Inquiring Minds

These days, everyone from prospective employers to cell phone service providers are looking at your credit report. But not all credit report inquiries are created equal. As reported on Mainstreet.com, a “soft inquiry” is made when you request your free credit report or a company where you’ve applied for a job pulls your report. Such […]

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All Worn Out

There was a good post on the Wisebread blog recently about the author’s preference for things that wear out rather than fall out of fashion, break, or become technologically obsolete. He noted that people’s primary reason for replacing something used to be that it wore out, whereas today the main reason is more likely due […]

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New Ways to Pay Off Student Loans

For those struggling under the weight of too much student loan debt, some new forms of relief are now available. Those working in low-income fields may be eligible for an Income-Based Repayment Plan, which became available the first of this month. An article on Kiplinger.com used an example of someone making $20,000 per year with […]

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Budget Software Going the Way of the Dinosaur

Microsoft Money, a longtime player in the budget software space, will no longer be available for sale after this month. In a news release, Microsoft cited the “range of options for managing personal finances” now available–from free online tools like Mint.com to those offered by banks. The makers of Quicken, the other main budget software […]

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It’s Not Easy Being Green

Paper or plastic? At first, it was polite of grocery store cashiers to ask which sort of bag we’d prefer. But today, the question often sounds like, “Environmentalist or Polluter?” Everyone knows that paper is the best choice for protecting the planet. Or is it? A recent Wall Street Journal article noted, “There is growing […]

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Best Advice Ever

Fortune magazine and CNN.com recently asked several famous people about the best words of wisdom they ever received. For Tiger Woods, it was his father’s advice when Tiger was just 6 or 7 to keep things simple – to pick a spot on the golf course where he wanted to hit the ball and focus […]

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Bus Travel Makes a Comeback

With frugality in fashion, bus companies are doing all they can to convert plane and train travelers to bus riders. As reported on MarketWatch, Greyhound’s Neon bus service now has more than 100 “motorcoaches” operating on the east coast with leather seats, more legroom, Internet access, and power outlets in every row. BoltBus, another east […]

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Online Tool Reviews

The Internet is making personal money management easier. I recently wrote a guest post for U.S. News & World Report, looking at the pros and cons of various online budget tools. I’m using Mint.com and enjoying it for the most part, but I plan to switch to Yodlee next year because it offers a few […]

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A Hand Up

In the midst of all the bad economic news there are some positive stories. Like the story of Hal Colston’s Good News Garage in Burlington, Vermont, which repairs donated cars and then makes them available to people in need for as little as a few hundred dollars. Quoted on Oprah.com, Colston said, “In so many […]

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Extra Credit for Homebuyers

One element of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package is a tax credit for first-time homebuyers of up to $8,000. As described in an LA Times article, the credit recently got even more valuable when it was made available to help cover closing costs or for use as part of the down payment. For those […]

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