Money Tips Network

Whatever your daily routine, many people find themselves needing to boil water on occasion. Whether you're an avid tea drinker or you like a cup of instant coffee or soup from time to time, having an electric kettle can definitely come in handy. Kettles have several advantages over simply boiling water in a pot on the stove, including ease of pouring and shortened heating time. Electric kettles come in all shapes and sizes, from simple and utilitarian to those that look like works of art. Nowadays they have multiple features and are made in a variety of different materials, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. We here at Wise Bread have take the guesswork out of boiling water by choosing the five best electric kettles on the market today.

This post comes from Colleen Oakley at our partner site LearnVest.

“There just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

“I’m crazy busy.”

“My to-do list is a mile long.”

If you’re like most Americans, you likely say one (or all) of the above statements on a regular basis.

A few years ago Brigid Schulte—a journalist for The Washington Post and a mother of two—did too. “I kept waking up in a panic at 4 A.M. worrying—not only about all of the stuff on my to-do list that I hadn’t done that day and how much more there was to do,” Schulte says, “but also whether I was missing my life even as I was living it.”

CNN is sounding the alarm bells. The “Fear and Greed Index,” which is a strange measure of market sentiment, has passed the threshold into the “extreme greed” level.CNN is sounding the alarm bells. The “Fear and Greed Index,” which is a strange measure of market sentiment, has passed the threshold into the “extreme greed” level.

That’s one week after the level has been on the opposite end of the spectrum, “fear,” for several weeks.hat’s one week after the level has been on the opposite end of the spectrum, “fear,” for several weeks.

The editors at CNN devised the index by looking at seven factors in stock market prices, including the value of the S&P 500 index versus its 125-day maximum and other measures of price relative to recent history, demand for junk bonds, and the perceived benefit of stock investing versus Treasury bonds.

Here is what you can expect from the index:

This article is by staff writer Kristin Wong.

Last Friday, I had an amazing realization: It was the weekend, the weather was beautiful, and I had absolutely nothing to do. Great feeling.

On Saturday morning, my boyfriend and I decided to slap some sandwiches together and head to the beach. It was relaxing and low-key, and it made me anticipate summer.

But at the beginning of the year, I made some lofty savings goals for myself, and I’d like to stick to them. So I’m using the change in season to assess my savings and remember those goals. Last year around this time, I spent quite a bit of money on travel. This year, I want to focus on being frugal. Here’s how I plan to make frugality a part of my summer.

Purging my apartment

A few days ago, I called my internet service provider. I had an issue I wanted to discuss with their customer service people.

Don’t get me wrong – I actually really like my internet service provider. They have fast service when there’s a problem and there’s rarely a problem. The speeds are consistent and don’t vary much at all throughout the day.

The problem is that they’re expensive. Our monthly internet bill isn’t cheap. We pay for a pretty fast speed so that both Sarah and I can work while the children watch high quality streaming video without anyone hiccuping, but it’s still awfully high.

We’ve been a customer with this company since we moved to our current house in 2007. We’ve never even been late on a bill in those years.

This article is by staff writer Holly Johnson.

Divorce. It’s an unattractive yet common end to a relatively high percentage of marriages in the U.S. In fact, as many as 50 percent of American marriages end this way, often leaving catastrophic personal and financial consequences that linger for years.

The division of assets. Alimony. Child Custody Issues. Who gets the Stuff? These are all things that must be dealt with during and after a divorce, whether one likes it or not. And the truth is, it isn’t always pretty.

Before reading this post, please grab a steaming cup of coffee, and recline in the most comfortable chair you can find. If one is near, lift a warm puppy to your lap and stroke the soft, furry pet as you read. All set? Proceed.

When professor and author Thalma Lobel was ready to finalize the sale of her Tel Aviv apartment, she sat down with the buyer for final negotiations. She and her husband had determined they would go no lower than a figure they had decided upon earlier. But holding a warm cup of coffee, Lobel found herself granting the buyer price concessions she hadn’t originally intended to offer.

What made her warm to the buyer’s lower offer? Was it the warm coffee?

Lobel’s research into that question has resulted in her new book, Sensation: The New Science of Physical Intelligence, offering insights about the impact of physical sensation on negotiating psychology that you can take right to the bank.

I realize I'm a strange animal. My palms tingle a little bit when I approach a thrift store. All my senses sharpen. The rest of the world fades into watercolor tones and muffled sounds. I can park, grab my wallet, hop out, and lock my car in a single fluid Matrix-inspired movement. Once inside, I can size up a thrift store in seconds: Who's the serious competition and who's just browsing? Is the store too organized or wonderfully chaotic? What's newly-stocked, and what's stale? (See also: The 5 Best Deals in Every Thrift Store)

A few days ago, I was running some errands and listening to a real estate guy on talk radio. He was arguing about investments with a caller and along the way, he made a statement that stuck with me.

He said that if you go back and look at the history of the stock market, it’s returned about 10% a year and that we should project that much going forward.

That number stuck with me. It seemed a little high, but I wanted to check it out. I’ve called out some financial gurus for projecting unrealistic investment returns in the past, after all – I think Dave Ramsey’s prediction of a 12% annual return on your investment is overoptimistic.

It turns out that the talker was right.