FiLife

Okay, so here’s the thing: I’m leaving.

As in you won’t see my meaningless brilliant ramblings on here anymore. I know, it’s tragic. No more blog posts that deviously try to pass off topics like web-based shows, plastic surgery and sex toys as being relevant to personal finance. No more grumbling about financial aid, or bullying student lenders, or ridiculing inane financial products and bank advertisements. But don’t worry, someone will be right along to pick up where I left off.

Anyway, I thought I’d go out by sharing some of my genius accumulated financial wisdom with you. These aren’t exactly the kinds of things that will help you open a bank account or pay off loans, but I swear, they can be just as practical. I can’t divulge all my devices, but here are a few as a parting gift:

• If you’re ever so strapped for cash that you’re on a Ramen diet ($.20 a meal!) and are a little concerned about the nutrition value (all that sodium!), drop an egg into the broth. It will add some protein to an otherwise not-so-healthy dinner and give the noodles some real flavor—which means you can use just half of that salty flavor packet.
• Before buying anything (gadgets, tickets, services) see if you can get it for free or at least at a discount through your friends, alma mater, employer, or due to your age or location.
• When shopping for clothes, food, or anything really, look for something that is scratched, dented, missing a button, or close to an expiration date and demand a discount from the manager of the store. It’s typically at least 15% off.
• When dealing with any customer service rep on the phone, just ask to speak with their manager/supervisor right away. It will save you time and energy. Generally people that answer phones and man store counters never have the authority to do anything except end conversations with “I’m sorry, that’s just our policy.”
• If something goes wrong at a restaurant, store, or business you’re using, write a letter of complaint. I know, it’s what your grandma used to do, but really, it works! You can get comped meals, gift certificates and store credit.

Okay, that’s all I got. So many cliches to use here, so I’ll just go with a simple bye.

–Irina Aleksander

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We hate to say we told you so, but as we predicted, an increasing number of private colleges have continued to cut tuition deals for middle and lower-income families. Following the lead of big boys like Harvard and Yale, now Dartmouth, Stanford and Brown have introduced new financial-aid plans of their own.

Can this be guilt? A realization that most of its students are graduating with debt in the sextuple (it’s a word, we swear!) digits? Altruism in its truest form?

Unfortunately, it’s probably none of the above. Private colleges are ultimately businesses that a) adhere to the same formula of supply and demand as your local 7-Eleven and need to compete for your dollar and b) have gotten their arms twisted by the Senate to dip into their endowments.

Here’s a roundup of the latest selfless acts of kindness scheduled to kick in this fall:

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Twenty-somethings are a confused bunch. That’s the premise of the web-based series (and social network, although that’s sort of been its secondary identity) Quarterlife. The show, created by Marshall Herscovitz and Edward Zwick of My So-Called Life fame, originally premiered on MySpace and has recently been picked up by NBC, premiering tonight at 10pm Eastern.

There are many things about the show worth talking about: the sly Gen-Y product placement, the TV series’ not-so-traditional launch and its crossover into the mainstream, and perhaps the philosophical significance of conundrums like “Why do we blog?” and “responsibilities are the death of dreams” uttered by the show’s witty characters. But, us being a personal-finance site and all, our task is simply to investigate how Quarterlife deals with twenty-somethings’ financial dilemmas.

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Recession, shmecession.

Everyone keeps blathering on about the dwindling dollar, the deflating markets, and an economy that is sure to dissolve into something obscenely dire any day now. But what does that all really mean and what exactly are we supposed to be doing about it?

For those of us who are too young—or let’s say financially challenged—to own a home or have loads of money in various investments, the recession is something that seems utterly dreadful. But, we’re not entirely sure why.

The full explanation of what causes a recession is too intricate to explain here. And it would probably cure your insomnia quicker than an Ambien CR. All you really need to know is what to expect if a recession really comes to pass.

So we phoned Villanova economics professor David Fiorenza to help us get a clue. And here are the wonderful things he said we have to look forward to: (more…)

My Money Matters Kit reminds me of my college roommate. Every morning she wrote little messages to herself on the bathroom mirror in red lipstick that would say things like Today will be a good day! and You are beautiful. The only problem was that at the end of the day she was still a manic-depressive with an over-eating problem. All of which is to say that her Dior-Rouge- Nectar-scribed affirmations were as beneficial to her self-esteem as My Money Matters Kit is to my finances.

