The Scared-to-Invest Generation
The recession has left workers in their 20s and 30s wary of the stock market. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the percentage of workers between 25 and 35 who say they have saved for their retirement has fallen by over 20 percent in the last decade. A Newsweek article about the research noted […]
Holiday Shoppers Planning to Leave Credit Cards at Home
The recession is prompting more people to pay cash for their holiday gifts this year. According to a study by the market research firm Morepace, 40 percent of people plan to avoid using credit cards for any of their holiday gifts this year – up from 35 percent last year. For those making less than […]
Million Dollar Questions for Couples
Are you engaged or married? See if you can both answer these three questions: If the chance of getting a disease is 10 percent, how many people out of 1,000 would be expected to get the disease? If five people all have the winning numbers in the lottery and the prize is $2 million, how […]
Google Hangs Up On GOOG-411
As of today, Google’s free telephone directory assistance service, GOOG-411, is no more. Launched in 2007, the voice-recognition service allowed for free directory assistance calls for business listings by calling 1-800-GOOG-411. Just say the name of the business you’re looking for, and the city and state where it’s located, and the service would connect you […]
Avoid These Holiday Shopping Traps
As we move into the retail industry’s most important season of the year, Consumer Reports is out with some helpful guidance on what to watch out for. The biggest trap, according to the magazine, is purchasing an extended warranty. These are significant profit generators for the stores that sell them, but are rarely a good […]
I Will Not Overspend, I Will Not Overspend…
Navigating the many temptations of the holidays can be a challenge. It’s a time when a lot of people overspend, overeat, and miss out on all that makes this time of year so meaningful. When I teamed up with the Market Research firm Synovate a couple of years ago to conduct a Holiday Regrets survey […]
Gift Card 411
Gift cards are this year’s most requested holiday gift, topping the wish lists of nearly 60 percent of adults, according to the National Retail Federation. The good news, as reported by Walletpop, is that recent laws have made gift cards more user-friendly than ever. For example, all cards must now be valid for five years […]
Now Trending on Twitter: Deals and More Deals
As you search for the best bargains on holiday gifts this year, Mainstreet.com has compiled its picks for great deal sources to follow on Twitter, including: @TweetCheap is a Twitter deal aggregator, searching Twitter to find and tell you about the best coupon codes and other deals it finds. @HeyItsFree finds, you guessed it, stuff […]
Is it Smarter to Pinch Pennies or Dollars?
MSNBC recently compared the benefits of sweating the small financial stuff versus the big stuff. Their conclusion? Both ways work. Penny pinching – clipping coupons, buying store brands, etc. – helped one couple profiled in the story knock out $50,000 of non-mortgage debt and build a healthy emergency fund in less than three years. It’s […]
A Degree in Debt
College seniors who graduated last year owed an average of $24,000 in student loans. That figure, as reported by CNNMoney.com, comes from The Project on Student Debt, which analyzed student loan debt at more than 1,000 public and private four-year schools. Using some common assumptions, paying off $24,000 in student loan debt over 10 years […]