September 2011

Bank of America Announces $5 Debit Card Fee

Thumbnail image for Bank of America Announces $5 Debit Card Fee by Kasey Steinbrinck September 30, 2011

The Mayans predicted a cataclysmic event would take place in the year 2012 when all the planets in our solar system are aligned. It may not be the end of the world that the Mayans saw in our future. But it could have been the rise of monthly fees for using your debit card. Bank [...]

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The American Middle Class Jobs Dilemma

Thumbnail image for The American Middle Class Jobs Dilemma by Kasey Steinbrinck September 28, 2011

If the U.S. economy is recovering – it’s happening very slowly for so-called average Americans. Many wonder if things will ever go back to how it used to be. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – U.S. employment had declined by 8.8 million when we hit the lowest point in February of 2010. There [...]

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How to Deal With the Rising Cost of Raising Kids

Thumbnail image for How to Deal With the Rising Cost of Raising Kids by Kasey Steinbrinck September 26, 2011

Those rascally rugrats living in your home are eating up even more of your money these days! The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the cost of raising a child is up almost 40% over the past decade. In 2010, it took as much as $13,000 to raise one kid, that’s up from less than [...]

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Four Reasons Why Accepting Personal Checks Can Help Your Small Business

Thumbnail image for Four Reasons Why Accepting Personal Checks Can Help Your Small Business by Kasey Steinbrinck September 23, 2011

Your small business uses checks all the time. So why is it that so many small businesses choose not to accept personal checks from customers? Lately, there’s been a lot of debate over the burden that interchange fees put on small businesses. Also known as “swipe fees,” these are what banks charge merchants every time [...]

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What is DIY Debt Management?

Thumbnail image for What is DIY Debt Management? by Kasey Steinbrinck September 22, 2011

The following is a guest post by Melanie Taylor of ThinkMoney.com. Melanie has worked in the financial services industry since 1993. If you can no longer afford to repay your unsecured debts as agreed, a debt management plan could allow you to get back on top of unmanageable debts with affordable monthly repayments. However, when [...]

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Planning for Holiday Shopping Already!?

Thumbnail image for Planning for Holiday Shopping Already!? by Kasey Steinbrinck September 21, 2011

Are you thinking about your holiday shopping budget yet? Maybe you haven’t started planning out how much you’ll spend this year, but retailers are already forecasting for the Christmas shopping season…and it doesn’t look so good for them. High unemployment, low consumer confidence and a barrage of other economic factors will likely have folks like [...]

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5 Practical Ways to Save Money While in College

Thumbnail image for 5 Practical Ways to Save Money While in College by Kasey Steinbrinck September 21, 2011

The following is a guest post from freelance writer Mariana Ashley. As if coming up with enough money to pay for your tuition, textbooks and housing for college wasn’t hard enough, making sure that you have extra money to “experience” college life— i.e. eat, have some fun, pay for organization dues and buy some new [...]

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Why We Can’t Live Without Personal Checks

Thumbnail image for Why We Can’t Live Without Personal Checks by Kasey Steinbrinck September 16, 2011

Let’s be honest…personal checks  aren’t always the most convenient way to pay. Most of us grumble choice words under our breath when someone ahead of us in line pulls out their checkbook at the cash register, and only after they get their total do the begin filling it out. Signs that ready “Sorry, No Checks [...]

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The Psychology of Shopping No. 2 – Scarcity

Thumbnail image for The Psychology of Shopping No. 2 – Scarcity by Kasey Steinbrinck September 15, 2011

Supply and demand – the concept was probably the first thing you learned about in your high school economics class. Too much demand and not enough supply leads to higher prices. Too much supply and not enough demand leads to lower prices. We get market equilibrium when supply and demand are nicely balanced. You’d think [...]

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The Ways We Get By During Tough Times

Thumbnail image for The Ways We Get By During Tough Times by Kasey Steinbrinck September 13, 2011

When the going gets tough…the frugal folks look for ways to save. Whether it’s the loss of a job, high gas prices, a rising grocery bill, the roller coaster stock market or just plain old fear of what could come next in this economy – many of us are looking for ways to stretch a [...]

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