WalletPop

When I was fourteen or so, my family and I spent almost a month tooling around Europe. Apart from certain miseries associated with putting six people in a cramped BMW and the fact that my sister Ella had a terrible smell for the whole summer (we later discovered that she'd jammed a piece of sponge up her nose), we had a great time. We were exploring foreign lands, the dollar was really strong, and the U.S. government was footing a big chunk of the bill, as my dad was officially there on business. What's not to like?

In retrospect, I guess I was something of an ugly American. While I've since learned to become a little less obvious when wandering abroad, my pictures from that summer show a scrawny kid with a too-short haircut, too-high kneesocks, ugly shorts and loud Hawaiian shirts. Although I remember being very easygoing and polite, it's likely that my sisters and I spent much of our time bitching about everything. After all, we were all in our teens, we were spending way too much time together, and, well, we're American.

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.

Yesterday I blogged about an economist's answer to the question of how much cash one should carry, which was a surprisingly large amount; almost $500. His conclusions factored in the time required to visit an ATM, the interest lost by withdrawing cash, and the potential loss by theft.

However, I doubt that anyone I know carries even a small fraction of this amount. I rarely have more than $40 in my wallet. Reading various posts about this topic, one message showed up time and time again, that carrying more money would tempt one to spend more money.

I'm very skeptical about this conclusion, however. I believe that we are much more likely to overspend with credit cards than cash, which is why retailers are so anxious for us to use plastic rather than greenbacks. I know that, for me, paying with cash makes the transaction much more tangible. Every time I pull out a $20 bill, I think to myself just how much work I'd done to earn it. This never happens with a credit card.

So while I would be uncomfortable carrying $500 around all the time, I would be well served if I used cash more often. I know it would cause me to think twice about ordering that steak, novel or CD.

The Associated Press lead tells you pretty much everything you need to know:

A New York City man is suing JetBlue Airways Corp. for more than $2 million because he says a pilot made him give up his seat to a flight attendant and sit on the toilet for more than three hours on a flight from California.

Manhattanite Gokhan Mutlu is suing the budget airline after the pilot told him to vacate his seat and "go hang out in the bathroom" for 90 minutes because the flight attendant had complained that her seat was uncomfortable, according to court papers. When the plane hit turbulence and the pilot directed passengers to return to their seats, "the plaintiff had no seat to return to, sitting on a toilet stool with no seat belts," according to his suit. That could've gotten messy!

This was one of those stories that's so ridiculous I can't think of anything to say. Perhaps JetBlue, which prides itself on its no-frills service with low prices, should begin offering discounted fares for passengers willing to sit on the toilet.

If the allegations outlined in the lawsuit are even remotely accurate, some people at JetBlue definitely need to lose their jobs.

Every day, WalletPop will be bringing you information about a fantastic freebie. Like what you see? Check back tomorrow for more!

Here at WalletPop, we're all about education and entertainment -- and free stuff. Today's Fantastic Freebie -- Dove Go Fresh Body Mist -- provides you with a wonderful opportunity to brush up on your Spanish because the offer is only available on the Spanish language site.

If you haven't taken Spanish since high school, click here to fill out the form and see how much you've retained. If you're too lazy for that, shame on you. But, courtesy of totallyfreestuff.com, is a translation of the form's keywords:

Nombre -First Name
Apellido -Last Name
Direccion -Address
Ciudad -City
Estado -State
Telefono -Telephone
Correo Electronico -email
Fecha de Nacimiento -birthdate
Estado Civil -Marital Status
Sexo -Sex

Just when you finished setting up the final Viagra and ED related keyword filters on your inbox, the scamming spammers have found a new ruse to part fools with their money. The new scam claims to offer a discount of 70 cents on each gallon of gas and originate for now anyway, from an individual representing himself as "Gas Saver." According to McAfee, a security and anti-virus company, in terms of volume gas related spam is still relatively low, but it has the potential to skyrocket over the summer in tandem with gas prices.

Next time you sit down with a friend or relative, do your part; remind them that they shouldn't purchase medication, gas or lottery winnings from an email. It seems to have been said again and again but just like the MPAA and the RIAA run their public service announcements before movies; maybe we need to have an announcement before sending money from your bank to another account. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, especially when it comes to reduced gas prices.

I truly wonder how many times local news stations and papers need to run the story of an individual scammed out of their life savings due to an email that touted a too-good-to-be-true scheme. At the very least, it seems these email-armed con men are on the ball when it comes to identifying consumer needs, or perceived needs anyway. I hear later this year they are coming out with a reprinted version of Dante's Inferno which has been updated to include a new circle of hell specifically for spammers. Until then, be sure to check out how to get gas for $2.99 a gallon for the next three years legitimately.

The idea of using old skulls for the consumption of intoxicants is fairly common. In fact, it's become the basis of more than a few legends. One of my favorites involves Nostradamus, who supposedly predicted that anyone who drank wine from his skull would gain his powers of prediction, but would die soon after. As the tale goes, three French soldiers decided to test this legend in 1791, but the one who drank was shot almost immediately. History doesn't record whether or not he offered any predictions before giving up the ghost.

Another great story involves the head of Edward Teach, the famed "Blackbeard." After years of ruling the seas off the East Coast of North America, he was finally killed in 1718. Rather than bring Teach's corpse back to port, his killers cut off his head and threw his body overboard. After Robert Maynard, the commander of the force that killed Blackbeard, turned in his head for a reward, Governor Spottswood of Virginia hung the trophy from a pike in Bath, Virginia. There are conflicting stories about what happened to the skull; my favorite is that it was gilded with silver and turned into a drinking vessel.

It's not too hard to see why people would contemplate using a skull as a beer mug. Apart from the grisly coolness of the finished product, it's not all that hard to do. Basically, it only requires removing the top of the head, blocking a couple of holes, slapping on a handle, and developing a strong stomach.

