The benefits of using the site are many (and not just for financial Peeping Toms). For starters, the anonymity takes away the taboo of talking about money, leading to a vibrant tips section. Got questions? The community has answers. You can instantly compare your net worth to others with similar education levels or salaries, and also by state, industry, or age range. (Though take this with a grain of salt: You’re stacking yourself against a self-selective group of people who are really into personal finance, so it’s not the same as comparing your numbers to the nation at large.)

Contrary to what you might assume, the website is not just full of financial whizzes whose stocks are going gangbusters; there are plenty of users who are very much in the red and are using the site to climb out of debt. And on the other end of the spectrum, it’s easy enough to find a cadre of candid self-made millionaires who are willing to share how they got to where they are today.

Some people have been updating their profiles for years. I only just started this week, but I can already see myself becoming a regular. (And if nothing else, it’s an educational way to kill a Friday afternoon.)

Unfortunately, summer 2010 is turning out to be a tough job market for teenagers and unskilled workers, but there are still ways for young people to spend the summer productively. Here are a few ideas of how to scale the ranks quickly and set yourself up for success in the future.

1. Get certified. If you’re looking for work as a camp counselor or lifeguard, you’ll stand out from the job-seeking crowd if you already have first aid certification from a reputable organization like the American Red Cross. Some jobs will provide this training, but already having it under your belt is a surefire way to set yourself apart.
2. Volunteer. Logging hours as a volunteer, while it doesn’t pay, gives you on-the-job experience and great references when you need them in the future. And with so many worthy charities looking for help, you’re unlikely to be turned down.
3. Tutor younger kids. Put your good grades to work over the summer. If you’re a math whiz or have a talent for writing, ask your teachers if they know of tutoring opportunities for students within your school.
4. Don’t slack off. Remember that experience is cumulative, so if you work hard at a minimum wage job, chances are you’ll be promoted beyond it fast.
5. Strike out on your own. Love animals? Advertise a pet-sitting or dog-walking service in your neighborhood. Do you enjoy being around kids? Spread the word among your parents’ friends that you’re available as a babysitter. But for safety’s sake, stick to working for people you know and trust.

Making the most of the summer is a great way to position yourself for a better job opportunity in the future.

April is not just tax season, it’s also Financial Literacy Month. So now is the perfect time to test your money knowledge on one of our 10 quizzes.

Think you’re an expert on entrepreneurship? How savvy are you on saving? Can you cut it when it comes to credit cards?

Or if you’re really up to the task, take our 20-question quiz that covers a broad spectrum of money topics. You just might learn something new.

Whether you’re a small-business owner who works out of the house or a salaried employee who wants to enjoy a corporate perk, working from home is becoming de rigeur for more workers every year. But to make sure you don’t lose your productivity groove once outside the office, try out these tips:

1. Start your day as if you’re headed to work. Set an alarm, get out of bed on time, take a shower, put the coffee on, and wear presentable clothes. Looking professional will help your concentration more than if you plop down at the computer in your pajamas.
2. Schedule breaks like you would if you had coworkers. Run to Starbucks and go out to lunch on occasion — make opportunities for yourself to socialize so you don’t get bored and lonely.
3. Set up your desk somewhere you won’t get easily distracted. We recommend not putting it in your bedroom or near the TV. If you have young kids at home, consider hiring a babysitter so you can focus all your energy on the task at hand.
4. Keep a log of hours worked. Even if you don’t have to submit billable hours in your line of work, record every assignment you complete throughout the day and how long you spent on it. It will keep you accountable to yourself (and your boss, if necessary).
5. Unplug at the end of the day. After you’ve put in a full day, turn off your laptop and get out of the house, whether it’s running errands or working out or happy hour with friends or just a walk around the block. One of the hardest things can be leaving work behind when you don’t have to physically leave your office; it’s important to find a way to mark the occasion.

This week, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote about what the country really needs instead of yet another economic stimulus package:

What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of “Start-Up America.”

On that note, and in the spirit of getting the year started on the right foot, here are five ways to teach the next generation about the American Dream.

1. You’re never too young to learn. TIME magazine recently profiled Chicago’s Ariel Community Academy and its K-8 investing program. Each incoming kindergarten class is given dominion over an investment portfolio worth $20,000; by seventh grade, the young investors are allowed to pick what and when to buy and sell. Any profits at eighth grade graduation go toward a college scholarship fund that benefits the graduating class.
2. Even lemonade stands are teaching tools. Watch our video for just a few of the lessons this classic summertime activity provides young kids.
3. Encourage teens to start their own companies. The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s flagship program is a contest at middle and high schools nationwide (mostly in low-income communities) that helps 24,000 participating students start their own businesses.
4. Avoid the “Freshmen Financial Fifteen.” College students are particularly at risk for not budgeting properly, signing up for expensive cell-phone plans, and abusing their credit cards. If they are aware of the responsible use of each, they are primed for a financially secure adulthood.
5. Finally, take the Econ4U Entrepreneurship Quiz. Even adults may be surprised at what they don’t know about starting a business.

