Best Money Tips: WaMu Go Bye-Bye?

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Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips roundup!

Learning to fail? First it was Freddie and Fannie, then Lehman Brothers - is WaMu up next for a massive failure? Is the FDIC even capable of covering a failure the size of WaMu? Five Cent Nickel, Consumerism Commentary

How much money are you worth? Does it really matter, ultimately? Get Rich Slowly

Youth is wasted on the young. But not financial advice. Mighty Bargain Hunter thinks that the best time to save is when you are young.

Insecure spending. Does your ego gets in the way of your financial security? No Credit Needed

Leggo my ego! No, really, if your ego is a problem, consider analyzing your behavior to see if it can be fixed. Abhijeet Mukherjee on Dumb Little Man

Pipe dream? What would happen if we legalized all drugs in the US? MSN Money

Cutting the financial umbilical cord. When are you too old to accept financial help from your parents? All Financial Matters

Use the game of Monopoly to teach your kids about money now. So you don't HAVE to send them supplemental mortgage help when they are 30. Our Fourpence Worth

It'd be funny if it weren't so sad. "A worker at a Miami investment advisory firm... did a Google search on bankruptcies this morning and got back search results that included a six-year-old story... about the 2002 bankruptcy filing by United Airlines.... [T]he article in the Sun Sentinel's archive had no date on it. But when Google's spider grabbed it, it assigned a current date to the piece, which then resulted in the article being placed in the top results of Google News. Panic ensued, as they say, and United Airlines stock price plummeted 75 percent (down from $12.30 to $3 a share) before someone realized it was an old news story and things righted themselves." Wired via Consumerist

The art of bargaining. Some tips for asking for discounts or freebies when shopping. The Simple Dollar

Is saving money unpatriotic? A blogger ponders if buying goods and services in India for super-cheap is un-American. I Will Teach You to Be Rich

Nothing says "we value your business" like ignoring your female customers. "After receiving wedding gift checks made out to both So Cal Savvy and her new husband, the couple went to the bank to get her name added to one of his accounts. Mr. BankTellerMan directed all of his attention to her husband, even though he was sitting farther away. Mr. BankTellerMan in no way acknowledged her presence." Donna Freedman at MSN

Bulk buying for frugal meals. "I’ll try not to be too rigid, but I’m hoping that by setting some limits about when I can go to the store, we can be more creative about using what we have at home. The first challenge is to figure out what I actually need to buy to last us three months." My Daily Dollars

Cheating high-gas prices. "Think you need a Costco membership to get their low-priced gas? Well, not really. See, you can insert an American Express card instead of a Costco card. The pump will accept both." OC Register

Speaking of India.... Shilpan Patel sheds some light on Gandhi's teachings about peace and protest. guest post on Zen Habits

How much space do you need? "Now let me say this before you say it, because I know you are thinking it … yes, the boat is much smaller than a house. I know it, believe me I know it! However, my backyard is bigger than yours I likely have a better view, and if I don’t like my neighbours, I just move. Can you say that?" We Live on a Boat

I thought "elite" was a dirty word this year? McDonald's goes all Chardonnay and arugula on us. NPR's Marketplace

Easy-peasy inner peace. Leo offers 21 easy ways to simplify your life, quiet your mind, and unclutter your home. Zen Habits

Spend to save? Consumer Reports wants you to buy everything new to save money. Why that's not really a good idea. Free Money Finance

Ad spending up for Superbowl this year; surely the ads won't suck as much as last year. "The healthy pace of sales comes despite an estimated 10% price hike from the most recent Super Bowl -- some advertisers are paying as much as $3 million for 30 seconds of ad time. Typically, about 50% to 60% of Super Bowl ad time is sold by this time of year, buyers say." WSJ

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Guest's picture
Guest

"Think you need a Costco membership to get their low-priced gas? Well, not really. See, you can insert an American Express card instead of a Costco card. The pump will accept both."

But. That would be unethical. Is saving a few cents per gallon really worth doing something that's dishonest?

Will Chen's picture

Thanks for the great roundup Andrea!

The Wired story is hilarious.  I guess with so many terrible things happening in the market right now, people are ready to believe in the worst news possible.

Guest's picture
poor and broke

WHOO-HOO!

(That was a WaMu joke.)

Guest's picture

When are you too old to accept financial help from your parents? When you figure out they don't know what there talking about since their own financial and credit situation is dismal...LOL

-doozieUp
http://doozieUp.com

Guest's picture
poor and broke

This morning I noticed WaMu shares were at $2.80 (went back above $3 but I haven't seen where they closed).

Whoo Hoo, indeed.