European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 29, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 o stars and stripes thursday March 29 2qq7 your Money study deems 53 the age of reason on Money matters by David Wessel the Wall Street journal baseball players Are said to Peak in their late 20s chess play ers in their mid30s theoretical economists in their mid40s but in Ordinary life theres an obvious tension Between sheer smarts often seen in the supple minds of the Young and experience which comes Only with age which one is More valuable in making Persona finance Deci Sions a quartet of economists think they have found an answer in looking at which Consumers get stuck paying those Pesky cred i card fees the economists noticed a puzzling pattern younger and older Consumers were More Likely than others to get hit with easily avoided fees so the economists expanded their inquiry to Loans and other products and sifted through records of tens of thou Sands of Consumers they found that Middle aged adults tend to borrow at lower in Terest rates and pay fewer fees than younger and older adults the age at which Consumers Are least Likely to make financial mis takes a few months past their 53rd birthday the economists Call it the age of reason full disclosure i turned 53 a month ago the Evi Dence is circumstantial but the same pattern is varying degrees to be several Dif Ferent financial products so its hard to dismiss and the research ers Are no slouches David Laibson of Harvard 40 years Xavier Gadaix of the Massachusetts Institute of technology and Princeton John c Driscoll of the Feder Al Reserve Board 37 and Sumit Agarwal of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago with Access to records on 75000 Home equity Loans made in 2002 by a Large financial institution that they agreed not to identify the economists compared borrowers who were otherwise similar and found that younger and older Bor rowers paid interest rates that averaged a full percentage Point More than borrowers in their late 40s and Early 50s and it int be cause the Loans to Young and old Are riskier they Arent then the economists looked closely at Home equity lines of credit for which borrowers were asked to estimate the value of their Home the Bank charged More if the loan Ovalue ratio was higher the Bank checked the value of the House independently if the Borrower overestimated the value of the that the loan was Bank moved the buyer to a  loan but if the Borrower underestimated the value of a House a the Bank didst generally direct the Borrower to a cheaper loan Wise Consumers made the switch to a Loprate loan anyhow As most people did fewer than 10 percent of borrowers in their 40s and 50s made the mistake of pay ing More than they had to for their mondays Market summary indexes 52 High Low name last net Chol Ltd chg chg 52wk chg 1279593 1068332 Dow Jones industrials 1246907 1134 521142 413472 Dow Jones transportation 490915 6412 50199 38097 Dow Jones utilities 50281 946362 770811 nose composite 934136 217989 180065 amex Index 216279 253142 201278 Nash a composite 245563 146157 121929 500 143750 87089 71053 85528 40 83001 66858 Russell 2000 80894 57 1482876 1224990 do Wilshire 5000 1456365 nose most Active name or Mose last chg Bostons i Motorola Gerbec Pfizer Exxon by Psi log forum Hal Lintn s tvs care time am 332953 327614 291052 281294 273337 273248 269479 267137 263847 260129 1422 1791 3600 2567 7547 1018 787 3137 3462 2018 09 02 amex most Active name last 10 05 07 Nash a chg Spur 1105528 ishr2k nya 427240 up engy 187229 spend 166566 Prusha Rqn 121836 oils vat 84397 Semi her 78668 do Madiam 78645 Oil Sands in 44777 Goldstro 43842 14320 8002 6064 3602 5250 14735 3426 12436 345 456 19 22 18 27 10 33 15 most Active or More name last chg Nash loot Sun Micro a Mai Microsoft Cisco Intel Deal Nulf Apple inc Oracle Ebay 1044104 558780 530750 441817 434215 374285 336283 302345 301796 212203 622 249 28j2 2634 1929 2362 9585 18j9 3322 key defense stocks Valliant Armor computer general general Harris Allied 13 Lockheed Rockwell Seq a Texas text Ron United key Mutual chg Fidelity invest Fidelity invest Fidelity spartan Putnam funds a Erlna Amer Century inv Fidelity invest Fidelity invest Fidelity invest aim investments a const Frnk a aim investments a Charta Fidelity advisor t Fidelity advisor t Putnam funds a Globe qty Fidelity advisor t lord Abbett a of Evita Dws Scudder cd s Putnam funds a gig a Home equity lines but 70 percent of the 20somethings did and roughly 30 percent of the 70some things those who erred paid an in Terest rate about 125 percentage Points higher on average than they could have gotten that works out to an extra a year in pay ments on a credit line the pattern also holds for those who figure out How Best to take advantage of a credit card that offers a Low teaser