Filed under: Borrowing, Budgets, Debt, Home, Relationships

I’ve been going on and on about my situation. The debt, the mortgage, and trying to save it all. I never really spoke about how we got here in the first place. We didn’t just wake up and *poof* had a home. No, no. That would be no fun. The story I’m about to tell you is worthy of a book, and it’s just one chapter of my interesting life.

It all started about six years ago. We were driving back from Phoenix from a funeral. We were dropping my sister off when her husband came out and gave us the horrible news that my mother and step-father passed away in an accident. The automobile they were in had a blowout and rolled over. This led to a lot of in-fighting in the family. Mainly the six siblings vs. me, the one who didn’t want to take the route of the lawsuit. It took a lot of convincing from MANY sources to convince me to go ahead with everything, and four years later we settled the lawsuit.

I can’t say how much money I got as my share of the lawsuit, but it was a lot. Not “go off and retire,” amounts, but enough to where I should have been able to solidify my credit and save for the future. Needless to state I did neither.

First thing I did was pay off my van. I figured getting rid of the payment would be nice, and it was. We went out and got a home. We didn’t buy the whole thing, instead we put down a huge down payment and took out a mortgage. I bought a new truck, paid cash for it, which turned out to come in handy with our lifestyle. I also put a downpayment on a Harley Davidson, something that I had dreamt about owning for many years.

Not all of the money went awry. I made several loans, a lot of which I didn’t seek repayment. My wife and I are very grateful of all the help our family has given us and were more than happy to return the favor. It wasn’t a money issue, it was a family thing. I’ve no regrets for that.

Without going into detail on how much money we received, two years later the money is gone. Not all of it, but most of it. There is still some tucked away in CD’s and money market accounts, but not enough to retire off of. It is a begin, a modest one at ideal, but still a begin.

I regret how I handled this. I should have put most of that money away. I let my past get the ideal of me. I grew up in poverty. I always wanted a bike, a game system, new clothes but I rarely got them. I wanted to give my children the things I never had, and I did that. I did that knowing that the dollars were going away ever so slowly, but I didn’t care.

Now we are here. We aren’t in dire straits here, we are doing ok. My children aren’t going hungry, they’ve a roof over their heads. We’re not in danger of losing anything. I just want to do what I should have done two years ago; fix our credit now, save for the future. Something tells me we would have benefited more from that as opposed to how I handled it.

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Filed under: Borrowing, Budgets, Debt, Home, Relationships

I’ve been going on and on about my situation. The debt, the mortgage, and trying to save it all. I never really spoke about how we got here in the first place. We didn’t just wake up and *poof* had a house. No, no. That would be no fun. The story I’m about to tell you is worthy of a book, and it’s just one chapter of my interesting life.

It all started about six years ago. We were driving back from Phoenix from a funeral. We were dropping my sister off when her husband came out and gave us the horrible news that my mother and step-father passed away in an accident. The automobile they were in had a blowout and rolled over. This led to a lot of in-fighting in the family. Mainly the six siblings vs. me, the one who didn’t want to take the route of the lawsuit. It took a lot of convincing from MANY sources to convince me to go ahead with everything, and four years later we settled the lawsuit.

I can’t say how much money I got as my share of the lawsuit, but it was a lot. Not “go off and retire,” amounts, but enough to where I should have been able to solidify my credit and save for the future. Needless to state I did neither.

First thing I did was pay off my van. I figured getting rid of the payment would be nice, and it was. We went out and got a home. We didn’t purchase the whole thing, instead we put down a large down payment and took out a mortgage. I bought a new truck, paid cash for it, which turned out to come in handy with our lifestyle. I also put a downpayment on a Harley Davidson, something that I had dreamt about owning for many years.

Not all of the money went awry. I made several loans, a lot of which I didn’t seek repayment. My wife and I are very grateful of all the help our family has given us and were more than happy to return the favor. It wasn’t a money issue, it was a family thing. I’ve no regrets for that.

Without going into detail on how much money we received, two years later the money is gone. Not all of it, but most of it. There’s still some tucked away in CD’s and money market accounts, but not enough to retire off of. It is a begin, a modest one at ideal, but still a begin.

I regret how I handled this. I should have put most of that money away. I let my past get the ideal of me. I grew up in poverty. I always wanted a bike, a game system, new clothes but I rarely got them. I wanted to give my kids the things I never had, and I did that. I did that knowing that the dollars were going away ever so slowly, but I did not care.

Now we are here. We aren’t in dire straits here, we are doing ok. My children aren’t going hungry, they have a roof over their heads. We are not in danger of losing anything. I just want to do what I should have done two years ago; fix our credit now, save for the future. Something tells me we would have benefited more from that as opposed to how I handled it.

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Filed under: College, Cards, Debt, Children and Money

Cozy relationships between large banks and universities are drawing the scrutiny of students, parents, and regulators, with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo investigating the matter. Hundreds of students at Portland Say University protested the school’s promotion of a bank account that was less attractive than those offered by competing institutions who weren’t providing the school with cash.

I certainly agree with the students. The notion that schools are promoting financial products that aren’t in the best interests of their students is despicable. But given the severe budget problems facing so many states, this isn’t something that’s likely to change anytime soon.

The solution is education: As Beth Wechsler recently wrote on WalletPop, less than 20% of states currently have a personal finance education stipulation. What this means is that, for many children, the first bit of financial “advice” they receive is a shiny credit card offer — bearing the logo of their new college.

If high schools focused on giving kids the firepower they need to fend off aggressive — and often predatory — financial services marketing, the effect of this marketing would be severely weakened. High school children should be told about fees, compound interesting, FICO scores, investing, etc. They could also be shown videos featuring interviews with parents whose kids committed suicide because of anxiety over credit card debt.

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Filed under: Management, Raising money, Engagements, Venture capital industry, Private equity industry

Some scandals wreck public figures on Wall Street, while others act as mere speed bumps. It looks like the latter is true for Frank Quattrone, one of the most influential investment bankers in the 1990’s who was also the head of the Credits Suisse (NYSE: CS) technology banking group.

Frank Quattrone has just announced that he and some former colleagues are launching a new financial services venture called Qatalyst Group. Qatalyst will be a technology-focused merchant banking boutique headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

Qatalyst Partners, its investment banking business, will provide high-end merger & acquisition and corporate finance advice to technology companies. Its investing business, Qatalyst Capital Partners, will make selective principal investments, typically alongside leading venture capital and private equity firms.

Qatalyst Partners notes in its release that it will provide “high quality, independent advice to the senior management teams and boards of the technology industry’s established and emerging leaders on strategic matters crucial to their growth and success.”

Qatalyst will combine a broad network of relationships with deep sector knowledge and seasoned M&A expertise. In addition to merger & acquisition advice, Qatalyst Partners will also advise companies on capital structure and capital raising alternatives, and will selectively raise private capital for clients.

While it will not engage in public securities research, sales, trading or brokerage, Qatalyst Partners may participate as advisor or underwriter in clients’ public offerings.

It looks like Wall Street just got a new technology boutique that will be involved in venture capital, private equity, and bringing companies public.

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