Beth Romaker and her boyfriend Spencer Crawford last January joined the 25 percent of US households that make a budget. They plan to buy a bigger house, get married, and possibly start a family. Problem was they didn’t include student-loan repayment in their budget. Now they’re worried they won’t be able to afford a house. […]

The Federal Reserve (Fed) builds inflation into our economy. Official Fed inflation policy states that the health of our economy depends on a specific amount of inflation, 2 percent a year the “ideal” figure. That doesn’t seem like much, but run the numbers. With 2 percent inflation every year for 10 years, $1,000 drops in […]

“I’ve been in constant dispute with the credit bureaus for almost a year now and have yet to get … the inaccurate accounts on my credit report removed. I feel like I am being taken advantage of and have been throughout this whole situation. I’ve been getting ignored for months on top of months and […]

When will it end? Credit card debt just hit a record high, jumping $60 billion to almost a trillion dollars, $986.5 billion, in the three months ending December 2022. That goes along with interest rates increasing on that debt, sucking the savings rate people accomplished during the pandemic down to 3.4% from 33%. That goes […]

In 2014, Amazon got itself a new recruiting tool that used artificial intelligence (AI) to recruit employees. “Everyone wanted this holy grail,” an Amazon spokesperson said and Reuters reported. “They literally wanted it to be an engine where I’m going to give you 100 resumes, it will spit out the top five, and we’ll hire […]

They tried to think of everything. With dummied up bank records, tax records, employer and landlord references complete with phone numbers of friends, they created a history that showed them to be stable and responsible. But they forgot one thing: social media. Some 70 percent of employers use social media to screen applicants. Social media […]

If they take $11 billion out of the economy, the effects will be less than pretty. They did and it isn’t pretty. As of November 18, 120,000 tech workers had been laid off in 2022. And the layoffs continue along with hiring freezes. Marc Weil, who has worked in tech since 2010, and one of […]

They took a market served by check-cashing and payday loan stores and offered credit to their customers. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) began as a way to reach an underserved or ill-served $3.9 trillion credit market seen as a giant money-making opportunity. Making money hasn’t been part of the planned equation though. So far so […]

A boss I had once gave away his lies with a gulp in his throat immediately before and after the lie exited his mouth. Once I heard the gulp, I dismissed any and everything that had followed or preceded it. Our last landlord, the one we had 40-plus years ago, gave herself away with the […]

“Deadbeat! Just wait until I put you on the deadbeat list that I’m going to show everybody! My law firm and I will hound you forever! I’m going to have you arrested, too! Did you get that court order I sent you? Just wait, deadbeat!” There might have been a time when it was legal […]