November 20, 2009 – 1:29 pm
Black Friday is only a week away, and for avid bargain-hunters, it nearly ranks as a holiday in its own right. Retailers count on the Christmas shopping season to comprise the bulk of their sales for the year — and in 2009, when retail sales have been particularly dismal, Black Friday will be more important [...]
November 17, 2009 – 6:40 pm
Welcome to this week’s edition of Tuesday Top 5, our weekly tips post to help you manage your money in five easy steps.
Today we walk you through the all-important credit report, and what to do if you find inaccurate information on it. Your credit report plays a major role in determining your credit score, so it’s [...]
November 10, 2009 – 1:48 pm
Greetings and welcome to this week’s edition of our Tuesday Top 5, our weekly tips post to help you manage your money in five easy steps.
The deadline for that juicy $8,000 new homebuyer’s credit is rapidly approaching, but how do you know if you’re ready to own a home? Ask yourself the following five questions to [...]
November 9, 2009 – 2:25 pm
Regular readers of personal-finance blogs are well-aware that they should have a Roth IRA, a type of retirement account funded by after-tax dollars that lets your savings grow tax-free. With all their money-saving benefits, Roth IRAs seem to be as popular a topic on money blogs as avoiding the ubiquitous $4 latte.
Even still, most young [...]
October 23, 2009 – 1:34 pm
Are you ever accused of being a cheapskate? If so, you have something in common with Linda Beech, a columnist for The Garden City Telegram, who wrote her latest opinion piece on why she bought a used car (instead of a new one) for her teenage daughter:
Years ago, when I had two small children and my [...]
October 21, 2009 – 4:11 pm
It has been difficult to pick up a newspaper the past week without seeing a story on the rising cost of college tuition; these articles from the LA Times and the Washington Post are representative.
College costs are in the news because of the College Board’s “Trends in College Pricing 2009” report, which I would encourage [...]
October 20, 2009 – 2:27 pm
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Tuesday Top 5, our new weekly tips post to help you manage your money in five easy steps. This week, we show you how to stop putting off one of the most important duties you have to protect your dependents in the event of a tragedy: Writing your will.
You [...]
October 16, 2009 – 3:07 pm
I may be late to the party but I only just learned that Microsoft has discontinued its game-changing Money software. I’ve been using Money for years to track my spending, retirement allotments, taxable investments, and savings accounts all in one tidy package. But unfortunately for me and Microsoft, the advent of free budgeting websites has [...]
October 15, 2009 – 4:56 pm
The Nation’s Report Card, released yesterday by the National Assessment of Educational Programs (NAEP), found that fewer than 4 out of 10 U.S. fourth and eighth graders are proficient in mathematics.
The report, which is highly regarded by most lawmakers and educators and widely used to measure state and national education levels, found that mathematics [...]
October 9, 2009 – 11:51 am
National Save for Retirement Week is coming up (October 18-24) to urge Americans to beef up their savings accounts for the long haul. Those who have the longest amount of time before retiring stand to gain the most by investing early (thanks to the wonders of compounding interest), so it’s particularly important that young people [...]
