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Stores Cut Prices Early
Tweet Share on Facebook November 16, 2007 CommentThe season of indulgence is almost here, and stores are already feeling overstuffed, according to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Rising debt levels, a struggling real estate market, and high gas prices have turned many consumers into stingy bargain hunters, which means holiday sales could be the slowest in years, the business school reports. Plus, shop inventories are piled up after a warm fall that kept many consumers outdoors and out of the stores.
"Retail marketers, for their part, will do what they can to counter the problems and lure consumers into plunking down their cash and credit cards," Wharton says, "but ultimately their most powerful tool is the one that Wal-Mart has already resorted to: price cutting. That will mean lower profits even if traffic picks up."
For shoppers, that means more deals and discounts, just in time for the holidays.
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Video: The Shrewd Traveler
Tweet Share on Facebook November 14, 2007 CommentRevel in foreign culture even when the dollar is down and out.
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On Turning Kids Into Shoppers
Tweet Share on Facebook November 12, 2007 CommentAuthor Susan Gregory Thomas started looking into the effect of videos and other products marketed to infants and toddlers around the time she began to have her own children. In her book Buy, Buy Baby, she writes that when she saw her 17-month-old toddler memorize Elmo's theme song within a few minutes, she "knew there was definitely something behind that friendly, furry face." She found that indeed there was. U.S. News spoke with Thomas, a former senior editor at the magazine, about why videos aimed at kids exert so much influence over them and may train their minds more for consumption than for anything educational.
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Readers Share Estate Planning Tips
Tweet Share on Facebook November 7, 2007 Comment (3)I didn't expect my column on wills and estate planning to generate much controversy. Parceling out family assets isn't exactly a hot topic of public debate.
But I received many E-mails in the days after it was published, some disagreeing with the advice offered in the column and others with follow-up questions. Some experts from the estate-planning field wrote in to share their own experiences.
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Should Credit Cards Market on Campuses?
Tweet Share on Facebook November 5, 2007 Comment (1)As Sydney Maier settled into her sophomore year at the University of Illinois-Chicago last year, she came across an offer she couldn't refuse: free food.
At a Subway franchise near campus, Discover Card representatives gave students sandwiches in exchange for filling out a credit card application. Maier signed up and ate a 6-inch veggie sub on the company. A month later, her new Discover card showed up in the mail.
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Dealing With a Disabled Son's Debt
Tweet Share on Facebook November 2, 2007 Comment (1)Dear Alpha Consumer,
About eight months ago our son, who is 45, suffered a brain injury, resulting in the loss of short-term memory. He was between jobs, which caught him with no assets and no insurance but about $20,000 in credit card obligations. He is unmarried and has no children.
Although he may get some rehabilitation to develop coping skills, it is also quite likely he will spend many of his future years in some sort of institution. He is presently receiving Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income disability payments. The prospect for greater earnings is not good.
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Video: Service You Deserve
Tweet Share on Facebook October 31, 2007 CommentU.S. News Associate Editor Kimberly Palmer talks to Retirement Living TV about how to ensure companies treat you right.
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How to Navigate Customer Service Without Screaming
Tweet Share on Facebook October 30, 2007 Comment (1)When I got my new Dell laptop, I couldn't wait to turn it on and start using it. But first I had to spend an hour on the phone with my Internet service provider because the new computer wasn't compatible with my wireless modem. Then I had to spend two Saturdays in a row on the phone with Dell customer service trying to figure out why the computer shut off and started beeping if I left it on for too long when plugged in.
During one of my last calls to the company, a technical support representative asked me to run an hour-long diagnostic test on the machine. When another representative called back later to check up on how the test went, I had to repeat the entire story of what was wrong with the computer, wasting even more of my precious weekend time.
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How to Avoid a Death Trap
Tweet Share on Facebook October 26, 2007 Comment (2)When Steven Kopp went home to Orlando to visit his parents earlier this year, they took him to see what will one day be their final resting place. They explained to him how they chose the simple spot in a cemetery near their home.
Such openness about death is rare, as Kopp well knows. The business professor at the University of Arkansas studies why people don't better plan what they want to happen after they die and the economic costs of failing to do so. "Many people have a resistance to even thinking about the events involved in dying," Kopp says. That lack of awareness and planning can make death more stressful and more costly for family members as they struggle to quickly plan a funeral and think about dividing up family property while grieving.
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House-Hunting While Self-Employed
Tweet Share on Facebook October 25, 2007 CommentDear Alpha Consumer,
I'm self-employed, and I've read that it is very difficult for self-employed people to get a mortgage without putting down 20 percent of the home's purchase price. I've tried calling lenders to find out whether this is true. They all say to call them back after I've been working for myself for over a year (it's now been about five months) but won't go into detail about what will happen then. Is there anything you can tell me?
When it comes to taking out a mortgage, self-employed people face obstacles that their cubicle-contained neighbors do not. It's harder to prove how much income a self-employed person has since he usually lacks a weekly paycheck. What's more, some of the money coming in may be going to business costs. So lenders often charge a premium to entrepreneurs. You do have options, though, and waiting a year may not be the best one.
