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• Grab Your Reinstated 401(k) Match Post-Haste

  By Chris Pummer | Nov 19, 2009 | 0 comments

  Many employers who eliminated 401(k) matching funds during the recession have reinstated them or plan to do so in the year ahead. If you reduced or halted your 401(k) contributions for that reason, you may soon get notice from HR that your match is back, if you haven’t already — and you should act upon [...]

• Act Now on Refinancing — or Kiss Those Low Rates Goodbye

  By Chris Pummer | Nov 18, 2009 | 0 comments

  Procrastination can be costly in financial affairs, especially with the biggest combined asset and debt most of us own and owe: our home and the mortgage we pay for it. There’s a window of opportunity right now in the mortgage market that seems likely to close in months ahead – one you may regret not capitalizing upon. The average interest rate [...]

• Airfare Shopping Made Tougher by Demand for Economy Seats

  By Chris Pummer | Nov 17, 2009 | 1 comment

  If you’re planning airline travel in the months ahead, you’ll need to work a little harder and smarter to snag the lowest possible fares. Figures released today showed a sharp drop in business-class bookings for September and a concurrent rise in economy-class travel amid continued belt-tightening by both corporate bookers and leisure travelers. That heightened demand [...]

• Jump on Discounted Home-Improvement Products for Future Projects

  By Chris Pummer | Nov 16, 2009 | 0 comments

  Lowe’s lousy profit report today underscores the problems that big home-improvement retailers face when homeowners delay planned additions and remodeling amid economic uncertainty. If you’ve already set aside some cash for a such a project, though, Lowe’s woes — and those of similar outlets –  actually offer you a rare opportunity to stretch your budget [...]

• Feast on a Cheap McMansion While You Can

  By Chris Pummer | Nov 13, 2009 | 0 comments

  They go by such names as garage mahals, hummer houses and starter castles and soon you may add another — dinosaur mausoleums.  And while they’ve been widely disparaged, McMansions are among the best bargains in many housing markets now. These big, boxy homes often slapped up on treeless farmland came to epitomize the worst of the [...]

• Financial Media Seized by Schizophrenia in Uncertain Times

  By Chris Pummer | Nov 13, 2009 | 1 comment

  In times like these when it’s unclear what to make of the economic recovery, the media turns into a raving schizoid with its financial coverage. As a news consumer, don’t get too worried — or relieved — about the back-and-forth mix of ominous and elated headlines you’re seeing. The schizophrenia is most pronounced with monthly and even weekly economic [...]

• Gift Cards Still Have Pitfalls, Despite Better Consumer Protections

  By Chris Pummer | Nov 11, 2009 | 1 comment

  Gift cards take much of the spirit out of gift-giving — the thoughtfulness extends little further than choosing a dollar amount and maybe a specific merchant — but there’s no denying the popularity of the convenience they offer. Consumers bought $25 billion worth for holiday gifts last year, according to Bankrate.com. If you choose to go [...]

• How to Be First in Line for Growing Number of Unfilled Jobs

  By Chris Pummer | Nov 10, 2009 | 0 comments

  While the jobless rate continues to rise, so too is the number of positions going unfilled by U.S. employers, which bodes well for a pickup in hiring in the new year. An estimated 2.48 million jobs were unfilled in September, up 57,000 from a month earlier and the highest level since June, the Bureau of Labor [...]

• Most Child-Support Payers Stiff Their Kids, Problem Intensifying

  By Chris Pummer | Nov 9, 2009 | 9 comments

  It’s tough to manage your household budget when you’re depending on an unreliable source of income, but that’s a predicament faced by most single parents receiving child-support payments from an ex-partner. Nearly a quarter of parents owing child support are complete deadbeats and fail to make any payments whatsoever, and another 30 percent don’t pay the [...]

• Existing Home Sales Spike Belies a Market Still Struggling

  By Chris Pummer | Nov 9, 2009 | 0 comments

  Today’s existing-home sales report seems to offer cause for celebration, but before you rush to sell your house to cash in, best look beyond the smoke and mirrors. Sure, sales volume leaped 9.4% in September to its highest level in two years. The biggest month-to-month gain in at least a decade far exceeded the spike in [...]

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