Protect your kid from a having a credit catastrophe before reaching puberty. By THE HOME ECONOMIST Protect your kid from having a credit crisis before puberty As if there wasn't enough paranoia associated with parenting, scammers are now out there stealing our kids' Social Security numbers and reselling them. How? They promise to help people with poor credit start anew. Anyone [...]
And other steps for keeping your money safe from investment scams. 1) Before even hearing about an investment opportunity it's important first to learn about the person who will be handling the transatcion. You can research your broker on FINRA's BrokerCheck website and you can research your investment adviser at the Investment Asviser Public Disclosure website. If you don't know [...]
You've donated your time, your money, and your sanity. Some of it's actually tax deductible. If the amount you owe in taxes this year is making you want to stop volunteering and start earning a paycheck then remember this: the more money you make the more you pay the IRS. So while yes, the work you do for [...]
The government is changing the school lunch game - upgrading the rules for serving our kids food. Under the new standards - which you'll no doubt love - schools are essentially overseeing themselves, a spokesperson tells us, submitting their menus for approval. Regardless, people are paying attention and under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids act, the upgrades scheduled apply to: [...]
How unemployment affects you, even if you have a job or don't need one. By the Home Economist This election everyone's talking about the unemployment rate. May sound like a real snoozer, leaving you to think, "I don't care because....." 1) I have a job. 2) I don't need a job. 3) Sure as hell I need a job, [...]
The average American has more money to spend -- find out if you're average (you're not) We have more money! Well, that's what the government says, but it''s not entirely true. Not for all of us, anyway. (Please see chart.) Sure, thanks to us working more as prices dropped more, the "real" income of the average American has grown from last [...]
Payroll tax cut continues - and that means...more laundry detergent Thanks to the economic madness, the government had been taking less money from our paychecks -- 2 percent less to be exact. That meant more cash in our pockets. The tax break was all set to expire but - whew! - Congress extended the deal for the rest of 2012. If you earn $56,000, that means you'll get to [...]
Allowances, jobs, saving and spending, the lastest push in education is to get economics in schools. Here's what you need to do at home. BY THE HOME ECONOMIST This week in her after-school program, teen coordinator for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Miami Diana Perez will introduce to junior-high kids a few real-life financial skills [...]
Drink wine! And other important steps toward beating rising prices. Big news this week: the cost of living is higher. (No duh.) Since last year prices rose by 3.9 percent - that's inflation for you. But the truth is that prices for all things are rising by the same amount. In fact, some delicious delicacies are actually cheaper. (That's right.) It all means you [...]
Will Congress Swipe Your Next Tax Savings? Maybe. Like powerful wizards with the potential to zap money from our pockets, Congress - which is searching high and low for cash seeing as they've got very little to work with at the moment - is considering helping themselves to a stash that's always been reserved for us homeowners. Yes, they're thinking of taking money from [...]