The recession may be over, but many families are still feeling the effects. Unemployment is at a record 10.2% and wages are flat. The cost of gas is taking a bigger bite out of paychecks, and home foreclosures were one fifth of home sales in September.

To help, WalletPop is launching an occasional series in which your personal financial questions will get answered by our experts. Leave your questions in the comments section below.

Question: As a single, self-employed mother of two, I need to buy life insurance. How much should I buy?
--Laurie W., 51, psychologist

Nokia is recalling an estimated 14 million cell phone chargers the company says might be defective and could cause users to get shocked.

The Finnish mobile telecommunications giant said it found the defect through its own quality control program and has not had any reports of any incidents involving the chargers. The problem with the chargers, Nokia said, is that the covers can come off and expose the internal components.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the normal conduit for recalls of this type, was not party to this announcement and a spokesman for the safety agency did not immediately have a comment on the recall. It is not immediately clear how many of the recalled chargers were sold in the U.S.

Nokia is offering anyone with the affected chargers a new charger in exchange for the recalled ones. Nokia has a web site dedicated to the exchange program.

The company blamed the problem with the chargers on a supplier, BYD Co. -- run by Wang Chuanfu, who Forbes says is the wealthiest man in China. All the chargers being recalled were made this year.

Nokia said the chargers subject to the recall are: AC-3E and AC-3U models, manufactured between June and Aug. 9, 2009; and the AC-4U model, manufactured between April 13 and Oct. 25.

Nokia's recall site shows customers how to identify their charger model and determine whether it needs to be replaced. If the charger is subject to the recall, Nokia urges consumers to stop using it until the new charger arrives.

In a move that would make Chuck Norris proud, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced today that the state of Texas had reached an agreement with Tagged, Inc., a social networking site that was accused of tricking users into providing access to their address books. As part of the agreement, Tagged has to pay $250,000, which includes the cost of the state's investigation.

After Tagged had access to a user's address book, the social networking site sent messages that appeared to come directly from the user, offering to share photos with the recipient. When a recipient tried to view the pictures, which often didn't even exist, they were prompted to sign up, giving Tagged access to their address book and continuing the deceptive practice.

Think you're seeing a lot more glum faces in your neighborhood? That's likely the case if you live in one of four states with high home-foreclosure rates: Florida, Nevada, California and Arizona. Those normally majestic, carefree states ranked as the least happiest, at least when it comes to money matters, a new survey shows.

And where might you find some of the most smiley people? According to Mainstreet.com's Happiness Index, dead in the center of the country, where some of the country's least densely populated states can be found. Nebraska was at the top of heap, followed by Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Montana.

A good buy doesn't always end up on your receipt at the register. Sometimes it winds up on your résumé.

According to the College Board, the average college tuition in the United States is $26,273, up more than 4% from last year. But not all universities cost that much, and not all cheap colleges give you junk degrees. Sprinkled across America you'll find some discount degrees that are actually worth just as much as the highest-priced ones.

Tuition at all of these colleges can be had for under $5,000 a year -- and a few are completely free. If your kid's in high school, now is the time to start thinking about how to afford their next big step. Start planning your applications now, because the competition is tight:

First books, now movies, the price wars between the biggest retailers just keep getting hotter. Walmart, Target and Amazon are all slashing pre-order pricing on some hot new releases like "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince."

Walmart said Thursday it would reduce prices for soon to be released DVDs to $10 at Walmart.com. Target and Amazon quickly followed, threw in free shipping and forced Walmart to drop its prices down to $9.98. Keep in mind, the deals are for online pre-orders of movies not yet released.

All this price cuttings seems like a great deal for consumers, but is it really? Highly competitive pricing can't be sustained for long, or extended to the entire category. Retailers simply can't sell things at a financial loss indefinitely. They do it to increase traffic, turn up the marketing machine, get a lot of press and sell other, more profitable items.

PetSmart stores are warning dog owners to protect their pooches from getting salmonella from some treats sold at its stores, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

Two types of Dentley beef hooves sold between Oct. 2 and Nov. 3 are being recalled over fears they could be contaminated with the bacteria. They are:

• Dentley's Bulk Cattle Hoof UPC# 73725703323
• Dentley's 10 Pack Beef Hooves UPC# 73725736055

Both have a use-by date of Oct. 14, 2012.

The FDA said that although the products were shipped from the Pet Carousel manufacturing plant to only three PetSmart regional distribution centers, the company was pulling the product from its stores nationwide as a precaution.

Consumers who have the products should not feed them to their pets, and should return them to any PetSmart store for a refund. Those who have fed them to their dogs and are concerned should contact a veterinarian.

Dogs do not necessarily show the same signs of salmonella poisoning as humans, but can suffer from diarrhea and have other symptoms.

For additional information, visit PetSmart's site, the FDA site or call PetSmart 1-888-839-9638.

After the peso crisis of 2001, Argentina became the destination célèbre for Americans, who flocked to South America to revel in the astonishing buys that a devalued currency can yield. Time has passed, and now we're slogging through our own economic turmoil. So is a trip to Buenos Aires still a great buy, or have the locals caught on to the influx and jacked up rates to milk tourist dollars?

