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The Economy and the Bailout

The economy is usually a pretty popular topic in the news, because is truly touches everybody.  With the crises that have hit in the last year or so, the economy has become even more popular than usual.  Plenty of people provide advice and opinion about what is going to happen in the future and what [...]

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How Many Deductions to Take on Your W-4

Reader AJ recently sent me the following question: How many deductions should you make on your W-4? My HR person suggested that I only take 1 deduction because I “would get a bigger refund.” Just looking it over though, I didn’t seem to get that huge of a refund this year (about $600) to merit having [...]

Asides

• It's that time of year for resolutions.  Most of us have trouble sticking to them for more than a week, on a good year.  There's a website out that wants to help you put your money where your mouth is.  It's called stickk.com.  In short you set a goal and name your price.  If you meet your goal, you keep your money; fail, and it gets wired to a charity of your choice.  Stickk.com was created by Yale professor Dean Karlan, who has put the idea into practice himself to achieve some exercise goals.  Give it a try and let your money work for you. #
• I saw an interesting article from Yahoo/NY Times.  I thought it was relevant for those out there buying new TVs wanting to get the most for their money.  Apparently your TV might not be as big as you think; you'll have to read the small print on the box.  According to the article, TVs are measuring in at .5" less than stated on the box.  I guess that's where rounding comes into play.  My TV is about 6 years old and I just measured and it's a quarter inch larger than advertised (27"), so I must have lucked out.  Here's the article in the NY Times. #
• Here's a video from the Brookings Institution about the economic crisis.  I can't say I agree with everything and I find the Cato videos to be more informative (call it bias).  I still thought it was worth watching.  Barry Bosworth is fiscal policy expert and worked in the Carter administration (his CV is available here).   #
• If you watch TV late at night or Saturday in the early afternoon, chances are you've come across Kevin Trudeau.  He's been a fixture on the infomercial circuit for well over a decade.  His most recent offering is the book Debt Cures They Don't Want You to Know About.  This follows a line of books about "...Cures They Don't Want You to Know About".  Kevin represents the worst in informercial marketing and he's had his trouble with the FTC and FDA in the past.  In August the FTC hit him again with a $5 Million fine and a ban from infomercial for 3 years.  Stuff like this hasn't stopped him in the past, so he'll be back in three years if he can't find a way to skirt the ruling before then.  Though the recent ruling is for the weight loss book he put out a few years ago, his recent debt book isn't much better. #
• Tim Harford, the Undercover Economist, is putting his two cents in for us young folks to not only buy some stock, but even go into debt for it.  I'm not sure I'd got the debt route (maybe it's a deep psychological issue from my childhood), but buying stock would be at the top of my list of where to use extra cash.  But enough about me; here's Tim's article from Slate. #