It’s that time again… Time to order more checks. I’ve mentioned this in the past, but despite doing most of our banking online, we still need to write a decent number of checks, mostly for things related to our school-age kids.
The last time we had to order checks was back in October 2006. At that [...]

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There was a time when I was solidly in the cash back credit card rewards camp, and you couldn’t have convinced me to apply for a frequent flyer credit card. But that was then, and this is now…
Last summer I applied for an Amex Delta Platinum SkyMiles credit card. I travel semi-frequently, and our family [...]

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With summer in full swing and the price of oil hovering near $90-100 per barrel, everyone is feeling the pinch at the gas pump. High fuel costs affects us every summer, and this one is turning out to be no different.
Except this year, the high cost of filling up our gas tanks has been compounded [...]

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You’ve heard time and again that expenses matter when it comes to investing. In fact, when it comes to mutual funds, Morningstar has gone so far as to argue that “investors should make expense ratios a primary test in fund selection… In every single time period and data point tested, low-cost funds beat high-cost funds.”
This [...]

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Ouch, that electric bill is gonna hurt this month! With temperatures soaring across the United States, power consumption has been soaring right along with it. Of course you’ve already turned up your thermostat and screwed in the CFLs, so here are some slightly different tips to trim the power bill.

Get your hands wet. Wash your [...]

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If you’re in a position to refinance your mortgage and haven’t done so already, now’s a great time to lock in a very low rate. And even if you have refinanced, it might make sense to refinance again.
You’ve likely heard about the “historically low” mortgage rates over the past few years, but 15-year fixed rate [...]

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Whew! What a week. Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve likely heard about last week’s roller coaster ride on Wall Street. It all started the previous Friday night when Standard & Poor’s downgraded US government debt.
Once Monday rolled around, the stock market tanked. Then it recovered. Then it tanked again. And after that? [...]

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In a move that’s sure to bring a smile to the face of many customers, ING Direct is now offering paper checks to go along with their formerly-paperless “Electric Orange” checking account. According to reports, they’ve been notifying customers of this feature, though I haven’t yet received notification.
Be that as it may, a review of [...]

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It’s been awhile, but we’ve once again found ourselves in the crosshairs of a collection agency. Long-time readers might recall that we were contacted by a collection agency a few years ago in relation to a medical debt that wasn’t actually overdue. In fact, that collection notice arrived less than 30 days after the first [...]

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In this economy, it seems harder than ever to make your money work for you.
Is a money market account the way to go, or is a long-term CD worthwhile? Should I open a basic savings account instead of an IRA?
We work hard for our money. It shouldn’t be a lot of work to figure out [...]

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