James Turk has posted a new update over at GoldMoney. If you don’t keep up with his updates regularly, you should. You can sign up by email to be notified of new alerts. He usually releases one every two weeks, unless something major happens in the meantime.

This time, he’s posted a shocking chart that reveals the extent of the radically new terrain in which the US banking system is currently treading. Not trying to be dramatic here, but the graph speaks for itself.

I read alot about how to stay protected in many economic environments - inflationary, deflationary, stagflationary, recession, currency collapse, etc. I often think I’ll be okay because of how diversified I am. We can’t always predict what type of market we’re really headed into. Experts and analysts don’t agree. So I take their arguments, blend them together, and wonder, if these were ALL true, what do I need to do to protect and grow my wealth? That’s the kind of solution I’m aiming for.

But once in a while, I read or hear or realize some new aspect of the picture that might yet topple all my expectations and predictions. Maybe I won’t be protected from a 1930’s-style Depression after all. In the electronic age, wealth can disappear that much more quickly.

This chart is one of those things that makes me think the situation might be something altogether more unexpected and unpredictable than forecasted. What can we do? Pay attention. Stay informed. Stay diversified. Keep an eye out on all of these updates as much as possible. Make back-up plans. Have different kinds of savings - some on paper, some in other forms.

What about you? What’s your solution to protecting your wealth? Who knows what’s really coming. Garth Turner, a Canadian MP and financial reporter, noted recently that now they’re expecting another 90 banks in the U.S. to collapse. Most of these might not ever be reported.

Here’s a simple tip that I learned from Alan Corey in his book A Million Bucks by 30: How to Overcome a Crap Job, Stingy Parents, and a Useless Degree to Become a Millionaire Before (or After) Turning Thirty (which is an amazing read - I reviewed the book in an earlier post here).

You can call your credit card company every six months and ask to have your interest rate lowered. Tell them that you’ve found another card with a lower rate and that you’re thinking about transferring your balance over in order to better manage your debt. But emphasize that you’d like to stay with your current lender if they can give you a better deal, or at least substantially lower your rate.

If You’ve Missed Payments, They’ll Raise your Rate Behind Your Back

This is another dimension to credit cards that I only recently learned about. I was off in Europe for a couple of months and missed a payment, then had to rely on my other credit card and maxed that out and missed a payment (you don’t want to have to rely on cards that much on vacation, trust me - Europe requires ALOT of money - always more than you think - and then double that if you’re going to Switzerland. And it is NO FUN to be on vacation and not have enough of it.). After I got back, I had to spend 60% of my income just to get the cards back down to a reasonable level. What I didn’t know, until 6 months later when I tried this trick, is that VISA had jacked up my interest rate from 18.99% to 23.5% as a result of the missed payment. I had actually been paying 23% interest for 6 months without knowing it. Stupid.

An Annual Fee Can Save You $$ if it Comes With A Lower Interest Rate

I have always avoided cards with annual fees - what sounds worse than that? But in this case, the customer service representative offered me a card with a $25.00 annual fee and it came with a variable interest rate. The rate averages around 12% right now for me. Even combined with the one-time $25 fee, I am saving much more - about 50% than I was paying in interest previously. I might not stay with this particular credit package, but it was the best I could come up with on the phone at the time. I might try calling back again in six months to see what they can offer me then. I should note, too, that I wasn’t interested in switching my balance to one of those 0% for 6 months cards. I wouldn’t have been able to pay it all off by then anyway, and in any case, once the regular rate kicks in, it’s still a whopping 18.99%.

What I learned from Corey is that you can do this every six months. It worked for him, and me - it can work for you too. Do you have any similar credit card tricks to share? (I guess it’s not really a trick: it’s a simple matter of capitalist competition in the lender’s market).