Fiat Currency. Global Reserve Currency. Gold Standard. You might have heard terms like this, but what exactly do they mean? How is what’s happening in Greece related to what’s happening here and why should I care? We’re going to use some ink in the next several articles laying out the basics of the ongoing financial [...]

There was a big drop on Wall Street last week. You probably heard about it. It seems that our stock market, the Dow, the heart and soul of our nation’s market economy, dropped nearly 1,000 points in one afternoon before rebounding a bit before the close of the day. This sort of thing doesn’t happen [...]

Just as you wouldn’t want to give any personal identity information to someone via email, you want to use the same practices via text message. There is a new wave of fraud that tries to trick you with text messages appearing to be from your bank. SMiShing uses cell phone text messages to deliver the [...]

Buying a car is a big investment – whether it’s brand new or a used car. It can also be an exciting time and thinking about possible defects in the vehicle may not be top of the list of features you’re looking for.   However, the recent recalls have opened our eyes to the possibility that [...]

This past week, I have been helping a gentleman recover from the theft of all of his tax records.  Before it is all over, this gentleman will have spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars simply preventing any further fraudulent use of his identity. That doesn’t account for any damages already done to his [...]

Many were surprised – me included – to find that the recently passed Health Care Reform Bill also contained legislation that made significant changes to the Federal Student Loan Program.  And the healthcare uproar has carried over to the college funding program as well.  So why was it done, what’s in it and what does [...]

Editor’s Note: We are honored to welcome guest columnist Don Harrold from practicaldad.com.  This article is the second in his three-part series exploring college planning. The first column, published in January, is “Rethinking the College Model.” The experience of choosing a college is very different when you’ve got a teenager and are looking at it [...]

The dawning of a new year prompts many people to take a fresh look at their annual budget, and what they’ll find is that auto insurance costs are substantial.  Even after that revelation many people just grin and bear it, but a larger number of people are now spending more time searching for better insurance [...]

Orthodontists and College. No two words scare me more since each involves kids and significant amounts of money.

But college is the scarier word. Orthodontia might or might not be required, but if the kids are going to have a leg up in the world, then some form of higher education will be required.

One thing auto industry veterans will tell you is they never saw a year like 2009 … and they never want to see another one like it. The year included the seemingly unthinkable: bankruptcy for General Motors. And as an added fillip, Chrysler went bankrupt too and was rescued by the unlikely combination of the [...]