I just ran across an interesting article about Disney receiving the go-ahead from China’s central government to build a new theme park in Shanghai. Current estimates are that the new park will cost close to $4B and will open in five to six years. I can only imagine how thrilled Disney is at being given [...]

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Guess what? Today marks the beginning of National Save for Retirement Week. Did you know that over half of all workers in the United States have less than $25,000 in total savings and investments?
While these stats include a lot of younger workers, we can do much, much better when it comes to preparing for [...]

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After months of very sporadic “weekly” roundups, I’m actually doing a second one in a row this week. Things continue to be exceptionally busy around here, though, so don’t be surprised if I go back to my old ways.
And now for some great articles…

Accidental Frugality – Can You Live on Half Your Income?
Costs [...]

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About three weeks ago, our hot water heater tripped the circuit breaker. In the time since then, it’s become clear that it’s in need of serious help.
While we could’ve had it repaired, we decided to go ahead and replace it. Unfortunately, the unit that we want had to be ordered, so we’ll be without hot [...]

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Our kids went back to school this past week. Seriously. At the beginning of August. When I was a kid, school always started the Tuesday after Labor Day. That old September-June school year is so engrained in me that it still doesn’t feel like summer vacation until early June, even though the kids get out [...]

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Just about a week ago, our Xbox 360 crashed with an E74 error. The bad news is that this error code signals a “General Hardware Failure.” The good news is that it’s still under warranty. In fact, this problem is so common that Microsoft has extended the warranty to cover it for three years.
Unfortunately, when [...]

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I debated about calling this one the “Father’s Day Edition,” but decided to go with the “First Day of Summer Edition” because: (1) today is, in fact, the first day of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, and (2) I totally forgot this little factoid until this evening and figured that I wasn’t alone. Either [...]

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A few months back, I was invited to do a “Guest Top Ten” list for Blogs.com, but I lost track of the e-mail and forgot to do it. Fast forward to last week when the e-mail resurfaced… Intrigued by the opportunity, I decided that it would be a great chance to give a shout out [...]

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In case you haven’t heard, the recent merger of Delta and Northwest Airlines has created an opportunity for frequent flyers that have miles in both programs. Simply click here, link your accounts, and then consolidate your miles. You’ll get 500 bonus miles for linking your accounts, and there’s no charge for transferring miles in either [...]

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Remember that $300B program called “Hope for Homeowners” that was supposed to ease the foreclosure crisis by encouraging lenders to write down mortgages? Congress envisioned it helping upwards of 400,000 troubled homeowners, but…
According to a recent report, the eligibility requirements are so strict that, in the time since it was established, only one borrower has [...]

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