Personal finance from around the Web:

• Homerbuilders' shares suggest that the housing market is ready to fly solo without the assistance of stimulus programs. [Bloomberg]

• No free lunch…at 30,000 feet: Continental, the last major US airline to serve free in-flight meals, will begin charging for food in coach class on domestic flights. [The Wall Street Journal]

• Federal prosecutors allege that Park Avenue Bank president Charles Antonucci "made material and false statements" in the bank's application for $11.2 million from TARP. [Reuters]

• Another way to increase your income: Fiverr.com allows users to outsource random tasks for $5. [WalletPop]

• The Federal Communication Commission will outline on Tuesday its National Broadband Plan to improve high-speed Internet access, providing connections in 100 million American households by 2020. [PC World]

Follow More Money on Twitter at http://twitter.com/moremoneyblog.

The state of the housing market has long reached a point where it's good news to hear, "It's not getting worse." Unfortunately, according to a firm that tracks borrowers behind on their mortgages, you can conclude at best, "It's getting worse, but less quickly." More

For consumers seeking decent financial advice, Congress is making a step in the right direction. Whether it will reach that goal is another story.

As part of the financial-industry legislation making its way through Congress, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) last week proposed a measure that would establish an oversight board for financial-planning professionals. The hope is that people who call themselves financial planners will have to meet minimum standards in the areas of competency and ethics.

As things stand now, anyone can call himself or herself a financial planner. More

Personal finance from around the Web:

• Banks in Los Angeles now have a new incentive to make loan modifications, open branches in poorer neighborhoods and invest in the city. Those banks that rank lowest in community investment will lose access to nearly $30 billion in city savings and pension funds. [The Huffington Post]

• Think you might be eligible for a 2010 homebuyer tax credit? Follow this chart to find out. [The Consumerist]

• As Congress still battles it out over health care, costs continue to rise for consumers. A new study finds that most big companies plan to shift a larger share of healthcare costs to their workers next year. [The Washington Post]

• If you're among the two-thirds of retirees with less than $50,000 saved for your retirement, don't despair. There are still steps you can take now to salvage your retirement. [The Wall Street Journal]

• The average U.S. cable subscriber gets 118 channels but watches only about 17 of them. One columnist argues that subscribers should be able to pay for only the channels they want. [Los Angeles Times]

Follow More Money on Twitter at http://twitter.com/moremoneyblog.

Personal finance from around the web:

• A 46-year-old Pittsburgh woman is suing Bank of America for mistakenly repossessing her home and confiscating her prized pet parrot. The woman's mortgage was up to date, but she says it took her a week to recover her beloved bird and six weeks to get BofA to clean up the mess it left. As foreclosures rise, mistakes like this become more frequent, experts say. [ABC News]

• A financial reform bill will be released on Monday, says Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. [WSJ.com]

• Meanwhile, the proposed federal consumer protection agency may exempt some of those who need to be regulated the most: payday lenders, pawn brokers, car dealers and other non-bank lenders. [The Washington Post]

• You can watch all the TV you want — without having to pay for cable. A little technical expertise and the Internet are all you need. [The New York Times]

• Everybody knows how important it is to diversify your investments. But don't stop there: Put some thought into diversifying your income. [Five Cent Nickel]

Follow More Money on Twitter at http://twitter.com/moremoneyblog.

Personal finance from around the Web:

• Who on television is a surprisingly prolific dispenser of wise personal finance advice? You won't, ahem, view her on the investing channels — it's Whoopi Goldberg. [WalletPop]

• Can't get any credit? It's not because you don't have "Rockefeller" as a surname. Even America's affluent business owners and entrepreneurs are having a hard time wrangling money from traditional lenders. [The Wall Street Journal]

• LifeLock, the identity-theft-protection company whose CEO has famously publicized his social security number in its advertising, is paying a whopping $12 million to settle deceptive-advertising accusations made by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC alleged "scare tactics" and "false claims" by LifeLock. [CreditBloggers]

• What will be the next market bubble to pop? Here are three leading candidates. [Generation X Finance]

• Chances are your real estate isn't worth what it used to be. But there are other ways to milk some money out of your property. Try these tips on tax write-offs. [Wise Bread]

Follow More Money on Twitter at http://twitter.com/moremoneyblog.

Personal finance from around the Web:

• Want to know the best cities for a working mother? Consult the map. [mint.com]

• The number of complaints to the Better Business Bureau increased by almost 10% in 2009. The most common irritant was the cellphone industry, and the fastest-growing target of wrath were bankers. Surprise, surprise. [BBB]

• College financial aid letters are heading to a mailbox near you. Here's how to decode them. [The College Solution]

• It's not worth the hassle to split your mortgage payments into two checks per month. But paying half your mortgage every two weeks? That's a different story. [The Simple Dollar]

• Reality-TV star Heidi Montag explains the hazards of using plastic to pay for plastic surgery. It's all part of a campaign to pressure Congress to beef up financial-industry consumer protection. [Funny or Die]

Follow More Money on Twitter at http://twitter.com/moremoneyblog.

One of the key questions faced by investors today, a year after the markets were at their worst, is how safe it is to go back in the water. Given that bonds have turned out to be a better bet than stocks over the past 20 years — and given the steep decline and perhaps shaky rebound in the equity markets — is it time to reassess the primacy of stocks in our portfolios? Will we be better off with the security and steadiness of bonds?

A great answer to that question came last week from Charles Schwab chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders. More

Personal finance from around the Web:

• Here's another way the rich are different from everybody else: The more money you have, the more options you have to avoid taxes. [TheStreet.com]

• The Chilean and Haitian earthquakes provided a powerful reminder of the devastation a tremor can cause. So why are 88% of insured homes in California not covered with an earthquake policy? Because the policies are really expensive. [Los Angeles Times]

• Congress has made a number of changes to available educational tax credits and deductions since last year. An expert offers answers some common questions about which tax programs apply to which educational expenses. [Bucks]

• Which states have jobs right now? Wyoming, Colorado and Louisiana, according to one analysis. But stay away from Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, where employment prospects are still bleak. Check out job growth prospects for all 50 states here. [The Daily Beast]

• Banks have been building branches like crazy for the past few years, but they're finally starting to slow the pace. This year, the total number of retail branches in the United States will decline for the first time since at least 2002. [The Wall Street Journal]

Follow More Money on Twitter at http://twitter.com/moremoneyblog.

Will Congress blow a once-in-a-generation chance to help Americans get better financial advice? It looks increasingly likely.

One of the biggest problems people have when they receive financial advice is that they don't always know where a financial professional's motivation and self-interest really lie. When you show up at a new-car dealership, it's pretty obvious what a salesman wants: If it's a Ford lot, he wants to sell you a Ford. But you know that going in, so you can filter what he says with proper skepticism.

The world of stocks, bonds and other financial products, however, is a lot more mysterious. More

Why it's a buy: With proper care, a good mechanical watch — the kind that needs to be wound — lasts virtually forever. (Not so the typical quartz.) Buy used, and you can save 20% or more off the retail price. Plus, the downturn has pushed prices on secondhand watches about 20% lower than they were at the end of 2008, according to Antiquorum, an auction house. The pre-owned watches at right–  a 1990s Rolex, a 1950s Longines, and a 1940s Hamilton — are now selling for $1,000 to $2,000 apiece, a few hundred dollars less than before the recession.

The strategy: Buy from a respected maker, such as Rolex or Longines, and you'll probably be able to sell it for as much as or more than you paid for it, says John DiDonato, owner of Farfo.com, a vintage-watch retailer. To ensure that it holds its value, get it cleaned and oiled every three to five years.

Protect yourself: To avoid getting stuck with a fake, buy only from authorized dealers listed on the brands' Web sites or secondhand shops that offer warranties and returns (see nawcc.org).

Personal finance from around the Web:

• Banks 1, Consumers 0? Many in Washington are crying foul after this morning's buzz about a bipartisan compromise in the Senate Committee on Banking which would nix a proposed independent consumer finance agency by incorporating it into the Fed. [Bloomberg]

• What vehicles reaped the benefits of Toyota's recall mishap? Hint: they're built "Ford tough." A list of February's top-selling vehicles. [WalletPop]

• Social Security saviors: your wife, sister-in-law and daughter could all be keeping this payout alive for the next generation. [Economix]

• Beware the real-estate double dip: The housing market looks as if it's headed down again. [The Real Estate Bloggers]

• From pancakes and sausages to a Bahamanian cruise: You can get a lot of free stuff for showing up on your birthday, or by joining a company mailing list. [Generation X Finance]

Follow More Money on Twitter at http://twitter.com/moremoneyblog.