I've heard a lot of arguments against paying kids an allowance in exchange for chores.  Some say the children have to do chores just because they're part of the family. (Yes.) Others say it teaches children to help out just for a reward and not for the joy of helping. (Yes.) I think those things are all true. And I'll still be paying my kid an allowance to do her chores (as long as my husband agrees -- it may be interesting to see his reaction this post).

While innovation is great, the best lessons from this economy are not really all that new. For a generation of us this economic downturn is the most severe we've experienced in our lifetimes. Yet, we don't necessarily need to re-create the wheel to find the financial lessons we seek.

I haven't done one of these in awhile because I'm too busy playing a business, career and personal finance expert on television. Or the Internet. Whatever. Here are a few of my favorite business/career/personal finance bloggers in these parts. They're the people I go to when I need help with rewriting my budget for the umpteenth time. They're the people who seem to get it much better than I do. But I suppose that's the case with anything; you always feel like someone is doing it better and you are totally doing it wrong. 

In the past few months, we've had one credit card raise our interest rate by five percent and another lower our limit by $13,000. We've never missed a payment and never paid less than the minimum amount due on either of these accounts. We're the good guys -- but that doesn't seem to matter right now. What can a family do to protect its credit in times of uncertainty?

Budgeting, saving, and managing your money are high on everyone's list of priorities right now. There are many online tools and resources that will help you track and manage your money, even help you save. I'll review four of these sites.

Yes, I’ve started writing little notes to  bill collectors when I post my checks.  Dear Mrs. Sallie Mae,

Increasingly debt collectors are going after the living to pay the debts of the departed. In many cases the family members these debt collectors contact have no legal obligation whatsoever to pay the debts. This article however reveals that some pay it out of a desire to honor the dead or help them "to rest easy, knowing their obligations are taken care of."

In January, I began a new job at a nonprofit organization that works to prevent foreclosures and preserve neighborhoods throughout New York City. Although I was not involved in the field back in August 2007, I read enough about it to realize that foreclosure was about to have a very female face. Not only that, but it was going to be a face that was likely to be ignored by the mainstream media.

If you're like a lot of folks, you may have just received a "Dear Valued Customer" letter in the mail from your credit card company. No, you aren't being fired, but it might feel like it. If you have an affiliate card issued through one of the big banks, it starts like this: "This challenging business climate has led Citibank, the issuer of [XYZ] Gold MasterCard ... to notify us ... they are making changes to the terms of many Citibank credit card offerings ... including the [XYZ] MasterCard product." Uh-oh. Here it comes.

There are multiple reasons for this financial mess.  There are many of us that did nothing wrong and yet are suffering at the hands of the greedy and the unconscionable. I have been asking “How are we going to solve this problem?” I’m asking liberals and libertarians. I’m trying to read conservative blogs for answers but I quickly learned that there is a lot of anger in that part of the blogosphere.  We are faced with the equivalent of cleaning King Augeas' stables.  We have nasty work ahead of us.

You've heard about all those security card mess-ups that put credit card information in the hands of some scam artist, right? It almost seems it’s been quiet for a while — until now. Word is that New Jersey’s Heartland Payment Systems — a processor of credit and debit card payments — was the victim of a massive security breach attributed to cybercriminals. Apparently, thieves used “malicious” software to break into Heartland’s payment system.