interest rate for six to nine months after a customer trans fers a balance the catch pay ments on the new card go first to Ward paying Down Lewinter Estrate balances not toward High Erin Terest debt incurred on new purchaser the trick Transfer a balance but use the old card for new purchases in cracking that Puzzle performance peaked around age 46 the economists have a Hunch As to Why this might be cognitive ability deteriorates steadily begin Ning at age 20 they say citing psychological research that decline is partially offset by the savvy that grows with experience the two lines Cross in Middle age they hypothesize this is significant because the us and other countries Are mov ing away from Nonee Diode Cid anything pension and Retiree healthcare plans to those that re quire the elderly to pick among competing health plans or to manage retire men savings plans and such changes rely heavily on the Finan Cial sophistication of older people Exchange rates military rates japanese yen March South korean won March euro costs March Dollar buys March British Pound March commercial rates Bahrain British Canada China Denmark Egypt Hong Kong Hungary Israel Japan Kuwait Norway Philippines Poland saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey new military Exchange rates Are those available to customers at military Bank ing facilities in the country of issuance for Japan South Korea Germany the Netherlands and the United kingdom for no local currency Exchange rates in purchasing British pounds in Germa Check with your local military Bank ing facility commercial rates Are inter Bank rates provided for reference when buying currency All figures Are foreign currencies to one Dollar except for the British Pound which is represented in dollars Pound and the euro which is dollars euro precious metals new York merc close Gold Silver interest rates prime rate825 discount rate625 Federal funds Market rate 525 3month bill507 30year bond480 sources the associated press Bank of America Jim Gehrz Minneapolis Star certified Public accountant Bruce Bergley works on income taxes As client Angela Christen looks on at Bergley Fridley Minn office this month Bergley was doing taxes for Christen and her husband Curt Theis a National guardsman who is currently deployed in Iraq go tax benefits Factor in nicely military families encouraged to find out about new rules before filing 06 returns by Kara Mcguire Minneapolis Star Tribune Minneapolis Curt Theis typically prepares his family tax return but when the Minnesota army National guard sergeant was deployed to Iraq in March 2006 his wife Angela Christen decided that doing her family taxes just want in the cards she had enough to do taking care of her household and her three Young sons besides a Batch of tax benefits for military members made an Al ready complicated tax code even tougher to crack but those benefits can improve the financial situation of Many service members including reservists for whom prolonged Active duty is a Strain on the Wallet fortunately free tax prepare Tion help abounds from free tax consulting through the depart ment of defens provided Mili tary on source  source com to free online filing through the irs Weir site on a recent brisk saturday afternoon Christen sat in certified Public accountant Bruce Berg Leys office in Fridley Minn going Over her family tax forms Bergley has prepared a few ser Vic member returns Over the years free of charge recent tax changes at the Feder Al level have made it possible for soldiers to tap certain retirement plans without paying an Early distribution penalty and to repay those funds later the hero act Al lows military members to use tax free combat zone pay to con tribute to individual retirement accounts they even can go Back to 2004 and 2005 and make contributions if they qualify and have until mid2009 to find the Money to save Ruth Ann Michnay a spa in Oakdale Minn has a daughter serving in Europe after a tour in Iraq and a Soninlaw in South Korea preparing their returns and the returns of other service members made her realize just How Valu Able the tax Breaks can be for example one Soldier who earned last year was taxed on Only of it but then again he put his life at risk for it she said because her 25yearold Daugh ters taxable income is so Low she qualified for whats sometimes called the savers credit which matches some of the Money she saves for retirement the tax benefits have changed christens and Theis tax Bill dramatically in the past the family has owed the government Money in april for 2006 the family will receive a combined refund of roughly the bulk of the refund on the Federal Side relates to Federal credits that they  have had under the nor Mal circumstances Bergley said Christen plans to split the Money among savings Home improvements and a vacation when the family reunites