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When Interest Rates Head Up

It doesn't take any skill at prognostication to make this forecast: Interest rates are heading up. For one thing, they can't go any lower.

New Credit Card Rules: Who Really Benefits?

Credit card industry reform may have good intentions, but will these rules encourage the same behavior that made reform necessary in the first place?

The Three Interest Rates

I got a notice from one of my credit cards a bit ago, announcing that they were raising the interest rate. It's only of theoretical interest to me, of course--I use credit cards f

My best posts that got no attention

A few times I've written a post that I thought was good, but that seemed to vanish into the blogosphere without a trace. On my two-year anniversary of writing for Wise Bread, I

Oh noes! Inflation!

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

Don't let low interest rates make you stupid

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

Best of Personal Finance: Credit Where Credit Is Due Edition

Credit cards are fun for the whole family, until the bills start rolling in and you are expected to hand over your hard-earned money for the stuff you bought on plastic. In this we

Funding your 401(k) when you're in debt

If there are two pieces of financial advice that get hammered more often than any others, they're "Get out of debt" and "Put enough in your 401(k) to get any corporate match." Wi

I turn down free money

There's a certain class of ways to get free money or free stuff simply by paying attention, keeping track, and being careful. I don't do these things. It's not because they don't

I Bond rates go to zero

Since 1998, the US Treasury has had a pretty good deal for small savers who were worried about inflation--the Series I Savings Bond.  The interest it paid was based on inflation pl

Laddering for higher, more stable returns

When investing in things that pay an interest rate--things like CDs and bonds--it's tempting to try to get the maximum interest rate, and then to try to lock up that rate for a

Credit Card Fees: Hidden and Otherwise

Annual fees, grace periods, balance transfer options…it's a wonderful world of credit card jargon out there, and depending on your needs and planned u

Federal Reserve cuts the discount rate

In response to the recent credit squeeze, the Federal Reserve did something unusual: they cut the discount rate without cutting the federal funds rate. The federal funds rate is the rate at which banks lend to one another. [more]

Why Treasury Bills Are Always a Worthwhile Investment

When rates are rising, you need something that responds quickly to changes in the market. That's where Treasury bills come in.

How to Avoid Foreclosure

What would you do if you were about to lose your home? What would you be willing to do to keep it? Is it even possible to keep it once you've missed a few payments? [more]

The Dirty Secrets of Credit Cards

Here are some of the biggest dirty secrets of the credit card industry.