personal finance

Personal Finance Columnist Loses $10,000

Personal Finance Columnist Loses $10,000

By consumeristcarey 12.16.07

Personal finance columnist M. P. Dunleavey lost $10,000. Her year-end financial review showed an inexplicable, gaping hole in her bank account. Where did the money go? Large hidden bank fees? Identity theft? Drugs?

I ran through the numbers again with my husband, and he reached the same conclusion: approximately $10,000 was missing in action. That was the vacation we didn’t take, part of the new roof we might need, some terrific wine we didn’t drink. Now we really wanted to know where that money went.

Bill Me Later Can Ding Your Credit Score

Bill Me Later Can Ding Your Credit Score

By consumerist.com 12.13.07

BillMeLater is a new service that does what its name says: you can buy something paying using BillMeLater, they’ll front the cash, and send you a bill later, but, FiLife reports that what the name doesn’t tell you is that using it could temporarily damage your credit score.

Fund Your Teen's Roth IRA

Fund Your Teen's Roth IRA

By cwalters 12.13.07

Kiplinger’s idea of a good Christmas present for a teenager is helping them start a retirement account. We kind of think the average teen is going to have a hard time understanding why that’s a “better” gift than, say, a game system, but the underlying idea is sound. As long as your teen worked at some point in 2007—even babysitting counts—he can open a Roth IRA. But other people (that means you) can fund it, up to the amount the kid earned in wages.

Vampire Electronics Suck Power Even While "Off"

Vampire Electronics Suck Power Even While "Off"

By consumerist.com 12.13.07

As long as they’re still plugged in, most appliances are still sucking energy out of the wall, and dollars out your wallet. GOOD magazine made another one of their pretty graphs, this time featuring a large vampire, to show how much energy and money devices continue to leech. Some people, to combat this vampiric gadget effect, have most of their devices hooked up on powerstrips so they can fully cut power to all non-essential items with just a flick of a few switches.

Wesabe's New Mobile Site Helps Track Expenses On The Go

Wesabe's New Mobile Site Helps Track Expenses On The Go

By cwalters 12.13.07

Wesabe, the popular personal finance website, has unveiled a new mobile version that “lets you check your balances, see recent transactions, and… enter cash transactions, from any mobile browser.” To save time, you only need to enter the most basic information via your phone—you can add the details to the entry later from a standard web browser.

Highest-Yielding CDs With Reasonable Minimum Deposits

By consumerist.com 12.12.07

The fed rate cut means yields on money market accounts and online savings accounts are more than likely going to fall, making it a good time to look to switch money to certificates of deposit, as long as you don’t mind the illiquidity. Here are the best 3, 6 and 12-month CD rates right now with reasonable minimum deposit requirements.

Personal Finance Roundup

Personal Finance Roundup

By consumerist.com 12.12.07

(Photo: gierszewski)

Avoid In-Store "Finance Traps" When Buying An HDTV

Avoid In-Store "Finance Traps" When Buying An HDTV

By cwalters 12.12.07

Several retailers are offering special deals on expensive HDTVs this season—things like no payments until x date or zero percent financing—but PC World cautions that they’re not always the bargains they appear to be. Their advice: “Cash is always best. If you need a special promotion to buy an HDTV, you can’t afford it.”

What The Impending Fed Rate Cut Means To Your Wallet

What The Impending Fed Rate Cut Means To Your Wallet

By consumerist.com 12.11.07

Signs point to a 1/4 point interest rate cut today. What this means for you:

11 Common Tax Planning Mistakes

11 Common Tax Planning Mistakes

By cwalters 12.11.07

It’s not as sexy a topic as dog treats, but it’s an important one: tax planning mistakes. More specifically, how to avoid some of the most common ones. Kiplinger lists 11 frequent mistakes you should be aware of if you don’t want an unpleasant surprise come April.

Money Bloggers Pick Their Top Financial Books

Money Bloggers Pick Their Top Financial Books

By consumerist.com 12.10.07

(Photo: strobist)

By consumerist.com 12.8.07

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Credit cards and banks are starting to let people charge their rent or mortgage on your credit card. Great for earning rewards points or frequent flyer miles, but it’s only a good idea if you can pay off your credit card in full every month. [NYT]

Great Finance Books For All Ages

Great Finance Books For All Ages

By cwalters 12.7.07

J.D. at GetRichSlowly was asked by a reader for suggestions on good presonal finance books to give as a gift this year. He points out that giving such a gift is a sensitive matter, since it can be received poorly if the recipient isn’t in the right frame of mind. On the other hand, he writes, “It was because a friend gave me a copy of Your Money or Your Life that I finally turned my finances around.” Here are his suggestions for books geared toward children, teenagers, young adults, and “old folks.”

Ohio Study Provides Snapshot Of State Of High School Finance Education

Ohio Study Provides Snapshot Of State Of High School Finance Education

By cwalters 12.7.07

Now that Ohio has made personal finance basics a mandatory requirement to graduate from high school, people are starting to look at the problem of who teaches it and what it consists of (just look at the comment threads in the two related posts below to see the wide spectrum of opinions and personal experience anecdotes). A new Ohio State University study has found that the current level of teaching is all over the place—and the people teaching it have widely varying levels of knowledge about the subject matter.

AmEx Incompetence Unleashes Zombie Debt Collectors On Innocent Reader

AmEx Incompetence Unleashes Zombie Debt Collectors On Innocent Reader

By consumerist.com 12.7.07

Richard writes:I am an MD-PhD, working at a medical center in New York. In 2006 I came here form Wisconsin, and at that point I called American Express (had a credit card with them for about 7-8 years before), explained my move, and the new academic position I was taking on, and asked them if they…

"Checkbook Math" Being Phased Out Of High Schools

"Checkbook Math" Being Phased Out Of High Schools

By cwalters 12.7.07

We may indeed have a nation of financially illiterate youths, but despite cries for increased financial education in public high schools, the one program that’s historically addressed this—“checkbook math”—has never enjoyed a reputation as a “real” math class because the actual math skills involved are so basic, and it’s being phased out as most students avoid it because, as one student says, it “doesn’t look good for colleges.”

Credit Cards Ensnare Naive College Freshmen

By consumerist.com 12.6.07

Eager young college students are ripe targets for the hordes of credit card marketers that blanket campuses every year. But they’re adults, right? They can make rational personal financial decisions themselves and in the absence of any education about how the credit system works, right? Survey results tell a different story:

By consumerist.com 12.6.07

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Did you know you can upgrade your credit card with the issuer without losing your credit history? [Bankrate]

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