WalletPop

Whether or not you shop at Wal-Mart, the company still helps you pay lower prices for lots of things your family buys. How can that be? When Wal-Mart lowers prices, other stores tend to offer more discounts too in an effort to lure in shoppers. And it works!

Consumers feeling the pinch of higher gas and food prices are looking for more sales than ever before. Wal-Mart is using this to their advantage by lowering prices of key items. The company reports that in the first quarter of 2008, prices were cut on thousands of items. Some of the price cuts were as high as 30%.

I'm not a fan of Wal-Mart stores, but whether we love or hate the company doesn't matter. We benefit from their price-cutting. So you might be ticked off that Wal-Mart was able to grow company sales by 10% in the first quarter. Who cares! Consumers benefit whether they recognize it or not, and those lower prices at Target, Costco, Walgreens, and CVS are in part thanks to the price slashing of the mega-retailer. Happy shopping!

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Today (May 13) from 4 pm to 8 pm, Häagen-Dazs is offering a free scoop of its new Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream at participating shops. The new flavor combines creamy vanilla with just a touch of real honey. Häagen-Dazs says that honey bees are the key to creating 40% of their flavors, but that they are disappearing and no one knows why. The company created this flavor to bring more attention to the plight of honey bees.

You can find a shop participating in todays free scoop promotion on this page. Enjoy your free scoop and let us know how you like the new flavor.

Does it really surprise anyone that employers are cracking down on the use of social networking sites while at work? Much like pornography and eBay, those sites are best used when you're on your own time, not on your company's paid time.

I know, I know. Young workers need access to Facebook or Twitter like the rest of us need oxygen. It's essential to survival. How can you ever get through a day without knowing that your friend is on the way to the coffee shop to meet a friend or that your sister has just bought the cutest new shoes? Updates every few minutes are essential, because you are dying to know what everyone else is doing while you're... uh.... working. Yeah, working.

A survey in England found that employees are spending at least 30 minutes a day on Facebook or MySpace while they're supposed to be working. A couple of survey participants even admitted that they spend up to three hours a day on social networking sites while at work. Yikes.

News reports say that as the number of mortgage foreclosures increases, so do the number of "suspicious" fires. When the fire occurs mere days before a homeowner will be forced to leave their house due to foreclosure, it obviously creates suspicion.

Some homeowners do it to get revenge on the mortgage company or bank. Others do it thinking that they will collect insurance money that can be used to prevent the foreclosure. Check out this video on setting houses on fire, especially in areas with higher rates of foreclosure.


Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

As the national average price for a gallon of gas creeps closer to $4 (and actually hit $4 at home for me on Monday) mass transit is looking more appealing to many. Consumers are leaving their cars behind in favor of buses and subways. It makes plenty of sense, as a family with 2 cars will spend an estimated $700 more this year on gas than they did last year.

Mass transit doesn't work everywhere. In Milwaukee, it would be next to impossible for me to get to and from work without my car. And without the ability to visit a client in the suburbs on a moment's notice, my business would quickly be impacted without my car.

Watch this video to see who's saving money and which cities have some of the best and most accessible public transportation systems.


Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Recently we discussed the LifeLock identity theft protection services, and whether or not the services offered are nothing more than a scam. Our readers have varying opinions, and I ultimately came to the conclusion that what LifeLock sells is not worth the money. There's very little actual protection, and the company's "guarantee" doesn't seem to be worth the paper it's printed on.

Now Lifelock has announced two new service offerings. The company says it is approaching one million "members" and these services "... will further secure LifeLock's position as the industry leader in identity theft protection." The new "eRecon" service is billed as a technology solution that monitors over 10,000 websites, bulletin boards and chat rooms used by criminals to sell and trade identities. If your information is found, the company say it will call and tell you. The "TrueAddress" service is billed as a technology solution that monitors address databases and notifies you if your address is changed in one of them.

Sounds like a lot of hype and little substance. What do you think the chances are that they're going to find valuable information about you with either of these tools? Would you really pay for the miniscule chance that they might find someone in a chat room talking about your identity? The effectiveness of these services has to be sketchy. I don't know how much they're going to charge for them, but I sure wouldn't buy them.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

In my business, I use very strategic advertising to market my business, along with many unpaid forms of marketing like blogging and participating in online communities. Whenever I receive an inquiry about my services, one of the first questions I ask is: "How did you find me?"

This has been one of the best moves I could have ever made regarding my marketing and advertising. No longer do I wonder if a particular piece of expensive advertising is helping my cause. I know exactly which publication or search engine sent a potential client my way.

Last week, fellow WalletPop blogger Julie Tilsner clued everyone in to this little known delay in receiving your economic stimulus money: "If filing or preparation fees were deducted from your 2007 refund, or you received a rapid refund, you will be receiving a check instead of a direct deposit."

Now word is out that a second group of taxpayers will be disappointed: those with spouses who do not have Social Security numbers will not receive any rebate money. The economic stimulus package was set up with this provision to prevent illegal immigrants from getting rebates. And I can't say I disagree much with this detail. While illegal immigrants probably would have put the money into the U.S. economy, it just wouldn't make any sense to give this money to someone who's not in the country legally.

But what about those foreigners who are here legally, and just don't have Social Security numbers? Unfortunately, they aren't eligible for this little perk received by those who do. Even the spouses of those without Social Security numbers won't receive a rebate check if they've filed their taxes jointly.

