It was May of 2010, mere weeks before I graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism, and I found myself in Banana Republic's dressing room growing dizzy from sticker shock. I needed a suit for job interviews, and at least a week's worth of work attire. So, as I approached checkout, I made peace with the fact that in order to afford my lavish, new wardrobe I'd be eating ramen for the next few months.
But at the counter something magical happened. The clerk offered me a credit card. And thus began my battle with debt.
Thankfully, I've put my impulse card sign-up habit behind me. Today, I'm a staff reporter for CreditCards.com. I have also worked as an assistant editor for two regional magazines in Naples, Fla., and as a freelance reporter in the finance field for various websites.
In a nod to tradition, I decided to give my newest nephew something I thought to be a fiscally relevant and easy-to-purchase investment: a savings bond. It turns out savings bonds are neither. Due to poor interest rates and purchasing hassles introduced when they went digital, bonds have become relics in the gift giving world.
Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the Washington Mall to deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech. Almost everyone knows the closing portion of the speech, where King outlines his dreams, but did you know he opened using a banking analogy?
When creating a PIN, research suggests most people choose dangerously simple codes that may be easily remembered, and just as easily guessed by thieves.
My quest for the perfect (and more importantly, affordable) mattress lead me to discover that with a little research and a lot of haggling, everything is negotiable.
Want to know how I scored a $900 mattress set for a little over $500? Read on.