Update: My neighbor Heidi is spooked by the financial crisis here in the States. She visits her nail salon noting she's the only customer. She strolls through the car dealership as the lone shopper. She's concerned that almost overnight, local businesses have become like ghost towns.

She vividly recalls a similar financial disaster in her birth country of Sweden back in 1991. She's fresh out of college, and without any jobs, had to relocate to Germany to find suitable work. Today, if her husband gets laid off, with their two kids and golden retriever, they may have to sell their home (which they qualified for with a 20% down payment) and move back to Sweden.

From another angle...

I listened to a mortgage loan agent give an account of making a risky loan to a family from Mexico that, before easy credit, would not have qualified. After three refinances, an accident to the head of household, and a severe reduction in home equity altogether put that family out on the streets after the foreclosure. This is another painful result of easy credit plaguing the American landscape.

But the loan agent was doing her job. She received bonuses for getting signatures on the applications — not on the actual approval of the loans. I could only imagine the borderline tactics aggressive agents may take to acquire said signatures.

And the agents didn't have to try hard. Potential borrowers were lining up for these risky loans everyday. The applicants wanted a slice of the easy money pie. Thanks in part to the government's approval of lax lending policies.

But at what cost? We're finding out right now. And I hesitate to add — probably for a very long time.

Feature Article: Do Bad Things Come in Threes?

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Big Government: Don't You DARE Touch My Money...

While making my credit card payment at Citibank the quick-thinking teller asked if I wanted to open a new checking account with them. Since I was paying my bill with a check drawn from WaMu, which was recently seized by the government, it was good business for her to ask. I have enough confidence (as of this writing) that JPMorgan Chase will turn things around after purchasing WaMu's assets.

What I have little confidence in is a government bailout. The US government has failed miserably meddling where it doesn't belong and it will fail miserably meddling in the banking and property sectors. You don't need a Business Degree to figure that out.

The government knows how to spend our money. It's not very good at being accountable to the American people for its spending. Therefore it will need more of our money to stay afloat. What we have is bigger government without the bigger ideas that solve problems instead of masking them.

If you want financial freedom, I suggest resisting Big Government. Their plan for economic health is borrowing money. They haven't shown they could pay it back. Maybe that's what John Q. Public is here for.

Do Bad Things Come in Threes?

Dear Associate,

A close colleague received three parking violations in a single month. He finds it strange that he hasn't received any more tickets since then. Although that's good news for him, it leads me to ask, "Do bad things come in threes?"

You've probably heard that question before. Then you hear it repeated among sane, rational and intelligent people. And then you won't hear it again for a very long time.

So what's the answer?

Are there unseen forces out there working against your will to render you harm? Do you suspect an invisible entity scheming to sabotage you in some manner? Or is this a mystery invented by know-nothings trying to explain their string of bad luck?

"I just went through three bad breakups in a row."

"My car's been in the shop three times for the same problem."

"I'm recovering from my third illness this season."

Give me a break. I don't believe walking underneath a ladder, breaking a mirror, or crossing a black cat is bad luck. And I don't believe bad things happen in sets of threes.

Then again, what happened to me recently made me question my own beliefs...

It began when the City of San Diego belted me for business taxes I never heard of going back three years. Their Tax Department's boilerplate response was that my tax person should have told me about this. How could my tax preparer know since he lives 550 miles away? And do you know what was the kicker? The late fees were higher than the actual taxes.

Then HSBC stuck me with a late fee and finance charge when my credit card payment posted one day after the due date. It was the first time I've ever been late in thirteen years. Though I wondered why my payment posted late since it should have only taken one day to remit through snail mail given an eight-day head start.

And finally a collection agency contacted me about a mobile phone bill they said I owed because someone else opened an account using my identity back in 2006. They threatened to report this to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion if I didn't make an immediate payment. I told the collection agency rep I'm a victim of Identity Theft and am not the guilty party. But the rep said that I was the responsible party and needed to pay up.

It's peculiar that these three incidents appeared one after another. They're related because they all involved making a payment. I was trapped, strapped and slapped by the money moochers.

But I did find one silver lining...

While tackling these three obstacles I received a fourth surprise. I missed the chance to pay my Bank of America credit card balance prior to the due date. Their computers quickly posted a late fee and finance charge. Absolutely no grace period whatsoever.

I've discovered and am happy to report that bad things do not ONLY come in threes. They seem to manifest as often as they want and when you least expect. The answer is not to look at them as more problems, but as opportunities to master new skills. And once mastered, you become a hi-speed go-to person.

Warm regards,