Did you know that it is perfectly legal for people to look through your garbage? 

It was ruled in California vs Greenwood, in January 1988. The court of appeals stated:

The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the warrantless search and seizure of garbage left for collection outside the curtilage of a home.

For this reason, and the fact that criminals will search your garbage for personal information in order to steal from you, you need to destroy documents before throwing them away. 

One of my brothers played the lottery every single day.  He spent at least $5 every day, plus a couple of extra dollars for goodies and treats from the store since he was there anyway. 

He was also a poor man due to a lifelong illness, so this ate up a good deal of his limited monthly budget.  He would win a lottery or scratch-off card for a large amount once or twice a year.  When I say a large amount, I mean a thousand dollars or so.  In my estimation, he was breaking even at best.
 
My brother would often call me with a tip.  “Play the lottery today,” he would tell me, and he would give me numbers to play.  I would tell him “No” and we would argue a bit about why lotteries did or did not make sense.  We would always end the conversation with him telling me that he would buy me a house when he won, and then I’d believe in the lottery system.  Sadly, he passed away before that happened.  He never struck it rich, and I never got my house. 

Wondering how to invest in the stock market for the first time?

If you think that playing the stock market is out of your reach because you just don't understand how to do it, then you're not alone.  Trust me.

In the past, I dabbled a little in stocks, using an online investment service to invest $10 a month.  I was very conservative.  When it was time for me to buy a house, I sold my stocks (which had done well in spite of my lack of knowledge) and pulled out knowing that I was making wild guesses at best. 

That was really no way to invest in the stock market.  Still, I have always wondered about how to go about gaining the knowledge for investing in the stock market wisely. 

Everyone who uses credit knows what a FICO score is, but have you heard of a FAKO score? 
 
FAKO scores are very similar to FICO stores in that they evaluate the creditworthiness of a person.  But the term FACO (or FAKO) is used to indicate that the scoring system is not a Fair Isaac Corp (FICO) score, but rather a non-Fair Isaac Corp score. 

In short, FAKO is a nickname that means fake FICO.  Unfortunately, thanks to creative marketing, when people receive a credit score, they often don't realize that the score they're looking at in a credit report is actually a FACO score, rather than a FICO score.

Here's what to look for, and how to tell if the credit score you receive is a legit FICO score, or a fake FACO score.

I have to admit it.  The company did an excellent job getting the URL into my head. 

I don’t know if it was the commercial of the guys in the car with “legs sticking the vinyl and his posse getting laughed at", or the guy in the restaurant “selling fish to tourists in
T-shirts", but they certainly got the message across. 

However, I started hearing reports that FreeCreditReport.com is not as free as the commercials say.  So I decided to investigate the claims for myself. 

Your car is a few years old and you are dreaming about a new vehicle... 

If you're considering its trade in value and trying to decide how much the monthly payment on your new car should be, chances are you're moving a bit too fast. 

Why? Because you really should be thinking about hanging onto the car you have -- just long enough to save your money and pay for your next car with cash. 

My dad had an old saying that I find is true in many circumstances:  “They always 'get you' in the drive-thru.” 

Whenever he said that, he was specifically referring to fast food restaurants’ drive-thru window where you would order, pick up your food, then often find an item missing when you got home. 

In reality, this type of scenario shows up in many other places, as well.  In effect, any time you are in hurry, or not paying attention, then you are likely to be cheated on something. 

This past month or so, I have noticed a lot more “drive-thru” moments.