In theory, company-issued credit cards are a good idea for all concerned. The company can benefit with the tracking capabilities of company credit cards, and they can establish controls to keep spending in line with their budget. Employees benefit by using their employer’s money for business expenses without having to go through the hassle of [...]
Continue Reading →Have never heard of a daily money manager (DMM)? It’s not something that you will hear anyone readily admit, but most people are lousy money managers. And, we’re not talking about sophisticated portfolio management or financial planning; we mean the day-to-day task of keeping the household financially afloat by managing a budget, paying the bills, balancing [...]
Continue Reading →It began innocently enough. You swipe your grocery club card at checkout, and as you gather your bags, the checkout clerk hands you some coupons with offers on the products you just purchased. Never mind that one included a dollar off on a product you just paid full price for, because from that moment on, [...]
Continue Reading →Is it time for a cruise? After several years of scaling back their vacations due to self-imposed austerity, Americans are, once again, taking to the high seas aboard a resurging cruise industry. Cruise bookings are up 10 percent and the cruise lines are trying to boost that number even higher by offering great deals and [...]
Continue Reading →It’s almost summer, yet many people are still suffering from a debt hangover from the holidays, and some may have added to it by charging their tax bill to a credit card. However you got there, you suddenly find yourself scrapping to make your credit card payments again. So, when that 0% introductory rate offer [...]
Continue Reading →A recent spate of news reports on credit report inaccuracies is starting to sound alarms among the public, around Congress, with the justice system, and even with the credit reporting agencies that are coming under more intense scrutiny. As consumers, we have always been told that it is our ultimate responsibility to check the accuracy [...]
Continue Reading →The good news is that banks are lending to businesses again. In what could be a sign that the economy is finally improving, the demand for business credit is picking up, and many of the banks are feeling more obliging than they were just a year ago. The banks realize that small businesses aren’t flush [...]
Continue Reading →Directbanc.com discovers the man behind the mustache, the uncoventional and highly entertaining Mr. Money Mustache. Mr. Money Mustache is a new financial blogger who retired, financially independent, from an average engineering job shortly after turning 30 in order to start a family. With no punches pulled, he attacks the mindless consumerism that defines America’s middle-class [...]
Continue Reading →Happy days are here again! Or are they? After 3 years of belt tightening, American consumers began spreading their cash around again as consumer spending showed an increase of .08 percent, the largest increase in over a year. Was the new “frugality” that came to characterize the fiscal attitudes of Americans only fleeting? Or are [...]
Continue Reading →Last week we were treated with the news of another multi-billion dollar loss suffered at the hands of one of the largest and most respected banking institutions in the world, JP Morgan Chase. While the loss of $2 billion may turn out to be nothing more than a blip on JP Morgan’s financial statement, it [...]
Continue Reading →The number of American renouncing their U.S. citizenship each year has increased nearly 200 percent per year over the last four years, the vast majority of who do so to escape the long arm of the IRS. Granted, we’re only talking about 1,800 expats out of more than 6 million living abroad; however, it’s not [...]
Continue Reading →It’s difficult getting through life these days without a credit card. While many people simply take them for granted, others walk a daily tightrope in managing their credit cards where one slip could suddenly send their credit situation tumbling down. In either case, all it takes is one mistake to turn your financial dreams into [...]
Continue Reading →Savers and investors are in quite a quandary these days as fiscal and economic policies have driven interest rates to their lowest level in history. In fact, when you factor in inflation most bank savings vehicles are yielding a negative return. Treasury notes are not much better as their yields barely break even with inflation. [...]
Continue Reading →If credit card use is up at all these days it may be largely attributed to the popularity of the cash back rewards programs offered by most of the major card issuers. After all, if you can earn an extra $40 or $50 a month just by making your normal purchases of gas and groceries, [...]
Continue Reading →Even as the dust continues to settle after the calamitous financial crisis of 2008 that cost investors and tax payers trillions of dollars, there is still no shortage of hucksters scheming for our money. And incredibly, the pool of hapless investors, willing to turn over their life savings in pursuit of “homerun” returns seems to [...]
Continue Reading →As we have learned over the last couple of years, there is nothing the market hates more than uncertainty, and this year, with the all of the vital fiscal issues dangling before a hyper-partisan Congress and President, its revulsion will very likely become a wrath it unleashes on investors with vicious volatility. What else is [...]
Continue Reading →What is a short sale, and is it the best choice for you right now? Maybe so, however there is a lot to slip between the cup and the lip. As the nation anxiously awaits the next wave of foreclosures, thousands of distressed homeowners are desperately clinging to the possibility of escaping their underwater homes [...]
Continue Reading →Credit cards for those with good or excellent credit are everywhere, however, credit cards for fair credit are still hard to find. Unquestionably there has been a credit revival in the U.S. over the last year or so. The number of people thawing out their credit cards is increasing, as evidenced by the uptick in [...]
Continue Reading →Have you ever considered using a virtual bank as opposed to a traditional bank? You may be one of the 175 million people who have become comfortable conducting their banking business online. And why worry, because with all of the security and redundant data encryption used in banking websites, you’re as safe banking online as you are [...]
Continue Reading →For Bank of America, the PR hits just keep coming. It was reported last week that senior officials at Bank of America showed a decade-long customer the door because it didn’t like its line of business as a firearms manufacturer. McMillan Group International, an American, family-owned company was not only told that B of A [...]
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