Chicago Bears’ Devin Hester Nears Sale of Mansion With Man Cave

Celebrity Real Estate

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Feb 27, 2014

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By: Neal J. Leitereg

 

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After a series of price cuts, the Chicago Bears’ Devin Hester is sprinting toward a sale of his suburban Chicago mansion.

The return specialist and wide receiver is under contract to sell his mansion-estate in the village of Riverwoods, IL, reports the Chicago Tribune. Hester’s 10,000-square-foot home first appeared on the market in April 2013 with an asking price of $2.63 million. Since then, however, the home has received a number of price cuts, most recently dropping to just under $2 million.
Located about 40 minutes north of Soldier Field, the stone-lined mansion has six bedrooms, nine bathrooms and 10,000 square feet of living space spread across three floors. Clad in scraped Hickory flooring and hand-painted features, the athlete’s house features open living spaces, a chef’s kitchen and a theater room.

The first-floor master suite comes complete with a sitting room and French doors that open onto a private patio, while the additional bedroom suites are located on the home’s second level. Downstairs, a finished basement is primed for entertaining with a “club” area, game room and wet bar.
Outside, the 2.5-acre property rounds out with a pond, a tennis court, and waterfall features.

California Couple Finds $10M Buried Treasure in Back Yard

By Dina Abou Salem | ABC News Blogs – 2 hours 35 minutes ago

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  California Couple Finds $10M Buried Treasure in Back Yard (ABC News)

A California couple spotted the edge of an old can on a path they had hiked many times before. Poking at the can was the first step in uncovering a buried treasure of rare coins estimated to be worth $10 million.
"It was like finding a hot potato," the couple told coin expert Dr. Don Kagan from Kagin's, Inc. The couple hired the president of Kagin's, Inc. and Holabird-Kagin Americana, a western Americana dealer and auctioneer, to represent them.
"Since 1981, people have been coming to us with one or two coins they find worth a few thousand dollars, but this is the first time we get someone with a whole cache of buried coins… It is a million to one chance, even harder than winning the lottery," Kagan told ABCNews.com.
The couple is trying to remain anonymous after finding the five cans of coins last spring on their Tiburon property in northern California and conducted an interview with Kagin.
"I never would have thought we would have found something like this. However, in a weird way I feel like I have been preparing my whole life for it," the couple said.
Credit: Saddle Ridge Hoard discoverers via Kagin's, Inc./AP Photo

"I saw an old can sticking out of the ground on a trail that we had walked almost every day for many, many years. I was looking down in the right spot and saw the side of the can. I bent over to scrape some moss off and noticed that it had both ends on it," they said. It was the first of five cans to be unearthed, each packed with gold coins.

"Nearly all of the 1,427 coins, dating from 1847 to 1894, are in uncirculated, mint condition," said Kagan told ABCNews.com.

He said Tuesday that the couple plan to sell most of the coins, but before they do, they are "loaning some to the American Numismatic Association for its National Money Show, which opens Thursday in Atlanta."

"Some of the rarest coins could fetch as much as $1 million apiece," said Kagan. He also said that they wish to sell 90 percent of the collection through Amazon.com and on the company's website.
"We'd like to help other people with some of this money.

Hockey Dream Homes – Have Your Own Indoor Rink

Advice, Ask a REALTOR®, Buying A Home, Celebrity Real Estate, Finance, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Home Improvement, Mortgages, Move, Pricing, Pros, Sell

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Feb 19, 2014

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By: Erik Gunther

  

Picture a hockey dream home. Let your mind wander while you envision passing the puck around on your own premises. Do you see a cozy and quaint home with a frozen pond out back? An old school split level with a basement big enough to set up a couple of nets? Or something like the full-on rink former NHL player Bill Guerin recently had built in his backyard?
If you dreamt big, perhaps you pictured something like the two amazing houses below. Each is currently for sale and they both come with their own indoor hockey rinks. You could practice your slap shot in your pajamas. Now that?s a dream come true.
First over the boards is a palatial estate we located in Orono, MN. Minnesota is a hockey hotbed in the U.S., and this house is enough to keep any puck-happy fan satisfied.

The 10,000 square foot home has a downstairs rink that?s 30 feet by 45 feet and boards primed for checking your buddies into. The composite surface won?t support your ice skates, but who?s going to quibble when you have your own personal indoor rink?

Listed at $4,495,000, the lakefront estate also comes with an indoor golf simulator, an outdoor chipping green for golfers, and swimming pool.

