Credit Cards Articles

You may think that you can make more money by investing outside of your 401k, but that’s not necessarily true. If you are eligible to contribute to your company’s 401k plan, then your first investment dollars should go toward making the maximum contribution. Don’t be tempted by short term gains elsewhere until you have contributed fully in your 401k. Here are three reasons why:

• Tax Savings. You contribute money into your plan with pre-tax dollars. That is a huge advantage in investing because more of every dollar you earn goes into your plan for your benefit.
• Tax Deferral. All the investment income (interest, dividends, and capital gain distributions) is not taxed within your 401k plan.

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You may check your credit score to find that your credit score is being pulled down because you have too many credit cards. Closing the credit cards won’t help though because they’ll still be listed on your credit report.

I’ve been reading conflicting statements about exactly what closing a credit card does to your credit score. For example, one blog stated closing a credit card with a balance hurts your credit score, another blog said it didn’t. So, rather than guess around about the true answers, I went straight to the source – FICO.

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While most of us are busy earning and budgeting our money,  a handful of artists are spending their time finding creative ways to convert currency into art. Here are six artists who use cash as their canvas.

Scott Campbell

This Brooklyn-based artist makes a living pawning his premium tattoo services for a whopping $300 per hour. Wonder what he does with all of that money? Campbell collects stacks of singles, and uses a special etching process to engrave incredibly detailed imagery into his cash. The original dollar bills may be destroyed, but the resulting art is priceless.

Justine Smith

British sculptor Justine Smith uses currency as her clay, creating eye popping designs laced with capitalist themes.

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When was the last time you used at a prepaid card to make a purchase? While for some it may have been a while, for others it is a daily occurrence as using prepaid cards have become a growing trend within the United States.

Unlike in the past, prepaid card issuers are much more competitive than every before. Within the last few months we have seem multiple card offers display unique features that my not have been associated with prepaid cards in the past. Even with these new features, these types of payment alternatives are becoming ever increasingly cheaper to use as the fees that are associated with them have dwindled well below what you may have been used to in the past.

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