Considering that Black Friday is a totally made-up event meant to stir up retail sales during the peak winter holiday shopping season, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that stores are loosey-goosey with what “Black Friday” means, …
Psychology of Money
What Class Divide? Rich and Poor, Red and Blue Agree on Wealth Distribution
What’s an acceptable level of income inequality in America? Is the current situation far too unfair, as many who lean to the political left maintain? Would ending tax breaks for people earning more than $250,000 a year …
Maybe Shoppers Don’t Want ‘Fair and Square’ Prices After All
At some level, all shoppers know that a game is being played in every aisle of every store. Original prices, weekly promotions, clearance racks, coupons, Black Friday, blue-light specials, flash sales, oddly specific prices …
Study: Parents Are Terrible Financial Role Models
Talking to your kids about money shouldn’t be so difficult. They are generally eager to understand what it takes to earn and save, and how to set and achieve money goals. Yet parents are more comfortable discussing bullying and …
It’s Not You, Honey, It’s the GDP: Why a Bad Economy Is Good for Marriages
We’ve written before about the upside of down economies: people grow closer. Now comes word of yet another silver lining in the barrage of depressing economic news in recent years: it might be good for marriages. That’s one of …
Reverse Mortgages More Popular With Younger Homeowners
Once widely seen as money of last resort, reverse mortgages are fast entering the mainstream of retirement income. Boomers are turning to reverse mortgages earlier to pay off debt or improve their lifestyle, according to a report …
Sandwich Generation: 6 Money Messages for Your Parents and Kids
Boomers are making a lot of the same mistakes their parents made when it comes to discussing money with family. That is, they aren’t doing it. But it’s time to have the The Talk, with aging parents and grown kids. Here’s how.
Free-Spending Consumers Are Offended by … Deep Discounts?
It happens all the time: You buy an item at one price, and then see others buy the same item a little later on for a much cheaper price. This is standard practice nowadays, but it still gets customers angry. How angry? A new …
Why You Want the New iPad So Badly
For a certain breed of consumers, the arrival of Apple’s third-generation iPad is an occasion of monomaniacal focus and intense anticipation. Visions of how the shiny new gadget will revolutionize their lives fill their heads. …
Why It’s O.K. to Disregard the Opinions of Wine Experts
Wine critics have special powers. Not superhero-type powers like the ability to fly or control the minds of strangers, but, according to a new study, top critics have the ability to taste subtle flavors and chemicals that the …
How a Digital Picture of Your Future Self Can Change Your Saving Habits
A realistic vision of what you’ll look like years from now prompts workers to boost their savings rate. Here’s why company HR departments will soon have employees coming face to face with their future self.
License To Sin: When Good Behavior Leads To Bad Results
Most people are taught early to believe in what we might call “momentum morality”: the idea that good (or bad) actions lead to further good (or bad) habits. Economists and other philosophical types call these feedback loops …