Personal Finance According to South Park

South Park’s Randy Marsh does not seem to have the makings of someone with financial savvy. Neither his job as a geologist nor his irrational tendency to over-react suggest we should trust his judgment with money at stake. And yet, there is something this man can teach us about personal finance. For all of his sporadic obsessions and fad chasing, Randy Marsh exhibits a sincere desire to discover and (just as important) act on good ideas and principles.

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Understanding Financial Statements

When looking over your investments, do you ever wonder how the value of the companies you’ve put your money in is determined? What factors decide how well a company is really doing? What’s the source of the company’s financing? Will it meet or exceed this quarter’s projections? While some consider the stock market to be little more than a house of cards, subject to the whims of individual investors, there are, in fact, some very real and measurable things that can help you to diagnose the financial health of a company.

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Mint Map: Resource Consumption by Country

Knowing where resources are produced is only half of the equation. To really understand the role that natural resources play in a country’s overall economic picture, you have to understand how those resources are consumed. As you’d guess, the largest populations do tend to be the largest consumers, but it’s interesting to note that some consumption is based on the manufacture of products for which the country’s residents are not typically the end consumers. Which country will be the first to run out of oil or natural gas? Which will be forced into building more environmentally friendly transportation systems or means of production? Our latest map takes a closer look at the world’s resources with an eye to how they are being consumed.

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The Descent into Credit Card Debt

When used wisely, credit cards can be the cornerstone of a sound financial strategy. A solid credit history makes you a good credit risk and that in turn allows you to purchase the necessities of life. But credit cards can also be a slippery slope. One misstep and you’ll tumble into the abyss of credit card debt hell, a mounting spiral of missed payments, fees, high APRs, and rate increases that will take years to recover from. Only by remaining vigilant can you hope to avoid this fate. Here’s our guide to what you may experience on the way down.

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Your Bailout: Slash your Credit Card Debt

As the credit crisis winds toward its inevitable conclusion, the number of customers unable to pay off their credit card is swelling. And credit card companies, facing the very real possibility of customers defaulting entirely, are now willing to come to a settlement for substantially less than the amount owed. With the credit card companies ready to deal, here’s what you need to know to get your own personal bailout.

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Looking for a Silver Lining

Silver was first used as currency over four thousand years ago and its name is synonymous with the true value that can only come from a real-world commodity. Here we take a look at the history of this oldest of old-school currencies, explore how it is used today and let you in on the basics of making silver your own personal hedge against inflation.

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5 Financial Tips for Expecting Parents

If you’ve just received the news that you’re pregnant, one thing’s for sure, life as you know it is over. But that’s a good thing. The joys of parenthood far outweigh the cons but you’ll need a solid financial plan if you hope to make it through the next nine months. Here are the top 5 things you should do when you’re expecting.

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Don’t Do It Yourself, Hire a Clone

A long-standing, not-so-secret mantra for the most efficient and effective people is “saving time via the delegation of tasks = saved money”. Optimizing the use of your time and focusing on your most high-value strengths not only allows you to reduce the hectic payload on your life but potentially allows you to increase income and stockpile more money.

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Hyperinflation: The Story of 9 Failed Currencies

The world’s major economic powers are all suffering from the economic downturn but even the most cynical doomsayer is sure we’ll get ourselves out of this mess—eventually. Rare are those instances in which entire economies are disrupted to the point - typically as a result of rampant inflation, or hyper inflation - that an entire form of currency is discarded, reformed or replaced. There are invariably external issues (military, political, etc) at play, which result in what can generally be referred to the ‘failure of a currency’, and each situation is unique. The following is a list of nine notable examples in which currencies became so devalued that they were eventually replaced.

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Mint Map: The World’s Resources by Country

A country’s economic worth can be measured in more ways than just its GDP and national debt. It is also important to consider the economic potential that lies in the harvesting of the natural resources within its borders. This map shows the top producing countries of each resource, or the proved reserves in the case of oil and natural gas. Each circle represents the percentage of the world’s total that the country produced in the last two years. Though some of the resources are renewable and some are not, it is interesting to see which parts of the world are rich in resources that are essential to our way of life, and to consider what this map might look like 10 or 100 years from now.

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