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Trouble Saving Money? Harness Robots!
By 2.16.09
Sometimes when people have trouble saving at least 10% of their income on a regular basis, it’s because it hurts too much. After you pay the bills, set aside money for groceries, booze and guns, it seems you don’t have enough left over to save with. So, what you can do is exploit “out of sight, out of mind,”
10 Tax Deductions For Freelancers
By 2.16.09
Freelance Switch has 10 deductions freelancers can take. For instance, if you have a cellphone as a second line and primarily use it for business, deduct it. Work from home? There’s the complex but worth it home-office deduction. The “research” category is very useful, especially for journalists and writers. Just about any piece of entertainment can go in there. Hey, you got to keep in touch with the zeitgeist, right?’
Calculate How Long Till Your Portfolio Recovers
By 2.16.09
How long will it take your portfolio to recover from this financial Armageddon? NYT’s cool calculator tells me it’s going to take about three years. Check it, just punch in how much your portfolio was worth at its peak, its current value, how much you contribute on a regular basis, and play with the annual return. It generates a nice Times-quality graph of how long it’s going to take you to get it all back, and what the outlook is for years to come. Good way of putting the whole shebang in perspective.
Four Unexpected Situations Where Bad Credit Hurts
By 2.15.09
If you aren’t planning on getting a big loan in the next couple of years, you probably shouldn’t be worried about your credit score right? Wrong.
Personal Finance Roundup
By 2.12.09
Is It Tax Deductible [Kiplinger] “Ten questions to see if you can tell what write-offs are legit and which ones won’t pass muster with the tax man.”
By 2.10.09
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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has announced a new website, financialstability.gov, to increase transparency in the financial stability program.
VantageScore And PlusScore Are Garbage Credit Scores
By 2.9.09
Would you buy a credit score that lenders don’t even use? Check it, when Consumer Reports went over the the fine print, Experian’s “VantageScore” says that it’s “for educational purposes only.” And their “PLUSscore” is “not currently sold to lenders.” What good does that do you? None. It’s just something for them to market and make money money off people who don’t know any better.
Battle Bank Fees
By 2.7.09
Banks love fees. Want to wire money? Need to pay a fee. What to stop a check? Need to pay a fee. Need to use the bathroom? Gotcha!
Capital One Card Lab Intolerant Towards Snuggie Cult
By 2.6.09
Reader Ed reports that the Capital One Card Lab custom credit-card maker keeps rejecting his request to put a picture of himself wearing a Snuggie on his credit card. After the jump, the rules for which photos are not allowed. I’ve bolded the ones that might apply. Ed thinks he might have gotten tripped up on the “Controversial subject matter such as political or religous statements and/or images” clause, i.e. Capital One thinks Snuggie is a cult.
How To Do Valentine's Day On The Cheap
By 2.6.09
Next Saturday is Valentine’s Day, and with the economy in the tanker many people are looking for celebrating the day of love without spending a fortune. Fortunately Trent at The Simple Dollar has several good suggestions for celebrating cupid’s day on the cheap. Here are some of our favorites:
Student Loan Refund Debit Cards Laden With Hidden Fees
By 2.6.09
A City College of Chicago program that gives student-loan refunds the form of pre-paid debt cards is drawing heat due to its bevy of hidden fees.
Ten Ways To Take $100 Off Your Cable Bill
By 2.5.09
Adam from Free Press sent us his tips for lowering his cable bill. Using these strategies, Adam reduced his monthly bill from $190 to $90, and added three movie networks, a sports package, and two additional boxes.
Personal Finance Roundup
By 2.5.09
Raise your credit score to 740 [MSN Money] “As lenders tighten credit requirements, getting a good interest rate — or a loan at all — requires that you understand how the scoring system works.”
6 Ways Your Credit Score Changes Thursday
By 2.4.09
A new system for determining your credit-worthiness, FICO ’08, rolls out this Thursday, and there’s nothing you can to do stop it. By these 6 changes, ye shall be judged:
Save On Credit Card Bills By Paying Earlier
By 2.4.09
By making one simple change, you can use the same amount of money to pay off your credit card faster.
Your Brain Thinks 300 Cents Is Bigger Than $3
By 2.4.09
Perhaps you can use this new study to trick yourself into curbing your spending. Researchers found your brain interprets the difference between increasing from 3 cents 300 cents as being bigger than going from 3 cents to $3. So if you’re trying to talk yourself out of buying something that’s $200, visualize it it for a second as costing 20,000 pennies.
Debunking The Debt Collectors' Spin Doctors
By 2.2.09
The nation’s economic woes make debt collection a topic du jour, but while there are some good bits mixed into the Washington Post’s article, “When Debt Collectors Disrupt Dinner,” it probably should have been titled “What Debt Collectors Would Like You To Say And Do When They Call About The Credit Card.” Read it with a shaker of salt. Read on for the good, the bad, and the lazy reporting, plus what you should actually to protect and exercise your rights as a debtor…
