In the last 12 months the Dow has dropped 38%, the NASDAQ has fallen 37%, and the Bernie Madoff Index is down 100%. Chances are you’re not feeling very inclined to put any of your hard-earned money into the stock market, and that’s understandable. But before you stick all your assets into a high-yield savings account, The New York Times recommends taking a look at your overall financial picture.
It is 2009, and while for many people the best way to keep a household budget is a good ole fashioned pen and paper, others are looking for a more modern way to ensure that they don’t overspend. One such resource is Mint.com. Mint is quick and easy to set up and keeps your current [...]
Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Carl Levin (D-MI) today introduced a new bill to help shield credit card holders from exorbitant fees and penalty interest rates. The legislation would, amongst other things, restrict credit card companies from charging customers for snail mail or telephone payments, institute a number of restrictions on how card issuers can [...]
Is the giant stimulus package doing anything to alleviate America’s personal finance worries? According to Gallup polls, the announced $789 billion plan hasn’t yet eased our fears. Gallup’s personal finance measure reports the percentage of Americans who, reflecting on the day before they were surveyed, say they worried about money. As you can see on [...]
The Associated Press has picked up on our financial literacy survey–a story that ran in numerous papers nationwide. Our personal finance education survey found that a majority of adult respondents did not possess elementary math skills. As our survey shows, many consumers don’t understand how to perform some of the most simple calculations that factor [...]
Pat Croce’s Down to Business blog linked to our op-ed on economic illiteracy and had some thoughts of their own. Croce also wrote a great article on why it is important for young Americans to learn how to BUDGET! It even includes a template for beginners looking to get started! Check it out.
While a few states are taking the initiative and requiring financial literacy classes for their students, lots of innovation is happening at the local level, like at this charter school in Illinois: On a recent weekday morning, four students were busy popping 240 bags of popcorn in preparation for a dance at the charter school. [...]
Jennifer Openshaw has some great tips for how you can use social networking sites for more than stalking old high school classmates, updating your status, and sharing 25 random things about you. Openshaw suggests forming buying clubs, sharing discounts, finding clients, and more: Share the discounts Paulette Strauss started a “Friends & Family Discount” group [...]
Take a look at an opinion column by our managing director, James Bowers, in The Exception Magazine. We can try to pin the blame on Wall Street bankers, Congress, or Washington regulators, and sure, they bear some responsibility. But ultimately we need to address the underlying problem: our complete failure to provide students with vital [...]
When it comes to the various stimulus packages and bank bailouts making their way through Congress, there’s no shortage of pundits, columnists, and bloggers offering their “expert opinion.” Amid all the hot air, however, it can be hard to find straightforward analysis of the issues at hand. CNN’s Money Summit, however, is an attempt to [...]
