A reader name Patrick just wrote in to point out a recent IRS press release about a special tax break for new car purchases in 2009. From the release:
“The Internal Revenue Service announced today that taxpayers who buy a new passenger vehicle this year may be entitled to deduct state and local sales and excise [...]

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Life insurance is an incredibly important financial product. Unfortunately, it’s also relatively costly. With that in mind, I thought I’d put together some tips for saving money when you’re in the market for a life insurance policy.
Get healthy
Any insurer worth their salt will require a physical as part of the underwriting process. The good news [...]

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As a followup to my earlier post about the worst 401(k) plans, here’s a look at Business Week’s list of the best 401(k) plans. Once again, these were rated based on criteria like participation rate, default rate, fees, and employer match. The full list includes fifty plans. I’ve listed below the twenty best 401(k) plans.
Twenty [...]

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Curious as to how your 401(k) plan compares to others? Business Week just published a list of the worst 401(k) plans based on criteria such as participation rate, default rate, fees, and employer match (see also “The Best 401(k) Plans). The full list includes fifty plans. I’ve listed the twenty worst plans below.

Darden Restaurants
Big Lots
RadioShack
Zale
Compass [...]

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The good folks at Lending Club have offered to provide FCN readers with a $25 signup bonus* just for opening a Lending Club account. As you might recall, I recently gave away $100 to one lucky Lending Club account holder. This time around, there’s something for everyone!
Here’s how it works…
1. Visit Lending Club using a [...]

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Consumer Reports just published their Annual Auto Issue, and guess what?
“The best vehicles are built by Honda, Subaru, and Toyota. They make well-rounded cars that excel across the board…”
That’s not to say that every model made by these companies is highly recommended. In fact, the Honda Element, Toyota Yaris, and Toyota FJ Cruiser scored low [...]

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While I’d love to write some sort of witty introduction to my link roundup, I just don’t have it in me tonight. Instead, let’s just get to the links. What follows is a list of twelve recent articles that caught my eye.

Carrying Bigger Bills? You’re Less Likely to Spend Them
Three Investing Lessons Learned the Hard [...]

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Not quite a year ago, FCN readers rated Zecco as the best online broker (here’s my Zecco review). And then it happened… A few weeks back, Zecco made some pretty significant changes to their business model.
I meant to write this up back when it was happening, but it somehow slipped off my radar. In short, [...]

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Lending money to family and friends is a bit like walking a tightrope, and it’s very easy for things to go wrong. With the ongoing recession affecting so many people, you might be tempted to lend money to a loved one in hopes of helping them out. While this might sound like a good idea [...]

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Over the weekend, I asked my “Tweeps” (i.e., people that follow me on Twitter) for their single best piece of financial advice. The primary limitation was that Twitter requires that their messages be 140 characters or less. Thus, the advice had to be short and to the point. I got things started with this:

“Don’t spend [...]

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