Every time you check yourself out at a grocery store, even if you find it terribly convenient, there’s probably a little voice inside you that thinks, “Uh-oh.” As in, “Uh-oh, there’s a machine doing the job a person used to do.” Well, here’s the bad news. There’s plenty more where [Keep reading]
Next time you run to the grocery store for bread and milk, you might find yourself staying for a champagne tasting. Or seduced by Comice Pears. Or perhaps you’ll just stay home and cook the elicoidali pasta and mascarpone cheese from your Blue Apron box. The digital age has changed [Keep reading]
January is a good time to take stock of your career, and with the economy perking up, perhaps you should to consider making a dramatic change. After all, what’s more American than relocating for opportunity? But even as careers get shorter — the average millennial will have seven jobs by [Keep reading]
I’ve long said that identity theft is a just marketing program for banks and retailers. Corporations make it easy for criminals to steal so they can sell convenience to consumers, and if a few customers get hurt along the way, well, that’s a shame. That can always be fixed later. [Keep reading]
America’s housing market continued its staggering post-recession rise in 2016, as many regions surpassed their pre-recession-bubble highs. With interest rates finally rising, might some of those places be primed for a fall…or at least a pause? The list of U.S. areas that could be hurt most by rising mortgage costs [Keep reading]
Angry Starbucks customers keep writing me to say their bank accounts are being drained via the coffee giant’s popular mobile app, more than a year after I first reported the disturbing problem. Such a heist ruined Jenna Veeve Farag’s Christmas morning. “They were able to wipe out my checking account,” she [Keep reading]
Equifax and Trans Union were smacked by federal regulators on the first business day of the year, as the credit bureau giants will pay millions to settle allegations they deceptively sold and advertised free credit reports and credit score products. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says the two giant credit bureaus [Keep reading]
Interest rates are going up, and the time to prepare yourself and your money is now. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on December 14 for only the second time in a decade. You probably saw some headlines about mortgage rates or credit card costs and then went back [Keep reading]
Because I spend so much time traveling for work, for the past 20 years or so, I’ve made a calendar each year for my family and friends. It’s my way of saying, “Here’s what I’ve been up to for the past 12 months when I probably should have been spending [Keep reading]
Could Amazon’s Alexa be a tattletale? Yes, as could any Internet-connected device in your home, we were all reminded this week. News outlets lit up on Tuesday with news that Amazon had been served with a search warrant in a murder case, as detectives in Bentonville, Ark., want to know [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan