Some of our favorite financial blogs have written articles justifying their departures from their normal jobs in favor of writing online. Although not everyone can blog (it's like, really hard), their advice is useful for those considering a different career, especially one that involves working from home. Trent at The Simple Dollar claims quitting his job has saved him $8,000 a year in gas, food, and daycare costs, among others.

Get Rich Slowly discusses the concept of "mini-retirements": a period of several months or a year living somewhere else, doing something else. Get Rich Slowly interviews Tim Ferriss, author of "The 4-Hour Workweek," for more information.

Going back to school during a period of economic downturn is a common suggestion, but if you want to make yourself more marketable without taking out more loans or spending money on classes, consider other ways of investing in yourself. Web Worker Daily advises readers to build their online persona; a strong online presence, created through a personal website or other means, "is one of the best ways to attract new job and business opportunities your way."

Unemployment is also a good opportunity to begin exploring and building alternative income streams—sources of income other than a paycheck from your job. Moolanomy lists over forty ideas and links to other lists for those looking to supplement, or replace, their employment income.

(Photo: Getty)

Two readers have forwarded us a second email sent out by Citibank today, but it's not another vaguely worded PR blast from the CEO. Instead, this one announces that Citibank is adopting the zero-tolerance approach to late payments favored by the credit card industry—miss a payment due date and you'll lose any interest rate discount(s) you currently enjoy.

Sean writes,

Just got this email from Citi's student loan business. Yes, I carry my loans with Citibank, but I consolidated when the interest rate was at rock bottom in spring of 2004. 3% baby!

Looks like if you post your payment one day late, Citibank will terminate any interest-rate deductions you have earned. I guess this is one of the "bold steps" Vikram is taking to shore up profits.

Anyone with loans with Citibank better make damn well sure they pay on time, otherwise it can cost them big time.

Dear Valued Student Loan Customer,   We are writing to inform you about important changes to the terms of your loan. To retain your borrower benefits with us, you must make and have your payments posted to your account no later than the scheduled due date. Any payment posted after the due date will result in the termination of such benefit. Interest rate reductions and other benefits do not apply during periods of deferment and/or forbearance and automatically terminate for payments returned for insufficient funds, loan delinquency, default, and/or the purchase of your loan by a guarantor.

Gosh, Citibank, we were kinda hoping your bold steps would be a bit more consumer friendly, you know?

(Thanks to Sean and Eric!)
(Photo: ElvertBarnes)

Other tips are a little more traditional, like have your kid write down everything he spends money on, or save his allowance for a special purchase, or—and this is probably the biggest stumbling block—lead by example:

Parents can help with the basics, but a lot of them also lack financial education, Levine said. She added that where parents can be very helpful is in giving their kids their first lesson about money.
 
There are concerns that parents aren't setting a good example for kids. The national savings rate has declined since 2001.
 
"Today's kids, just like their parents, are coming up in a spending culture," Levine said.
 
The most important thing for a parent is to make sure that their child's first savings experience is a successful one, she said. Too many people try to get their kids to save for things that are too far into the future or too big. For a young child, saving for next year is an eternity, she said. If the goal is intangible, the money will seem lost to the child.

As for the 1.5% loan origination fee, students will no longer enjoy having that waived by Sallie Mae. The magazine says you should now start shopping around for lenders who are still willing to pay them (they suggest J.P. Morgan Chase).

"Sallie Mae Halts Student-Loan Consolidation" [SmartMoney]
(Photo: Getty)

"We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs," AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio, where the company's headquarters is located.

So far, only around 1,400 jobs have been returned to the United States of 5,000, a target it set in 2006, the company said, adding that it maintains the target.

Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50 percent.

"If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down," he said.

Gone are the days when AT&T and other U.S. companies had to hire locally, he said.

"We're able to do new product engineering in Bangalore as easily as we're able to do it in Austin, Texas," he said, referring to the Indian city where many international companies have "outsourced" technical and customer support workers.

"I know you don't like hearing that, but that's the way it is," he said.

AT&T CEO says hard to find skilled U.S. workers [Yahoo!] (Thanks, Cannon!)

Reports CNN, "He says he didn't realize his candy purchase was against the rules — although he did notice the student selling the Skittles on February 26 was being secretive."

New Haven sounds sort of like that little town in Footloose, only against candy instead of dancing. Also, candy will make you chubby and give you Ren and Stimpy teeth, whereas we know from television that dancing will bring you fame and make you live forever.

