Brooklyn Downtown Project

Posted on March 12th, 2008 in News & Opinion by Smarty

The downtown area of Brooklyn will go through a huge transformation that will bring modernization and beautiful landscapes to the neighborhood and vibrant choices of entertainment. The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership is planning to modernize and improve the downtown area in Brooklyn. There will be new commercial buildings, luxury resident buildings, restaurants, art galleries and greenery. The Downtown Brooklyn transformation project is approximately five years long and is estimated to cost about $9.5 billion. At the completion of the entire project, there will be 14,300 new residential units, 1,800 hotel rooms, and 3.2 million square feet of commercial space.

Highlights

• $9.5 billion
• 56 projects
• 14,300 new residential units
• 35,000 new residents
• 1,800 hotel rooms
• 3.2 million s.f. of commercial

The residents in Brooklyn have mixed feelings about this downtown transformation. On one hand, the transformation will bring more jobs and a more vibrant lifestyle to the area, but on the other hand, the neighborhood will lose its traditional values and culture and the cost of living in that area will skyrocket.

Here are two videos from New York Post that shows more information about the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership project and the feedbacks of the residents in Brooklyn.

Video 1: Brooklynites On Skyline

Video 2: New Downtown Brooklyn

New York Post has some photos of the Downtown Brooklyn projects.
I am planning to buy a property in the near future and though the downtown transformation looks attractive, the prices are very high.  I will continue to monitor the real estate market prices and news in New York City.

Carnival of Personal Finance #143

Posted on March 10th, 2008 in News & Opinion by Smarty

Canadian blog Quest for Four Pillars has published the latest edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. this edition included a selection of excellent articles from bloggers who write about personal finance. Here are the highlights, selected by this week’s host:

How to Use Variable Annuities the Right Way
Why I Love My Prepaid Cell Phone
How Home Affordability Has Changed Now That the Boom is Over
Libel and Slander Insurance for Bloggers
Why We Rent
Four Reasons We Spend More Than We Should

Financial Bookkeeping - Disadvantages (Part 3)

Posted on March 5th, 2008 in Money Management by Smarty

The disadvantage of tracking financial accounts and transactions is the amount of time it consumes. I have spent hours on entering transactions and keeping account balances in harmony with the financial statements. The worst part is when I take a break from keeping track of the transactions. And recently, I have that experience again. I have not updated the transactions in my bank account for a few months. Going back to adjust balances is a pain for me, because I have lots of transactions in my accounts. I do a lot of trading in my brokerage accounts and I use my credit cards frequently. It makes me wonder if it’s even worth the time to be some detailed in my tracking progress.

The worse part is trying to recollect the transactions in my cash account. I do not always have receipts to trace back and there are no electronic records. Also, the cash balance in my Money frequently does not match the amount of cash I have on hand. It drives me crazy because I like to be organized, especially with my financial accounts.

Sometimes, I want to set myself free of this trouble and quit tracking each transaction. But then I would never know where my spending goes and what my net worth is. There is one way to compromise. I can track only the ending balances of my accounts at the end each month and not the daily transactions. This way, I can still keep track of my financial status and alleviate myself from hours of data input of the detailed transactions. This is an option in the future if I lose track of all the transactions again.

By the way, I do not believe that you have religiously tracking your financial accounts to be financially successful. I have seen entrepreneurs who do not keep track of every penny of their financial accounts and are still successful. I do believe, however that you have to be aware of your financial accounts and transactions. These entrepreneurs may not care about every penny but they do make sure they are generating profits. I believe the moral of the story is that as long as your cash flow is always positive, you are on your way to success.

Related Posts:

Financial Bookkeeping - Products (Part 1)

Financial Bookkeeping - Advantages (Part 2)

Carnival of Personal Finance #142

Posted on March 4th, 2008 in News & Opinion by Smarty

The Baglady has published the latest edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance, and she is using the opportunity to bring awareness to the homeless. Throughout the Carnival, she has interspersed facts and dispelled myths about the issue. Here are the Editor’s Picks:

My article, New York City vs. Brisbane, Australia is featured on the editor’s choice.