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Q. Linda, I bought a 2002 Porsche Boxster in 2013 for $13,000, low mileage, not much to repair until this year, I think my repair cost became 4K. I guess my car still worth about $8000, do you think I should trade in for another car? or drive to the ground? The engine is still very good, no problem in driving, but a little here and there problems are annoying. First, good for you for buying a used car! You saved yourself thousands of dollars and I hope you were able to invest some of that extra savings. When a large repair bill occurs, it can create a crossroads - fix or trade in? Here are some things to consider: 1. A $4,000 repair is still a lot cheaper than buying a new car, especially a new Porsche! New cars lose about 20% the first year, so that's a big hit. 2. Often a larger bill will occur every 3 to 5 years. If it's more frequent than that, consider a trade. Paying $4,000 every 5 years is still a lot cheaper than buying a new car. 3. If you feel like you're being nickled and dimed to death, consider a

Learn about stock market seasonality and cycles in this interview with Garrett Jones from Peter Eliades Stock Market Cycles Management, Inc. Get 11 quick tips to boost your wealth at www.lindapjones.com.

According to Nat'l Association of Realtors, who is buying homes in 2016? Let's take a look at who is buying homes, by marital status: Married 66% Single females 17% Unmarried couples 8% Single males 7% Interesting because from 2005 - 2010, 20% were single females, but only 15% in 2015. Homebuyers' median income: Married couples $99,200 Unmarried couples $84,800 Single males $69,600 Other $69,100 Single females $55,300 So although single females have lower incomes than others, they are a big group of buyers. Why? 1. Possess own home 38% 2. Change in family situation 11% 3. To be closer to family/friends 9% 4. Desire for smaller home 7% 5. Retirement 5%   To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.  

These are financial moves, not a pro or con commentary for a candidate. Check your taxes - income deferred if possible If Trump gets the 15% corporate tax rate in, then look for the dollar to soar and almost $3 trillion to come home. 2. Health care - look for new plans. Participate in health savings accounts - a savings account used in conjunction with a high-deductible health insurance policy that allows users to save money tax-free against medical expenses. 3. Faster growing economy. Possible raising of the economic growth to 3 - 4% annually. During the Reagan years the stock market boomed and the economy boomed. I hope that can happen again! 4. FED has signaled higher inflation will be allowed. Expect higher interest rates. 5. Cycles don't change based on who is President. Cycle going into higher inflation favoring commodities - metals, mining, grains, agriculture, farmland, etc. One sobering fact - inheriting $20 Trillion in debt is a lot. I don't believe taxes can pay that back. At some point we will hav

Learn how to look at investment opportunities in stocks like Amazon. (CANSLIM Method) Listener question Friday! One of the members of the Be Wealthy & Smart VIP Experience asked this question: Linda, Do you have an opinion on Amazon stock? We live in the Seattle area and have watched Amazon change the entire landscape of Seattle. Because the fundamentals always say Amazon is too expensive, we never bought any stock, but you said not to worry about the PE ratio too much on growth stocks. What's your thought on this hometown company? Mandy   What are some of the things to consider when looking at an individual stock to buy? Consistency of earnings CANSLIM: C - Current quarterly earnings per share. Have they increased quarter over quarter in a year? A - Annual earnings increases over the last 5 years? N - New products, management and other new events. In addition, the company's stock reaching new highs? S - Small supply and large demand for stock? Acquiring their own stock? L - Leader or laggard in an indust

Learn whether it makes sense to buy or rent a high-end home. Interview with Jason Hartman of the Creating Wealth podcast. http://bit.ly/wealthpod To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.

