Americans are well known for having a poor grasp of their personal finances in general, but what about when it comes to the particulars of online investing? As more and more retail investors prepare to take the stock market plunge, it's alarming to learn that America's collective investing knowledge is...

April is Financial Literacy Month, and college graduation season is right around the corner. Now is the perfect time for graduating students to think about getting their finances in order for summer and beyond. There's a lot to think about: loan payments, health insurance, retirement savings, and the...

The process of picking an online investing account is confusing at best and harrowing at worst - and evidence shows many Americans still aren't using the right online brokerage account for their needs.

A recent NerdWallet study found that investors with the three largest online...

Flying carries a wealth of stereotypes, and being cheap is not one of them. Not only is airfare itself exorbitantly expensive, but, over the past decade, airlines have introduced a glut of ancillary fees to make the experience even more draining. Granted, airlines would go bankrupt otherwise, but the toll...

Evidence suggests that financial troubles will be a major issue for many households in the near future. The American personal saving rate is again on the decline after peaking in 2008, standing most recently at just 3.6 percent. To further highlight a looming problem, fewer families report having...

Come the New Year, there are many unknowns about what our financial markets will have in store for us given the looming fiscal cliff. There's a lot that you don't know -- but what about what you do know? If you're among the 17 million investors using accounts at the...

If cash disappeared tomorrow, would you notice? According to some estimates, cash will disappear completely by 2020. With the increasing popularity of electronic money transfers via online and mobile payment services such as Google Wallet, some are predicting that cash, and even credit cards, are permanently on their way out....

President Obama released his budget proposal for 2013 on Feb. 13. While you're listening to the media discuss the implications at the federal level, why not take a moment to rethink your own budgeting strategy? Wait... are those two things even related? Not entirely. Before we...

Now that Bank of America has scrapped their plan to charge a $5 debit card usage fee, and Chase and Wells Fargo have followed suit, you might think banks have learned their lesson about excessive fees. Well, they have, and that lesson is "be less obvious." Banks are...

Everyone seems to be talking about Bank of America's new fees (including us). Many other big banks, including Chase, Wells Fargo and Citibank, are also charging new fees for checking accounts, or planning to add them soon. Inspired by national movements like Bank Transfer Day, customers are threatening...

With the death of Borders and the rise of electronic reading devices, some literary naysayers are already bemoaning the inevitable disappearance of tangible books. Pages are turning into screens, words into megabytes, bookmarks into memory cards. But there's nothing to be sad about. The ability to carry the entire scope...

The Sony credit card abides by a rewards system that, at first glance, looks like a great way to earn rewards on electronics purchases. You earn 5 Sony bonus points per $1 you spend on Sony products, 3 bonus points per $1 you spend on movies and dining, and 1...

It will surprise no one that advertising can be misleading. There's lemonade with 0% fruit juice, pharmaceutical companies compare their drugs to placebos rather than what's already on the market, and credit card issuers tout benefits that they're federally mandated to provide.
While reading credit card advertisements can...

If you're heading off to college, you're probably looking at credit cards for college students. Despite popular belief, credit cards are not evil incarnate. In fact, building up a credit history while you're still in college can serve you well when you fill out a rental application, take out an...

It seems like there's smart everything now -- smartphones, smart tablets, even smart refrigerators that remind you that you're out of milk. But one product remains determinedly low-tech: plastic. Until now. Citibank will soon roll out the Citibank 2G Cards, which feature a chip instead of a magnetic strip.

The...

CreditCards.com recently reported a slight hike in the national average APR for new credit card offers, a negligible bump of 0.01%. Despite the eye-catching headline - it's the highest rate since December - interest rates have been and will likely remain generally stable until March. As banks plot their...

Young people face an ever-increasing number of obstacles as they find themselves learning the ropes of financial independence, while also being responsible for their future, and having to build an acceptable credit rating. Things like money borrowed for school, missteps due to ignorance about money, pressure from friends to spend...

Impulse buyers all over can breathe easier thanks to a new service from American Express, Premium Return Protection. This program could save you from mistakes worth up to $600 per purchase, if you've gone past the "must return in 30 days" limit. While there are terms and conditions...

A lot of folks are using prepaid cards these days as a payment method. The Federal Reserve estimates that a full 17% of Americans are using them. This number is likely growing much bigger with all the people that are dropping their credit cards and getting rid of...

The past two years have been chock full of financial industry regulation. It all started with the CARD Act in 2009, followed closely by the Frank-Dodd Financial Reform Bill and the much-debated Durbin Amendment. We've been tracking all the changes closely, and went on record in back in May 2010...