Headed east on our hockey home search, we spotted another candidate in North Andover, MA. With almost 10,000 square feet of living space spread over four levels, this enormous home was built with a huge hockey family in mind.
The Massachusetts mansion has a list price of $2,650,000 and its indoor mini rink measures 24 feet by 32 feet and is also made from composite. Once you?re done putting the biscuit in the basket downstairs, you?re sure to enjoy retiring to the game room, which takes up the entire third floor of the home.

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Tupac Shakur Talks Christmas, Poverty And Racism

5 Dos and Don'ts for Greater Financial Security

By the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority | More Articles
February 16, 2014 | 

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With the unemployment rate slowly falling, many Americans are facing a healthier job market and trying to get their financial lives back on track. Based on findings of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation's National Financial Capability Study of more than 25,000 Americans, the FINRA Foundation has developed five tips to help you manage daily financial challenges and build a brighter financial future in 2014.

1. Do take advantage of tax breaks when saving for college and retirement. If you have financially dependent children, try to save for college using tax-advantaged savings accounts like a 529 plan or Coverdell Education Savings Account. The FINRA Foundation's Study revealed that only 34% of respondents with financially dependent children are setting aside money for their children's college education.
While many Americans are not prepared for retirement, and only 54% of non-retired respondents have some kind of retirement account, workers should use tax-advantaged savings accounts like 401(k)s to boost their retirement security. Contributions to a traditional 401(k) are not subject to income tax withholding and are not included in your taxable wages, and earnings on Roth 401(k) contributions are tax-free. In 2014, you can contribute up to $17,500 to your 401(k). And if you're age 50 or over, you can contribute an additional $5,500 for a total of $23,000. FINRA tools and resources help consumers save for college or retirement.

2. Do reduce your debt. More than two out of five Americans (42%) surveyed felt that they have too much debt, regardless of their income. The best way to avoid an endless cycle of credit card debt is to try to pay your credit cards in full and on time. If you have credit card debt, pay it off as quickly as possible. Even if you're unable to pay your whole monthly bill, always pay more than the minimum due, which will reduce the amount of interest you'll pay. Millennials should take extra care when using credit cards. The FINRA Foundation's Study found that 52% of Americans aged 18-34 reported engaging in expensive credit card behaviors, compared with the national average of 41%. FINRA Foundation resources can help you avoid the debt trap.

3. Don't chase yield. Investors face a difficult investing environment, with low yields on fixed-income investments and an economy on the mend. Some investors may opt to "chase return," meaning they put their assets into riskier and sometimes complicated products that promise higher yields than they can get in more traditional investments. Investors should realize that they could be taking on more risk if they invest in products with higher returns.

What Can New Pilots Make? Near Minimum Wage

Low Pay at Regional Airlines Fuels Shortage of Aviators; Republic Airways to Idle 27 Planes

By Jack Nicas and Susan Carey February 12, 2014 10:14 AM

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A widening shortage of U.S. airline pilots is spotlighting the structure of an industry built on starting salaries for regional-airline pilots that are roughly equivalent to fast-food wages.

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The shortage's toll rose Tuesday, as Republic Airways Holdings Inc., one of the nation's largest regional carriers, said it would remove 27 of its 243 aircraft from operation because it couldn't find enough qualified pilots.

The news, which followed service disruptions at other airlines, sent Republic's shares down 4.1% to finish at $9.45.

Starting pilot salaries at 14 U.S. regional carriers average $22,400 a year, according to the largest U.S. pilots union. Some smaller carriers pay as little as $15,000 a year. The latter is about what a full-time worker would earn annually at the $7.25-an-hour federal minimum wage.

Regional carriers are a key link in the U.S. air-travel system. Big airlines, whose pilot salaries are much higher, outsource about half of their domestic flights to these smaller partners to save money.
The big carriers set flight schedules and fares, sell the tickets and buy the fuel, leaving their regional counterparts little room to raise wages.

That structure has prevailed for years, but federal rules implemented in August have brought matters to a head by increasing the minimum flight experience required for most commercial-airline pilots to 1,500 hours from 250 hours. The new law has sharply increased the time and expense required to become a commercial pilot, rendering today's starting wages even less attractive and crimping the already-tight supply of would-be aviators.

Andrew Finne, a 23-year-old senior at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark., says he has amassed $100,000 in debt to get a four-year aviation degree and 380 hours of flight time. Under the new federal training requirements, he still has two to three years as a flight instructor ahead before he can start flying commercial passengers. He says he hopes he can afford the additional cost, but "I've had several friends drop out because it's too expensive and the outlook for recouping those funds didn't look good."

Some industry watchers say the two-tier pay structure isn't sustainable. Even before the current pilot shortage, many regional carriers were struggling. Several have filed for bankruptcy protection in recent years. The big airlines also have pressured the regionals to shell out for larger jets that are more fuel efficient than the 50-seat jetliners that have long been standard.

