While the dust is just settling after the first round of economic stimulus payments, we’re already hearing rumblings from Congress about a (possible) second round of checks. I first wrote about the possibility of a second stimulus payment in the context of a campaign speech delivered by Barack Obama.
It now appears that the idea is [...]

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The internet has truly revolutionized comparison shopping. Thinking back just a few years, I find it hard to believe that we ever made truly informed buying decisions. But now that you have the world at your fingertips, it’s important to sort through all of the noise. To that end, I though I’d share some of [...]

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Did you know that the FDIC maintains a list of troubled banks that are at greatest risk of failure? While the contents of that list are a secret, the data used to create it are publicly available. As such, a number of private research groups and analysts have compiled lists of their own. Such lists [...]

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Earlier this week, my wife knocked out all of our back-to-school shopping in one fell swoop. Between clearance racks and sales at both Target and Kohls, she picked up pretty much everything the boys need clothing-wise. And then she hit the freshly stocked Wal-Mart school supply section. She had it pretty much to herself, and [...]

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Identity theft is on the rise. According to the FTC, an estimated 8.3 million consumers fall victim to identity theft in the United States each and every year. While simple steps such as placing a fraud alert on your credit record can go along way to protect you against financial identity theft, you have an [...]

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Given last week’s announcement that IndyMac Bank was taken into FDIC receivership, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the recent history of bank failures. Lo and behold, the FDIC has an entire page dedicated to this very topic. What follows is a graph of the number of bank failures by [...]

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This is just a quick note to let you know that Discover and Fandango (an online movie ticket site) have teamed up to offer buy-on-get-one-free movie tickets through September 30th, 2008. Check it out if you like going to the movies.
I also wanted to remind everyone that Discover Business is currently offering a $100 signup [...]

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Given the recent spate of bank failures, I though I’d put together a quick rundown of the safety ratings of eight of the best online savings banks.

FNBO Direct – 4 stars
Everbank – 4 stars
Ally (formerly GMAC) – 3 stars
WT Direct – 3 stars
ING Direct – 2 stars
HSBC Direct – 2 stars
E*Trade Bank – 2 [...]

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As a followup to yesterday’s article about the types of cars that are most frequently stolen in the United States, I though I’d share some tips from the National Insurance Crime Bureau for protecting yourself against auto theft. There’s nothing particularly earth-shattering here, but they’re still worth keeping in mind.

Common Sense. The cheapest form of [...]

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The National Insurance Crime Board has just released their list of the most frequently stolen cars of 2007. Topping the list once again are two older sedans from Honda — the ‘95 Civic and the ‘91 Accord. Here’s the full rundown:

1995 Honda Civic

1991 Honda Accord

1989 Toyota Camry

1997 Ford F-150 Pickup

1994 Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup

1994 Acura [...]

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