Last year, we lamented how costly proms were: According to a Visa survey, the average prom attendee wound up dropping $807 on photos, limos, hair and makeup styling, tickets, and of course, a dress or tuxedo. Fast-forward to this year’s prom season, and an $800 tab seems cheap.
When gas prices soared in 2008, protests erupted around the world, and automakers in Detroit had to beg the federal government to bail them out lest they go out of business. Gas prices are soaring again in 2012, yet the auto industry is booming, and drivers, while annoyed, are mostly taking rising fuel costs in [...]
It’s absolutely true that kids should learn about the mechanics of credit: How to use it responsibly and why it can get very expensive very quickly if you don’t. But the idea that they need a card of their own to practice this is questionable, at best.
It seems like more than just coincidence that the birth rate and the overall number of births in the U.S. have sharply declined since the beginning of the recession.
Among other surprising factoids, 44% of Americans say they'll never put money in the stock market again.
Over the years, the primary way banks make money has shifted from collecting interest on loans to collecting fees from customers using their debit and credit cards and other bank products. As regulations make it more difficult to collect some fees—namely, debit card overdrafts—banks are growing more interested in prepaid debit cards.
“It’s $50 to get a tattoo, and add a few zeros to get rid of it.”
Not long ago, about half of teenagers could expect to earn money and learn some valuable lessons about the real world through a summer job. This summer, however, three out of every four teens will be out of work. If the minimum wage drops back to the mid-2000s level of $5.15 only for kids ages [...]
