Do you have a burning question about family, friends, colleagues, and your finances? Here's your chance to get some great advice.
In "Readers to the Rescue," a feature that runs in each issue of MONEY, the magazine answers tough questions from people who are grappling with challenging situations involving money, manners and ethics. One recent question, for example, was from a man wondering how to limit his family's spending on junk food. Another questioner wanted to know what purchases he could make without consulting his spouse. Other questions have addressed touchy financial issues such as dividing up an inheritance, collecting on a loan to a relative, splitting a dinner check and asking for a raise.
For these and other problems in "Readers to the Rescue," we ask our readers for their advice, then gather together the best ideas from readers and a financial expert who weighs in as well.
So, have a difficult problem you'd like some help with? Fill out the form below, and we'll try to answer it in a future issue of MONEY.
Thanks!
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What are the smartest financial moves you've recently made in these tough economic times? MONEY magazine wants to know.
In a forthcoming story, MONEY will highlight key moves that investors, savers, workers, and property owners can make to shore up their finances and take advantage of opportunities in this sluggish economy.
As part of that article, we want to include stories from different people about actions they've taken to improve their personal MORE
Jan 13, 2012 11:45 AM ET
With the debt ceiling deadline just days away, all eyes are on the government's ability to borrow money. But if the ceiling isn't lifted, it won't be just the government having problems taking out a loan; everyday Americans will likely encounter new costs and difficulties as well.
The worst-case scenario would be that the U.S., running out of cash on August 2, ends up defaulting on its outstanding loans. A default would MORE
Angela Wu - Jul 30, 2011 12:39 AM ET
Washington may reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, the date after which Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the US will no longer be able to meet its debt obligations through accounting tricks.
But what happens if the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, which places a legal cap on the amount the country can borrow — and which the U.S. actually hit on May 16 — isn't raised?
"Frankly, MORE
Angela Wu - Jul 16, 2011 3:22 PM ET
If some of the world's largest corporations can't manage to keep your personal and financial data safe, is there anything you can do to protect yourself?
A recent string of cyber attacks on companies such as Sony, Citigroup and Nasdaq — organizations you'd hope would know something about data security — has spotlighted the vulnerability of personal information that could be used to steal your identity. The latest breach of customer MORE
Angela Wu - Jun 25, 2011 8:36 PM ET
In my April MONEY magazine story explaining how to snag a bargain purchasing a short sale or foreclosed home, I reported that the process can be both frustrating and time-consuming. Well, now I have first-hand knowledge of how slow and irksome these deals can be.
Wanting to take advantage of my own advice, my husband and I recently decided that the South Florida market where we live had sufficiently busted to MORE
Lisa Gibbs - May 2, 2011 1:50 PM ET
Got a burning question about personal finance? Get your answer from MONEY magazine's Help Desk.
Apr 7, 2011 1:05 PM ET
Does your debit card have a rewards program? Be prepared to kiss it good-bye.
That's the likely upshot from the Federal Reserve's proposal, issued Thursday, to limit the amount of money that stores and other merchants are charged each time a customer pays for a transaction with a debit card.
Tali Yahalom - Dec 17, 2010 6:29 PM ET
You hear a lot that the Federal Reserve is "punishing savers." Here are just a few recent examples. (Full disclosure: It's a point I've made in passing myself.)
And it makes sense — if you don't take it too far.
Pat Regnier - Nov 16, 2010 11:00 AM ET
All right, not exactly no one. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is worried about it — hence the latest round of quantitative easing.
But listen to talk radio, read a financial blog or two, or just talk to some of your friends, and you won't find much populist anxiety about falling prices. To the contrary, a lot of people are terrified about inflation, even though it's currently running at an annual MORE
Pat Regnier - Nov 5, 2010 2:12 PM ET
Have a 900 credit score? Before you lord it over your friend who can only claim a mere 750, make sure you're comparing apples to apples.
In the September issue of MONEY, I wrote "The quest for the perfect credit score," which chronicled the efforts of three people reaching for a perfect 850 credit score.
Since then, I've received letters from several readers who seem to have these credit score superstars beat. MORE
Ismat Sarah Mangla - Oct 7, 2010 1:33 PM ET
Wondering why you've been bombarded with literature urging you to opt in for overdraft protection at your bank?
You may be the subject of a highly focused campaign meant to target consumers most likely to spend in excess of their balance.
Starting August 15, new Federal Reserve rules will require that banks can no longer automatically cover overdrafts and then levy a fee ($27 on average, per Moebs Services Inc.) as they MORE
Tali Yahalom - Aug 12, 2010 3:00 PM ET
You can officially say goodbye to that $40 cup of coffee — that is, if your bank doesn't badger you into paying for it all over again.
Thanks to new Federal Reserve rules, you now can decide what happens when you pull out a debit card to pay for a purchase but don't have enough money in your checking account to cover it.
Previously, if you didn't have enough in your account MORE
Tali Yahalom - Jul 19, 2010 1:47 PM ET
When it comes to soaring college costs, much of the blame has been leveled at the colleges themselves — and their nonstop spending on everything from lavish student centers to generous salaries for administrators.
Certainly the schools deserve criticism for their extravagant outlays. But what's often overlooked is the role of the parents and students who are determined to pay lofty prices for brand-name schools, even if it means going deeply MORE
Penelope Wang - Jul 12, 2010 2:13 PM ET
It's official: The fee you hate more than all the others in your life is the one for checking your luggage when you take an airplane trip.
Following up on a story in the July issue of MONEY about 15 irritating fees — and how to avoid them — the More Money blog spent the past two weeks asking readers to pick what they thought were the most frustrating surcharges out MORE
George Mannes - Jun 30, 2010 4:18 PM ET
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