f you are making regular contributions over time – say, investing a certain dollar amount each week or month – buying an index fund is more cost-effective. If you are rolling over a lump sum, however, you might choose an E.T.F.
personal finance
What The Heck Is An ETF?
By 5.20.09
Video: Watch Shopaholic's Range Rover Get Reposessed
By 5.20.09
Watching this clip of a high-rolling lady who has to remove all her bags of designer clothing from her fancy Range Rover before it gets repossesed made my day. Schadenfreude so good. Even when I learned that Operation Repo is a faux reality show where they do re-enactments of real repossesion stories, it’s still all good, especially because of when the real reposesser says that if it weren’t for his kind, no one would be able to afford a car. Food for thought.
Credit Scores: How Do They Make 'Em?
By 5.20.09
A three-digit number that creditors use to quickly evaluate whether to give someone a loan and how favorable the terms should be, the credit score remains something of a mystery to many. How is it figured out? What matters, and what doesn’t matter? The exact scoring system is a proprietary secret of the Fair Issac corporation, but there are 5 general categories, each weighted differently, that determine where you sit on the range from 300-850. In easy-to-read outline form, let’s take a closer look.
Credit Card Reform Bill Passes With Guts Intact
By 5.19.09
NYT: It sounds like most of the good stuff stayed in the Senate Credit Card Reform bill:
Personal Finance Roundup
By 5.19.09
Travel full-time for less than $14,000 per year [I Will Teach You to Be Rich] “Here are my secrets [for saving on travel.]”
Bankers Threaten To Punish "Good" Cardholders If Reforms Pass
By 5.19.09
NYT: Bankers are warning they’re going to have to “mean up” credit cards if the reforms expected to get voted on today go through. Among the ways people who pay off their bills in full every month and always follow the rules might get dinged:
Debt Collectors Mess With Your Head To Get You To Pay More
By 5.18.09
Santana had actually already sought permission from the bank to settle for as little as $10,000. It’s an open secret that if a debtor is willing to wait long enough, he can probably get away with paying almost nothing, as long as he doesn’t mind hurting his credit score. So Santana knew he should jump at the offer. But as an amateur psychologist, Santana was eager to make his own diagnosis – and presumably boost his own commission.
Ready To Make A Budget? Here's How To Prepare
By 5.17.09
So you want to write a budget, but you’re not sure where to start? No Credit Needed has a list of ten simple but necessary steps to take before drafting your first spending plan. Most consumers will already have knocked off the basics like putting their checking and savings accounts in order, but everyone can take advantage of tips like tracking your spending for a full month and making sure you have a detailed list of your irregular expenses. Once you’ve done your homework, check out our guide to writing a beginner’s budget and start mapping out your financial future.
800 Number To Get Your Senator To Vote For Credit Card Reform
By 5.13.09
Now that you’ve checked out what the Credit Card Reform Act is all about, if you think it looks good and would like to see it passed, Consumers Union’s CreditCardReform.org has set a toll-free number that directly connects you to your Senator’s office so you can urge them to vote in favor of S.414. The number is 1-800-944-6762. They also have an online form you can use. The Senate is expected to vote next week.
What's The New Credit Card Reform Bill All About?
By 5.13.09
Guess what? There are a lot of pro-consumer changes in how the credit card industry will have to treat you if Chris Dodd’s Credit Card Reform bill goes through. Going through the questions you sent in and left as comments, it turns out that a good number of what you’re asking for are in this bill. So then, let’s check out the latest version bill out and see what changes are in store. I know Alex linked to this as a PDF but these are so important I wanted them posted front and center.
Social Security And Medicare Will Be Insolvent Even Sooner Than Predicted
By 5.12.09
If you plan on retiring after 2037, you’d better get really serious about saving now. It might not hurt to also take a vow of poverty; that way you’ll feel like it’s your decision to live off of cardboard and dumpster fruit in your sixties.
Get Informed About Credit Card Reform
By 5.12.09
As we prepare to talk credit card reform with the Obama folks, we want to make sure you’re all able to follow along at home. Inside, we present a cornucopia of fact sheets, charts, and links about the fight for credit card reform.
Austan Goolsbee Confirmed For Consumerist Interview
By 5.12.09
We’ve got the senior policy guy we’re interviewing on Thursday in DC about credit card reform confirmed, it will be Austan Goolsbee, senior economic adviser to Obama. We’ll be shooting it in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House. This should make for a good interview! Besides lengthy academic credentials in business and behavioral economics, Goolsbee often acts as Obama’s surrogate, is an extemporaneous debate champ, Skull & Bones member, and from Chi-town, so Meg can rap with him about sport peppers.
By 5.11.09
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Did you know that in California, if you ask the Subway sandwich mechanic (or whatever they’re called) to toast your sandwich, you’ll be charged a sales tax, whereas if you go untoasted you won’t? Crazy! Thomas Hawk says you should always order your coffee to go at California restaurants, even if you plan on drinking it there, to avoid a similar crazy tax. [Thomas Hawk] (Thanks to Glenn!)
If You Do What You Love, Will The Money Follow?
By 5.6.09
“Never buy the most expensive home in a neighborhood.” “Your age is the percent of your portfolio you should have invested in bonds.” “You can withdraw 4% of your retirement savings every year.” Many of these sort of short, quick personal finance rules-of-thumb have become so generally accepted that most people don’t even question their validity. In many cases, the guidance these sayings offer are quite good. Yet some of them have morphed from solid money advice to almost zen-like statements that are just as likely to be untrue as true. For example, here’s one that sparks a lot of debate:
Credit Card Company Threats Don't Scare Consumerist Readers
When we wrote earlier about credit card companies’ threats to treat customers even worse in light of Congress passing credit card reform legislation, it ignited a righteous firestorm of consumer rage in the comments. Inside, our favorites.