Michael Luongo, author of Frommer's Buenos Aires, visits WalletPop's studios to tell us that the answer is a little bit of both. He lets us know what the situation is in the storied colonial capital of Argentina, and he fills us in on how a first-time visitor there can still find deals without losing the authenticity of the local culture. Sure, you've seem washed-up reality stars do the tango on Dancing with the Stars, but is it feasible to dance it in the real Argentine milongueros?

As part of our ongoing series, WalletPop tells you how to go for less:

Despite mainstream media predictions about the election hinging on the president's performance, it appears as though the economy was a much greater factor in the two key gubernatorial races yesterday. The economy was the anvil that crushed the chances of Democrats Jon Corzine and Creigh Deeds.

According to exit polls in Virginia and New Jersey, around 90% of voters said that they're concerned about the economy, while only around 18% said that their vote had anything to do with President Obama's performance so far.

Think your ever-prepared colleague who's already bought and wrapped all her gifts has an impressive jump on the holidays? Consider this: electronics mega-chain Best Buy started prepping for Black Friday, the official, chaotic start to the holiday shopping season, in August.

That's when the company sends out a Black Friday "Toolkit" to each of its stores, summarizing the company's ticketing and security procedures, according to company spokesperson Scott Morris. The Toolkit is followed by several autumn "rehearsals," which simulate the day's events, he said.

And now, with the big day just weeks away, the company is tanned, rested and ready, and looking forward to what it hopes is a bright spot in a dark retail year

As if you don't already have enough money worries. This is the year to double, no, triple-check, your taxes before filing. The IRS is looking for the money it's owed with renewed vigor, and that means a lot more people can expect to be audited. Why now? It's not hard to guess.

We've been hearing for months that the economy is finally on its way up, but the numbers don't actually bear that out.

As of last month, the federal deficit weighed in at a record $1.42 trillion and, depending on what Congress does, could double within the year. Estimates are that within the next ten years, the deficit will hit $9.1 trillion. Increases in the budget have been tapped for bailouts, CASH for clunkers, the first time homebuyer's credit and the controversial new health care plan. The problem? There's no money to pay for all of these programs.

Sweet, saucy, and from the slums, Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail both went from wretched poverty to international fame after starring in the 2009 Academy Award winner for Best Picture and Best Director, Slumdog Millionaire.

But they just won't go to school, even though the movie's producer and director got the young stars placed in a Mumbai school and paid their tuition until they turn 18... and even though they've set up a trust that's dependent on the children attending school for the next seven or eight years.

Ali, 10, and Ismail, 11, have average attendance of about one in three days, and though Slumdog producer Christian Colson and director Danny Boyle have urged their parents to accept their offer of apartments outside of the slums, only Ismail's mother has taken the moviemakers up on their offer.

Break out the rotten tomatoes. This is Walletpop's roundup of the priciest, sneakiest and just plain lousiest credit-card deals out there. Trust us, there are a lot of cards floating around the bottom of the barrel, so it took a lot of effort to find the ones you probably want to avoid at all costs.

Interest rate: If your credit isn't stellar, you can be looking at paying 20% or more for the privilege of whipping out the plastic. (Even if you have great credit, some cards will be oh-so-happy to sock you with a rate of 15% or so.) For real sticker shock, we checked out co-branded store cards, which typically have higher rates. Case in point: The Gap Visa card has rates that start at 18.24%. That could tack quite a bit onto the price of that pair of khakis. We also looked into the Best Buy Reward Zone MasterCard, issued by HSBC, but they won't even give users information about interest rates until they actually apply! Thanks, HSBC; you've forced us to leave it to our imagination, and what we're imagining is pretty scary.

Annual fee: To be fair, several American Express cards made our best list, but we've got a worstie here, too. With a whopping $5,000 initiation fee plus a $2,500 annual fee, the American Express Centurion Card wins this one, hands down. Luckily, this card is issued by invitation only, so you'll probably never be faced with the agonizing decision of whether or not to drop the price of a cheap used car every single year for the privilege of using this card. For that reason, we're nominating a second worstie in this category: the Visa Black Card issued by Barclays. It's got an annual fee of "only" $495 and an APR of 13.24% -- a higher rate by several percentage points than our best pick.

Credit cards: Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em, it seems (although some of our fellow WalletPoppers are having a lively debate about just that right now).

The bottom line is, the majority of you probably need credit cards for something. With the help of Curtis Arnold, founder of the website CardRatings.com, and Doug Miller, senior analyst at research firm Corporate Insight, we sifted through oodles of cards to ferret out the best and the worst when it comes to rates, fees, rewards and perks. As with everything, your particular financial situation may or may not make you eligible for the best possible rates, so check before signing on the dotted line. Also, things can change quickly in Credit-Card Land, especially with sweeping new legislation arriving in just over three months, so double-check all the terms here. (We'll also be updating this round-up after the new rules come into play.)

First, the best-in-show. Break out the noisemakers; these cards rise to the top when it comes to all the stuff you want.

Interest rate: Our parent company, AOL, has sung the praises of this particular card before. Remarkably, given all the upheaval in the industry in recent months, the Simmons First Visa Platinum is still our top pick when it comes to interest rates, with an APR of just 7.25%. Of course, you can go online and find 0% interest offers up the wazoo, but those are limited-time only deals. This 7.25% is the regular rate, not some promotional gimmick designed to suck you in.