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The 5 Hottest Real Estate Markets Right Now

  As the real estate market heats up across the country, certain markets have really gone into over-drive. Looking at the most recent data from Realtor.com, some of the hottest regions are the ones you...

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How to Spot Counterfeit Luxury Goods

If you have ever been to a flea market, or lived in a city where people hawk goods on the sidewalk you’re well aware of counterfeit luxury goods. Knock offbranded sunglasses, watches, purses, shoes,...

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Does Car Ownership Still Make Sense?

Car sharing services such as Zipcar, RelayRides and Getaround are all the rage around college campuses and among urban dwellers in crowded cities. In 2012, some 800,000 belonged to car-sharing...

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Is Wall Street Behind the Housing Recovery?

A recent article in the NY Times pointed out the effect of large Wall Street investors, such as The Blackstone Group and Colony Capital, on the housing recovery. In depressed regions such as parts of...

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2013 New Graduates May Actually Find Jobs

If you’re a part of the graduating class of 2013 you can consider yourself among the luckiest batch of recent college grads. Why? The job market for new graduates is considerably brighter than it has...

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Travel Trends: Luxury Hostels

Have you stayed in a hostel lately? If so, you may have noticed something very different from the traditional image of the hostel experience. Hostels are looking and feeling more and more like hotels...

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The Economics of the American Prison System

The American prison system is massive. So massive that its estimated turnover of $74 billion eclipses the GDP of 133 nations. What is perhaps most unsettling about this fun fact is that it is the...

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Should Plane Ticket Prices be Based on Weight?

Samoan Air recently announced a new ticketing price scheme that attaches the passenger’s plane ticket price to their weight.  At first glance it sounds like another case of discrimination that will end...

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How Rising Interest Rates Impact Buying vs Renting

Over the last month, mortgage interest rates have risen half of a percentage point for most lenders. Forecasters expect the trend to continue. It is highly possible that the record rates seen this...

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Zombie Properties Coming After Former Homeowners

They’re vacant, boarded up, and in a state of disrepair. Long forgotten, zombie properties tend to reanimate themselves, sometimes years after the homeowner received a foreclosure notice and walked...

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Why Attitude Impacts Financial Decision Making

Attitude has a lot to do with an individuals’ financial decision making and their financial  situation. However, there are a ton of factors that influence a person’s attitude including their emotions...

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Moving Back Home With Your Parents After College – How to Make It Work

Moving back home with your parents may be a little embarrassing, but it is an increasingly common choice for American 20-somethings. As recent college graduates they may need a place to stay while they...

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5 Ways the Death of DOMA Makes Financial Sense For All

The global economy has shown signs of slowing. Financial security is not something easy to come by, and if found, should be considered a lucky thing to have. Some could say the same of finding a mate...

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Find Cash in Your Trash- How to Sell your Junk Online

Did you know that most people have over $1000 worth of extra “stuff” in their house? There are treasures hiding in every nook and cranny of your house, you just have to find them. Before you throw...

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5 Mortgage Tips for First Time Buyers

The housing market is becoming more and more difficult for first-time homebuyers. But if you are looking to buy your first home, there are steps you can take to ensure that the mortgage will be a...

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How Crowd Funding Could Kickstart Your Next Car Purchase

Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the crowd-funding site Kickstarter. Independent artists, movie makers and musicians have been using it to varying levels of...

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Micro Living: This Guy Lives in a Dumpster

Gregory Kloehn of Oakland, California doesn’t pay rent or a mortgage on his second home. His home is located in Brooklyn, one of the most expensive places to own a home in the country. He has a...

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SmartAsset’s Guide to the Internet 7/12/2013

This week we spent a lot of time reading some interesting stuff. This was, of course, instead of developing killer personal finance products that define SmartAsset. We couldn’t help it, there’s just...

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30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgages Rise Dramatically

If you’re in the market for a mortgage and you’ve opened up the business section of your newspaper recently, then you were likely attracted to headlines screaming bloody-murder over the dramatic rise...

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Saving for Vacation in 3 Easy Steps

Remember being a kid in grade school or high school as the weather began to warm up, the days got longer, and you became antsier? The anticipation of summer vacation was near, and whether you had no...

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