Mortgage expert David Reed invites Walletpop readers to ask him questions about real estate financing. leave your questions in the comment section of this post.

Rates over the past few months have been volatile, to say the least. I recall one day where mortgage rates on a 30-year fixed rate loan went up nearly 1/2% in one day. That's a rare occurrence, but not unheard of. Rates can move throughout the day based upon a variety of economic or political factors but the fact that they do move requires a portion of prudence when it comes to qualifying.

Realtors, lenders, even your beer buddies acknowledge the importance of getting pre-approved by a lender before you go shopping for a home. When you do so you can shop in confidence. That is unless you were pushing debt ratios to begin with while mortgage rates hovered near 5 1/2%, like they did last March. Now, rates are closer to 6% and if you got pre-approved for a home loan a couple of months ago and are still shopping you might want to contact your lender and make sure you can still qualify.

This is especially true for those who might have been pre-approved for a mortgage to buy a brand new house but the builder isn't finished with your new abode. A lot can happen over several weeks, shoot, a lot can happen in the course of a business day. If you're pre-approved, it pays to contact your lender to find out how high rates can go and still keep your pre-approval. If you make an offer on a house and rates have gone up, you might be in for a sad surprise.

Real estate finance expert David Reed is president of CD REED Mortgage Bankers in Austin, TX and author of Mortgage Confidential: What You Need to Know That Your Lender Won't Tell You and Mortgages 101: Quick Answers to over 250 Critical Questions About Your Home Loan.

When I was a kid, my favorite Wizard of Oz character was the Tin Man. The Lion was furry, but obnoxious, and the Scarecrow was nice, but a little too spastic. Toto was a yappy little dog and Dorothy was a girl and everyone else was just too damn weird looking. The Tin Man, though, was warm and caring, could blow steam out of his head, and made all kinds of fun sounds. He was just too damn cool.

I thought about the Tin Man recently because of some problems that Stryker Orthopaedics has been having with some of its replacement hips. Apparently, the company has a line of ceramic-lined hips that are guaranteed to last far longer than conventional plastic hips.

On the bright side, the hips have, thus far, lived up to their promise: in most cases, they are showing far less wear-and-tear than their plastic competitors. On the down side, 1-7% of these implants have developed an obnoxious squeak. Unlike the Tin Man, however, Stryker's customers can't get rid of their squeaks with a precise application of oil; they need to get their hips replaced again, a costly and intense surgical procedure with tons of potential complications.

The recent upward surge in commodities prices has left no corner of the globe untouched. That includes the bastions of the beer drinkers.

Changes in global climate, a decline in hops growers and a recent fire in a hops storage facility have worked in concert to reduce the world supply of that most important of beer brewing ingredients. According to a story published by Wired, these events have breweries both large and small adjusting their beer making processes and ingredients in an effort to curb rising brewing costs. The Wired story quotes brew master Donald Gortemiller as saying, "When hops were $2 a pound, compared to $20 or $30 a pound now, it didn't matter. We'd throw them into the boil at various times. That was an inaccurate way of doing things. We're modifying recipes and using about 20 percent less hops."

Walletpop blogger extraordinaire, Bruce Watson recently brought to light the mounting concern over hops deficiencies in the brewisphere. He wrote: "I imagine that the hot nights of a post-global warming future will be particularly unbearable without the benefit of a nice cold one." Bruce has vowed to do everything he can to "Save the Ales." For my part, I have chosen an alternate strategy to Bruce's proactive beer saving efforts. I have surrendered my boarding pass to what was for me; "The one way aluminum train to Stupidville."

Believe me when I say that my self imposed abstinence from beer will leave plenty of the cold foamy beverages for the rest of you to share and enjoy. Let's just hope that the remaining hops growers are the people who are benefiting from these unfortunate beer ingredient price increases.

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.

This is the part of a new series of columns called "The Naked Truth," by retirement expert Dan Solin. Please bring him your questions, in the comments box, and he will answer as many as he can.

Question: What is better. Traditional or Roth IRA? I have my Roth IRA invested in the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VGSTX)? I am 38 years old.

Answer: While this subject is not free of doubt, I prefer the Roth IRA. Both the Roth and traditional IRA's are tax-deferred accounts. But, unlike a traditional IRA, Roth IRA contributions are made with already-taxed income.

My youngest sister was born with a debilitating liver condition. After a few operations and a brief period in which my mother collected her bile and kept it in the fridge (bile, by the way, looks an awful lot like limeade), Ella was put back together. Now, 24 years later, she is still going strong.

In the process of taking care of Ella, my mother ended up learning about all the resources that were available to parents of children with liver disease. She began working for liver groups and ultimately formed a nonprofit group of her own. This meant that much of my childhood and adolescence was spent staffing health fairs, attending nonprofit events, passing out organ donor cards, going door-to-door, and selling things to raise money. In fact, my sisters and I even collected and traded organ donor cards from different organizations. Along with my "Spastic Colon" t-shirt, organ donor cards were the best part of the gastroenterology conventions that we had to go to with fair regularity.

The problem with transplantation is that there simply aren't enough organs out there. Around the world, people are waiting on transplant lists for the hearts, lungs, livers, and other vitals that they desperately need. Unfortunately, most people are still uncomfortable with the idea of giving up their organs, often out of a belief that their organ donor status will be used as a consideration when it comes to giving them medical care. This, of course, hasn't been helped by urban legends about organ thieves, movies about cloning for organ harvesting, and pretty much the entire literary career of Robin Cook, who seems unhealthily fixated on the idea of taking organs out of unwilling patients. Even Monty Python got into the act with a live organ donation segment in their film The Meaning of Life!

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.