By the time the costs of gas, insurance, tolls, parking, and car payments are added up, the average American family spends more on driving than on health insurance or taxes. And for the bulk of society—those who use cars every …
Smart Spending
Shocker! The Rich Expected to Go on Big Shopping Sprees This Holiday Season
The average consumer is expected to spend less on the winter holidays this year. Yet it’s anticipated that overall holiday spending will rise slightly compared to 2010. How could this be? While middle-class shoppers scale back, …
What Your Supermarket Knows About You
The global financial crisis of 2009 hit consumers hard. Two years later, and they’re still reeling. Spending is down across the board, and even the more affluent are watching their pennies. In this fearful climate, retailers …
The Ticket to Free Travel? Carrying 40 Credit Cards Helps
What’s in your wallet? For travelers who sign up for credit cards left and right and strategically compile bonus points and miles in order to see the world for next to nothing, answering that question takes some time.
12 Things We Buy in a Bad Economy
The stumbling economic recovery has led many of us to rein in our expenses, even on necessities like diapers. But there are a few lucky sectors that benefit from a weak economy — things that let us escape, give us momentary …
Why We Can’t Spend Our Way Back To Normal
Every month, one of the most anxiously anticipated pieces of economic information is the Commerce Department’s spending data. Are people in the malls? How deep are discounts? Spending is cheered; frugality causes concern. In the …
Are Mandatory Tips at Restaurants Legal?
Last week, news outlets went crazy after a small Bay Area paper reported that servers in San Francisco were demanding a mandatory 25% gratuity on every check. Far from being an organized movement, the sources turned out to be a …
4-Cylinder Revolution: Lots More Fuel-Efficient Cars With Tiny Engines Being Sold
Could it be that America’s fascination with gas-guzzling SUVs, muscle cars, and V8-powered sedans is really on the way out? Today, nearly half of all new cars sold are equipped with 4-cylinder engines.
Price Hike at the Pump: Gas Prices Forecast to Decline, Spike Instead
In early October, gas prices were dropping to the tune of about 1¢ per day, and prices at the pump were expected to continue getting steadily cheaper through the end of the calendar year. Over the past week or so, however, gas …
T-Mobile Sends Customer $201,000 Phone Bill
We’ve all gotten a utility bill that was larger than we were expecting. A $250 electricity bill here. A $100 gas bill there. This family got one, too. Except, it was a cell phone bill for more than $200,000.
Higher Prices: The Odd Reward for Being a Loyal Customer
New customers are routinely wooed with special discounts for services like pay TV and newspaper subscriptions. Existing customers, on the other hand, can expect regularly escalating bills unless they put up a fight or beg for a …
‘World’s Largest Cruise Sale’ Takes Place This Week
You may not be particularly interested in taking a cruise anytime soon. But if you’re looking for great value, there’s good reason to book a cruise this week: 25 different cruise lines are offering special discounts and …