While catching up on old news, I heard a story about bartering on the Marketplace Money podcast. It’s called a Time Bank. Basically you do something for someone else and earn some Time Dollars. Then you use your Time Dollars for services you want from another person. It’s an indirect bartering system because direct bartering […]
Received $14.74 from LiPuma v. American Express
I got a check in the mail over the weekend for $14.74 from the class action lawsuit settlement LiPuma v. American Express. I don’t remember filing the claim form for it but I must have. Some lawyers found a Mr. Edward LiPuma and sued American Express for not disclosing their foreign transaction surcharge properly. They […]
One-Time Credit Card Numbers for More Security
The sixth largest payment processor in the country Heartland Payment Systems disclosed recently their system was compromised by hackers with a piece of data sniffing software watching credit card data pass by between Heartland and credit card networks. That system processes 100 million transactions a month. This had gone on for months until Visa and […]
I Received a Parking Ticket That’s Not Mine
Right before Christmas I received an overdue parking ticket in the mail. It has my name and license plate but it’s really not mine. I have never been to the location noted on the ticket. The vehicle description has the right make but the wrong color. Why did they think it was my car? I’m […]
Bought HP 12C Platinum Calculator
A generous reader gave me a good tip for answering some questions. I used the money and bought myself an HP 12C Platinum calculator. This is a financial calculator. It has financial functions like loan payments and bond prices. What really makes it different from all other calculators is that it uses a different input […]
Joe Four-Pack
During the summer when food inflation was high, there were a lot of news reports about package shrinking. Instead of raising the price, companies just give you less and sell for the same price. That makes it easier for them to hide the price increase. This is still going on even though the inflation pressure […]
Price Matching Policy and Time Limit
There are enough chaos in the financial markets. I’m not going to post anything related to investing this week. There’s plenty to read and digest about Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG. I believe all eyes are on WaMu now. Should a business stand firm on its price matching policy? That’s the question for today. […]
Recession and Wii
I want to buy a Wii. I played a Wii at my sister’s place and I liked it. Now I want to buy one but I can’t find one. Except on eBay, where it’s sold above MSRP, the Wii is out of stock everywhere. When they come into stock, the units are sold out immediately. […]
The Cost of Being Green
I love the Om Money column in the Yoga Journal magazine. It’s the first thing I read in every issue. The column features a question from a reader answered by two money experts. A previous column prompted me to write Unsure About Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) last year. Here’s another good question in the September […]
Farmers Market and Brown Eggs
I don’t know why I missed out for so long. I visited the farmers market in my town for the first time last weekend. What a pleasant experience! There are a lot of vendors selling produce. The fruits and vegetables don’t look as neat as those in the grocery stores but they taste a lot […]
How Do You Find Good Home Improvement Contractors?
This is a question for my readers who are also homeowners. Help me out here. How do you find good contractors for home improvements and repairs? I know the standard answer is "ask your friends and neighbors." But how do they know if someone is good? I’ve used a few different people for different things […]
Habit Changing Is Hard
I’ve seen many stores selling those environment-friendly reusable shopping bags made of cloth or thick plastic, but I’ve seen very few people buying them, and even fewer people actually using them. I think bringing your own shopping bag is a great idea. Most of the shopping bags are used for no more than 5 minutes. […]