My wife started her first semester of classes this fall on her way towards a Ph.D. One of the best things about a Ph.D., besides the degree, is that candidates are paid to go to school. The salary...

Think back to elementary school, can you remember how many times your school had a fire drill? They were never announced ahead of time, the bells just rang, everyone got up, lined up, and left the building in an orderly fashion. Everyone knew what th...

When you think of prepaid cell phones, what do you think of? If you’ve watched The Wire on HBO, a gritty drama about life in Baltimore, you associate them with drug dealers. If you were a fan of...

Whenever someone talks about frugal expenses, Netflix always seems to be the popular example held up as the sacrificial lamb to the frugal gods. I think it’s a popular target because it’s so easy...

Yesterday, the Department of Commerce reported that the annualized GDP (gross domestic product) grew to 3.5% in third quarter. This is significant because, by definition, a recession is two...

This week, the House of Representatives passed H.R.4154, titled the “Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009.” HR 4154 would amend the Internal Revenue Code to prevent the repeal of the estate tax next year....

There’s an interesting article on the Consumerist two days ago discussing a paper written by law professor Brent T. White of the University of Arizona. The paper, “Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing...

The last post on how to spend down your FSA was designed for folks who have just a few dollars left in their account. If you have a few hundred dollars left, you need to do more. You still have to spend it, because FSA balances are lost if you don’t...

With the end of the year rapidly approaching, chances are you still have a few dollars left in your Flexible Spending Account (FSA), if you have one. The old backup solution is to stock up on over the counter supplies but that might not be the most...

Every year, millions of American taxpayers get a tax rebate in the Spring. For some, it’s a planning tool – you can’t spend money if you don’t have it in your bank account. For others, it’s just something that has always happened. It isn’t a benefit,...