Valentine’s Day hopefully gives you a chance to appreciate your loved ones. But if this holiday – also known as “Singles Awareness Day, or SAD” — is nudging you or someone you care about to look for love online, there’s something you should know: Reports of sweetheart scams are soaring, [Keep reading]
It’s a question you’ve probably heard over and over: When will the current bull market end? Depending on how you do the math, the stock market has risen for almost a decade, with a quick pause last December. Back in elementary school, you learned “what goes up must go down.” [Keep reading]
Ever see a price for an item online, then look again and see a different price, and think you were going crazy? Probably not. You were probably encountering some form of dynamic pricing, which retailers have quietly dabbled in for many years. Quietly, because every time consumers find out about [Keep reading]
Just how do victims of a massive data breach prove they were harmed — and how is that harm calculated so the victims might be compensated through a lawsuit? That’s been one of the central legal questions facing the millions of consumers who have their privacy violated every year through [Keep reading]
Free money is good. Getting free money as retribution from a misbehaving company — like a robocaller — is even better, says David Bookbinder. He was bragging to friends the other day about a $77 check he received because he’d registered as a “victim” in a class action lawsuit…months ago. [Keep reading]
It’s the end of January, which probably means you’ve already forgotten about your New Year’s resolutions. That’s ok. I’m here to help with today’s annoying overly simple trick for getting past a psychological hurdle you are facing. Want to achieve that goal you’ve given up on? Move the finish line [Keep reading]
Many political …err Facebook….arguments today boil down to warring anecdotes. Like this: “I don’t feel sorry for government workers who aren’t getting paid. Why don’t they have any savings? I know a Fed worker with a really expensive car. Maybe he shouldn’t have spent so much on that car!” A [Keep reading]
How could a lifetime of investing lead to Wall Street keeping 80% of the returns, while the consumer/investor keeps only 20%? Quite easily, as investing and fee-fighting pioneer John Bogle taught us. I explain it in Chapter 5 of Gotcha Capitalism. Here’s the relevant excerpt. I present it again today [Keep reading]
Missing even one paycheck matters. A lot. To about 60% of all Americans, according to a just-released survey by BankRate.com. So yes, forcing government workers to show up without pay is wrong, unfair, and in some cases cruel. I flew out of Reagan airport in DC this morning, and I [Keep reading]
January is a good time to start looking around for simple ways to save money. Here’s a good one – stop paying for TV channels that you can watch for free. At least check your cable bill this month. January is also a “good” time for pay TV companies to impose [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan