You might want to think twice the next time you feel the urge to smart mouth the guy who asks you if you want to super size your Big Mac combo meal. According to a new report in Businessweek, some McDonald’s employees are netting super-nice, supersized paychecks that may shock not-so nice customers. The magazine reports that in Dickinson, North Dakota, prospective McDonald’s workers are raking in $300 bonuses before they even ask customers if they want fries or apples in their kids’ Happy Meals. Not a bad haul for merely signing on the dotted line. In fact, studies show … Continue reading →

Many scrapbookers know that repurposing holiday cards is a real money saver, but did you know you can earn cash by recycling your old Christmas greetings? Actually, you can help those less fortunate when you donate your seasonal salutations to certain charitable groups. For example, St. Jude’s Ranch for Children is synonymous for its work collecting used Christmas cards and transforming them into works of art which are then sold to generate money for the group. The non-profit accepts used Christmas cards until the end of February, then it hands them over to its benefactors–children who come from abusive homes—-and … Continue reading →

There are many popular New Year’s resolutions that people make regarding money. You may have decided that 2012 will be the year that you earn more, spend less, start saving for retirement, pay down your debt, or any number of other things. There is one very general resolution that does not sound very grand or exciting which can help you to take many different kinds of steps forward in the personal finance department. Have you considered “make better financial choices” your money resolution for next year? You may or may not have heard the old saying “if you do what … Continue reading →

The amount of shopping that you do during the holiday season may increase the amount of time that you spend dealing with customer service issues. Here are a few tips for getting what you want and need from customer service. You may want to keep this list handy after the holidays too, because you never know when you might need it. The very first thing to do when you have a customer service issue is to clearly and politely ask for what it is that you want. Do not be shy, it will not get you anywhere. It is important … Continue reading →

It is often said that money does not buy happiness. While I agree in large part with this statement, I also disagree with it a little. It seems to me that some amount of money is makes it easier for a person to get through their days without experiencing the stress that comes along with worrying about whether all of the bills will get paid that month. There is a certain peace of mind that comes when a person is able to know that their basic necessities like housing, food, electricity, telephone, and heat are provided for. If there are … Continue reading →

As I bring my alphabetical adventures in financial literacy to an end, I am seriously wondering whether there are actually financial words that begin with x, y, and z. Lo and behold, there are. Not many, mind you, but the fact that there are financial terms beginning with those letters is surprising given how few words in general begin with those letters. For X, there are no actual words that I could find, but it is used as a symbol on the Nasdaq stock exchange. If a Nasdaq stock symbol has X as the fifth letter, that means that the … Continue reading →

It is hard to believe that we are nearing the end of the alphabet in our quest for financial knowledge. Just a few more letters to go and we will have increased the number of financial terms that we know by twenty six. That’s pretty exciting stuff, and hopefully it is useful stuff too. If you are considering life insurance, you may want to ask your insurance company if they offer universal life insurance, a form of permanent insurance which offers flexible premiums and a flexible death benefit. Universal life insurance also guarantees that your tax-deferred cash value account will … Continue reading →

We are continuing to move through the alphabet learning new financial terms and expanding our financial vocabularies. There will always more to learn about money, and it is important to periodically take time to learn something new. We are now at the letter “o”. An originator is a bank, savings and loan, or mortgage banker that initially made a mortgage loan that is part of a pool. Often times, with a mortgage or other loan, borrowers must pay a loan origination fee to the originator of their loan. If you get a package mortgage, you are getting a mortgage on … Continue reading →

Since I was having so much fun last month learning about new financial words, I think that I would like to continue doing that since I have only gotten to the letter “F” so far. As I learn more and more about money, I realize just how much I do not know about money and finance. That is not a good thing in my opinion because knowledge is power and my finances are definitely something that I want to feel empowered about. So, onward we go with more financial words. A guarantee is the assumption of responsibility for payment of … Continue reading →

In an effort to increase my financial literacy, I have been educating myself about more words that are used in financial matters. While my personal finances involve the same terms over and over again, I feel that it is important to understand as much as I can about how money works so that I can make the best financial decisions possible. Here are a few more words from the world of finance. A deductible is the amount of money that you must pay out of pocket before your medical insurance, car insurance, or other type of insurance begins to cover … Continue reading →