Your 7-Step Midyear Money Checkup

Filed under: Power of Planning

You always remember to change the oil in your car … when the red warning light comes on. You get diligent about flossing … when the dentist mails the reminder postcard to make an appointment for your six-month checkup. So consider this article your warning light/postcard to get ready for your midyear money review.

With six months of earning, saving, and spending under your belt, you’ve got plenty of data to project how 2012 is going to play out. So let’s lift the hood on your finances and…

Your 7-Step Midyear Money Checkup originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-19T05:00:00Z.

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How I Paid Off $27,000 in Credit Card Debt in Two Years

Filed under: Power of Planning

By Dana Burgess, as told to Gabrielle Karol

I live in Graham, Texas, with my husband and three children, who are 17, 14 and 9 years old. I work full-time at a public school as an “intervention” teacher, helping kids who need an extra push academically with reading and math.

When I first started racking up credit card debt, my husband was running two businesses, which we co-owned: a store that sold farm equipment and an auction company. The farm store wasn’t doing so well at the time, so a…

How I Paid Off $27,000 in Credit Card Debt in Two Years originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-18T12:25:00Z.

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How to Save Money at the Movie Theater

Filed under: Saving Money

By Cameron Huddleston

My family has a Friday night tradition: dinner and a movie. No, we don’t go to a restaurant then the theater. We make the kids dinner and let them eat it while watching a DVD or movie that we download from a video-streaming service. If we were to actually go out, the cost of movie tickets alone for four of us would be enough to buy two DVDs (which we could watch again and again).

Watching a movie at the theater can be a real budget buster. But it’s fun to occasionally…

How to Save Money at the Movie Theater originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-17T05:15:00Z.

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Weird-Mart: Tales of the Bizarre from the Walmart Aisles

Filed under: Wal-Mart Stores, Features, Secret Shopper

A 47-year-old man was bitten by a rattlesnake in the outdoor garden department of a Walmart (WMT) store in Lewiston, Idaho, this week. The rattlesnake latched onto the man’s hand, prompting him to scream, shake the snake loose, and then stomp it to death.

A peculiar incident, yes, but hardly the first odd thing to occur at one of the retailer’s 3,878 U.S. locations: Strange things seem to happen in Walmart stores all the time.

True, Walmart is the nation’s biggest retailer, which gives it…

Weird-Mart: Tales of the Bizarre from the Walmart Aisles originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-16T15:15:00Z.

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Disney Unveils Some Welcome Surprises for Investors

Filed under: Earnings, Walt Disney, Market News

It was another quarter of reasonable growth and better-than-expected results at Disney (DIS).

The family entertainment giant delivered $9.6 billion in revenue, 6% ahead of where it was a year earlier. Disney’s adjusted profit of $0.58 a share was well ahead of both the $0.49 a share it earned a year earlier and the $0.55 a share that analysts were targeting.

Now let’s dive further into the real gems in Disney’s report.

1. Disney’s Theme Parks Are Rocking

Outside of Disneyland Paris,…

Disney Unveils Some Welcome Surprises for Investors originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-09T14:25:00Z.

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What the Looming Retirement Bubble Means for You

Filed under: Retirement

Do you think you’ll be ready for retirement?

If that question inspires you to fits of nervousness, night terrors and sweaty palms, you’re not alone. Most Americans aren’t saving anywhere near enough money to live out their golden years comfortably. Let’s take a look at some of the more eye-opening statistics:

• Americans 10 years away from retirement have saved just $78,000 on average, even though the Employment Benefit Research Institute says the average worker will need to have saved…

What the Looming Retirement Bubble Means for You originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-08T12:52:00Z.

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Berkshire’s Annual Meeting: Buffett Talks Cancer, Politics, Cheap Stocks and Gold

Filed under: Investing, Berkshire Hathaway, Market News, Special Report

No cameras are permitted. No transcripts are available. Only shareholders are even allowed to attend. But we have a ringside seat at the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A)(BRK-B) annual meeting in Omaha, Neb., where Tim Beyers and other Motley Fool analysts are live-blogging from the event of the year. (Join the chat here.)

For more than four decades, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have held court during these famously witty and insightful Q&A sessions. (The pair has commented on almost…

Berkshire’s Annual Meeting: Buffett Talks Cancer, Politics, Cheap Stocks and Gold originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-05T15:37:00Z.

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Hedge Funds Betting Against the Eurozone: Why You Should Worry

Filed under: Economy, Market News

Some of the world’s most prominent hedge fund managers are betting against the eurozone — and not just the peripheral countries everyone knows are in trouble. They’re taking positions against the core countries, economies that — until now — everyone has assumed were rock-solid.

Here’s a primer on the world of hedge funds and why the latest developments in the recently resurgent eurozone crisis are yet another warning shot across America’s economic bow.

How the Other Percent Invests

Put…

Hedge Funds Betting Against the Eurozone: Why You Should Worry originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-05T01:25:00Z.

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Target Dumps Amazon Kindles Over Retail Rivalry

Filed under: Target Corp, Amazon.com, Retail

Apparently Kindles are the new Che Guevara CD cases at Target (TGT).

The cheap-chic retailer will discontinue the sale of Kindle e-readers and Amazon-branded products.

It’s not business, Amazon.com (AMZN). It’s just personal.

There’s no denying that brick-and-mortar chains despise Amazon. Between the e-tailer’s low overhead that helps it sell stuff at untouchable prices and its ability to skirt sales tax collection in all but a few states, Amazon may be a friend of the consumer, but there’s…

Target Dumps Amazon Kindles Over Retail Rivalry originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-03T11:55:00Z.

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Why You Should Be Happy About 2.2% GDP Growth

Filed under: Economy

The federal government is reporting that gross domestic product, or GDP, grew at a 2.2% rate in the first three months of 2012. Following the announcement of the actual number, the next thing you probably heard or read is how disappointed everyone is.

Here’s a primer on exactly what the GDP growth rate is, why the world stops when the number is announced, and why 2.2% is nothing to be disappointed about.

The Invention of GDP

Economists “invented” GDP in 1934, and it became the primary tool…

Why You Should Be Happy About 2.2% GDP Growth originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-04-30T10:55:00Z.

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