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Questions to Ask Before You Shop
Tweet Share on Facebook October 9, 2012 CommentMindless spending might be endemic to American consumerism, but a credit card sleeve campaign aims to reverse that trend, or at least to slow it. A series of questions posed by the nonprofit Jews United for Justice encourages shoppers to pause and reflect on the true value and impact of their purchases before going through with them.
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How to Market Your Business Online
Tweet Share on Facebook October 3, 2012 CommentThe booming online creative economy has created new opportunities for entrepreneurs: Selling your own ebook, or e-course, or other type of digital product is as easy as setting up a website and a PayPal account.
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Should Students Get Paid for Test Scores?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 1, 2012 CommentThe question of how to motivate students to perform well at school is a tricky one, since most of the rewards for hard work come years, or even decades later. For young people, who tend to care less about the future than the present, that can seem like eons away.
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Beware of Official-Looking Mail—It’s Probably Not
Tweet Share on Facebook September 26, 2012 CommentWhen I first saw the official-looking piece of mail buried between catalogs and junk mail, I thought I’d done something wrong. It was covered in warnings: “2nd Attempt,” “Request for Immediate Action,” and “$2,000 fine, 5 years imprisonment, or both for any personal interfering or obstructing with delivery of this letter.” The envelope also listed the make and model of my car, so the sender clearly had specific information about me.
[In Pictures: 10 Ways to Give Your Money a Makeover.]
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Why Parents Don’t Have Enough Life Insurance
Tweet Share on Facebook September 24, 2012 CommentYou might guess that becoming a parent—that moment when you take on responsibility for a small, dependent little person—might be the life change that most inspires people to take out life insurance. You’d be wrong.
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The Hidden Costs of Being a Woman
Tweet Share on Facebook September 20, 2012 CommentEarlier this year, the FINRA Investor Education Foundation made a surprising announcement: Women, it turns out, pay higher interest rates on credit cards than men do. It’s just a half-point difference, but the study points out that over a lifetime, women could pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars more to borrow money than men.
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Why the Middle-Class Is Under Scrutiny
Tweet Share on Facebook September 19, 2012 CommentThe middle-class has never been more popular—or more squeezed. Thanks to the upcoming presidential election, Americans who are neither rich nor poor have been the subject of new studies, cable news debates, and campaign speeches. When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was caught deriding the “47 percent” of Americans who don’t pay federal income taxes, he was forced to quickly explain his remarks—and insist that he does, indeed, care about middle-class Americans.
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Americans Continue to Struggle Post-Recession
Tweet Share on Facebook September 14, 2012 CommentThis week, we reported on the Pew Research Center’s findings that the 2000s were a lost decade for the middle class, as a result of declining household income and shrinking net worth over that 10-year period. Now, Pew reports that in the two years since the end of the Great Recession, Americans continue to shed resources.
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Thinking About Money? Stop Before You Shop
Tweet Share on Facebook September 13, 2012 CommentHow many times a day do you think about money? If you kept track, you might notice dozens of small money reminders sprinkled throughout your day, from movie titles (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) to songs (Money, Money, Money) to handing a $5 bill to a cashier.
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3 Signs Americans Are Optimistic on Economy
Tweet Share on Facebook September 10, 2012 CommentDespite the weak jobs report and an unemployment rate of just over 8 percent, Americans report feeling increasingly optimistic about the economy, according to a new Citi Economic Pulse survey. When asked about their own finances as well as their local economics, most Americans report a greater sense of confidence about the future compared to last year.
