There are 246 million cars owned in the United States, so chances are good you have one of them. But next to a house and an education, a car may well be the most money you ever spend on anything. And the costs don’t end after you leave the dealer’s lot. Want to keep your ride budget friendly? Here are a few things to avoid if you want your car to serve you well for years.

1. Don’t bother with maintenance. Skip a brake job here, ignore a “check engine” light there, and you’re risking serious mechanical problems down the road. A $30 oil change at least once a year could save you the trouble and expense of having to replace your whole engine. When it comes to car maintenance, an ounce of prevention is worth far more than a pound of cure.
2. Lease a new vehicle every 3 years. There is a very narrow set of circumstances under which leasing makes financial sense (namely, if you absolutely have to drive a new car all the time and you don’t put a lot of mileage on it). But otherwise it’s a bum deal. For example: A lease on a brand-new BMW 328i sedan runs $459 a month for 36 months, which totals $16,524 over the term agreement. But if you were to buy it new, at the end of three years the car would still be worth $27,600, according to the Kelley Blue Book. In other words, you’re spending more than $100 per month for the privilege of not owning your ride.
3. Trade in Old Faithful for a hybrid. Fueling up is just about the cheapest part of owning a car. Despite the touted gas-mileage benefits of driving a hybrid, you have to drive more than 200,000 miles before you recoup the extra cost of buying a Honda Civic Hybrid over the less expensive conventional model — and even more when gas is cheap. Instead of the Prius, it should be called the Premium.
4. Owe more on your car than it’s worth. A lot of people who carry massive car loans try to roll over their debt for their next car, but it’s a recipe for disaster. This could even be the newest iteration of the subprime mortgage crisis. A rule of thumb: Don’t take on a car loan that you can’t pay off in under five years (or three years, if you really want to be conservative).
5. Speed, run red lights, and otherwise draw police attention. Many states are hurting for tax dollars so much right now that they’ve increased traffic fines across the board. In California, not coming to a complete stop at a red light before turning right will now cost you $381. If you get caught once, you’ll never do that again.

But the biggest drawback for consumers is that it limits banking options for people who make even one mistake. A ChexSystems history functions as a credit report for your checking account, except it only tracks negative information.

For example, if you have a ChexSystems report and you go to open a new deposit account with a bank that uses the company’s database, the bank can deny you the account on the basis of just one infraction. Even if you’re able to open an account and keep it in good standing, the bank can later close it if a ChexSystems report on you comes up.

Of course, smart consumers stay on top of their finances. The good news is that since ChexSystems is a credit reporting agency, consumers are entitled to one free report per year, which you can obtain online. Do they have incorrect information on you? Dispute the entry by following this link.

The Wall Street Journal

Bank of America Corp. and other banks are preparing new fees on basic banking services as they try to replace revenue lost to regulatory rules, in a push that is expected to spell an end to free checking accounts for many Americans.

Free checking accounts, which have been widely available for more than a decade, have been a boon to middle-class consumers and attracted low-income customers to the banking system for the first time.

Customers will likely be required to pay new monthly maintenance fees on the most basic accounts that don’t generate a lot of activity. To avoid a fee, customers will have to maintain certain account balances or frequently use other banking services, such as credit and debit cards, automated teller machines and online accounts.

It’s an important debate and a key lesson in economics. Banks aren’t going to willingly make less money, so if the feds restrict overdraft fees, the affected banks will then kill free checking to make up the difference. But what happens when lenders can’t make it up elsewhere? If, say, there’s a limit on interest rates, lenders will simply stop offering that credit option rather than taking the loss. It’s already happening: Cap interest rates on short-term loans, and the government is effectively taking away the highest-risk consumers’ access to credit.

In an update on the old saying, the road to (financial) hell is paved with good intentions — and unintended consequences.

If you’ve ever uncovered “found money” and decided to save most of it, you’re already acquainted with the idea of consumption smoothing. It’s the economic principle that people avoid abrupt swings in their standard of living, and income and saving go through cycles over a long period of time. There are many ways to use this theory to support a lifelong financial strategy:

1. Sock away about 90 percent of a windfall. Don’t let the extra money go to your head; you probably have some savings goals that could benefit from a boost. Have you maxed out your Roth IRA, assuming you qualify? Are you working on a down payment on a house? Divide the money among your various priorities, and think about which deserves the lion’s share.
2. Don’t deprive yourself… Especially in the event of an inheritance or work-related bonus, you should enjoy at least part of that money to respect the wishes of close friend or relative or as a reward for a job well done.
3. …but understand the usefulness of delayed gratification. One reason lottery winners so often go broke is that it feels like money will solve all their problems, and that such a large sum will never run out. However, without sound financial planning, neither assumption will be true in the long run.
4. Live like a college student for as long as possible. When your income is the lowest it will ever be, also committing to keeping your standard of living low will make it easier to save as you climb the job ladder and rack up raises. The younger you are when you strike the balance between saving and spending, the bigger your nest egg will be to sustain you when you’re older thanks to the power of compound interest.
5. Yet it’s never too late. Don’t get discouraged if you spent your 20s and 30s paying down college debt and trying to make ends meet for your young family. Income typically peaks around age 50, which puts most households in a great position to play catch-up. Take advantage of this upswing in your financial life-cycle and buckle down on savings when you’re best able to afford it.

Consider this economics at work.

Below, a few statistics about the flight of the chicken wing:

• In the 1980s, chicken wings were selling for an average of 46¢ per pound to chicken breasts’ $2.01 per pound (in inflation-adjusted dollars). In March 2010, a pound of wings now will set you back an average of $1.61, compared to $1.35 for a pound of white meat.
• Wing-focused restaurant Buffalo Wild Wings opened its doors in Chicago in 1982. Twenty-seven years later in 2009, the chain reported revenue of nearly $489 million.
• A whopping 8.5 billion wings were sold in restaurants in 2008, and another 3.5 billion were purchased through grocery stores.
• Earlier this year, news reports started popping up regarding a possible wing shortage. It’s not because fewer chickens are being produced — it’s because that’s what crazy demand will do.

No word yet on whether bleu cheese dressing demand is also exceeding supply.

If you’re a parent yourself, there are a lot of ways you can put your kids on the path to financial success while they’re still young. Here’s a sampling of ideas:

• Put their allowance on plastic. Teaching them early about how debit and credit cards work will serve them well as adults when it’s their own money they’re spending. Obopay has a product perfect for this.
• Prioritize retirement over college. You can take out a loan for college, but you can’t take out one for retirement. Even if you want to give your child the world by paying for his or her education, make sure you max out your retirement plan before you start making contributions to Junior’s college fund. By getting an early start on retirement saving, you can free up more money down the road for education expenses.
• Live by example. This is the most important one: A University of Arizona study last year found that kids learn their spending habits from mom and dad — not from books or school. Use that influence wisely.

But if you’re saddled with a huge car payment, struggling to pay your rent or mortgage, or throwing money away on high-interest debt, then those savings don’t seem to matter as much to your bottom line.

In other words, if you can’t make ends meet month after month, clipping coupons isn’t going to be enough to bridge that gap.

The solution? Find ways to slash your biggest expenses first — before cutting back on smaller budgetary line items. Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Maximize your tax deductions throughout the year to avoid scrambling to remember them all when it’s time to file your annual return. Keep files on all your charitable donations, deductible interest on student loans, medical care, and other qualifying expenses.
• Aim to spend no more than 30 percent of your income on housing, whether that’s rent or mortgage (and don’t forget to factor in property tax and insurance). If you can spend less on housing and still live in a safe area, do it.
• A rule of thumb: If you have to take out a car loan you can’t pay back in under three years, you can’t afford your ride.
• Most savings accounts right now are paying around 1 percent APR in interest. If you have credit card balances or student loans to pay off, you’re likely paying more than 1 percent on that debt, so your emergency fund is actually costing you money in the long run. Make a dent in it today.

Forget fine-tuning — overhaul your budget to see the biggest savings.

Prices for 3-D movie admission have gone up 8 percent so far this year, reaching nearly $20 per ticket in New York City. Regular movie prices have only gone up 4 percent, by comparison.

This ends up being an interesting lesson in economics. Since the technology is so expensive, many theaters equip only one screen with a 3-D projector. That means this summer’s 3-D blockbusters — Shrek Forever After, Toy Story 3, and The Last Airbender among them — will have to compete for the same screens, potentially bumping one hit off the box office charts before its time, just to make room for the next 3-D film.

The demand for 3-D screen time is high among movie promoters, but the question remains: Do movie watchers feel the same way? Would you pay $20 for a movie ticket?

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.

Daylight saving time (DST) was the brainchild of founding father Benjamin Franklin as a way to conserve lamp oil in the salons of Paris. More recently, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed by Congress to extend daylight savings in an attempt to lower the national energy bill.

But does it work that way? In the current issue of BusinessWeek, two economists offer their opinions on this timely topic.

In favor, from Steve Calandrillo of the University of Washington School of Law:

Instead of turning Daylight Saving Time (DST) off, Congress should turn it on year-round.

First, despite the contrarians, DST saves energy. Why? Far more oil, electricity, and energy are used during evening darkness than morning because more Americans are awake at 5 p.m. than at 6 a.m. Hence, shifting sunlight to the evening causes a significant reduction in evening peak load, which outweighs a small increase in the early morning load caused by DST.

And against, in the words of William F. Shughart II of the Independent Institute:

Although Daylight Saving Time (DST) has been justified as an energy-conservation measure, it is no such thing. …

Economists typically value the opportunity cost at an individual’s wage rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminarily estimates that the average American’s hourly wage was $22.45 in January 2010.

Assuming it takes everyone 10 minutes to change all of his or her clocks and watches, the opportunity cost equals $3.74 per person. The one-time opportunity cost for the nation (based on total U.S. population over 18 years old, excluding residents of Arizona, which doesn’t observe DST) therefore is $836,117,536. Since clocks are changed twice yearly, the total must be doubled.

We would gladly pay $3.74 for an extra hour of sleep, but unfortunately we’ll have to wait until November 7 for that.