Men and women have always differed in opinion and this world has seen some of the biggest battles between couples of opposite genders. Money handling has been a major issue of their disputes. Here’s an infographic from Flickr that makes you understand the financial personalities of both men and women. Scan this up, so that you understand the financial perspectives of your partner better and avoid all those domestic wrangles based on money matters. Here are some aspects on which the survey was conducted: Savings When asked if they would like to save their tax returns, 40 % of men aged between 18-34 years said that they would like to save whereas only 30 percent women agreed. However in the case of people who were more than 50 years old, surprisingly the ratio reversed. 45 % men said they liked [...]

Fall is the time when some really good books come your way, but coming to know the best of them takes time and effort from your end and a busy person like you might not have the time for that.  Smart Money writers have done the research for you and have come up with 7 best books that are a must read this year! Check them out: ADLAND - James P. Othmer Othmer’s ADLAND is an entertaining memoir about his experiences in the advertising world. As you and I might think, the advertising world is far from being glamorous. The job is a highly stress filled one. Othmer talks about the benefits of branding. He gives an entertaining account of how advertising cleverly manipulates us to get its profits. According to Kirkus Reviews - “Othmer uses his often hilarious experiences to discuss the stress-fueled [...]

Hey Mint users, you had requested Mint to come up with a good iPhone Application updates that you could use for your iPhones and they have really done a good job at that. They have come up with the most widely demanded features from its members, though they have rightly not incorporated each and every feature that was requested by you which would only overload their application. Just check these features when you visit their website. The new features include security enhancements, transactions editing and real time notification as the broad categories. Just check these features for yourself! Security Enhancement You wanted to have that special Mint.com four digit password to protect your device right? Now you can do that with the new application updates. Also you could also use your device [...]

Hey guys, wash away all those apprehensions you had about Intuit taking over Mint! In the past few days, Mint users were very concerned about their databases that contained vital information about their finances being shared with a third party. But now it looks as though, they can breathe easy. An assuring note from Scott Cook, Founder, Intuit, has just come in on Mint Blog. Cook is all impressed with Mint. If you can see, the reason for this merger was the better features, management and services of Mint over the Intuit product Quicken that bowled over Intuit and they thought of acquiring Mint. The latter, on the other hand, is more than pleased to get a wider platform for canvassing. So the symbiosis is going to be a huge success, as I can see! Cook felt that his Quicken was sort of outdated [...]

Managing finances is as simple as taking salary, making a list of items you want to buy every month, spending on the articles and saving the balance up in the bank. You might argue that for this you really don’t need the help of software. Well, I do agree with you that essentially it’s that. But do you know that these tools actually help you in refined management of your money. You not only save, but also find out different ways in which you can grow money. Here are some reasons why you’ll agree to use a money management tool if you’ve not been using any till now. Depending On Memory Is Bad I remember, before I came to know about financial tools, every month I got my salary, I’d just take out the money from the ATM machine and keep spending it without recording my expenditure. By [...]

Are you bankrupt at the moment? Have you suffered huge money losses? If I ask these questions in the present times, you’ll obviously point to the recession as the culprit. Agreed; recession did have a huge impact on bringing many of us out onto the streets ,but you should know that many a time we ourselves are responsible for the plight in which we are now. My friend Joe had a good job with a software company before recession. He sailed through every month smoothly as he spent his entire salary on living life without saving even a dollar. Recession came and he went jobless. He and his family are starving. Who’s to blame for this? You ask Joe and pat comes his reply “recession, its not me!” Tell me friends, do you agree with Joe? You’d better check some faulty perceptions so that you [...]

Children need to be financially literate. This is what the government and educational institutions are trying to convince parents and children about. In recent times, many surveys have been conducted regarding the issue. The Jumpstart Coalition Survey for Personal Financial Literacy for children came up with a disappointing report that high school students answered only less than half questions correctly on bank accounts and credit cards! Not only school children but young adults also seem to be desperately lacking in money management skills and financial literacy. Earlier, money was quite an easily available resource. But not anymore! The recent recession has made it imperative for every American to spend his/her money wisely and it should start from the lowest levels of society – the children. [...]

I’m sure when a company succeeds most of us are more than eager to know their success mantras. But the winners are no fools! Why will they tell you their success formula? In a world of cut throat competition they’ll definitely want to stay on top. Their ‘mean’ minds will also want them to secretly desire that they are the sole survivors in their market and all their contemporaries perish. Such is this world my friend! But then all are not like that. Automotive industry financial services biggie, GSFS Group’s Director of Training and Consulting, Bart Carpenter, who’s going to be one of the leading moderators of the F& I Conference Industry Roundtable titled “Achieving High Performance in Your Finance Industry”, shares some gems of high performance that any company can follow [...]

Regardless of their culture, nationality, ethnic origin etc. women have traditionally been homemakers and men the money-earners of the family. Other than the knowledge of some basic money saving techniques while running the household, women were not really savvy of the complex financial world around them. But now, with the changing socio- cultural scenario of women having to take up the role of bread-winners of the family and divorces being at an all-time high, a woman needs to set up herself as an independent financial entity and for that she needs to equip herself with more financial knowledge than mere domestic budgeting skills. According to Ginita Wall, co-author of ‘It's More Than Your Money - It's Your Life!’, "A lot of women believe that wealth is a four-letter word. They are particularly [...]

Credit cards are a part and parcel of our lives now. Using credit cards has become second nature for me. Paying up my dues in time was something that I learnt as a child and I maintained that habit even with credit cards. So there were no hassles for me. The operations were smooth and I really had no problems with their rules. I understand there are many like me, but some have problems with the billing period, interest rate notifications, finance charges adjustments, late payment adjustments etc. The Obama government has brought in changes in the way credit card companies operate with their consumers through the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act 2009. Though the changes are welcome to a certain extent, there are some pros and cons that need to be considered before [...]

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 credit [...]

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 [...]