Wallet Blog

Save Money on Food

Food is one of the major line-items in my family's budget. In my goal to save more money this year, I've been trying different ways to slash-and-burn my grocery bills. Allow me to share my hard-earned do's and don'ts with you. Some might sound strange. It's OK; when saving money is concerned, I ...

Pet Insurance: Money Saver or Scam?

Pets can be a serious line-item in your yearly budget. A yearly vet physical can set you back anywhere from $30 to hundreds of dollars, depending upon whether the veterinarian finds anything wrong with your fuzzy, feathered, or scaly companion, to say nothing of the unexpected costs that arise when ...

Citibank continues experiments with derivatives

In a recent Market Watch article, David Weidner commented that Citibank is attempting to create a new product, the CLX, which acts as insurance against financial collapse. The product sounds, as Weidner deftly points out, a lot like the Credit Default Swaps that helped cause our current recession. It involves ...

New Credit Card Law Creates Better Monthly Statements

Recently I received a brochure from Capital One's credit card division that summarizes the changes made on their monthly statements, as a result of the new credit card regulations. All credit card issuers have made similar changes, therefore I thought that a visual representation of the "new credit card statements" ...

No New Jobs from the Job Bill

The current Job Bill being debated on Capitol Hill, in its most recent form, holds at its core an incentive to hire people who have gone more than sixty days without a job. Businesses that hire these workers are allowed to forgo paying their social security taxes throughout 2010. The ...

Take Full Advantage of the New Credit Card Rules

As you might have heard, the new credit card law (i.e. the Card ACT) went into effect yesterday. The provisions of the new law that will impact most of us are the ones around interest rates, overlimit fees, payment allocation, and monthly statements. Here is a quick summary of what you ...

Nobel Economist Predicts Further Collapse

Nobel Prize-winning economist and Columbia Business School professor, Joseph Stiglitz argues in this interview that we are headed for another collapse. His arguments are sound and should be listened to. If you do not feel like watching the full video, we’ve ...

Save Money by Understanding the Economics of Bottled Water

Back in August of 2009, Yian Mui of the Washington Post reported that "sales of bottled water have fallen for the first time in at least five years." Its meteoric rise to popularity was astonishing: sales of bottled water "swelled 59 percent to $5.1 billion between 2003 to 2008, making ...

Citi Offers High Yields to No-Risk Customers

I pay my bills on time, have a cushion in my savings account, and don't spend-and-burn. I've also worked with Card Hub since the beginning of time. So, I can honestly tell you I know that secured credit cards can be a super way to build or repair your credit ...

Bonuses: Not all Banks are the Same

It is frustrating that American banks, post bailout, are paying out record bonuses given that many of those banks would not be in business if they hadn’t received a handout at the tax payers’ expense. In response, President Obama is now threatening to heavily tax these bonuses to send the ...

Anti-Scam Advice from the ConsumerMan

I had a fascinating conversation with Mr. Herb Weisbaum, AKA the MSNBC.com ConsumerMan, about the scams we should all be aware of. It was an eye-opening conversation, one that I hope will save you a lot of pain and anguish. Surprisingly, your credit card account is not on the scammers' most-wanted ...

Shopping without Guilt… with Gilt!

I don't remember how I first heard of Gilt Group, but its sales model intrigued me: Luxury branded items for sale at deep discounts, but only for a limited time. I received an invitation (yes, you need an invitation to join) on my birthday. I needed new shoes. I signed ...

We Are All Doing More With Less - Except for our Goverment

More and more American families these days are learning to live within their means. They’re making trade offs about what they want, what they need, and what they can afford. They’re trying, during these hard times, to make their dollar stretch as far as possible. You’ll notice that what they ...

Corporate Democracy

In an article printed in The New York Times last November, Andrew Ross Sorkin addressed the issue of corporate governance by exploring the proposed takeover of the British confectioner’s company Cadbury by the American company Kraft. The article explains that because British Boards of Directors act, essentially, in an advisory capacity, ...

Business As Usual For Congress

On January 14th, Congress voted to increase the federal deficit cap to $12.4 trillion having raised it from $12.1 trillion February of last year. The bill was a concession by Democrats who had planned an attempt to increase the federal deficit cap by $2 trillion in order to prevent having to call another vote before next ...