If you’re a small-business owner, you’ll want to pay close attention to today’s column. You may just qualify for one of the following deductions, which could save you major money on your taxes come April 15. Listen up:

1. Buy a heavy truck or SUV. If you haul around a lot of stuff in your line of work, new and pre-owned “heavy” SUVs that are used primarily for business qualify for a depreciation write-off of $25,000 under Section 179 (also known as the Hummer Tax Loophole). SUVs with a manufacturer’s gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) above 6,000 pounds qualify for the full deduction, but the purchase of a lighter SUV, passenger vehicle, or light truck could also net you a smaller write-off.
2. Buy new office equipment (from cows to computers). Section 179 has other juicy benefits for business owners. You can write off up to $250,000 in new property, ranging from computers and software to ostriches and helicopters if that’s what your business entails, and if any of the above have been installed or put to use before December 31.
3. Have your office assets depreciated in value? Because of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, you can also claim an additional 50 percent first-year depreciation bonus on qualifying new equipment and software you bought this year. But note: If you’re also claiming the Section 179 write-off, the bonus only applies on the cost remaining after that deduction.
4. Maximize your health claims before year end. If you are self-employed and pay for your own health insurance, you can itemize your premiums and other medical expenses only if they are in excess of 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. But that goes by year, so if you’re close to that threshold but haven’t met it yet, see your doctor now before the cycle starts over on January 1 and you lose that deduction.
5. Evaluate this year’s tax rates and next year’s predictions. If you have freelance income or if your business expenses go on your personal tax return, consider that this year’s personal tax rates are expected to be roughly the same next year. But if you expect to make more money in 2010 and you think taxes will rise, it may make more sense to postpone your deductible expenses until the new year.

All it takes to save major money on your taxes is a little foresight and the ability to spend now before you lose out on these sweet deductions.

Imagine you’re standing on a street corner in New York City, hand raised to hail a cab. Two cabs pull up to vie for your business; a beat-up late 60s sub-compact with no air conditioning, and a brand new mid-size sedan, with working air conditioner and an electronic meter.

It’s not hard to pick which door to open.

That’s the decision facing residents and visitors in Mumbai, India. As the city grows, so has the demand for clean and reliable taxis. The Meru cab company has answered that demand:

“Meru has become so popular that it has to turn away about half of the more than 10,000 calls it gets every day, and reservations have to be made about four hours in advance. “Nobody wants a black-and-white TV when you have LCD screens,” says (owner) Mr. Gupta.”

With such high demand, why haven’t new taxi companies sprouted all over Mumbai?

The reason is the disgruntled drivers of the old cabs. These drivers realize that the new cabs – equipped with such luxuries as GPS and functioning climate control – represent the end of their way of life. So, they’ve erected a pretty intimidating barrier to entry in the industry – physical violence.

Sheikh Shamin Ahmed… was eating chicken fried rice at a roadside stand next to his new, metallic-green cab when two old taxis full of old-taxi drivers rolled up and started to beat him. They told him his fancy new Mahindra Renault with its air conditioning and GPS navigation system had better stay away from their customers.

Now, although the violence is inexcusable, I don’t want to overlook the plight of the old cab driver. This new technology means they’ll have to learn a new skill set; older drivers who never learned to read in school may find themselves with no way to make a living. This often-painful process of new technology replacing old and outdated technology is called creative destruction, a term coined by the famous economist Joseph Schumpeter.

While the short-term consequences of creative destruction may be difficult for drivers of the old cabs, the long-term benefits to society are substantial. Modern cabs are safer, more comfortable, produce fewer harmful emissions, and allow cab drivers to update their skills and remain relevant for the 21^st century. Additionally, free entry into the market for taxis ensures that consumers have a wide range of transportation options when they’re driving around Mumbai.

A growing city that wants to leap into modernity can’t support a taxi fleet that’s stuck in the 1960s. Just don’t tell those old taxi drivers I said so.

MicroFrugality.com promises useful tips geared toward a younger audience of budgeters. Miller writes:

This blog will be all about the most controllable part of the personal finance equation – your expenses – and how you can dominate them!

The vision is to build out a strong community of ‘Frugalheads’ who are insanely focused on discussing, sharing, and executing on living frugally to cut their expenses and work towards complete financial freedom.

Its first bit of advice: Use RSS feeds on Craigslist to notify yourself of a great deal on a used car before someone else snatches it out from under you. (This tip also worked well for me when I was apartment hunting last year — set your search criteria and let an RSS aggregator pile up the results for you.)

Best of luck to Miller in his new endeavor! We think it’s an idea with a lot of potential.

Each state was assigned a letter grade based on their performance on 92 policy and outcome measures and there was certainly no grade inflation. The states that received an A were Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Washington State, and Wyoming. On the other end of the spectrum, Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina all flunked.

The report also revealed a few surprising trends. More than 37 percent of homeowners and 45 percent of renters spend over one-third of their income on housing. And since business equity is — after homeownership — the second-biggest factor in wealth building, CFED recommends implementing a New Entrepreneur Tax Credit for small-business owners with big ideas.

I especially like this last proposal. Starting a business is risky but it’s the American dream — and incentivizing people to go for it seems like a great way to spur the economy.

A columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle is balking at the high cost of finding a competent babysitter so she can enjoy a night out with her husband:

It wasn’t so long ago that San Francisco-based babysitters were requesting — and I presume getting — a pretty astounding hourly wage. My “favorite” was a college student who said she expected $25 per hour, three hours minimum, plus cab fare to and from the job. Holding back wild laughter, I said thank you but that is more than what I was willing to pay. Her response was a terse, “well, you get what you pay for, lady.” …

Using the more “reasonable” $20 per hour model, this is what it would cost for a typical pre-recession evening:

- Sitter from 7 to 11 = $80 (scratch that — $90 with tip)

- Before dinner drinks (one each, plus tip) = $25

- Moderately priced meal for two = $100

- Cab ride home = $15

- Total cost: $230

That was a daunting sum for a simple night out. And because of it, we cut back. So…the bars, restaurants, and cab drivers lost too. 

This simple real-world economics lesson shows how a prohibitively high cost of labor can cause a domino effect of cutbacks across the board. (As well as how an entrepreneurial babysitter might be able to corner the San Francisco market by charging a still-respectable $15 per hour!)