Learn what to look for with dividend stocks. I saw an article about 3 stocks that are a "must own" for retirement. Whaaat? One was a huge telecom, one was a gas company and one was an insurance company. No where did it talk about earnings growth or dividend growth. I've talked about stocks. What makes them go up. It's all about earnings. Dividend stocks are no different, except they also have a nice dividend. You still want to have companies that are high quality, steady growth, increasing dividends, etc. IBD does a good job of curating dividend leaders. I've taken their list and picked 10 that seem to me to be a good mix and diversified. 1. International Paper 4.11% 2. Altria Group Inc. 3.7% 3. Toronto Dominion Bank 3.67% 4. IBM 3.67% 5. Cisco 3.4% 6. Paychex 3.34% 7. Prudential Financial 3.31% 8.Merck 3.13% 9.Qualcomm 3.1% 10. Proctor & Gamble 3.07% Again, all the credit goes to IBD, but I wanted to share a list of dividend paying stocks that are quality and fit all the aspects we talk about. You can f

Learn ways technology is impacting value investing and ways it's not. Have you checked out the Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod Excited to have podcast #200! Thank you for listening to Be Wealthy & Smart! If you're a regular listener, I'd love to have a review from you and hear your thoughts about the show! Listener question Friday! Here's a question from Torben. Hi Linda, I've listened to your podcast for several months now and find it very useful. Your pragmatic approach to finance is very applicable in real life. I personally apply the value investing approach with inspiration from the growth investment theories. Perhaps you could do a podcast about value investing? From Graham and Buffet, over the ModernGraham approach, to how value investing will play a role in an investing world, where tangible assets are much smaller than int

Learn why individual stocks are never in style and why they might be right for you. Have you checked out the Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod If you've listened to me for a while, you know my story - that I was in the financial world working for money management firms. It was sacrilege to invest in stocks on your own. I did it any way and I turned a 5 figure investment into $2 million in several years. When I first got into financial services, there were "stockbrokers" who picked stocks for you. They had companies they built positions in and would put all of their clients in them. If it changed they would sell them all out of them. I had a friend who was my mom's age who was the secretary of the stock analysts. When they recommended stocks, she bought them for herself. She retired a multi-millionaire even though she had a modest salary.

Learn 3 reasons why reduced spending and savings are not going to make you wealthy. You still need to invest! Have you checked out the Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod I heard it from financial podcasters and bloggers - building wealth is about spending less and saving more. What? That is only true if you make multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars and can save $1 million in a few years. For most people, that's not realistic! If you're making $75,000, paying for a house, car a spouse and 2 kids, there is NO WAY you are going to save yourself to wealth! You can't possibly save enough to become wealthy. Do you want to be a smart spender - yes! Can you "frugal" your way to wealth? Not in most cases. But you can invest your way to wealth. Most "experts" won't tell you that. Wealth = Compounding. There are only 3 factors that are part of t

Have you checked out the Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod Twitter has been in the news as a company that is for sale. Apparently Google, Yahoo, salesforce.com, Disney and others have been taking a look at it. IMHO, it belongs with a media company because Twitter is the next form of media after radio and TV. As I mentioned in my previous podcast about the DDoS cyber attack, I found out about it because Twitter was down and I Googled it. This is the way we think now. I didn't turn on TV until it was my fourth choice for news after Twitter, Facebook and Google! It's the first 2 way media we've had, meaning you can get instant feedback from viewers. For example, BRAVO TV uses it to take polls on their show - who is the most/least popular? They also use it to gather questions to ask in interviews. But more recently mainstream media has been

Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. The morning of October 21st I tried to connect to Twitter to see the latest news and my computer kept saying it couldn't find the server. I went to Facebook and nothing was trending over there. I Googled it and found out about the attack. I turned on the TV and there was nothing, as if it was blacked out - maybe to keep everyone calm? It scared the heck out of me because I knew if it attacked a few sites, the whole internet could possibly go down. I checked my bank, it was still working online. I could only imagine how upset some Paypal customers were, my friend being one of them. She went apoplectic. The cyberattack of October 21, 2016 was notable for many reasons. 1. "It attacked the DDoS or A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is an attempt to make an online service unavailable by overwhelming it with traffic from mu

Learn why buying what you know, without doing more research, can get you into investing trouble. Have you checked out the Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod The book is "Beating the Street" by Peter Lynch, former portfolio manager of the Fidelity Magellan fund. To see the St. Agnes portfolio, go to www.lindapjones.com.

