Debt Consolidation, Help and Relief

Estate Tax Is Back, But News Isn’t All Bad

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  • Posted 02/10/11. by alison

After about a year break the estate tax, also known as the “death tax”, is back. Lawmakers reinstated it on December 17 and for at least the next two years it’s here to stay. In 2009 money left to your family was taxed at a rate of 45%. Now that rate is at 35% and [...]

As Tax Season Heats Up So Does Fight Between Tax Prep Companies

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  • Posted 02/3/11. by alison

As tax season heats up, so is a legal battle between two big tax preparation companies. According to Yahoo! News, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc is suing H&R Block to try to stop an advertising campaign that they claim is misleading and makes Jackson Hewitt look bad. Jackson Hewitt may be rushing to get the [...]

Storage Units Can Create Quick Cash

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  • Posted 01/27/11. by alison

You can blame it on the economy or the fact that Americans love a good Cinderella story, but it seems that there are more and more reality shows focused on turning junk into cash. It all started with “Antiques Roadshow” and exploded into a multi-channel love affair with the hunt for rusty gold. Shows like [...]

Nation Celebrates National Thrift Week

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  • Posted 01/20/11. by alison

For the first time since 1966, National Thrift Week is back. National Thrift Week started on January 17, which is Benjamin Franklin’s birthday. Franklin was dubbed the “American apostle of thrift.” Because Franklin’s home was Philadelphia, this city has become the center of activities for National Thrift Week.
The goal, organizers say, is to educate people [...]

Young Adults Make Big Financial Goals For 2011

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  • Posted 01/7/11. by alison

Among the goals of losing weight and reading more, plenty of young Americans are making resolutions to save, pay off debts and live within their means. According to a new Chase Slate/US News Consumer Monitor survey, young adults have learned a lesson from the recession that’s changing their financial habits. The survey says that those [...]

Get Rewarded For Shredding Your Credit Card

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  • Posted 01/4/11. by alison

If your new year’s resolution involves getting out of debt and getting rid of credit cards you’ll want to keep reading. A new contest is underway that will reward the most creative act of credit card destruction caught on video.

Tags: video, director product, USD, creative card, Weekly prizes [...]

Make Last Minute Donations Now

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  • Posted 12/30/10. by alison

Why wait for spring to get started on your cleaning? Getting rid of clutter and clearing out those closets may help you when tax time rolls around. Just like making a cash donation, it’s a good idea to donate goods before the end of the year, too. “You can give anytime during the year but [...]

Blizzard Freezes Many Cash Registers

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  • Posted 12/29/10. by alison

Holiday sales may have increased, but post Christmas sales were not so magical. The holiday blizzard sent a cold chill over cash registers across much of the US, forcing retailers to lose as many as $1 billion in post-Christmas sales. ShopperTrak records sales and traffic at more than 70,000 malls and retailers. They estimate that [...]

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @MoneySmartsBlog

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  • Posted 12/28/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, [...]

Losing Debt As Popular As Losing Weight Among Resolutions

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  • Posted 12/23/10. by alison

‘Tis the season to make New Year’s resolutions. And soon it will be the season for forgetting about them. According to a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, only 46 percent of those resolutions will be kept for more than six months. According to US.gov here is a [...]

Employers Get Creative With Christmas Bonuses

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  • Posted 12/21/10. by alison

Despite the recession, high unemployment and rounds of layoffs, Christmas bonuses are still being handed out. And some employers are getting creative with what they’re giving out. About 400 employees of the city of Gainesville received a $350 bonus added on to their paycheck. And they didn’t get the bonus for doing nothing.
According to The [...]

Mark Wahlberg Spends $500k More Than He Earned On New Film

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  • Posted 12/15/10. by alison

Being an actor isn’t just about memorizing a few lines and making boatloads of money. For actor Mark Wahlberg it meant years of devotion and forking over big bucks to perfect his new role in The Fighter. According to his interview with magazine Sports Illustrated, Wahlberg actually finished the movie by spending far more than [...]

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @MaximizingMoney

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  • Posted 12/14/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, and [...]

Survey: Americans Not Saving Enough For Retirement

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  • Posted 12/9/10. by alison

A new survey from Wells Fargo shows that Americans in their 50s better be prepared to live on $190 a month. The annual survey polled nearly 2,000 middle class Americans between the ages of 20 and 60. According to the results Americans aren’t saving enough and will likely end up working long after the retirement [...]

Reality Star: A Good Job If You Can Get It

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  • Posted 12/7/10. by alison

According to The Daily Beast, 30-year-old Kim Kardashian is the highest paid reality start of 2010. Kim took in roughly $6 million this year including fees for her E! reality shows and product endorsements. The site says Kim can take in as much as $75,000 per appearance. Kim’s sisterse Khloe and Kourtney came in tied [...]

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @CouponTeacher

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  • Posted 11/30/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, and [...]

