Xin Lu's blog
Posted February 5, 2010 - 06:00 by Xin Lu
Consumer Affairs, Cars and Transportation
Recently Toyota Motor Corp. has been plagued with bad news as it recalled millions of cars and stopped selling several of its products affected with braking issues. These problems have prompted Kelley Blue Book, the pricing guide for used car transactions to lower suggested rates on the affected Toyota vehicles by 1 to 3 percent, and a company spokesperson said "there may be further devaluation ahead." Would you buy one of these vehicles despite of these issues?
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Posted February 4, 2010 - 07:00 by Xin Lu
Career and Income
Last year was a challenging year for American job seekers as corporations cut millions of jobs amidst the recession. This is why I was surprised to read that according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, only 7.3 percent of job seekers chose to relocate to a new town for a job in the last quarter of 2009. This is the lowest number of relocations since the firm started tracking the statistic in 1986. So what kind of incentives do people need to go where the jobs are?
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Posted January 27, 2010 - 06:00 by Xin Lu
Taxes
This week President Obama is announcing several tax credits for the middle class in his State of the Union speech. Here are some of the details on what the proposals are, and how those who qualify can get the most out of the credits.
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Posted January 17, 2010 - 08:00 by Xin Lu
Consumer Affairs
This week a government committee is investigating the cause of the financial crisis by interrogating bank titans what exactly went wrong. Complicit: How Greed and Collusion Made the Credit Crisis Unstoppable by Mark Gilbert is exactly what these government officials need to read to learn what went on in the last few years to cause the debacle. Here are some of what I learned from the book.
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Posted January 15, 2010 - 07:00 by Xin Lu
Personal Finance
It is not quite time for spring cleaning, but if you are a slightly disorganized person like me you may benefit financially by cleaning your wallet or purse. Here are some reasons to clean out your money carrier.
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Posted January 11, 2010 - 07:00 by Xin Lu
Consumer Affairs
This year the United States Census Bureau will be conducting its regularly scheduled census. Every address in the United States will receive a census form and census workers will be sent to those who do not respond. Unfortunately, con artists may be taking the opportunity to run scams. Here are some tips for avoiding a census related scam.
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Posted January 8, 2010 - 09:00 by Xin Lu
Green Living
A recent New York Times article reported that retailers including H&M and Walmart have been destroying perfectly good clothes that were not sold and throwing them in the trash. This a terrible waste, and it really saddened me to see that these stores did not even try to get rid of their unwanted merchandise in a more environmentally and socially friendly manner. Here are some of my suggestions, and I encourage you to add your own comments.
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Posted January 5, 2010 - 06:00 by Xin Lu
Real Estate and Housing
The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) rolled out last year currently has over 700,000 people in trial modifications and a little over 30,000 in "permanent" modifications. The program has been plagued with consumer complaints of lost paperwork and denials. Here are some reasons why many consumers are better off skipping this program all together.
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Posted December 18, 2009 - 09:21 by Xin Lu
Shopping
Wise internet shoppers usually search for some coupon or cash back reward before adding an item to their shopping carts. The problem is that there are so many cash back and mileage reward programs that sometimes it is hard to decide which one to use. Luckily my friend Jim told me about a site that lets you search and compare the best rewards for the stores you frequent.
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Posted December 8, 2009 - 08:00 by Xin Lu
Shopping, Consumer Affairs
The hottest toy of this holiday season is a little electronic hamster named the Zhu Zhu Pet. The $9.99 toy is this season's Tickle Me Elmo and parents are lining up early to snatch one for their kids. Millions of these cute little toys have been sold, but a consumer products website called Good Guide claims that these toys contain some toxic chemicals. Is this a good reason to take these toys to the dumpster?
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Posted December 7, 2009 - 06:00 by Xin Lu
Personal Finance
It has been reported over and over that money is the number one cause of conflict and stress in relationships. This is precisely the reason authors Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar wrote Get Financially Naked: How to Talk Money with Your Honey. This short book is a tool that teaches readers how to get on the same page financially with their significant others in order to live "from a position of financial strength."
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Posted December 3, 2009 - 11:33 by Xin Lu
Real Estate and Housing
Currently many homes for sale are owned by banks. These properties are also known as real estate owned or REO and they have gone through the foreclosure process. Some of them are in very good condition and can be good deals. However, those who try to buy these homes will find that it is not as easy as it looks. Here are some quick tips for those interested in buying a bank owned property.
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Posted December 1, 2009 - 06:00 by Xin Lu
Making Extra Cash
Palm trees are ubiquitous in California and other states with a warm climate. Although they are beautiful trees, some homeowners find them to be a nuisance because they require routine maintenance when they get too large. The good news for these homeowners is that it is possible that their trees could be sold for hundreds to thousands of dollars.
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Posted November 24, 2009 - 06:00 by Xin Lu
Art and Leisure
Starting in 2010, the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day program will be giving out free tickets to Disneyland or Disney World for those in the United States and Puerto Rico who volunteer at participating action centers. Read on for details.
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Posted November 21, 2009 - 08:00 by Xin Lu
Career Building
Generation Y is generally defined as the group of people born between 1977 and 1995. In the book, Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business, "generation expert" Jason Ryan Dorsey writes about the generation gap in the modern workplace and how business leaders can motivate and best use their Gen-Y employees. As a member of Generation Y, I was interested in what Dorsey had to say about us in the workplace.
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Posted November 13, 2009 - 07:00 by Xin Lu
Real Estate and Housing
Currently millions of Americans are delinquent on their home loans or facing foreclosure. Foreclosure, deed in lieu of foreclosure, and short sales are several ways for borrowers to get out of a mortgage that is no longer affordable. Here is a quick guide to what these options are, and how much they could affect one's credit score.
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Posted November 7, 2009 - 08:00 by Xin Lu
Taxes, Real Estate and Housing
A couple months ago I wrote about the pros and cons of extending and expanding the popular first time homebuyer tax credit which was due to expire on November 30th, 2009. I wrote that there was a good chance that Congress would extend the credit regardless of the costs. Sure enough, this week Congress has approved an extension and expansion of the credit. Here are some details on the changes.
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Posted November 5, 2009 - 07:00 by Xin Lu
Entrepreneurship
In Becoming a Category of One, business consultant Joe Calloway writes about how companies can successfully beat their competition by creating their own category of business and being the only one in it. I feel that many business leaders would benefit by reading this book, and as a consumer I feel that the world would be a better place if all businesses applied the lessons in this book.
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Posted October 26, 2009 - 05:00 by Xin Lu
Consumer Affairs
A group of lawyers threatened a class action lawsuit last year against Disney for deceptive practices since their Baby Einstein videos are heavily marketed as educational but research showed that television could actually be detrimental for very young children. Now Disney is offering a refund of up to $15.99 for each Baby Einstein DVD. Here are some details on how you can trade in your old Baby Einstein videos for some cash or a different product.
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Posted October 13, 2009 - 08:00 by Xin Lu
Frugal Living
Clothing swaps parties have become popular in recent years as frugal and fashion conscious men and women find that trading clothes is a great way to update a wardrobe for next to nothing. For those of you who are not into attending or organizing these parties, it is possible to trade your gently used clothes from the comfort of your home. Here are five websites that help you achieve this.
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