Travis R. Martin, CPA, MBA

When we discuss comparison shopping, I have the students practice the concepts by researching an item that they all have access to – cell phones. The class learns how to compare different service providers, as well as how to use Consumer Reports and internet sites like cnet.com to research product reviews.

The average family spends over $6,000 on groceries a year. Aside from big ticket items like houses and cars, food represents one of our biggest expenditures.
Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to save money at the grocery store. My Personal Finance classes participate in two different activities that help drive home this point.

From an early age, we as consumers have been conditioned by the likes of Chef Boyardee and Chester Cheetah to reach for their products when grocery shopping. We assume that we choose name brands, like Cheetos, over their generic counterparts because the name brands are of higher quality. But is this always the case?

For spammers, the success of any phishing e-mail is predicated on fear. If a recipient is scared into believing that a problem really does exist, they will be more likely to follow the dangerous links. That’s why the latest phishing e-mail, a spoof of an IRS notice of underreported income, could turn out to be a big headache for a lot of people.