If you haven't traveled internationally before, you might be operating under the assumption that using your credit card is no different than using it at Wal-Mart. Unfortunately this isn't the case; using your credit card in another country can lead to high fees for currency conversion or even a frozen account if your card issuer suspects fraud.

When I recently found out that my sister was planning a winter trip to Africa I took it as my brotherly duty to find the best credit card for her. As luck would have it, Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, is also traveling abroad soon, and he took an in depth look at the currency conversion fees for popular credit cards in order to find the best credit card to use internationally.

There are three fees that go into determining the total cost of any international transaction, which can add up to 8% to a purchase price. These fees include a foreign currency conversion fee, an issuer fee and a dynamic currency conversion fee. The majority of cards charge at least one of these fees for any international purchase, even if a bill is paid in full before the end of the billing cycle.

I've always been fascinated with how underground economies work due in part to my addiction to reading any story about prison escapes. I can clearly remember the mastermind doling out packs of cigarettes to keep someone quiet or acquire a critical piece of the escape plan. Indeed cigarettes were the de facto currency for prisoners, who cannot possess real currency, until smoking was banned in 2004. Since inmates can no longer barter with cigarettes they've turned to pouches of mackerel to fill the need for a common currency inside prison walls.

Even though bartering isn't officially allowed inside prison walls, prisoners are expected to dole out a few pouches of mackerel when you get your haircut. The use of fish by prisoners to create their own economy is a reminder that virtually anything can be used as currency. Even outside prison walls we don't need to rely on government minted tender to complete transactions so long as there are willing parties involved. For all I know there's a subset of people in my town who would gladly accept Chuck E. Cheese tokens or Antartican Dollars for my daily needs.

A year or two back one of the fast food giants ran a commercial which featured a bunch of 20-somethings breaking down all of their major purchases into double cheeseburgers or chicken nuggets.

While visualizing your car payment as 220 double cheeseburgers is humorous, it won't likely help you manage your money. However if you switch the logic around and start measuring your weekly total of small purchases into one bigger item you may be surprised to find out that your double cheeseburger addiction could easily make your car payment!

Envisioning my smaller purchases as one larger purchase is something I have used in the past to cut down on my many small expenditures. When I started my first job I picked up a bad habit of grabbing too many fast food breakfasts and coffee-shop coffees on my way into work. While the low price of $1.99 for a McDonald's sandwich isn't going to break the budget if you get it once a month, after I looked at the total sum of my purchases I began to notice how much they added up. In fact if I measured my small purchases in a common currency, for example in video games, rather using cash, I was way more cognizant of my two video game a month fast food and coffee addiction!

Once you define your common currency, be it video games, scrap booking supplies, fishing gear or shoes you can easily make use of this common value to dissect your spending even on large purchases. Next time you get ready to purchase a new TV, decide if the enjoyment you get from the TV is really worth the fun of 40 video games. After you get this conversion rate embedded in your mind you and begin to weight all of your purchases, you can switch your focus to saving money. Start out by trying to save one more video game a month to a high yield savings account and grow from there. If you save enough now you'll be assured the ability to keep your gaming library stocked even when you have to take your baths with a sponge.

On Tuesday an appeals Court ruled paper money discriminates against the blind. Since I'm quite sure paper money cannot take a position on the subject, clearly it was the U.S. Treasury that was at fault for its short sightedness. Having given the case a good look the appeals court refused to overturn a lower court ruling.

It would appear to me that the court system should have recused itself entirely based on the conflict of interest in the case since there is a long standing tradition of blind justice making impartiality most difficult.

Nevertheless the court did rule 2 to1 that it is entirely possible for the government to design paper currency so that the blind will be able to easily discriminate between different denominations.

While the court took issue with the government's lack of sensitivity on the subject they felt that sensitivity could easily be added to the paper currency by the use of a textured surface or varying the size of the notes as is commonly done in other countries that are more sensitive than our own.

The American Council for the Blind sued for such changes but the Treasury Department has been fighting the case for about six years. "I don't think we should have to rely on people to tell us what our money is," said Mitch Pomerantz, the council's president.

Unfortunately for all of us what our money 'is' only deals with a small aspect of our currency problem. The more pressing issue has to do with what it's worth!

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: sometimes I can be silly.

Counterfeit $100 bills are circling the globe, and their story is intriguing. These bills are so well done that that it's next to impossible to tell that they're fakes. They've been dubbed "supernotes" because of their precision.

Experts say these are the most sophisticated examples of counterfeit U.S. currency ever seen. They are made of the exact same cotton and linen mix from which legitimate U.S. currency is made. They even have the proper-colored microfibers and an embedded strip that glows under ultraviolet light... both key pieces of currency that are supposed to be difficult to counterfeit. The fake bills also have the proper microprint and optically variable ink (OVI) that distinguishes authentic U.S currency.

Authorities say the bills haven't been printed in large quantities. Only $50 million of supernotes have been found since 1989, which is estimated to be too little to even cover the cost of the sophisticated printing process required.

Pssst, Hey buddy, have I got a deal for you.

Every once in a great while you might get an approach similar to that at your friendly neighborhood resale shop. That can be especially true if it's a shop you're not very familiar with. When a thrift store employee or operator brings out something from under the counter which they have "saved for special customers,"... watch out! The chances are good that you'll be looking at an item from a questionable source.

Take for instance that mint condition collection of Buffalo Head nickels, or a complete set of sterling silver flatware in its own velvet lined case. The sales person may tell you that it came from an estate sale they were at that same morning. Take care about your purchase or you could become guilty of receiving stolen property. It's a dead giveaway when the store clerk suggests that you go outside to look at items they have in their car. Yeah, it's not on the shelves and it's not on the books. Ask them if you really look that much like an idiot.