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Are Single Parent Households Contributing To Wealth Gap?

Jan 9, 2014

By NewsOne Now

Deborah Owens of The Wealth Coach says that married family households who help out single households financially aren’t building wealth. From lending family money to car repairs, Owens believes that the enabling needs to stop. That way, married households can use their money toward building real wealth.

Owens spoke with “NewsOne Now” on other solutions for stopping the enabling and building wealth. “This wealth gap is just not a wealth gap, it’s a knowledge and execution gap,” said Owens. “So what African Americans need is to become knowledgeable at how the financial markets work and we have to increase our risk and tolerance.”

Roland Martin spoke with a caller who did not agree that single households were hurting the wealth gap. Hear her debate with Martin below. Do you agree with her point of view?

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How to Trick Youself Into Getting Rich

How to Trick Youself Into Getting Rich

By BYRON L. STUDDARD, CFP®

Feb 7, 2014, 8:16 AM

Many make New Year's resolutions to save more money each month, but actually following through on this requires a lot more attention than a mere notion amid the heady optimism of New Year's Eve festivities.

As in many challenging endeavors, the devil lies in the details. It's one thing to decide to save and invest more, but it's quite another to muster the month-to-month discipline and take concrete steps to make good on this. At this point in 2014, you may have a creeping awareness of your lack of progress in realizing your saving/investing resolution.

To keep this resolution from winding up in the dustbin of unfulfilled promises to yourself, consider these points:

• Dedicate yourself. Putting money aside for savings and investment takes discipline — the discipline to not spend it. Some who haven't been saving can change their ways by pure force of will, while others need a coach or advisor.

Busting a credit card hacker

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) 

 By Steve Hargreaves and Kathleen Johnston  @CNNMoneyTech February 5, 2014: 3:34 PM ET

In 2007, Ukrainian Maksym Yastremsky was the most prolific credit card hacker in the world. He'd stolen over 40 million cards from mostly U.S.-based retailers. He'd cost credit card companies over $11 million.

In 2008 he was arrested in Turkey after the U.S. Secret Service infiltrated his network. Here's how they did it:

Flashback to 2004, when the Secret Service -- which handles currency crimes -- got wind of a criminal ring using stolen credit cards to buy high end electronics in the Los Angeles area.

Rather than bust the ring outright, they struck a deal. The ring leader would introduce an undercover Secret Service agent to the source of his stolen credit cards under the guise that the agent was a new partner in the criminal ring. Naturally, the idea was to move up the food chain, and ultimately nab the cyber criminals at the heart of the hacking underworld.

"So what I ended up doing was communicating via instant message and I started talking to people in South East Asia," said the undercover agent, in an exclusive interview with CNN.

Related: Target to invest in chip-based cards
As part of the ruse, the agent explained that he needed all the tools to start a new ring that used phony cards to make purchases -- the machines to make the cards, the special plastic to make them out of and, most importantly, the stolen card numbers. For those, he was connected with Yastremsky.
"He had the most recent, the largest credit card data," said the agent. "Often times I knew about the breaches before they were being reported. These people were my friends online and they were selling me their new databases as they were getting them straight from the breach."

Yastremsky worked with a variety of hackers to steal the data -- sometimes placing malware directly on the networks at major retailers. As soon as you'd swipe your card, the criminals would have your info.

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Is a Joint Bank Account the Secret to a Happy Marriage?

by Joanna & Johnny Jan 22nd 2014 6:00AM

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Personal finance is just that -- personal. When you're single, you, yourself, and you have complete control over your bank account. Only you know how much you spend on your secret Russian nesting doll collection. But then you find a special someone to take down the aisle. You'll share your life with that person, but will you share your finances?

Well, that's a complicated question, since "finances" could refer to any number of areas, from your mortgage to your debt. But one of the most basic and fundamental financial decisions that married couples make is whether to share a bank account. There are compelling arguments on either end of the spectrum for and against joint banking. And ultimately, it's a personal decision between you, your spouse and Dr. Phil. And Dr. Phil's gonna tell you to keep your accounts separate. But my husband and I did just the opposite. Soon after we said "I do," we said goodbye to our individual checking accounts. Not only have we never regretted it, but we think joint banking has actually brought us closer together.

Here's why:

Transparency

Money flies in and out of our bank account faster than our baby crawls away during a diaper change. But tracking exactly how much we're spending and saving is fairly easy when we're using a central account for most of our transactions. We each have a few individual credit cards, but we pay them off with our joint account. It ensures we're always both aware of where our money is coming from and going to because we have a shared account that we both see.