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Latest in Taxes: 3 Tax Mistakes People Make Every Day ---- Are You an Unwitting Tax Cheat?

WalletPop takes you to San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, where inside an unassuming shed facing Alcatraz Island, you'll find one of the most unique attractions in the country: Musée Mécanique, the "mechanical museum." It's both a virtual temple to spare change and the product of thrift where a pocketful of quarters can transport an entire family to the early 20th century. Continue reading.

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Money College: Downloads, piracy still a thorn for music industry

Jason St. Amand Mar 6th 2010 @ 9:00AM EST Filed Under: Money College

Near the start of the new century, the Internet gave us Napster, the peer-to-peer network that allowed people to trade and download songs and albums for free, illegally of course.

Since then, the way people purchase music has been altered and the music industry has taken notice. In 2007, the giant bittorrent sharing Web site, Oink's Pink Palace, which also allowed users to illegally download music, was shut down by the RIAA, or Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group that represents the music industry.

Continue reading Money College: Downloads, piracy still a thorn for music industry

Rangel is out; Levin is in. What does it mean for you?

Kelly Phillips Erb Mar 6th 2010 @ 7:00AM EST Filed Under: Tax, In the News

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), the enigmatic Representative from Harlem, has won every political challenge to his seat since 1971, often by as much as 90%. This week, however, he faced a challenge he couldn't possibly win: a vote by the Republicans to oust him as Chairperson from the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. With defeat almost a certainty, Rangel backed down from perhaps the most important vote of his career. Despite announcing the night before, "You bet your life," when asked if he was going to remain as chair, Rangel resigned as Chairperson of the Committee on March 3.

Rangel ascended to what is considered the most powerful seat in Congress (perhaps more powerful than Speaker of the House) in 2006 after a major shift in Congress. The Democrats took control of the House, and Rangel was voted in as Chair of House Ways and Means Committee; he was the first African American to hold that distinction.

Rangel would not be seated long before controversy would find him. The most damning charges, however, would come in 2008 when Rangel admitted, after an investigation, that he did not report $75,000 in rental income for a property in the Dominican Republic on federal income tax. He claimed the oversight was the result of not understanding the tax laws. It was, however, a particularly embarrassing admission for the Democrats, considering Rangel's post meant he headed the committee that wrote tax policy for the nation. What kind of example was he setting for taxpayers?

Continue reading Rangel is out; Levin is in. What does it mean for you?

Southwest Airlines, Chase reaching out to a new audience for credit cards: Toddlers

Mitch Lipka Mar 5th 2010 @ 8:00PM EST Filed Under: Travel, Consumer Ally, Credit Cards

Kemper doesn't have a job, but he does like to stack things up and knock them down. He knows his letters, but can't read -- certainly not credit card solicitations. But he gets them nonetheless. A curious thing to send to a 2-year-old.

His mom, Frances Sayers, was none-too-happy to read a recent offer for Kemper for a Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit card from Chase.

"I was surprised and a little bit angry," she said. "Kemper's only two, after all. He has a piggy bank, not a credit history. But I'd already received similar offers myself since enrolling in Southwest's frequent-flier program, so it began to feel like less of a surprise and more of an inevitability."

Continue reading Southwest Airlines, Chase reaching out to a new audience for credit cards: Toddlers

Modular building Is the luxury home of the future

Jennie L. Phipps Mar 5th 2010 @ 6:30PM EST Filed Under: Bargains, Home, Real Estate

I'm thinking about buying a house in a box. Not Ma and Pa Joad's, but a high-end modular that will let me be both frugal and green.

The Washington Post did an encouraging story on the trend. It quoted not only people who had bought one of these houses and paid more than a $1 million or $2 million (way out of my league) and also people who watched one being built next door, who first shuddered and then applauded.

The story featured Haven Homes, a modular homebuilder based in the Washington, DC, suburbs. Haven CEO Jerry Smalley says the publicity is good for business, but he wishes that people didn't refer to his homes as modular. "Modular is a technique, not a type of house," he says.

It's true that once these homes are finished, it's impossible to tell by looking the difference between them and what the industry calls "stick built." But these homes are built in a factory to architectural and buyer specifications and then trucked to the site where they are erected on a previously built foundation. This Washington Post video shows one being constructed with amazing efficiency.

Smalley says his company doesn't sell to do-it-yourselfers. There has to be a builder in the middle. "There are so many technical dimensions that it takes a builder to deliver finished results," he says.