There are probably about 1 million legal residents of the U.S. who have green cards, but are waiting for paperwork for their spouses. It's hard to know how many others will be affected by this detail. Lawmakers have to continuously balance interests of many people when making their decision. This detail was an unintended consequence, and I think it's a small price to pay in order to make sure those in the country illegally don't benefit.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

The Real Estate Adviser on Bankrate.com has answered an important question from a reader: Does a registered sex offender living in your neighborhood affect your home's value? The unfortunate answer is "yes."

One study found that a sex offender within one-tenth of a mile of your home makes your house sell for about 17% less than comparable homes without a sex offender in the neighborhood. If a sex offender is within two-tenths or three-tenths of a mile from your home, expect a 9% to 10% lower sales price. A separate study found that homes within one-tenth of a mile of a sex offender only sold for 4% less than comparable homes.

Even though there is a range of numbers presented, it's clear that the presence of a registered sex offender in your neighborhood will have an impact on the sale price of your home. It's no wonder. What parent would buy a house in close proximity to a registered sex offender? For most parents, that's too big a risk to take when you know your child will want to play outside during summer.

This is a good time to remind buyers to check registries to see if a sex offender is living in the neighborhood you're considering. If you can't locate a registry, check with the local police station for guidance on sex offender registration. You want to make an informed choice before you buy a home for your family.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

A hybrid automobile seems to make more sense than ever with rapidly rising fuel prices. But the increased demand for these vehicles is causing their prices to rise. Many hybrid prices are up about $2,000 to $5,000 over last year's prices.

It takes drviers several years to make up for the increased hybrid price via fuel savings. Is it still worthwhile? Check out this video for more details.


Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Salary.com has a cute little tool that lets you find out how much your mom's services at home are worth. You enter in the number of children and their age ranges, and you identify whether or not she's has a job outside the home. I did a calculation for a stay-at-home mom with one small child and one school-age child.

Her value? In the range of $64,374 and $174,061 per year. You can even take it a step further by entering your zip code and getting a local estimate. And the highlight of the whole exercise? Printing a fake check to give to your mom to let her know that you appreciate everything she does.

For the most part, this is just a fun post to honor mom's holiday. But I can add one practical tip for readers. When buying life insurance, don't forget the value of the stay-at-home mom. Many families make the mistake of only buying a substantial policy on the dad, if he's the "breadwinner" for the family. They forget that if something happens to mom, a considerable amount of money could be spent on child care and household help. Make sure mom is covered with life insurance too!

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Suze Orman knows what she's talking about when it comes to personal finance issues. She's written several books about finance, and she made Time Magazine's top 100 most influential people in the world this year because people are listening to her!

She answered some common questions on The Today Show this week. Watch the video below for some "tough love" answers to questions like:

• Is it bad to have a lot of credit card accounts?
• I have student loans and credit card debt... can I buy a house?
• What's the difference between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA?
• Should parents co-sign on a car loan for their child?

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

No longer are footed pajamas just for your toddler. And if your feet get cold at night like mine do, you won't be able to resist the opportunity to get footed pajamas in adult sizes.

Not only that, they're regularly $44.95 at Pajama City, but on sale for $29.95 during their Spring Snuggle Sale. Shipping is only $4. The company also offers a 90-day return policy. The pajamas come in 12 different sizes, and have a system that helps you find the size that's just right for you. They also have several different fabrics, including fleece, sweatshirt fabric, flannel, and waffle material.

If nothing else, this Daily Deal is worth you clicking through to see the pictures of grown men in footed pajamas. Now that is quite a sight!

While many people blog just for fun, for others, this is serious business. There are blogs that are easily recognized as business ventures (like this one). And there are many that maybe aren't so quickly dubbed to be commercial enterprises.

"Mommy blogging" is one of the fastest-growing an most popular sections of the blogosphere. What is it? It's exactly what it sounds like: Mommies blogging about their lives. Many of them are doing it because they want to engage with others about the life of a mother and wife.

And others are doing it as a business venture. Advertisers have zeroed in on the mommy blogging culture and are spending big bucks to get exposure to the audiences of these blogs. They say that "word of mom" is one of the best marketing tools a company can have. And blogging can be very lucrative for the chosen few, who can rake in six figures if their audiences are big enough. Dooce is one example of a mommy-blogger gone nova.

Here's more about the business of mommy blogging from earlier this week on The Today Show.


Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

I've written about this cool, cool site before.... Comic Wonder is the stand-up comedian wanna-be's dream. You tell a joke (yes, you have to tell it, can't type it up) and people can listen and rate your joke.

But even better than just having someone actually listen to your joke this time around, is the fact that you can win some cool stuff. Each week Comic Wonder gives away $50 plus cool prizes like a dog sweater or a can of Spam. And who can't use an extra $50? It might even help you partly fill your gas tank this week!

The fun behind the site is the competitive aspect of joke telling. It's no fun if you just type up a joke. And it's no fun telling your joke unless you're competing with others to tell the funniest joke. There is also a contest for the entire year. The 2008 Comic Wonder is going to win an even bigger pot of money and even cooler prizes! They haven't said exactly what the cash prize will be, but last year's winner took home $2,500. (Just for telling a joke? Yes!)

Go check it out and tell your joke! And you should also check out the joke from the 2007 Comic Wonder. Yes, I laughed out loud (really loud!) when I heard it.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.