Credit card companies can cancel your card without advance warning

I prefer credit cards to debit cards, due to the consumer protections. If someone steals the credit card number, the issuer is out money, not you. With debit cards, someone can steal your money! But these protections are now leading credit card companies to close what they deem to be "risky" accounts. It is good to have a backup card in case you are the victim of these tactics. .

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'Cash for Clunkers' Runs Out of Gas - WSJ.com

If you're looking to benefit from the 'cash for clunkers' program, time is running out as the one billion dollars allocated for rebates runs out.

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Free Annual Credit Report

Have you checked yours lately? There are a lot of companies claiming to provide a free credit report, and they even have ads with catchy tunes on the radio and TV. The FTC has some information about how to get your free credit report here:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt156.shtm

And the official free credit report site is here:

http://www.annualcreditreport.com/

Average Household Spending

This chart from the Department of Labor shows how much the average "consumer unit" (consisting of 2.5 people) spends in a year. Healthcare doesn't seem to take up much of the budget ($2853, or 4.5% of pre-tax income), compared to dining out ($2668, or $222 per month) or paying people to entertain us ($2698). Cutting out the eating out and entertainment would help the health of our savings accounts tremendously. As another benefit, less dining out would probably help our health and get that healthcare spending down even further.

The chart does show how much house and car payments impact us. This average household spends 41% of pre-tax income on housing and transportation.

The chart doesn't break out how much of that $63,091 in pre-tax income ends up going to taxes, but does show total spending of $49,638. I would guess about $5,000 for Social Security and Medicare, and a comparable amount for state and federal taxes, leaving very little for savings.

http://www.visualeconomics.com/how-the-average-us-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/

 

Save on Glasses and Contacts

For those who wear glasses or contacts, I've come across a blog that might help you save money, with links to several different online retailers and instructions on how to order what you need based on your prescription.

Glassy Eyes

Insurers Raise the Premiums on Term Life - WSJ.com

It might be worthwhile to lock in these rates now if you have dependents who are relying on your income for the next ten to twenty years. Term life is a better value than whole life because it just does one thing and doesn't try to serve as an investment too.

Insurers Raise the Premiums on Term Life: Higher Rates Change Calculus of Buying Popular Coverage; Racing to Beat the Increase?

The job numbers today were better than expected, but keep in mind 220,000 jobs were assumed to have been created.