Household Debt Getting Worse In UK

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  • Posted 11/25/10. by alison

A new poll says UK consumers are turning to their savings accounts in order to pay for expenses, according to The Press Association. More than one out of four people say their financial situation got worse in November, while just 7-percent saw improvement according to a survey by Markit. The report claims incomes are continuing [...]

Crowded Holiday Roads A Sign Of Better Economy

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  • Posted 11/23/10. by alison

Besides looking at foreclosure lists and want ads, another sign of an improving economy are the number of cars on the road according to experts. And this Thanksgiving you can expect extremely crowded roads with 42.2 million travelers heading at least 50 miles from home. The American Automobile Association says that’s a jump of 11-percent [...]

Holiday Shoppers Expected To Spend More In 2010

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  • Posted 11/18/10. by alison

You may expect holiday shoppers to continue to tighten the purse strings this holiday season, but that’s not necessarily the case according to a new study from PriceGrabber. They gathered responses from 1,839 online consumers to gauge holiday spending behavior and found that consumers will spend an average of $845 this year. Sixty-six percent of [...]

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @MavenofSavin

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  • Posted 11/17/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, and [...]

Consumers Expected To Spend More This Holiday

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  • Posted 11/15/10. by alison

Life may not be completely back to normal after the great recession, but analysts believe Americans are taking baby steps in that direction. Analysts are predicting that holiday sales will increase by two to three percent this year after two years of declines. The National Retail Federation says that in 2008 holiday shopping dropped by [...]

Americans Cutting Back On Thanksgiving Dinner

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  • Posted 11/11/10. by alison

A new survey shows that nearly half of Americans are scaling back their Thanksgiving dinners this year. A study done by First Command Financial Services found that 40 percent of American families are cutting back and making adjustments. The most common change being made is reducing the guest list and inviting family members only to [...]

Celebs Make Money Long After Death

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  • Posted 10/26/10. by alison

Lots of Americans may be struggling to find work or keep a steady paycheck, but even celebrities that have passed on are bringing in big bucks. In fact Michael Jackson made more money last year than any living celebrity with the exception of Oprah Winfrey. Forbes Magazine revealed the latest list of top-earning dead celebrities [...]

Use Cash For A More Nutritious Grocery Store Visit

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  • Posted 10/21/10. by alison

Trying to eat healthier? You may want to try paying with cash instead of plastic. At least that’s what a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research says. Why would this be? Overall, researchers say it’s harder to part with cold hard cash. That means we’re more conscious of what we buy when [...]

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @BargainBriana

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  • Posted 10/19/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, and [...]

Auto Lending Accelerating According To Data

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  • Posted 10/11/10. by alison

In the market for a new car? For those wondering if they could get their hands on credit for purchasing an auto, it looks like consumers may have an easier time getting money. A report from Bloomberg shows that US auto sales are continuing to accelerate at a pace that may match [...]

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @SavingSense

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  • Posted 10/5/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, and finance– [...]

Gift From Facebook CEO Will Help Struggling School District

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  • Posted 09/27/10. by alison

This weekend more details emerged about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s generous gift to the Newark, New Jersey school system. Zuckerberg announced he would donate $100 million worth of his company’s stock to fund education in the troubled district.
Zuckerberg made the announcement the biggest way possible– on Oprah. He then released more details in a conference [...]

Voice Of Bart Simpson Sued Over Cosigning Situation

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  • Posted 09/22/10. by alison

Actress Nancy Cartwright, best known for being the voice of Bart Simpson on the hit cartoon “The Simpsons”, is being sued by American Safety Casualty Insurance. According to a report by All Headline News, the company claims a construction company run by Cartwright’s fiance at the time was hired to renovate a restaurant called Off [...]

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @7Million7Years

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  • Posted 09/21/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, and finance– the topics [...]

Open Houses Mean Free Fun And Food For Many

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  • Posted 09/16/10. by alison

Money’s tight for many. Movies are expensive. And more are cutting back on fancy restaurants. Americans are looking for free fun and it turns out open houses are becoming a popular pass-time. According to MSNBC, almost half of the people who attend open houses in New York City aren’t serious shoppers. They’re more interested in [...]

Where To Get A Great Deal On A Home

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  • Posted 09/14/10. by alison

With high unemployment and foreclosure rates, it’s tough to look at the bright side of the economic downturn. But if you’re a glass-half-full type of person one silver lining is that there are some great deals on homes right now.According to US News and World Report, home prices plunged by 33 percent from the summer [...]

Will Money Problems Hurt The LA Dodgers?

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  • Posted 09/2/10. by alison

The LA Dodgers are yet another thing in California with money problems. Team owner Frank McCourt has levered the team to the tune of $433 million in debt and is now having trouble finding additional financing, according to the LA Times. Some fear the heavy debt will now inhibit the team’s ability to pay players [...]

Wall Street Sequel Depicts Dark Side Of Greed

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  • Posted 08/31/10. by alison

More than 20 years after the original rocked the box office, the story of Wall Street continues with the movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. The greedy villian Gordon Gekko is released from a lengthy prison sentence. He re-enters the real world with an empty money clip, a gold watch and a boxy sell phone [...]

