When was it last that you laughed to your heart’s content? Was it five months, two months, or two weeks? Though the fading recession seems to be giving us good reasons to laugh again, the past phase has made us almost psychotic with depression.  Stressful economy can depress you very much. Many of my friends have put on weight and if you go by the American Psychological Association poll you might find it hard to believe but 80 % of the people have suffered depression or failed mental health. Failed mental health as you know leads to a lot of physical complaints also. I second clinical Psychologist, Deborah Serani’s opinion on this. According to this New York mental health practitioner “When our financial bedrock is shaken, not only do the numbers dwindle lower, but so, too, does our [...]

I really don’t know if it’s the recession or the general services of financial companies, but it seems that in the recent times the complaints against the companies has gone up multi-fold. According to Financial Services Authority reports that showed the trends from 2006-2008, poor customer service and exorbitant fees of finance companies seem to be the main areas against which customers are grousing about. The lending sectors of the financial industry, the banks and the lending agencies seem to be the ones facing the brunt of the customer’s ire. The rise in complaints against these sectors is a shocking 122 % in the last three years. The high charge complaints have increased by 259 %   and customer service complaints have risen by 71 % in the same period. Other complaints include [...]

When I was in my fifth grade I learnt about the human circulatory system that involved a fascinating study of how blood was generated, the different parts of the human body that it flowed through and where it went back to. Years later, now when I’m a part of this economy drama, I can’t help but remember the human circulatory system once more. Today, when I see the dynamic changes in the stature of money when it comes to the economy of a country or a household, I feel money is like your blood. It gets generated at one place, flows through the entire financial system and then gets replaced by new money everyday, just like our blood cells. When we have suffered ‘economic anemia’ for so long and are on our way to recovery now, it makes sense for us to know the dynamics of money so that [...]

Next time you bite into an ice-cream and simply scream “ Aaaaaah my tooth hurts !” but feel that you’ve got to pop in some pills instead of going to a dentist as a temporary  remedy because you can’t afford the fee, just relax…there’s good news for you. It seems this recession has tamed the dentists’ desire of charging exorbitant prices for their services, because many people have put dental care out of their budgets as it appeared optional to them. I don’t agree with them though because when  you get a devastating toothache you’ll know that dental care is the most essential thing for your survival. However, those people who were blessed enough to not have a rendezvous with a toothache have decided not to go to dentists and now this is the reason many dentists are offering [...]

The Obama Government reminds of the good ol’ Santa Claus who doesn’t seem to tire coming up with innovative gifts for us. After Cash for Clunkers, the government seems to have come up with a new goodie in its energy efficiency motives that allow you to exchange your ‘old and nagging’ domestic appliances like washing machine and the air conditioner for new energy efficient ones at a rebate. Now doesn’t this look somewhat similar to the cash for clunkers project? It looks as though the government is all set to dispose off junk from your houses and garages and abound them with new smart energy efficient utilities that will not only save you a lot of money on expenditure of resources but also keep the environment happy. Be geared up for some action from the state Departments of Energy [...]

Every time I open my Facebook home page, I see increasing number of friend requests. Some of them are long lost school friends, others are relatives who are geographically distant and still others are those from the same place as I live, but who cannot find an hour to socialize in real world! Apart from this there are like-minded people belonging to different ethnic backgrounds from all over the globe who’d like to indulge in intellectual conversations with me! Nowadays, it seems big virtual social hubs like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace are venues where not only you get to make social contacts, but also professional contacts. The sharp eyes of recruiters are not missing out on good talents from these websites. These places are so happening! Tell me is it possible for you to meet such diverse [...]

For many people divorce is a sad thing. Either or both the partners is in an emotional trauma and as though that is not enough there are huge monetary expenses involved too. As you might have expected divorce is not like breaking with your dating or living-in partner where you just walk out of the relationship without actually having to pay a dime. Divorce involves a lot of legal hassles which involve the expenditure of money. Laws have made it worse or good depending on the party that is at a loss or gain. Most often it’s a win/lose situation with the partner wanting to separate having to pay compensation to the other. A win/win situation happens when people divorce by mutual consent where you separate willingly from each other without any financial hassles. These are not the only expenses [...]

“Hello…Please may I help you?” is an attractive voice that I get to hear from the AT & T customer care wing when I call up with queries regarding my bills and usage statistics. Quite contented with the very impressive services provided by the company, I hardly bother to know what other guys in the industry are doing. But you might not be as lucky as I am, even with AT&T. This is when you might want to look for other providers and see what they have to offer. Leading financial website Billshrink has conducted a survey on the usage and cost statistics of mobile phone wireless service providers and came up a comparison which is quite useful in understanding the general trends of mobile phone usage behavior. Billshrink has conducted study on five areas of wireless mobile phone [...]