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Article • September 2, 2015

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Article • March 18, 2010

Seller Beware

Hire A Professional Bulldog To Haggle For Your Next Used Car

There’s no experience that leaves you feeling more ripped off than buying a used car.

Helping alleviate some of the pain is Carsala, a service that utilizes professional negotiators and the power of the Internet to find you the best deals possible, in the shortest amount of time.

To start you tell them what make of car you want and how far you’re willing to travel to get it (local or national).

The site offers a host of research tools to help you find potential cars, pulling together data from more than 4 million listings.  That means you get the most complete and up to date inventory and the most detailed specs.

The fun starts once you decide on a specific car.  At that point Carasala contracts with one of their professional negotiators to act on your behalf, ensuring that you get the best possible deal.

They do all the haggling.

Carsala’s fee is 20 percent of the difference between what you paid and the car’s Kelly Blue Book price (but the most you’ll pay is $300).  If they don’t save you anything, you don’t pay.

It’s enough to make you wish there was a similar service for negotiating your salary.



Article • March 17, 2010

Use Cognitive Training to Strengthen Your Concentration and Improve Your Memory

Lumosity is an exercise regimen that'll keep your brain in shape

Between work, leisure time and trying to keep track of every Britney Spears parenting faux pas, your brain is filled with a lot of, well, unnecessary info.

Now, thanks to a free service called Lumosity, you can get your mind back into fighting shape, and it only takes about 15 minutes each day.

After you sign up the site will create a guided regimen of cognitive training.  Basic training consists of 40 sessions (each session consists of 5 games).

Once you graduate from basic you can choose other, more advanced courses.

Lumosity strengthens your concentration and improves your memory and attention span through the use of logic games, word puzzles and problem solving boosters.

The site keeps track of your scores for each game. In addition, it checks off those games you’ve already completed so you won’t have to repeat any exercises.

After a few sessions you’ll be given a BPI–Brain Performance Index–that you can compare with other users.  This tells you how well you performed in a given cognitive function.

A mind is, after all, a terrible thing to waste.



Article • March 16, 2010

Budget and Track Your Expenses Without Worry

Pear Budget is a budgeting tool that'll save money (and your sanity)

Managing money is tricky.  We all know we spend it, but we often don’t know where it’s going.

Pear Budget is a simple (and cheap) answer to your personal finance needs. For just $3 a month, it can track your monthly expenses and help you increase your savings.

To get started the site takes you through a quick five-step planning process, beginning with an assessment of how and where you want to save.  Then it inquires about your expenses (both monthly and irregular).

Finally you fill in your income.  The site will then create a review of your spending habits, including a dynamic list of savings for future purchases.

Each month you’ll fill in the your expenses using the Receipts category (this comes in handy for tax time as well, since you don’t need to store them in a shoe box anymore). There’s even a tag feature that allows you to group expenses together.

Unlike Mint, Pear Budget emphasizes speed and simplicity. If you decide to register, you can set up an account in less than five minutes (and you can sign up for a free 30-day trial).

And, if you email the site with questions, you’ll get a personal response back from the guy who founded the company. Seriously.