The $24.95 kit consists of four parts: money tips written on index cards, work booklets, a money journal and what else? Affirmations! Including priceless wisdom such as I am not afraid to take charge of my own finances and I am open to receiving prosperity and abundance.

The press release for the kit says that this product is for women who have “been intimidated and overwhelmed by money issues.” Apparently the plan is to appeal to these types of women with bright colors, floral accented affirmation cards, and girly font. The press materials proudly point out that the entire kit can comfortably fit into a pocket book! How exciting!

What this kit is trying to tell me is: We know you’re insecure and afraid of complicated things like money that men typically deal with, but don’t you worry, women can do it too!

All this from a woman who got an MBA in finance, worked for Bear Stearns and launched her own business. The kit is authored by Gina Gichon, founder of Down-to-Earth Finance, a company that offers financial advice to women. We’re guessing she doesn’t find money all that scary.

Besides the fact that the feminine packaging and uplifting affirmation cards are offensive and condescending, the kit isn’t even that useful. Sure, the money tips offer some basic advice like enrolling in a 401K and obtaining a credit report. But who wants to be sitting around filling out work booklets about this stuff?

Most of us just want someone to tell us how to put together a 401K and which mutual fund to choose, not obvious things such as “Pay your bills on time.” (Thanks, My Money Matters!) And the handy “My Money Journal” in the kit is really just a notebook where you write down what you bought and how much it cost. You can get the same thing without the carefully divided columns for $1.69. It’ll even fit into a pocketbook.

–Irina Aleksander

A few weeks ago, we wondered why Harvard’s competitors weren’t matching its price cut for middle and upper middle-class students. Now, Yale has responded to its Ivy League competitor with some financial-aid news of its own.

Less than a month after Harvard upped the ante by eliminating loans from its financial-aid programs and created a formula that would lower tuition payments for low and middle-income students, Yale announced that it too will use its endowment to fund more financial aid. (more…)

Starting next fall, Harvard announced on Monday, families earning between $120,000 and $180,000 won’t have to pay more than 10% of their annual income towards tuition. The school will also eliminate loans from its award packages and take the equity that a family has in its home out of the financial-aid equation.

Harvard isn’t the first school to eliminate loans from financial-aid packages. But none have reached out to the middle and upper-middle class the way Harvard did this week, let alone with a policy that’s so easy to understand.

Now that Harvard has taken the lead among other schools in terms of financial-aid offerings, we decided to call some Harvard competitors that have introduced improved aid programs themselves in recent years and see if they planned to match Harvard’s move.

Here’s what the spokespeople for the schools said: (more…)

Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. This holiday season you can actually spend your money on things that don’t really exist, except on your computer screen that is.

Last month, the San Francisco Chronicle published this story detailing the ways in which people give gifts online. Some people leave presents on their friends’ Facebook pages that they buy for $1 from a special gift-giving application in lieu of actual holiday gifts. Others purchase toys for their kids through online games and networking sites as the New York Times reported in this story earlier this year. And there is a whole group of consumers buying themselves virtual Toyota Scions and iPhones in a virtual world called Second Life—as Tara noted a few months back. (more…)

Last week Ron mused about the kinds of things we’d all like to get from our credit-card companies. This week, it’s student-loan lenders’ turn.

Student-loan providers are notoriously evil unaccommodating, perhaps forgetting that most of their clients are at the stage in their lives where they’ve just been granted the right to vote and can’t yet enjoy a vodka tonic. Although federal loans (i.e. Stafford, Perkins, Parent/Grad Plus) generally have better terms than private loans (loans that function like personal loans), both industries are in dire need of a makeover.

Here’s some stuff we’d like from student lenders: (more…)

This week I spent an hour of my time on a site called FreeRice.com. In that hour, I donated 730 grains of rice to hunger-stricken areas in underdeveloped countries after answering 73 multiple-choice vocabulary questions correctly.

FreeRice is the brainchild of John Breen, founder of Poverty.com and TheHungerSite.com. The concept here is ridiculously simple:

• You answer multiple choice questions that test your vocabulary
• Advertisers pay FreeRice to place ads on the web pages alongside the questions
• The advertisers’ money pays for the rice
• The more questions you answer—and the more ads you eyeball—the more rice you’re able donate

Unlike most other charities, you don’t have to spend any money in order to help alleviate hunger. All you need is your brilliant vocabulary. (more…)