Continue reading Modular building Is the luxury home of the future

$15 mil verdict for little guy puts Home Depot in a fix

Ron Dicker Mar 5th 2010 @ 6:00PM EST Filed Under: Extracurriculars, In the News

The father of Michael Powell, the inventor who won a $15 million jury decision against Home Depot last month for stealing his safety-saw patent, said the case probably won't sway consumers to shop elsewhere. But it shows that underdogs can triumph once in a while.

"It reminds me of David and Goliath and the Bible," Lamar Powell told WalletPop on Friday.

In this story the Goliath of Home Depot will survive -- after it appeals or perhaps faces triple the damages if Powell's lawyers have their way. The determination that the home improvement giant willfully ripped off Powell's "Safe Hands" prototype leaves open the possibility. The verdict also threw a forceful jab -- not a knockout blow -- to the Home Depot's image.

"They may lose a few people, and people will go and get the best buy they can," Lamar Powell said. "I don't know if it will make a difference. To some it might."

Michael Powell, a married 52-year-old, appears to be keeping a low profile in his small North Carolina town since the verdict was announced in a West Palm Beach, Fla., courtroom on Feb. 24. He didn't return a phone message left by WalletPop. He's trying to move on with his life, his father said, adding that religious faith helped carry his son through the six-year legal battle.

Continue reading $15 mil verdict for little guy puts Home Depot in a fix

Dollar store stars - purchases that last and last

Marlene Alexander Mar 5th 2010 @ 5:00PM EST Filed Under: Economizer

In the past, we've slammed stuff from the dollar store that wasn't worth your buck but, as you might expect, I have a lot of things from the dollar store in my home. Many of them have been around for two to four years and are still in use. Each one of these only cost me a buck or two at the dollar store but would have cost as much as three times more at a department store. Here's an example of what I mean.

In my kitchen -

The four-sided metal cheese grater I own is one of the first items I ever bought in a dollar store and is at least four years old. The same day I bought it, I saw the exact same grater in a major department store for three times the price.

Continue reading Dollar store stars - purchases that last and last

Everything you ever wanted to know about Lake Forest's 'secret millionaire'

Lou Carlozo Mar 5th 2010 @ 4:45PM EST Filed Under: Money College, In the News

Here in Chicago, a lot of us are asking questions about Grace Groner (pictured), the elderly "secret millionaire" who gave $7 million to Lake Forest College, her alma mater, when she passed away in January. Allow me, a Chicagoan and the editor of the Money College, to step in and answer some frequently asked questions.

Q. How did a 100-year-old lady save $7 million?
A. The short answer is that Groner made a $180 stock purchase in 1935 in Abbott Laboratories, where she would work as a secretary for more than four decades. What's more, she avoided driving in Chicago, where parking meter rates quadrupled in 2009.

Q. Is it true she lived in a one-bedroom house in Lake Forest, Illinois?
A. Correct. And if you have ever visited Lake Forest, which has about two mansions for every four residents, she was probably the only person who lived in a one-bedroom house in Lake Forest.

Continue reading Everything you ever wanted to know about Lake Forest's 'secret millionaire'

CPSC going after sellers of children's outerwear with drawstrings

Mitch Lipka Mar 5th 2010 @ 4:30PM EST Filed Under: Recalls, Health, Consumer Ally

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is moving toward forbidding companies that sell, make or import children's clothing from offering outerwear with drawstrings after a sweep by the agency found numerous violations of its 14-year-old guidelines regarding the products, WalletPop.com has learned.

A recent spate of drawstring recalls prompted the safety agency to acknowledge the crackdown, which could result in negotiated financial penalties to the companies. The CPSC started taking a harder line on drawstrings with a 2006 letter to those who deal with children's clothing, warning that any garment violating the guidelines would be considered defective.

Continue reading CPSC going after sellers of children's outerwear with drawstrings

Are private colleges and universities a better deal than public ones?

Vanessa Richardson Mar 5th 2010 @ 4:00PM EST Filed Under: Money College, School, Student Loans

My young cousin Cate is a senior in high school and debating what college or university to pick for the fall. She has been wanting to go to UC Berkeley for years, as her dad is an alumnus, but after recent student protests at UC and Cal State campuses over tuition increases, reduced classes and budget cuts, Cate has definitely been having second thoughts about enrolling in the state's tarnished school system.

Continue reading Are private colleges and universities a better deal than public ones?

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