Cash For Clunkers’ Disposal Facilities Investigated

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  • Posted 08/27/10. by alison

It’s been a year since the Cash for Clunkers program where people received incentives to trade in gas guzzlers for new vehicles. According to the Orange County Register, the Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation recently discovered that many vehicles were not destroyed as required by the program. Officials visited 22 disposal facilities [...]

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @MoneyFunk

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  • Posted 08/10/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, and finance– the topics we know you love. So every [...]

Even Young People Need To Hire Financial Experts

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  • Posted 08/6/10. by alison

When you’re young and struggling to make ends meet it may not make sense to hire a financial planner. After all, you don’t have much money to work with so it seems like a strange idea to spend some of your limited resources on hiring a professional for advice. But according to a new report [...]

Unemployed? Consider These Search Tips

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  • Posted 07/20/10. by alison

The national unemployment rate is sitting at 9.5%. That means it’s taking people longer to find a job– an average of 35 weeks. But making the competition for jobs even more fierce is the fact that there are more than five applicants for every job.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 45% of people [...]

New Study: More Americans Likely To Run Short Of Money In Retirement

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  • Posted 07/15/10. by alison

A new study shows more Americans are running out of money in retirement. In the 2010 Employee Benefit Research Institute Retirement Readiness Rating, research showed dramatically more Americans are likely to run short of funds after one or two decades of retirement. Sixty-four percent of Americans in the two lowest income levels prior to retirement [...]

The Cure For Compulsive Shopping

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  • Posted 06/18/10. by alison

Compulsive shopping isn’t all fun, despite what you might see in the movies. According to the American Psychiatric Association, one in 20 Americans suffer from Oniomania or compulsive shopping. It can ruin relationships and do big damage to a person’s financial situation.
Gloria Arenson, a therapist and author of the book Born to Spend says [...]

Tuesday’s Twitter To Follow: @moneycrush

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  • Posted 06/15/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, and finance– the topics we know you love. So every other Tuesday we’ll be  [...]

Frugal Millionaire Shocks Small Town

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  • Posted 06/11/10. by alison

Ninety-eight-year-old Verna Oller passed away on May 10, leaving a hole in her community of Long Beach, Washington. It’s a hole big enough for an indoor swimming pool– the community’s first. You see, Verna Oller left the town a fortune of $4.5 million to build that swimming pool. The gift came as a shock to [...]

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @theSavalots

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  • Posted 06/1/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, and finance– the topics we know you love. So every other Tuesday we’ll be  [...]

Celebrity Financial Advisor Arrested

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  • Posted 05/28/10. by alison

Celebrities have money problems too. Wesley Snipes, Sylvester Stallone, Uma Thurman and more are all alleged victims of 66-year-old Ken Starr, who used their money to buy himself an Upper East Side condo complete with an indoor swimming pool and 1500 square foot garden, according to the New York Times. Authorities say they arrested Starr [...]

Thousands Find Unclaimed Money, Millions More Available

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  • Posted 05/21/10. by alison

 
Thirty-three billion dollars in unclaimed money is sitting in state treasuries and government accounts, waiting to be claimed. That’s an average of $280 for each payment of unclaimed funds, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. The CBS Early Show recently aired a segment showing people how to get money that’s owed to [...]

Tuesday’s Twitterer To Follow: @MoneyManagement

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  • Posted 05/18/10. by alison

Wondering who to follow in the big wide world of Twitter? There are plenty of great Twitterers out there tweeting about money, debt, and finance– the topics we know you love. So every other Tuesday we’ll be  highlighting a Twitterer [...]

New Poll: Women Spending Lots Of Money On Summer Clothes They’ll Never Wear

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  • Posted 05/5/10. by alison

Millions of dollars worth of shorts, tank tops, and bikinis will never see the light of day according to a new study by Special K. The study found that British women waste the equivalent of $985 million dollars buying summer outfits that are too snug. One in four women are wasting about $100 on ill-fitting [...]

Eliminate Debt With The Help Of A Summer Job

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  • Posted 04/29/10. by alison

Rather than working on your tan, summer may be the perfect time to simply work. Summer is approaching and if you’re a student or a teacher you may have some extra time off. Even if you already work full-time you may want to consider using the summer months to crack down on debt and earn [...]

Tax Day Turning Positive For More Americans

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  • Posted 04/15/10. by alison

April 15 is no longer as dreaded as it once was. Yes, there’s still the paperwork to file, but for millions of Americans, there won’t be a check to write. According to the Tax Policy Center, nearly half of Americans won’t pay any federal income tax. The recession reduced incomes for many meaning they’ll pay [...]

Spirit Airlines Now Charging For Carry-ons

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  • Posted 04/7/10. by alison

Travelers resorting to carry-on luggage to avoid new checked baggage fees are out of luck with Spirit Airlines. According to the LA Times, the airline announced Tuesday that it will charge as much as $45 for each carry-on bag. Most airlines charge for checked baggage now, but this is the first move to also charge [...]