(MoneyWatch) Jennifer Lopez is the nation's most powerful celebrity, according to Forbes magazine's latest ranking of fame and fortune. A classic turn-around story, JLo embodies the latest trend in fame: You can wield stunning power in Hollywood by having a few million Twitter followers and a well-"liked" Facebook presence. JLo unseated Lady Gaga, who ranks 5th on the list this year, after Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber and Rihanna. Other noteworthy changes to the list: British singer Adele lands on the list for the first time at number 24. Ashton Kutcher, who replaced Charlie Sheen on the television series Two and a Half Men, also replaces Sheen on the most-powerful celebrities list. Kutcher ranks 51st on this year's list. Sheen drops off completely. Other newcomers are ... Continue reading →
(MoneyWatch) It's great to be a girl -- at least when it comes to buying auto insurance. Men pay about $15,000 more for auto insurance over their lifetimes than women do, according to CoverHound.com, an insurance shopping service. But the differences can be even more dramatic, depending on age, location, and other variables. For instance, an 18-year-old male living in Nevada would pay an average of $6,268 a year to insure his sedan if he had the misfortune to grow up there. That's 51 percent higher than what his twin sister would pay (assuming they have the same grades and driving records), who would fork out just $4,152 to insure an identical car, according to a CoverHound analysis. When both kids hit age 21, their ... Continue reading →
(MoneyWatch) My daughter is graduating from college this month. Like the responsible kid she is, she decided that she should apply for a credit card to make sure she could use her own plastic to pay for hotels and rental cars when she travels. She was turned down. She has a job. She’s incredibly financially responsible. She just has no credit history — a problem shared by a good number of today’s graduates, particularly once the Credit Card Act barred banks from peddling their plastic on campus to kids with no income or assets. The good news is that there are a number of credit cards that cater to people with limited credit histories, says Odysseas Papadimitriou, chief executive of the credit card shopping site ... Continue reading →
(MoneyWatch) Despite two-year-old regulatory reforms that demanded that consumers affirmatively opt-in to costly overdraft programs for debit transactions, more than half of the consumers who incurred an overdraft fee over the past year were surprised to find out that they had overdraft coverage, according to a new report by the Pew Charitable Trust. Indeed, over one third of those surveyed were unaware that their bank even offered overdraft coverage until they incurred a penalty. Young and low-income consumers are the hardest hit, with consumers under the age of 44 and those with less than $30,000 in income twice as likely as older and wealthier consumers to incur overdraft fees, according to the report. "I think there is a lot of confusion about opting in for ... Continue reading →
(MoneyWatch) My daughter is graduating from college this month. Like the responsible kid she is, she decided that she should apply for a credit card to make sure she could use her own plastic to pay for hotels and rental cars when she travels. She was turned down. She has a job. She's incredibly financially responsible. She just has no credit history -- a problem shared by a good number of today's graduates, particularly once the Credit Card Act barred banks from peddling their plastic on campus to kids with no income or assets. The good news is that there are a number of credit cards that cater to people with limited credit histories, says Odysseas Papadimitriou, chief executive of the credit card shopping site ... Continue reading →
(MoneyWatch) COMMENTARY Were you a dweeb in high school, always wishing to be part of the cool crowd? Then you'll feel right at home -- or thrown back into the ravages of hell (depending on your perspective) -- with Facebook's upcoming Initial Public Offering. The world-dominating social network plans to go public next month at a rumored price of $40 per share, giving the entire enterprise a value of a whopping $100 billion. But that's the share price that you'd get if you were part of the "in crowd." You must know that you're not. Unless you are stupendously rich, like a billionaire (or an institutional investor with billions at your investment disposal), or incredibly cool (like an actor), or uniquely powerful (like a Congressman), ... Continue reading →
(MoneyWatch) It's not your imagination. Your out-of-pocket medical expenses are continuing to rise, according to Simplee, a website that aims to empower consumers to better manage health costs. The average family of four spent $962 on co-payments, prescriptions, vision, and dental expenses during the first three months of 2012, according to the site. That's up 6 percent from this time last year and indicates that families shell out roughly $3,848 annually in out-of-pocket medical bills. The site tracks the rise in out-of-pocket costs by examining the $200 million in bills paid by Simplee users. Costs were up 19 percent in 2011 compared with 2010, a site spokesman says. Out-of-pocket cost data is helpful for people who have access to employer-provided flexible spending plans that pay ... Continue reading →
Let's say you're young, beautiful, underemployed and, well, morally "flexible." Where might you go to meet a rich older man Continue reading →
Let's say you're young, beautiful, underemployed and, well, morally "flexible." Where might you go to meet a rich older man Continue reading →
