A gift should make the recipient happy — or at least not sad or angry. As the gift-giving season is upon us, it’s a good time to remember that gifts are a powerful form of communication. So what messages are being sent by the holiday gifts you’ve picked out for people?
Psychology of Money
This Is Your Brain on Black Friday Shopping
Who among us hasn’t come back from a shopping excursion, looked over the just-purchased haul, and wondered, What was I thinking? Often, our shopping decisions aren’t the result of a completely logical thought process, but are instead affected by what we smell, hear, and touch, and what people around us are doing inside the store.
Black Friday 2012: The Must-Read Guide Before Hitting (or Skipping) the Mall
Are you prepared to shop, then shop some more? Get ready…get set…but wait! Read this before going off to the mall and making tons of purchases you’ll later regret.
Black Friday: Fast and Frenzied
The end of Thanksgiving week represents the high point of American consumption — a purposefully designed fast and frenzied shopping atmosphere at stores all over the country. And that’s exactly how many shoppers like it.
Why So Many Americans Don’t Have Bank Accounts
At a time when you can pay bills online and deposit checks remotely using a cell phone, it’s amazing how many Americans don’t have bank accounts. One in nine households is without a checking account.
Is Dollar-Cost Averaging Dumb?
Investing all at once beats trickling money into the market two-thirds of the time, says a report from Vanguard. But let’s not throw dollar-cost averaging under the bus just yet. What’s piece of mind worth?
Does a Low Price Mean Good Value or Bad Quality?
While some shoppers pounce on rock-bottom prices without hesitation, others are tentative concerning “doorbusters” and eye-popping 80% off deals. After all, doesn’t a cheap price equate to cheap quality?
Why Suicides Are More Common in Richer Neighborhoods
Happiness is directly related to how much money we make. We’ve known that for a while. So it shouldn’t be surprising that our earnings also correlate with suicide rates.
Why Holiday Season ‘Self-Gifting’ Is Such a Huge Retail Trend
We’ve all heard that it is better to give than receive. During the holiday shopping period, there’s a new twist to this old adage: With the rise of “self-gifting,” many consumers are clearly big fans of the idea of “giving” — …
Is the U.S. Waging a War on Savers?
Government policies that discourage saving are one of the chief reasons that so many Americans fail to put money away regularly.
When Keeping Up with the Joneses Means You’ll Save More Money
Wanna boost your savings account? Get a buddy to prod you along. According to a new study, higher interest rates have little or no effect on how much a person saves. But when a peer group is involved and participants monitor each …
Nantucket Project: Small Island, Big Ideas for Fixing Our Economic Future
Prominent thinkers at this year’s Nantucket Project worried about flagging innovation and corruption in government. But they’re also developing technology that lets kids teach themselves to read and entrepreneurs to move …