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Audio: When to File for Bankruptcy
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2009 Comment (1)Over the weekend, I spoke to WTOP about when it makes sense to file for bankruptcy, along with some of the pros and cons.
When to File for Bankruptcy
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Swine Flu: Is Cheap Meat to Blame?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2009 Comment (4)Today's guest entry comes from chef and ecologist Aaron French, whose work focuses on the connection that food forms "between humans and our environment." He has a master's degree in ecology, is the chef of the Sunny Side Cafe, and writes the EcoChef column for 10 newspapers in the San Francisco Bay area.
The recent outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and its spread to the United States gives us consumers one more clear reason to vote with our fork – and our wallets.
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Americans Get Low Marks on Financial Literacy
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2009 Comment (8)Two in five Americans give themselves a C, D or F on their understanding of personal finance, according to a new report from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. The annual survey also made several other disturbing findings: One in three adults have no savings, and among those between the ages of 18 and 34, almost half have no savings. 28 percent of those surveyed said their mortgage terms turned out to be different than they expected. And one in three Americans don't put any of their income towards retirement.
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How to Calculate Student Loan Debt
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2009 Comment (9)Veronica, a grad student in New York, recently wrote to ask me how debt calculators treat student loan debt. The calculators she used always seemed to ask about debt that is separate from mortgage debt, but since her student loans are as large as some mortgages ($113,000), she wondered why they got special treatment. Since she's getting worried about how and when she'll be paying back all that debt, she wanted a calculator that could help put it in perspective.
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Video: The New Rules of Credit Cards
Tweet Share on Facebook April 27, 2009 CommentI spoke with WUSA9 on Friday about how to balance paying off credit card debts with funding an emergency savings account:
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Donald Trump: Pushing Right Guard
Tweet Share on Facebook April 27, 2009 Comment (20)If you've ever watched NBC's Celebrity Apprentice, you know how it works: Donald Trump gives the two teams a business challenge, and they compete against each other in an effort to avoid getting fired. Last night, Right Guard enlisted the celebrity apprentices to create a four-page print ad campaign for its new deodorant, Fast Break. Instead of being forced to feature themselves in the ads, Right Guard offered up David Lee from the New York Knicks.
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Obama: Legislate Credit Cards, Now
Tweet Share on Facebook April 24, 2009 Comment (14)President Obama lent his weight to credit card reform yesterday as he met with credit card company executives. Obama said he wants credit card fees and policies to be explained in language anyone could understand and to put an end to unexpected hikes in interest rates. "Every credit card issuer has to issue a plain vanilla easy-to-understand, simplest possible credit card that would be the default credit card that the average user can feel comfortable with," he said.
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Explaining China's Quality Control Problems
Tweet Share on Facebook April 23, 2009 Comment (14)In his new book, Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game, Paul Midler attempts to explain why some Chinese-made products suffer from poor quality. Part of the problem, he says, is rooted in miscommunication and misunderstandings between American companies and the Chinese manufacturers they are buying from. I recently E-mailed with Midler, a businessman who has worked with American and Chinese businesses, about his experiences. Excerpts:
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Audio: The New Rules of Credit Cards
Tweet Share on Facebook April 23, 2009 Comment (1)I recently spoke with WTOP about the new rules of credit card debt, in light of Suze Orman's announcement that she has changed her advice. Instead of making paying off credit card debt a priority, Orman now recommends first creating an emergency savings fund that could last you up to eight months. Why the change? Well, in the past, people who found themselves in a financial pinch after a job loss or other emergency could turn to credit cards to get them through. But now, with more credit cards slashing credit limits and raising rates, that's not always a possibility. So now Orman says that instead of paying off your debt in full, you should first rack up savings, so you could fund your own emergencies in a tight spot.
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Video: Going Green and Saving Cash
Tweet Share on Facebook April 22, 2009 Comment (1)This morning on the Today show, I talked about five easy ways to go green and save money. You can view the video below:
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Alpha Consumer
Kimberly Palmer, senior editor for U.S. News & World Report, writes about making smarter financial decisions. She’s the author of Generation Earn: The Young Professional's Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back.
Generation Earn
Senior editor Kimberly Palmer’s book, Generation Earn: The Young Professional's Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back, is now available.
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