Identity theft is terrible. It’s ruins your day, week, month, and probably more. The average data breach in 2022 cost a company $9.44 million and took 277 days to contain. To determine where Americans are most susceptible to such crimes, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia on 14 key items. Read more →

For years, I had credit card debt. As a single woman, the expenses of running and maintaining a household, plus some travel to visit my daughter in Spain, were more than I could manage on my salary. However, when I paid off my house early, I was able to pay off my credit cards quickly. Read more →

Comcast is one of the companies that I dislike the most. I’m using polite language here because it’s best thing for bloggers to do. I’ve had poor customer service many, many times, and one customer service manager used abusive language, calling me derogatory names. Another thing that irks me about Comcast is mandatory fees. Read more →

Giving Tuesday is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Founded in 2012, it’s a global generosity movement that inspires people to give back. Every morning I get out of bed and check the news for the latest on what will help people in their financial and consumer lives. Since 2008, I’ve written more than 7,000 blog articles. Read more →

Before the pandemic, I had several small businesses I liked to shop at downtown. But, like many consumers, I’ve turned to the internet to do a lot of my shopping as covid surged. I need to get back in the habit of giving small businesses some of my economic dollar votes. Today is Small Business Saturday. Read more →

Fortunately, I was able to get a great deal on Black Friday. I need a new Apple iMac because I can no longer get updates for mine. It’s 12 years old. I’ve been watching the prices for the Apple 27” iMac with Retina 5K display for months. Finally, for Black Friday, Apple reduced the price $600. Read more →

This year at Thanksgiving, I’m thinking about my mom and dad. They met on a wheat ranch during the Great Depression and had virtually nothing with which to start their married lives. When I was married in the 1960s, my former husband and I also had nothing. However, we did get college degrees. Read more →

If you’re going to shop for deals on Black Friday – the sales are now available earlier, stick around longer, and are increasingly moving online – be sure to keep comparing prices. Sometimes prices are marked way up then marked way down. During my journalism career, I’ve written articles on items likely to be on sale each month during the year. Read more →

If you read my newsletter (sign up here if you haven’t seen it yet), you know I advised consumers to start their Black Friday shopping for several weeks ago. My advice today is to keep comparison shopping and add some of the stores that WalletHub.com recommends as the best, and of course, leave those at the bottom of its list until last. Read more →

Buying a car is such a complicated process. I always appreciate information from Consumer Reports on the topic. Each year Consumer Reports issues a report on car reliability. It’s latest report showed hybrid vehicles and midsized or large sedans are among the most reliable, while electric vehicles and full-size pickup trucks are the two most problematic categories. Read more →