Saving
The Free ‘Fake Shopping’ Sites Designed to Cure Your Spending — and the Catch Nobody Mentions
It’s 11 at night. You’re in bed with your phone. You don’t need a single thing. You open the shopping app anyway. I’ve been writing about money since 1991, and that particular habit has gotten worse every year I’ve watched it. So when I heard there were websites built specifically for that moment…
You’re Paying $13.53 an Hour to Skip Netflix Ads — and $1.66 on Paramount+
You picked the streaming plan with ads because it was cheaper. Smart move. I’d have done the same. But sometime this year, you started noticing the commercial breaks felt longer. You weren’t imagining it. Ad minutes per hour across the major U.S. streaming services climbed 18% between January and…
Why Are Sedans Making a Comeback in 2026? Plus 5 Deals for You
With new cars costing more than $50,000 on average and gas prices at more than $4 a gallon, sedans are making a bit of a comeback. The average price of a mid-size sedan in August 2026 was $33,909, compared with $50,315 for a mid-size SUV, according to Cox Automotive. That is a difference of about
Americans Aged 55-59 Average $260,800 in Their 401(k)s. Fidelity Says They Need 10 Times Their Income to Retire at 67. How Realistic Is That for You?
According to Fidelity, the average 401(k) balance for Americans aged 55 to 59 is $260,800. The investment company also estimates that to retire at full retirement age, savers should have 10 times their salary saved by 67. For a $100,000 earner, that target calculates to $1 million. If you already…
Celebrate National Pepperoni Pizza Day With These Deals
Pepperoni or cheese pizza? It’s an age-old question. But it’s finally time for pepperoni to shine with a day dedicated to the pizza topping. Sunday, Sept. 20, marks National Pepperoni Pizza Day, according to the National Day Calendar. The day falls just weeks after National Cheese Pizza Day on…
Why Travelers Keep Forgetting Everything (and How to Stop It)
To get an idea of how forgetful travelers have become lately, consider what happened to Ally Murphy and her husband on a recent flight from London to Atlanta. After collecting their luggage, they caught a shuttle to their hotel. “After boarding the bus, I realized I had forgotten one suitcase,”…
What You Need to Do Now to Retire Comfortably Later
Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com You probably don’t need us to tell you that the earlier you start saving for retirement, the better. But let’s face it: For a lot of people, the problem isn’t that they don’t understand how compounding works. They start saving late because their paychecks will only…
Do You Know How Much You Pay to Keep Your Car on the Road (Excluding Your Car Payment)?
Even with the title in a drawer and nothing owed, the average American driver spends $5,851 a year just to keep a vehicle on the road, according to an Insurify analysis. In addition, insurers count on you being too busy to shop around. But Insurify has fixed that. Unlike other sites that sell your…
Your Next Trip Abroad Needs a Cheat Sheet. Here’s What to Include.
Traveling to a new place is an adventure, especially if there’s a different language and currency involved. We no longer need to pack travel dictionaries or folded-up maps, since our phones can translate spoken and written words in seconds, and navigate us around town, even without an internet…
6 Ways to Beat the Uber Price That Was Picked Just for You
The next time you open the Uber app, understand what you’re actually looking at. It’s not a price. It’s an offer, calculated for you, seconds before you saw it. Consumer Reports spent March and April 2026 testing that idea. It recruited 174 volunteers to price the same routes at nearly the same…