“Ask Sark” is a question and answer section. The information provided is general in nature, each person’s situation is different and this information may not apply to you. Securities Offered Through Western International FINRA/SIPC.

     Q. A group of our friends was sitting around the other night and we had a question. What is wealth? We thought we would ask you and find out your opinion.

      A. What is wealth? That is a question most of us don’t ponder very often, but we should.  I have my own definition for wealth that I have simplified over the years. Wealth is freedom!  I believe that wealth frees us from worry, worry about how we will live and eat. Wealth frees us from the worry about how our children and grandchildren will live and be educated. Wealth frees us from the concerns of educating the next generation o...

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“Ask Sark” is a question and answer section. The information provided is general in nature, each person’s situation is different and this information may not apply to you. Securities Offered Through Western International FINRA/SIPC.

Q.    I am a single mother, recently divorced. My ex-husband used to pay all the bills and handle our household budget. Stan, can you help me develop a “household strategy” that I can implement and get my financial life under control?

A.     Periodically I get asked how to live financially responsibly and how to live with financial freedom. This information is general in nature and may not directly apply to your situation; you may need to contact a financial professional for advice.

Begin by creating a budget for your household. Include all expenses in one column such as mortgage, utilities, charitable donations, tuition, car payments, prescription drug costs, insurance, property taxes, groceries,...

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[Editor's note: “Ask Sark” is a question and answer section. The information provided is general in nature, each person’s situation is different and this information may not apply to you.]

Q. My husband and I both work. We have two beautiful children who are both under the age of 13. We both have jobs and we are thankful for that in these economic times. However, we just cannot seem to stay ahead of our bills. We have a budget, but it always seems that something comes up. Do you have any advice?

A. Sure I have some advice. Pay yourself first! The problem is not that “something comes up.” The problem is in the way you are programmed to deal with money.

Money management is vital to your success in running your financial household; the problem with most people is they are programmed wrong from childhood. The real issue is how you intellectually deal with money.

Money is an inanimate object; it does not think or care who...

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(Editor's note: “Ask Sark” is a question and answer section. The information provided is general in nature, each person’s situation is different and this information may not apply to you.)

Q. I am confused. There are so many different investment types. How can I choose the best one for me and my family? I have a 401k at work and I have extra money every month left over to invest. What model of investing do you recommend?

A. We need to take first things first. Every investor is individual and “models” may work for one person or family and not the other. I don’t know your age, your marital status, dependents and so forth, so the best I can do is offer general advice.

(Editor's Note: Sark's Money Talk is a question and answer section. The information provided is general in nature, each person’s situation is different and this information may not apply to you.)

Q. I am a mother of two children. I am divorced and struggling with my personal and financial life. I see nothing but bad in the economy and the stock market. I watch the TV and cannot find any good in anything anyone is saying. I am confused and really could use some direction on my financial life. Is the stock market going to go up and rescue my 401k or continue a downward spiral?

A. The evening news is consuming the thoughts of most people. The world is bad, unsafe and our economy is in the toilet. I have a suggestion: turn off the TV and get on with your life.

It all comes down to a simple question that you must answer for yourself. What is good and what is bad?

If you really think about that question, you will come to ...

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[Editor's note: Sark's Money Talk is a question and answer column. The information provided is general in nature. Each person’s situation is different and this information may not apply to you.]

Q. My husband and I have a difficult decision to make. We have a daughter who has asked us for another “loan” to help her get by while her husband continues to look for a job. This is the third time she has asked us for money in the past three years. My husband and I would like to know what your opinion is on lending to our children and other family members.

A. One of the areas of financial life that never seems to change is the "need" by many family members for parents' money. Always, when they ask for help, the request is made for a temporary loan. Deep down inside we all know that the likelihood of the money coming back is closer to never than it is to someday. Most parents lovingly give the money as a loan, knowing in their ...

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[Editor's Note: “Ask Sark” is a question and answer section. The information provided is general in nature, each person’s situation is different and this information may not apply to you.]

Q. How does the new stimulus plan affect us personally and particularly, how will it affect my investments?

A. Although my specialty is not to analyze government plans, I have spent some time pouring over the new stimulus plan and have made some observations.

The first and most obvious observation I made was this; the plan does not contain anything that will actually stimulate the economy. Okay, looking at it with a broader brush stroke, there are a few programs in the plan that MAY work as stimulus, but from I can tell, it is only about 10 to12 percent of the total amount of money being proposed.

This plan appears to be a farce at best. It is a disguised scam at worst. Let me give you an example; I could create a ...

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(Editor's note: “Ask Sark” is a question-and-answer column. The information provided is for the individual asking the question. Each person’s situation is different and this information may not apply to you.)

Q. Should I use my home equity checking account to pay off some of my credit card bills? I got a notice from my bank that they may be reducing the amount of my home equity checking because the value of my home has gone down and I want to use the money before they reduce the amount I can take.

A. You are putting the cart before the horse. What you need to do is control your debt and stop charging to your credit cards. Paying off debt with more debt is only a short-term solution.

For more than a decade, people used their “equity” in their homes as a checking account. People let their credit card debt get out of hand. The “educated” financial experts put packages together of sub-prime mortgages, bound them, sol...

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(Editor's note: “Ask Sark” is a question-and-answer column. The information provided is for the individual asking the question. Each person’s situation is different and this information may not apply to you.)

Q. How does the new FED “rate cut” affect me or the average investor?

A. In order to answer your question we must first understand how, why, when and for what purpose(s) the Federal Reserve Board decided to raise or lower the federal funds rate of interest.

It has long been a policy of the Federal Reserve Board (FED) to use interest rates to control, to the extent possible, the velocity and supply of money.

Velocity is the amount of and the multiple times that a dollar or its equivalent will move along the system in a given time span.

The supply is the number of dollars that lenders are willing to lend and that borrowers are willing to borrow. Generally, when borrowers believe that rates are low (relative ...

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Q. I am a retired engineer from a local manufacturing plant. I have some money in the stock market and some money scattered in various holdings. I am considering selling all of my stocks and investing the money in something safer until the market begins to turn around. Is this a good strategy?
 

A. There are multiple questions to be answered…and more to be asked. In order to be of most help to you, we must know what you mean by “scattered various holdings.”

Since you are in the considering mood, consider this:  if you sell all of your shares of stock, you are deciding that they WILL go down in price after you sell. What makes you believe that you are correct?

What do you mean by “something safer?” Most people think of safety as having their principal protected from a reduction in value. Better be careful here. Having your dollars guaranteed against principal deterioration leaves them totally open to the ravages of in...

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