I recently got my hands on Michael Jackson’s tax documents and a good ol’ fashioned assets vs. liabilities statement, courtesy of the folks at "EXTRA" who wanted me to assess his personal finances.    Read More

Debit cards and me, definitely not BFF’s. So the story of the quadrillion-dollar pack of cig’s has me a tad smug, as much as continually amazed at just how crazy debit cards can be.   Read More

What’s the tipping point for student loans?  When they go from being an investment in your future to an anchor dragging you down?  When does it make sense to go into a certain amount of debt—debt that you cannot get rid of EVER, even in bankruptcy—and when does a lot of student loan debt become too much?   Read More

My favorite Dollar Dilemma regarding credit scores went something like this: “I make over six-figures, my credit should be awesome!” The more we need credit scores, the more misinformation still seems to fester.    Read More

The argument (and trust me, there is much arguing) of foreign vs. domestic when it comes to wheels reveals another kind of value.   Read More

I wonder how many bloviators who blast Obama’s healthcare plan have actually—even once in their lives—paid for their own healthcare coverage or had to have treatment without coverage.  After all it’s easy to talk about how expensive, socialist, limiting, etc., etc., it all is if you’re not one of the millions of Americans who have filed for bankruptcy due to medical bills.  Or the silent sufferers who’ve had to live a much lower quality of life because they’re trying to manage their medical bills without filing bankruptcy.     Read More

Our wallets are a kind of key to our souls (well, our ‘money-souls’ at least). Mine has stayed pretty much the same in boom times as in the current bust. No big change in what I carry to pay for things, but something tells me that you may have changed the contents of your wallet lately.    Read More

When you search for driving directions online, a good site will give you several options like “no tolls,” “quickest route,” or “avoid highways.”  You have choices like this when it comes to paying off your credit card debt. 

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it’s good advice to tell someone to take the time to enjoy the tree-lined roads on their way to becoming debt-free, please don’t worry that it takes so much longer.  For me—and from what I can see also many, many of you—getting out of credit card debt was all about getting out hard and fast.  I wanted the route that not only avoided tolls (or fees, in credit-card land) but also that got me to my destination as quickly as possible—a $0.00 balance.     Read More

The stock can only go up, right? Wrong. What about all the deals on GM brands? Let's take a look.    Read More

It's best to be proactive and try to work out better terms if you cannot afford a loan, Carmen says.    Read More