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This informative group blog was honored by Kiplinger as a “must-read” blog and named as one of Yahoo!’s “Ten Money Blogs Everyone Should Read.”

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Latest Posts from Consumerism Commentary

Flexible Hours in Your Working Environment

Published Thursday, February 9, 2012 - 10:04 by Consumerism Commentary

The option to work from home has been shown to benefit employees and employers. This type of flexibility in working arrangements, when appropriate based on the employee’s responsibilities, increased productivity and retention for the employer and job satisfaction for the employee. […]

Amazon.com Retail Stores: Another Threat to Small Businesses?

Published Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - 10:22 by Consumerism Commentary

I was torn when Amazon.com, the online-only retailer for books, music, and movies, became popular. I liked the convenience, but it was clear that local brick-and-mortar bookstores would have difficulty competing with Amazon’s prices in the long term. […]

Unemployed Lawyers Sue Their Law Schools

Published Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - 16:30 by Consumerism Commentary

A group of fresh, unemployed lawyers have banded together to sue law schools. 73 alumni have filed at least fifteen class-action lawsuits, alleging the schools inflated employment figures and salary data to attract students and increase rankings. […]

Debt Collections: Do You Have To Pay?

Published Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - 12:15 by Consumerism Commentary

People who borrow money generally understand that they will eventually need to pay borrowed money back to the lender. This understanding, whether codified in a contract or not in any particular case, makes lending and borrowing money work as an economic mechanism. It’s interesting that regardless of what’s written in a contract, most debt can be legally ignored. […]

Your Ego and Your Wallet

Published Monday, February 6, 2012 - 09:00 by Consumerism Commentary

This is an article by Marc Pearlman. Marc is a money management professional who has been in the finance industry over 20 years, and he is the author of The Positive Money Mindset and host of the radio show, Your Money Matters. I watched as these two were duking it out — at the poker table, that is. Fortunately for me, I was out of the hand with my lousy cards safely in the muck pile. […]

Podcast 146: Buying a House In Your Early 20s

Published Sunday, February 5, 2012 - 15:00 by Consumerism Commentary

Today on the Consumerism Commentary Podcast, Tom Dziubek talks to MD, founder of the personal finance website Studenomics. MD talks with Tom about topics such as his inspiration for Studenomics, how he got through college without having to pay off student loans, and also about things that people in their early twenties need to consider if they’re thinking about buying a home. Consumerism Commentar […]

Are You Concerned About the Very Poor?

Published Friday, February 3, 2012 - 09:00 by Consumerism Commentary

Whether you agree with it or not, the reason this country has supported programs like welfare, Social Security, the GI Bill, food stamps, Medicare, government-backed mortgages, FEMA insurance, and other social programs is because a modern society benefits when as many citizens as possible have opportunities to succeed financially. […]

Participate in Self-Control Research

Published Thursday, February 2, 2012 - 09:00 by Consumerism Commentary

I’ve written extensively about taking control of your finances. One aspect of the ability to succeed with your financial goals is making active, thoughtful decisions pertaining to your use of money. […]

Top Ten Personal Finance Start-Ups

Published Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - 13:17 by Consumerism Commentary

The financial industry has been mostly static for centuries, with companies doing business and offering services not much different from how the companies operated for earlier generations of consumers. When there is innovation in the industry, it generally comes from smaller companies and entrepreneurs looking to fill a need that isn’t covered by larger, less flexible entities. […]

Local Currencies to Replace the Dollar in Communities

Published Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 09:00 by Consumerism Commentary

It may be illegal for states to print money for commerce, but local communities have no such restriction from the federal government. And in some communities, local currencies have been successful, at least in gaining the support of some retailers and consumers. There’s no law of nature that says that an economy functions best when the broadest number of people use one currency exclusively. […]