Earn What You Spend

From the WSJ: 
As part of a sweeping bill to change the rules for credit cards, a pair of senators are pushing to lift constraints that Visa, MasterCard and other credit card networks impose on merchants’ ability to offer discounts for paying by cash or check.

Retailers have long chafed under the restrictions, which make it burdensome for them to make transparent to consumers the fees they pay to credit card companies. Those fees amount to tens of billions of dollars a year. The result, they complain, is that cash-paying customers unfairly end up sharing the cost of letting other customers [...] Continue Reading…

An interesting video from Charlie Rose featuring Tim Geithner.  Rolfe Winkler caught the best exchange: 
Rose:  “Looking back, what are the mistakes and what should you have done more of? Where were your instincts right, but you didn’t go far enough?”

…

Geithner: “…I would say there were three types of broad errors of policy and policy both here and around the world. One was that monetary policy around the world was too loose too long. And that created this just huge boom in asset prices, money chasing risk. People trying to get a higher return. That was just overwhelmingly powerful.”

Rose: “It was too [...] Continue Reading…

My friend Thomas Davidson launched an amazing company this past year: EverFi.  The folks over at EverFi understand the drastic need for financial literacy, and are using an innovative approach (gaming) to teach these basic precepts.  An article today in CNN Money details their launch and some of what they are up to:
EverFi offers a five-hour series of Web tutorials that let students explore real-world settings, from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to a used-car dealership, while absorbing lessons about saving money, earning interest and managing debt. As students acquire new skills, the software encourages them to [...] Continue Reading…

This chart (click to enlarge) from the WSJ shows we’re still a long way off from the tax burdens of year’s past:

Obama’s new proposed tax rates will increase for those who are married and filing jointly, starting at $235,000 in taxable income.  The first point that caught my eye was that $235K is well below the $250K level the Obama camp mentioned during the campaign. Of course, the truth is more complicated than this: a couple “earning” $250K are likely already below the $235K in taxable income threshold once they take into account their deductions.  Yet at first glance, [...] Continue Reading…

Welcome!  This week I’m proud to be hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance - the traveling blog carnival that brings you the best from the personal finance blogosphere.  

Some have written recently about the end of personal finance - and I respectfully disagree, largely because of the great writing you can find by reading some of these blogs below.  I started this blog because I believe there is a general dearth of adequate financial education in this country (and beyond, for that matter), and this corner of the blogosphere gives me hope.  It’s filled with everyday people learning the [...] Continue Reading…

A head’s up to my readers: this upcoming Monday I’m hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance - the blog carnival that brings you the best the personal finance world has to offer.  It makes for great reading, so stay tuned! 

If you’re interested in participating, you can submit your best finance blog post here before 5pm EST this Sunday.