finances

(The.Comedian)

American Express Raises Interest Rates In Effort To Be Just Like Other Credit Cards

The bad news continues to mount for American Express customers, as the company announced plans Wednesday to raise the annual interest rates on a number of consumer credit cards. [More]

5 Ways Couples Can Avoid Disastrous Money Mistakes

5 Ways Couples Can Avoid Disastrous Money Mistakes

Dealing with finances is one of the least fun aspects of being an adult. Dealing with finances when you’re in a committed relationship is even less enjoyable. Of course you love your spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, fiancé, or whatever, but you don’t have to love the way they handle money. Seamlessly transitioning to a ‘we’ financial situation doesn’t have to be full of mistakes or a completely painful situation. [More]

(Jeff Dailey)

Fish, Chocolate Included In Price-Fixing Crackdown Of $4.2 Billion Last Year

Ever heard of price-fixing chocolate? How about fish or rubber shoes? Those are just a few of the price-fixing schemes found by competition authorities in a record-breaking year of anti-trust abuse. [More]

3 Steps To A Financially Successful 2012

3 Steps To A Financially Successful 2012

If you’ve decided 2012 will be the year you get your finances in order, you’ll need to take concrete steps toward making that goal a reality. It takes sound, consistent choices to chug along in the right direction. [More]

Rich Don't Feel Wealthy Unless They Have $7.5 Million

Rich Don't Feel Wealthy Unless They Have $7.5 Million

While anyone with $1 million in the bank is technically a millionaire, it apparently takes a lot more money than that for the merely rich to feel truly wealthy. According to a survey of the ultra-rich by Fidelity Investments, the real benchmark for being wealthy is $7.5 million. [More]

Fighting About Money Frequently Increases Risk Of Divorce

Fighting About Money Frequently Increases Risk Of Divorce

You already know that it’s not healthy to fight about money all the time, but it might be a bigger risk factor for divorce than you think. A 2009 University of Virginia study found that couples who argue about finances every a week are 30% more likely to divorce than those who argue less frequently. In addition, a couple that marries with no assets are 70% more likely to divorce in three years than a couple bringing $10k in assets into the union. [More]

Do You Mind If Mint Sells Data Based On Your Transactions?

Do You Mind If Mint Sells Data Based On Your Transactions?

Financial blogger Felix Salmon wants to know why there isn’t regulatory oversight of Mint and other financial management websites, especially if they’re going to sell data created from their users’ transaction histories. [More]

Stay On Budget By Maintaining One Indulgence

Stay On Budget By Maintaining One Indulgence

Adam Baker at Get Rich Slowly suggests you’ll be able to better stick to a budget if you pick one non-essential hobby or interest instead of cutting them all out. The key to figuring out whether or not it’s something worth “wasting” money on is to identify any hidden benefits, and then to make sure there aren’t hidden drawbacks. [More]

Prosper.com May Be Riskier Than You Thought

Prosper.com May Be Riskier Than You Thought

The person-to-person loan website Prosper.com has been talked about in mostly positive ways since it launched a few years ago. Mark Gimein at Slate’s The Big Money says it’s a lot less awesome than you’ve been led to believe. In fact, he says it’s just a microcosm of what happened in the real financial world: “Loans to unqualified borrowers; reliance on mathematical models that turn out to be a lot less useful than they seemed; failed hopes that high interest rates could make subprime loans profitable; sky high default rates [of 39%]—Prosper has it all.” [More]

How To Make Sure Your Marriage Isn't Costing You Money

How To Make Sure Your Marriage Isn't Costing You Money

Liz Davidson at Forbes has an article about ways you and your spouse can fine-tune spending and investment patterns so that your marriage isn’t a financial drain. It’s easy enough to compare financial health before marriage (although lots of couples don’t do it, she notes), but even if your net income increases, your net worth could flatline or drop: [More]

What You Need To Know About Today's Unemployment Benefits Extension

What You Need To Know About Today's Unemployment Benefits Extension

If you’re still struggling to find a job in the current economy, you’ll be happy to know that this morning President Obama is expected to sign legislation to extend benefits for few more months. The New York Times has more info on how the extension will work, and who qualifies for it.

Quicken Online To Be Shut Down Next Year, Accounts Merged With Mint

Quicken Online To Be Shut Down Next Year, Accounts Merged With Mint

When news broke back in September that Intuit, the company behind Quicken, was buying personal finance website Mint, everyone wondered how the two services would co-exist. The worst case scenario was that Mint would be absorbed somehow into Intuit’s in-house competitor, Quicken Online. Thankfully, it looks like the opposite will happen.

Madoff Victims Receive First Repayment Of $534 Million

Madoff Victims Receive First Repayment Of $534 Million

The trustee who’s liquidating Bernie Madoff’s firm has released $534.2 million in repayments to some of his victims, reports Bloomberg. The half-billion is a drop in the bucket of total verified losses, which are now more than $21 billion. But hey, those 1,558 victims whose claims were approved for this partial payout are probaby pretty happy—which is more than you can say for the 2,500+ Madoff customers who may be sued to return fake profits.

4 Money Conversations You Should Have Before You Commit

4 Money Conversations You Should Have Before You Commit

Before you tie your destiny and your credit rating to the person you love, there are some decidedly un-romantic conversations that you need to have in order to prevent discord and catastrophe later in life.

Am I Responsible For My Fiancée's Prior Debt?

Am I Responsible For My Fiancée's Prior Debt?

A reader wants to know whether or not he’s going to be held responsible for his fiancée’s old, bad debt now that they’re getting married. Because we went to Google Lawyer University just now, we’re happy to try to help.

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency And You

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency And You

Legislation to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) is making its way through Congress. Interested parties have spoken out (“It sucks!” “It’s awesome!“). Now the White House wants to know what you think.

Consumer Financial Protection Agency Gets Watered Down

Consumer Financial Protection Agency Gets Watered Down

There’s been so much resistance to the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency that Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has proposed a less powerful version of the agency in an attempt to get it passed. Here’s what’s changed:

Samsonite Files For Bankruptcy

Samsonite Files For Bankruptcy

Yesterday, a gorilla* stormed through the offices of Samsonite Corp, the “world’s top luggage maker,” and jumped up and down on their financial status. Their retail unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will close approximately half of their 173 stores.