(Thanks to MissBrooke!)

"Student suspended for buying Skittles at school" [CNN]

"National Consumer Protection Week" [consumer.gov]

RELATED
"Presidential Proclamation: It's Consumer Protection Week"

The South Carolina Board of Education approved the plan last month, and appears to be moving forward with it.

"I never thought [advertising inside school buses] was a good idea to start with," said Donald Tudor, South Carolina's DOE School Transportation Director, "but when you run a state program and districts request this be set in motion, you do it so they can make a choice. Ultimately, I couldn't think of a good reason why they shouldn't have the option."

For its part, SAC promises the ads will be age-appropriate, promote a healthy and productive life, and are directly approved by district appointed personnel. Ads sold thus far are from local businesses.

"School Buses Latest Victim of Ad Creep" [BrandWeek]
(Photo: Getty)

Source: "A Report Card on the Nation: Survey of the States" [National Council on Economic Education]

We know a lot of you really, really, really hate SallieMae, but remember not to drink and drive when celebrating other people's misfortunes, mmk? [CNNMoney]

Tennessee has "one of the highest numbers of bankruptcy filings in the nation," and its students scored lower than the national average on a personal finance test (not that the national average—38%—was anything to be proud of):

Scores of Tennessee high schools already offer a personal finance course as an elective. But a 2006 survey by JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy shows that only 29.8 percent of Tennessee students who took a personal finance test passed it. The test covered topics from money management to savings and debt. Nationally, 38 percent of students who took the test passed it.

"State pushes money literacy" [The Tennessean]

RELATED
"Report Card - Survey of the States: Economic, Personal Finance, and Entrepreneurship Education in Our Nation's Schools in 2007" [NCEE]
(Photo: Getty)

You can take the deduction regardless of whether you itemize. You may even qualify to take the write-off yourself if your parents paid the interest on a loan for which you were legally liable (your parents, however, cannot claim the deduction if they weren't liable for the loan).

"Deducting Student-Loan Interest" [Kiplinger]

RELATED
"Student Loan Interest Deduction" [IRS]
(Photo: Getty)

It said the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 "could possibly eliminate the profitability of new FFELP (Federal Family Education Loan Program) loan originations, while increasing our risk sharing from our FFELP loan portfolio."

The year 2008 looks much bleaker for Sallie May after its earnings forecast was lowered by more than 13 percent. That is a huge cut in earnings and the blame goes to a new law in effect which requires subsidies of the federal government to have more cash on hand to counterbalance defaulted loans.

Stock prices had already been falling since last July, so the cut in the forecasted earnings did nothing to help this student loan company. The falling prices initially began when a buyout of $25 million worth of stock fell through last July.

"Avoid Fraud" video [YouTube]
Official "Avoid Fraud" website [Freddie Mac]

RELATED
"Online video helps troubled borrowers spot fraud" [Reuters]

From the survey, which was distributed to 1,145 Ohio high schools, Loibl found that most personal finance curricula was taught by family and consumer science teachers (38 percent) or business education teachers (33 percent). Social studies teachers (20 percent) also often taught the subject. Teaching it to a lesser degree were math, science, technology, and agricultural science teachers (6 percent total), and other teachers, including English and fine arts (3 percent).

Not surprisingly, different teachers tended to focus on different personal finance topics in the classroom, Loibl found. Family and consumer sciences teachers were more likely to teach credit, budgeting, and financial goal-setting, while business teachers were more likely to focus on tax topics, credit and insurance and social studies teachers were more likely to teach about investments, taxes, and limited-resources topics.

The survey also quizzed the teachers on their own knowledge of personal finance topics, such as when is the best time to transfer money into a long-term bond fund, and what is the average credit score in the United States. Only two of the respondents answered all nine questions correctly. Only three questions were answered correctly by more than half of the teachers. Teachers from different disciplines had different strengths. For example, business education teachers (who earned the highest scores, overall) were more likely to know that negative financial information can stay on a person's credit report for seven to 10 years, while social studies teachers were more likely to know the best average returns over the last 20 years have been generated by stocks in comparison with other investment options.

"Study examines how Ohio high schools teach personal finance" [North Texas e-News]

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"'Checkbook Math' Being Phased Out Of High Schools"
Quicklink: Ohio mandates personal finance education in high school

The problem, writes the Washington Post, is that since higher math classes and "consumer math" classes teach very different skill sets, many students graduate high school competent in higher math but unfamiliar with the sort of basic knowledge used to manage bank accounts, loans, and investments.

"This is actually the one class I think is realistic toward becoming an adult," said Rountree, 17. "We learn how to balance checkbooks, which is a life need. We've learned how to purchase a car on kelleybluebook.com. Consumer math is, I think, the one class that has actually helped me."

Fennell, of the math teachers council, believes high schools should retool consumer math as a more rigorous course, with exercises rooted in algebra rather than arithmetic, exploring such topics as the complexities of a cellphone plan and the spiraling debt engendered by a credit card.

They range from an urban college like the Cooper Union in New York's East Village to Deep Springs College, a remote, all-male school deep in the California desert. Many are specialized institutions, often focusing on engineering, such as the F.W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Mass.; or on music, like the Curtis Institute in Pennsylvania. A handful—the College of the Ozarks or Berea College in Kentucky—have mandatory work-study programs. Perhaps the most well-known of them is the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., which offers free college tuition in exchange for five years of service after graduation.

RELATED
Slideshow of tuition-free colleges [BusinessWeek]
(Photo: BusinessWeek)

(Photo: Getty)

Rounding out the top five are the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Harvard Business School, and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

"The Best Full-Time MBAs" [BusinessWeek]

The idea, Ms. Cabral says, is to "reach people at teachable moments in their lives" by finding multiple ways to get educational messaging out in the public space.

"Too many kids are graduating high school, for example, not knowing what a budget is, how to balance a checkbook, what a credit card is, what an interest rate is, or how compound interest works... If the treasury tries to do this by itself, it will not be successful, but if you do this in partnership with all the other segments of society, you're likely to be very successful and in the end the public and the entire country is better off."

"Financial education from soap operas?" [Marketplace] (thanks to Granolaheadesq!)

RELATED
mymoney.gov [U.S. Treasury]
(Photo: Getty)

• Credit cards are not free money
• The card issuer charges interest.
• Don't max out your credit. "Hold your charges to 25% of your credit limit, or even less" if you want to max out your credit score.
• Pay your bills on time to avoid screwing up your credit rating.
• Blots on your credit record can affect your ability to get a job, rent an apartment, buy a car or get a cell phone, which is why the previous bullet point is so important.
• Pay your bill in full each month, if you can, and always pay more than the minimum.

"What Teens Need to Know About Credit" [Kiplinger]

RELATED
"Jumpstart's Reality Check" [Jumpstart Coalition]
"College Credit for Life" DVD [National Foundation for Credit Counseling] (last item on page)
(Photo: Getty)

In the meantime, you can secretly substitute the real candy with carob and bouillon cubes. Or better yet, put on their Halloween costumes and steal the money back from them and eat all the candy, so you can teach them about the dangers of identity theft.

"Use Halloween to Teach Kids Money Lessons" [Grad Money Matters]

From the NYT:

Tuition and other costs, not including room and board, rose to $6,185 at public four-year colleges this year, up 6.6 percent from last year, while tuition at private colleges hit $23,712, an increase of 6.3 percent. At public two-year institutions, average tuition and fees rose 4.2 percent to $2,361.

Last year, tuition and fees at public institution rose by 5.7 percent; at private ones, by 6.3 percent and at public two-year institutions, by 3.8 percent.

"The average price of college is continuing to rise more rapidly than the consumer price index, more rapidly than prices in the economy," Sandy Baum, a co-author of the report who is a senior policy analyst for the College Board and a professor at Skidmore College, told reporters at a news conference this morning. She added that the prices "are probably higher than most of us want them to be."

The numbers seem to indicate that families are making up the difference by taking out more loans, with private loans continuing to be the fastest growing form of borrowing.

College Costs Rising at Double the Inflation Rate [NYT]
(Photo:nautical2k)

(Photo: Getty)

The Crimson speculates that the Coop may be reacting this way because of Crimsonreading.org, an online database that lets students search for the lowest prices by using ISBN. Harvard's Undergraduate Council President says he's spoken with an intellectual property lawyer and confirms that the ISBN-ownership claim is hogwash.

We understand taking severe measures to protect your business against cost-cutting competitors—especially when they have a business model that potentially gives them the upper hand against your traditional brick-and-mortar establishment. But we think it's pretty hilarious to invent copyright law. And we wonder, do they own the ISBNs of all books, or just the ones in their inventory? Does the publisher have any ISBN ownership rights? Maybe we should create some sort of international, standardized book numbering system so we can replace this proprietary one.

Anyway, so yeah, don't use ISBNs without writing to the Coop first and asking for permission.

"Coop Discourages Notetaking in Bookstore" [The Harvard Crimson, submitted by Joe—thanks, Joe!)

"The start of the school year is a good time to remind parents, students and teachers to save all receipts related to tax-advantaged education expenses," said IRS Acting Commissioner Linda Stiff. "Good recordkeeping makes sense because it can help avoid missing a deduction or credit at tax time."

We'd just like to point out the awesomeness of someone called "Stiff" running the IRS.

Anyhow, to learn more about education related tax deductions and credits, check out IRS publication 970. No, it's not the most awesomely compelling literature you'll ever read, but it might save you some money.

Tax Benefits For Education (PDF) [IRS]
(Photo:puroticorico)

Sigh. Consumer Reports says Internet scams have cost American consumers $7 billion dollars since 2005. According to Consumer Reports, between spam, spyware, phishing, and viruses—you have a 1 in 4 chance of becoming a "cybervictim."

Please: Tell a friend! Internet scams exist—and we've heard rumors that knowing is half the battle.

Half of Americans clueless about online threats [Ars Technica]
U.S. CONSUMERS LOSE MORE THAN $7 BILLION TO ONLINE THREATS, CONSUMER REPORTS SURVEY FINDS [Consumer Reports]
(Photo:Getty)

If you haven't learned these yourself, you might want to give them a once over before you start preaching to junior.

Bankrate's 4 Lessons:

• Differentiate between needs and wants
  
• Share the secrets of saving
  
• Instill smart spending habits
  
• Keep out of credit quicksand
  

4 fiscal lessons you need to teach your kids [Bankrate]
(Photo:pdxsurreal)

The cost of textbooks is rising faster than inflation and Hammond doesn't feel right forcing his students to purchase ever more expensive books on top of their already expensive tuition and fees.

"I think it's immoral because of the cost of it," Hammond told the Central Utah Daily Herald.

Instead of textbooks, Hammond has been assigning journal articles and other reading materials that his students can check out from the library or download from the internet, a practice which, if every one of their professors did it, would save students (on average) $900 a year.

It took Hammond a year to rewrite his own curriculum, after throwing out all his old textbooks. "It was worth it in the long run," Hammond said.

We always appreciated professors who did this when we were in college. At least at our college, providing xeroxed readings from various sources via downloadable PDFs instead of multiple textbooks was common. Often we could get away with sharing the textbook with a friend or using the copy on reserve at the library.

Hooray for professors who understand that college is expensive!

UVSC prof. quits books [Daily Herald] (Thanks, Octavia!)
(Photo:MARIO RUIZ/Daily Herald)

Concerned that guidance offered to students is tainted by conflicts of interests, Cuomo's office asks schools to disclose if there are financial relationships with lenders and if any favors were offered to individual financial aid officers.

"My office is seeking to ensure that students are being steered toward lenders offering the most competitive rates, not those who offer the best perks to schools or financial aid administrators," Cuomo said in a statement.

"When making recommendations on how to make tuition more affordable, there must be absolutely no conflict of interest at the expense of students and their families," he said.

Spokesman for Sallie Mae and Nelnet separately said their companies are cooperating with Cuomo's office.

New York expands student lending probe [Yahoo!]

Web Sites Challenge the Textbook Goliaths [Business Week]
About Us [Chegg]

But get this. When Cassi mentions she can't afford $3750, being an MIT student already up to her eyeballs in a lifetime's worth of debt, the RIAA helpfully countered: So? Drop out of school so you can afford it.

We have no idea if Cassi's guilty or not. Hell, she probably is — she's a college student, after all. But leaving aside the martian moon man fallacy the RIAA always bases their extortionism upon — namely, that copyright infringement equals theft, and that downloaded mp3s equals lost money at the street rate of the price of the album, neither of which is true — the RIAA is suggesting that a fair punishment for a purloined Evanescence album is only to give up your dreams, aspirations, career and future. Or as Cassi put it:

The Recording Industry of America would rather see America's youth deprived of higher education, forever marring their ability to contribute personally and financially to society — including the arts — so that they may crucify us as examples to our peers. To say nothing of wrecking our lives in the process. I finally understand what the RIAA meant when they told me "stealing music is not a victimless crime" — the victims hang for all to see.

Run Over by the RIAA, Don't Tap the Glass [The Tech]