The Impact of an Ugly Job Market

Posted by Mary Chan on May 15, 2012

The weak job market and the high unemployment rates have been a rude awakening for a lot of individuals. Unemployed individuals looked for work much longer in 2011, compared with 2007, before giving up and leaving the labor force, 21.4 weeks versus 8.7 weeks, respectively.  This slow road to recovery no doubt impacts almost all groups and ages in one way or another, how people shop, eat and live their day-to-day lives. I feel the most pain for the college class of 2012.  These young adults are finding themselves against more experienced competitors when applying for a position.   Instead of finding jobs in their study fields, they are settling for jobs for which [...]

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Infographic: How To Control Your Credit Score. Lenders Don’t Have As Much Power As Your Think!

Posted by Matthew Murphy on May 3, 2012

According to a February 2012 survey by FreeScore.com, 47 percent of consumers believe lenders have more control over their credit scores than they do. Actually, this is a severe misunderstanding. Not only are credit scores entirely determined by your actions, the formula is freely available to anyone who wants to see it. Today, we examine how credit scores are truly determined — and what you can do to raise yours!

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Down with Debt

Posted by Cindy McAdam on April 24, 2012

So, it turns out that Americans are finally starting to reduce their debt  The most recent reports from the Federal Reserve show that the household debt service ratio has dropped to 10.9%, the lowest level since 1994.  By comparison, the debt service ratio was nearly 14% in 2007.  The Fed describes the household debt service ratio as the estimate of the ratio of debt payments (meaning the estimated required payments on outstanding mortgage and consumer debt) to disposable personal income. As Floyd Norris of the New York Times reports, this reduction is due to two factors — decreasing debt levels combined with lower interest rates (which makes servicing the debt [...]

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Infographic: Will Shoppers Share More Information for a Better Shopping Experience

Posted by Matthew Murphy on April 19, 2012

Privacy advocates love to frame data sharing in terms of the risks: invasive profiling, over-aggressive marketing, and even identity theft. But what about the rewards? A recent study from IBM examines whether shoppers would be willing to share more information with retailers if the exchange created a better, more personalized buying experience.

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Careful with the Credit Card Check Offers

Posted by Mary Chan on April 17, 2012

How many people are still being inundated with credit card check offers in the mail.  They are essentially blank checks issued by your credit card that you can fill in like a normal check up to your credit limit to be used for any purpose.  Honestly, these offers are quite attractive especially when you may still be paying off your credit card debt from last Christmas.  Um, and not to mention the property taxes, and income taxes all happening between November and April.   And it’s likely not coincidence that these offers tend to show up in your mail during these times. The common check offers I see are 0% or [...]

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Infographic: How are Americans spending their tax refunds?

Posted by Matthew Murphy on April 12, 2012

With the April 17th tax filing deadline mere days away, taxpayers across America are making a crucial decision: how to spend their tax refunds. While the size of a refund varies from person to person (ranging from zero to many thousands of dollars), where it gets used can dramatically affect one’s personal finances.

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Thruthiness Comes to Retail

Posted by Cindy McAdam on April 9, 2012

As the recovery of the economy continues to lag, consumers remain vigilant about expense management.  Searching for savings and good deals, they’re increasingly turning to coupons, where usage is surging.  And retailers often reduce prices, but by just a bit to take advantage of the so-called Left Digit Effect.  That is the tendency of us humans to believe we’re getting a good deal when we see that an item is $9.99.  We look a the left digit and convince ourselves we’re getting a good deal at $9 rather than rounding up by a penny to the real $10 price. JCPenney has recently announced an alternative to these with its “Fair [...]

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Coupons are Back

Posted by Mary Chan on April 4, 2012

Coupon clipping is no longer for the older generation, with the younger generation now taking an active role (including teenagers).   According to coupons.org, coupon redemption in the United States increased 63% in 2011 and $4.6 billion of offered savings were redeemed.  Coupons are increasingly available — no longer relegated to simple clippings from newspapers, they can also be downloaded online, at home or on the go on your smartphone.  An hour of smart couponing can save you $100! Do you also find yourself using more coupons?  I certainly do.  Prior to using savvy technology, my issue was forgetting to bring the paper coupons to the store.  The perfect example is [...]

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Infographic: Retirement Planning Unraveled

Posted by Matthew Murphy on March 29, 2012

Retirement planning is more intimidating than any other personal finance topic. We know we should be saving, but not how much. We know it’s important to use a tax deferred account, but not which one. And, most devastatingly, we leave saving itself completely up to chance, trusting that we’ll have enough willpower to set money aside for 30 to 50 years. Luckily, funding a secure and enjoyable retirement need not be mysterious. Here’s exactly what to do.

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Tale of Two Recoveries

Posted by Cindy McAdam on March 27, 2012

The New York Times recently found that where people eat can be a  good economic indicator. They looked at whether people dine more at full-service restaurants as compared to fast food restaurants.  It turns out that when Americans feel good about their finances they tend to dine out more frequently at full-service restaurants, where food is brought to the table.  Data over the past 12 months indicates that full-service restaurant sales were nearly 9% higher than the previous year, which is the fastest rate of growth in over 10 years.  The rate of growth is also much higher than that in limited-service restaurants.  And so, it seems to be further [...]

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