Across the Middle East and South-East Asia, Islamic financial institutions hold aggregated assets estimated to be worth $50 billion. To some, this cash-rich sector represents a huge opportunity for growth and investment. But perhaps, what Islamic banks can really offer is a set of guiding principles that can enhance financial stability, four years after the crisis.
Financial concerns often prove to be a stumbling block for marriages. Apart from the sheer cost of holding the ceremony, getting married often means that an individual will have to start bearing the debt of his/her partner.
Unfortunately, some marriages are unhappy or fail because an individual may bring his/her partner significant debt, including student loans and credit card balances. Worse still, there have been instances where one partner may lie about his/her own financial burdens.
Ecommerce has blossomed, and e-retailers are recording healthy profits. But at the same time, Americans are finding their credit card bills and bank statements riddled with hefty digital purchases. How can consumers control what they buy online, and control their credit card debt?
The UK media has reported that the Gulf state is interested in purchasing a £10 billion ($16 billion) stake in the bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland. According to sources contacted by the media, the discussions have been held regularly over the past three years.
The news, first reported by the BBC on Monday, suggested the sale was likely to be loss-making, as RBS shares currently trade at a much lower price than what the UK government paid in the 2008 bailout.
Studies suggest that people who are socially and financially better off are more likely to cheat, lie and behave unethically. How prevalent, and how true is this?
The more they receive, the less they give. At least that is what studies have found when examining the differences in financial habits and social behaviours between households with high and low income.
Having a good credit score is very important for your financial future, so if you find out that your credit score is poor, it’s time to make some changes. The key to improving credit is to start making sound financial choices, which means that frivolous spending with a credit card needs to stop.
Many advisors will advise that a person with poor credit first pay off their credit card balance, but there are also options for those without a credit card.
According to the American Institute of Stress, occupational pressures and fears are far and away the leading source of stress for American adults, with more than 40 percent of workers claiming that their jobs were excessively stressful.
Over the last two decades, European policy makers have imposed restrictive fiscal policies on member states. They have concentrated on the design of fiscal rules and the structure of budgetary processes but they have never thought of introducing a new tax system able to reduce unemployment and increase investments. Only one tax system could eliminate all the growth-related problems without generating side effects on domestic expenditure: a flat tax system.
It should come as no surprise that women’s financial affluence has been growing in the last few years. With better education, better job prospects and better wages, the purchasing power of women has also been growing. Today women contribute to nearly $7 trillion in business and consumer spending in the US.
As the United States gets into the swing of an election-year, President Barack Obama has offered to cut corporate tax rate 28 percent, a move that commentators have said is a direct challenge to his Republican rivals.
President Obama’s long-awaited business tax plan, if passed, would lower the corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent to 28 percent.
Calling the current tax system “outdated, unfair, and inefficient”, Obama said:
