‘Wishful Drinking' by Carrie Fisher | Capitalizing on Hollywood

‘Wishful Drinking’ book, one-woman show

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Carrie Fisher, 30 years ago. Image from Flikr.

Creating a Completely Automated Financial Household

Meet Bill and Jan. They are my imaginary couple that loves putting their personal finances on auto-pilot. They don’t worry about bill due dates, they never visit the bank, and only check their balances online once a month if there are no e-mail alerts sent to them. (Apparently they also don’t have lips or eyes, so it works well for them…) Let’s take a look at how they do it!

Income
Bill and Jan both elected to receive their regular income via direct deposit, so there are no checks to deposit. Even though Jan does some freelancing, she gets paid via PayPal, which she sets to automatically sweep any money into their bank account at the end of each business day. This feature is called Auto Sweep and is not heavily advertised, you must contact PayPal directly to enable it.

Long-Term Savings
Like everyone else, their 401(k) plans are funded via an automatic deferral each payday. For their Roth IRA, they simply take out $500 per month via an automatic transfer from their checking account for 10 months, which can be set up easily at Vanguard.com or any other major mutual fund provider. If you like individual stocks or ETFs, try automatic investing at Sharebuilder.

Short-Term Savings
For their annual vacation and other savings goals, they have an automatic transfer from their checking to an online savings account like the original ING Direct.

They do keep a certain buffer amount in their checking account, similar to this simple budgeting method. If the balance falls too low for any reason, an e-mail and text message alert are sent to both of them.

Housing
If they had a mortgage, most lenders will happily set up an automatic ACH from bank account each month. If they wanted to set up a biweekly payment plan and it isn’t free, they could simply take out 1/12th of their monthly mortgage payment each month automatically into ING Direct. Once a year, they send one full mortgage payment to their lender.

If they rented, they would set their Online Billpay service to send a snail-mail check automatically each month and deduct the amount from the bank account.

Utilities
Most utility companies will allow to you sign up for them to automatically withdraw the full bill amount from your bank account. Contact them directly, and when available use your credit card to earn some extra rewards.

Insurance
Instead of dealing with large payments either annually or semi-annually, they have signed up for State Farm Payment Plan (SFPP), which groups their insurance premiums and divides them into one single monthly payment which is taken from their bank account. Check with your insurer to see if they have something similar.

Credit Card Bills
Most large credit cards issuers allow you to sign up a service like Citi’s AutoPay, where you can have the full amount sucked out of your bank account each month. Since the Citi Forward card gives you 5x rewards on restaurants and Amazon.com, this most of their disposable income as well. To find it, go to Citicards.com> (Login) > Payments Tab > Enroll in AutoPay.

What else?
With all this set up, all Bill and Jan have to do is show up for work and spend their money wisely. Is there anything else that could make their life even more easy? I thought about using an online grocery store like Peapod, where you can access past orders and possibly create default orders which you only tweak slightly each month.

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The New Face of US Banking

The current recession has hit finance harder than any other sector. (The only one that even comes close is real estate). In the present crisis some banks have gone hat in hand to Congress for bailout money, while many others have simply vanished. CNN Money reports that 92 banks have failed in 2009 alone. For perspective, not even 10 banks failed in 2007. It’s not all bleak though. Amidst all the turmoil, struggling banks have joined forces, and several entirely new banks have opened for business in just the last year. Today we will profile the new banks (and a few mergers) that have opened since the recession began.

Ally

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The online-only bank Ally opened for business in 2009, after doing business formerly as GMAC Financial Services. At a time when customers are more suspicious than ever of banks (brand consultant Rick Barrera likens it to, “…walking down the dark alley with your arms up” according to the Wall Street Journal), Ally has positioned itself as the ultimate in courtesy, support and trust. The branch-less nature of the bank allows Ally to operate without monthly fees, minimum payments or minimum deposits, and their “Tier 1 capitalization leverage ratio is almost triple what is deemed “well capitalized” under the FDIC’s regulations”, according to Ally’s website.

Aldermore

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The dearth of new banks extends beyond the US and into Europe, but at least one UK bank has decided to open its doors amidst the recession – Aldermore. Billing itself as a “new name in British banking”, Aldermore is a relaunch of Ruffler Bank, according to the UK’s Guardian. Its primary selling point, is a lack of involvement with the sophisticated securities and investment vehicles at the heart of our currently financial crisis. As the Guardian explains:

“It will be dead simple, old-fashioned banking. We don’t have any ‘back book’ of toxic debt, we are British, regulated in the UK and will provide consistently good rates to savers.”

The bank, which is, “…the first new bank to launch in Britain since the onset of the credit crunch”, chose to open under the name Aldermore because, “…alder is an ancient British tree that grows well while others fail.” It also aims to become known for its exceptional rates on savings bonds – currently offering anywhere from 3.69%-5.11%. At a time when savings are on the rise, Aldermore could be positioned for superb growth.

California General Bank

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On March 23, 2009, Rueters announced the opening of California General Bank, the only bank to open in all of southern California this year and one of only two in the entire state. Starting out with $20 million in capital, Pasedena-based California General bills itself on its website as a, “…community business bank specializing in the financial needs of the small to medium size privately owned business, professionals, and high net worth individuals.” All eyes will be watching to see how the fledgling young bank handles its first few years of existence amid the worst economy in decades.

Coastway Community Bank

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In its article “Coastway Becomes RI’s Newest Bank”, MoneyAisle.com discusses Coastway Community’s transition from a credit union to a full-service bank. As they explain, the newly formed bank is now free from the burdensome regulations it had to contend with as a credit union:

"As a credit union, the maximum Coastway could write in business loans was 12.25 percent of its assets. That was $36 million. The actual amount Coastway had in business loans as a credit union was almost double that at $70 million. It was able to do this because of federal guarantees mostly made by the Small Business Administration that guarantee up to 75 percent of a loan."

Coastway is one of several financial institutions that have re-branded themselves or, in some cases, re-opened with a totally new array of services since the recession began.

Ann Arbor State Bank

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Ann Arbor State Bank opened its doors in December 2008 just a few months after filing for permission to operate. Starting out with $10 million in capital, founder Bill Broucek, a 47 year financial industry veteran exclaimed, “…it’s the very best time to start a bank because of the problems other banks are having” according to Michigan Live. The bank (which uses just one branch currently), was created in order to, “…target small to medium-sized businesses and professional organizations in Washtenaw County, specifically Ann Arbor, as well as offer retail banking and loan services for individual customers.” This seems to indicate a trend in new bank openings during the recession – start small, with growth engaged in only after solidifying one’s roots.

TD Bank

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Following its 2008 merger with Commerce Bancorp, TD Bank has opened several new banks. Most recently, TD has launched, “…its largest U.S. initiative by opening a full-service bank center in downtown Boston, a move that will fill a big gap in its New England footprint” according to Boston Business Journal. And this branch is just the start. The BBJ goes on to explain that TD Bank is looking to aggressively expand its presence, opening several more banks despite the economy in efforts to “build its Boston-area deposit base by several hundred million dollars.”

Farmington Bank

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A major trend in banking during the recession has been rebranding existing banks, in an attempt to distance themselves from past perceptions. One of the more recent banks to utilize a branding strategy is Farmington Savings Bank, the long-standing Connecticut bank that will, effective in October, be known simply as “Farmington Bank.” According to HartfordBusiness.com’s article on the now-widespread practice, bank rebranding is much more than simply a name change.

[Farmington President, Founder, and CEO John J. Jr,] Patrick said the bank is dumping "Savings" from its name because it signifies a smaller institution that has only limited offerings.

"As we talked to a broader spectrum of influences in the region they didn't realize we had the commercial lending capacities we now have," Patrick said.

"We are not just a savings bank anymore and we want the name change to reflect that."

Farmington is the latest in a series of bank rebrandings, including our last entry, TD Bank (formerly known as TD Bank Financial Group.)

JP Morgan/Bear Stearns merger

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The bank merger perhaps most relevant to the recession was the sudden marraige of JP Morgan and Bear Stearns. In a deal orchestrated and largely financed by the Federal Reserve, JP scooped up its fallen competitor for a song and a dance, paying only $236.2 million (or roughly $2 per share.) According to MSNBC, the deal represented, “…a 93.3 percent discount to Bear Stearns' market capitalization as of Friday, and roughly a 98.8 percent discount to its book value as of Feb. 29.” In exchange for the unprecedented discount, JP agreed to guarantee all of Bear Stearns’ business – particularly its trading and investment activities, which the Fed felt were too important to leave to chance. The combined entity is known simply as JP Morgan, and it is unclear whether the Bear Stearns name will surface again.

SJB National Bank (Coming Soon, Presumably)

(Free Ers)

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has been given the green light to charter a new bank, according to Bloomberg. Tentatively called ‘SJB National Bank’, Ross is said to be sharing majority ownership with Bruce Beal Jr. and Jeff Blau. Bloomberg also states that sources claim the new bank, “…will have at least $750 million of capital and may buy assets of banks seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.” While SJB will not begin operating as a bank until it is accepted by the FDIC, industry analysts expect no complications with either this or securing FDIC membership. This all follows Ross’ completed purchase of the Dolphins in Janurary for an estimated $1 billion.

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Personal Rates of Return: Money Weighted vs. Time Weighted

There was a good question in my last retirement portfolio update about how my personal rate of return was 41% YTD, which was actually higher than any individual mutual fund in my portfolio*. The reason for this is mainly due to terminology, which can be especially confusing since the definitions seem to have shifted with time.

The two primary types are money-weighted and time-weighted returns, listed below with commonly associated names. Both have been called “personal rates of return” in the past.

Time-Weighted Returns	Money-Weighted Returns
Reported returns Portfolio returns Investment returns	Dollar-weighted returns Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

Time-Weighted Return Details
This methodology does not account for any cash inflows or outflows. In a way, finding your return using this method assumes that you don’t make any transactions at all. For a year-to-date calculation, it’s the same as asking how $100 invested on January 1st would end up today.

My favorite term for this method is Investment Return, because it essentially tracks the performance of your investments, and nothing else. If you have 30% US Stocks, 30% International Stocks, 30% Bonds, and 10% Orange Juice Futures, such a set of investments will have a unique performance from January 1st until today. Along the same lines, this time-weighted performance is what you get when looking up the total returns of a specific mutual fund (example). This also makes it easy to compare to a benchmark, such as the S&P 500 Index.

Money-Weighted Return Details
This methodology does account the size and timing of any cash inflows or outflows into your portfolio. Here’s an example of the difference. In your brokerage statements, look for any reference to accounting for “deposits and withdrawals”. Below is a chart of the S&P 500 index for all of 2009. Let’s say you started with $10,000 invested in the S&P 500 on January 1st. Then in early April before the tax deadline, you hurry and purchase $5,000 more worth.

As you might imagine, your $5,000 inflow was some good timing, and the performance of that money is a lot better (+25%) than the performance of your $10,000 from January 1st (+17%). If you managed to get your money in around March 9th, the return of that money year-to-date would be over 50%.

I prefer to call this methodology the Personal Rate of Return because it is truly personal. It is unlikely that any people have the exact same transaction amounts and dates as you. However, while this number may seem more accurate, it’s harder to compare against a benchmark and use for future investment decisions. As seen above, luck in the timing of your investments can swing the numbers either way.

I have an older post on how to calculate this dollar-weighted rate of return, but the Zohosheets aren’t displaying ideally right now. You can click on “Full Screen View” or try this page instead if you have Excel and the XIRR function installed.

What method do major investment firms use?
When Fidelity first started including “personal rate of return” in people’s 401(k) statements, it was a time-weighted rate of return. According to this 2000 LA Times article, Fidelity thought it was more appropriate to allow comparisons to published mutual fund numbers. At that same time, a spokesperson from Vanguard thought investors would be too confused either way, so they published nothing:

“We have several reservations about such reporting,” says Vanguard Group spokesman John Woerth. “Among them: Personal returns and fund returns are likely to differ, and perhaps substantially, which could confuse–even mislead–investors.”

How about today? When I checked my statements, both Fidelity and Vanguard use the money-weighted method for their “personal rate of return”. Our other 401(k) provider did as well, so it seems like things are shifting. I guess Vanguard thinks we’re smart enough to see the number now. In the end, as long as you understand the differences, I think both stats can be useful.

* This is mostly true, but actually my small allocation to an Emerging Markets fund (VEIEX) is up 60% YTD.

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Michael Moore's New Target: 'Capitalism' Itself

Michael Moore is famous for skewering the excesses of American industry — and in his latest film, he goes looking (mostly on Wall Street) for the source of the trouble. Critic Kenneth Turan says that while Capitalism certainly has spirit, the pop-culture polemicist may have taken on more than he could chew.

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100-Year Floods Are More Common Than You Think

I hope that all of you in the Atlanta metro area are safe and dry right now. I’d also like to take this chance to correct a common misconception, which is often promoted by the media every time a flood occurs. As just one example, take this CNN article:

He hustled out of bed and rushed to the door. There were his neighbors, surrounded by floodwaters the neighborhood is supposed to experience only once every 100 years.

The highlighted sentence is not accurate, and gets people thinking strange thoughts like “Oh the last flood was in 1969, I should be good until 2069 or so”. The fact is there is a reason we hear about such floods all the time. Let’s look at what FEMA has to say:

The term “100-year flood” is misleading. It is not the flood that will occur once every 100 years. Rather, it is the flood elevation that has a 1-percent chance of being equaled or exceeded each year. Thus, the 100-year flood could occur more than once in a relatively short period of time.

Again, if you live in a 100-year floodplain, you have 1 percent chance of being flooded every year. Think of how concerned you’d be if you were told there was a 1-in-100 chance of your house burning down every year. The way the math works out, this means that over a 30-year mortgage, there is a 26% chance you’ll have a 100-year flood during that time period (1 - (0.99)³⁰). This is also why most people with home loans in such areas are required to buy flood insurance.

Many people are in 500-year flood plains, which gets people even less worried. “The last flood was in 1909, we’re good for another 400 years!” Actually, having a 0.2% chance of a flood each and every year works out to a 6% chance of occurring at least once over a span of 30 years, or 1-in-17.

If you haven’t already, take some time and check if you are in a flood plain here. Some may consider buying flood insurance even if you are not required to by your mortgage lender.

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Most States See Job Losses In August

Forty-two states lost jobs last month, up from 29 in July, with the biggest payroll cuts coming in Texas, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio. The Labor Department said Friday that 27 states saw their unemployment rates increase in August.

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Slash Your Grocery Bill With Store-Brand Products

The October 2009 issue of Consumer Reports contains an article extolling the virtues of generic store-brand products. While shoppers used to sacrifice quality when choosing generic, that’s no longer the case. From the article:

If concern about taste has kept you from trying store-brand foods, hesitate no more. In blind tests, our trained tasters compared a big national brand with a store brand in 29 food categories. Store and national brands tasted about equally good 19 times. Four times, the store brand won; six times, the national brand won.

In other words, store brands offer roughly the same quality as national brands, but at a much-reduced cost. How much reduced? Consumer Reports says that the store brands they tested cost an average of 27 percent less than the name brand equivalents.

How much can you save?
Sometimes theory is one thing and reality another. It’s nice that Consumer Reports can score great deals on store brands. But could I? Last week, I walked to two local grocery stores to do my own research. First I looked at Safeway, where Kris and I shop most often. Next, I walked across the street to Fred Meyer, a store we usually try to avoid. (The store is huge and its layout makes little sense to me.)

I spent an hour in each store, roaming the aisles, looking for representative prices on a variety of items. I tried to pick one item at random from every section of the store. When I’d finished, I had a list of 25 products for which each store carried the same name brand and their own store-brand equivalent.

The results actually surprised me. You can save a lot of money with store-brand products — far more than I suspected. Here’s the raw data from my research:

Click to open larger image in new window

The first column lists the name-brand item I used as a basis for comparison. I’ve given each store two columns, one for the price of the name-brand item, and one for the generic item. On each line, red text indicates the highest-priced option and green text indicates the least expensive option.

Here’s a closer look at some of these comparisons:

• I’m out of my Head and Shoulders shampoo. I just threw away the bottle this morning. Normally I buy actual Head and Shoulders at Safeway, which costs me $5.99 if it’s not on sale. If I were to instead buy the Fred Meyer store brand, I’d only pay $2.49 — a savings of nearly 60%!
• At Safeway, standard Charmin two-ply toilet paper costs $10.99 for 12 rolls. At $9.49, the store brand isn’t much cheaper. But if I were to go across the street to Fred Meyer, I’d pay just $4.89 for the store brand. (Actually, Kris and I get our toilet paper at Costco, and I have no idea what we pay.)
• Hungry? For $2.17, you could buy a can of generic chicken noodle soup, a box of generic saltine crackers, and a bottle of generic root beer at Fred Meyer. To buy name-brand equivalents at Safeway would cost you $6.18. (You could eat three of those meals using generic Fred Meyer food for the price of one meal from Safeway.)

You get the idea. Buying store brands at Safeway would save nearly 22% for the items on this list. At Fred Meyer, I could save over 36%. And Fred Meyer store brands cost 44% less than name brands at Safeway — without the need for a “loyalty card”.

A note on methodology: While conducting this survey, I faced a tough choice. Which price should I list? The non-sale price for each item? Or the sale price? Of the 25 name-brand items listed, 15 were on sale at Safeway and 14 were on sale at Fred Meyer. (There was a lot of overlap on the sales, too.) At Safeway, 20 of the generics were on sale; 10 were on sale at Fred Meyer. I chose to list non-sale prices because it’s impossible to know which items are on sale when.

Running the numbers
I learned a number of things from this project. First off, we’re shopping at the wrong grocery store. Buying name-brand products at Safeway is the most expensive way to go. Based on this list, shopping at Fred Meyer instead would save us nearly 12%, even without moving to generics.

Second, generics are not always a bargain. On 10 out of the 25 items, the Safeway generic cost as much (or more!) than the name-brand equivalent at Fred Meyer. On the other hand, Fred Meyer store-brand items offer fantastic savings, especially when compared to Safeway’s name-brand selections. (The items on this list were 44% less expensive!)

Another factor to consider is that some stores have a better selection of store brands than others. Subjectively speaking, Fred Meyer seemed to have about double the number of generic items that Safeway had — and often had multiple sizes or varieties. They carried several types of store brand salsa, for example, while Safeway’s selection was more limited. At both stores, the generics were generally staple items: rice, toilet paper, tomato sauce, etc.

Conclusions
“We should buy more generics,” I told Kris after collating my data.

“We do buy generics,” she said.

“We do? Like what?”

“…” she said (proving for once that Kris is not always right!).

Though Kris and I do a lot of things to save money, we don’t actually buy a lot of store brands. We’re not opposed to them — we just stick to brands we trust. This brand loyalty costs us money. Here’s how Consumer Reports put it in the article that inspired my research: “Switching to store brands can be a painless way to cut your grocery bill.” They’re right.

After conducting this experiment, I realize there are four key steps to saving big bucks on groceries. More than anything else, these actions can help struggling families cut costs:

1. Grow whatever produce you are able. The more you grow, the more you save.
2. Buy store brands whenever possible.
3. For everything else, do your best to purchase items only when they’re on sale. (This may mean developing a grocery price book.)
4. Learn to clip coupons, especially for processed foods.

This exercise was eye-opening in another way. I discovered that shopping at Safeway costs us money. If the data here is representative, then switching to Fred Meyer could save us over 10% on our grocery bill. That’s enough to let us dine out one extra time per month. Or it’s more money we can save for our trip to France next year.

Kris and I are both wary of switching from Safeway to Fred Meyer — as I mentioned, there’s more to this decision than price — but I suspect that if we give it a chance, we’ll find ways to deal with Fred Meyer’s annoyances and save money in the process.

—
Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:

• The Grocery Game
• How to Save $100 (or More) at the Grocery Store This Month
• Saving at the Supermarket: 15 Great Grocery Shopping Tips
• Save on Groceries with ‘Strike-Point Shopping’
• More Things Your Supermarket Won’t Tell You

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College Savings Plan Targets NASCAR Crowd

The Virginia 529 College Savings plan is sponsoring a NASCAR race in Richmond, Va., on Sept. 11. Plan officials say it’s a chance to connect with people who haven’t always had saving for college on the radar. NPR’s Claudio Sanchez reports.

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Financial Success Requires Active Decisions

The bulk of what contributes to financial success, given sufficient opportunity, consists of personal choices. We make choices every day at varying levels of consciousness. I subconsciously choose to wake up every morning, but I consciously choose to get out of bed and drive to work. Each day that I leave work without walking into my boss’s office and offering my resignation is the result of a choice not to quit. That is an easier choice than leaving the corporate world; in fact, it’s almost a non-choice in comparison. If I don’t make a choice, I am waiting for something to happen to me rather because of me, allowing someone else or the situation to make the choice for me.

So it’s one of my personal missions to make more active, conscious decisions in my life. This can be a difficult life change, particularly when I am comfortable. I am comfortable now, and reviewing my history I find there were only a few situations in which I was uncomfortable enough to take action to change my situation.

I only chose to abide by a budget when I had no other choice. The situation made that decision for me. But since then, in the financial aspects of my life, I’ve been able to shift towards active, conscious decisions rather than letting my life be guided externally. And this is the key to helping me to achieve modest stability right now, and perhaps full financial independence in the future.

If you are struggling with money, don’t let things happen to you. Make the choices you can make for yourself or for your family.

Make a conscious decision to spend less money. Start developing a budget. The hardest part is starting, but a budget doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It also doesn’t have to be set in stone. The best budgets are flexible. If you can predict your income, like what you may receive from a steady paycheck, just start by writing your take-home pay at the top of a blank piece of paper. Even if you don’t get past this stage, hanging this number on your refrigerator will remind you that you need to think about the money you spend rather than trust your autopilot.

Make a conscious decision to eliminate expensive habits. Habits are subconscious decisions. You find yourself stopping by the gourmet coffee shop every day because you’ve built that into your routine. Continuing the process is easier than disrupting the status quo. I wasn’t always a fan of The ECRD Factor (sometimes known as The Latte Factor®) because it works only when in complement with smart financial decisions about large purchases, but I do recognize the power of small adjustments when repeated.

Make a conscious decision to exit a bad situation. It’s comfortable working for a bad boss or for a corporation you don’t like. When you are paid decently but steadily, and when you are offered benefits that would be difficult to find elsewhere, it’s easy to feel trapped in an employment relationship. The job market is tough right now, but there might be opportunities out there.

Make a conscious decision to get more education. There are always excuses for not enrolling in a class, and most focus on time, money, and the lack thereof. The choice that needs to be made here is about prioritization. Increase your level of certification, work towards another degree, or just take a class to learn more about something you enjoy. All of these options could help you exit a bad employment situation, as well.

I’ve missed out on so many opportunities just by not taking action. Each time I did, I made a inactive choice to let someone else have more control over my situation than I had myself. I still do this. When I stay in and watch television, I’m making an inactive decision not to go to the gym and sign up for a membership. I’m making the inactive decision not to put on my running shoes and get some exercise outside.

What harmful decisions are you making (or not making) by not taking action?

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Financial Success Requires Active Decisions

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Podcast 21: Student Saving Tips and How to Survive on a Teacher’s Salar0y0

In today’s Consumerism Commentary Podcast, I offer a number of suggestions for students heading back to school, particularly for new college freshmen. Tom Dziubek and I discuss tips that will help students take small steps now to ensure they will start the rest of their lives on a sound footing.

After the discussion for students, we offer tips for teachers with our guest, Danny Kofke. He is the author of How to Survive (and Perhaps Thrive) on a Teacher’s Salary.

To listen, use the player above (Adobe Flash required), download the podcast here, subscribe to the podcast RSS feed, or use the iTunes link. Note: open links in a new window (Ctrl-click or Command-click) to avoid interrupting the podcast.

[00:00] Introduction from Flexo
[00:43] Interview with Flexo about money saving tips for new college students
– [01:45] What new students should be thinking of
– [02:21] Budget planning
– [04:05] Savings and checking accounts
– [06:34] Using a Roth IRA
– [08:36] Acquiring college textbooks
– [16:44] Online budget resources
[18:39] Interview with Danny Kofke, author of “How to Survive (and perhaps thrive) on a Teacher’s Salary”
– [18:53] Danny’s teaching experience
– [19:16] Starting salaries
– [22:09] Ways for teachers to reduce expenses
– [23:32] Danny’s tips from his book
– [25:58] How teachers can increase income
– [26:41] Danny’s experiences teaching special education students
– [28:12] Career recommendations for new teachers
[34:53] End

We always welcome feedback from listeners. If you have any comments for this episode or for any other, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, please leave us comments here or email us at podcast at this domain name.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Podcast 21: Student Saving Tips and How to Survive on a Teacher’s Salar0y0

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