Personal Finance

Best of Personal Finance: Go Forth and Save Edition

Posted June 12, 2009 - 16:25 by Andrea Dickson

Personal Finance

This week, we look at way to prevent identity theft (do they work?), saving money on utilities with rain barrels, saving money on meds, how to prep for job interviews whenever the economy recovers, how to buy a used car, and more.

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Recalled Robes, Cribs, and Hooded Sweatshirts: Top Safety Concerns You Should Know About

Posted June 12, 2009 - 07:59 by Linsey Knerl

Personal Finance, Consumer Affairs

robe recall

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about recalls. Sadly, they seem to pop up every day – either an indication of our products getting junkier, or a sign that the government is becoming better aware of safety concerns, in general. These alerts top my list of “recalls you really should know about.” If Grandma wears a robe, you must read this!

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Oh noes! Inflation!

Posted June 12, 2009 - 00:39 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance

Graph of monetary base showing recent surge

The Wall Street Journal has an opinion piece by Arthur Laffer that shows a scary graph of the monetary base, which has surged enormously in the past year. He suggests that this is "potentially far more inflationary" than the monetary policies of the 1970s. I'm as worried about inflation as anybody, and agree that the Fed should already be taking steps to minimize it, but I think Laffer is off-base here.

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Don't let low interest rates make you stupid

Posted June 11, 2009 - 06:39 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance

Gold bullion from the National Bank of Polland

When I went off to college in 1977, inflation was high and rising, but the maximum interest rate you could earn on a savings account was capped by the government at a fraction over 5%. The conventional wisdom was "It's dumb to hold cash when inflation is over the rate you can earn." I absorbed that conventional wisdom, and it led me to make some dumb decisions.

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$8000 housing tax credit can now be turned into cash at closing according to FHA

Posted June 9, 2009 - 20:38 by Xin Lu

Personal Finance, Taxes, Real Estate and Housing, Consumer Affairs

As part of the Obama stimulus plan passed in January, first time home buyers in 2009 are entitled to a tax credit of up to $8000 that they do not have to repay. This tax credit was supposed to be given to the taxpayer after they file their 2009 taxes in 2010, but it seems that a new set of FHA guidelines is allowing many to take the money during closing. Here are some of the details.

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Should you try to reduce your rent?

Posted June 8, 2009 - 16:22 by Xin Lu

Personal Finance, Real Estate and Housing

for rent sign

Lately it seems that rent prices have been dropping in many areas of the country. Here in San Mateo some residential apartments are dropping prices as much as 20%. This seemed a bit unbelievable until I looked on Craigslist and found that a specific apartment my husband and I looked at around two years ago actually dropped its price by $300 a month from $1699 to $1399 a month. With our lease expiring soon, I wonder if we should move or try to negotiate a lower rent.

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Best of Personal Finance: Summer Heat Edition

Posted June 4, 2009 - 17:12 by Andrea Dickson

Personal Finance

It's summer! It's warm and toasty! Kids are almost out of school! And bloggers are hard at work, ignoring the nice weather and unsupervised children, bringing you the best advice they have on earning, saving, investing, and enjoying the frugal life.

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64 Funny, Inspiring and Stupid Money Quotes From Famous People

Posted June 2, 2009 - 08:28 by Glen Stansberry

Personal Finance

Abraham Lincoln

People love quoting famous people. Whether the celebrity in question is a genius or not, we love a good sound byte. We've collected quotes from presidents, movie stars, philosophers, athletes, and even Paris Hilton on everybody's favorite topic: Money.

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Simplify budgeting with personal money

Posted June 1, 2009 - 05:40 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance, Budgeting

Notebook with budget and pen

Many couples keep their finances partially (or even completely) separate. One big reason is that spending joint money on individual expenses can lead to disputes, and keeping separate accounts can reduce that. There is, however, another reason to keep some amount of personal money: Simplifying budgeting.

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netSpend - the story of the Visa debit card we did not apply for

Posted May 29, 2009 - 14:02 by Xin Lu

Personal Finance, Credit Cards, Consumer Affairs

This week my husband received an unsolicited Visa debit card from a firm called netSpend. It was certainly an odd experience to receive a card that looked official instead of a pre-approved credit application packet. This is my story of shock, anger, and finally disgust at the practices of this financial firm.

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