Here are some of my recent posts about money for Credit.com.
Credit Report Card: A Truly Free Look at Your Credit Record (left): “Credit.com launched a new, truly free online tool called Credit Report Card, which gives you an easy-to-understand snapshot of your credit report, along with estimated scores from the different reporting agencies.”
Should I Buy It? A Flowchart to Help You Decide: “The purpose of my ‘should I buy it?’ question and the purpose of April’s flowchart is the same: to force you to stop and think before buying something. Sometimes, a small delay between impulse and action is all it takes to avoid making an unnecessarily costly purchase.”
Immunize Yourself Against Sneaky Sales Tactics: “Using insight gleaned from Dan Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational, Jeff Atwood goes through marketers’ sleazy tactics, one-by-one, telling you how to avoid falling prey to them.”
Can You Save Money with a Self-Watering Gardening Container?: “I bought three ‘Ready to Grow Complete Kits’ from EarthBox for $55 each and set them up on my deck. Besides all the components (including casters so you can roll the boxes around), they come with potting mix, a bag of organic fertilizer, and a bag of dolomite with trace elements. As the website says, all you need are plants and water.”
Using Brain Scans to Beat the Free Rider Problem: “The house I live on is on a private street shard by about 20 other houses. The City of Los Angeles does not maintain the street, so when repairs are needed, the residents must pay for them. Over the last couple of years, a lot of big potholes have formed. Several of the residents decided something needed to be done about it, and sent copies of repair estimates to everyone who lives on the street. If everyone pitched in an equal amount, the price per household would be $2,500 to fix the street.
Most of the households paid the $2,500, but a few refused to pay.”
The High Price of Ignoring the Future: “Would you rather be given £45 in three days, or £70 in three months? That was the question put to 40,000 people who took part in an experiment conducted by the BBC and the University College of London.”
Dan Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation: “Dan has been studying the psychology of human motivation. In this video, Dan offers some counter-intuitive advice about using financial rewards to incentivize people.”
Would You Steal Medicine to Save Your Spouse’s Life?: “Heinz broke into the drugstore and stole the drug for his wife.
Should Heinz have done that?”
Money Can Buy Happiness, After All, as Long as You Don’t Spend it on Yourself
: “It turns out that money can buy happiness — provided you spend it on the right things.”
The Curse of Winning the Lottery: “This article reports on the sad fates of eight lottery winners who experienced bankruptcy, drug abuse, and sometimes even prison as a result of winning the lottery.”