Category: Money Talk

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Bitcoin-based casino rakes in more than $500,000 profit in six months

Bitcoins are completely digital, so you can’t spend actual ones like these (non-digital ones) at a digital casino.

As various tech companies report their fourth-quarter 2012 earnings numbers this week, so are two gray-market, Bitcoin-based casinos—and one is turning profits in the hundreds of thousands of dollars after only six months of being in business

Recently, both SatoshiDice and bitZino released their financials. If these self-reported earnings are to be trusted (and the companies say they are, given that a Bitcoin block chain can be read by anyone), then running a Bitcoin-based casino yields a tidy profit.

“These tiny startups are hitting some major online casino pain points, they’re crushing it on those fronts and as an entrepreneur, I think that’s rad—they are leveraging a disruptive technology to try and kick a large-scale industry in the balls,” said Peter Vessenes, the CEO of CoinLab, a Bitcoin-based business, which got $500,000 of venture capital last year.

 

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Analysis, Business, Money Talk, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

17 new ideas on Kickstarter that are worth millions

Pebble is the most funded Kickstarter project of all time.

Entrepreneurs and artists can post ideas and raise money from other users on Kickstarter. No project had ever raised $1 million on the platform before 2012.  But, in the last 12 months, 17 projects exceeded 9-figure fundraises on Kickstarter.

 

 

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Analysis, Economy, Money Talk

The cost of raising a child today

American families can expect to spend about $250,000 to raise a child for the next 17 years.

With Laura Sowa’s husband working strictly on sales commission in a down economy, money has been tight for several years now.  Laura lives in Nashville and she works hard to keep things as normal as possible for her two daughters.  But “normal” these days is being redefined.  This hit home for her recently as she listened to the girls playing “shopping trip” in the next room.

 

 

 

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Money Talk

More that 1,000 startups are destined to be abandoned at the Series A stage

We now have real data to accompany all the anecdotal stories about the ongoing “Series A crunch” for tech startups. CB Insights, a venture capital analysis firm, has released a new seed financing report that digs into some real numbers about the situation.

 

 

 

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Money Talk

The average cost of Christmas in America

Christmas in America seems to be getting more extravagant.

With just a few days until Christmas day, many shoppers are feverishly trying to find the perfect meaningful gifts for everyone on their list. commercialization of the American Christmas plays a very big part in how much the average American pays for all of his or her holiday expenses. Between gifts, holiday parties and decorations, Christmas in America seems to be getting more and more extravagant. Here is a look at the average cost of an American Christmas and a glance at why the cost of the holidays is steadily rising.

 

 

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Analysis, Business, Human Behavior, Money Talk

When women are faced with sexual stereotypes they make better financial decisions

Many studies have found that women tend to be more averse to risks and losses than men.

The world of business  can be brutal and competitive. People often need to take high risks with big payoffs in order to succeed. Attitudes that are risk-taking attitudes are often seen as masculine. The language used to describe such behavior is riddled with phrases like “testosterone-charged” and “cowboys”. Women are seen as being more risk averse.  And then there are articles that have asked if the financial crisis might have unfolded differently had women been in charge.

 

 

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Analysis, Business, Education, Latest Trend, Money Talk

Student loan debt growing and so is the delinquency rate

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit Total, consumer debt in the U.S. fell again in the third quarter. This figure has been falling for four years. As consumer debt has been falling, so have consumers’ delinquency rates. As of Sept. 30, 8.9 percent of outstanding household debt was in some stage of delinquency, with 6.6 percent at least 90 days late.

 

 

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Money Talk

Your guide to offshore banks that may be right for you

The number of offshore banks where savers can keep their money and receive good rates is dwindling.

People trying to save are having a tough time at the moment.  It is very difficult to get a real return on savings because of low interest rates and relatively high inflation.  And there’s still the question of safety: the banking crisis which left millions of savers worrying about the security of their banks was only a few years ago.

 

Analysis, Health & Fitness, Money Talk

Unhappiness leads to bad financial decisions: Study

“Present bias,” a phenomenon that makes us crave immediate gratification at the expense of even greater rewards later on.

People tend to spend more money when they are blue, whether it’s treating yourself to an elegant dinner after a tough day or picking up a new outfit during a nasty breakup.  Harvard University researchers looked in the the anecdotal evidence and found that feeling down can take a serious toll on your wallet.

 

 

 

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Analysis, Business, Economy, Money Talk

The trade-off between meaning and money in today’s economy

The point of a “capitalist” economy is to minimize the trade-off between meaning and money.

Why is an average investment banker worth much more than an average teacher? And why does a top hedge fund manager “earn” enough to pay for thousands of teachers?  Is there a trade-off between meaning and money? And if there is, how does one master — and perhaps — resolve it? Can it be resolved?

 

 

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