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Fewer Americans are defaulting on their credit card bills. That’s good news for our budgets and credit scores, but the improvement is also making credit card issuers happy. Fewer charge-offs means they’re in a better position to pitch more credit cards, so consumers can look forward to a mailbox full of applications in the new [...]
By the time 2011 ends, the typical U.S. household will have spent $4,155 gassing up their vehicles. That’s one out of every $12 of median household income—the highest proportion for filling up in three decades.
As a rule, consumers don’t like paying for things they don’t enjoy. Even so, despite the widespread consumer desire for an a la carte model, in which pay TV customers could select (and be charged) only for the channels they want, the bundle remains standard. What this means is that pretty much all pay TV [...]
Wanna hang a stocking for your cat? Or wrap a new rhinestone collar and place it under the tree so your dog can open it on Christmas morning? Knock yourself out, say psychologists.
Over the past 10 years, our population growth has slowed, we’ve found it increasingly hard to leave home to start a career, and our salaries have decreased for the first time on record. But, it’s not all bad news.
Boomers have never been great at putting money in the bank. Maybe they should listen to their kids.
Bank of America, the second largest U.S. bank by assets, fell more than 5% on Monday to below $5 per share for the first time in 2011, and the lowest level since March of 2009. The $5 threshold is more than just a psychological barrier: Some money managers have a policy against holding stocks cheaper [...]
The idea that the oil must be changed in a car every 3,000 miles or three months is a myth that even Jiffy Lube admits is not true.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the richest men in the world and a prominent shareholder in several major Western corporations, has purchased a $300 million stake in Twitter, the increasingly influential microblogging service. Prince Alwaleed, through his investment company Kingdom Holding, now holds a 3% position in Twitter, which is valued at roughly [...]
A spreading mini-movement, in which anonymous Secret Santas are paying off the layaway accounts of total strangers, shows that people are capable of thinking about more than just themselves this time of year.
To no surprise, the U.S.’s legendary consumer culture hits the roof during the holiday season, with average per-person spending on gifts among the highest levels in the world. Americans aren’t the biggest Christmas spenders, though.
