Close your eyes. Breathe in. Now visualize your taxes:

April 21st, 2011

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This is a pretty neat Eyebeam/ Google project. They offered money and fame (okay, just money) to the person who could come up with the best way to help you understand where your tax dollars are going, and then had a jury full of design types choose the best.

Click here to play with the “Grand Award Winner” of the interactive visualization competition, and see the rest of the winners and finalists here.

You just enter your approximate yearly income and your filing status, and the site estimates how much federal tax you’ll pay based on what tax bracket you’re in. Then it breaks down where all of that tax money you pay during the course of a year actually goes. For example, do you know how much of your paycheck goes toward funding the Department of Agriculture?

Do you even know what tax bracket you’re in? (If you don’t, you can find out here.)

Rut-Roh: Credit Rating Agency Just Not That Into U.S. Debt Right Now

April 20th, 2011

thumbs-down.jpg
(photo credit: striatic)

Well, that pesky federal deficit has finally caught up with us. Standard & Poor’s, a credit rating agency that basically judges how risky (or safe) it is to invest in a country, has officially said that the United States’s economic shenanigans may end up costing it its pristine AAA credit rating. (That’s three A’s, so you know it’s extra awesome.) The main reason? Washington’s seeming inability to agree on a plan to reduce the deficit.

S&P didn’t actually downgrade America’s credit rating, but it did change its “outlook” from “stable” to “negative.” This is basically a shot across the bow, or a warning from your mother that if you keep hanging out with those bad boys all you’ll get is a reputation.

This is kind of a big deal. If the U.S. is downgraded (and according to S&P is could be within three years), we’ll be out-credited by France. And foreign investors might be less interested in buying Treasury bonds, which would cut off an important source of income for the government. Which might result in more cuts to services like health care, education, and, you know, repairing roads.

Looks like we’ve got two years to figure it out before our reputation is tarnished just like mom said…

Rut-Roh: Credit Rating Agency Just Not That Into U.S. Debt Right Now

April 20th, 2011

thumbs-down.jpg
(photo credit: striatic)

Well, that pesky federal deficit has finally caught up with us. Standard & Poor’s, a credit rating agency that basically judges how risky (or safe) it is to invest in a country, has officially said that the United States’s economic shenanigans may end up costing it its pristine AAA credit rating. (That’s three A’s, so you know it’s extra awesome.) The main reason? Washington’s seeming inability to agree on a plan to reduce the deficit.

S&P didn’t actually downgrade America’s credit rating, but it did change its “outlook” from “stable” to “negative.” This is basically a shot across the bow, or a warning from your mother that if you keep hanging out with those corner boys all you’ll get is a reputation.

This is kind of a big deal. If the U.S. is downgraded (and according to S&P is could be within three years), we’ll be out-credited by France. And foreign investors might be less interested in buying Treasury bonds, which would cut off an important source of income for the government. Which might result in more cuts to services like health care, education, and, you know, repairing roads.

Let’s see where we are in two years. In the meantime, how do you think you would do in S&P’s eyes?

Can you weather the credit storm?

Lessons From the Crash: Frank Murtha, Market Shrink (2 of 4)

April 18th, 2011

Frank Murtha is a psychologist with MarketPsych who specializes in investor behavior. Or misbehavior. Or misconceptions. Well, all of that. His job is to study how people make decisions with their money, and to help us understand (and avoid) common mistakes.

He stopped by to talk to us about how a crashing stock market changes the way investors invest. (Hello, recession of 2008!) Pretty interesting stuff. Check it out:

Lessons From the Crash: Frank Murtha, Market Shrink (2 of 4)

April 18th, 2011

Frank Murtha is a psychologist with MarketPsych who specializes in investor behavior. Or misbehavior. Or misconceptions. Well, all of that. His job is to study how people make decisions with their money, and to help us understand (and avoid) common mistakes.

He stopped by to talk to us about how a crashing stock market changes the way investors invest. (Hello, recession of 2008!) Pretty interesting stuff. Check it out:

>> TILE brings you exclusive opinions, explanations, and interviews from experts in every industry. Have a burning question or an expert you’d like to see interviewed? Just Ask TILE!

Debt and the Presidents of the United States

April 15th, 2011

If you’ve ever watched the news, you probably know that every problem facing our nation is all one person’s fault: the president.

Well, that’s probably not fair.

This neat-o infographic shows the net worth of every U.S. president and the national debt when they entered and left office. It’s a great perspective during this particular time of budget crisis and finger-pointing.

Do you see any patterns? Is the federal deficit tied to a president’s money-management skills? Wealth? Or something entirely different (like, uh, wars and recessions)?

presidents-and-debt.png
(via credit sesame)

If we need more money, why can’t the government just print more?

Debt and the Presidents of the United States

April 15th, 2011

If you’ve ever watched the news, you probably know that every problem facing our nation is all one person’s fault: the president.

Well, that’s probably not fair.

This neat-o infographic shows the net worth of every U.S. president and the national debt when they entered and left office. It’s a great perspective during this particular time of budget crisis and finger-pointing.

Do you see any patterns? Is the federal deficit tied to a president’s money-management skills? Wealth? Or something entirely different (like, uh, wars and recessions)?

presidents-and-debt.png
(via credit sesame)

Dilbert Creator Says “B Students” Should Skip Math Class and Sell Candy in the Cafeteria Instead

April 14th, 2011

If you’ve ever felt like certain school subjects just aren’t your thing, read this essay by Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams.

He tells the story of how he learned to run a business by simply going out and doing it. He didn’t need to be an expert in anything in order to be an entrepreneur; he just used little bits of different talents he already had, he failed a lot, and he kept trying.



(He apparently hasn’t heard that Algebra II is the key to success.)

Seems like every piece of advice ever tells us that the only way to accomplish anything is by trying to do something. Keep that in mind when your campus lemonade stand is crushed by a competitor. At least you’ve done something.

And next time, you may be the ruthless competition-crusher!

Check out some real-life class-cutting capitalists.

If you want your dog to wear designer sunglasses and a track suit,* it’s going to cost you.

April 14th, 2011

Most people realize this too late, but some things you buy will end up costing you a lot more than the purchase price. Cars need gas, insurance, and fuzzy dice; clothes need cleaning and bedazzling, and pets need everything from pet insurance to grooming to a collection of bad-ass spiked collars.

And let’s face it: some of those things are really impulse buys that wouldn’t be an issue if you didn’t buy the thing in the first place.

Here’s a chart that shows how much money different pets will cost you over a lifetime. Click through to see which pet is the most expensive – it’s pretty surprising.

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(click to see the whole thing)

That’s why it’s so important to have some kind of budget. Without a plan, there’s no telling where your money might end up.

Do you know where your money goes every month? Take our budget challenge to see how your predictions stack up with your actual spending!

*Dressing your dog up might also cost you friends.

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