Learn what shorting is and the pros and cons of shorting. Have you checked out the Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod It's Listener Question Friday I've been watching the German bank, Deutsche Bank with some concern. DB is trying to get a reduced fine from the DOJ from $14B to $5B for mortgage security improprieties during the last financial crisis. If you haven't been following the news, DB may need a bailout but Chancellor Merkel has said she will not support one. That's because other banks in the EU may also need bailing out and if one was bailed out, they'd all have to be bailed out. Italy's banks are having big problems and so are other European banks. The real problem with DB is it is unique in that id also has massive derivatives there, so if it goes down, the effect could be quite serious on the whole EU and the Euro. Remember deri

Learn what a hedge fund is and why they are often preferred by millionaires and billionaires. Have you checked out the Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod Hedge funds are an interesting topic and generally misunderstood by the general public. They are for sophisticated and high net worth investors, who are known as "accredited investors." They have more than a $1 million net worth excluding their home, or they make $300,000 and are experienced investors. Hedge funds invest in many types of securities, but they are unregulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You are familiar with mutual funds in your 401(k) which are pools of money that invest for a particular objective and in a particular type of security. For example, a large cap mutual fund may invest in the S & P 500, which are the 500 stocks with the largest capital

Learn what happens when you make a claim for a jewelry loss and what Kim Kardashian might experience. Have you checked out the Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod I had the unfortunate experience of having jewelry stolen from my home. Although I usually keep it locked away in a safe, I unpacked my bag and threw the silk pouch with a Tahitian pearl necklace, earrings and ring into my drawer with plans to put them in the safe later. When I went to look for it, it was missing. In between that time there were several people in my home including house cleaners, window washers, repair men, etc. that could have taken it. It was devastating because it was my favorite jewelry and very valuable. The pearls also had diamond on the ring and earrings. I called my insurance agent to report the loss. The ring and necklace were insured but the earrings wer

Learn where to invest and find high rates. I've mentioned Jason Hartman's Creating Wealth podcast and how there are 700 podcasts about real estate investing. Now we're going to talk to Jason about his investing experience and whether it's better to invest in real estate for capital gains or cash flow? http://bit.ly/wealthpod It's listener question Friday! Dear Linda,   I love your podcasts! They are simply fabulous! I am wondering where can I get some financial products with a high rate of compounding? Let's say 8 to 10%. I need your great help for that, Linda. Thank you very much. Best regards, Marie I wish 8 to 10% was so easy! Be careful when reaching for yield. A friend of mine was pitched 5.5% junk bonds that weren't diversified and were 30 year bonds! He was actually considering them because a "friend" recommended them. High yields equal high risk. Bank yields are 1 to 2%. 10 year bonds are 1.5%. How can you get 5.5? Lower the quality - but you don't want to do that. Consider alternative investments - b

Have you checked out the Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod Please see LindaPJones.com for the list of 11 undervalued real estate markets.

Learn if it is better to invest in real estate for capital gains or cash flow. I've mentioned Jason Hartman's Creating Wealth podcast and how there are 700 podcasts about real estate investing. Now we're going to talk to Jason about his investing experience and whether it's better to invest in real estate for capital gains or cash flow? http://bit.ly/wealthpod  

Learn why the scandal at Wells Fargo is even worse than you're hearing. Have you checked out the Creating Wealth podcast yet with Jason Hartman? It's full of amazing information and over 700 podcasts about real estate investing. If you like this podcast, you'll like that one too. http://bit.ly/wealthpod It's listener question Friday and one of our listeners asked: Do you think the penalties were big enough for Wells Fargo? The media reports the Wells Fargo fraud as "you received an extra account." Ah no, that's not what happened. Money was taken out of accounts without customer permission to create bogus accounts. Fees were charged in the new accounts. Loans were generated without asking, effecting credit scores negatively. Senate Banking Committee hearing last week into the bank's sales tactics, which earlier resulted in a $185 million fine and regulatory action. During his appearance before that panel, Mr. Stumpf and the bank were roundly criticized for firing 5,300 employees over five years, yet taking no