendum over EU membership.
However, a senior executive with global investment firm PIMCO said earlier this week that the chance of a 'Brexit' was very low and uncertainty over the referendum outcome was not likely to affect business investment.
(Reporting By Costas Pitas; Editing by Tom Brown)

Culled from Reuters