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If you are obscenely rich, hold on to your hat: the Internal Revenue Service is out to get you. That is, if you’ve been scamming Uncle Sam. Last tax season it was made apparent that the IRS was leaner, meaner, and that it was on the lookout for tax evaders. This past fall, the IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman announced something called a “Global High Wealth Exam Group.” The main task of this group is to make sure that the richest people in America are paying what they owe in taxes.

According to the most current research by company TNS, people in debt still feel quite negatively about the state of the United States economy. According to the study, their concerns about the economy haven’t changed at all since September. An overwhelming majority, sixty four percent of consumers who were surveyed held a position that things had taken a turn for the worst at that time. On the other side of the fence, unlike Americans struggling to survive in debt, business executives surveyed that pull in between three million to two billion dollars have a much more positive outlook on the situation.

The times they are a changing, and chances are your debt collector is changing with them. If you have been contacted by a debt collector before, you are most likely aware that most collection agents are strictly regulated by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act- a federal law that dictates how they can approach you and proceed with the collection process.

In my series of pieces about mutual funds, I wrote three articles outlining the basics. I wrote that a mutual fund is set up like a corporation or trust and pools money from a number of different investors and invests it into different sorts of securities. I informed you that mutual funds have a fund manager that buys and sells the fund’s investments.

So you are looking to invest in a mutual fund but you are not certain if it is worth your while. This article can help you when it comes to weighing the pros and cons of taking on such an investment. A mutual fund is set up like a corporation that pools money from a number of different investors and invests it in different sorts of securities. Mutual funds have a fund manager that buys and sells the fund’s investments. This fund manager charges a fee for you to use his or her services. For the basics of mutual funds, see my article “Understanding Mutual Funds for Beginners.” For details on the expenses associated with mutual funds, see my article “Understanding the Expenses that Come with Mutual Funds.”

In my first article on bonds for beginners, I let you know that a bond is a contract that involves paying money with interest back at set times. The issuer of the bond would be considered the borrower, the bond holder would be considered the lender, and the maturity date is when the money is due. Bonds can be issued by credit institutions, companies, and public authorities. Now a little more on the details of bonds.

In parts one through three of my beginner’s course on stocks, I wrote that the stock of the company was the original amount of capital that went into founding it. I said that businesses divide stocks into shares, which can be bought or sold to shareholders, who are people who own one or more shares of stock and therefore “share ownership” of the company. I wrote about stock brokers who are people that will charge you to arrange the purchasing or selling of stock. Now a bit buying and selling stock.

At the current moment, we’re in a recession that has left millions of people without employment, and millions more searching for ways to save money and cut down on costs. As more people lose their jobs, those with less experience will find the most difficulty, leaving younger workers and recent college graduates being hit especially hard.

If you paid attention in economics class, you may have heard the phrase “stocks and bonds” thrown around a few times. Stocks and bonds are both securities (a security is a negotiable “instrument” that represents financial value), and therefore both stocks and bonds can be used to finance a company and company activities. However, there are major differences between stocks and bonds.

In part one of this series, I let you know some of the pros and cons of mutual funds. I wrote that there are many expenses that come with investing in a mutual fund, including the high price of management fees and brokerage fees that come with frequent trading. But, the fund manager is bound by a responsibility to find the best deals on commission for you that she or he can. The expertise of a fund manager can be quite helpful for beginners when they start to invest, too.