With the economy on the brink of recession, many folks are concerned about their jobs. Will the company downsize or have temporary layoffs? Will employees be asked to forego raises or (gasp!) take pay cuts? The Wall Street Journal addresses this issue head-on and lists eight tips for recession-proofing your career. They offer some good suggestions, but here are two we especially like:
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2007 Federal Tax Law Changes
By 1.30.08
Every year, as way to make itself feel important and useful, the federal government makes modifications to the tax code. Here’s a detailed breakdown of all the changes for 2007 and how they affect your wallet, from AMT exemption amounts, to deductions for business-related mileage.
Get Tax Advice Over The Phone With FreeTaxQuestion.com
By 1.23.08
If you’re uncertain about something on your taxes, you can get free tax advice over the phone until Jan. 31, thanks to a special TurboTax promotion at FreeTaxQuestion.com. Just enter your question and name, phone, email, and best time to reach you, and an IRS enrolled tax pro will call you and help you out. If you’re worried that this is just a lead generation ploy, use a disposable email address and disposable phone number. The FiLife blog tried it and had to submit their question twice, but they got it answered and answered good. They said that TurboTax was casually mentioned among the array of options one could use to finish filing, but there was otherwise no overt product pushing.
Suing Big Companies In Small Claims Court Is Fun And Easy
By 1.21.08
Taking a big company to small claims court sounds like a big hassle but reader Bill has done it successfully three times. He says the time and effort spent on taking a company to small claims court is far less then how it long it takes to get companies to fix above-average in complexity problems. [More]
Dispute An Airline's So-Called "Weather Delay"
By 1.16.08
Unless it’s due to the weather, if there’s a flight delay or cancellation, passengers are entitled to some kind of refund, unless of course it’s due to the weather, but are flight delays as due to the weather as often as airlines say they are? And how would you go about proving otherwise? Well, as a fascinating interview posted over at airline blog Elliot.org informs us, you could always hire the services of a forensic meteorologist.
It's Time To Call The Credit Card Company When…
By 1.15.08
If you want to consolidate balances, you can ask them to waive balance transfer fees…
Get 100 Gallons Of Heating Oil For Free
By 1.12.08
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wants to give you 100 gallons of free heating oil to help survive the cold cruel capitalist winter. The hogshead of liquid warmth is available to anyone enduring a financial hardship who fills out a handy online form.
How To Never Wait On Hold With Your Credit Card Company
By 1.7.08
Reader Jamie shares a neat workaround so that he never has to wait on hold with his credit card company. He says that whenever he calls, “I do not use the 800-number on the back of the card. Instead, I use their outside-the-US instructions on the back of the card and call them collect at their regular phone number. When the credit card thinks that they are paying international collect call charges, they do NOT put you on hold – they take your call right away!”
Which Tax Records You Should Keep
By 1.7.08
Now is a good time to clean out your folders and files of unneeded paperwork, while still making sure you’re holding on to the tax records that you need to. Real Simple has a great chart that will tell you exactly what to keep and what to toss, split into whether you should toss an item every month, after one year, seven years, or keep forever. In addition, this Kiplinger article goes into the reasons why it’s important to keep some records for the specified period of time. The exercise will also help you get your papers in order for the upcoming tax season, which, as we’ve started seeing ads for tax prep software, is now upon us.
Finance Website Buxfer Lets You Store Sensitive Data On Your Own Computer
By 1.5.08
With its new Google Gears functionality, Buxfer might finally be the answer for people who want the bells and whistles of an online personal finance website (hello Mint!)—charts, pretty colors, and general infoporn goodness—without having to blindly trust an unknown company with sensitive data such as bank account or credit card numbers (goodbye Mint!). The service uses Google Gears to store account login information and credentials on your own computer, then syncs the data collected with the Buxfer servers, writes VentureBeat.
7 Things To Regularly Check On Your Car To Save Money
By 1.4.08
They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and the adage applies very well to keeping your car running right. Here’s 7 common sense things you need to be checking on your car on a regular basis to save yourself a lot of money in the long run. We found the tips in the summer 2007 issue of our USAA member magazine. They’re all pretty obvious, which is why you’ll be smacking yourself in the head if you don’t do them, so read up and make sure you’re on schedule.
By 1.4.08
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If you’re serious about keeping your personal information safe, then make sure you wipe your computer’s hard drive with something like Eraser or Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN) (both free) before handing it off to a friend, family member, or random stranger.
Confess Your Money Sins
By 1.3.08
What things are you doing with your money that make you feel guilty? Leave your confessions in the comments.
The Consumerist's Top 10 Products Of 2007!
By 12.28.07
2007 was an amazing year for consumer products and we covered them all! From the hype of the iPhone to death-flavored pet food, if you buy it, we’ve probably got an opinion about it.
FeeDisclosure.com Analyzes Mortgage Fees
By 12.24.07
One of the dangers to watch out for when buying a home are the various kinds of fees that can crop up, and comparison shopping these fees is not always easy. Now there’s a new site that gives you a reasonable baseline you can expect, specific to your area and property deal. Input your transaction, property and occupancy type, purchase price, and zipcode, and FeeDisclosure.com will tell what various fees you can expect in getting your mortgage. Much-needed transparency for a notoriously murky and shark-infested industry.
Remove Pen Marks From Dolls With Acne Medications
By 12.20.07
Dirty dolls? Acne medication + sunlight = awesomely removing pen marks from dolls, blogs Baby Toolkit. Acne meds are diluted benzoyl peroxide. This reacts with the UVs in sunlight to release oxidizing agents that dissolve the pen marks, without bleaching the doll or removing paint. Instead of tossing out that dirty doll, you can clean it up.
Get Around Delays By Bringing Airline's Timetable To The Airport
By 12.18.07
Upgrade: Travel Better has five awesome flying tips that could come in handy during the busy holiday travel season, or really, any time. We like this one in particular:
Carry the airline’s timetable, or a list of alternate flights to your destination, which can be downloaded or printed from any airline’s website. This is useful when you try for a rebooking or want to go standby. Let’s say flights are delayed two hours across the board. The previous flight might still be waiting to push back from the gate. Check the timetable you brought with you and make a beeline for that earlier flight. Try to stand by and get out early, instead of waiting for hours for your scheduled itinerary.
What a good idea! Mark says that with this tip you should also keep alternate routes in mind, so if you’re scheduled to go to LA through Chicago, it doesn’t mean you can’t get to LA by passing through Dallas. With the rise in airline delays and cancellations and overbookings, this is a tip definitely worth remembering.
Get $25 From The Credit Card Companies
By 12.10.07
You may be entitled to a cash prize if you had a Visa, MasterCard, or Diner’s Club Cards during any time between February 1 1996 and November 8 2006. A successful class action lawsuit contended that credit card companies overcharged customers for foreign transactions and didn’t disclose the fees well enough. You can apply for a straight $25 refund, 1% of estimated foreign transactions, or annual estimation refund of 1-3% of foreign transactions for which you have records . Claim your moneys by filling out forms that were mailed to you, going to ccfsettlement.com, or calling 1-800-945-9890. It is not is necessary to have actually conducted foreign transactions to claim the money.
