Financial Planning
Personal Robots
The robotics revolution, so far confined to factories and the cute little device that roams your house sucking up dirt, is about to hit closer to home. In Japan, so-called “carerobos” are now helping workers look after the elderly in assisted living facilities. In one facility, a large-eyed humanoid named Pepper leads the […]
Making That Impression
When you meet people, at work, in interviews, at parties, there is a lot of judging going on, and the good or bad impression you make usually isn’t based on the words you say. A recent article in Forbes magazine suggests that you’re most often evaluated on your unconscious behaviors, the things you probably […]
A Formula for Life
If you’re looking for a quick list of ways to improve your physical and mental health, you could do worse than follow a list compiled by Bala Afshar, author of The Pursuit of Social Business Excellence, who works as “chief digital evangelist” for the Salesforce CRM organization.
His list looks like this:
- Get more sleep
- Find time to […]
How Can I Protect Myself From Digital Deception?
Imagine that you receive an email with an urgent message asking you to verify your banking information by clicking on a link. Or maybe you get an enticing text message claiming that you’ve won a free vacation to the destination of your choice — all you have to do is click on the link you […]
What Can I Do to Crack Down on Robocalls?
You may not mind if a legitimate robocall provides a helpful announcement from your child’s school or an appointment reminder from a doctor’s office. But sadly, criminals often use robocalls to collect consumers’ personal information and/or conduct various scams. Newer “spoofing” technology displays fake numbers to make it look as though calls are local, rather […]
I Still Have Money Left in my FSA. How Should I Spend It?
Health flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are a great way for individuals to pay qualified medical and dental expenses using pre-tax dollars. While IRS rules do allow employers to offer either a carryover or grace period option for money left over in flexible spending accounts, many employer FSA plans still have provisions that don’t allow for […]
The Economic Myth-Destroyer Gets His Due
Imagine a person who always, in every circumstance, makes rational decisions with his money. He saves when he ought to and spends exactly as he should spend, in order to maximize the “utility” of whatever wealth he happens to possess. He defers gratification with ease. When he invests, he has instant and total access to […]
How Do You Stop Yourself From Overspending?
The urge to splurge is one of the toughest challenges to a monthly budget, and leads to unhappy encounters with the credit card statement. But psychologists say there are solutions for the chronic overspender.
The first thing to understand is that overspending is viewed as a way to boost our self-esteem or overcome sadness—and if you […]
How to Respond To a Data Breach
You may have read that hackers broke into the Equifax database and stole personal information tied to 143 million people. Equifax is one of the four nationwide credit-reporting agencies that track and rate the financial history of U.S. consumers. Three of the agencies (Equifax, Experian, and Transunion) are the “major” players. A fourth firm, Innovis, […]
What Costs More
Inflation has been pretty benign over the last 20 years, right? The U.S. Consumer Price Index has ranged from negative 0.4% in 2009 to a high of 3.8% in the awful 2008 economic year. In 13 of those 20 years, the CPI was below 2.5%, which is hardly comparable to the double-digit inflation […]
