After threatening to intervene for weeks, Japan’s economic policymakers finally jumped into the currency markets to depress the value of the surging yen. The intervention was Tokyo’s first in six years, and had an immediate impact, softening the yen from under 83 to the dollar to around 85 by the afternoon. The Japanese have been …
Homeownership Study: Renting Often a Better Choice Financially Over the Last Three Decades
In a study of 28 communities around the country comparing the net costs of owning versus renting between 1978 and 2009, more often than not renting was the better financial choice.
Introducing Walmart’s New No-Contract Family Wireless Plan
The plan gives users unlimited talk and text for $45 a month for the first phone, and—here’s where the real value comes in—$25 a month for each additional line. What’s more, there are no contracts and no possibilities of early termination fees, and the plan is “post-paid,” meaning you pay a bill at the end of a month of usage, as …
Was “Cash For Clunkers” a Clunker?
Economists question how much mileage we got from Cash for Clunkers (Bob Travaglione/www.FoToEdge.com)
Cash for clunkers may have been a total wreck. Ever since the program, which offered consumers cash for a new car when they traded in an old, low-gas-mileage vehicle, rolled off Washington’s policy lot last year there has been debate as …
It’s a Deal: Buy One, Get One 50% Off at Famous Footwear
During Famous Footwear’s current sale, when you buy one pair of shoes, sneakers, boots, or sandals, you can get a second pair of equal or lesser value at half price.
Now, Fashion Wannabes Just Want ‘Real Clothes’—and to Be Out of Debt
Designers and retailers are realizing that “aspirational” shoppers—who used to swipe their credit cards and pile on the debt to purchase whatever was trendy, and who might otherwise be known as wannabes—just aren’t buying like they were during the boom consumer times of a few years ago. These days, when shoppers are inclined to make …
Obama’s New Economic Advisor Defended Subprime Lending
Austan Goolsbee and President Obama (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
It has become taboo to defend anything having to do with subprime lending. Why would you? It’s clear now that banks and mortgage brokers handed out expensive loans to many people who had little ability to make the payments. It’s also clear that the result was not …
Tricky Ways to Get a Better Return from the Money You Put in the Bank
What with interest rates on CDs paying a measly 1% or 2% and bank savings accounts paying even less, sometimes you have to wonder what’s the point of trying to save money. But by paying close attention to the fine print of certain bank agreements, and even by using your ability as a smooth negotiator, you could be able to double your …
Cheapskate Wisdom from … Interior Decorator Nate Berkus
“I’ve never believed that living well was based on spending a lot of money. For me, high style has never been a question of snobbishness.”
It’s a Deal: 25% Off at Banana Republic
Use the coupon code BRSAVE25 to get 25% off regularly priced merchandise orders of $100 or more at BananaRepublic.com. The discount is valid for purchases made by Tuesday, September 14.
6 Questions About College: So Where Does the Money Spent on Tuition and Fees Really Go?
Also: How come some colleges are so unbelievably selective when deciding which high schoolers are accepted nowadays?
The Colleges Corporate Recruiters Really Love
There’s no need for students at state universities to envy the Ivies, or to assume that grads from pricey, prestigious schools have a leg up in landing jobs. In fact, when recruiting executives go hunting to hire students who are well-rounded academically and who are best prepared to enter the workforce, their first choices aren’t …