From the monthly archives:
I am a typical American consumer. I buy books, music, and movies for my own entertainment, and the objects spend more time on my shelves than they do in their respective playback devices. I make an exception for music as everything I buy is almost immediately transcoded digitally and transfered to a portable media device. ... Continue reading this article…
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The summer following graduation is an interesting time for recently-former students. The newly-commenced young men and women, those not opting to pursue an additional number of years in an institution of higher learning, spend their time amongst activities such as attending backyard barbecues in celebration of their achievements, traveling to distant lands with newfound free ... Continue reading this article…
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In the tenth episode of the Consumerism Commentary Podcast, Tom Dziubek interviews Jim Wang and Erica Douglass. Jim Wang is the creator of Bargaineering and Grill Maestro, and in today’s interview, Tom and Jim discuss a variety of tips for creating a successful and frugal barbecue for July 4. Erica Douglass is a business success blogger ... Continue reading this article…
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Håkan Djuphammar, VP of Systems Architecture for Ericsson, made a prediction recently that all new mobile phones sold after Summer 2010 would have two-way RFID chips in them that would allow them to act as a tag or a reader. If what you just read sounds like technobabble, watch this short news excerpt to get up ... Continue reading this article…
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Overall, the worst of the economic recession may be over in terms of unemployment. If it isn’t, or even if it is, many companies are still struggling as they find ways to cut costs. The next expense that might be cut could be your job. If you receive the pink slip after missing the signs ... Continue reading this article…
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Or maybe not. Capital One conducted a survey of high school seniors to determine how many of these young adults are prepared to handle finances on their own. The company asked the students to rate their own levels of knowledge of personal finance. The results may be interesting, but they don’t reveal anything about financial ... Continue reading this article…
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Do you have a 5-year financial plan? What about just a general idea? Do you know where you want to be financially in 25 years? Have you ever set a financial goal? If you decided you wanted to save $5,000 this year, could you do it? Far too often we get into situations where we ... Continue reading this article…
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After receive bailouts from the government on two separate occasions, Citigroup has announced that it will be increasing its expense for the salaries of the company’s rank-and-file employees, not upper management, by 50 percent. This will be a nice benefit, designed to compensate employees for smaller bonuses and raises last year. The government’s new “pay ... Continue reading this article…
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In February, I wrote that the United States was suing Swiss bank UBS in order to get the offshore institution to release the names of the wealthiest 19,000 of the 52,000 American bank account owners. These depositors have managed to evade paying United States income taxes on the interest earned within these foreign accounts. The New ... Continue reading this article…
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A new law signed by the president yesterday gives the Food and Drug Administration the ability to regulate the tobacco industry. The primary focus of the law is to stop cigarette companies from aggressively marketing to children. To that end, it will soon be illegal to:
sell candy-flavored and fruit-flavored cigarettes put tobacco company logos on sporting, athletic ... Continue reading this article…
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It is in any consumer’s best interest to try to get the lowest price on all purchases, yet haggling, negotiating, or bargaining, at least in my culture, is not a social norm. Other than in specific situations such as buying a car that is not a “non-negotiable” brand like Saturn or Scion, haggling is uncommon. ... Continue reading this article…
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Penelope Trunk and Leo Babauta are today’s guests on the Consumerism Commentary Podcast. Penelope Trunk is the author of Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success and founder of the career advancement website Brazen Careerist. Tom Dziubek and I speak with Penelope about maintaining careers in today’s recession and she presents a number of tips ... Continue reading this article…
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Editor’s note: The program which was once suspended is still available through Labor Day, 2009. Yesterday the U.S. Senate passed a War funding appropriations bill that paradoxically included a piece of legislation popularly referred to as the “Cash for Clunkers” program. In an earlier article where Flexo pointed out the weirdness of including “guns in national parks” ... Continue reading this article…
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Update: The first-time home buyer tax credit has been extended and expanded. Click here for the latest details. The information below is now out-dated. The Senate is considering a number of changes to the $8,000 first-time home buyers credit. Spurred on by Sen. Johnny Isakson from Georgia, the adjustments being considered seek to expand the credit ... Continue reading this article…
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Although I post my financial reports each month to keep myself accountable for my financial decisions, I have moved to summarizing my investments rather than listing all the details. My reports now simply separate my investments between retirement and non-retirement accounts. An important part of anyone’s finances is how investments are allocated among stocks, bonds, or ... Continue reading this article…
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The White House is proposing a realignment of the financial regulation that failed to prevent the latest recession, but will the proposals help protect consumers? There is a long way to go between the President’s proposal and the enactment of a law, but here are the highlights as the plan stands today. The Financial Services Oversight ... Continue reading this article…
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Would you work for free? I used to work for a non-profit organization whose business model was not exactly built around the concept of making money. Before I joined the organization, there were times of low or negative cash flow during which the staff were asked to accept a delay in paychecks for a month ... Continue reading this article…
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There is some speculation that Coca-Cola, General Electric, and Wal-Mart are seeking to raise capital by offering stock… in China. The companies have not responded to these rumors, but China seems open to allowing western companies to participate in the country’s stock exchanges once trading resumes. If American companies want to be on the Shanghai Stock ... Continue reading this article…
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On the heels of Microsoft’s announcement that the company’s desktop financial management software, Microsoft Money (Plus) will be discontinued, Intuit is jumping on the chance to win customers by offering decent discounts on its Quicken products. These discounts are similar to those offered earlier this year. It looks like Intuit brought them back shortly after Microsoft’s ... Continue reading this article…
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It has been awhile, but I now have a new set of $25 bonus referral links available for new customers of the ING Direct online savings account. ING Direct is currently, as of June 16, 2009, offering an interest rate yielding 1.5 percent APY on this savings account. Here is how this works. If you open an ... Continue reading this article…
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