My best wishes to you and your loved ones for 2023. On New Years eve, I wrote about the top consumer and personal finance stories of 2022. Inflation and higher interest rates topped the list, and I predict that those two issues will continue to confront consumers throughout the new year. My recommendations include: Read more →

Michelle Singletary, financial writer for The Washington Post, has been recommending buying Series I Bonds for months now. Singletary says for investors with money to spare and who are looking for safety, inflation has been good for Series I Bonds, which the Treasury Department announced will be paying 9.62 percent until the end of October. Read more →

Always be careful when you buy something based on the advice of a celebrity or influencer, especially investments. On social media, Kim Kardashian illegally touted cryptocurrency sold by EthereumMax without disclosing the payment she received for promoting it, the SEC said Monday. Read more →

Charles Schwab Corp. will pay a record $187 million to settle charges that it didn’t tell clients about the hidden costs of its robo-advising product, which was allocating client funds in a way that would be less profitable for them. The cash in the portfolios would cause clients to make less money even while taking on the same amount of risk. Read more →

April is National Financial Literacy Month. It’s a great opportunity for consumers to check and promote their financial situation and skills. For people who have just started earning or have been earning for a long time, every day is a chance to reflect on spending and improve finances.  Read more →

The Warrior Trading day trading investment scheme is being ordered by the FTC to stop making unrealistic claims of big gains to consumers. It alleges that the company and its CEO used those claims to convince consumers to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a system that failed for most customers. Read more →

Consumers need to accurately declare and pay taxes on their virtual investments. Failure to properly declare and pay taxes on cryptocurrency transactions may be a civil or criminal violation of federal tax law, as well as a violation of state tax law, which could result in steep financial liabilities Read more →

Parents probably know this, but if they don’t, they should. Kids are learning and mimicking machines. It starts at birth. Once they arrive, they look and listen – to just about everything. They begin absorbing and recording what they see and hear. Read more →

The Super Bowl ads for 2022 were mostly disappointing. Although a few had a good message, the overall feel of the game show was dystopian. A QR code drifting across the screen, ads for apps and betting websites I’d never heard of, and supposedly clever ads featuring stars from TV series I’ve never seen. Read more →

Coins and collectables can be an interesting and rewarding hobby. However, since the price of precious metals can fluctuate widely, it can also be a stressful investment. Knowing what you’re buying, and who you’re buying it from are very important. Read more →